Chapter 76
Free action will definitely cause some chaos, but these people may not be able to organize themselves. Few people who have not received training will obey orders, especially when they seek benefits for themselves. But they don't have so much time to wait for the soldiers to dig out the vehicles from the ruins before arranging distribution, so they directly let the soldiers in charge of each team explain the situation and give a time limit. After the large team gathers, if someone is delayed because they can't find a suitable vehicle to go on the road, they will definitely not wait for them.
After hearing the soldier's words, many people's eyes lit up. If they had a bicycle, not only would the journey be faster, but it would also be much easier. So as soon as the soldier finished speaking, many people rushed over, fearing that they would be late and not be able to find a bike.
Jian Chu said, "Let's go to the back. The front was slightly overturned yesterday and most of it is broken."
The group moved very quickly and walked directly to the back of the ruins with a purpose. Jian Chu knew the entire area covered by the carport. Since the cars in front were still there, the ones behind might be there too.
After a while, they were nowhere to be seen, so Mu Nan simply sat down. The soldiers also went to search in the ruins, and there was no one around them in an instant. Song Jia, who was still standing on the high ruins, looked around. Seeing Mu Nan sitting down and drinking water, wiping sweat and fanning himself, he couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you worried about them?"
Mu Nan looked up at Song Jia and said, "Don't worry. At most, a group of people will fight for a car. My brother and his men have so many people. I don't know about Xu Ming, but Jian Chu and Yu Zibai both know some Kung Fu. If a fight really breaks out, my brother and his men will definitely not suffer any loss."
Song Jia looked around for a long time but couldn't find his brother, so he had to sit down with Mu Nan: "Are you friends who have known each other for a long time?" Sometimes it's good to have more people, as they can take care of each other. Like them, if Qin Huai hadn't asked him and Mu Nan to stay here, his brother would definitely not feel at ease leaving him there. They would definitely take Niuniu and carry the things in to search, which would slow things down.
Mu Nan shook his head: "Not really, we became familiar with each other during the smog period, but we are neighbors and have known each other for a few years." Although this acquaintance was only that they knew him, not that he knew them.
Song Jia sighed again: "That's great."
Mu Nan reached out and touched Niuniu. Probably because they had gotten to know each other better in the past few days, Niuniu did not resist his touch and even lowered her head slightly to rub against his palm. Mu Nan smiled and said, "When I first saw Niuniu, I thought it looked so fierce, but now I think it's really gentle."
Song Jia also touched Niuniu's head and took out a water bowl from their cloth bag to feed it water: "In fact, big dogs are generally more docile than small dogs. It's just that whenever a big dog bites someone, it seems to be big news and will be reported a lot. If you really count, small dogs bite people much more than big dogs. It's just that the lethality of small dogs is just so-so. The wounds they bite are just so-so, and the news doesn't bother to report it. This causes many people who don't keep dogs to think that big dogs are fierce and uncontrollable."
Speaking of this, Song Jia has more than a few complaints: "It's just like when a man drives a car and it's normal for him to have a car accident, but when a woman drives a car and it's reported on the news, people will sigh, 'Wow, a female driver, ugh.'"
Mu Nan sighed: "I don't know when I'll be able to see the news next time."
Hearing this, Song Jia also sighed.
There weren't many people here, so they sat here and waited for a long time. Apart from seeing the hustle and bustle of the ruins in the distance, no one came to them. It was getting darker and darker. If they turned over again, they wouldn't be able to see anything without the lighting. Mu Nan looked at his watch: "They've been gone for almost two hours. Why is it taking so long?"
Song Jia: "If everyone has one, it might take some time to turn it over."
As soon as he finished speaking, Mu Nan saw someone who looked a bit like his brother coming from afar. The distance was far and it was dark, so he couldn't see clearly. But when the man rode closer, Mu Nan quickly stood up and waved in that direction: "Brother!"
Qin Huai rode his bike to Mu Nan and stopped, then put down the other bike he was holding. Mu Nan then saw that there was a basket in front of the bike Qin Huai rode back, with a few wooden boards in the basket.
Song Jia at the side asked hurriedly: "Where are my brother and the others? Did they find the car?"
Qin Huai nodded: "I found them all, but it took some time to find the wood. The two-person bike is not suitable for the road, so I can only convert it into a single bike."
Mu Nan quickly took down the wooden board: "How do we do this?"
Qin Huai: "Just use a rope or wire. Don't we have elastic ropes in our bags? Go find them."
Mu Nan hurriedly squatted in front of their trailer, rummaging through the bag with his back to Song Jia, and actually took out a bundle from the space. Although the rope was very thin and somewhat elastic, the rope was quite strong. A bundle was several meters long. Because it was elastic, it could be held in one hand when rolled up, so it didn't seem to take up much space.
Jian Chu and the others came back soon. Seeing Qin Huai tying up the wooden planks with ropes, he sighed again, "You even have ropes! Just now I was thinking about tearing some rags from the ruins to tie them up."
Mu Nan said, "I brought it specially in case the small trailer fails and needs to be tied up and packed. Wait a minute, this rope is a whole piece. We'll get it ready first, one by one. As for the length, it should be enough if we save a little."
The wooden board that Jian Chu and the others found was not the right size as Qin Huai's, so they could only use the Swiss Army knife on the key to dismantle it a little. Wu Zheng and the others did not need the wooden board, because there was a basket in the front of the car and seats in the back, so it would be a lot easier to carry things on their backs and put them on the seats. The basket in front was a little small for Niu Niu, but as long as she squeezed in it and didn't move, she could still do it.
While they were trying to find a way to modify the car, the people who had found cars over there also came back one after another. Those who came back first were naturally lucky enough to have found a car that could be used for transportation. There were still many people behind them who were searching around the residential buildings, but they couldn't find any that could be slightly repaired and barely able to be used on the road.
When most people came back, their wooden boards had already been set up. There were actually very few scattered items in Qin Huai's trailer, just in case something went wrong with the trailer on the road, so they loaded three large backpacks. Now that the backpacks were taken out, the trailer suddenly felt a lot lighter, and it was no longer troublesome to tie them to the wooden boards at the back.
Qin Huai put a backpack in the basket in front of the bike. He carried one of them, and the remaining one just fit in Mu Nan's basket. Mu Nan didn't argue with him. Although their backpacks looked like they had a lot of things in them, they were actually not heavy. The heaviest things were in the trailer.
After everyone was settled, they tried riding on the ground. As long as it wasn't a ruin with a particularly steep slope, it was still easy to go there. The only problem now was that they had to be careful about punctured tires. There were all kinds of construction debris on the road, and if a tire was punctured, the bicycle would be useless because there was no replacement. As for going to the ruins to find some good tires as backup, that was not realistic. The purpose of finding a bike was to make the journey easier. If they had to have an extra tire, it would increase the weight. The key was that they didn't have the tools.
Mu Nan looked at the people over there who hadn't returned because they hadn't found the car, and asked Qin Huai, "What about those with cars and those without? How do they go? Walk a while and wait a while?"
Qin Huai: "Divide into two groups. You see, Shi Yuanfei brought the team here directly. All those who have started to have a fever or have had close contact with those who have died of the disease are in the back."
Mu Nan understood instantly: "Most of the people in front can find a car. As long as there is one under the ruins, by the time the people behind come over, all the cars that can be found will have been found. So when the time comes, those who have cars will go first, and the rest of the people on foot will continue to walk slowly?"
Qin Huai nodded, and Mu Nan frowned: "But will they agree to this?"
Jian Chu at the side said with a smile: "What can we do if we don't want to? Can we grow wings and fly over? If we can't find the car, it wasn't provided by those soldiers, who can we blame?"
Mu Nan couldn't help but click his tongue twice. This was a good plan. The people in front had their temperatures taken every day and were normal. Now that they had a car, they could keep a safe distance from those who were already sick or at risk of getting sick, and they could also reach their destination earlier. It was simply killing two birds with one stone. But to be honest, making such a straightforward decision still required a bit of ruthlessness. Even if they were divided into two groups and left behind some supplies and some soldiers, it still meant protecting healthy people and abandoning potential dangers. People who were not decisive enough could not make such a decision. This was good, they could arrive earlier and be more relaxed. On the way, not to mention him, even his brother was tired and thin, and darker.
Sure enough, those who couldn't find a car had great controversy about going first, and even shouted to Shi Yuanfei, "You brought us out, so you must be responsible for us." Those who had already found a car and were happy to reach their destination quickly naturally didn't want to be held back by those who needed to walk, so the two sides began to argue. Shi Yuanfei didn't care and directly asked someone to count the number of people. It was estimated that they had discussed it after they found the car in the morning. The logistical supplies were directly divided in half, and it was also determined which soldiers would stay and which would leave. So someone immediately stepped forward to comfort those who needed to walk, and as for those who had cars, they also counted the number of people and moved forward immediately.
I have just gotten used to the pain from walking. Even though Mu Nan put very thick insoles and soft sanitary napkins on the soles of my feet, I still got a lot of blisters. Those blisters haven't healed yet, and I have to start getting used to the pain from riding a bike. Fortunately, I have been walking for so many days, so I can still keep up with the pace of the group if I grit my teeth.
But it must be said that after finding the tools, they moved forward a lot faster and quickly got closer to their destination. This was very exciting. The surge of adrenaline could even block out some of the physical fatigue. In addition, the closer they got to Xihe District, the easier the road became.
Xihe District is the intersection of the Third Ring Road and the Fourth Ring Road of the city. There are many universities and vocational colleges here. Because there are so many schools, if you ask for directions in Xihe District, some people may not know where it is, but if you ask about the University Town, everyone knows it is this area. However, this area is a bit far from the city center, especially a few years ago, there was no direct bus to the city center. Even though construction has come here, the population is still small. Even with the opening of the subway and many bus lines in recent years, it still has not become prosperous.
In fact, the population here has obviously increased gradually in the past two years, and the construction of some shopping malls and residential areas has been increasing year by year. Unfortunately, before it started to develop, it encountered the various natural disasters of today. Therefore, this place is sparsely populated, and there are fewer collapsed houses. Even though the road surface has cracked a lot due to the earthquake, the flat and unobstructed road allows them to move forward much faster.
After riding for about five or six days, they finally entered the Xihe District. Mu Nan calculated the time. It has been a full half month since they set out. This was because they had a car to speed up. If they had to rely on walking, it would probably take another half a month.
Looking at the wasteland in front of him, or the buildings that were almost collapsed or stopped, Jian Chu couldn't help but ask, "Are you really going to let us build a house with our bare hands?"
Yu Zibai said: "It's not difficult to build a house. Maybe in the future, we don't need to build too tall a building where we live." With fewer people and more land, tall buildings will probably be left empty. Moreover, after experiencing such a terrible earthquake, I believe many people have a psychological shadow on tall buildings.
Shi Yuanfei looked at the map. His final destination was the base, but he didn't know the current situation of the military base and whether the remaining personnel were still there. It would be okay to take a small number of ordinary people with him, but it was impossible to accommodate everyone in the base. Moreover, they had to rebuild a new city that could accommodate the survivors in the urban center. It was impossible to let everyone stay in the epidemic disaster area.
After weighing the pros and cons for a moment, Shi Yuanfei said, "Let's go a little further ahead today. According to the map, there is a vocational college ahead. If we can't find a suitable resettlement point for the time being, we can go to the vocational college and take a look. We can take our time with the rest."
Mu Nan pulled Qin Huai and said, "The later urban area is near the vocational college."
But the vocational college collapsed badly and was later flattened. Rows of low buildings were rebuilt. However, that area is considered the city center because the power supply and water supply facilities are complete, and people live in the city. It is said that people in the city have been vaccinated, so those who have not been vaccinated and have newly arrived at the base are placed outside the city. They can enter the base after the quarantine period, but only in the outer city inside the foundation. The people in the outer city are all dirty and have no family background. Some rely on labor to earn new currency and want to rent a house in the inner city, while others simply live in the outer city. Anyway, they don’t know how long they can live, so they live one day at a time.
At that time, he followed people out of the ruined private base and found out that the government base already had the vaccine. Although the vaccine does not necessarily prevent one from being infected by the plague, at least he had some antibodies. Unfortunately, he had just entered the base at that time, and after the quarantine period, he was temporarily settled in the outer city of the base. He had no time to get the vaccine, and had not yet planned well for his future. There is no future.
Because of this, he actually didn't know which areas in the base were safe and which areas were rebuilt later, because he had never been to the inner city. He knew that some houses that were built before the apocalypse were still there, but because there were not many tall buildings at that time, the few tall buildings in the inner city were very conspicuous. Even if you looked up in the outer city, you could see them. Unfortunately, before the apocalypse, those tall buildings that were already habitable were still under construction.
Qin Huai nodded. He saw that this was about the area he was in. If he went any further, he would really have to lay the foundation and build a house with his bare hands.
As they rode their bikes closer and closer to the vocational college, they became more and more excited. They could see from afar that several tall buildings were still intact. Not that intact, but at least there were not many tall buildings still standing. The buildings were still there, so they at least had a temporary resettlement site. If they really chose to rebuild here, they wouldn't have to build houses with their bare hands.
So the route that was originally planned to go to the vocational college to temporarily settle down was immediately changed and headed straight towards the building. Shi Yuanfei still had some impression of the building over there. At the beginning, it was said that because a solar power station was to be built here, some buildings that were already under construction were directly converted into solar power supply lines. It seemed that the buildings here were also planned to be used as test points for the first batch of sunshade houses. Unfortunately, they didn't know what stage the project had progressed to. The earthquake came too suddenly and they didn't pay much attention to this area at the time.
Seeing that there were still some houses that had not collapsed, they felt a little relieved. After all, it was better to have ready-made buildings than to start rebuilding again brick by brick.
What surprised everyone was that, in addition to a few high-rise buildings that did not collapse, there was also a villa area. However, this villa area was not the kind of stand-alone villa, but a stand-alone house of about three stories high, with at least two or three households.
The surprise that Mu Nan felt when he saw this type of house instantly cooled down: "I thought these houses were all single-family villas, but it turns out they are not."
Qin Huai: "There is no condition to build single-family villas in this community. They are either townhouses or duplexes. After all, this is still in the Third Ring Road area. If we really use the land in the Third Ring Road to build big villas, rich people may not be willing to buy them, and poor people cannot afford them either."
However, when everyone got closer, they found that the door lock between the high-rise building area and the villa area was open, and it was obviously broken by someone. The villa area was not completely intact, but because the high-rise buildings next to it did not collapse, this side was originally a low-rise building. Some of the damaged ones collapsed due to ground cracks, and some only had some damage on the corners. But now, it seems that there are people living there, because there are even clothes hanging on the rooftops of some houses.
There weren't that many people on bikes, and there were only three teams in the integration team, so the soldiers in charge of these teams were asked to take people to the lobby of the building to settle down first, after all, the sun was about to come out, and Shi Yuanfei took a few soldiers on bikes to check this generation a little bit, to see which houses were already occupied and which houses could be directly settled in. As for those who already lived there, Shi Yuanfei certainly couldn't drive them away directly, because they had just arrived and hadn't figured out anything yet, so everything had to be planned slowly.
After finding a spot that was not exposed to the sun but had some ventilation, he laid out a worn and even torn mat, sighed heavily, and sat down to massage his legs that had been riding a bike all day.
Jian Chu sat beside him and felt a little lost. He looked at the tall buildings opposite and the villa area vaguely visible behind them. He couldn't help but ask, "Where do you think we will be placed?"
Xu Ming said: "We will definitely start with the single-family low-rise building. It is more convenient to repair or reinstall equipment on the low floors. As for this tall building, if we want to move there, I'm afraid we need to have electricity first."
Mu Nan looked at Qin Huai: "Brother, do we want to live in a high place or a low place?"
Qin Huai: "I prefer to live in a shorter place."
Mu Nan asked quietly: "Why? Isn't it going to snow soon?"
If they live high up, they don't have to worry about snow. They can choose to live on the top floor, but I don't know how many households there are on the top floor. If there are only three or four households, they might as well have several people they know live on the same floor, and then seal the stairs so that others can't come up. Safety is also guaranteed, and solar energy can be installed on the top floor without worrying about electricity problems. It is far away from the downstairs, and there is no need to worry about the spread of the virus because the population is dense. No matter how you look at it, living on the top floor is best.
Qin Huai said: "Don't worry about the snow, it's nothing more than snow removal. Look at the villa area, the entire terrain is higher than the high-rise area. The current sewer system is not like before. As long as it is not blocked, there is no need to worry about water accumulation. As for safety issues, there is not much difference between living upstairs and downstairs. You can even install electric anti-theft nets downstairs. You can always find ways to achieve the convenience of living upstairs downstairs, but there is one thing that living upstairs can't compare to."
Mu Nan asked curiously, "What?"
Qin Huai: “Escape.”
Qin Huai touched Mu Nan's hair, which had grown a little longer recently, and said, "Extreme warmth and extreme cold are the climate changes we know about so far, but the other climate effects brought about by this climate change are still unknown. We don't know whether earthquakes will happen again. In addition to earthquakes, there are many other extreme problems, such as the melting of ice and seawater backflow caused by extreme warmth and exposure, and tsunamis. It's not that we don't need to worry about these things because we live inland. When those things really happen, especially when they catch people off guard, how can we escape if we live upstairs?"
"There may even be disasters that we can't imagine, like the smog we had before. We never thought that the earth would be covered by such strange smog one day. So there is not much difference between living upstairs and living downstairs. We both try to stay indoors for safety protection. But once a disaster occurs, a high-rise building and a low-rise building can make a fatal difference. If the climate conditions in the future are like this, it doesn't matter where people live. If not, at least we can escape as soon as possible."
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