Late at night, there are shadows of trees everywhere.
Sinan took a homemade large five-claw hook and held the long wooden handle. He quickly hooked the pine needles and leaves on the ground between a pile of trees and stuffed them into a bag beside him.
When the global temperature rose to around 60 degrees, most of the world's forests caught fire in the extremely dry climate. All the mountains near Stone Mountain were like the mountains in Killeen County, with most of the trees burned black and standing on the mountains.
It would be a waste if those trees were not cut down. They would also take up space and prevent the new trees that have grown in the past two years from growing normally. Therefore, most people cut down dead trees and will not cut down new trees that have not grown much.
Next to them, Sheng Youqing and his brother were chopping trees with machetes. Seeing that Sinan had not chopped down many trees and had been picking up pine needles and leaves from under his feet and putting them into his bag, Sheng Youqing stopped what he was doing, wiped the sweat off his forehead and asked, "Sinan, why are you picking up so many pine needles and leaves?"
"Make some kindling." Si Nan held a bunch of dry and fluffy pine needles and stuffed them into the fertilizer pocket. He said, "It's not enough to just have firewood blocks at home. We need to prepare some more dry and easy-to-burn kindling to make a fire."
Sheng Youqing was stunned for a moment, "I thought you just cut some small pieces of wood to start the fire, but it turns out you need to prepare some kindling. My mother usually makes fire and cooks at home, and I didn't know there are so many things to do when making a fire. Do you have any extra bags? Give me two and I'll take two bags back."
"You are a city kid, so it's normal that you don't know how to burn a big boiler in the countryside. I saw Aunt Sheng and the neighboring aunt cut all the weeds growing on the hill behind the stream, dried them, tied them into small bundles, and took them home to start a fire. I guess you didn't see it."
When Sinan returned to Zizhu Town two years ago, he passed by an agricultural and sideline products store and saw that the owner had many ugly polypropylene woven bags of different colors piled up in the store for fertilizers, seeds, rice, flour, etc.
Those are big bags that are sold specifically to rural farmers and are used to hold various fertilizers, crops and other things.
The texture looks rough, but it can hold a lot of things and is sold very cheaply. For five hundred yuan, you can buy a thousand bags that can hold one or two hundred kilograms. At that time, Si Nan bought a thousand bags, thinking that he might need them in the future, and now they come in handy.
This kind of bag is very common in Z country, and it won't arouse suspicion if you use it. Si Nan pretended to take out the fertilizer bags from the space from the backpack on his back and handed them to her: "Take them, fill them with more, and compact them. Don't let the house be filled with firewood and you can't light a fire without kindling, which will make people laugh to death."
Sheng Youqing chuckled and asked Sheng Youbin to help him pick up pine needles and leaves so that his arms, which were numb and painful from chopping trees, could take a break.
A few women nearby heard their conversation and ran over to ask Sinan if he had any extra bags. They also wanted to pick up some pine needles and leaves to use as kindling.
Si Nan casually took out four bags, handed them to them one by one and said, "These are all I have. I don't have any more. Each of you can take one."
"Thank you, Mrs. Cheng. You are such a good person."
This kind of bag, which was very common and cheap before the apocalypse, can often be seen in the ruins of towns and villages after the apocalypse. However, many of them are rotten and unusable. If you want to use them, you have to go to the Logistics Department to exchange them for points.
Currently, one point can be exchanged for two woven bags, which can be exchanged for a kilogram of rice. Many people are reluctant to spend their points to exchange for those things. They usually use discarded plastic baskets, self-woven bamboo baskets, etc. to carry things. Today, when they came out to chop firewood, they didn’t even think of taking bags to carry the kindling.
Cheng Suming is a doctor. In the eyes of his neighbors, he has a skill and makes a living by his own ability. He earns half more points than people in ordinary jobs. His family has no shortage of supplies. Sinan took out four pockets for them to use. They didn't find it strange. They thanked him and said that they would return the pockets to her after they filled them with matches.
Si Nan smiled and said it was okay to come back anytime, then lowered his head and continued to use his hook to hook the pine needles on the ground.
The hill where they were located was covered with a large pine forest. The high temperatures two years ago burned the pine forest for more than a month before the fire stopped burning.
When it rained heavily, the remaining pine trees on the mountain that had not burned out began to take root and sprout. After more than two years, the mountain has recovered and turned green.
Those trees are still small, the largest one is only as thick as an arm, and only two or three meters tall. However, because more trees have grown in the past two years, their leaves will fall when the weather gets a little cold.
The pine needles from the pine trees have fallen to the ground, forming only a thin layer. It feels soft and comfortable to step on, like a carpet, and is perfect for using as kindling.
The women were picking up pine needles and leaves on the ground, while the men were chopping trees with machetes and axes.
In the silent valley, the only sound could be heard: the sound of chopping trees.
Because the trees had been scorched, many of them had already dried up, which made it easier to cut down trees than living ones. Piles of trees soon formed at the locations where each household had cut down trees.
It was less than two hours until twelve o'clock, and the journey back would take an hour and a half. Cheng Suming saw that everyone had cut down a lot of trees, so he asked everyone to carry the cut trees to their respective cars.
While everyone wasn't paying attention, Si Nan smuggled all the fallen trees and branches that no one had noticed, including a lot of leaves that she had hooked with her five-claw hook and didn't have time to put into her pocket, into the space.
An old lady noticed her five-claw hook and sighed, "Mrs. Cheng really has everything prepared. We didn't think so carefully. Look at your hook. You can hook a bunch of pine needles in front of you with just a stretch of your arm. We have to bend over and pluck them with our hands for a long time to get so many. We really can't help but admire it."
This five-claw hook is a common agricultural tool used in rural areas of the southwest. Its common function is to hook weeds that have been cut off the ground.
People just need to stand, hold the long wooden handle connected to the five-claw hook, stretch out their hand and hook a large pile of weeds. There is no need to bend down to pick up the weeds bit by bit. It is quite convenient.
Si Nan felt that he had hooked enough, so he lent the five-claw hook to Sheng Youbin who was still picking pine needles, and said to the aunties, "I am a lazy person, I always want to take shortcuts. My husband earns a lot of points every month, and this five-claw hook doesn't cost many points, so I went to the logistics department to exchange it for one."
Ever since the Shishan base began to build roads to other places and search for various kinds of supplies to replenish the warehouses, and the logistics department started to redeem points, Si Nan could use the excuse of the omnipotent logistics department to explain the embarrassment of taking things out of the space.
The women were envious again: "Mrs. Cheng, you are so lucky to marry a doctor. You don't have to go out to work because you have a lot of points. Unlike us, our husbands earn points, minus the rent, and the rest is barely enough for the family. If we want to spend money on other things, we have no points at all. We can only live frugally. That feeling, don't even mention it..."
Some people also gossiped: "Hey? Mrs. Cheng, how many years have you been married to your husband? Why don't you have a child? Your husband is so capable, handsome, and has a good temper. If you don't have a child to tie him down, what if he is seduced away by those women who have bad intentions towards him? You have to be careful!"
Si Nan looked at the slender figure carrying a big tree not far away, walking upright, and said with a faint smile: "We won't have children, and he won't cheat. I still have some confidence in myself."
Cheng Suming is a henpecked man who puts her first in everything. He wants to keep her by his side every day and not allow her to go anywhere. She doesn't believe that such a man would cheat on her.
After experiencing the scumbag Zou Shichu, her attitude towards emotions has undergone a subversive change.
Her current thought is that love is not the only thing in a long life. There are many beautiful things in this world that are worth her exploring and finding. Without Zou Shichu and Cheng Suming, she can live well alone.
If Cheng Su Ming really betrayed her and had an affair one day, she would either part ways with him amicably or make Cheng Su Ming pay a heavy price for deceiving her feelings.
She had already prepared herself for everyone to leave her, so whether Cheng Suming would cheat on her was not a big problem at all in her mind.
After all, this world can continue to move forward without anyone.
After everyone had dragged the trees they had cut onto their respective carts, Yang Wentao blew the whistle, asking everyone to gather and count the number of people.
Three minutes later, a woman in her thirties suddenly shouted in panic: "My son is missing!"
"Where was the last place you saw your son?" Si Nan recognized the woman as the fat mother and son she had heard talking earlier, and asked.
There are very few families these days that can still let their children maintain a slightly plump figure. It's obvious that the little fat boy is a child who has been spoiled.
Logically speaking, knowing that the wild is dangerous, parents should not let their children leave their side.
The woman hesitated for a moment, pointed to a valley and said, "Just now Xiaopang said he wanted to go to the toilet, I was picking up branches nearby, and I let him go by himself. I thought everyone was nearby, so there shouldn't be any big problems, but who knew he still hasn't come out yet."
"I think your son was pretending to go to the toilet, but was really stealing branches." A Northeastern lady with a slender leg and a loud voice, surnamed Wang, said bluntly, "Your fat boy has been spoiled by your family to be lazy and likes to steal food from everywhere, so he is so fat. You asked him to go out and pick up branches, but with his lazy character, he must have secretly stolen some of the branches that everyone picked up and put them in your car. Now he must have lost his way."
The place where firewood is chopped is a certain distance away from the firewood truck. Many people, after chopping down trees and picking up branches, habitually put them in a pile on the spot. When there are enough, they tie them up with ropes and drag them down.
Someone answered, "I just said that I picked up a bunch of branches and put them aside. When I wanted to tie them up, I felt that there were a lot missing. I thought it was my illusion. Someone had stolen them!"
"Oh, now that you mention it, I feel like I have fewer branches."
"Me too."
"Little Fatty's mom, you're wrong. We're all neighbors. It's okay for Little Fatty to steal normally. Everyone thinks he's just a kid and doesn't care. But we came out at night to chop trees in this dangerous wilderness. We all want to pick up more branches and take some home to store for the winter. Why are you instructing your child to steal branches from everyone else? What's wrong with letting your child waste some energy to pick up some branches? With your child's sneaky behavior, who would be willing to take your family out to chop wood together in the future?"
The little fat mother was so ashamed by what everyone said. With red eyes, she said, "I'm sorry, everyone. I didn't teach my child well. I'm sorry."
The fat dad stood beside her, pursed his lips and said nothing.
Sister Wang said, "Don't say sorry. Your child has all these bad habits because of your old lady's spoiling! Before, your little fat boy stole my big steamed buns and was discovered by my mother-in-law. I went to argue with her, but your mother-in-law still argued with me, saying that her grandson ate my steamed buns because he looked up to me! I was so angry that I had a big argument with her at that time! I know that you two are busy at work during the day and don't have time to take care of the child, but if you let your mother-in-law spoil your child like this, your child will be in trouble!"
Xiaopang's parents are ordinary people. Before the end of the world, the couple worked from morning to night, busy all the time to earn that meager salary to support the family, and the child was left to the care of the old lady in the family.
The old lady is uneducated and is an unreasonable weirdo. She was old when she had a grandson, and she was especially close to the grandson of the same generation. She indulged Xiaopang in everything. Over time, she spoiled Xiaopang with bad habits. Petty theft became a norm, and he also learned to swear like her, bully other children, throw tantrums, etc. In short, he was a problem child.
Xiaopang's mother had quarreled with Xiaopang's grandmother countless times over the issue of child discipline. Every time, Xiaopang's father tried to mediate between them, failing to appease either side. Life was so frustrating for Xiaopang.
After so long, Xiaopang's mother was already tired and wanted to take the child away. Xiaopang's grandmother always tried to stop her with jokes and Xiaopang's father tried to persuade her in various ways, making it very difficult for her to do so.
After hearing what Sister Wang said this time, Xiaopang's mother looked at Xiaopang's father with hatred and made a decision: "After I find Xiaopang and go back, I will separate from your mother! If you can't bear to leave your mother, you and your son can live together. I will take Xiaopang to live in the dormitory! I must correct all his problems. I don't want him to be ruined by your mother and become a scoundrel despised by everyone!"
Xiaopang's father stammered a few times, thinking about how his mother lost her husband when she was young, and how it was not easy for a woman to raise him. Now he was so arrogant and unreasonable, which gave him a headache. He didn't know what to do. In the end, he said nothing and silently followed everyone to look for Xiaopang everywhere.
A group of people were in the dark mountains, turning on the few headlamps and flashlights they had, searching everywhere and calling out the child's name.
Sheng Youqing followed the crowd to check for places where Xiaopang might appear, such as under a big tree, in a ravine, or in some caves where he might be hiding.
Time passed by minute by minute, and after about twenty minutes, someone shouted, "We found Xiaopang!"
Everyone was shocked to hear that person say, "Xiao Pang accidentally fell into a small hole on a slope and passed out. He just woke up and responded when he heard everyone shouting. Everyone come and help. This hole is small and deep. If you don't pay attention, you can't find it at all."
Many people went over to help. Sheng Youqing also wanted to go over, but she saw Si Nan standing under a small tree, looking up at the top of the mountain. She couldn't help but ask curiously, "Si Nan, what are you looking at?"
"I don't know. I seem to have dreamt of such a scene two years ago." Si Nan murmured in a low voice: "I have a bad feeling. Tell everyone to hurry up and leave here."
Si Nan was injured while saving Cheng Wei two years ago, and had many dreams about natural disasters. She told Sheng Youqing and Gao Moli about this. Sheng Youqing didn't believe it at first, and always felt that the dreams she described were too magical and unrealistic.
Now, after two years of natural disasters, Si Nan's dreams have come true one by one, and she has to believe it even if she doesn't want to.
Hearing what Si Nan said, Sheng Youqing's face suddenly changed. Without hesitation, he turned around and ran towards the small cave entrance on the slope where Xiao Pang was, urging everyone: "Hurry up, it's dangerous here, let's leave quickly!"
Everyone was confused for a moment, not understanding what she meant, and then they heard her ask, "Is Xiaopang stuck?"
"Yes, the cave is too small, Xiaopang can't move, and we adults can't get in. We persuaded Tingting to tie a rope and pull her upside down to pull Xiaopang down."
Tingting is a 14-year-old girl with a rather thin figure. She was reluctant to go down and pull Xiaopang out, mainly because Xiaopang had once stolen the candy her mother had gotten for her with great difficulty, and had also called her a fatherless bastard. Little did she know that her father had been killed by criminals more than a year ago in order to protect her and her mother from being defiled by them.
Among the six children who were accompanying her, she was the oldest and of suitable build, so she had the strength to pull Xiaopang up. The other children were too thin and small to pull Xiaopang up.
Tingting's mother and everyone else were talking till they were drooling, but the vengeful Tingting was unwilling to go down and save Xiaopang.
Xiaopang's mother was so anxious that she knelt down in front of Tingting, kowtowed and cried, "Tingting, it's Auntie who didn't teach Xiaopang well. Auntie apologizes to you on his behalf. Please save Xiaopang."
Tingting huddled behind her mother, at a loss as to what to do.
Tingting's mother went to help Xiaopang's mother. When she was about to turn back to persuade her daughter, she suddenly saw Cheng Suming and Sinan rushing over. They looked very bad. Tingting's mother asked curiously, "What's wrong, Doctor Cheng?"
"There are wolves."
As soon as Cheng Suming finished speaking, everyone heard the roars of wolves from hell: "Awoo—"
“There really is a wolf!”
"Where?"
"On the top of the mountain, look!"
On the top of a mountain not far away, large shadows that looked a bit like dogs appeared one after another. Their eyes were glowing green in the dark night, and there were no less than fifty of them.
They stopped on the top of the mountain and howled for a while, then smelled the scent of living prey halfway up the mountain. With a loud howl from the leading wolf, all the adult wolves took their agile bodies and ran down the mountain at a rapid speed.
The wolves were running down the mountain so fast that it felt like in the blink of an eye, they had already run down a distance of 100 to 200 meters. Everyone panicked and shouted, "Quick, hurry up and get Xiao Pang up!"
"No, Tingting won't go down, and we can't get Xiaopang up!"
"Don't save Xiaopang, let's go, the wolves are coming!"
"No, please don't abandon my son. I beg you to save Xiaopang. I kowtow to you!"
“Don’t panic, everyone, take out your weapons and gather together. The old, women and children should stand in the middle. Be quick!” Cheng Suming shouted to those who wanted to run, “There are so many of us. If we unite, we can deal with the wolves! Don’t run around! Be careful that the wolves will seize the opportunity and defeat you one by one! Cui Yongzhi, you take Tingting and a few others with you to rescue Xiaopang. We will take back as many people as we have out. Everyone should believe in our ability. Stay calm and don’t panic!”
Everyone's panic gradually calmed down in the calm tone of Cheng Suming's voice. They took out their weapons and began to move in a circle according to Cheng Suming's instructions.
Cui Yongzhi is Tingting's second uncle. At this moment, he didn't care what his niece thought. He called Tingting's mother, and the two of them tried to persuade Tingting hurriedly. However, they tied ropes around Tingting's legs without saying a word, and called a few strong men to drag the ropes on Tingting's body and put her upside down into the cave to pull out Xiaopang at the bottom of the cave.
At this time, the wolves had already rushed to the front of the people. In the panic of the crowd, the tall Yang Wentao took the lead, holding a solid iron stick as thick as his wrist in his hand, and used all his strength like playing baseball. At the moment when the fastest wolf rushed over, he swung the "stick" and hit it with a -
"Ah——!" After a miserable wolf howl, the wolf was blown away like a rag by Yang Wentao's huge force and hit a small tree hard.
The trunk of the small tree broke, and the wolf fell to the ground covered in blood, twitching, and was not far from death.
Cheng Suming quickly took out two sharp scalpels from his bag, stretched out his arms, one on the left and one on the right, and when the wolves rushed over, he did not retreat but advanced instead, running left and right with an extremely steady and agile posture. When the cold light flashed, he saw the wolves' fur being cut, blood flowing out, and their bodies falling to the ground.
Si Nan raised the crossbow in his hand and aimed at the dozen fastest running wolves. Every time he pulled the trigger, he would shoot a wolf.
The wolves remained in the leaping and fluttering posture, with iron arrows stuck in their heads or chests. They fell from the sky in such a horrible way that they didn't even have time to scream.
Such an accurate hit rate left the people behind her stunned. They had never expected that Si Nan and the other two had such explosive fighting power. Facing such a ferocious wolf pack, they fought head-on with no intention of retreating. Instead, they easily killed those wolves that seemed difficult to deal with. What powerful god-like neighbors they were!
With them around, I feel so safe!
After Si Nan shot all the arrows in her hand, she stepped aside and reloaded the arrows. A wolf tried to attack her at close range, but she calmly pulled out the machete that was strapped diagonally to her backpack, raised the knife high with her slender arms, and used the muscle strength she had developed from chopping wood in the past two months. She had no extra fighting skills and just dodged the wolf's attack by turning sideways.
As she turned sideways, she raised her knife and chopped it down with force. The silver blade chopped down, and the wolf's head was not chopped off, but half of it was chopped off. The knife in her hand was stuck in the hard bones of the wolf's head.
At this moment, another wolf rushed towards her. The onlookers gasped and shouted, "Be careful!"
Si Nan turned around and saw an arrow brushing her face and hitting the heart of the adult wolf that was running towards her, just stopping the wolf from biting her arm.
Si Nan turned around and did a roundhouse kick, kicking the wolf away fiercely. He turned to look at the master of the arrow and praised: "Youqing, your archery skills have improved a lot recently."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
