There was another aftershock at around ten o'clock, but it was slightly weaker than the one last night.
This is really good news.
After the crowds came, Qiao Qingqing and Shao Shengfei did not go looking for wood anymore. They returned to the tent and sat down. They carried their bags and did not have to pretend to have no food to go looking for food. During the day, Qiao Qingqing did not remove the strings and bells. She always felt unsafe. She sat in the tent and looked out, always feeling that there were uncomfortable eyes entangled with her.
She did not forget that this was the wilderness outside the base and most of the people living here were not good people.
"Hello."
During the day, Qiao Qingqing removed the bell wire. The man walked to two meters away from the tent and greeted Qiao Qingqing: "I want to make a deal with you." He raised a handful of wild vegetables in his hand, "These are for you. Can I exchange them for a bottle of water?"
In spring, wild vegetables and other plants grow luxuriantly. Although they are mutant species in the Eternal Night, as long as they are not toxin-free and can fill people's stomachs, they are deeply loved by people. Before she resigned from the security team, she could see many teams digging weeds and wild vegetables during her daily patrols. The light brown plant in the man's hand was one of the edible wild vegetable varieties announced by the research institute.
"I refuse." Qiao Qingqing said.
"I have no bad intentions, I just want to change a bottle of water--"
"Please step back. I don't have any water to replace."
Qiao Qingqing thought clearly that this was a dangerous wilderness, the threat from the earthquake had not been lifted, and she could not have too much contact with strangers.
Even if the man in front of her had no bad intentions, Qiao Qingqing would not dare to initiate this action.
The first person changed the water, what about the second person? There were only three of them, and the tent was already conspicuous enough. She couldn't let strangers think that her family had plenty of supplies, that would be courting death.
"Okay." The man gave up and turned away.
The afternoon was very calm. Although the sun in late spring was strong, for humans who had not been exposed to the sun in the past two years, it was not good for the body to be exposed to a large amount of solar radiation in a short period of time.
"We don't need to take vitamins starting today." Qiao Qingqing acted optimistically. "The sun is a natural free resource. Let's bask in the sun."
However, you can't expose it to the sun directly. It's better to adapt to the ultraviolet rays through the tent first, and then go out to expose it to the sun after a while.
In the evening, the sun was about to set, so Qiao Qingqing and the others had dinner in advance in case there was trouble tonight. After dinner, they left the tent, and as soon as they came out, Qiao Qingqing felt many eyes on them.
"Let's take down the tent first." said Qiao Qingqing.
They began to dismantle the tents, and the dismantled and tidied tents were stuffed into a special bag and carried by Shao Shengfei.
"Is it heavy, Feifei?" Qiao Songzhi asked.
"It's not heavy, Mom Qiao, I can still carry you!"
"Let's go, let's go to another place." Qiao Qingqing always felt that this place was unsafe.
As soon as they moved, someone followed them, and Qiao Qingqing knew what was going on.
After walking a few hundred meters, Qiao Qingqing suddenly turned around, raised her crossbow and shot an arrow behind her. The arrow brushed against a pair of shoes and stabbed into the ground. Qiao Qingqing shouted coldly, "Don't follow us!"
The man pulled his foot back, his heart beating rapidly.
"Are you still following me, bro?"
"Forget it. Even though there are only two women and a man who looks a bit abnormal, they are not easy to deal with. Let's go!"
"Others are still following—"
"Never mind them, let's go!"
The sun went down, the view started to dim, and the wind started to pick up.
Qiao Qingqing shot two arrows in succession backwards and then stopped where she was.
After a few minutes, the last person following behind finally gave up and walked away.
"It's so scary. It's better if they leave. I was just afraid that they would suddenly pounce on me!" Qiao Songzhi also breathed a sigh of relief.
The three continued to move forward. A gust of wind blew, blowing up the dust on the ground.
"It's so windy! Mother Qiao's eyes hurt." Shao Shengfei wanted to rub his eyes, but Qiao Songzhi stopped him.
"Don't rub your eyes because your hands are dirty. Let me blow on them for you."
Qiao Songzhi blew Shao Shengfei's eyes, and he said he felt uncomfortable, so Qiao Qingqing put two drops of eye drops in him: "Okay, blink... Are you feeling better?"
Shao Shengfei nodded: "It doesn't hurt so much anymore."
Qiao Qingqing screwed the lid of the eye drops on and frowned as she felt the wind and the sand in it: "The sand is all blown up."
When the sun completely set, the view in front of her became even more blurry. Qiao Qingqing turned on the headlamp. Under the light, the wind blew up fine dust. She took out masks and handed them to them: "Don't inhale too much sand."
After putting on the mask, she pulled out a piece of paper and clipped it in, and determined the wind direction from the angle of the flying paper.
North wind.
"Let's go this way, with the wind at our backs." She felt that the sandstorms were a bad omen, so she subconsciously turned her back to them.
Walking south, Qiao Qingqing felt the wind and sand getting stronger and stronger, and began to hit her back. Her neck was covered with sand and it was very itchy. When they reached a place with few people, they stopped and Qiao Qingqing set up the tent again. The resistance of the wind almost made the tent flip over, and it was only when Shao Shengfei pressed hard that it was stabilized.
"The wind is so strong! I feel a little uneasy." Qiao Songzhi also felt the ominous feeling.
"The wind hurts me so much." Shao Shengfei said aggrievedly.
"The tent is almost ready, just bear with me for a while."
Once the tent was set up, the three of them got in. The sound of wind and sand hitting the tent was particularly noisy.
An uneasy atmosphere spread, and then the sandstorm became heavier, as if an invisible giant hand was grabbing the dust and gravel on the ground, and then throwing it heavily -
"The tent is shaking." said Qiao Songzhi.
Qiao Qingqing opened the tent and looked out through the gap. When she shone the light, she could see a lot of dust and sand rolling in the air. The wind was so strong that she couldn't even open her eyes completely.
As soon as she opened the tent door, sand and wind rushed in, so she had to quickly zip up the tent to block out the invasion of sand and wind from outside.
Her worries grew stronger and stronger. The tent was shaking constantly. It seemed that this simple shelter was about to collapse. If the wind got stronger -
They feel sad enough to have a tent, so how difficult would it be for Sheng An and the others?
"Mom, I have to reinforce the tent." Qiao Qingqing didn't let herself be depressed for too long, she had more important things to do.
"Let me help you—"
"Mom, you sit inside, let big brother help me." Shao Shengfei is stronger and more powerful, so with his help, things will be more efficient.
Shao Shengfei was happy to help. Qiao Qingqing took out a windproof mask for him to wear, and put it on herself, fully armed and went out to reinforce the tent. It took less than ten minutes to get everything done. She asked Shao Shengfei to go in first, and she checked the surroundings again to make sure there were no missed cracks in the ground and no one was hiding nearby, and then she went back to the tent with peace of mind.
In order to calm her family, Qiao Qingqing asked, "It's time for dinner. How about spicy beef noodles tonight?"
Shao Shengfei swallowed his saliva: "Great! Spicy and spicy!" He loved spicy food, but it was easy to get irritated. Shao's mother always controlled him and didn't let him eat too much spicy food.
Qiao Songzhi said, "Do you have any more golden soup beef rice noodles? I want something sour."
"Yes, and more."
Qiao Qingqing took out two bowls of noodles and a bowl of rice noodles, and also took some cold kelp and jellyfish salad and fried peanuts as side dishes. The three of them huddled in this small space to eat dinner.
"So spicy and delicious!" Shao Shengfei was comforted by the delicious beef noodles and put the scary wind outside behind him.
Qiao Qingqing ate the noodles and drank the soup in big mouthfuls. The spiciness started from her mouth, and soon her stomach and intestines warmed up in the spiciness. She broke out in a sweat and seemed to feel a little more relaxed. She drank the last mouthful of soup and exhaled a sigh of relief.
She took out some sour plum soup and poured a cup for everyone.
After eating and drinking, the three of them felt sleepy. Qiao Qingqing spread the quilt and said, "Go to bed early." It was so noisy outside that it might take a long time to fall asleep.
The wind howled all night long, but fortunately the reinforced tent held up. Qiao Qingqing listened to the wind and could not sleep almost all night. At night, she found that the top of the tent was pressed down by sand and dust, which pressed down several inches. A sandbag hung down. Qiao Qingqing used her hands to support it, and the accumulated sand slid down. Fearing that the tent would be crushed, she used a stick to support the top of the tent and poked the sand down. The arc of the stick prevented the top of the tent from gathering sand.
Afterwards, Qiao Qingqing continued to suffer from insomnia while listening to the sound of the wind. She forced herself to sleep and later seemed to fall asleep. In her dream, she was buried by a large area of yellow sand. She tried hard to break free, but her body continued to sink. She suddenly woke up from suffocation.
It was getting light outside. She looked at her watch and saw that it was already past six in the morning, but the noise outside never stopped.
Qiao Qingqing opened the tent door and took a look. The sky was full of dust and visibility was extremely low.
She was glad that there were no aftershocks. Compared with the devastating earthquake, the sandstorm that was gradually forming did not seem so terrifying.
That’s right, Qiao Qingqing is already 70% sure that the new natural disaster is a sandstorm.
There is no need to analyze why there is a sandstorm in Xicheng when there are no conditions for the formation of sandstorms. This world has been unreasonable for almost ten years! Even if aliens suddenly fell from the sky tomorrow, Qiao Qingqing would not find it strange.
Qiao Songzhi also woke up and said worriedly, "The whole night there was the sound of wind and sand hitting the tent. Qingqing, is this the sandstorm broadcast on the TV news? This is too bizarre! There was no sign at all, it just happened all of a sudden. Where did all the sand come from!"
"After the earthquake, the whole world was turned upside down. Buildings collapsed, and sand and rocks were all there. But it's not a big problem for now. As long as the wind is not too strong, our tent can hold up." Qiao Qingqing said. This three-person tent is their safe haven. She told Qiao Songzhi, "There are masks in the backpacks. As long as Sheng An and the others find a place to hide in the leeward, such as a big rock or an abandoned vehicle, they will definitely be able to survive."
"Your dark circles...Qingqing, you should get some sleep." Qiao Songzhi sighed.
"Okay, I'll close my eyes for a while and you guys keep an eye on the outside." This is to prevent man-made disasters.
"Got it, don't worry, just close your eyes and take a rest."
"Breakfast is here. Let big brother eat it when he wakes up."
After saying that, Qiao Qingqing closed her eyes.
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