Chapter 10 Underwater City
If you take the subway from Meihua Villa to Xuanwu Bay, you can first take Line 2, get on at Alfalfa Garden Station, change to Line 1 at Xinjiekou Station, and then get off at Xuanwumen. The whole journey takes 20 minutes. If you ride a bicycle, it will take about 40 minutes.
Banxia rode her broken mountain bike along the road, with black car shells on both sides of the road.
It is impossible to take the subway anymore. It has been impossible for many years. Subway stations are now very dangerous places. Banxia dare not set foot in them. These dark, humid, food-rich, and well-connected underground spaces in the city have long been occupied by dangerous creatures. Her teacher once warned her not to enter places without light.
Standing at the dark subway station entrance and looking down, the slippery steps covered with moss extended into the darkness beyond the reach of the naked eye. Banxia could faintly smell a fishy smell mixed in the cold air. Her subconscious told her that she must stay away from it. It was a biological instinct that had evolved over millions of years, the instinct of prey.
The girl stopped at the gate of the Ming Palace to rest and eat something.
Although it is called the Forbidden City, there are actually only a few buildings left.
Long before the destruction of the world, only ruins remained of the Ming Palace in Nanjing. The teacher explained that one section of the palace was demolished in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, another section during the Taiping Rebellion, and finally another section during the Republic of China. So only a few stone piers were left, which were enclosed and turned into a park.
What Banxia sees now are the remains of the ruins.
She parked the car at the entrance of the Ming Palace Relics Park. The park gate was an antique building built on ten steps, with golden tiles and flying eaves. The main gate had four large vermilion pillars, which were so thick that an adult could not hug them.
If it was still intact, it must have been a magnificent building, but unfortunately Banxia had never seen it intact in her life. A crashed fighter plane fell from the sky and cut off half of the roof of the hall, and the broken bricks, tiles and stones fell all over the ground. How did Banxia know that it was a fighter plane that crashed it into this state? Because the fighter plane was now stuck upside down at the back door of the hall.
The teacher once took her past the park gate, pointed to the burnt empty shell and said it was a Su-27.
Banxia sat down on the steps and took out dry food and a water bottle from her bag.
The dry food is starch blocks mixed with animal fats. The animal fats come from deer and rabbits. Banxia will be very careful to preserve the fats after hunting these animals. The starch mainly comes from lotus roots and lotus seeds. There are large areas of lotus in the Crescent Lake near Meihua Villa. Lotus roots and lotus seeds are easy to obtain. Banxia cooks them, mashes them, mixes them with deer oil, and kneads them into balls, which are then wrapped in plastic cloth.
This thing is quite high in calories and can provide the energy necessary for outdoor activities.
The sky was azure blue, and across the wide road was a deep green. There was originally a park across the road called Wuchaomen Park, which was part of the remains of the Ming Palace.
During the years when humans disappeared, nature has penetrated into every space of this city with amazing recovery ability. Sometimes Banxia thought that humans don’t have to do anything to suppress nature. The huge space occupied by their own existence has squeezed the reproduction of other creatures. As long as this huge human population continues to exist, nature will never be able to return to its original state.
Over thousands of years, perhaps because humans have suppressed nature too harshly, nature has accumulated tremendous power like a spring, so as soon as humans disappear, it rebounds rapidly.
They come with great force and are unstoppable.
Green landslides and tsunamis came from the mountains and the sea, engulfing the entire city.
Banxia took a bite of dry food and looked across the street. Next to the park was Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. From Banxia's angle, she could vaguely see Building 11. The earth-gray concrete building was nestled among lush greenery. Perhaps it was because it was difficult for plants to grow on the cement surface, so it remained the same. But Banxia knew that the road past must have been blocked by weeds.
Building 11 was lucky, but its brother Building 12 was not so lucky. When walking along Zhongshan East Road, Banxia saw that only half of it was left, probably because of a bomb.
A breeze blew by, and the bushes across the road rustled.
Banxia immediately bit the dry food in his mouth, grabbed the longbow, drew out an arrow and put it on.
The other side of the road was more than twenty meters away from her, which was a safe distance for her to shoot an arrow and then draw her gun.
So far, she has not used the imitation Type 54 pistol, and there are very few situations where she needs to use the gun. This is mainly because Banxia is vigilant and smart enough. She knows how to avoid the activity areas of large predators. There are no tigers and bears near China Southern Airlines. The most dangerous cat is the leopard. Because of the existence of leopards, Banxia never stays under a tree for a long time.
Leopards are incredibly agile. Except for cheetahs, all other members of their entire family are deadly predators. Most of the creatures in this world have never seen humans. To put it bluntly, they have forgotten that there was once a dominant species called humans in this world. In their eyes, Pinellia ternata is just a rare upright monkey. Whether it is edible or not can only be known by taking a bite.
A pair of large horns first popped out of the bushes, and the girl breathed a sigh of relief.
It's a red deer.
A tall male buck with beautiful white markings on his neck pattered down the road.
This is a huge beast. The existence of the elk can subvert most people's imagination of deer. This thing is two meters tall, and its majestic antlers can be nearly as high as a floor. It is strong enough to overturn a car.
"You scared me." Banxia put down the bow, sat down and continued eating, while watching the sika deer across the road going off one after another.
This is a herd of elk. Banxia estimated the number and found that there were probably more than twenty of them.
They can easily reach the tender leaves on the trees by raising their necks. Except for giraffes and elephants, this is really the tallest thing Banxia has ever seen.
Oh, by the way, there are giraffes in Nanjing.
About five or six were observed, and they were mainly active in the Purple Mountain Peninsula area.
Nanjing does not originally produce giraffes. The teacher suspects that the giraffes currently living in Nanjing city are the descendants of individuals that escaped from the zoo in the early years.
Thanks to climate change, those giraffes are doing pretty well.
Red deer are more sensitive to their surroundings than humans, and as long as they are foraging leisurely, Banxia has no need to worry about predators around.
The stag noticed a strange creature across the road, but it didn't care. It turned its big black eyes over here and then turned its head to look for food.
Judging from its size, that thing is unlikely to pose a threat to my safety.
After eating the dry food, the girl patted her butt and stood up. She ignored the sika deer and the sika deer also ignored her. Banxia got on her bicycle and continued to go to Xuanwu Bay.
The frame of the broken mountain bike made a creaking sound. Banxia rode recklessly in the middle of the road, with her arms open, running like the wind.
·
·
·
Xuanwu Bay is the largest food source for Pinellia ternata.
The teacher once said that if you only see the dangerous side of nature, you will not be able to survive in this world. Don’t forget that human beings are also one of nature’s children. Since ancient times, human beings have survived to this day by relying on the gifts of nature. They are full of dangers, but at the same time they provide you with endless resources.
Nature never favors anyone.
Every time I come to Xuanwu Bay, I always come back with a full load of fish, so many that I can’t even fill my luggage.
To get from the main road to the seaside, you need to pass through a city wall. Nanjing has a lot of city walls.
After passing the city wall, you will reach the seaside. Looking around, you can see the endless sparkling waves. Scattered high-rise buildings stand in the blue sea in the distance. They have not been completely submerged yet. Half of them are under water and half of them are above water, like concrete pillars growing from the bottom of the sea.
The most eye-catching is the Zifeng Tower, which has not collapsed yet and stands upright far away on the other side of the sea. It is best to take a boat to get there.
If you stand on a high place, you can see the seabed through the clear water. There is also a world there, which is the other half of Nanjing city.
The rising sea water has flooded the remaining sidewalks and flower beds, which have now become mudflats, where crabs and sandworms can be caught in the summer.
The waves came up in waves, splashing white foam. Banxia quickly took off her shoes, held them in her hands, and jumped down.
"Wow, it feels so good!"
The girl shouted in the salty sea breeze.
She decided that no matter where the person she contacted last night was, she would make him move here, to Unit 2, Building 11, Qinyuan, Meihua Villa. Where else in the world could be more suitable to live than Banxia's little nest? There were mountains and water, and she could even go fishing by the sea! It was a perfect place for Feng Shui!
We must let him move here, no matter how many people there are!
·
·
·
(Author’s aside: I would like to recommend a book called “The Sword of Eight Point Five”.
We can't just be fed, we have to feed back as well.
Also: Big Eyes and I are old acquaintances, and his poisonous grandmother is not one of his own, so you can rest assured.)
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
