Chapter 70
To put it bluntly, the purpose of going to the university town this time was to explore the way and open up new land, so it was basically young and middle-aged men, with only two female military doctors accompanying them. There were a total of 300 ordinary people and 30 soldiers. In order to prevent any unexpected situations or someone being exhausted and falling behind unknowingly, Shi Yuanfei, who led the team before departure, organized the people into teams of five people in a small team and thirty people in a large team, a total of ten teams, with two soldiers in charge of a team. As for the other soldiers, two were military doctors, and another was responsible for logistics and transporting supplies.
Qin Huai and his group consisted of exactly five people, forming a small team. They were assigned to the first team, which was the team that followed the soldiers in the vanguard. This was considered as Shi Yuanfei's care for them. You have to know that on such a long journey, it is actually the easiest to walk in front, while the mental fatigue of walking at the back is the most draining.
The equipment of Qin Huai and his group naturally attracted a lot of people's attention, especially since there were not many people who could still wear protective clothing. Didn't you see that these soldiers had no protective clothing to wear? And the small cart they were towing, the things inside were secondary, just some household items. The point was the cart, with its big wheels, it had no problem crossing mountains and ridges, it really saved a lot of effort.
Look at the other people. Those who have the means have got a few suitcases. No matter how long they can drag it, at least they have something to put in. Those who have backpacks carry them, while those who don’t have backpacks simply wrap their things in sheets or other cloth and carry them on their backs. The scattered team looks like a group of refugees.
Some people in the crowd took the easy way out and just shaved their heads, while some didn't shave their heads, and their hair was so sticky that you could even see fleas. Most people didn't even wear shirts because it was too hot to wear them, and some of the clothes they wore were just rags, so dirty that you couldn't see their original colors. As for the smell, let alone the sweaty smell emanating from people, it was no better than the ruins filled with the filth of life.
This is probably because they took a bath during the heavy rain some time ago. If they had not taken a bath since the earthquake, the scene would be even more spectacular.
Seeing how hard Jian Chu and the others were enduring, Mu Nan remembered that he had bought a lot of scented tablets. Those scented tablets were made from ground Chinese herbs, with a fresh medicinal fragrance that could refresh the mind. He had not thought of it before because the masks he and Qin Huai used already had mint and borneol in them, so there was no need to add anything extra. Now that Jian Chu was about to roll his eyes because of the fumes before they even set off, he remembered it, so he pretended to take out three pieces of scented tablets from the bag in the car. They were the size of a fingernail, but enough to stuff into the mask.
“Put it in the mask to dispel the smell a little.”
Jian Chu was really about to vomit from the smell and didn't have the energy to be polite to Mu Nan. He quickly stuffed a piece of it into his mask. Although it couldn't completely block out the smell, at least it allowed him to breathe.
Xu Ming had never seen this thing before, and was a little curious: "What is this?"
Mu Nan: "A kind of scented tablets that can be used as incense, all of which are traditional Chinese medicine, can block the smell and refresh the mind."
As Xu Ming stuffed his mask into his mouth, he sighed, "You have so many weird things at home, but they are very practical. Fortunately, you have this hat. At least there is a little wind. Although it is hot air when fanning, it is much better than nothing."
Mu Nan's eyes curved into a smile: "I used to like browsing shopping websites when I had nothing to do."
Jian Chu fanned himself with a fan: "Are you going to leave or not? I'm suffocating here."
Yu Zibai also fanned him and said a few words to comfort him, asking him to be patient.
Qin Huai pulled Mu Nan's hat: "Is it hot? Drink some water?"
Mu Nan shook his head: "It's okay, the spray is still somewhat useful." It can cool down clothes by spraying it on them. Although it doesn't last long, when blown by a fan, it's not so hot that it's unbearable.
Because we had been notified several times before about the departure time, and although there were so many people and it took a long time to organize the team, we set off directly after the allocation was almost complete. Other problems can be solved on the way. While there is still some light, we should walk as much as possible. You know, there are not only ruins outside, but also many cracks caused by the earthquake. If you are not careful, you will fall down. So once it gets dark, the speed will inevitably slow down. In order to get to the university town earlier, we can only try our best to speed up.
Qin Huai and his friends' car was easier to tow than expected, mainly because the things they put in there were not the kind that would weigh down the car. Although their things seemed to be more than Zi Bai and Xu Ming's, they were relatively light. A pull rod was also added to the back of the car, mainly to make it easier for Mu Nan to follow behind and try to keep the small trailer balanced to prevent it from tilting and overturning due to road problems.
Qin Huai and Yu Zibai were pulling side by side in front, Xu Ming helped Yu Zibai keep his balance, Jian Chu saw that Mu Nan and the others had a lot of stuff, so he helped them, and said with strength as he walked: "I just saw a dog in the team."
Mu Nan looked back in confusion: "Is it a military dog?"
Jian Chu shook his head. "Do you remember when we were setting up the stall before, there was a couple who looked like two brothers who came to buy dog food. They bought a lot of bags. I saw they brought a dog with them, but I didn't know what breed it was. It was all white and short-haired, a bit like a Labrador, but not quite. It looked pretty good. I saw a lot of people staring at the dog with green eyes."
Mu Nan couldn't help but say, "It's really not easy to still keep a dog at this time."
Jian Chu sighed: "I'm afraid that along the way, I'll be seen as a dish. It's too conspicuous."
Mu Nan: "There's nothing we can do about it. We can't just throw the dog away. If we really have feelings for it, what else can we do except keep it with us?"
Jian Chu: "Shouldn't we take the dog and hide at home at this time? If we walk outside and encounter those hungry people, I really don't know what will happen."
Mu Nan: "It's not necessarily safe at home. What's more, we don't even know if the other person's home is still there. If it's gone, living in a tent, then there's no difference between staying there and going out to make a living."
As the two were talking, Qin Huai, who was walking in front, suddenly turned back and said, "You two stop talking and conserve your energy." They chattered nonstop, treating their escape as a picnic.
Mu Nan quickly said "oh", then he and Jian Chu smiled at each other, closed their mouths and stopped talking.
The soldiers walking in front are always in contact with those behind. They have walkie-talkies in their hands and try their best to maintain the speed of the entire team and not let those behind fall too far behind.
After finally climbing out of the ruins of the residents and walking to the main road, the journey was finally a little easier. They tried to take the main road as much as possible. There were mostly shops on both sides of the main road, which were a little far from the residential buildings, so the road was easier to walk on. The only thing they had to be careful of was the cracks caused by the earthquake.
Once they were on the main road, it was easier for Qin Huai and his team to pull the trailer. There were soldiers leading the way in front, so as long as they carefully followed the path taken by the people in front, they wouldn't have to worry too much about falling into the gap. Qin Huai kept an eye on Mu Nan all the way. After all, they were wearing protective clothing, which was not breathable compared to others who were shirtless, and it was easy for them to get heatstroke and dehydration.
When Mu Nan saw Qin Huai looking at him, he hurriedly trotted over and said, "What's wrong? Do you want some water? I'll get it for you." They were walking non-stop and couldn't stop to get things. If Qin Huai wanted some water, he could only get it while walking behind him.
Qin Huai shook his head: "We are now on the main road. This side is not that close to residential areas, and there are not many ruins. If you are too hot, unbutton your protective clothing a little and remember to drink more water."
Mu Nan said, "I know. I'll get you some water. You sweat much more than I do." He was just trying to balance the car in the back, while Qin Huai was pulling the trailer in the front. He had to exert more effort than him, so naturally he consumed more energy than him.
As Mu Nan walked, he reached into the trailer to get the water bottle. This water bottle was naturally taken directly from the space, but he still reached into his bag to pretend. The water bottle came with a straw, which made it convenient to drink. Mu Nan opened the lid and the straw popped out automatically, and then fed it to Qin Huai's mouth: "You drink it, I'll pull the cart."
Qin Huai reached out to take it and exchanged it with Mu Nan. Now they were walking on the main road. Although there were still a lot of construction waste piled up, it was much easier to walk than those piled up ruins, so it was okay to let him take over and drag it.
The water in the kettle was ice water, and Mu Nan also diluted some glucose, just to avoid dehydration due to the heat. It tasted slightly sweet, but not too sweet, and was cool and refreshing. After drinking half of the kettle in one breath, Qin Huai handed the kettle to Mu Nan, and then pulled the trailer over. Mu Nan took the kettle and drank slowly. During this period of time, Qin Huai formed a habit for him, and he didn't dare to drink ice water in large gulps, but it was indeed more thirst-quenching to drink slowly.
Jian Chu at the side naturally followed suit, but they had no ice water. There was no electricity for the whole day, and the ice water had melted long ago. At most, it was not as hot as normal temperature water, with a trace of residual coolness. Watching them feed each other, Xu Ming, who was alone, silently opened his backpack to drink water. No one fed him, but he could drink it by himself!
It was almost dark when they walked, and the team behind could not keep up. It took at least four or five hours from the start to dark, so Shi Yuanfei asked them to stop and rest.
Although they tried to walk on the main road, they still passed by many ruins and had to take detours when they encountered some collapsed bridges. Not all residents after the earthquake could be summoned by the army immediately. The reason why Mu Nan's community was able to build a camp so quickly was because the military headquarters was there. In the past, the distribution of supplies was divided according to the community. A team assigned there might be responsible for the distribution of supplies to hundreds of communities. But in the past, because there were cars, the entire range was larger. After the earthquake, those communities far away from the military camps had to either save themselves or wait for death.
So along the way they even saw many corpses lying on the ruins with no one cleaning them up. They looked like they had died of illness. There were also some half-naked people squatting on the ruins rummaging through the ruins. They didn't know what they had dug out, but they stuffed the dirty food into their mouths. When they saw such a large group of them passing by, they just glanced at them with numb expressions, and then continued to search with their heads down.
On the way, they encountered people asking for help, but before the people could get close, the military doctors said that they were sick. Their team did not wear protective clothing, and few even wore masks. It was impossible for them to let sick people get close to them. Once infected, none of them would be able to escape. So they could only fire warning shots to drive those sick people asking for help away to a safe distance.
Seeing the desperate eyes of those people, many people could not help but avoid them. Plague was not a terminal illness. In the current era of advanced medical care, perhaps some antibiotics could save a life. But now, the plague was a terminal illness that was sure to kill them. They had no medicine, whether it was Chinese or Western medicine. Apart from such a cruel expulsion, they had no other choice.
Those walking in the team knew that this was the only choice. Before leaving, the soldiers told them that if someone on the road got sick and infected with the plague, abandoning them immediately was the only option. Since they had decided to take the risk on the road with them, they had to be prepared to die on the road. So even though they felt reluctant at this moment, no one stood up to blame or sympathize with anyone. After all, they didn't know if they would be the next one.
Because of the expulsion just now, the people who had finally been able to stop and rest were not very happy. In fact, after walking out of the camp and the safe protection provided by the soldiers for them, they saw the real cruelty outside and became even more silent after being hit by the reality.
Mu Nan leaned against Qin Huai carefully. They were now sitting in a place that looked like a square. The damage here was not too serious. Except for some cracks on the road, the open space was still relatively empty. There were some shops around it, and it was still a bit far from the residential area. So Qin Huai untied Mu Nan's protective suit, wiped his sweat with a wet wipe, and used a small fan to blow inside his collar. Fortunately, he was wearing a sleeveless vest with a large collar, so the wind could easily get in.
Qin Huai untied the elastic cord under his pants, and the sweat poured down from his trouser legs, as if someone had poured water into his clothes. Mu Nan felt distressed and quickly gave him a kettle to let him drink more water: "Otherwise..."
Before Mu Nan could finish her words, Qin Huai interrupted her and said, "No, Nan Nan, I would rather you get a little hotter and suffer a little more than be careless. It's not that there are no plagues in places with few people. As long as there are mosquitoes, it's just that if a mosquito with the virus bites you, it will be fatal, so you can't take off your protective clothing outside."
Xu Ming on the side said: "Your brother is right. Even if it's hot, it's nothing compared to life. We don't have the conditions. If we had the conditions, we wouldn't take off our clothes no matter how hot it is. Just wear them. It's better to be careful."
Shi Yuanfei, who had been patrolling ahead, came over and said, "Rest here for an hour. If you have brought anything with you, you can eat something. The army only provides two meals, one before bed and one after waking up. We really don't have the facilities for other meals."
Qin Huai nodded to show his understanding. They were not the only ones who handed in food. Those who didn't bring much with them probably handed it in as well. If the army provided three meals a day, it would take a lot of time just to distribute the food on the road, which would greatly affect the travel efficiency. Therefore, they could guarantee a meal before and after bedtime, so that at least they could sleep well and travel with a full stomach. This was much better than the one meal a day he had thought of before.
Mu Nan took out two power banks and gave one to Jian Chu and the others: "You can charge your hats. My power bank is solar powered, so you can use it without worry. Just put it outside to dry in the sun during the day."
An older man sitting next to them looked at their equipment and couldn't help but say, "You have a really complete range of stuff."
Qin Huai said: "Luckily, the house didn't collapse, so everything in the house is still there."
Big Brother sighed: "This world is difficult."
Mu Nan took off the mask and squeezed Qin Huai's. Like him, it was soaked with sweat, so he took out two dry ones. Qin Huai said, "Don't throw it away. It's just sweat. Put it aside for now. You can use it again after drying it in the sun during the day."
Mu Nan nodded. Although they were not short of masks, they couldn't pretend that they had a lot of them. They had to make some superficial efforts to recycle them.
Jian Chu found a few bags of dried meat from their trailer and handed two bags to Mu Nan: "Eat some to replenish your energy. We don't know how long we have to walk before we can rest."
Mu Nan said, "You guys eat it yourself, we have some." Then he went to get his bag.
But Jian Chu suppressed his attitude: "Just sit down and eat. Are you tired?" Mu Nan had given them so many things before, and they could still give it away as it was just two bags of dried meat.
Mu Nan had no choice but to take it, but he only ate two pieces. He was afraid that Qin Huai would not be full, so he gave them all to Qin Huai. He could put food in his own mouth at any time under the cover of the mask, but he couldn't put food in Qin Huai's mouth, so when he could eat, he tried to let Qin Huai eat more.
Qin Huai knew what he was planning, so he simply took the dried meat and started eating it.
An hour passed quickly and the team started moving again. While others were packing up, Mu Nan pulled off Qin Huai's mask and stuffed two sushis into his mouth. It was pitch black all around. Since everyone was resting in place, they saved electricity and didn't turn on the lights, especially because lights would attract mosquitoes. Mosquitoes nowadays are poisonous, so it is difficult to notice the people next to you.
Qin Huai knocked on the brim of Mu Nan's hat to remind him to be more careful. He quickly put on his mask and chewed and swallowed the sushi in his mouth bit by bit. Fortunately, the mask blocked the view, so as long as the movements were not too big, no one would notice that he was eating with a bulging mouth.
After this rest, the entire team did not stop until dawn, but as everyone's physical strength was depleted, the walking speed became slower and slower. When they encountered some ruins with higher slopes, it was even more difficult to climb. Fortunately, a soldier saw that Mu Nan was struggling to help move the cart, so he lent a hand and lifted the cart for them. Otherwise, Mu Nan would not be able to help Qin Huai carry the trailer over that slope, and Yu Zibai or Xu Ming would probably have to make an extra trip to move it.
After daybreak, they had to find a place to hide before the sun got too hot. Although everyone had better physical strength on the first day, they had been walking all night and were exhausted, so they had to rest early, sleep all day, and continue on their journey at night. However, the ruins outside had collapsed, and there was no good place for everyone to gather together to rest, so they simply divided into groups and found a place to rest, but they had to stay together as a whole team, otherwise if they walked too far and left after dark, they would not be able to find the lost people.
The team led by Qin Huai was led by an old soldier and a young soldier. They were lucky enough to find a half-collapsed bank. The old soldier broke the door lock of the bank counter and asked people to sleep inside as much as possible to avoid the sun shining in during the day. After they were settled, they began to distribute food. Not everyone got food. The old soldier took a list and read out a name and asked someone to come forward to get one. The food was hard naan. Each naan was not very big, just a little bigger than an adult's palm. It was baked very hard, so it could withstand heat preservation. Each person whose name was read out got one. Those who did not hand in food sat aside and ate what they brought.
Mu Nan took the naan and knocked it against Qin Huai's. It was so hard that no crumbs fell off. The soldier couldn't help laughing at their actions: "Eat it slowly and chew it a few more times. It's actually quite delicious."
Qin Huai said: "Take out the small pot, add some water to the instant noodle seasoning packet or the kimchi seasoning packet and boil it."
Mu Nan said, “Then let’s have kimchi.” He felt that many people were probably tired of instant noodles, so sick that they might want to vomit at the smell, like Jian Chu next to him, so he still had to take care of the people around him.
Seeing them pull out a small stove with solid fuel inside and a small milk pot, they were all surprised: "If I didn't know, I would think you were out camping."
Qin Huai smiled when he heard this: "Try to bring as much as you can at home, just in case. At most, you will feel a little tired when carrying it on the road. If you really can't hold it anymore, you can slowly throw it out to reduce the weight on the road."
Although the naan was hard, it was still possible to tear it with some effort. Qin Huai tore the naan into small pieces and threw them into the kimchi soup pot to cook. Jian Chu and the others did not wash their hands. In order to save paper towels, they simply let Qin Huai tear the naan alone so that they would not get their hands dirty and contaminate the food.
Mu Nan took out a few packets of beef sauce from her bag and asked, "Should we eat this with a dip or squeeze it into the soup?"
Jian Chu: “Squeeze it into the soup, it can add some spiciness.” After saying that, he took out a few lunch boxes from his car. The lunch boxes were all disposable, and they planned to wipe them with paper towels after eating. Of course, they couldn’t wash them, so they just wiped them clean and put them away for recycling.
Mu Nan squeezed a few packets of beef paste into the milk pot, and then handed the two packets that he had reserved to the soldier: "Here, spread it on the naan to enhance the flavor."
The soldier quickly shook his head and refused: "No, we have our own food, you keep these, there are still many days to come, and we don't know how long it will take to reach the university town."
Mu Nan said: "Just consider it as a thank you for helping us lift the car before. It's just a small bag, not much. You can take it." It's just a small bag of sauce, ten grams each, not too much. Others have helped them, and they can only repay them with something like this.
The young soldier felt a little embarrassed, but the old soldier agreed with a smile, patted the soldier on the shoulder and told him to keep it. They would have many opportunities to take care of each other on the road and it was not like he was taking other people's things in vain.
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