"Half an hour has passed and there are no aftershocks. Is this the end?" asked Qiao Songzhi.
"I don't know, but I think it's not that simple. We still have to be careful."
Hearing her daughter say this, Qiao Songzhi nodded: "We have to be careful, this evil God seems to want to wipe out all of us humans! The explosion just now was so scary, just like a nuclear explosion on TV news, such a huge mushroom cloud!"
Mushroom cloud... Qiao Qingqing's heart was shrouded in a shadow, but she still comforted her mother: "It may just be a missile explosion... For safety reasons, we'd better not go to the west." If the worst result is the worst, going close to the west may put us within the range of nuclear radiation, which is too dangerous.
"So which way should we go? You said we can't get close to the base because there might be a plague after the earthquake... So where should we go?"
Qiao Qingqing had thought about this a long time ago: "The earthquake should be a global disaster. We can't go to places near the sea. I'm afraid there will be a tsunami after the earthquake, so we can't go to the south or the east." The west is not safe either, so they can only go north temporarily.
"Yes, you and Sheng An also told us not to go near the sea after the earthquake... There are not many people around here. We live outside the base. There are not many survivors in the wild. Maybe we don't need to go to the north. After the earthquake stops, we can settle down here. Maybe we can meet Sheng An and the others later."
"Okay." Qiao Qingqing held her mother's hand.
There were no aftershocks during the day, and when night fell, Qiao Qingqing and the other two dragged their exhausted bodies and minds to find a flat, unobstructed place to rest. Qiao Songzhi said, "Why don't we set up a tent? It will be troublesome if others see us."
"It's okay. It's dark at night and there's no one around. Installing the tent won't be discovered by outsiders."
"Well, I'm afraid I won't be able to run fast enough in the event of an earthquake at night."
The nights in late spring are still a little chilly, and it's easy to catch a cold if you don't sleep in a tent. And today we've been nervous enough, and now we're exhausted both physically and mentally, so how can we not rest well?
"I will be alert, don't worry, mom. You trust me."
The three-person tent was set up. Qiao Qingqing also went around the tent and pulled four lines five meters outside the tent. They were all pressed low and stretched very tight, and eight bells were hung on them.
"If I fall asleep, these bells can remind me. This will not only alert us to the earthquake, but also let me know if anyone approaches the tent." Qiao Qingqing acted relaxed and confident. "So, Mom, you can sleep well tonight."
"Look! Fireworks!" Shao Shengfei pointed to the sky and shouted, "Wow! There are fireworks there too!"
There were more flares at night, and they could only see the light of the flares in the sky from a distance. Qiao Songzhi said with emotion: "Mayor Luo did a good thing. He is such a good man. I hope more people can be rescued."
Mayor Luo advocated that flares be mass-produced and put on the market. The price is not expensive, and you can buy a set for ten kilograms of food. After Qiao Songzhi saw this news, his impression of Mayor Luo soared.
"Are we going to set it off tonight? It's almost eight o'clock." Qiao Songzhi asked.
Qiao Qingqing nodded.
The flare was launched by Shao Shengfei. The three of them looked around expectantly, but unfortunately, they did not see the red flares rising at the same time at exactly eight o'clock in the evening.
"Let's fight next time, wait - wait until we go back and are closer to each other," said Qiao Qingqing.
When sleeping, Qiao Qingqing slept on the outermost side. As soon as she lay down, Shao Shengfei, who slept on the innermost side and was the most carefree, fell asleep immediately and soon began to snore. Qiao Songzhi couldn't help but want to laugh. She pulled the quilt for Shao Shengfei, then touched the quilt on Qiao Qingqing's body, and then closed her eyes with peace of mind.
A few minutes later, Qiao Qingqing also fell asleep.
In another place, Shao Shengan and his friends avoided other people, found a place sheltered from the wind, wrapped themselves in emergency blankets, and leaned against each other to fall asleep.
The dream was full of bizarre scenes. Shao Shengan woke up several times. One time, he heard a strange noise just after opening his eyes. He stared forward. His eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and he vaguely saw an outline.
It was a person, someone was sneaking up on them.
Silently, Shao Shengan grasped the knife, and when the man stretched out his hand, he jumped up and pounced on him.
"Ouch!"
"What happened!" Shao's father woke up in shock. It was too dark and he couldn't see anything. He only heard the sound of fighting. He quickly fumbled to turn on the headlight switch.
The moment the headlights were turned on, Shao Shengan had just subdued the man and pinned him to the ground.
"Ahem, stop hitting me! I'm not a bad person!"
Under the light was a man covered in blood, his hands twisted behind his back by Shao Shengan, his face distorted in pain.
"Let me go! Why are you hitting me for no reason? I was just passing by!"
"Passing by? You're passing by, why are you tiptoeing and sneaking around?" Shao Shengan shouted, exerting force with his hands.
“Ahhh! It hurts! Let me go! I won’t dare to do it again. Let me go! I won’t dare to do it again next time!”
"Get away from me, don't let me see you again." Shao Shengan pressed harder before letting go, "Get out!"
The man ran away tumbling.
"It's really not safe outside. Fortunately, there is only one person. What if a group of people came? I don't know if Qingqing is safe." Shao's mother was worried.
Just as Shao Shengan was about to speak, the ground shook and his face changed drastically.
"Mom and Dad, get up! Turn on your headlights!" Shao Shengan also turned on his headlamp, which they had put on before going to bed, in case of emergencies, so that they could provide timely illumination.
"Hey! Axia, get up. I'll help you!"
On the other side, the sound of bells rang out and the ground began to shake. Qiao Qingqing almost jumped up and immediately woke up Qiao Songzhi and Shao Shengfei, then took back the bells and the tent.
They didn't leave in a hurry, but squatted on the ground to steady themselves, turned on the lights and observed their surroundings vigilantly. The three of them were responsible for observing a fan-shaped area respectively. Qiao Qingqing was still paying attention to her feet. The frightened moment when the crack appeared under her feet yesterday will probably make her unforgettable forever.
"It seems that there are not so many cracks during the aftershocks during the day, and it seems to be the same tonight." Qiao Songzhi said in a low voice, his eyes still fixed on the ground.
"It is true that the first shock was more severe. It would be great if the shock power was really decreasing."
Ten minutes later, the aftershocks ended.
"Go back to sleep." Qiao Qingqing put up the tent again.
The moment she lay down again, Qiao Qingqing exhaled and said to herself: Go to sleep! Don't think, don't worry, the sun will rise again tomorrow, and everything will be bright.
The next morning, Qiao Qingqing was the first to wake up. She went out to look around and found a person lying not far away, who was not there before she went to bed last night. She cautiously did not go over and climbed up a ruin to continue looking around with a telescope.
Within the visible range of the telescope, there was not a single tall building to be seen. There were only piles of ruins and cracks that were some wide, some narrow, some long, some short.
The entire land was cut apart, which was a shocking sight.
Near the crack, there were a few survivors walking among the ruins. Each of them was covered in gray and their faces could not be seen clearly. Some of them had clotted blood on their bodies.
There were few people moving around, and most people were sleeping on the ground, some huddled together, and some curled up alone.
Sheng An and the others were not found.
Qiao Qingqing was a little disappointed, but she also knew that the flares she sent last night received no response. It was only one night, and it was a pipe dream to expect to see them.
"Qingqing."
She put down the telescope and turned around, and saw her mother standing outside the tent waving at her. She responded and climbed down.
"Why are you up there? Be careful not to get scratched by the steel bars."
"I'm careful, it's okay. Big brother, isn't he awake yet?"
Qiao Songzhi smiled and said, "He usually sleeps until eight o'clock before waking up naturally. This is good. I'm afraid he will be frightened."
"Let me wake him up. It's already half past seven."
After waking up Shao Shengfei, the three of them simply rinsed their mouths with mouthwash in the tent without washing their faces or changing their clothes.
"Let's have breakfast." Qiao Qingqing took out fried dumplings and buns, as well as three bowls of millet porridge.
They had eaten supper before going to bed last night, but the three of them still felt hungry and had very good appetites. Qiao Qingqing ate three barbecued pork buns, a tray of fried dumplings and two bowls of porridge. Shao Shengfei loved dumplings and ate three trays of dumplings, a bun and two bowls of porridge. Qiao Songzhi ate a tray of dumplings and a bowl of porridge and said she was full. After eating, she rubbed her stomach. Qiao Qingqing asked perceptively: "Do you feel uncomfortable in your stomach?"
"Maybe I ran too much yesterday."
"Let me see."
After wiping her hands, Qiao Qingqing took Qiao Songzhi's pulse, took out some Chinese patent medicine from the space and gave it to her, and also stuffed two boxes into her backpack.
The day officially started with a breakfast of non-compressed biscuits.
They did not move to another place and remained guarding the tent. The several escapes yesterday had consumed too much energy, which could not be replenished in one night. Qiao Songzhi felt sore back and stomach discomfort. Qiao Qingqing gave her a few injections and let her lie down to rest. She took Shao Shengfei to pick up wood outside the tent.
Some wood would fall out of the collapsed and damaged houses, but few of them were in shape, mostly small pieces and broken wood chips. Judging from the direction they were running, this was undoubtedly the wilderness. Many houses had been abandoned since the first year of the natural disaster and had long since decayed. She found a bag and asked Shao Shengfei to collect the wood chips and put them in.
The man lying on the ground eventually got up and walked unsteadily. He sat there in a daze for a long time before he stood up and began to search through the rubble.
More people started walking around. There were not many people in the area chosen by Qiao Qingqing at first, but by noon, more people came here, and their tent was naturally very conspicuous.
The inquiring and greedy gazes made Shao Shengfei uneasy. He opened his eyes wide, took off the crossbow on his back, and vigilantly aimed at other people.
Someone in the crowd of strangers was saying something, and it was probably not a pleasant thing - Qiao Qingqing could tell from the expressions of those people.
However, Shao Shengfei's move was straightforward and effective, and no one approached their tent for the time being.
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