On a ship, two researchers just came out of the laboratory and leaned against the fence to get some fresh air. One of them saw a group of chickens and ducks not far away, as well as a very conspicuous big rooster.
"It's not a rooster, it's a hen," said another.
"This hen has mutated quite successfully. It looks like it was raised by a citizen. This kind of near-perfect spontaneous mutation is very rare. Look at its wings. It flies so powerfully."
"It seems to have a pretty high IQ. Look, it even flies back to find its owner."
"Ask someone to see if the family is willing to trade the chicken to the fleet."
"OK!"
Qiao Qingqing didn't know that her baby was spotted by a researcher as an excellent experimental material. More than an hour later, she called Shao Shengfei home and reached out to grab the chicks back into the bamboo basket.
"Will you come here to play again next time?" Shao Shengfei asked expectantly.
Shao Shengan smiled and nodded: "Play, I'll bring you here next time."
Back in the inner circle of the protection zone, it was very quiet. Everyone was exhausted from running around all day. The rafts sent down by the fleet were finally put in place one by one. The survivors who had been soaking in the water for a day were finally able to climb onto the rafts to rest, and fell asleep as soon as they closed their eyes.
Qiao Qingqing and her friends carefully rowed their kayaks in and returned to the wooden boat. Shao's father was working on something, and when he saw them, he greeted them happily, "I've built a shed, so we can sleep there tonight even if it rains."
Shao Shengan checked and saw that the sail was still tied tightly. His father inserted four cut tree trunks in the reserved positions at the bow and stern. The sunshade was supported by these four tree trunks and passed through the mast in the middle of the hull, firmly covering the entire boat.
They had never done this before during these days at sea, and they had not even opened the sails. The reason was that the wind direction was too chaotic. If the sails were opened, the boat would spin in place, not to mention using the wind to move forward. The sails could not be opened, and the sunshade could not be put up, so everyone was sunburned so badly.
However, when Qiao Qingqing was working in the medical team, she heard a lot of news from the sea. Compared to what they said, this time they only encountered the problem of unstable wind direction. There was no storm, no whirlpool, no wind and waves. Their luck was already very good!
Now it is surrounded by boats in the middle, blocking the wind and waves. After his son and daughter-in-law went out to walk the ducks, Shao's father thought that the wooden boat would not move again in the near future, so he had to put up the sunshade so that he could live comfortably.
He said cheerfully, "I've also got some hanging sunshade cloth. You guys come up first, and then I'll put the sunshade cloth down. This way, people outside won't be able to see into our boat." This is what Sheng An calls "privacy."
"Dad did a great job. We can sleep well tonight." said Qiao Qingqing.
"Great, great. I won't be woken up by the sun tomorrow morning. I'm going to sleep in!" Shao Shengfei announced.
Father Shao was even happier: "Okay, then hurry up and tie up the kayak."
The kayak was placed in the middle of the triangle formed by the family's wooden boat and Song Sanhe and his friends' wooden boat. Liu Zhen smiled and said, "Don't worry, I will help take care of them. The ducklings hatched from the eggs laid by these ducks will be our future food reserves." He had already agreed with Qiao Qingqing's family to exchange the second generation of ducks. Now Liu Zhen looked at these sturdy ducks with the same loving attitude as if he were looking at his future children.
"Okay - what's wrong with your face? Who did you fight with?" Qiao Qingqing asked.
"Nothing, there was a fight over there just now, and I happened to go to the toilet outside. When I passed by, I tried to stop the fight, but I didn't expect to get hit accidentally." Liu Zhen touched his face, grimacing in pain.
Father Shao said, "It seemed like they were robbing a boat or something, and the fight was pretty fierce. Later, the people from the fleet came to separate them, and they separated the people. Look, the people over there have changed, and they have come to our side."
When Qiao Qingqing looked over, she saw someone looking up at her, then his eyes slowly widened.
"Qingqing! Oh Qingqing!"
It’s Liu Zhaoyun.
Qiao Qingqing couldn't help but laugh and waved: "Why are you here?"
"Didn't I just come over? I didn't see you just now!" Liu Zhaoyun was excited and tried to come over. Song Sanhe gave her a seat and let her borrow his boat to come over.
After a while of moving, Liu Zhaoyun finally arrived at Qiao Qingqing's boat. She patted Qiao Qingqing's shoulder happily and said, "I didn't expect to see you again. It's so hard to meet old friends these days! How are you doing? Hey, Shao Shengan is here too. Hello, uncle and aunt..."
Liu Zhaoyun was obviously really happy and kept talking. Qiao Qingqing listened to her with a smile and answered her from time to time.
"I heard you guys had a fight, what happened?"
"That's it. What else can we fight about these days?" Liu Zhaoyun stroked his short hair. "The continent collapsed, and we saw a fleet. It was quite large and powerful, with a lot of wooden boats, so we joined forces to rob a few boats, and that's how we became enemies. So we had a fight just now, but we were stopped by the people on the fleet. Since we are few in number, we were assigned here. It's a good thing, otherwise I wouldn't have seen you."
"A motorcade? Is there a silver RV?"
"Yeah, you guys know each other?"
Qiao Qingqing shook her head: "Not that I know them. They were camped on the same beach before the fall of the continent. They are quite strong." She just didn't expect that the convoy's wooden boat would be taken away.
Liu Zhaoyun nodded: "So that's how it is... Fortunately, there is this fleet, and there are soldiers on board to maintain order, otherwise we would not have gotten away so easily." As he spoke, his smile disappeared, "Who would have thought that I used to be a member of the security team? People who maintain order and protect the people would one day become robbers. Sometimes I think about it and feel ridiculous, selfish, self-interested. I only care about myself the most. When my life is threatened, I will do bad things. Before the worst thing, I have to comfort myself that I did nothing wrong. Look, those people don't look like good people. Aren't they also cruel and heartless? They killed those who wanted to pick up the ship, killed the teammates they wanted to abandon, those women, those women who were used by them as prostitutes, had long lost the ability to survive. They killed them, and the ground was covered with blood... They also have problems internally, they are not good people! They deserve to die! So it is reasonable for me to rob the ship, Qingqing, do you think I'm funny?"
Maybe it was because he hadn't seen his old friends for a long time, maybe it was because of the desire to survive that broke his principles, or maybe it was because of the devastation of the disaster... Liu Zhaoyun spoke out his self-loathing words, and everyone on the boat next to him fell silent. Song Sanhe opened his mouth and closed it again.
Qiao Qingqing didn't expect Liu Zhaoyun to say this. In her impression, Liu Zhaoyun was still tough and tenacious when they last met. But this didn't seem strange. The disaster destroyed more than just buildings, production and order. If her family and loved ones were not still by her side, her spirit would have been destroyed long ago.
The candlelight flickered, clearly illuminating the pain and disgust that overflowed from the depths of Liu Zhaoyun's soul and manifested on his face.
She must be in great pain to open her heart so abruptly in front of outsiders.
She was about to explode, about to go crazy, and she rubbed her hands as if there was still blood on them that could not be washed off.
"No, it's not funny." Qiao Qingqing reached out and gently patted Liu Zhaoyun's back. Feeling her back muscles tense, she added, "You just want to live. There's nothing wrong with wanting to live. No matter what you do, as long as you can bear the consequences, it's fine."
Many images emerged in her mind: the robber shot by a crossbow in Huacheng Community, the robber whose throat she slit on the way to Xicheng, and the corpse of the person who coveted the space floating in the water at the dark seaside...
They are all the same.
According to the laws before the end of the world, those people would not be sentenced to death even if they were guilty, but in the end of the world of natural disasters, in her opinion, the only way for those people to be safe is to die. She is also an egoist, she is selfish, and she only makes the best choice for herself.
She has no regrets, she is willing to take all the blame and revenge.
Liu Zhaoyun hugged Qiao Qingqing and her tears fell on Qiao Qingqing's shoulders.
After crying, Liu Zhaoyun went back, but the atmosphere on the ships was still depressed and solemn.
"Oh, don't think too much. We survived today, right? It's good to be alive!" Father Shao coughed twice and said, "Take out the emergency blanket. We're going to sleep! Go to bed early so you'll have more energy tomorrow!"
Shao Shengan embraced Qiao Qingqing and said, "Let's sleep."
"Um."
The lights on the fleet were turned off one after another, and the survivors in the protective circle gradually quieted down. Except for the injured who were still groaning in pain, most people fell asleep. Qiao Qingqing and Shao Shengan slept at the stern, sleeping side by side, curled up, with emergency blankets spread under them to isolate moisture, and another blanket covering them. It was very uncomfortable to sleep like this. After waking up from the first night, Qiao Qingqing's bones were screaming with pain, but she got used to it after sleeping for a while.
Leaning against her husband's warm body, Qiao Qingqing fell asleep in the gentle rocking of the wooden boat. Perhaps she was too deeply moved by Liu Zhaoyun's confession before going to bed, and she was in a bad mood even in her dreams. In her dreams, she seemed to have quarreled with someone, and someone pointed at her nose and scolded her for being "selfish!" She turned around angrily and walked away, but she missed a step and fell into the water.
I woke up with a start.
The moment she opened her eyes, Qiao Qingqing felt an indescribable danger. Her heart began to beat violently and the blood seemed to be burning and boiling in her veins.
She sat up straight.
Awakened by her movements, Shao Shengan said sleepily: "What's wrong, Qingqing——"
Qiao Qingqing opened her mouth to breathe, but felt the air was too thin and she could hardly breathe.
"What's wrong with you? Qingqing!" Shao Shengan also sat up and hugged her nervously.
"I, I feel scared, very scared—" Qiao Qingqing uttered this sentence with difficulty, staring straight at the sky. There were no stars or moon, and there were only sporadic lights in this area. She felt as if the sky had sunk, bringing her indescribable fear.
"Nothing happened, Qingqing, calm down. You were having a nightmare. Don't be afraid..." Shao Shengan comforted her while reaching for his backpack with one hand, wanting to take out safflower oil to rub her philtrum and temples.
The cold breath calmed Qiao Qingqing down a little. She was also surprised at her own loss of control over her emotions, but she quickly came to her senses and attributed it to her keen sense of danger.
Perhaps it was the experience of living alone for ten years in her previous life that made her more sensitive in this life. After another ten years, this sensitivity was strengthened.
Qiao Qingqing gritted her teeth and said, "Sheng An, go wake up dad and big brother, as well as Song Sanhe, Liu Zhen and the others."
"Okay!" Shao Sheng'an went to call for help without asking any more questions.
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