Re-running the program has a good regulating effect on the residents' body and mind, but it is too stressful for crossbow team members such as Qiao Qingqing.
The members of the crossbow team are all from Ping'an communities, and their families are here. If something goes wrong while watching the show, it will be too late for regret.
After a large-scale hunting, the attacks of crows and vultures have dropped sharply. Sometimes, at the end of a whole day, not a single crow feather can be seen in the entire Ping'an community.
But the pressure is still there. It's better to be safe than sorry.
For the sake of their families and the mission, everyone had to work hard and concentrate to control the threats from the air. From the rebroadcast of the projection program to now, the crossbow team has never made any mistakes in their work, which has led to more and more residents willing to go downstairs to watch the program.
On this day, Qiao Qingqing was guarding the crowd as usual. Suddenly, her ears moved slightly. She looked up at the sky alertly. The sky was dark and the brightness of the movie could not dispel all the darkness. The movement was approaching, and it sounded like there was only one person. Qiao Qingqing raised her crossbow, placed the arrow, and aimed——
The attackers were not yet in sight.
She closed her eyes.
Eyes are not the only means of seeing in the dark. She listened to the movement in the wind and quickly pressed the trigger.
A sharp scream was heard, and the body of a vulture fell into the crowd.
There was a brief commotion in the crowd, but everyone was well protected when watching the movie, not afraid of being infected with bacteria by touching the vulture's corpse. A boy picked out the corpse with a stick and brought it to Qiao Qingqing, looking at her with admiration: "Sister, you are so awesome, can I be as awesome as you in the future?"
Qiao Qingqing threw the vulture's corpse into the bucket and said with a smile: "When you turn sixteen, you can sign up for training in Yeshan, if the crossbow team is still recruiting at that time."
The boy smiled and said, "In three months I will be sixteen years old. I will do my best!" Then he happily ran back to the crowd to continue watching the movie.
She saw Shao Shengan smile at her, and her mother sat up straight in the crowd, looked back at her and waved at her.
"That's my daughter..." She vaguely heard Qiao Songzhi say this.
In the summer of the eighth year of the apocalypse, the danger from the sky gradually weakened, and the number of crows and vultures attacking the survivors' base decreased a lot. Sometimes, for several days in a row, Qiao Qingqing and her friends could not see a single crow.
It is a good thing that there is no threat. Although Qiao Qingqing is willing to use the corpses of crows and others to exchange for supplies, compared with safety, she would rather not have those "benefits".
The crossbow team began to be idle, and after discussing with Commander Peng, Mayor Luo decided to continue to retain this team and include the crossbow team in the "militia" to cooperate with the security team to protect the safety of the base. Qiao Qingqing had inquired that outside of new communities such as Ping'an Community, especially the periphery of the base, the order has always been unstable, so these crossbow soldiers are likely to be sent to patrol Pingshan Community and its surrounding areas.
"This time it's my turn to go. You quit your job and stay at home to take care of mom and the others." Qiao Qingqing said.
Shao Shengan disagreed. He said that working outside was definitely harder than working at home. He felt that his wife had suffered enough and it would be better for him to go.
"It's not hard. I just need to assist the security team in maintaining law and order. Let me go."
Seeing the couple worried about this, Qiao Songzhi and Shao's mother felt bad. They knew what their daughter and son were worried about. They were just afraid that they and Feifei would encounter danger at home and couldn't handle it, so Qingqing and Sheng'an rarely went out together in the past few years. Parents are of course relieved that their children can stand on their own and protect their family. But at the same time, a sense of frustration that they are being held back is also increasing day by day. They hope that their children can be freer and more willful, and not always worry about their family.
"You all go together!" Qiao Songzhi decided.
Shao's mother added: "Although Sister Zhi and I can't kill crows, we are accurate enough to deal with thieves and robbers. If bad guys come to bully us, I will use a crossbow to deal with them!"
Shao Shengfei patted his chest and said, "I will definitely protect my mother and Mother Qiao. I'm very good!" I don't know where he watched this TV plot, but he actually broke the broom with his bare hands, grabbed half of the broken stick in one hand, and proudly showed it to Qiao Qingqing and the others, with a proud look on his face as if to say, "I'm very good, right?"
Qiao Qingqing was shaken.
Qiao Songzhi talked to her privately: "Don't worry too much about us. We are well protected by you. But as a mother, I also want to protect you. I don't want me to be your weakness. Haven't you been training us in the past few years? I know you are very conflicted. You want us to have the ability to protect ourselves, but you don't want us to face it alone. Just let go this time. If the three of us can't keep this family under such conditions, how can we live in the future? That's fate! Don't blame anyone!"
Qiao Qingqing thought about it all night and finally nodded.
At the moment of making the decision, she felt the shackles that bound her loosened. Those were the shackles she had given herself, the timidity and shrinking born of love.
After receiving the duty list, Qiao Qingqing and Shao Shengan checked it together. This was a monthly duty list. Qiao Qingqing was assigned to Pingshan Community this month, and Shao Shengan was assigned to the outskirts of the base. As for where they would be assigned next month, it was still unknown.
"Don't be afraid, we will just do this for a year, and then we will quit and go home." Shao Shengan said to Qiao Qingqing.
"Okay." Qiao Qingqing felt that the possibility of a major earthquake occurring earlier than expected was very high, so they had to prepare in advance.
On the first day of work, Qiao Qingqing and Shao Shengan rode their bicycles out, each carrying a bag filled with spare clothes, food and medicine.
After arriving at Pingshan Community, the two parted ways and Shao Shengan continued to move forward.
He rode for another hour and a half before reaching his destination. What he saw and heard along the way made him feel very heavy. The gap between the new community and Pingshan community was already obvious, but after leaving Pingshan community, the gap became larger and larger. The buildings were old and dilapidated under the acid rain, and they were patched everywhere like people's clothes. The road environment was also very different from the new community. There was garbage everywhere and the road was bumpy. The mental outlook of the survivors he met along the way was completely different from that of the residents of the new community.
He had never been to the outskirts of the base. According to his wife's stories and in his past dreams, the outskirts of the base were not a good place. It was filled with poverty, hunger, danger, contention and chaos.
Hearing is one thing, seeing it with your own eyes is another.
"Don't run! Stop, thief!"
"Someone touched me! Daddy, someone touched me secretly!"
"Which kid ran around and broke my stove? Do you want to die? Don't get caught by me!"
The headlight tied to the front of the car illuminated the road and also reflected the chaotic scene outside the base in Shao Shengan's eyes.
"Shao Shengan, right? Okay, we've registered. The dormitory is in the back, go there by yourself. This area is very chaotic. The evil cults that emerged during the acid rain period loved to preach here, and they were always caught. Go and have a rest first. Work will start at one o'clock in the afternoon. Your teammates will lead you, and you can learn on your own."
After registering, Shao Shengan thanked the staff and pushed his bicycle to the dormitory.
When Shao Shengan, with mixed feelings, officially set foot outside the base for the first time, Qiao Qingqing had already completed the morning patrol in Pingshan Community with her new colleagues and was having lunch.
After lunch, Qiao Qingqing chatted with her new colleagues to enhance their relationships. The new colleagues were quite easy to get along with and during the chat they curiously asked her about life in the new community.
"I have relatives living in the new community, and they say life there is very good. Even though it is dark now, it is still safe to go out, and there are street lights everywhere."
"A friend of mine said the same thing. Are there a lot of jobs in the new community? I heard the pay is good, too."
"Is the rent in Ping'an Community expensive? My wife always wants to move there. I think Pingshan Community is pretty good too. It's planned as a community after all, which is much better than other places. If your place is the city center, then Pingshan is also in the second ring road!"
Qiao Qingqing was friendly and had a pleasant chat with them.
Seeing that she didn't have the arrogance of someone from a new community, her colleagues were actually relieved. When a crossbowman from a new community came to the next team, he started to complain about the poor conditions and environment here, and his teammates were all green with anger. Crossbowmen only rotate for a month, and it would be best if they could get along well and say goodbye happily. Anything else is just a waste of energy.
Life in Pingshan Community started simply like this. Qiao Qingqing's job was very simple. She went out on patrol with the security team every day. If she encountered crows, it was her chance to take action. The security team she was in was not a soldier from Yeshan, so they were not equipped with guns. Her joining strengthened the team's strength. Qiao Qingqing was kind to others and didn't like to talk much. But when she listened to others, she always looked serious and never talked about other people's right and wrong. Who wouldn't like such a new colleague? Later, when I learned that Qiao Qingqing also had some medical skills and could treat injuries from falls, Qiao Qingqing became even more popular.
"One of my sisters works in another security team. Last time, she was accidentally injured while mediating a conflict among residents. Can you help my sister?"
A colleague asked this during dinner.
"Let's be frank. I will charge a certain fee." Qiao Qingqing mentioned a number and her colleague agreed immediately.
"I don't have to be on duty tonight, so you can ask your sister to come over." Qiao Qingqing swallowed the sweet potato, took a sip of sweet potato soup to smooth her throat, and then agreed to the task.
The colleague was very happy: "Then I will bring her to your dormitory to see you in the evening."
To Qiao Qingqing's surprise, the sister brought by her colleague turned out to be Zheng Meng.
"Qing, Qingqing? It's really you." Zheng Meng was also surprised.
"Sister Meng, do you know Qingqing?" The colleague was surprised. Is this world so small? Then he smiled and said, "All powerful women are similar. It's not surprising that you know each other. Then you can chat. I'll leave first. After all, this is a girls' dormitory and I can't stay too long."
The colleague left in a hurry, leaving Zheng Meng standing there awkwardly.
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