Chapter 58: Northern Plateau
Not long after the news of the world-destroying tsunami arrived, the entire Lucheng was in chaos. Even though it was thousands of kilometers away from Muzhou Province, once the people were in chaos, the authorities could not bring them back with words alone.
Lucheng's altitude is between 600 and 1,000 meters. As one of the relocation cities arranged by the state, it should have been a safe place. However, Lucheng is too close to Qinghe River, and some people are like frightened birds, afraid of all waters. So a large number of people embarked on the journey westward.
The city made various preparations for the relocation. In addition to resettlement housing, it also stockpiled a large amount of food and water supplies. But just like the news that Shu Fu pieced together online, the people who planned to travel west initially rushed to buy the supplies, and when they couldn't buy any, they simply snatched them away.
Those who wanted to leave started looting supplies, and those who didn't plan to leave naturally couldn't fall behind. Two-thirds of the people in a city were looting, and even the police were helpless. What could they do? Start looting and kill all these people?
Even the authorities are gradually retreating, concentrating all their forces in the safest cities. What can they do?
The chaos lasted for a month. Those who could leave had left, those who were unlucky had died, and those who were still alive and did not leave naturally had their own reasons.
Some people have a lot of thoughts and think, what's the big deal if they go to the West?
Now everything is in chaos, it's hard to find a good car, and even if you find a good car, you may not be able to get fuel. What's more, the terrain becomes more complicated as you go west on the Northern Plateau, there are fewer cities and even fewer supplies. This is not a tsunami disaster area, and it is not within the coverage of airdrop supplies.
Along the way, they may encounter various extreme weather conditions, or they may encounter impassable waters at any time. The journey is too long, and no one can guarantee that they will be able to live a good life in a new place.
It is better to stay in your own place than to go to an uncertain and strange city.
There are now two forces in Hexi Town - that is, two different teams, one is composed of people from the original town, and the other is mostly composed of outsiders.
There were originally few people in the town, and when the collective relocation began, many people moved to the safer Lucheng. As a result, most of them died in the most chaotic month.
Chen Fa belonged to the team of outsiders. She joined the team on the way of evacuating from Lucheng. She was skilled and brave, but because of personal choice she did not go west for the time being, so she retreated to this small town.
She had stayed in this small town before going to Lucheng. At that time, the large-scale relocation order had not yet been issued, and entry into the plateau city was blocked.
Chen Fa is not from Lucheng, but if she wants to go back to her hometown, she has to go through Lucheng. Fortunately, the relocation order appeared later, and Lucheng directly became a relocation city. She directly submitted the Lucheng application for herself and her family in her hometown.
But she didn't expect to retreat so quickly.
Although it is surrounded by water, there are mountains with high altitudes, which can help people avoid floods during special periods and avoid being desperate. Before the Qinghe River floods and completely submerges this place, such a small town is more conducive to the survival of the civilian team.
Although there is no flood problem here for the time being, various resources are in short supply. The two teams had many conflicts at the beginning, and almost someone was killed. Later, the two sides negotiated, divided the blocks they were responsible for, and reached a peace agreement.
Dividing the town into blocks does not mean splitting the town into two. It just means that each block is responsible for the public security of its own block. If residents in their own block cause trouble, they have to solve it themselves. If the other side causes trouble in their territory, they have the right to teach them a lesson before throwing the problem back to them.
In addition, except for the mountain to the northeast, patrol teams were arranged in several other directions outward from the town. Two teams sent out people, each responsible for its own area.
Shu Fu didn't know whether to say that she was lucky or unlucky. When she entered the town, she didn't run into the patrol team. She even went to the street shop where the Malaysian team belonged, and then she was directly targeted by people from another team.
Wu Zhong's explanation that he was just following and had no intention of taking action was not completely unbelievable to Chen Fa. She even noticed the two nails on his palms, which should be the work of Shu Fu... But, so what? It was a fact that the other party's people were causing trouble on their territory. Wu Zhong had to take the beating even if he didn't want to.
She was attacking Wu Zhong, but actually she was using Wu Zhong to give the other team a warning. They had been testing them frequently recently, and if they showed any sign of weakness, the other side would be ready to swallow up their team at any time.
Today is a time of chaos, and one must never show weakness at any time. This is the rule of survival that Chen Fa has learned in these short two months.
**
The town was not big, and Shu Fu was originally in the neighborhood where Chen Fa's team belonged. She quickly took her back to her own place - a very large homestay.
This is not a tourist town, nor does it have any eye-catching scenic spots, so the B&B building is a bit old and the architectural style is very rustic, but it has a large area, with a series of independent two-story buildings, which makes it convenient for team members to accommodate their families.
Some team members who do not have families may live together in the same building if they have a good relationship with each other, so that it is convenient to call each other when they have problems.
Chen Fa took Shu Fu directly to the small building where he lived and asked her to take a hot bath.
Shu Fu was surprised: "Is there hot water here?"
"Yes, there is a waterfall hydroelectric power plant in the northeastern mountains. The water is filtered from stored rainwater. There are not many people in the town, so it is enough for the time being." She had stayed in Hexi Town for a few days before going to Lucheng. It was because she knew there was a hydroelectric power plant in the town that she thought of returning here to stay temporarily when she evacuated Lucheng.
So, although the town is short of food, drinking water and some other resources, there is sufficient water and electricity for daily use.
Shu Fu wanted to ask more questions, but Chen Fa kept urging her to take a hot shower and asked if she had any clean clothes. Shu Fu patted her backpack to indicate that she did.
Chen Fa looked over and saw that her backpack was quite bulging. It was made of waterproof fabric, so she must have some basic things in it. So he found a pair of plastic flip-flops from the cabinet nearby and gave them to her. Then he pushed her and her bag into the bathroom on the first floor, saying that everything would be decided after she finished taking a shower, and he specifically told her to use the hot water for a while longer.
Shu Fu: ...
The bathroom is not big and the decoration is not that modern, but it is a homestay after all, so it is clean and has all the necessary bathing supplies, even a dryer, so you can hang your clothes in to dry directly after machine washing or hand washing.
Shu Fu had just taken a shower before going to bed last night, and had just been in the rain for a while, so the shower was very short. It only took her ten minutes to wash herself clean. She did spend a few minutes rearranging the things in her bag.
There was no need to leave any camping items this time, so she only put an emergency thermal blanket in her bag. This blanket was very thin and only took up a very small piece when folded.
In the food category, there were two bags of vacuum-packed rice, several packets of instant noodles, a pack of ham sausage, some chocolate energy bars, vacuum-packed biscuits, a bag of dried fruits, a jar of candy, two cans of vitamin C effervescent tablets, and a bag of mixed dehydrated vegetables.
As for drinking water, she still placed the large-capacity folding water cup she had used before. The bottle had an opaque body, so you couldn't tell how much water was in it. She thought it was too heavy, so she only filled it a quarter of the way. She also temporarily threw the 100ml plastic bottle she had exchanged for in the store into the corner of her backpack.
She won't drink water of unknown origin.
In addition, there are three small packages, one of which is a medical bag, which contains a small outdoor first aid kit, two boxes of commonly used medicines and some insect repellent sprays.
The second one is a daily necessities bag. The weather is hot now and the clothes are thin, so she packed three or four sets of spare clothes, mainly sportswear made of breathable, sweat-wicking and waterproof fabrics, and also two packs of disposable underwear.
The third one is a tool kit, which currently only contains a nail gun.
Finally, there was a new phone in a waterproof bag, which she had just bought, and a new phone card was naturally inside. She put the waterproof bag in a waist bag, which she planned to carry with her every day to take out some small items.
Although she knew that it was unlikely that someone would deliberately rummage through her bag while living here, she still had to keep some of the things she needed in her bag. Otherwise, she would have to hide them every time she opened her bag to take something, which was quite tiring.
Compared with these materials, the secret of space is naturally more important.
Finally, she took another quick look at the black notebook.
[Complete the check-in task at any store in Hexi Town, and get a 20% progress bar for level 4 raft, an additional 5% progress bar bonus, and two wheel draws. (Current progress of level 4 raft: 25%)]
It was a standard reward, but just like the first mission at level 3 of the raft, the progress bar was increased by a quarter at once, and Shu Fu was very satisfied.
Although she really wanted to draw the lottery, now was not the right opportunity. She was afraid that rushing would affect her luck, so she decided to leave it until the evening.
Seeing her leave so quickly, Chen Fa complained a few words, then handed her a cup of brown medicine-like drink on the table: "There is no old ginger, this is water mixed with ginger sugar, drink it quickly to drive away the cold."
Because the windows of the house are closed and the air is not circulating, the temperature inside the house is higher than outside. Coupled with the humidity, it is actually quite stuffy, probably almost 30 degrees.
But Chen Fa asked her to drink ginger and sugar water to drive away the cold?
Shu Fu: ...
Chen Faguang knew what she was thinking from her expression. She was also a little helpless: "Drink it. There is a shortage of medicine in town. If you really catch a cold from the rain, it will be even more troublesome if there is no medicine for you."
Although the ginger syrup has a ginger flavor, it is sweet and a little spicy at first, and is quite delicious.
The other team members seemed to have returned to their respective residences, and there was no one else on the first floor of the small building. The two sat down on the sofa. Shu Fu planned to express his feelings for a few words before asking about his recent situation. After all, the last time they met was seven months ago in Suicheng, and it was a party organized by Zhang Tian.
Now they have traveled across half of Hua Country and met again in Lankou Province. Normally, they would sigh at such a coincidence.
However, before Shu Fu could even open her mouth, Chen Fa scolded her, asking her why she had dragged her feet when the government started the collective relocation? Why did she suddenly lose contact again afterwards? Wasn't it enough that she lost contact once, so she did it a second time? Did she plan to lose contact a third or fourth time in the future?
Shu Fu actually wanted to nod. She had been playing alone for too long. This time, she could meet her long-lost friend in the first mission. Even though she was scolded at the moment, she felt a mixture of pain and happiness. So she simply stopped talking, leaned on the armrest of the sofa, supported her chin, and smiled at Chen Fa.
Chen Fa: ...
Oh, she has such a bad temper!
Chen Fa felt a throbbing pain on his forehead and reached out to pinch her face: "Don't smile like an idiot, talk properly!"
Shu Fu then briefly explained the story that she had just written in the bathroom.
Chen Fa and the other three were too familiar with her, and the excuse of losing contact for love was too outrageous to use here. Chen Fa would never believe it, and she would naturally not say that. Fortunately, the first time she and Chen Fa lost contact was not long, and the others did not know the details of her evacuation from Suicheng, so she mainly explained the matter of Lou Yuncheng.
This time, she created her own character as a heroine survivor who encountered setbacks but rose to the challenge.
Losing contact does not mean that she is in danger. A dead or damaged phone is a good excuse. For example, when she was preparing to move, she had a conflict with someone and her phone was broken. She had to prepare supplies and catch a bus in the chaos and had no time to contact anyone.
After that, everyone knows what happened.
Fortunately, she had left Louyun City by then, but the subsequent series of disasters caused by the super tsunami spread widely, and Internet outage was one of them.
In such bad weather, her transfer could not be smooth sailing. She was injured in a car accident and human tragedy, and lived in the rescue team's temporary medical tent. After that, she had to recuperate for a long time, so it was normal that she continued to lose contact.
During the recovery process, I unexpectedly met some good friends, started learning combat and self-defense techniques, traveled with them for a while, and managed to buy a new phone and get some supplies in other cities. But in the end, we separated for some reason.
At that time, she was already in Lankou Province, and finally decided to go to Pincheng because she had a friend there who gave her the address, and she wanted to try to find the person.
"You bought a new phone, but why didn't you send us a message first? The network here was still connected at that time..." Chen Fa sighed, and it seemed that after hearing how difficult her journey had been, his anger gradually subsided.
"At first the signal was bad, and then it ran out of battery." Shu Fu took out a waterproof bag from her backpack. The phone was naturally out of battery.
Chen Fa shook his head and went to the side to pick up the extension cord: "Charge it."
Shu Fu looked at her: "The charger is lost."
"...Such an important thing, why did you - forget it..." Chen Fa rubbed his forehead and looked at the model of her phone, "Wait!"
A moment later, she returned with a suitable charger.
Chen Fa watched Shu Fu plug his phone into the charger and thought of something else: "So you were already in the town before the flood?" She made this guess because many households in the town had not left their homes since her team arrived. They were afraid of outsiders, so they blocked the doors and survived on the food stored in their homes.
"No, I have a boat and I came here by boat." She couldn't tell this lie because she was not familiar with the town at all and it would be too easy to be exposed.
"Boat?" Chen Fa was surprised.
"Well, it's a two-seater inflatable boat. I hid it before going ashore." She has two inflatable boats, one is in the open state and the other is in the wrapped state.
The inflatable boat in the boat bag state is indeed not very big and is easy to hide.
Chen Fa was speechless: "There is still a difference between a two-seater inflatable boat and a boat..."
Shu Fu didn't argue about this. She asked Chen Fa if he needed it. If he needed it, she could secretly bring the inflatable boat over.
"Don't make trouble, there are dozens of people in our team..."
"But if it's just you, me, and your grandmother, it should be enough." The other three people in the group knew that Chen Fa's main reason for returning to Lankou Province was for her only relative - her grandmother who raised her.
Her parents divorced when she was young. Both of them found new lovers and didn't want her. Her grandmother was very angry and scolded her father for being heartless. She also scolded her mother - her own daughter - in the same way.
Chen Fa's grandmother was an arts soldier when she was young and had a tough personality. Since her daughter and son-in-law were heartless and didn't want to raise the child, she would cut off ties with them and raise the child herself.
So even though Chen Fa grew up without parents, the love she received from her grandmother was no less than that from anyone else. Her grandmother taught her the responsibilities and principles of life, told her the importance of studying and having a job that can support herself, let her exercise from a young age, and taught her self-defense so that she could be independent and self-reliant and have the ability to protect herself under any circumstances.
Chen Fa told them that her grandmother had been strict with her since she was a child because she felt that she had spoiled her daughter too much and had not taught her well, so she didn't want the same thing to happen to Chen Fa.
Perhaps when she was a child, she did not understand it for a while, but as she grew up, when she found that she was in control of her own life better than many of her peers, she realized how important it is for girls to be self-reliant and have the ability to protect themselves.
For Chen Fa, her grandmother was her only relative in this world. In such a disaster year, no matter whether she chose to go west or retreat, she could not abandon her grandmother.
Sure enough, as Shu Fu said this, Chen Fa turned her head to look at the stairs on the side. The stairs led to the bedroom on the second floor. Her grandmother should be upstairs.
But...they had been downstairs for so long, why didn't they see her grandmother come downstairs?
Shu Fu soon found out the answer.
There was a knock on the door of the small building, and someone came in with a thermos cup. It was not the team member who followed Chen Fa that Shu Fu had seen before, but a stranger. She felt that Chen Fa's aura changed slightly, as if he became nervous and alert in an instant.
But her expression was not obvious, and if Shu Fu didn't know her so well, he wouldn't have noticed it at all.
The person who came was a man in his thirties. Because the road was close, he held an umbrella but did not wear a raincoat.
"Why are you here so early today?" Chen Fa asked.
"I wanted to come earlier when I heard them say you ended your patrol early." His attire was different from the neat attire of Chen Fa and the other team members. In such hot and humid weather, he was wearing a long white coat. At first glance, it looked like a white coat in a hospital. His face was okay, thin and three-dimensional, with a pair of glasses on his nose. His expression was indifferent, and he inexplicably looked a bit pretentious.
He put the thermos on the table and glanced at Shu Fu who was sitting on the sofa. The scrutiny in his eyes made her feel uncomfortable.
As he approached, Shu Fu smelled the scent of disinfectant in the air, which seemed to be mixed with a bit of a bad smell.
Smell?
Shu Fu's expression did not change. He sniffed carefully again and found that there was indeed a faint...fishy smell on the other person.
"Why is there a new face?" He frowned.
"It's my sister." Chen Fa said only these four words, obviously not wanting to explain how she suddenly appeared. Then, she turned to Shu Fu and introduced: "Tang Ping, the doctor of the team."
"Hello." Shu Fu said softly.
Tang Ping nodded slightly, withdrew his gaze from Shu Fu, and looked at Chen Fa again, saying that newly collected herbs had been added to the medicine this time, and told Chen Fa to give it to her grandmother while it was hot. After drinking it, she could observe for a while, and if there were any changes, she must find him.
When talking about medicine, Chen Fa was very friendly, nodding and expressing his gratitude.
After Tang Ping left, Chen Fa picked up the thermos cup, went straight into the bathroom, and poured the medicine in it into the sewer.
When she came out again, she saw Shu Fu waiting at the bathroom door, her face a little gloomy: "This medicine can't cure my grandma's illness..."
As she spoke, she seemed to know what Shu Fu wanted to ask, and continued, "If I hadn't reacted the way I did just now, they would have sent someone over to watch my grandmother drink these...inexplicable drugs with their own eyes."
"Then what about grandma..." Shu Fu was really confused at this moment. She didn't know whether Chen Fa's grandma was really sick or not.
Chen Fa sighed: "You came from outside, have you seen people with...strange diseases in other places?"
Shu Fu thought about the news she had pieced together on the Internet before, and it seemed that there was no mention of anyone being sick, so she shook her head.
Chen Fa nodded: "It seems that either there is really no such disease outside, or... it is the same situation as here." After all, if a person has this disease for a long time, the family members will panic and subconsciously want to hide.
Chen Fa motioned for Shu Fu to pick up her backpack and go upstairs with her: "I'll take you to see your room, and - to see my grandma."
In the innermost room on the second floor, Chen Fa's grandmother, who was lying on the bed, heard footsteps and opened her eyes vigilantly at first. When she saw that the person coming was her familiar granddaughter, the vigilance in her eyes immediately disappeared. Then she saw Shu Fu who followed her in and showed a somewhat surprised expression.
"Grandma, this is Xiao Fu, the one you praised in front of me that year. She is the most beautiful girl in our dormitory."
Shu Fu had met Chen Fa's grandmother twice, both times when they had just entered college as freshmen. As far as she could remember, Chen Fa's grandmother was in good health and was worried about Chen Fa going to Suicheng to study alone, so she sent her there twice.
Every time he comes, he brings a lot of specialties and snacks from his hometown for other people in the dormitory. He treats people very nicely.
Later, when Chen Fa adapted to the school, she stopped coming here.
At this time, Grandma Chen Fa, who was lying on the bed, looked a little pale, perhaps because she had been sick for a long time and was in a bad mood, but she still smiled kindly at Shu Fu.
Chen Fa sat on the edge of the bed and smiled faintly at Shu Fu, who looked worried. "Don't worry, my grandma is sick because she caught a cold and had a fever after being caught in the rain. In addition, she was traveling all the way and lacked medicine. She has been in a state of ups and downs until now. She may have developed pneumonia in the past two days... However, in this situation, other people will not believe it. After all, the symptoms are similar, so I didn't explain it to them...
A month ago, we might have been able to get medicine in Lucheng, but now, it was useless. The pharmacy had been emptied out, and the useful medicine had been hidden by other teams still in Lucheng.
However, the team will borrow the boat from Malaysia at a fixed time to cross the flood area to exchange supplies with the people in Lucheng. Last time, I had already privately contacted the people in the other team and discussed the exchange conditions. At most, they will bring me finished medicines when they come to exchange supplies in half a month. Although the exchange requirements are a bit high, in this situation, it is possible to get regular finished medicines--" Chen Fa's words were interrupted by Shu Fu's hand in front of her.
Between the other person's slender fingers was a box of medicine that she had always dreamed of having. The words "Amoxicillin" on it were so dazzling that they almost blinded her eyes.
"This should be able to cure pneumonia, right?" She remembered that pneumonia caused by fever and cold was a lung infection, bacterial pneumonia, and could be cured by taking antibiotics.
Seeing Chen Fa in a daze, she thought she had remembered it wrong, and took out a box of Cefdinir, a box of Oseltamivir, and a box of Ibuprofen from her backpack, "I'll give them all to you. Study them and you'll always be able to find the right medicine for your condition."
These medicines are all effective in reducing fever, relieving pain, antibiotics and antivirals.
Chen Fa stared at Shu Fu for a long time, until his eyes turned red. Before he could cry, he stood up and hugged Shu Fu: "You bastard..."
Her voice was choked up and she died halfway through the sentence.
Shu Fu fully understood the unspoken meaning of her words. She folded her arms and gently patted Chen Fa's back with the hand holding the medicine box: "Well, I am late but I am here."
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