At the same time, Yulong Bay Villa District.
"Be careful and lift this away." Lin Mingyong instructed his son to lend a hand.
Lin Dejun was unhappy: "It's so dirty, I don't want to move it. Dad, why don't you hire workers to move it? You're not making yourself dirty."
Both father and son were wearing protective clothing, fully armed to isolate bacteria and odor. Lin Mingyong's angry voice came out through the mask: "Are you stupid? This is the treasure of our family's comeback. How dare you let outsiders know? Be careful that the workers swallowed it and killed you and me! Hurry up, it's getting dark!"
After being scolded, Lin Dejun reluctantly bent down and stretched out his hand, and the two of them worked together to move the stone away.
"Dad, why did you put the things in the pool? It's hard to find."
After the stones were moved away, Lin Dejun looked at the pool full of silt with the flashlight, and he was unhappy again.
"At that time, there was water everywhere, and only the pool was safe. No matter how hard the thieves tried, they couldn't steal into the pool!" Lin Mingyong was very proud of this. He specially wore a diving suit to enter the pool and hid the treasure chest deep in the pool, so it was safe. His son was worried when he saw the mud in front of him, but he was very happy. The mud was deep, so no one would come to dig. During the flood and ice disaster, frogmen were popular, digging here and there, and he was afraid that the things under the pool would be dug out.
"Stop talking nonsense, help dig quickly, while it's dark and no one is noticing, and we'll leave as soon as we're done!"
As a result, after digging for more than an hour, they almost turned the small pond in the backyard of the villa upside down, but still did not find the target.
"Dad, are you remembering it wrong? It's not buried here, is it?"
"Your father is not senile yet!" Lin Mingyong's face turned blue. It was hot and humid. He was sweating profusely in his protective suit. He was a little dizzy, but he bit his tongue and forced himself to dig: "Keep digging, dig another half meter down!"
"Ah! Dad, I'm so tired!"
"I'm more tired than you! Lin Dejun, this concerns the future of our Lin family. No matter how much you complain, just swallow it down!"
Another hour passed and nothing was dug up. Lin Dejun had never done any physical work and was so tired that he sat on the ground, unable to move. Lin Mingyong was in a very bad state. Not only was he physically exhausted, but there was also a raging fire burning in his heart. The fatigue and anger made him breathe rapidly and his eyes were red.
Where are his gold and jewels? Where are his belongings?
Who stole his treasure?
It was already midnight when he returned home. He encountered a robber on the way. Lin Mingyong was in a bad mood, so he took out his gun to warn the robber and successfully scared him away.
"Thank you for your hard work. I made some sweet lily soup. It's already cooled down. I'll give you a bowl." Yu Manshu eagerly helped him take off his protective suit. Lin Mingyong didn't say anything, and she didn't care. It wasn't until he took off his mask that she saw Lin Mingyong's extremely bad face, and a bad premonition came to her mind.
She sent her son to take a bath and change clothes. She didn't ask any more questions for the time being and helped Lin Mingyong take a bath first.
"It's too extravagant and a waste of water."
"You've been tired all day, how can taking a bath be a luxury? You are the mainstay of the family, we have to let you take a comfortable bath even if we use less water."
Lin Mingyong's complexion finally improved. While taking a shower, he spoke in a deep voice about the results of today.
"Gone? Who took it away?" Yu Manshu's mood also turned bad.
"If I had known, I would have taken the gun and snatched it back a long time ago. I just don't know which bastard has such a sharp eye!"
"Then what should we do? The news from my eldest brother is 80% true. The survivor base is being planned and built. Once the army gathers all the personnel, they will start the migration. If we can't catch up with this wave, it will be difficult to rise in the future. There are many people eyeing the future positions in the base. My brother will have to start all over again. We can't just rely on him."
Lin Mingyong threw the towel, splashing water everywhere: "I know this truth! But the things are gone! The gold and jewelry in the house have been used up in the past few years, and I am pointing at that batch... I will think about it and see if there is any way. You continue to pack up, we must go there first to seize the opportunity."
Yu Manshu responded gently, "I understand." She picked up the towel, wrung it dry, and gently wiped his face.
Qiao Qingqing didn't know that Lin Mingyong had gone back to dig for gold, and she and her family were on their way.
Although the sun had set, the ground scorched by the sun was still hot to the feet after the sun went down. Even though Qiao Qingqing and the others were wearing thick-soled sneakers, their feet could still feel the warmth of the ground.
Fortunately, there wasn’t much luggage, only five suitcases, which greatly reduced the burden.
Everyone had enough food, drink and rest in the afternoon, so although they felt hot and uncomfortable while traveling, they could still bear it.
"The ground is so messy, it's like a garbage dump everywhere. There are some rusty iron blocks here, be careful." Shao Shengan, who was walking in front, reminded from time to time.
The road conditions were too bad, which was why Qiao Qingqing decided to walk. No matter whether she rode a motorcycle or a bicycle, she couldn't handle such road conditions. Of course, she didn't have any cars in her space, only motorcycles and bicycles, which were her means of transportation for living in the survivor base and escaping from a major earthquake.
"It's completely dark."
After nightfall, the whole city fell into darkness, without any lights.
"Stop for a moment and put on your headlamp."
Shao Shengan put it on and said, "I'll go ahead, you guys follow me."
"Mom and Dad, you and big brother walk in the middle. Mom, you stand in front of me." Qiao Qingqing came at the back. She and Shao Shengan wore masks, one in front and one behind. That was enough to provide light.
The residents nearby secretly opened the curtains and saw the moving lights on the road. They all wondered in their hearts: Who is going out so late at night and has the money to turn on the lights in this day and age?
There were malicious eyes in the darkness. The light was too dim for them to see clearly, but flashlights were also valuable.
"Someone is approaching." Qiao Qingqing said softly. She heard other footsteps, probably still a hundred meters away. "Sheng An, take mom and the others and keep going forward. Then find a place, turn off the headlights, hide and don't make any noise. Sheng An, can you do it?" The night was very quiet and her voice was very soft, but all the family members heard it.
Shao Shengan was about to stop and his father was about to speak, but Qiao Qingqing stopped him: "Don't talk and keep going." The next second, he shouted loudly. "I'm not going with you, you bully me! I want to go home!"
Hearing footsteps behind him, Shao Shengan turned around, only to see Qiao Qingqing walking back with her luggage.
He finally understood something.
At this moment, Shao Shengan's heart was torn. His mind told him to listen to Qingqing, but emotionally he couldn't accept running away like a coward and leaving Qingqing to face danger alone.
After only two seconds of hesitation, Shao Shengan did as he was told. He pulled the person behind him and slowed down his pace, but did not stop.
Qiao Songzhi's heart trembled, and she reached back to grab her daughter, but she caught nothing. Gritting her teeth, she had no choice but to continue pulling Shao's mother's clothes, and followed the team's shifting direction with light steps.
After walking about seven or eight meters, Shao Shengan turned off his headlights and entered an empty house. Everyone was standing against the wall. He tilted his head to listen to the noise, and felt that there were evil spirits everywhere in the darkness outside, waving their claws and fangs. He held his hands tightly, his heart beating like a drum.
After walking a distance back, Qiao Qingqing pretended to fall down. She cursed and cried in grievance, then went into an empty room and turned off her headlamp.
After a long while, she heard footsteps getting closer in the darkness. Without the light source, she also lost her target. Qiao Qingqing heard the footsteps become disordered before approaching her, but soon it was quiet outside again.
She opened her eyes wide in the darkness, and instead of feeling lost or frightened, she felt like a fish in water.
During those days of eternal night, she experienced a lot of darkness and was no longer afraid of it.
Shao Shengfei twisted his body uneasily, but he was very obedient and didn't speak when he was told not to. Shao's father and mother held his hands to give him a sense of security and calm him down.
Shao Shengan's heart beat very fast, and he tried hard to distinguish the movements in the darkness. He was looking forward to hearing Qingqing's voice, and Qingqing would tell them in a relaxed tone: "It's okay, I'm back."
Fifty meters away.
Qiao Qingqing's breathing did not change, but she made painful inhalation and crying sounds. After a few sounds, she seemed to be scared, stopped talking, and moved towards the inside of the house, knocking over a stool.
After making these movements, she slinked back to the door like a cat.
It was still quiet outside.
She knew that the robbers who were tracking her were playing a psychological warfare with her, and whoever gave up first would fail.
It doesn't matter, she is very patient and is sure that she is the winner.
These robbers who are chasing the light in the darkness will never let go of a young woman who is alone.
A young woman with a broken foot and precious belongings (a headlamp and a suitcase).
Even if there are some doubts about the disappearance of others, her value will obviously outweigh all doubts, making their ambitions and desires continue to grow.
It is not eternal night now, and light, women or children are not the most common means of "entrapment". People with malicious intentions must not have developed the experience of not being tempted by prey in the eternal night.
Even if her move has many flaws, they will definitely not be able to help themselves and will definitely fall into her trap.
They will definitely come.
Sure enough, Qiao Qingqing heard very light footsteps.
One, two, three... three people.
One guarded the door, and two went into the house.
Two is fine too!
Following the sound of breathing, Qiao Qingqing took action.
In fact, after being in the dark for a long time, you can see everything. After getting used to the darkness, you can slightly see the outlines of some objects. Now that there are power outages everywhere, these people have long been accustomed to living without lights at night. They dare to come out to rob at night, and naturally they have some confidence in their hearts.
But these two men had never expected that the moment they stepped through the door, a sharp blade with a cold glow would cut towards their necks like lightning.
Qiao Qingqing held the knife in both hands, and two streams of blood spurted out at the same time.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
The companion guarding the door immediately heard the noise and felt strange at first.
"Caught?"
No one answered.
"Daxiong? Junzi?" The man was holding a modified kitchen knife and the other one was holding a steel pipe, and they couldn't help but step back.
"I accidentally bumped into my descendants, ahem, come and help us."
A hoarse and dull male voice came from behind the door. He seemed to be in pain and groaned in pain. Although it didn't sound like the voice of Daxiong or Junzi, it was normal to be speechless in pain after hitting the root of the penis. The alertness of the man outside just rose up and disappeared in an instant, and he even found it a little funny.
"Phew, I was scared to death! Why did you suddenly stop talking? Wait a minute, I'm coming. By the way, where's that woman?"
There was the sound of a woman crying in the darkness.
"Ahem, I caught her. She was the one who attacked me. Damn it!"
The man found it more and more funny. It seemed as if someone called him from behind. He responded, "Okay, come quickly." Then he walked in with a relaxed smile, and joked as he walked, "Big Bear, you are not good enough. You actually let a woman sneak attack your penis. You are so embarrassed. Tsk, it's too dark. If you catch that woman, grab her flashlight and turn it on to take a look--"
The next moment, all sounds stopped.
Qiao Qingqing exhaled and heard hurried footsteps running away outside the door. Her face was horrified. The fourth latecomer had run away! She immediately chased after him. As soon as she ran out, she heard a man screaming not far away.
"Qingqing? It's me."
It’s Shao Shengan’s voice!
"Sheng'an? How did you get here?" She turned on the headlamp and saw Shao Sheng'an standing in front of her, with the fourth person who had fainted under his feet.
He swung the knife, and blood slid from the tip of the knife and dripped onto the ground. There were still splatters of blood on his face and some ferocity in his eyes, but when he looked over, Qiao Qingqing could only see worry and tenderness in his eyes.
She calmed down and stepped forward.
"I'm here to help. How are you?" Shao Sheng'an didn't bother to wipe his face. He casually put the knife back into his waist and quickly touched Qiao Qingqing's face and arm. "Are you hurt?"
"No."
Shao Shengan hugged her tightly: "I hate myself for being so incompetent. I wanted to kill myself just now!" Hiding behind his wife and leaving her to face the danger alone, Shao Shengan felt ashamed and painful. He was tormented every minute and every second. Finally, he couldn't help but tell his family not to move or make a sound, and he rushed over.
"I'm fine! Really fine! Isn't it said that those who are more capable should do more work? I have more experience than you in killing people. Look at me, I'm fine now, I've won a great victory, using me as bait is the best solution, they will all come to me, I can get rid of them all at once, and you won't be involved in danger-"
As she was talking, Qiao Qingqing couldn't say anything more. She felt something wet on her neck.
"I'm really fine." She gave up pretending to be relaxed and whispered to comfort him, "I want to protect you. I want to do this."
Shao Shengan took a deep breath and quickly calmed down. He knew this was not the place to talk: "Let's go, let's go pick up our parents."
After they left, rats that smelled the smell came in from the corner of the wall, rustled around, and climbed onto the corpse. The corpse on the side of the road was also bitten by a skinny wild dog that came out of the sewer entrance and dragged into the sewer.
Qiao Qingqing reunited with her family. Without having time to talk much, they continued on their journey after making sure that no one was injured.
She knew that her family had a lot to ask her, but now was not the right time to talk. Who knew if there would be another wave of robbers?
Fortunately, the rest of the journey was relatively smooth. They took a break and had a midnight snack before continuing on their journey. When the sun rose, everyone was so tired that they felt like their legs were not their own.
"Let's find a place to rest and set off after dark," said Qiao Qingqing.
Shao Shengan looked into the distance through a telescope: "There is a residential area over there, but I don't think it's safe."
Now every unfamiliar, inhabited place is unsafe. You don’t know who’s your friend or foe, so it’s better not to go there.
"Let's not go. Let's just find a first-floor house nearby to stay temporarily." Qiao Qingqing looked around and found an abandoned house on the first floor with a good location. It was very convenient whether for observing the road ahead or retreating in case of an accident.
There is no need to clean. Just put the bed, set up a tent, spray some disinfectant around, and crawl into the tent and it will be a safe little home.
They huddled together cozily and ate breakfast under a dim light.
For breakfast, we had white rice, stir-fried pork with garlic sprouts, shredded chicken, and winter melon, scallop, and pork rib soup. After the meal, we had coconuts, one for each of us to drink from a straw.
"The coconut meat inside can't be wasted." Shao's father shook the coconut to make sure that the coconut juice inside was finished, then used a kitchen knife to break the coconut open and scoop out the coconut meat.
He dug up all the coconuts and put the coconut meat in a bowl. Shao's father and mother and Qiao Songzhi ate a few pieces and then stopped, saying that their teeth were tired of chewing.
"Delicious!" Shao Shengfei enjoyed the meal very much.
"Can you wait until you wake up before eating?" Shao Shengan coaxed him.
Shao Shengfei burped and nodded obediently.
Qiao Qingqing collected the coconut meat and put it in the space to keep it fresh. She also took out two buckets of ice and placed them at the head and tail of the tent.
"Go to bed." She turned off the light.
Almost no one goes out during the day, so Qiao Qingqing did not arrange any guard duty. After leaving home, her vigilance outside reached its highest level, and she would wake up at the slightest movement.
Everyone fell asleep one after another. The tent was stuffy, but there were two buckets of ice to cool it down, so at least people could sleep well.
Five hours later, Qiao Qingqing's eyelids twitched, and she opened her eyes. After blinking a few times, the sleepiness in her eyes completely disappeared. She sat up carefully, and Shao Shengan immediately noticed it and opened his eyes as well.
"What's wrong?" he asked softly.
"There's some movement. I'll go out and take a look."
Qiao Qingqing walked out and Shao Shengan followed her out.
The view from the first floor was not good, so she turned around and went into the house and climbed the stairs to the top floor.
It was past ten in the morning and the sun was already very hot. They were sweating after climbing to the seventh floor. Qiao Qingqing took out an umbrella to block the sun and looked to the east. There was a building on fire and there were faint cries for help.
"It's on fire again." Shao Sheng'an sighed, "I don't know what the situation is in the community now, and I don't know if Grandma Wang and her family have gone to the library."
"We should be at the library now. It's only a two or three hour walk to the library."
"It's too hot, let's go down."
The two went downstairs and went back into the tent to sleep. At around three o'clock in the afternoon, their family members woke up one after another.
It was still early, and Qiao Qingqing began to pack her supplies. There were only five suitcases in sight, which she replaced with large backpacks for outdoor hiking, one for each person. They were filled with necessary clothes, sunscreen, floral water, safflower oil, bandages, Band-Aids, and other common medicines, food, maps, and weapons.
If we unfortunately get separated, the supplies in this backpack will be the necessary survival resources.
"Brother, you have to recite it well, okay?" She looked at Shao Shengfei seriously. Shao Shengfei nodded seriously: "Don't worry, sister, I will recite it well. I will help you recite yours!"
Qiao Qingqing smiled and said, "No, we each have one, and everyone has to memorize it well."
"The sun is about to set." Qiao Songzhi said, looking outside.
"Then let's get ready for dinner. After we eat and take a rest, we can set off."
"It's too hot and I have no appetite. Is there anything appetizing?"
"How about cold noodles? It's a little spicy. I made it before. It's my own secret recipe." Qiao Qingqing took out a bowl and showed it to them.
There is a large bowl of cold noodles in the stainless steel bowl. Shredded cucumbers, shredded carrots, peanuts, fried bean curd sheets, peanuts and red chili sauce are mixed with the white cold noodles. The colors are bright, it looks very appetizing, and it smells sour and spicy.
Father Shao swallowed his saliva: "It smells really good, then I'll eat the cold noodles."
Everyone agreed to eat cold noodles, so Qiao Qingqing took out the bowls and chopsticks, and also took out a pot of passion fruit lemonade and a plate of cold-boiled pig ears.
Qiao Songzhi took a sip of the passion fruit lemonade and praised it highly: "I saw you tinkering in the kitchen before, and I didn't expect it to taste so good."
"You can drink more. I didn't add any ice. It's at room temperature." Qiao Qingqing was very happy and filled her mother's glass again.
The six of them devoured the entire bowl of cold noodles in no time at all, not even the sauce at the bottom of the bowl was wasted. Father Shao ordered an extra bowl of white rice and poured it in to mix, and they finished it all.
After digesting the food after lunch, they continued their journey after the sun went down, working hard towards the Dong'an District of Xicheng.
Jinyuan Community was already engulfed in flames. Residents of nearby buildings that had not caught fire were also evacuating quickly. The high temperature and sparks from the nearby fires put them in a life-or-death crisis, so they had to move as quickly as possible, even under the scorching sun.
People cursed, complained, cried, and resented.
In just two days, hundreds of families lost their homes, and as they watched the fire spread, more people became panicked and frightened.
In the chaos, foreign invaders took advantage of the situation and some homes were looted.
The original residents of Jinyuan Community took refuge in nearby abandoned houses and huddled together for warmth.
"Here they come again, those people are robbers!"
They looked out through the broken windows, their eyes filled with panic.
One person said: "Before, there was someone in the community who was very powerful and shot people with bows and arrows, killing many robbers. Why didn't they take action this time?"
"It seems that the building that caught fire was theirs! So, was it the third or fourth building? They had moved away a long time ago!"
"Oh, this world is so chaotic. Where did they go? Should we follow them?"
"Who knows! Hey look! There's another group coming. Everyone, take out your kitchen knives and don't let anyone snatch them away. We have to unite as one at this time!"
Zhou Peng brought his men to Jinyuan Community and frowned as he looked at the fire in front of him.
"Brother Peng, it looks like it's on fire, what should we do?"
Zhou Peng spat on the ground: "Damn, he's lucky. I have the real weapon this time. Let's go look around and see where they are hiding. They hurt my brother, I will definitely avenge him!"
"Brother Peng is mighty and domineering!"
"As expected of Brother Peng, he is so loyal. We are lucky to follow Brother Peng!"
The residents who were forced out of their homes by the fire faced their biggest crisis.
In the chaos of the confrontation with the foreign invaders, no one noticed that Zheng Tiehui put a gun to a man's forehead.
"Put down your luggage, put it down! Everyone put down your luggage! Or I will kill him!"
He looked at his wife and daughter, his eyes full of ruthlessness: "What are you standing there for? Tie them up quickly!"
Mrs. Zheng was panic-stricken, her face turned pale, and her hands and feet were shaking.
Zheng Liangying swallowed her saliva and pinched the palm of her left hand hard with her left fingernails. She uttered a silent "OK" and went forward to tie the man up.
Half an hour later, someone came here with luggage to seek refuge. When he pushed open the half-open door, he saw four corpses. The ground was covered with blood that must have dried, and rats were gnawing on the bleeding necks of the corpses.
"ah!"
Near the library, Wang Jiaxin raised his crossbow and shouted, "Who's in front! Get out of here! You can't bully our family! Get out!" The sadness of his grandmother's death turned into anger, and Wang Jiaxin shot an arrow, hitting the man's shoulder.
“Get lost!”
The noise ahead quieted down.
Uncle Wang asked quietly, "Have the robbers left?"
"It should be. Let's keep going. The library is just across the river." Wang Jiaxin wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand, widened her eyes and took a deep breath, "Let's go!"
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