Chapter 38 Negotiation.
Shu Lan had a dream. It was Chinese New Year. There were festive sounds of firecrackers outside the window. She was watching the Spring Festival Gala at home. Her grandmother asked her whether to eat dumplings or glutinous rice balls first.
She said Tangyuan, Shu Maomao likes to eat sweet things.
After saying this, Shu Lan was stunned for a moment, wondering who Shu Maomao was?
At this time, a super cute little boy with a bowl cut came out from under the table and said angrily, "Me, me, mommy, you forgot about me, I hate you!"
Shu Lan's heart softened as she reached out to pull him: "No, how could I forget my baby."
At this moment, a firework rushed into her window and exploded very close to her. Shu Lan was so scared that her body trembled and she woke up.
They still slept underground last night, and the ground was making a constant "boom boom boom" sound.
Shu Maomao had already sat up, covering her ears with her hands, and looking up intently at the "ceiling" where dirt was falling due to the shock. He controlled the broken dirt to scatter to both sides and none of it could fall down.
Shu Lan turned on the flashlight, illuminating the area, and asked in confusion, "What happened outside?"
Shu Maomao was also distressed: "There are too many voices, Mommy. I don't know who to listen to."
Shu Lan sat up and snuggled up to him: "It's okay, tell me one by one what the sounds are."
"There were zombies, and there were people. People said the power grid couldn't hold up, and then there was rumbling in the sky and rumbling on the ground."
Shu Maomao found that he couldn't describe it clearly and sighed: "This place is really noisy."
Although Shu Lan didn't understand what was happening outside, it didn't seem to pose a threat to them underground.
"Then listen to Mommy first."
Unable to sleep, she hugged Shu Maomao and began to talk about the past: "Baby, the world before was even noisier than it is now. All the zombies were people back then. People talked to each other, watched TV, played with their phones, ate, cleaned, worked, and many things made noises. Birds in the sky, insects on the roadside, frogs in the water, the school bell, the music in the mall. But back then, everyone was like Mommy, without special abilities. You could close the door or cover yourself with a blanket and you wouldn't hear anything."
Shu Maomao asked, "If there are no zombies, what do you do every day?"
Shu Lan said, "Go to school, go to work. Kids your age go to kindergarten. If there weren't zombies, you would go to kindergarten too. There would be lots of kids your age there, both boys and girls. There would be teachers teaching you how to read, sing, and dance."
"Will you go to kindergarten with me?"
Shu Lan shook her head: "I'm not going. I want to make money, a lot of money, to buy a big house, a car, and delicious food."
Shu Maomao leaned against her and asked softly, "What is making money?"
"Money is that colorful piece of paper I showed you before. Mommy has to find a way to get it and use it to buy things from others."
Shu Maomao said, "Then I won't go to kindergarten. I'll go with you to earn money to buy a house."
"No, if a child keeps working, he won't grow taller. Everyone starts working after they grow taller."
"Anyway, I'm not going to kindergarten unless you go too."
Shu Lan found that the question of whether or not to go to kindergarten was a bit confusing.
"If you don't want to go, then don't go, you little mama's boy. Mommy is uneducated and neither are you. We are indeed a family. When I have time, I will teach you to read."
The mother and son chatted incessantly. After some time had passed, the bombing outside stopped.
Shu Lan asked Shu Maomao, "Listen again, is the noise outside still going on?"
After saying that, she remained quiet so that Shu Maomao could listen attentively.
"Mommy, I heard Anselin's voice. She said: It's dawn, that's all. Another person said, why leave if we haven't killed them all? They have a plan to eliminate the infected, and we should also have a plan to eliminate the humans."
Shu Lan gave him a thumbs up, indicating that he should just listen to this and continue listening.
"Anselin said: This is a plan that will hurt both sides. Sooner or later, you will find that there is no point in doing this. Another person said: What do you mean, you want to help humans? Anselin said: Stop killing, you live; don't stop, you die; you choose one."
Shu Maomao paused for a moment and said, "Anselin said that it doesn't matter if it's a living person or a zombie. If they stop, they live, and if they keep going, they die. I haven't chosen to stand on anyone's side, but I don't mind killing both sides."
Shu Lan was extremely surprised. This was enough to make people hate her. Anselin was really crazy.
"Mommy, they seem to be fighting."
"Is it close to us?"
"Not close, very far away."
Shu Lan felt relieved: "That's good. I'll hide and eavesdrop until they're done fighting."
It wasn't long after the fight ended. Shu Maomao said, "Anselin won. She said: Jiang He, tell everyone in the country, from today on, the surface will be inhabited by evolved zombies. If humans want to survive, they must gather in District 9 and build a new survivor base underground. Otherwise, every place we go will end up like District 49."
Shu Lan asked doubtfully, "Huh?"
Why does it sound like Anselin is on the side of the zombies?
"Jiang He asked: We haven't completely failed yet, why should we listen to the zombies' orders? An Selin said: Alas, you don't appreciate my offer to reduce casualties. You don't have to listen. I will have them clean out all the humans here now, and then move on to the next area until the humans are willing to listen to me. Do you know how many new level 3 zombies will appear across the country every day after the discovery of the crystal core's function, and how many of you surviving humans will decrease? Haha."
Shu Lan felt like she, as a weak human being, was also being scorned: "Wow..."
It seemed like she accidentally spent two days and one night with the most arrogant zombie in the world.
In the end, Jiang He compromised and spread the news.
A negotiation was underway over there to decide whether humans and zombies would coexist or fight to the death. The mother and son came out from underground and carefully observed the surrounding environment.
They were at the edge of District 9, also the edge of the battlefield. Shu Lan turned on the public channel broadcast, but the signal was a little weak. It took a while for her to understand what had happened last night, and she couldn't help but feel a little scared.
It turned out that not long after the reinforcements arrived last night, they were all wiped out by the ambushed third-level zombies. In the second half of the night, at least ten fighter jets carried out a large-scale bombing in this place.
Despite this, by morning, there were still tens of thousands of zombies active around the District 9 base, tearing the base's defenses into pieces.
Until a female zombie in a red dress appeared, she stopped other high-level zombies from slaughtering humans and proposed to negotiate with humans.
After listening to this, Shu Lan had to admit that Anselin's timing was very clever. Proposing negotiations at this time was like throwing out a life-saving straw, but also like taking advantage of the situation.
Humans, who need sunlight, air, soil and water the most, go to survive underground, while the light-fearing zombies want to occupy the ground. What an overbearing clause.
But Anselin's threat was so confident and cruel that if they did not agree to this unfair clause, they would replicate the tragic scene in District 49 in every district.
Cleansing up humanity,
Shu Lan couldn't help but start to suspect that Shu Maomao had recognized the wrong person, and the one negotiating with humans now might just be a female zombie whose voice was very similar to Anselin's.
Otherwise, how could the guy with a very low sense of humor, who would help her steal oil and hold her child, become such an unreasonable zombie villain?
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