As they were heading toward the outskirts of the base, they encountered a convoy of cars with their high beams on and their engines roaring. As they sped past, one could hear DJ music and the laughter of the people inside the cars.
"Who are those people?" Shao's father was curious. "They don't look like they are from the security team." This is too high-profile. Even the big leaders in the factory don't have this kind of pomp and circumstance when they go out.
Qiao Qingqing retracted her gaze and said, "They should be the children of the powerful who are out for fun. They often go camping in the wild." When she was patrolling in the wild, she met many of these second-generation rich or powerful people who were seeking excitement, and sometimes she had to escort them - they were not happy to be escorted, which was very annoying and troublesome.
Father Shao was surprised: "Don't the news often say that the wild is dangerous? Why do they still go out to play?"
"Who knows?" Some people try their best to make a living, while others have no worries about food and clothing and find life too monotonous and seek excitement. Everyone's life is different. Qiao Qingqing shook her head: "Dad, follow me, we're going to change the route."
"Why?" Shao's father looked ahead in surprise. There was no traffic jam.
"Just now when I came back, there was a car accident ahead and a parade blocked the farm's delivery trucks."
Father Shao suddenly realized what was going on and said hurriedly, "Let's take another route and not get dragged into this."
The move took a day, and by the time we settled in it was already past eight o'clock in the evening.
The new home was far inferior to the environment of the new community, which reminded Qiao Songzhi of the time when they were on the road and just found an empty house on the roadside to stay.
She stood at the door and looked out. It was pitch black outside, with only the light from the candles lit on the table behind her.
When I came over, I shone the light on some of the houses. They were indeed very low, with only two stories high at the highest. The houses were very shabby and old-fashioned. This village must have been relatively poor and backward before the natural disaster.
"It's really dark here, and there are no street lights at night." Shao's mother patted her waist and came over to stand with her, looking outside, "It's so quiet. When I was in the community before, although it was also dark, I could still hear a lot of people moving around. When the street lights come on at night, many people will come out and walk around."
"There are advantages to having fewer people." Don't be afraid of crowds when escaping from an earthquake. Qiao Songzhi took a deep breath, "Let's go, I smell something delicious, it should be Qingqing who brought out the dinner."
After a simple tidy up of the house, the family gathered around the dining table to eat dinner. Today's dinner was simple yet rich, with salted fish and eggplant rice and a large pot of braised prawns, all enough.
Since it was a move, Qiao Qingqing also took out some red wine, which was very ceremonial.
"Delicious!" Shao's father sighed, "Home-cooked food is still the best. Qingqing's eggplant stew is getting more and more delicious."
Qiao Qingqing smiled and said, "This is what I made and saved. What do you want to eat for breakfast tomorrow?"
Shao Shengan said: "Eat some buns."
"Then I'll eat dumplings." said Shao Shengfei.
Qiao Songzhi smiled and said, "I also eat dumplings, fried dumplings."
"I'm the same as Sister Zhi."
Father Shao touched his bald head and said, "Then I'll eat some buns too."
Qiao Qingqing nodded: "I've made a note of it. I'll prepare the ingredients tomorrow morning." The steamed buns and fried dumplings were all ready in the space.
Shao's mother added Sprite to the red wine and asked Qiao Songzhi: "Give you some more? It tastes better with more Sprite."
Qiao Songzhi smiled and nodded.
"Let's have a toast to celebrate our move to a new home!" Shao Shengan raised his glass and looked at his family with a soft yet firm look in his eyes.
Qiao Qingqing said: "We can be together every day in the future."
Qiao Songzhi raised his glass and said: "I wish our family a happy reunion, peace and health."
Shao's mother didn't say anything, but her eyes were filled with anticipation for the future. Shao Shengfei carefully clinked glasses with them one by one, his face flushed with excitement. He liked moments like this the most, he was an adult too.
He shouted: "Be safe and healthy! Stay together!"
"Okay! Okay! Have a drink!" Father Shao clinked glasses happily.
After this conversation, everyone felt more relaxed. With anticipation for tomorrow, they were more accepting of this new home. After dinner, Shao Shengan and his father went to a nearby well to fetch water. Although the base could not protect everyone, as the base expanded, the well digging team would come to survey and dig deep wells. Having been here during patrol, Shao Shengan quickly found the location of the deep well. In the buildings he passed along the way, there were a few dim lights and people talking in the houses.
This made Shao's father feel relieved: "I thought we were the only family living here." It's good to have neighbors, otherwise it would be quite scary to live alone.
There are very few people in this area, so there is no need to queue up to get water, and there is no limit on the amount.
Shao Shengan put the manhole cover in place, and he and his father each carried two buckets of water back home.
"New here? I heard some noise in the alley at the back. Is that your house?" A man and a woman opened the door and came out, facing Shao Shengan and his friends. The man took the initiative to greet them: "You are here to avoid the disaster, right? It's the earthquake!"
The new neighbor was quite enthusiastic, and Shao Shengan said yes with a smile.
The man seemed to have received some support, and his whole face was full of energy. He turned his head to his wife and said, "See! Others think the same as I do. If there is really an earthquake, we must go to a place with few people and low houses. That way it will be easier to escape! And you always blame me."
The wife was a little embarrassed. Why did she say this in front of strangers? So she pinched her husband's arm.
The man cried out, making the woman even more embarrassed.
"Then let's go back first and talk again another day." Shao Shengan said goodbye.
"Okay, okay! Let's talk about it some other time!"
After fetching water, Shao's father cleaned the new house again by candlelight, while Shao Shengan began to install surveillance.
The tiring day ended just like that. This old house was a bungalow, and the roof had completely fallen off. They had to use waterproof canvas to repair the roof before they moved in, otherwise it would be very rainy. The reason why they chose this house was because it had a good location. There were only two houses in the whole alley, and the one that collapsed was left with only one wall. The row of houses in front was temporarily unoccupied, and there was an open space behind. If something happened, they could run to the open space behind.
Some survivors lived in this abandoned village. For safety reasons, no one dared to live in such a remote place, so it was chosen by Qiao Qingqing and her husband.
It was even quieter here at night. This was already the outermost part of the base. The shanty town where Qiao Qingqing lived in her previous life was five kilometers away from here. That place was considered the outer edge of the base, which showed how remote this place was.
Qiao Qingqing set traps all over the house, and with the addition of surveillance, the house was safe enough for the night.
Administrative district, in the mayor's office.
Mayor Luo was reading the latest drill report, and he couldn't help but sigh when he saw the data on it.
"Mayor, there's nothing we can do about it. We don't know when an earthquake will come. Frequent earthquake disaster prevention drills will make people lazy and suspicious. This data is the result of our best efforts to mobilize and motivate. Otherwise, the data would be even uglier." Tan Jianling was also helpless.
Mayor Luo put down the report and pinched his nose: "Any other news?"
"Also, this is the population migration statistics report submitted by Ye Changtian. Mayor, in the past few months, a small number of residents have left their original places and chosen to move to places with fewer people and sparsely populated houses." Tan Jianling handed over another report. He thought this was a good phenomenon. After all, the population of the core community is too large. At that time, in order to accommodate more people in the new community and manage them uniformly, although the floors could not be built too high due to the high temperature, they were built more densely. Once an earthquake occurs, the consequences will be disastrous.
"Mayor, you have been promoting the evacuation plan these days, but it has been constrained by various factors and has made no progress. I think it is more feasible for the people to migrate voluntarily."
When Tan Jianling said this, didn't Mayor Luo understand what he meant?
“But they are only a minority after all.” Just as much effort was put into establishing the new community back then, the resistance to evacuation is just as strong now.
There was no way to persuade other forces and groups with just the prophecy letters. Even in the government controlled by him, there were different voices. What if a dozen people in the upper echelons agreed? What if Commander Ye Shanpeng agreed to cooperate? The base was so large, with a population of tens of millions, that it was not something that they could easily pry open. The people were like water, "water can carry a boat but can also overturn it." They could not force the people to evacuate. He knew how fragile and sensitive the people were after the natural disasters. Forcing them to move away from the new community would surely cause uncontrollable turmoil and chaos. Maintaining the basic order of such a large base was already a bit of a stretch. If there was more chaos, the entire base would collapse without a major earthquake.
All he can do now is distribute emergency kits and conduct disaster prevention drills, but these two things seem to have little effect.
Seeing his painful look, Tan Jianling also felt sad: "Mayor, you have tried your best."
Mayor Luo took a deep breath and said, "Self-relocation of the people is a good direction. Ask Ye Changtian to prepare a feasible report."
"Yes, I understand."
"By the way, how is the resource dispersal going?"
"The progress is good. Regarding the granary..."
The night was still long and dark, but the lights in the mayor's office stayed on until late at night.
Suddenly there was a little movement deep underground, beyond the reach of human beings. In the newly established Seismological Bureau, the instrument emitted a fleeting fluctuation. The fluctuation did not exceed 0.26 seconds and did not reach the threshold to be captured by the instrument. Naturally, the alarm did not sound. The earthquake expert on duty woke up from his tired doze and looked at the screen. Everything was normal.
More than a thousand kilometers away from the survivors' base, the sea water receded, leaving only a large area of water. In the distance, countless bubbles gurgled in the dirty sea water, various fish rolled in the water, and crabs climbed onto the rocks. In the depths of the ocean, there was an eerie calm, and the water surface was completely still, as if even the wind was banned here.
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