"Be careful! Hey, be careful!"
"It's so damn slippery, my gloves are not good enough!"
After struggling to get down, Chen Chenglei accidentally fell and sat down, screaming in pain. Chen Binggang helped him up and stared at the ground: "This is too hard. Before I went to bed last night, there was water here!"
"This world is too crazy." Zheng Tiehui opened his mouth wide and exhaled a large cloud of white air. He took off the kitchen knife from his waist, squatted carefully, and chopped the ice layer lightly and then heavily.
Debris flew everywhere, but the ice was unbreakable.
His eyes were filled with fear. "It's only been one night, and the entire area has been frozen solid. This is too much! The water is more than 10 to 20 meters deep!"
Chen Binggang swallowed his saliva: "Maybe only the surface layer is frozen, the water below may still be——"
"Help! Help, can someone come--"
The crying sounds in the distance became louder and clearer, and everyone turned to look over there at the same time.
"Let's go and take a look." Qiao Qingqing said softly and walked forward first.
Qiao Qingqing walked unsteadily for the first few steps, but slowly she found the feeling of her previous life, walking slowly with small steps and open arms, like a penguin, and walking more and more smoothly. The ice surface is actually very flat, as long as you avoid the debris inserted diagonally on the ice, you can actually walk faster with skates. Qiao Qingqing also prepared a lot of skates, but this was her first time going out after being frozen, and she didn't want to be too unique, so she didn't take them out to use.
"Be careful and learn to walk like me." She often took time to go back to see Shao Shengan, who would nod at her and let her walk on her own.
"Don't mind me, I'll follow you."
The couple quickly distanced themselves from Chen Binggang and his friends. Huacheng had a lot of snow throughout the year, but the amount was usually not large. If one wanted to make a snow pile, they had to work hard to get it together. Chen Binggang and his friends had no experience in this solid ice ground, so they could only move slowly, squatting down from time to time to stabilize their bodies.
Soon, Qiao Qingqing saw the location of the crying. There were two people there, one of whom was bending over and hitting the ground with a tool in his hand.
He had dug a hole in the ice, but it would obviously take a lot of effort to continue digging deeper.
The crying sound came from a woman sitting on the ground. There was a deflated kayak next to her. She was holding the kayak with her eyes red from crying. She seemed not to feel the coldness of the ground at all. She stared at the pit and let out a sad howl from her throat.
"My son! My son! Help, save my son! He is only eighteen years old! ..."
She heard the noise, turned around and saw Qiao Qingqing and the others, and immediately shouted for help: "Please help! Please help save my son!"
The man who was chipping away at the ice was busy chipping away at the ice. He used a homemade tool, a kitchen knife tied to a stick. The rough tool could not withstand the continuous attack, and the stick suddenly broke, and the kitchen knife flew far away. The man walked quickly to pick it up, but he slipped after a few steps, and sat on the ground and burst into tears.
The woman was shocked by the sudden change, stopped crying, and crawled towards the pit. Her legs were not convenient, so she had to use her hands to dig the ground and move forward.
"Help me." Qiao Qingqing said as she took off the engineer shovel tied around her waist and walked forward.
The woman quickly stepped aside, looking at her expectantly, muttering, "Thank you, thank you, my son is down there, he's down there!"
Qiao Qingqing silently waved the engineer shovel, allowing the sharp tiger shark dagger to pierce into the ice with skillful force and create a gap.
Shao Shengan on the side looked solemn after hearing the woman's words. He didn't dare to think about the meaning of this sentence, but he understood that this was the meaning!
The temperature suddenly dropped sharply last night, and the crying couple's son might have been outside. Somehow he was trapped underwater - frozen in the ice.
This guess is so creepy that it makes the hair on your body stand on end.
He also took off the engineer shovel, fiddled with it for a few times to reveal the tiger shark dagger, and stood beside Qiao Qingqing to help dig. During the digging process, he saw a red shadow underneath, which made him feel heavy.
When Chen Binggang and his friends arrived, they were very surprised and asked the couple what they were digging. But they soon understood what the woman meant by her crying and all showed expressions of incredible shock.
"I, let me help too." Chen Binggang took out his butcher knife and joined the team that was chiseling ice. Zheng Tiehui and the others followed suit. The woman cried and thanked him, "Thank you, kind man." The man crawled back and hugged the woman. The two of them snuggled up and stared at the pit, unable to absorb each other's warmth.
"We're here, be careful." Qiao Qingqing stopped everyone, squatted down and slowly dug out a hand.
It was a purple-black hand, twisted and scratching upwards.
"Ah!" Zheng Tiehui screamed.
"My, my son!" The woman rolled and crawled, touching the hand with trembling hands, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.
The man also cried silently. He held his wife and smiled gratefully at Qiao Qingqing and the others. His voice was hoarse, "Thank you, thank you. Can you please be a good person and help us dig the child out."
The couple's sadness infected everyone, and Zheng Tiehui responded: "You guys wait over there, we'll dig slowly."
Everyone dug and dug carefully, and finally dug out a young male corpse. The corpse was wearing a red autumn shirt, and the body was a little swollen, purple and black, frozen into a sculpture, with one hand reaching upwards and the other hand tightly holding a bag.
The woman couldn't bear the impact and fainted with a scream.
The man gently touched his son's face, then his hands. His son held the bag tightly, and it was even harder to get it out after it was frozen. The man smiled bitterly and shed tears: "He is stubborn. He insisted on going to the hospital to get medicine for his mother last night. I told him it was not safe at night and we should go during the day, but he refused. He said he was familiar with the road and could get there with his eyes closed... I went out to look for it in the morning. I found the kayak. I dug and dug. I dug out the kayak and saw my son. He was wearing red clothes when he went out. The one under there must be my son... He is under there, under there! My son!"
Everyone present was moved. Even Qiao Qingqing, who had seen and heard of many similar tragedies in her previous life, could not help but feel sad when faced with such despair and grief.
It's too tragic. The sudden drop in temperature puts people outside in the most danger. The cold will attack an unprepared body, causing stiffness and hypothermia. If you're lucky, you can still hold on and return to the building. If you're unlucky, this area of water is a place where bones are buried. Once you enter the water, there is almost no chance of survival.
Under this newly formed ice area, countless bodies are frozen. Those who go out at night for various reasons, especially frogmen who work at night, are almost all buried underwater. When the frost thaws and this ice area becomes water again, countless bodies will float up...
Qiao Qingqing didn't want to recall that scene.
She collected her thoughts and asked, "Do you need any help with anything else?"
The man shook his head: "Thank you, thank you, I can do it myself, I can do it."
But he obviously couldn't do that. He fell down after carrying the body for a few steps. The woman couldn't walk well. The whole family looked miserable. Shao Shengan and Qiao Qingqing looked at each other, and the couple went forward to help. Qiao Qingqing supported the woman, and Shao Shengan helped to carry the body.
"Hehe, since you've seen it, give me a hand. Good people should help to the end." Zheng Tiehui said.
A group of them helped to send the family home. The distance was not far, in fact, it was just two streets behind Jinyuan Community, but the ground was not easy to walk on, and it was very difficult to walk a short distance.
Passing many buildings along the way, there were often cries coming from them, and no one knew which family had experienced a separation or death. Qiao Qingqing also saw many people walking around the windows and balconies, using cardboard and plastic film to cover the windows to block out the cold air.
"Where do we go next?"
After seeing the person off, Chen Binggang asked.
"Let's go to Jinyuan Primary School. I don't know what the situation is with the supply ship. I'm afraid the rescue supplies will be interrupted in the future." Zheng Tiehui covered his mouth and nose with both hands and breathed out, looking worried.
"That's right, let's go. Xiao Shao, are you guys going?"
"Go, let's go together."
It was not easy to walk to Jinyuan Primary School. On the way, except for Qiao Qingqing and Shao Shengan, the others fell countless times. Shao Shengan almost slipped, but Qiao Qingqing grabbed him tightly. The couple shook together and managed to stabilize themselves with great difficulty.
"Don't worry about me. Don't drag yourself down. It's okay for me to fall." Shao Shengan said to her.
"I can hold you back." Qiao Qingqing shook her head and whispered, "Let's wear roller skates next time we go out. They'll be more useful."
Shao Shengan smiled and said, "Okay, but we haven't skated together for ten years. We only skated in junior high school."
"It's easy to get back to the feeling. I always wanted to have a pair of skates. I envied others for skating on the ice like birds."
"It's a pity that we saved money by living frugally. We could have bought you a lot of skates." After believing in the end of the world, Shao Shengan also felt sorry for the savings that the couple had saved in their previous life, which was more than one million yuan. The couple started saving money by working part-time in college, and worked hard after graduation, without holidays all year round, and worked overtime every day. They couldn't spend the money they saved after the end of the world, and his wife would be starving and freezing at home. The thought of it made him angry to death.
"Yes, it's such a pity. I feel sad when I think about it, so I spent all the money this time." Qiao Qingqing winked at him, "I have never shopped so recklessly before. It was so refreshing."
The two looked at each other and smiled.
"Oh, young couples are so good, their love is so strong, they can still laugh at this time, I am about to cry! Look! The supply ship is frozen!"
Qiao Qingqing turned her head and looked forward. Just like in her previous life, the supply ship and most of the rescue speedboats were all frozen in the water. Only a few soldiers could be seen digging on the ice.
They rushed forward and asked about supplies.
"Comrades, please be patient. Our people have already set out to Furun to get information. The road is not easy to travel, so the distribution of supplies today will be delayed." A young soldier replied. He was still wearing autumn clothes, but he was wrapped in a blanket and plastic film. Qiao Qingqing could see traces of cardboard on his collar. Looking at his face, his lips were pale and his eyebrows were frozen.
"Where are your people? Aren't there usually a lot of people?" Zheng Tiehui took out his ID to prove that he was the leader of the community volunteer team and that he came to inquire on behalf of the residents of the community.
"Some went to Furun Plaza, and some went out for rescue." The young soldier looked reluctant, "Comrade Zheng Tiehui, everyone is in trouble now. I hope you can play the role of volunteer team leader, comfort the residents in the area, and patiently wait for further rescue."
Qiao Qingqing and the others couldn’t find out more.
Before leaving, Qiao Qingqing asked Shao Shengan to take off his backpack and put it on the pedal of the supply boat.
After they walked a distance, the young soldier realized that it was the bag on Shao Shengan's back, and quickly picked it up and shouted to them: "Comrade! Comrade! The bag fell!"
"It's just a token of my appreciation! Stop chasing me!" Shao Shengan shouted back.
Zheng Tiehui was curious: "What did you do? Did you send Xiao Shao's backpack away?"
"It's just a little token of my appreciation." Qiao Qingqing said.
Zheng Tiehui glanced at her and sighed, "Young people."
The young soldier handed the backpack to the captain. When he opened it, he saw that it was full of high-calorie chocolates, candies, and energy bars.
"I couldn't catch up because I wasn't alert enough and I found out too late." He touched his head embarrassedly.
"Your brain is frozen and you can't think straight. Alas, it's the same for everyone. Captain, how do we deal with this?"
"During this special period, keep it and share it with everyone to replenish their energy. Little Tiger, you remember their faces, right? Okay, we'll give them back the next time the supplies arrive." The captain opened a piece of chocolate and stuffed it roughly into Little Tiger's mouth, "Eat it! I see your stomach is growling. After you're full, help dig ice in the afternoon!"
Little Tiger chuckled.
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