Chapter 124 Who are you looking for?
The decision to relocate was indeed difficult to make, but the frequency of earthquake escape drills in the mountain city has indeed increased recently.
Time passed day by day, and one day Chang Xile met an old acquaintance on his way home from a dream.
Still wearing his hood, Wessel stood at the entrance of an alley and said to Chang Xile, "Hey, why are you still in Shancheng?"
Chang Hele hadn't expected to run into Weatherall here. She'd initially wanted to mention the earthquake warning, but then something in her head felt strange, so she held back on the reminder and simply replied, "School's not closed yet."
"Going to school is bullshit." Weatherall sneered and said, "Haven't you heard the latest rumors in Shancheng?"
"What rumor?" Chang Xile asked knowingly.
"An earthquake," Weatherill said. "That's not a rumor; it's real."
"How did you know?" Chang Xile was a little surprised, but then he thought that his original form was a weasel after all, so it was probably normal for him to be able to sense the movements of nature, right?
"Not only do I know, I'm going to tell you, □□, but..." Wessel opened his mouth, but his voice stopped abruptly in the middle of the sentence. He tried several times but couldn't say the last word, as if something was stopping him invisibly.
"What's wrong with you?" Chang Xile pressed. "If earthquakes aren't natural disasters, then what are they?"
"Forget it," Wedel said with a wry smile. "Anyway, you better leave the mountain city. That's all I have to say."
I don’t know if I will have the chance to repay her in the future.
Then he pulled his hood more tightly around his shoulders and disappeared into the dark alley.
Chang Xile was still pondering his words, but the man was gone, so she had no choice but to go home. It was already late.
Time really flies, and in the blink of an eye, Chang Xile and her classmates have finished their final exams.
When she left the exam room, An Ping was already waiting at the door. He had said he would always be by Chang Xile's side, and at first, he'd occasionally let her be alone for a while. But these past few days, he'd been practically inseparable from her, even leaving her soul to visit her in dreams was forbidden.
Fang Xinai was no longer surprised by the inseparable duo. Stretching, she said to them, "Because of the exam today, there's no emergency drill. I'm still a little unaccustomed to it."
"It's winter vacation already, and there are so many snacks stocked up in the dormitory. Let's see how you deal with them." Ren Qing said to her.
"Hey, most of the snacks I bought have a very long shelf life. They'll definitely be good to go even after winter break." Fang Xinai smiled and nudged Chang Xile with his shoulder. "Especially the ones Xile bought for us, with all the compressed biscuits and a lot of mineral water. Even if there's a zombie siege, they'll be enough to last us a long time, right?"
Chang Xile breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't chat and laugh with the others as usual. She just urged them calmly, "Didn't you say you bought tickets to go home this afternoon? Go back and pack your things, so you don't miss the bus."
"Oh, I get it. I won't be able to see you for a long time during this vacation, and I really don't want to leave you." Fang Xinai suddenly felt a little sad.
"We will meet again." Chang Xile said seriously, "We must all be well and wait until the day we meet again."
Fang Xinai wanted to complain about Chang Xile's words again, saying they sounded like a farewell, but Chang Xile had been very aware of avoiding prophecies recently, so she tried hard to swallow back this "unlucky" comment.
On the way to the cafeteria, they met Zhong Timeng. She smiled and greeted Chang Xile and the others: "It's been a long time since I saw you at school."
"It's winter vacation. Do you want to join the photography club's special winter vacation activities?" Zhong Timeng asked with a smile.
"What?" Chang Xile asked, his smile froze for a moment.
"We're planning to return home later in the winter break, and the photography department has organized a five-day, four-night camping and sketching trip," Zhong Timeng said. "We haven't decided on a location yet, but we'll probably choose one of the hills in the mountain city. We've been to Changle Mountain so many times, and we're still discussing whether to include it in the itinerary."
"How can that be possible!" Chang Xile was so anxious that he was a little incoherent.
Ren Qing glanced at her and agreed, "Recently, people say that the mountain city is about to have an earthquake. Just in case, why not go home early?"
"You believe rumors?" Zhong Timeng laughed and sighed, "When I was a kid, I also believed the world would end in 2012. I was so scared that I couldn't sleep that night. But when I woke up the next day, nothing had happened."
Chang Xile calmed down a bit and continued to persuade: "Isn't Changle Mountain about to be developed? It's not suitable for sketching, right?"
"You're right." Zhong Timeng's expression was not as enthusiastic as before. "Then we should go. When we return to school next spring, I don't know what a mess Changle Mountain will be in."
"Senior sister!" Chang Xile was about to speak when Anping grabbed his arm.
"Well, I invited you anyway. It's okay if it's not convenient for you to come. I have to go and get busy first." Zhong Timeng didn't argue with her much. She said goodbye gently and left.
"What's wrong?" Chang Xile noticed Anping's nervous look and asked him.
"Things are a bit strange over at Changle Mountain," he said.
"What do you mean?" Chang Xile didn't understand.
Anping walked to the grass outside the building, leaned over and placed his palms on the grass. Shancheng University is very close to Changle Mountain and they share the same roots.
He said: "The earth was shaking slowly and there were wailing sounds coming from deep within the earth."
Anping's voice was so quiet that Fang Xinai and the others didn't hear it. They were still discussing buying something to eat later. Chang Xile squatted beside him and whispered, "How could this happen? Did the earthquake come early?"
It is only the 18th day of the twelfth lunar month, and there is still a whole week until the date they warned.
"I'll go and take a look." Anping stood up.
"I'm going too." Chang Xile insisted on following. Anping originally wanted her to stay, but in the end he thought of something and took her hand and headed west to Shancheng University.
"Hey, why did these two just leave without saying goodbye?" Fang Xinai looked at their backs as they left, a little aggrieved. "We won't see each other for the entire winter break, and Xile won't even have a meal with us."
Yang Guisi stroked Fang Xinai's hair to comfort her, but remained silent. She looked toward the silent and familiar Changle Mountain in the distance, her expression filled with worry.
"I have to go too," she said suddenly.
When Anping and his companions approached the foot of Changle Mountain, they could hear the loud rumbling sound coming from the mountain without having to touch the ground.
Chang Xile hesitated a little: "This isn't what earthquakes are like, is it?" But she had never experienced it, so she wasn't sure.
"It's not an earthquake, it's a man-made sound." Anping held Chang Xile's hand tightly and continued to move closer to the source of the sound.
Soon, they got their answer. A group of workers had set up their machinery on a flat area in the mountains. Several excavators were already in operation. Birds in the forest screamed and scattered. Some unlucky rodents were lifted into the air by the excavators, along with the soil. Some of them jumped back to the ground, bounced a few times, and then fell silent.
"The Chen family has started construction." Anping said.
It was reported in the news that the development project was expected to be completed in January of the following year, which was much later than the time of the earthquake that Chang Xile and his team knew about.
"How can we do this?" At this rate, Changle Mountain's ecological environment would be severely damaged. Chang Xile recalled the mountains she had seen stripped bare by excavators. It was hard to imagine the same scene happening on Changle Mountain. She couldn't help but think of the firefly swarm near the moon-viewing platform a few months ago. Fireflies are very demanding of their environment, and perhaps they would never appear again.
Chang Xile blinked hard. What he needed to pay more attention to now was not this matter.
She looked up at Anping and said, "The mountain city still hasn't issued an evacuation notice."
They've been working very hard these days, and they've seen action from higher-ups. More and more people are becoming aware of earthquake preparedness and making preparations. Some are even planning to leave the mountain city and return home or take a trip as the Lunar New Year approaches.
But that's not enough. In the face of a real disaster, knowing the escape routes or storing supplies in corners of the house are just the last resort. The best thing to do is to leave the city first.
They had tried to spread more specific prophetic messages, but these were quickly blocked to avoid causing panic. They also tried to mention the disaster to people they met, but most people took it as a joke. Some even got angry and warned them not to spread rumors.
Some people had vaguely noticed something was amiss. For example, the clouds in the sky had recently become unusually vibrant, the number of cats and dogs on the roadside had drastically decreased, and the fish at home kept jumping out of their tanks. People were also restless, easily angered.
But for some ordinary people, leaving for a prophecy with no concrete news is still too high a price to pay.
Therefore, these people who work outside, perhaps due to contract restrictions or to earn money to support their families, will stay here to participate in construction during the Chinese New Year when they should be going home.
Before these machines can completely destroy Changle Mountain, the mountain will swallow them up first.
Anping can actually understand: "This is too difficult for them."
If it was a misjudgment, the city would have lost billions of dollars in property. Who can take responsibility for this?
"But if life doesn't exist, why bother about money!" Chang Xile said angrily, but tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.
Before Anping could say anything, someone from the construction site noticed the commotion and shouted, "Who's over there?"
The foreman came over and saw a young couple. He waved them off and said, "Please stay away from this construction site. If you want to date, go somewhere else."
Chang Xile wanted to say something but Anping grabbed her wrist.
"Hey, what a rare guest." A familiar and annoying voice sounded from another direction.
He waved to the foreman, Wang, and said, "It's okay. These are two of my friends. They came to show their support on the first day of work."
Engineer Wang's expression finally softened, he smiled and went back to check on the construction progress.
"Oh, you two are late and missed the ribbon-cutting ceremony. What a pity." Chen Moxin stared at Chang Xile with a slight smile on his lips.
"Who is your friend?" Chang Xile said coldly.
"You're really hurtful when you say that." Chen Moxin exaggeratedly covered his heart with his right hand. His tone was not without malice as he warned, "I advise you to avoid offending me. When we meet again in the future, I will leave your body intact for the sake of your beautiful eyes."
An Ping grabbed his wrist and twisted it in the opposite direction, causing Chen Moxin to scream in pain. The workers nearby noticed the commotion and looked over warily.
Chen Moxin laughed and said to him, "As for you, I will definitely skin you alive when the time comes."
"When will that time come?" An Ping asked him coldly. He didn't pay attention to the group of people who were slowly surrounding him from the other side. Instead, he looked around vigilantly.
Chen Moxin knew he had spoken out of turn, so he stopped talking. Although he felt pain, after noticing An Ping's gaze, he smiled and asked, "What are you looking for?"
"A flatterer?"
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