Shao Shengan pronounced the word "kill" very lightly, and Qiao Qingqing lowered her voice to cooperate with him: "Yes, aim at the heart or forehead, and you can kill people if you shoot accurately."
"No wonder you gave me a toy crossbow to play with before. You wanted me to develop my skills first, and now you're using real guns and swords." Shao Shengan didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Qiao Qingqing smiled and said, "It's boring to stay at home. I see you, big brother, and dad are having a lot of fun." If you take this thing out, it would be risking lives. Qiao Qingqing didn't take it out before. First, she wanted to let her family practice the skills first. It's easier to practice accuracy with a toy crossbow. Second, the order is still there, and it's not the time to use this kind of weapon.
It was not until the day before yesterday that Shao Shengan repelled the invader with hot water. Looking at the blisters on his hands, she felt very regretful.
"This crossbow is for you. If someone bullies our family in the future, don't use hot water." She held Shao Shengan's hand and said apologetically, "It's my fault. I should have given you the crossbow earlier, Shengan. I always wanted to arrange everything, but I messed it up. I'm sorry."
"Silly Qingqing, why are you apologizing?" Shao Shengan frowned, "This is not your fault, the fault lies with those bad guys who wanted to invade our home. Qingqing, you don't need to apologize for the mistakes made by others. In my heart, you are always right."
"You're always like this. I'll be spoiled by you."
"We are husband and wife. You are my wife. If I don't side with you, who else should I side with? Okay, stop thinking about it. Let me try this bow." Shao Shengan was very excited and took a look at the manual. "The range is quite long. It's really good..."
Watching her husband studying the crossbow, Qiao Qingqing's eyes were gentle. After a while, she said, "It was a bit troublesome when buying, so we couldn't buy too many crossbow arrows. We may have to make them ourselves later. You don't have to worry about this. I have also learned the method of making crossbow arrows. When the time comes, we can make them ourselves with bamboo or wood. I have also bought the materials."
As expected, Shao Shengan praised his wife profusely again, making Qiao Qingqing blush.
"Ahem, I heard my parents getting up. I'll go make breakfast first. By the way, the solar generator now has enough power to run three air conditioners at the same time all night. Let's change the room back today." During the time she was sick, Sheng An came to accompany her, and her mother lived with her parents-in-law, which always caused some inconveniences.
Shao Shengan certainly had no objection to this and changed the bedding after breakfast.
"The sunshade that Dad built in the attic can be moved to the living room. Otherwise it's too crowded. Besides, the air conditioner is on at night and the temperature is high during the day. The alternating hot and cold weather is not good for the seeds."
"Okay, I'll do it."
When the sunshade was moved down, Qiao Qingqing praised it sincerely, saying that it looked really good. Shao's father smiled happily and satisfied: "Don't you like watermelon? I saw that there are watermelon seeds at home. Wait for Dad to grow some watermelons for you."
"I want one too!" Shao Shengfei shouted, "I want to grow watermelons too, for my parents, my mother Qiao, my brother, and my sister to eat!"
"Okay, I'll wait for big brother to grow big watermelons."
For dinner, there was mixed cold noodles and a plate of cold beef in soy sauce. Qiao Qingqing also took out a watermelon to cut. Everyone gathered around the small table to eat the watermelon and felt that this was a pretty good day.
"Put away the watermelon rinds. I'll peel them and boil them to make water to drink later," said Shao's mother.
"The watermelon rind can be dried and used to make tea, which is also delicious and can clear away heat and detoxify."
After hearing what Qiao Qingqing said, Shao's mother hurriedly asked her how to dry the watermelons. Qiao Qingqing smiled and told her the method. Shao's mother listened carefully and nodded repeatedly. After the watermelons were eaten, she immediately put away all the watermelon rinds and started to peel the watermelons. Before dark, she spread the watermelon rinds in a winnowing basket and placed them on the terrace.
"We can bask in the sun tomorrow when the sun comes out," she said expectantly.
Qiao Songzhi looked at the sky: "Another day has passed."
"Yeah, another peaceful day."
Sixteen days later, the flood completely receded, leaving the ground in ruins.
The ground was pitch black, with mud as the base, and all kinds of discarded items, human or animal corpses spread out on it. Water vapor was evaporating under the high temperature, and the ground emitted an suffocating stench. When Qiao Qingqing looked down, she even felt that the ground on the first floor was covered with fog.
"Don't smell the water vapor too much. I think it's dangerous." Qiao Qingqing told her family not to go out for the time being. High temperatures can promote bacteria and emit toxic gases, but they also have the effect of sterilization and disinfection. Before the high temperature thoroughly cleans the ground, it is best for the family not to go out. In her previous life, she went out after the flood subsided and came into close contact with the ground environment that was infected by floods and ice, and she contracted the disease on the road.
"I see, there's just too much garbage piled up at home."
"I can wear protective clothing and go down to throw away the garbage." said Shao Shengan.
Qiao Qingqing refused: "Why not just throw it down? That's what everyone else does. Yes, let's do it. The water level is high. If we throw the garbage directly, it might splash onto the seventh floor. Now it's more than ten meters high, so it won't affect the people downstairs."
Shao's father said he would take care of it: "I have observed that there is garbage under the wall on the other side of the toilet. It should be thrown away by 701. Let's throw it there too."
Except for kitchen waste, all sanitary waste was thrown down. From a height of more than ten meters, the garbage fell to the ground with a loud noise, which scared Grandma Wang and others.
Wang Jiaxin took a look and said, "It's okay. They are throwing away garbage on the eighth floor. I don't think I've seen them throw away garbage directly like this. It seems that there is no more room for the garbage at home."
"Throwing away garbage? That's good. I was scared." Grandma Wang thought someone had jumped off the building.
"Having lived to this point, who would be willing to die? It's better to live a miserable life than to die a good death." Wang Jiaxin said with a smile, then restrained her smile, "I don't know when my brother will be able to come back. After the water recedes, he should be able to come back." She didn't believe that her brother had been in trouble. Her brother would definitely come back!
As more and more people went out, Qiao Qingqing often saw people walking downstairs, turning over things on the ground with sticks, and picking up anything they could use and taking it away.
Just like her in her previous life, everyone is trying hard to live.
It was too hot during the day. The most people were out in the morning and evening, especially between 4am and 5:30am, when the sky was slightly bright and the sun had not yet risen. The temperature was not very high, but it was close to 40 degrees Celsius. People who went out quickly got tanned, but for them, tanning was just a small matter. Getting sick was the most terrifying thing.
Among those who went out, some would cough while rummaging for things, and the coughs were heart-wrenching. Once, Qiao Qingqing saw someone vomiting and falling down, and passers-by quickly covered their mouths and noses and walked away. No one would stop or help. Everyone took the risk to come out to find supplies and would not take the risk of helping strangers and contracting diseases.
Qiao Qingqing didn't continue watching, but she knew that under the scorching sun, the man would not be able to stand up again if no one rescued him.
"Don't look at it anymore. Come practice archery with me. We've run out of target paper." Shao Shengan pulled the curtains.
"Okay, I won't watch it."
Qiao Qingqing made a bunch of new target papers for Shao Shengan, drawing each circle very carefully, and finally pasted the target papers on the wooden board.
"Okay."
"You come." Shao Shengan gave her the crossbow.
"Me?" She was stunned.
"I haven't seen you use a crossbow before, and you didn't even play with the toy crossbow before. From what I know about you, either you have completely mastered this skill or you hate crossbows." Shao Shengan looked at her with a smile, "But I can see that you like it. Show me your skills, I want to see."
Holding the crossbow hesitantly, Qiao Qingqing took a deep breath and aimed it at the target paper on the wooden board, narrowing her eyes slightly -
The crossbow arrow flew out and hit the bull's eye.
"Ten rings." Shao Shengan's eyes were full of amazement and he applauded.
"No more playing, just practice." Qiao Qingqing put down the crossbow and walked forward to pull out the crossbow arrow.
Seeing her depressed, how could Shao Shengan still have the mood to practice? He gave the crossbow to his father, asked him to practice, and followed Qiao Qingqing upstairs.
Qiao Qingqing collected the clothes and tilted her head: "What are you doing up here?"
"There are too many clothes. Let me help."
After the clothes were returned to the room, Qiao Qingqing sat by the bed and folded them. Seeing that Shao Shengan did not leave and sat on the ground to patch the holes in Shao Shengfei's pants, she could not help but smile: "I'm really fine, you don't have to follow me like this. If you want to know about the crossbow, I can tell you, but don't be sad after listening to it."
Shao Shengan put down his needle and thread, sat upright, and listened attentively.
"I learned how to use a crossbow at the survivor base. Crows were rampant at the time. They were a little bigger than before the apocalypse. Not only did they eat carrion, they also had ideas about living people. If someone took their children out, they would be pecked to pieces by crows that fell from the sky in a few seconds... The leader of the base at the time was determined to deal with those crows, so he recruited people to make crossbows and formed a crossbow team. I was not selected because the competition was too fierce. But after the training, I learned to make a crossbow by myself. I did it for a long, long time, I can't even remember how long it was."
Qiao Qingqing said with some nostalgia, "I was really happy when I finished making it. Later I shot two crows to eat. They tasted really bad, fishy, smelly and woody. I even had diarrhea when I ate the first one. But I didn't throw away the remaining one and ate it anyway."
"I'm getting off topic. My skills were developed at that time. Later, when I wanted to kill Lin Mingyong, I also planned to use a crossbow from a distance. But when we were having dinner, what he said made me sick. He even dared to mention my mother... I couldn't bear it anymore, so I did it on the spot. If I could hold back and assassinate him from behind, maybe I wouldn't be thrown into jail, and I should be able to avoid such serious injuries during the earthquake... I don't regret it. If I had gone back ten years ago a minute later, I wouldn't have waited. Fortunately, I died, so we met again."
Shao Shengan regretted it. He forced a smile and said, "Don't say it. It's all my fault that you remembered those unpleasant past events."
"No, I've figured it out a long time ago. That's my life, and I should face it instead of running away." Qiao Qingqing looked relaxed. "I've strayed off topic again. Let me continue. One day, I went out to look for supplies. There were actually a lot of people living outside the base. They were not very willing to obey the military's discipline and preferred to live freely outside. I saw a woman locked in a cage. You can't imagine how miserable she looked. Someone caught her, imprisoned her, cut off her tongue, and cut the flesh of her legs to eat--"
Hearing Shao Shengan gasp, Qiao Qingqing smiled bitterly, "I was really shocked at the time. In fact, I had heard others say that there would be such a thing before, but that was the first time I saw it. What made me even more unacceptable was that she was pregnant. She was very thin and haggard, but her belly was very big. That scene was like hell. I wanted to rescue her, but before I could pry open the lock, someone came in. I carefully lay on the roof and watched those people cut off her arm again... Those people left. I knew I couldn't save her, and there was no way to take her away. She couldn't speak, but opened her mouth and spoke silently, using the only remaining intact hand to compare her heart. She asked me to kill her."
“Qingqing…”
Taking a deep breath, Qiao Qingqing spoke quickly: "I killed her with my homemade crossbow. The crossbow arrow made of bamboo slivers pierced her heart. She smiled at me, and she was still smiling at me at the end. When I returned to the base, I saw Lin Mingyong... I saw the darkest human nature. When Lin Mingyong found me, I really expected him to give me warmth, but he only brought more darkness... Sheng An, every time I see a crossbow, I will think of that scene."
Shao Shengan was speechless and could only hug her. She laughed: "What are you doing? I'm fine."
She looked out the window with a look of disappointment. "Actually, there's nothing wrong with weapons. I shouldn't run away from them. My skills will become rusty if I don't use them for a long time. I'll practice with you tomorrow."
"Okay, let's practice together." Shao Shengan kissed her face, then her forehead, and continued to hug her tightly. At the same time, he made up his mind to train hard.
Father Shao practiced for a while and then stopped. He was more satisfied with the vegetable seeds in the sunshade. He checked them one by one and said in surprise: "It has sprouted! There is a small sprout here!"
"Oh, really? That's great, you succeeded!" Shao's mother was very happy.
"I'll ask Qingqing and Sheng'an to come and see."
Shao's mother hurriedly pulled him back: "Sheng An and Qing Qing are talking in the room, don't disturb them."
Touching his head awkwardly, Shao's father said sheepishly: "I don't know."
"It's a pity that they have such a good relationship as a young couple, but they can't have a child." Thinking of this, Shao's mother became sad, "Sheng An and Qing Qing are both good-looking and smart. If they can have a child, it will definitely be all their own. The child will definitely be beautiful and smart."
Father Shao sighed, "Why are you still talking about this? It's our Sheng An who is sorry for Qing Qing. Oh! Don't talk about it. It's sad to talk too much. My great uncle once told us kids that people should be content, cherish blessings, and not be too greedy. I have remembered this since I was a child. Sheng An is good at studying. He came to Huacheng to study in junior high school. We can only see him once in a long time. I miss him every day. Don't you cry secretly at night? At that time, I told you what my great uncle said. We should be content and cherish blessings. Sheng An is good at studying, so we have to let him study. This is a good thing. It doesn't make sense that all the good things in the world are occupied by us. It doesn't matter if we see him less a few times. As long as he studies hard, it's enough, right? It's the same now. Sheng An has that space, which contains the lifeblood of our whole family. If there is no space, how can we have such a good life now? So, if there is a space, we can't have children. We have to look at this matter more openly and don't be too greedy, understand?"
Mother Shao cried: "I just said a few words, and you had so many words to say to me. It's not that I don't understand the truth. I understand the truth. I just feel uncomfortable and want to complain to you, but you just lecture me."
"Hey, I didn't teach you a lesson. Stop crying, stop crying! Feifei is looking over here! Don't scare him!" Father Shao was overwhelmed.
Qiao Songzhi just came to the entrance of the living room and heard this conversation. It was really embarrassing, so she stepped back a few steps and retreated to the living room before shouting: "Mother-in-law! Can I pick up the watermelon rinds on the terrace? I'm going to dry the quilts, can I pick them up while I'm at it?"
Shao's mother quickly wiped her tears, cleared her throat and responded: "Hey! Let me take a look. Don't worry about the watermelon rinds. I'll collect them right away!" She glared at Shao's father and quickly left the living room.
The next day, Qiao Qingqing and her friends drank water soaked with dried watermelon rinds. Shao's mother also added some honey to it, which made it taste better.
"It's still healthier to drink this, Sheng An, don't drink too much iced fruit tea, it's not good for your stomach."
Shao Shengan touched his nose: "I know, Mom."
Suddenly there was a loud noise outside, and Shao Shengfei was so scared that the cup in his hand dropped.
"Let me see!"
Everyone crowded onto the balcony and looked out, and saw a man climbing up the outer wall, about to climb onto the balcony of 701.
Mother Shao covered her mouth and suppressed her exclamation: "Oh my God, this is too rampant!"
Bang!
The sound of banging on the door continued, and it was obvious that the people split into two groups, one was banging on the door while the other was attacking from the balcony.
These people actually tried to rob in broad daylight!
"Oh my God, what's going on in this world! What should I do?" Shao's father was anxious.
"Will they rob the building next door and then come to rob our building?"
"They climbed up. Two more people climbed up!"
Residents of other buildings in Jinyuan Community were attracted by the noise and ran to the windows or balconies to look, and were all shocked when they saw what was happening.
Shao Shengan looked at Qiao Qingqing, who nodded: "I'll go get the crossbow."
On the seventh floor of Building 3, Jinyuan Community, the residents of 701 and 702 were all on high alert, holding kitchen knives and brooms, staring at the door nervously.
"Ah! The balcony!"
The daughter of the resident of 701 screamed, and her father immediately turned around and rushed to the balcony, where he saw the intruder had climbed up to the balcony and was smashing the door with a baseball bat.
It turns out that this group of robbers were also able to make a feint to the east and attack in the west. One group was smashing the door, and another group was attacking from the balcony!
The glass door immediately cracked after being hit like this. The other party grinned and hit it again, and the glass shattered and spread all over the floor.
"Get out!" the father shouted, waving the kitchen knife in his hand.
But the man was not afraid at all: "Wow, I am afraid, come here if you have the guts!"
The father didn't dare to go over. His wife and daughter hid behind him in fear. He forced himself to remain calm and threatened them to leave quickly: "I won't hold you responsible!"
"Wow, I'm even more scared. Go ahead and investigate. Call the police to arrest me!"
While they were talking, two more people climbed up.
The first person to come up whistled: "My brother is here, if you know what's best for you, take out all the food and drinks in your home, otherwise we will take them ourselves."
The three of them pushed open the broken balcony glass door and walked in. My father fought back, but he was no match for these men, and soon the kitchen knife fell to the ground and was kicked into a corner.
"Tie him up."
"I see, brother. Wow, this place is really nice. You can even grow vegetables here. What is this? Leek?"
"Stop talking nonsense and search quickly."
A family of three was tied together and thrown on the balcony. The high temperature and fear caused them to quickly lose their strength.
"What should I do, husband..."
The man gritted his teeth and said, "It's better to spend money to avoid disaster. Let them rob."
There was a loud bang from next door, and the wife's face turned even paler: "There is no anti-theft door next door, it seems that the door was kicked open."
"Behave yourself. The people going next door are also our brothers. You can't run away. Hey, this little sister is pretty. Come here, little beauty. Brother loves you."
"Let my daughter go! Let my daughter go!"
"Xin'er! Xin'er! Please let my daughter go!"
"Dad! Mom! Mom, save me! Dad, save me!"
702 soon followed in the footsteps of 701. The entire family was subdued, their assets were looted, and the young girl was dragged into the room. Her screams and cries for help made these people even more excited.
"Hey, Dashu, take it easy! Tsk, how can you be like a man who has never seen a woman before even though you already have a wife?"
After they looted the items and had their fun, they happily and leisurely evacuated with their belongings. The person running in front suddenly let out a scream and tumbled down the stairs.
"ah!"
“What’s going on!?”
A man hurried downstairs to help, but an arrow flew in from the corridor window and hit the man's thigh.
There was another scream, and the man also fell to the ground and rolled down the stairs.
"Don't move!" Brother Dian shouted, his eyes fixed on the window in the corridor on the sixth floor.
"Damn it, someone's attacking!"
At the corridor window on the sixth floor of Building 4, Shao Shengan breathed a sigh of relief, sweat dripping from his forehead and his hair soaked.
"They haven't moved. They're all on the stairs." Qiao Qingqing stared ahead. "You take a rest first. I'll do it."
Shao Shengan's hands were shaking. He had just shot two arrows from the crossbow, but he seemed to really have the feeling of holding a sharp weapon and stabbing it into a human body.
It was definitely not a good experience, and he even felt a little nauseous.
But he didn't regret it! He heard all those voices just now, those people were beasts! It was a pity that he and Qingqing were alone and weak, so they could only wait here and launch a sneak attack. The half hour of waiting was torture for him.
"No." He shook his head, leaning against the wall and breathing slowly.
Qiao Qingqing glanced at him worriedly and said, "You stay here. I'll go to the seventh floor and make sure they're trapped in that corridor."
"Okay! Be careful."
The couple reached a consensus. Qiao Qingqing hurried upstairs, while Shao Shengan turned around and stared at the window sideways.
The distance between the two buildings was about six meters, which was exactly the longest distance he had used when training with a crossbow at home these days. He took a deep breath and stared at the opposite side seriously. As long as someone came down the stairs, as long as he saw a shoe, he would stop the person!
In the corridor of Building 3, Dian Ge and his group of eight stood still. The atmosphere was extremely tense. Who was attacking them in secret?
"It looks like a crossbow. Damn it, you two, move to the side and deal with it yourself!" Dian Ge shouted, rolling his eyes. "If it's not a gang robbing a gang, then it must be other residents in this community who did it. Go upstairs! Bring down the two families on the seventh floor to use them as human shields!"
"Brother Dian, is this too harsh?"
Brother Dian slapped the person who was talking and said viciously, "What did we just do? It was robbery! Robbery! If you don't work for yourself, you will be punished by heaven and earth. You should be aware of this if you follow me. Don't say such spoiling words! Hurry up and go!"
The seven men responded quickly and ran upstairs.
Just as they climbed up to the seventh floor and stood on the ground, an arrow shot in from the corridor window, and the person walking in front was stabbed directly in the throat. His eyes widened in disbelief, and his throat made a "gurgling" sound, and the next second he fell backwards with a loud bang.
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