Chapter 102 Chapter 102
Time flies.
After waiting for a whole day and the sky not getting dark yet, people realized that the polar day had finally arrived. Everyone was worried, wondering what would happen next?
God won't let them survive this polar day so easily.
Almost everyone thinks so.
However, from morning till night, the sky remained bright, with no sign of getting dark. However, it was still calm, even too sunny, and some people began to wonder: "Is it really a safe day as they said?"
"No, that's Peace Day!"
"Who cares? As long as he doesn't cause any trouble..."
"I always feel like life won't be this peaceful, so let's just stock up on food."
"Oh, what a miserable day!"
When the polar day comes, the sun moves from east to west, and from west to east at night, switching back and forth in sequence, but it does not disappear and hangs there all day. Under such strong light, the temperature naturally rises.
But it didn't rise to 60 or 70 degrees like the extremely hot previous time, but only around 30 degrees.
The survivors, who were used to the cold polar night, were having some difficulty adapting to it, and their already weak bodies became even more susceptible to heatstroke.
But that's all.
In a short time, humans were able to adapt.
It wasn't until another month passed that the base officially welcomed its first bumper harvest in these years. The authorities couldn't help but release more food to the survivors, and even a little more meat.
When everyone in the base was dancing and rejoicing, suddenly everyone felt an earthquake.
There was an earthquake?!
Everyone was panicked and their laughter stopped abruptly. Everyone ran out of the house as soon as possible. Ji Yang and Xie Muchi were also eating at home at this time. The first time they noticed the noise, Ji Yang put the entire dining table into the space and ran out with Xie Muchi.
The four dogs and one cat on the day shift also ran very fast.
But as soon as I ran into the yard, the shaking sensation disappeared.
The alarm at the base sounded, but everyone remained vigilant and stood outside. People in the villa area also came to the shock-absorbing zone specially planned in the community.
Those with a more aggressive temper have already started cursing: "Is this never going to end! Is this never going to end!!!"
"I've had enough!"
"Really? Can you be more decisive today?"
But no one responded to him. Everything was quiet, with only the sound of the neighbors talking in low voices.
Ji Yang and Xie Muchi did not go over, but just waited in the yard. If they really wanted to run, it would be difficult to do so in public. They were in their own yard, and something really happened, so they picked up a few cats and dogs and returned to the space together.
After ten minutes or so, it was still quiet.
It was as if the shaking just now was an illusion.
Xie Muzhi: "It should be fine for now, forget it, let's go back and eat."
Ji Yang looked at the cats and dogs, and found that they had all calmed down, without any of the panic and anxiety that Xixi had experienced during the earthquake. In fact, they had panicked and ran out because of their owner's panic, and they had not even noticed anything unusual in advance.
She nodded: "Well, go back."
The two went back, and after a while, the neighbors also came back cursing.
After dinner, it was already evening, but the sky was still light. Ji Yang and Xie Muzhi were leisurely watering the vegetables in the yard. Not far away, there were neighbors standing in their own yards, chatting with another neighbor about the sudden earthquake with lingering fear.
It doesn't affect anything.
That’s what makes it even more disturbing.
Their families have already started trying every possible means to find out what happened, but Ji Yang felt that this had just happened, and if something really big happened, the base would not know about it so quickly, so there was no need to rush.
It was around nine o'clock in the evening and the two were about to go to bed.
Suddenly there was another shaking.
This time they woke up again, and went out immediately to call back the cats and dogs that were on guard, took back the space, and stared outside vigilantly.
It was still bright outside at this time, and it looked normal. The sky was sunny and cloudless.
This...what is going on? !
After shaking for about two or three minutes, it stopped again.
It seemed as if calm had been restored.
The two held each other's hands with grim expressions.
"If it keeps on like this, will I ever be able to sleep?!"
Xie Muzhi pursed his lips and patted her soothingly: "How about we take turns keeping watch?"
Ji Yang sighed: "This is the only way."
In the past, cats and dogs were the ones keeping watch at night, and the villa area was safe, so we could sleep soundly until the end of our days. But in the current situation, if something goes wrong, the cats and dogs won’t be able to take back their space in time, and that would be heartbreaking.
On the first day, they took turns to keep watch. Ji Yang went to bed first, and Xie Muchi was responsible for keeping watch.
It means guarding, which means lying in bed, but not falling asleep. You can do whatever you want.
When two people are together, they can take care of each other no matter what happens.
Ji Yang was already sleepy, so he closed his eyes and fell asleep quickly. He slept much more soundly this time. When he woke up, it was already past seven o'clock the next morning. There were obviously two dark circles under Xie Muchi's eyes, which had regained its fair complexion.
"You should have called me." Ji Yang was a little annoyed. She had agreed to sleep for only seven hours, but she ended up sleeping for almost ten hours. Xie Muchi wiped her face and got up to wash it: "It's okay. We have plenty of time anyway."
Ji Yang also followed him and waited for him to finish washing. He urged him to go to bed, washed his face to wake himself up, and then sat on a chair beside him with his eyes closed to do his daily tasks in the space.
This went on for several days in a row.
The earthquakes never stop, basically twice a day, occasionally three times, and rarely four times. Fortunately, the amplitude of each earthquake is not large.
At first everyone was trembling with fear, but later on they became numb and some people gave up on themselves: "I won't hide anymore, let it be, I'll die if I die."
Ji Yang and Xie Muchi were also numb, but they had taken turns keeping watch from the beginning, and now they adjusted to take turns to rest, and they were relatively more comfortable without having to worry so much.
Just when something was about to happen, the other party was able to bring himself into a space that was also a safe house.
It was just a little bad during the day. They never went out to hide. Occasionally they would water the vegetables in the yard. When neighbors passed by, they would chat with them and said that they didn't seem to be afraid at all.
Ji Yang could only laugh dryly when he saw this: "Too many times, I'm numb."
Everyone understood and cursed God.
——
About a month later, earthquakes became more frequent.
The amplitude of each movement is still not very large, at most it will make the cups at home shake and water come out.
Apart from this, no one has noticed any other changes.
Xie Muchi also started running towards the research institute, trying to find out what was going on.
But there was no news for a while.
The base has already sent many people to investigate the surrounding situation and used many methods, but the conditions are limited and the data must be verified many times, so the results cannot be obtained immediately.
It was not until half a month later that Xie Muchi finally got some information - it was most likely plate movement!
"This is just a preliminary guess." Xie Muzhi said in a deep tone. Even if it is a guess, considering the current harsh environment, it is very likely to be true: "The research institute believes that the blue planet has caused a plate movement in a short period of time that should have taken hundreds of thousands of years to complete slowly. So when the plates collide with each other, there will be those vibrations, and this is just the most basic contact..."
There are six major plates on the surface of the blue planet.
These plates have been floating on the fluid mantle asthenosphere, and the six major plates move with the movement of the asthenosphere.
This is the principle, but the Blue Planet is so huge that this kind of movement should be basically ignored by humans.
The life cycle of a human being is at most one hundred years, but the cycle of plate movement is hundreds of thousands of years. With human life, it is almost impossible to feel the changes in the plates without careful observation.
But things changed.
If this speculation is correct, and plate movement continues at the current trend, it will only get more and more serious. By then... the plates will collide violently, mountains will rise from the plains, the mountains will crack into abysses, and the sea water covering 70% of the blue planet will also become turbulent.
In severe cases, it may cover the entire earth.
That is to say - seawater is flooding back.
The vast ocean turns into mulberry fields, and vice versa. Thousands of meters of seabed once rose up to become new continents.
Ji Yang suddenly thought of the earth's surface damaged by acid rain: "If humans can survive this natural disaster, will the soil that can nurture life reappear?"
The current soil has become a definite wasteland. If nature continues to cultivate it like this, it may not be able to nurture life in a dozen or even dozens of years.
Without the ability to plant, human food sources will become increasingly scarce, and they can only rely on the soil stored up in the early stages. But if something happens to this soil, one cannot imagine what will happen.
There is hydroponic technology, but it is ultimately inferior to soil and requires the supplementation of various nutrients, which is technically difficult for most ordinary people.
Xie Muzhi: "They did guess so."
The premise is that humans can survive this plate movement with enough survival resources.
After Ji Yang finished thinking about the benefits, she started thinking about the disadvantages. She didn't have a deep understanding of geography and geology, and only found relevant information when she was collecting information. Based on the information Xie Muchi got, she was frightened by the terrible consequences of this incident: "If the plate movement really needs to be completed in a few years, I'm afraid it won't just be seawater backflow, right?"
Xie Muzhi held her in his arms, and the bodies leaning against each other comforted him a little: "Well, according to their conclusion, if it really comes to that time, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and strange weather may all appear at the same time, and the whole world will be in turmoil."
The collision of plates is not the collision of cars.
So many devastating disasters occurred at the same time, and tiny humans were almost powerless to fight back.
The shadow of extinction now hangs over all human beings.
"What does the base plan to do?" Ji Yang asked after a long silence.
Xie Muzhi shook his head: "It's still under discussion for now."
This is a big deal.
Even if the base has made the worst-case plan, it is still very difficult to make this decision. The number of fire sources is far from enough for the current survivors. What about the remaining survivors?
Let them stay here and die?
This is the only logical choice, but it is not an easy decision to make.
Not to mention the huge size of the base, there are many things to consider.
Ji Yang sighed.
The reason why she was willing to give away the food she had saved time and time again was that she felt that if she was the only one left in the world, what would be the point?
She resisted humans and the killing of each other, and refused to have too much contact with them.
But even if she doesn't go out to communicate with those humans, being able to hear and see their existence makes her feel at ease, because it means that humans still exist and she is not truly alone.
Otherwise, she wouldn't be living well alone, but would come to live in the base and be so hesitant to use the space at first.
Ji Yang squeezed Xie Muzhi's fingers tightly, his mind churning with thoughts, but he still blurted out: "You should pay more attention to the base these days. If...if it really comes to that, the space can be exposed."
After saying this, it was as if he had completely let go of the burden in his heart.
Making this decision was easier than I thought.
Ji Yang didn't want to expose the space. If the space was big enough, it would be okay to expose it. All of them could be put into the space equally and continue to live in the space like those killer whales.
But compared to all human beings, the space is too small.
What would the remaining people who could not benefit from the space think? The repeated riots in the base had given her a clear answer: humans could unite, but they could also kill each other. Isn't that how the phrase "killing people for treasure" came about?
But at the last moment, facing the upcoming plate movement that could be said to be a catastrophe, Ji Yang felt that if he didn't take it out, mankind would really be doomed.
Fortunately, she can control her space.
Especially still spaces.
If things really came to the worst, she would control the gunpowder in the space to explode, and everyone would die together.
If they use the space reasonably, try to cooperate as much as possible.
Ji Yang has never been a saint who can sacrifice herself for the welfare of mankind. She can't do it, and she can't bear to become a test subject and be deprived of her space by being sliced over and over again.
Her kindness has always been shallow and has a bottom line.
Xie Muzhi looked gentle: "Okay, me too."
The two smiled at each other and felt relieved.
——
Half a month later, a volcano about 100 kilometers away from them erupted without any warning, and the thick smog that day caused several people to die from asthma attacks.
On the third day of the volcanic eruption, acid rain fell heavily.
Because of the smog, there were not many people outside the base. The houses in the base were built to protect against acid rain, so the survivors did not suffer much loss. However, the return of acid rain caused many people to collapse.
"Didn't we say it was over? Why is it happening again?!"
Someone said in a cold tone: "Who told you to go?! Who knows, there might be another extreme cold, then another heavy rain, then another extreme heat, an endless cycle, until humanity becomes extinct!"
The angry man was speechless, wailed in pain, jumped down from the building, hit the concrete road, and blood splattered everywhere.
The person who answered turned pale with shock and ran away in panic.
He was just too upset and couldn't help but retort. I didn't want him to die!
But no one blamed him. Some even looked at the corpse with understanding: "It's better to be dead. Death brings relief. No more suffering."
Even the relatives of the corpse could no longer cry. They stared at the scene in a daze, then began to laugh. As they laughed, they cried again and went back to the house: "It's better to be dead. If they are all dead, the family will be reunited—"
After saying that, he also jumped down from the highest place.
The onlookers stared with their eyes wide open. Some were scared, but not many. They looked at the corpse and sighed. No one even said: What a pity, he's gone at such a young age.
On the contrary, some people enviously said, "You are so brave! I don't dare to do that. I can only continue to endure it..."
Crazy.
They were all driven crazy by the natural disaster!
Human beings are so powerful that they can survive as long as they are given a little hope. However, they can only shrink into a small corner.
But the natural disasters didn’t give them any hope at all!
A few days later, before Xie Muchi could find out any news, they received an official notification on their mobile phones, asking them to go to the official office.
The two didn't understand why, but they drove over anyway.
The visibility was not affected much by the haze, and it was midnight, so the light was bright. The two drove to the gate of the office, and as soon as they got out of the car, they found that there were quite a lot of people here.
It was so lively as if there was something to be snapped up.
Everyone was worried and uneasy.
Ji Yang and Xie Muzhi seemed to have some feelings.
They went over and found the staff to sign up first. Because they were called here by the authorities, as soon as they gave their names, the staff immediately said, "Okay, both of you follow me."
The staff led the way, and the people still in the hall immediately cast envious glances over.
The two were taken all the way up to the sixth floor.
The top floor of the base office building.
They were taken to an office door, and the staff knocked on the door to remind them, and then said, "You two can go in directly."
Xie Muzhi pushed open the door and saw a man in military uniform sitting inside. He was surprised for a moment: "Chief Chen?"
Commander Chen smiled gently: "Now that you are here, come and sit down."
There were two chairs in front of the desk.
Xie Muchi pulled Ji Yang over and said, "Commander Chen and my grandfather are old acquaintances. When I was a trader, he was the one who helped me cooperate with the authorities." After he explained, he greeted the other party.
Ji Yang also called for people, feeling a little nervous.
Although she intended to expose the space, she didn't expect it to happen so suddenly. How did they know? Did she reveal her true identity long ago?
Yes.
Ji Yang always felt that this sudden summons was due to the exposure of the space.
After the two of them finished their greetings, Chief Chen pushed two sheets of paper over and said, "Take a look at this, fill it out and sign it."
Ji Yang took it without knowing why, but was stunned after taking a look: "The Pioneer of the Spark Project?!"
Xie Muchi also looked at Chief Chen in surprise.
Is this... a Fire Starter spot?
Is this the spark that the Gu family has been longing for?
Chief Chen said with a smile: "Why? Do you think that you have made so many contributions to the base, but it is not enough to get a fire seed quota?!"
Ji Yang was even more surprised. She, she actually didn't think she had made much contribution to the base.
The food alone only amounted to several hundred thousand kilograms. How could it satisfy the food needs of the survivors in the base for a few days? Compared with the medicine needed to deal with the five major bases, the medicinal materials were not worth mentioning.
Chief Chen was even more pleased when he saw this, and he muttered again: "Don't think this quota is something good?"
As the two were still looking confused and shocked, he looked a little serious and explained earnestly: "This... is just a quota for escape. Whether you can survive depends on your luck. The Fire Plan is to preserve the fire, but under natural disasters, there is no clean land. How to preserve the fire is a troublesome matter. The people who are recruited with these quotas are the real firewood of the Fire Plan. Only when they burn themselves can the fire be preserved!"
"The five major bases have been researching various escape methods over the years."
"We have studied various methods, including flying in the sky, swimming in the water, and running on the ground. We have failed countless times and finally decided on three plans. In order to ensure the integrity of the fire, these plans are different, but the contents of the preserved fire are the same. You, the selected people, will bind different escape tools, carry the fire of human civilization, leave the base, and go to a place where you can survive."
"Our base is closest to the sea, and our main focus is basically on survival at sea. We have conducted countless experiments, invested a lot of resources, and tried again and again to survive at the extremes of the sea."
"It is finally confirmed that escaping from a nuclear submarine is the method with the highest success rate. On the seabed, many dangers will be offset by the obstruction of seawater, but unfortunately the quota there is full. According to your contribution, you can participate in this warship escape. If you agree, fill out this form and I will submit it. After it is approved in three days, you will have to participate in the training. But there is one requirement for participating in this - absolutely obey orders, even if your superiors tell you to die!"
Ji Yang listened to the words in his ears and looked at the thin paper in front of him.
It's very simple, similar to the job application form before the natural disaster, name, age, gender, height and weight, education, work experience, specialties...
Not true at all.
She thought they were far from meeting the criteria for a Firestarter spot, so she never thought about it.
I didn't expect it to be delivered to her now.
The Spark quota was not as impressive as she had thought. After Chief Chen’s explanation, it suddenly changed from an interstellar escape to a battle to protect the country, which was even more... shocking.
I dare not think how many people the authorities sacrificed in order to test the feasibility of these escape methods.
The success rate is the highest...those with a low success rate, right? They won't come back alive.
Behind these few simple words are the unswerving sacrifices of countless people.
——
The two men didn't move for a long time. Chief Chen was waiting patiently. Seeing this, he frowned in confusion: "What's wrong with you?"
"Hurry up, I don't have that much time to waste."
He cursed with a laugh.
Xie Muzhi glanced at Ji Yang, and when she nodded, he said, "Maybe there is another way—"
Chief Chen was still confused: "What other method?"
He never thought that the two people in front of him would give him another way to escape, until Xie Muchi took action and took away the desk in front of him.
Take away???
Chief Chen stood up quickly and looked at the scene in shock: "What did you just do?!"
Ji Yang and Xie Muzhi stood up, and she took the two chairs back into the space. Then she looked directly at Chief Chen: "This is another method we have."
Chief Chen: !!!
etc!
He is a materialistic person!
These must be hallucinations, right?
He reached out his hand and touched what was in front of him. The heavy solid wood table had disappeared. He could not touch or see it. The chair was gone too. The space in the office suddenly became larger.
Something is wrong. Something is wrong.
He is mumbling something.
Ji Yang and Xie Muchi looked at each other, and then returned the table and chairs in unison.
Commander Chen opened his eyes wide, staring at the thing that appeared in an instant without blinking. It was simply, simply too magical!
Xie Muzhi said: "We accidentally activated the space. The space is not very large and cannot hold too many people and things, but it can also preserve some of the fire, so we apply to preserve some of the fire for ourselves!"
Commander Chen opened his mouth and looked at him in astonishment. He wanted to say something, but didn't know what to say. He was so shocked that he was speechless.
It was not until several minutes later that he finally said the first sentence: "What on earth is that space of yours?!"
Xie Muzhi reached out and held his hand: "I'll take you to see it."
After saying this, he suddenly had an idea and wanted to bring people in.
But when he tried to move, he found that he couldn't bring anything in. He could bring anything in before, and they had never tried to bring living humans in. He didn't expect that the space would refuse!
Xie Muzhi's face turned pale and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
Ji Yang quickly supported him: "Let me try."
She casually held Xie Muchi with one hand and the confused Chief Chen with the other. As expected, her consciousness that wanted to enter the space seemed to be blocked by something outside and could not go in. When she tried to force it in, she felt a sharp pain in her head, which made her face turn pale and sweat all over.
She let go of Chief Chen's hand and only held Xie Muchi's.
At this time, he disappeared into the office very easily and smoothly.
Chief Chen watched all this in silence. His materialistic view was greatly impacted at this time. However, as a chief, his mind quickly became active. How big is this space? What functions does it have? If he can't bring people, how much supplies can he bring?
All of this made his brain think rapidly.
Soon Ji Yang and Xie Muchi also returned and went back to their original place, facing Chief Chen with a burning look.
The old leader, whose hair was completely white but who was actually only sixty years old, was like a drowning man who had found a life-saving straw. He immediately grabbed Xie Muchi's arm and said, "Quick! Tell me about the situation in your space! This is a good thing, a good thing!"
The two of them did not delay and sat down at once. They asked Chief Chen to give them a piece of paper and directly draw out the situation. Xie Muchi's side was a bit more complicated, with several hills, but Ji Yang's was much simpler. She cut a square into four pieces and wrote notes on them. The second planting area was a bit more troublesome, so she also wrote out her plan.
Commander Chen was watching from the side, and his eyes became brighter and brighter the more he watched.
10,000 square meters of static space, 10,000 square meters of planting space, 10,000 square meters of pond, 10,000 square meters of sea area, 5,000 square meters of mountain top, 10,000 square meters of valley...
He didn't think that only 10,000 square meters was too little, because they didn't even have one square meter!
He was filled with excitement, thinking about how much supplies he could bring with so much space? When humans finish fleeing and settle down again in the future, how much benefit will these preserved supplies bring to humans at that time? !
Both of them also took note of the situation in the space. For example, Ji Yang's static space can stop time, and plants can survive in it, but animals cannot.
Moreover, 70% of the space is currently occupied, and there is not much space left.
Of course, a lot of space can be freed up by taking out some of those cars.
In addition, two boats can be placed in the pond without any impact, but the small sea area is not so suitable. The killer whales in the pond have very limited living space, and putting two more boats in it will not be enough.
There is still usable space on the mountain on Xie Muzhi's side, and it can hold a lot of things.
After writing everything, the two of them also explained it in passing so that the other party would understand how much space they had available.
Then Xie Muzhi said, "There are many things we can't intervene in. Please think about how to use it appropriately and we will fully cooperate."
Commander Chen smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "No need to explain in such detail. Even if you have space, we can't pin all our hopes on you. At present, these are more than enough."
His expression showed a bit of dreamy hope. He looked at the two people and smiled slightly: "There is always a way out. We have earned 30% chance of survival. With you, this chance can be increased by another 20%!"
Humanity will not perish!
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