The sinking of the land seems to represent the end of human life.
The survivors were running, rushing towards what was left of the land.
During the day, Qiao Qingqing and her family occasionally rowed and rested. They did not dare to go too fast, fearing that they would be hit by the rocks and splashing water when the land in front collapsed. They also did not dare to fall behind too much, fearing that they would leave the fleet's shelter and encounter a terrifying attack from sharks.
The Tangzhou fleet was not moving very fast. They stopped for a while and stayed for a while. They spent more time exploring the way. The waters in their area were still very turbid. Qiao Qingqing and her friends had not gone into the water to check. However, the Tangzhou fleet was traveling in a line, and even the largest cruise ship was at the end and moving slowly, which showed that the water level was deep enough.
"So many people are in the water. They won't let your mom explore the way, will they? It's really cold in this weather."
"Definitely not. It takes professional divers to explore underwater conditions. If something goes wrong, the anchor will definitely get stuck, and we won't let untrained people check it," Shao Shengan explained.
However, no matter how slow the fleet was, it had already surpassed them. All Qiao Qingqing could see was the back of the cruise ship, which was at the rear, blocking all the other ships.
The hot sun made people dizzy, and the water vapor was evaporated by the sun, and the whole body of water exuded an unpleasant smell. Qiao Qingqing's family put on masks and hats, but still felt like they were in a steamer.
Throughout the day, Qiao Qingqing poured Huoxiang Zhengqi water for her family twice, for fear of heatstroke.
At dusk, the wooden boat stopped. It was unsafe to row at night, and everyone needed to rest.
Song Sanhe and his men rowed both boats over, saying that this way they could look after each other at night. The other people's wooden boats were scattered in other places. At times like this, the survivors were actually the most vigilant. Unfamiliar wooden boats would never get close to each other, for fear of encountering someone with ill intentions who would kill people and steal the boats. At this time, losing a boat was as close to death as anyone could get, so no one dared to take the risk.
The three wooden boats formed a triangle.
Qiao Qingqing lit a candle, held the candle and poured the wax onto a wooden board, then pressed the candle on it. After the wax solidified and the candle stood upright, she gently placed the board on the water in the middle of the triangle.
Everyone looked at the candlelight, and their hearts seemed to calm down.
Liu Zhen laughed twice: "Come on, let's get ready for dinner!"
They ate dried fish. Qiao Qingqing saw that they were still looking for a place to cook and dry the fish during the day yesterday. They must take all the stock with them and not leave any fish behind.
We are all neighbors, and Qiao Qingqing's family cannot be too independent. Although what they eat is their own decision, at such special times, it is better to be more "social".
Qiao Qingqing's family also ate dried fish and steamed large roots.
"The weather is so hot, won't the big roots go bad if we leave them overnight?" Liu Zhen asked.
"It's okay. Everyone has a strong stomach nowadays. As long as you can eat, it's fine." Father Shao said with a smile.
"That's true. My stomach is much better than before. I can just eat whatever I want. If I don't die, I'll just keep living." Liu Zhen spat out the fishbone.
At night, the Tangzhou fleet also stopped moving forward, and sporadic lights could be seen on the cruise ship.
"What do you think mom and the others are doing now?" Qiao Qingqing leaned against Shao Shengan, her eyes passing through the cruise ship and onto a passenger ship ahead.
"Maybe he's having dinner, or maybe he's already finished and is enjoying the cool on the deck." Shao Sheng'an said gently, "Or maybe he's sleeping."
Qiao Qingqing closed her eyes: "Let's go to bed early too."
"Okay." Shao Shengan opened the emergency blanket and wrapped them both, and held Qiao Qingqing against the edge of the boat and closed his eyes. The couple was at the bow, Shao's father and Shao Shengfei sat at the stern, and the kayak was lowered into the water and tied to the stern. Three bamboo baskets and luggage were placed on top, and the freed space was enough for people to stretch their legs and relax. Shao Shengfei leaned over and touched Dabao's head, whispering to it: "Tell me if there are bad guys coming." Dabao looked at him, closed his eyes and ignored him.
Qiao Qingqing managed to fall asleep in Shao Shengan's warm embrace, with the wooden boat rocking on the rippling water, until the first rays of sunlight in the early morning shone on her eyelids, stimulating her to open her eyes.
She saw her family members also sleeping leaning against the edge of the boat, and saw many debris floating in the turbid yellow soup. Song Sanhe and others on the two boats next to her were also still sleeping.
The rising sun dispelled some of the despair. The survivors between heaven and earth were like mayflies, but mayflies also wanted to survive.
A new day was spent rowing non-stop. Qiao Qingqing counted the days. When the hands of the four of them turned red, cracked, and calloused from rowing... the calluses became thicker and thicker, they had been living on the water for a week. Qiao Qingqing wore a hat and a mask, and the uncovered parts of her face were sunburned and tanned, itching and painful, and she could only apply some medicine at night.
After ten years of natural disasters, the physical fitness of ordinary people who are still alive today has improved. If it were ten years ago, everyone would have fallen ill by now.
Su Cong's boat was not far from them. They had more people and could do things more easily. They cut down a lot of trees at the beginning and started making boats after they had saved a lot of wood. Later, the poplar forest died, but they were not affected. They made ten wooden boats. The remaining wood was nailed into rafts and towed behind the boats to float on the water to carry luggage. With so many supplies, they moved slowly and fell behind Qiao Qingqing and her group. On the evening of the eighth day, Su Cong rowed over alone, hoping that Qiao Qingqing could help.
"There is a person who is very sick, with fever, vomiting and coughing. The herbal medicine has no effect. I heard from Liu Zhen that you are a doctor. Can you help take a look?"
"Okay, I'll take your boat."
Qiao Qingqing was so straightforward that Su Cong showed a look of surprise and gratitude: "Thank you, thank you!"
Shao Shengan also went with him: "I'll help carry the medicine box."
Su Cong's fleet must have more than a hundred people. Ten wooden boats sounded like a lot, but they were not enough. The ground collapsed suddenly, and there was no time to make boats with the remaining wood. They could only make some simple rafts to carry luggage. Some children were light and could barely squeeze on. Even so, it was not enough. Some adults were only given a piece of wood, which was tied to the boat with a rope. People held the wood and swam and drifted along. It was a helpless thing.
People were soaking in the water like this, and even if they took turns to get on board, even the strongest body could not bear it, and some people got sick after a few days.
One of them was extremely ill. He had lost consciousness and was shivering in a coma.
Qiao Qingqing examined the patient and then gave him acupuncture and medicine.
"Is it ready now?" Su Cong asked expectantly.
Qiao Qingqing shook her head: "There is hope only when the fever goes down. The conditions are not good right now, and I don't have enough supplies... I have tried my best to help her reduce the fever. As for the rest... it depends on her fate."
Looking at this girl, Qiao Qingqing felt sorry for her. She was so young, looking like she was less than fifteen years old.
Su Cong looked sad: "Okay, okay, thank you." He rummaged around and took out a bag of dried fish wrapped in dry banana leaves. "There's nothing else good. This is salted dried fish. We processed it with salt."
Without refusing, Qiao Qingqing took it.
After leaving the medicine, Su Cong sent the couple back.
Three hours later, a cry suddenly rang out in the quiet night. Qiao Qingqing woke up with a start and turned to look. The cry came from the direction of Su Cong's fleet, and the name being called was the girl who had been rescued in the evening.
"You've tried your best, don't be too sad." Shao Shengan woke up at some point and whispered to comfort her. Qiao Qingqing came back to her senses and shook her head: "She has severe pneumonia caused by a high fever -" Just like Shao Shengan in his previous life.
Shao Shengan understood and patted her hands, silently comforting her.
Qiao Qingqing leaned against him, trying to fall asleep again. She dreamed that she was standing on the edge of a cliff. There was an endless body of water near the cliff. Except for the narrow cliff under her feet, there was nothing else above the water. In the dream, she was wandering around on the cliff, shouting loudly: "Mom! Sheng An! Mom!"
The black sky was hanging low, and Qiao Qingqing was overwhelmed by the huge despair, but her feet suddenly loosened, and this corner of the cliff suddenly disappeared, and she fell down.
Qiao Qingqing woke up with a kick and kicked her foot on the deck.
"What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?" Shao Shengan asked hurriedly. He had just woken up, and suddenly his wife, who was leaning against him, trembled and kicked out.
"It's nothing, I just dreamed of stepping into a puddle." Qiao Qingqing rubbed her face.
A new day begins again.
But what they didn't know was that an unbearable disaster was happening ahead.
Westbrook was woken up in the car, and he cursed impatiently: "I'm still sleepy!"
Then he was slapped in the face.
"Get up! We're abandoning the car!"
Westbrook opened his eyes with a start and saw his father's extremely gloomy and ugly face.
"Dad, what, what happened?" Westbrook was still confused.
Seeing his son in such a helpless state, and thinking that the son of the old Fang family outside was already organizing people to abandon the car and board the ship, Westbrook's father was furious. He slapped him again and said nothing more to him: "Get down here quickly! Pack your own things!"
After saying that, he got off the car.
Westbrook was slapped twice in a row. He felt ashamed, angry and scared. Last time he lost the speedboat and caused his father to send people to look for him, his father only slapped him once. Why did he slap him twice for no reason? Westbrook quickly packed up his things. He was the only one sleeping in the car. Originally, there were messy daily necessities everywhere, but now there were a lot of things in the car. He looked around and found that only his things were left.
Fear struck his heart, and Westbrook quickly stuffed his things into his backpack, put on his back and jumped out of the car.
Then his eyes widened in shock, his mouth opened, and his pupils trembled.
There was no road ahead. The cut in the ground was like a biscuit that had been casually broken open, revealing irregular and sharp edges. Beyond the edges was the vast ocean, with countless messy debris floating in the water and living people struggling in it.
He looked to the left and right, and saw the same thing!
No way? No way!
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