Many people might not understand the scale of 30,000 people. I can give a brief example to help you understand. A school playground is about 10,000 square meters, and the total number of teachers and students is generally around 3,000. If everyone were to run onto the playground, each person would have about 3 square meters, giving them ample space to stand or lie down. But if the number of people were to increase tenfold, everyone would have to stand very close together to barely make room.
Jiang Ling was horrified when she heard they were planning to evacuate so many people at once. She felt the two hadn't considered the actual situation. Even if there were still hundreds of administrators inside, each person would be responsible for the safety of seven or eight people. She could only secretly pray that the situation hadn't reached that point, at least not to the point where an immediate evacuation was necessary.
Everyone was quick, and it only took a few minutes to put on their protective suits. Jiang Ling put her helmet on and noticed that the outermost film on the lens had been scratched, so she tore off a piece.
A large mechanical hand patted Jiang Ling's shoulder and said, "Turn the short-range communication channel to number five!"
Jiang Ling took off his helmet, tapped the terminal on it a few times, and then put it back on. "Ahem~ Can you hear me?"
"Very clear, but don't talk too much. Someone else might hear this channel. And you can call me Mole. Over."
"My name is Flying Squirrel, over." An exoskeleton warrior with a white mark on his body shook his body and gestured.
"Why are there only rats?" Jiang Ling asked an idiotic question.
"...What can we call you?" The two were silent for a while, and finally asked.
"Hmm~ Let me think... You can just call me gopher!" Jiang Ling decided to follow their tradition.
Seeing everyone was ready, the guide called everyone to gather. He shouted loudly, but the sound was muffled by two layers of protective clothing, making it only a dull sound. "Listen up! Once you get up there, no shouting, no talking, no whispering. Turn off the generator in a moment, and no running around... Dong Xie, turn it off!" He gestured to Dong Xie, who was squatting next to the generator. "Report when you've adjusted to the darkness. Once everyone has reported, we'll set off."
The wheezing of the generator died down, and the overhead lights flickered briefly before going out, shrouding the open space in darkness once more. Jiang Ling adapted quickly, but she didn't raise her hand to report anything. She waited until four strangers shouted, "I see!" before waving to the guide.
"Everyone follow closely~" The guide turned around without hesitation and began to lead the way, and everyone hurried to follow him.
Jiang Ling didn't know how the guide had figured out the direction in the dark. They followed him around a few corners and onto the stairs. The stairs were clean at first, but after walking up two flights, things became different. Fine sand had been spread on the steps, causing those with limited mobility to slip.
As they continued up the mountain, the surrounding brightness began to increase, but it remained within everyone's comfort zone. When the people ahead stopped, the view suddenly opened up. Through the reinforced window, Jiang Ling saw the snow-covered ruins of the city and the charred trees outside.
"Come here! There is a ladder here. Go down one by one. Don't be in a hurry. It's relatively safe here." The guide leaned against a modified window and pointed to an orange-yellow metal ladder.
As soon as he finished speaking, two exoskeleton soldiers jumped out of the window. The people surrounding the window waited for a moment and finally took action.
By the time Jiang Ling and Xidu landed on solid ground, everyone had already reached the surface. The young people who had been whispering to each other were now speechless at the spectacular sight. Jiang Ling realized they were no longer in the city center. Instead, after two hours of trekking, they had arrived near the underground parking lot of a supermarket.
It was almost eight in the morning, but the sky was still overcast, lacking the usual sunshine and warmth.
"Hurry, hurry! Don't stop! We can't stay on the ground for too long!" Seeing everyone stunned, the guide hurriedly reminded, "Follow closely! Don't go to the roadside or the side roads. Don't even think about finding any good stuff in those shops; they've all been cleared out by the searchers!"
The road they were walking on looked like it had been cleared by people. The abandoned vehicles on the road had been pushed to the side of the road, and the gravel and broken glass that hurt their feet had been roughly swept together. Now there was nothing dangerous on the road except some white snow.
The crowd formed a long line, with Jiang Ling and two large men at the back. The guide had invited Dong Xidu and Xidu to the front, and they seemed to be chatting. Jiang Ling walked easily on the packed snow, which had been trampled down by the people in front of him, and looked around like an elementary school student on a picnic.
They walked from a small path onto a main road running straight north and south, with residential areas on both sides. The high-rise buildings seemed to have withstood the nuclear bomb that exploded in the city center; some of the upper floors' windows were still intact. The greenery on the grounds had disappeared, with only a few charred, dead trees still standing.
The team walked north until they reached an intersection blocked by collapsed buildings and turned right. Then, they saw the highway in the distance, which seemed to be still running.
"Isn't it a little too quiet here?" Someone in the team couldn't help but say this, which resonated with several people in front and behind, and they all started discussing it.
"Shut up!" The guide turned around and glanced, "If you want to die, don't follow me!"
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