A group of nearly 600 people walked cautiously on the snow-covered streets.
Each of these people carried a bag and all their belongings, looking both expectant and nervous.
"Mom, are we really going to live in another shelter? Can't we keep living in our previous shelter? Liu Liu and the others are still staying in the original shelter. I'm a little reluctant to be separated from them..." A short-haired little girl, about eight or nine years old, wearing a gray cotton-padded jacket, kept looking back at the shelter that was obviously out of sight behind her, her voice low and hoarse.
"Mingming, be good. People will eventually be separated when they grow up. We just moved to a new place. It doesn't mean we will never see each other again. When Mingming grows up, if she still wants to play with Liuliu and the others, you can come back to see them." The young woman touched the little girl's head and looked at her daughter's thin appearance with slightly sunken cheeks. She felt even more uneasy in her heart. She didn't know if her choice this time was right.
Ever since the leader of the shelter, Wu Wenhua, was captured by another shelter a few days ago, the shelter where the mother and daughter were located has instantly become demoralized. Those who want to fight for power and profit are even more eager to make a move. Many people have formed gangs in order to take control of the entire shelter. Some people even started a massacre in the middle of the night because of this incident.
She hadn't wanted to leave the shelter with her daughter, but as a single mother whose husband had died, life in such a disaster wasn't easy. Not only did she have to desperately search for food, she also had to constantly face men with malicious intentions. The shelter was in chaos, and the most powerful faction had a poor reputation. Even their second-in-command had repeatedly attempted to attack single women in the shelter in the middle of the night six months ago.
Her daughter was almost grown up, and she didn't want her to ever face such a thing. Although she didn't know the situation in the new shelter, survivors who had met the leader of the other shelter said that the leader was just a four-year-old girl.
The young age of the leader meant that this shelter might not be standardized, and there might even be some chaos in the daily affairs. But she was young and a girl, so there must not be many men who dared to attack single women in the shelter. In addition, it was said that she could drive nearly a hundred mutant beasts. Even if the management might not be as good as the current shelter, the safety factor would be much higher than her original shelter.
Children are usually kind by nature, which is why they attract mutant beasts with similarly simple personalities. With such a person leading the shelter, as long as she and her daughter are diligent, their lives should not be too difficult.
Therefore, the woman thought about the pros and cons for three days and three nights, tossing and turning in bed, before she made up her mind to set off with the others.
She gathered the heavy backpack on her shoulders and exhaled puffs of white mist in the cold north wind. "Mingming, although you've separated from Liuliu and the others, you'll have new good friends in the future... Look, there are several girls in our team who are about your age... Mom believes that you will be able to become good friends with them in the future, definitely..."
The woman said two "definitely" in this sentence. She was not only telling her daughter about her future life, but also trying to comfort herself, feeling uneasy about the unknown at the moment.
Equally worried as the young woman at the moment was an elderly couple not far away who were in their sixties and carrying heavy bags. They both had gray hair and looked very thin, but one of them was trying hard to support a young man who was also thin. The man was about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, and his face looked extremely pale. He had to take a few breaths every few steps.
"Mom and Dad, I'm a burden to you, cough cough cough. If it weren't for my health, cough cough cough, you wouldn't have to walk so far in the middle of winter and trek all the way to the university town." The young man had a pale face and felt extremely guilty.
"How can you be considered a burden? Even if you are in good health now, those people in the shelter have long looked down on your father and me for our old age. Why not take this opportunity to move to another place with everyone else? Maybe you can find a new way out." The old woman supported her son and comforted him.
"But I'm afraid that life at Xingyue University is far worse than here in the shelter, cough cough cough." The young man pursed his lips and smiled bitterly.
His family of three was both fortunate and unfortunate. Before the virus outbreak, he had just proposed to his girlfriend and was planning their wedding. Then, unexpectedly, a natural disaster struck, and the world changed drastically. His girlfriend broke up with him outright, hoping for a better life. He could understand the breakup. He and his parents were all university professors and had never done any heavy work. All three of them looked thin and weak.
For someone like him, who has very little strength, it's hard to support himself during a natural disaster, let alone provide for his girlfriend. From these two perspectives, he and his parents are unfortunate. But in another way, his family is lucky. After the virus outbreak, a large number of people died worldwide. During that period, even crematoriums were overwhelmed every day, and hospital morgues were filled with corpses.
But the three of them all survived, even though life is difficult now and the road ahead seems completely dark. But compared to those families who lost their entire families in the virus outbreak, their situation is much better.
"It doesn't matter if we can't compare. As long as Xingyue University is safe, our family of three will always be able to survive... There are so many teaching buildings and dormitories on campus, we can always find a place to live."
The old woman watched her son cough non-stop and patted the young man's back distressedly. "Your cough is too severe. When we get to the university town, your father and I will help you find some herbs."
"Mom, you'd better not go. Ahem, it's winter and snowing. What if something happens? Ahem." The young man shook his head with a worried look on his face. "Why not wait until the weather is better?"
"But we don't have enough food and warm clothes, and you're sick. If your father and I don't find something, how are we going to live at school?" The old woman frowned worriedly.
"Well, things will work out when the time comes. Let's wait until we get to Xingyue University first." The old man, who had been silent all this time, sighed and helped his son to continue walking in the heavy snow.
Their shelter was in chaos after a large number of workers were arrested, and their leader, Wu Wenhua, was about to take everyone to other shelters. If the original shelter hadn't been in such disarray, making it unsuitable for the elderly, the weak, and the disabled, their family of three wouldn't have thought to follow the others on the three or four hour journey to come here in the heavy snow.
Fortunately, they were lucky along the way and did not encounter any mutant or ferocious beasts, otherwise someone might be carried away and killed on the spot if they were not careful.
The families of other captives also shared the same concerns as this family of three.
Among the more than 300 prisoners captured, except for those who were already alone, only the families of about 100 prisoners were willing to follow Wu Wenhua with all their belongings to Xingyue University to reunite with their relatives. The remaining half rejected Wu Wenhua's proposal and chose to stay in the original shelter.
However, since their relatives are still prisoners, the families of the more than 100 prisoners are all worried, not knowing what the future holds.
Along the way, except for Wu Wenhua's confidants and their families who were walking in the front, the rest of the people were so worried about their future lives that their worries almost came out of every pore, and there was no joy in their eyes.
Time passed by little by little, and many people were walking in the snow with heavy steps, panting, and one step deep and one step shallow, and they were almost unable to walk.
Only then did I see Xingyue University, which was dozens of kilometers away from the shelter.
The towering plants in the school almost obscured the entire school, but large tracts of dense bamboo forests bent by the snow were clearly visible to everyone.
"We're here! We're finally almost there!"
Several people pointed at Xingyue University at the bottom of the slope, their eyes and brows almost showing joy.
Although the others were nervous, they were still somewhat happy when they saw that they were about to reach their destination.
“Rustle!—Hiss!”
suddenly!
Just when everyone was filled with joy, a series of tiny rustling sounds suddenly appeared in the grass on the street not far away. The sound seemed particularly inconspicuous in the wind and snow, but it made people's hair stand on end!
Especially since there were two mutant dogs in the team this time, they immediately pricked up their ears and barked wildly in the direction of the sound.
“Woof woof woof!!”
"Be careful, there's a mutant beast in the bushes! Everyone, run towards the school!"
Following a roar from someone in the crowd, more than 600 survivors who came on foot subconsciously ran towards the school!
"Hurry, hurry, run! Run!"
"hiss!"
A nearly thirty-meter-long venomous snake with blood-red scales all over its body and venomous fangs jumped out of the bushes and pounced on the crowd!
“Ahhh!——”
Some could no longer hold on and let out terrified screams. All the survivors instinctively dropped their luggage and fled, but how could they escape faster than the beast? Even if the two mutant dogs tried to stop them, their size was such that they were no match for the venomous snake.
It looked like someone was about to be swallowed.
A black, furry claw, like a hammer, slapped the giant snake's head!
"Bang!——"
The snake's head groaned as it was hit.
The giant snake, which was almost as tall and thick as an adult man, was pressed to the ground by Xiong Baqi's claw. However, due to the size of the giant snake, it instinctively curled its tail upwards and tightly wrapped around Xiong Baqi, trying to use the powerful wrapping force to crush the prey's bones.
However--
Xiong Baqi was too big, and Mao Mao's belly was full of flesh. The blood-red snake tail tried its best but could only wrap around him twice.
Xia Ruanruan was about to yell at Xiong Baqi to be careful: "......"
Xia Runrun scratched her head. Isn’t this quite embarrassing?
What was even more embarrassing was that Xiong Weiwu put the little girl down, took two steps forward, and bit the giant snake's back. There was a crisp "click! --" sound, and the originally hard scales were bitten with bloody holes, and the giant snake's skeleton was bitten off.
Before the virus outbreak, the giant panda had an extremely strong bite force of 1250.6 pounds. A bite from an adult giant panda could send the beast to heaven in just five seconds!
The survivors who were still fleeing around: "..."
Other survivors who heard the cry for help and ran out with weapons in hand: "..."
As if feeling the heat brought by everyone's gaze, Xiong Weiwu tilted his head and hummed softly. The voice sounded aggrieved and pitiful, with a slight stutter.
"Hum~" (Look, look, what are you looking at? I, didn't I just take a small bite?)
The new survivors: I suddenly felt good, as if I had arrived at a great place, and I felt extremely safe.
"Welcome to the Xingyue University shelter~ Today the electrical equipment in the dormitory area has been completed, the sewage treatment equipment has also been installed, and with the addition of new members, hot soup has been prepared in the cafeteria. Everyone, hurry up and take your luggage and go in~" Looking at the people standing there in a daze, Xia Runrun said with a smile.
Today, after going to the hospital to move sewage treatment equipment, Wu Wenhua and his team carefully mentioned to her halfway that they wanted to bring other people to Xingyue University. In order to prevent the "Sparrow" attack on strangers from happening again, she calculated the time and waited at the school gate early. Now it seems that it was indeed the right decision.
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