Chapter 30 Chapter 30 Doomsday

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"Puff."

A gentle laugh without any malice echoed in the quiet living room.

No one spoke until the laughter died down. Zheng Yijie patted his chest and exhaled a hot breath, "No, you guys are probably younger than me. Don't you usually go online?"

Going online? Gu Mengran vaguely guessed it and raised his eyebrows unconsciously.

Liang Zhao had a cold face the whole time, Gu Mengran didn't say a word, Zheng Yijie thought they had misunderstood, and hurriedly waved his hand to explain: "I'm not mocking you, it's just, when Huang Wu just exploded, wasn't the Internet abuzz with rumors that Blue Planet was doomed, the world was about to end, etc., didn't you hear anything at all?"

"I have heard of it," Gu Mengran nodded, and said thoughtfully, "But the yellow fog has only been going on for a few months. Did you believe it so easily and make so many preparations for it?"

"I can tell from the first glance that you've never read online novels."

Zheng Yijie pushed up his black-framed glasses, raised the corners of his mouth, and revealed an unfathomable smile, "In online articles, those who don't believe this or that and always think they are smarter than others are usually the cannon fodder who die the fastest.

Did the Catpoo Forum know? Many of the previous posts made very reasonable analyses. One of the original posters even accurately said that the yellow fog came from volcanoes and underground cracks, and repeatedly emphasized that a disaster was about to happen. Now it seems that he is a true prophet!

The yellow fog is really weird. Although I don’t know much about astronomy and geography, I am a person who listens to advice. So considering all the circumstances, I decided to stock up on supplies to be prepared. ”

"Of course, the most important reason..." Zheng Yijie paused for a few seconds, and seeing that the two did not show any impatience, he continued: "I am a doomsday believer myself. I believe that the end of the world will come one day. I am both looking forward to it and afraid of it, so I made some plans in advance."

"For example, this house, I bought it second-hand five years ago. When I saw this basement, I paid a deposit on the spot. At that time, I thought that once the house was renovated and I had some supplies, I could hide in it when the doomsday came. It wouldn't be a problem for at least eight or ten years.

But I thought the end of the world would be a zombie outbreak, but I didn’t expect a volcanic eruption and an earthquake. Fortunately, this house was sturdy and didn’t collapse in the earthquake, otherwise my body would be stinking now.”

It seemed like he hadn't communicated with anyone for a long time. Once Zheng Yijie started talking, he couldn't stop and talked to himself for a long time.

Gu Mengran listened very carefully, but he unknowingly missed the main point.

Zheng Yijie looked only about 25 or 26 years old. He was probably in his early 20s five years ago. How could he have bought a house at that age? Gu Mengran tried to hold back, but couldn't help asking casually, "So, where are your family members? Didn't you bring them over?"

Zheng Yijie: "No father, no mother, no worries."

"Sorry." Gu Mengran lowered his eyes and apologized.

Zheng Yijie seemed to be unconcerned and said with a smile, "It's better to be fine than to die in an earthquake. And I can show off. I bought the house in full at the age of 20 without relying on anyone."

The other party deftly resolved the awkward situation, and Gu Mengran took over the conversation with interest, providing emotional value to the other party: "Amazing, people are really different. You bought a house in full at the age of 20, but I was still asking my family for money at the age of 19."

These words touched Zheng Yijie's heart. He immediately smiled and reached out to pat Gu Mengran on the shoulder.

The hand was less than an inch away from Gu Mengran's shoulder. Liang Zhao coughed lightly and asked again, "There is water, electricity, and supplies. The temperature in the basement is still within the tolerable range. Since you are so fully prepared, why don't you stay here and come with us instead?"

Liang Zhao either kept silent or raised a sharp question as soon as he opened his mouth. Gu Mengran was slightly stunned when he heard this, and immediately stopped joking.

It is indeed strange. From Zheng Yijie's description, it is not difficult to see that he spent a lot of effort to build this basement. Why would he give up his hard work when he has no worries about food and clothing?

Not everyone has the space to pack up their supplies and take them away. At this critical juncture, they would rather give up important food resources and leave. Could it be that...

Did he also know it was going to rain?

Under the gaze of two pairs of eyes, Zheng Yijie withdrew his hand that was frozen in mid-air and sighed, "Oh, it's complicated to explain. I'm hungry, let's eat first, and then we can talk after eating."

Dinner consisted of two dishes without soup, a dish of shredded potatoes with soy sauce that looked terrible, and a dish of watery stir-fried bok choy.

The children didn’t eat much, so after eating half a bowl of rice porridge each, they put down their bowls and chopsticks and ran off to play with Lego.

The adults had good appetites. Although the food was not very delicious, they had been living on fast food these days and it was a rare opportunity to have a meal of hot white rice porridge. Even the two girls ate two big bowls of it with chili sauce.

I barely finished the dishes, and there was still half a pot of porridge left, which I could still have for tomorrow morning. But there was no need to think about it, the temperature was at least 30 degrees in the basement, and the food would definitely go bad if left overnight.

Gu Mengran volunteered to take out the rubbish, carrying a large pot of porridge upstairs. Ten minutes later, he came back with an empty pot and a sweaty forehead.

Pour it out? It's hard to pour it out, and it won't go bad if you put it in the space.

After eating and drinking to their heart's content, Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao did not rush to clean up and go to sleep. Instead, they sat back at the dining table and stared at Zheng Yijie, waiting for him to speak.

Seeing this, the old man and the two teachers who were about to leave paused and sat back down. Although they did not stare at him like Gu Mengran and the others, their attention was focused on Zheng Yijie.

It must feel good to be the protagonist. Surrounded by a group of people, Zheng Yijie relayed the current situation of the mountain city to everyone in his own unique way of chatting.

"After the earthquake, most of the survivors in the northern part of the city took refuge in the air-raid shelters near Ninth Street. Oh, yes, you have never been to the mountain city before, right? The air-raid shelters are left over from the past. There are all of them underground in that area. Now they are almost like underground commercial streets."

"This earthquake left no one alive. Some died, some were injured, and all the houses collapsed. It was a blessing in disguise that we had an air-raid shelter, but there were too many people in the shelter, and we couldn't wait for rescue. It didn't take long for the shelter to become chaotic.

Fights were commonplace, and some people even risked their lives for a bite to eat, a bed, or a place to rest.

Later, a big, strong man with arms thicker than my thighs took over the air-raid shelter with his men. At that time, the order was chaotic and people were panicking. In fact, it was a good thing to have someone take the lead in maintaining order. The key was that man... He became an emperor after taking over the air-raid shelter and did not treat people as human beings at all!"

"What did you say?" Meng Gaoyang was extremely curious and asked immediately after the words were spoken.

Zheng Yijie shook his head and sighed, "After that man took over the air-raid shelter, he also took over all the supplies inside the shelter, including the supplies that the survivors brought in, which had to be handed in and distributed by him.

As a result, he and his men enjoyed themselves to the fullest, leaving the other survivors to brave the thick fog to search for supplies. They also set a task for each person to hand in a certain amount of supplies every day, and if it was not enough, they would withhold food and drink."

"Bang!"

The old man slapped the table and said angrily, "Damn it!"

Liang Zhao felt something was wrong and frowned as he asked, "If that's the case, why didn't the survivors leave? Although the magnitude of the earthquake was high, there are always buildings left in the entire city. Isn't your mountain city the one with the most air-raid shelters? Why don't you find other places?"

"It's not that I don't want to leave, it's that I can't leave." Zheng Yijie sighed, "Not everyone is an orphan. If one family is sent out and your relatives are left behind, would you leave if it were you?"

Liang Zhao shook his head: "You continue."

Zheng Yijie: "Order has collapsed and the world is in chaos. They must be enjoying the feeling of being in power, so they don't allow anyone to escape from control. Previously, a group of people couldn't stand this kind of oppression and chose to escape overnight, but they were discovered before they went far and were caught by his lackeys.

I was there getting gasoline, and I heard with my own ears how they treated the survivors who tried to escape. They beat them up, beat them up, beat them half to death, and dragged them back until they begged for mercy.

"Now that it's like this, why don't they unite and resist?" Gu Mengran clenched his hands against his nose and said seriously, "No matter how many subordinates we have, they can't outnumber the survivors. Organize a group of people to drive them out and elect a reliable leader."

Zheng Yijie's mouth twitched forcefully, and he pulled out an ugly bitter smile, "It's not that easy. The balance of power always leans towards resources. With the resources in his hands, more and more people will follow him. We are all ordinary people living in peacetime. We can't even have enough food to eat, so how can we have the energy to resist?"

Faced with sudden and drastic changes, humans are struggling to survive in the cracks. Now that they can hardly protect themselves, who dares to risk their lives to come out and be a hero?

The solemn topic made the atmosphere in the living room dull and depressing. A group of adults sat in silence, while the naive children were absorbed in playing with building blocks, with occasional cheerful laughter coming from them.

The more he knew, the more powerless he felt. Gu Mengran knew that he could do nothing, so he decided not to sympathize with others' suffering and asked Zheng Yijie, "You think they will threaten you, so you would rather give up the supplies you have carefully prepared and leave this city?"

"It's not that I think so," Zheng Yijie's mind shook rapidly, "but it will definitely threaten me. After the temperature rises, they will start searching for survivors left outside, taking away whoever they find, including the supplies in other people's hands."

Gu Mengran frowned, pinched his chin and said thoughtfully: "Strange, supplies are scarce, but instead of rushing people out, they are bringing people in. Hiss, are you sure it's not because the weather is too hot, so they brought people outside back to the air-raid shelter to cool off?"

"To escape the heat and cool down?" Zheng Yijie sneered. "If others don't want to go, they are dragged and tied back to escape the heat and cool down. They are just a group of people who bully others and do evil. I saw it with my own eyes. There is no other possibility."

"I don't want to go to the bomb shelter. I've never worked a single day in my life. Now I want to be someone else's slave? I have to leave this city. I have to take as much supplies as I can. My life is more important."

As he was talking, Zheng Yijie suddenly thought of something, his expression changed slightly, and he suddenly looked up at everyone, "Did you meet anyone when you entered the city? Did you feel like someone was following you?"

Following? I’m not an agent, so I wouldn’t be able to detect it even if someone was following me! Gu Mengran complained in his heart, then shook his head: “Probably not.”

"I didn't feel that way. It was very quiet along the way and I didn't see a single person." Wei Qianlan added.

Zheng Yijie patted his chest and said, "That's good. It's been too hot these days, so they are not very active. But we still have to be careful and try not to go out. My house is actually quite far from Ninth Street, but this house is not sturdy and conspicuous. It will take time to find it. We must leave as soon as possible."