Embers Ad Infinitum

Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao and others didn't go to urge Tian Erhe, they just lit the fire and sat quietly, as if they were concentrating on waiting for dinner.

After about ten seconds, Tian Erhe regained the focus of his sight, and shook his head with a low smile:

"There are corpses everywhere in the city, there are 'unintentional people' who have lost their minds everywhere, on the street, in the community, and in the shopping mall.

"Those 'unintentional ones' are eating corpses with bloody mouths, just like the most ferocious beasts, they can even climb up the curtain walls of high-rise buildings like monkeys, suddenly swing down from a height of nearly ten meters, and appear in the Behind you, they also use guns...

"There were eight or nine of us at the time, and half of them died soon after encountering such a situation.

"Maybe it was because I was young, short and unobtrusive, and I was not attacked in the first round, so I survived.

"We panicked, ran like crazy, and got into a nearby police station.

"Fortunately, although those 'unintentional people' can shoot and change magazines, they don't take the initiative to search for weapons. We found a lot of guns and bullets on some corpses in the police station."

Having said that, Tian Erhe smiled, and said to Bai Chen and Jiang Baimian:

"Do you think that we finally broke out of the siege by relying on those weapons?

"No. Several of us, including the elderly uncles and aunts, don't know how to use guns, and the sound of guns has attracted more "unintentional people".

"At that time, I thought I couldn't take it anymore, and I cried.

"It's okay, it's okay, those uncles and aunts have a strong desire to survive, and they didn't abandon me, they moved all the way to the parking lot.

"There was an off-road vehicle with the door open and the key inserted, but the owner was gone. I think he should have become an 'unintentional person' and wandered irrationally to other places.

"Relying on this off-road vehicle, we knocked and flew a few 'unintentional people' and rushed to the street.

"There are not many 'unintentional people' in that area. We seized the opportunity and rushed all the way out of the urban area. It will be much safer when we reach the suburbs."

Tian Erhe sighed:

"Before I set off from Shuiwei Town, I thought I could go home and see if my parents were there, but in short, I never saw them again."

After sighing with emotion, Tian Erhe glanced at the iron pot that was gradually steaming, and continued:

"We had to go back the same way, collecting some food and clothes on the way.

"Then, I gave up the off-road vehicle, took the things I collected, turned over the broken road, and recovered the two cars that drove out of the town.

"In this way, we returned to Shuiwei Town.

"Because it's winter itself, and the rescue has been delayed, all of us decided not to consider the issue of subsequent earthquakes, and started to expropriate the buildings in the town that are still in good condition. One can't force oneself to freeze to death, yes. Bar?

"Thanks to the Chinese New Year festival, every household has stockpiles for the New Year, and there are many things in several supermarkets. We didn't worry much about food throughout the winter.

"However, some uncles and aunts pointed out that distributing food like this is not very good, it is easy to develop inertia, and waste precious time in vain. They proposed to exchange labor for food.

"Most people agreed. Before spring really came, we divided the buildings here into many small rooms, repaired the fence, maintained the canals in the fields outside the town, and finished the waterworks here. The water tower, proficient in the use of firearms...

"These things turned out to be very important, whether it was dealing with famine or defending against wandering beasts, robbers and 'heartless people', they all played a big role."

Tian Erhe's eyes diverged again, as if he had returned to the New Year's Day of collective labor.

His voice subconsciously lowered a little:

"When the weather gets warmer and the cold spring is over, we finally have one thing confirmed:

"Rescue will never come..."

Tian Erhe raised his head, smiled a little and said:

"You should be able to guess the experience behind us.

"It's nothing more than taking advantage of the opportunity of the 'unintentional people' dying in large numbers in winter, to start exploring the ruins of several surrounding cities, collecting food, clothes, guns, ammunition, batteries, fuel and other supplies, and at the same time, organizing production and trying to hunt , Send people to the distance to see if there are any surviving cities.

"How? Do you still want to listen?"

Jiang Baimian nodded slightly:

"Want to hear!"

After finishing speaking, she showed a bright smile:

"You can talk while eating, and we can listen while eating."

The braised beef in the pot is almost ready.

At this time, Shang Jian Yao touched his belly:

"I'm going to the bathroom first."

"I'll go too." Long Yuehong followed suit and stood up.

"Okay, I'll wait for you to come back." Jiang Baimian understood these two team members who had just arrived on the surface.

When she left the company for the first time and entered the Black Marsh wilderness, she was also resistant to local solutions. She was unwilling to go into the small woods or hide behind the bushes until she couldn't hold back.

Among them, the trumpet is okay, the time is relatively short, the influence of the environment is not so great, and the sense of shame is not so strong, the tuba really needs to summon up courage.

Since going out this time, according to her observation, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong haven't solved the tuba yet.

Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong followed Tian Erhe's guidance, walked through the area where various buildings were densely packed, and walked to the public toilet parallel to the side wall.

During this process, they smelled all kinds of smells. These smells were mixed together, making it impossible to distinguish what they were. They only knew that they smelled very bad, and they had to hold back forcibly, otherwise they would retch.

Shang Jianyao also saw several families gather together and share a stove for cooking to save charcoal, and saw some people squatting at the door without caring to take off their clothes full of mud spots, hula drinking thin , porridge that is not white enough, seeing sick people lying in a building with the door ajar, moaning in pain and taking the spittoon, seeing mothers holding babies that must be under 1 year old, because it was too late to return home, I can only let the children urinate on the spot. I saw many children under the age of ten busy helping their parents with cooking and cleaning clothes...

Walking and walking, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong arrived at the public toilet under vigilant, defensive, and curious eyes.

On their left are women in skirts, and on their right are stick figures of men.

As soon as he turned to the right, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong's eyes became straight for a while.

This public toilet is completely different from what they imagined. Compared with the public toilets inside the "Pangaea", it is not as simple as it looks.

On the front wall is a long urinal, and on the back wall is an equally long, but seemingly wider, toilet trough.

They rely on the device at the junction with the women's toilet to flush water at regular intervals, without any barriers in between, and they can flush everything in one flush.

It's like moving two streams in.

The only thing that comforted Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong was that Shuiwei Town paid a lot of attention to the sanitation of the public toilets, and they were relatively clean.

"Come on?" Long Yuehong hesitated.

"Go up." Seeing that Yao took the lead, he picked a seat, took off his pants, and squatted down.

Long Yuehong chose a place far away from him, and evasively untied her armed belt.

"This, it feels a little strange..." He couldn't help but look sideways at Shang Jianyao.

There was no shadow between the two of them.

Shang Jian Yao pinched his nose:

"You've been a little angry recently."

"..." Long Yuehong was speechless.

Just when they thought this was the most embarrassing scene, a group of townspeople from Shuiwei Town rushed in from outside.

They sized up Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong, some went to the urinal, and some found a place to squat down.

"This is even more strange." Shang Jianyao expressed Long Yuehong's heartfelt feelings.

Then, his thoughts turned to strange places:

"If Mayor Tian is also squatting here, if someone comes in, go to him and say hello mayor..."

The townspeople of Shuiwei Town next to Shang Jianyao said subconsciously:

"There is a separate toilet in the mayor's room."

In this way, the two chatted in a strange environment, which made Long Yuehong amazed.

Finally, Long Yuehong finished solving her personal problems, put on her pants, and washed her hands at the sink outside.

He took a deep breath of relatively fresh air, and once again deeply confirmed one thing:

Compared with the homeless colony outside, the underground building of "Pangaea" is as beautiful as heaven.

After a minute or two, Shang Jianyao also came out and washed his hands.

They didn't discuss the situation of the public toilet, they kept silent tacitly, and once again passed through the chaotic area with brick houses, mud houses, and tents.

Suddenly, a little girl ran up to Shang Jianyao.

She is about seven or eight years old, and her hair is fairly smooth. She wears a light green sweater with many balls and two obvious holes, and a starched white sweater that almost reaches the knees. , A jacket with several patches.

On her legs, she wore gray-blue trousers patched with cloth of other colors, and she wore a pair of black shoes with rag soles on her legs. She had a thin, yellow face, but her eyes Very bright.

The little girl was holding a pile of clutter in her hands: thread ends, rags, faded buttons, broken hair ties, glass balls with flower petals embedded in them, empty matchboxes, and balls of plasticine.

She raised her head and looked at Shang Jianyao eagerly:

"Brother, can I trade these for some of your food? Just a little, is that okay? Is that okay?"

From the corner of the wooden shed, the smell of braised beef wafted over.

Shang Jianyao looked at the little girl silently for two seconds, before she could speak again, he squatted down, stretched out his fingers, and poked around in the pile of sundries a few times.

He picked out a transparent glass ball embedded with yellow petals, stood up with a smile:

"That's it."

"...Thank you brother, thank you brother." The little girl was taken aback for a moment, and then thanked her repeatedly.

Shang Jianyao turned his head and looked at the wooden shed where Jiang Baimian and others were:

"Let's go there."

The little girl hummed twice, and followed closely behind him.

Long Yuehong didn't know what to say, she glanced left and right, and strode to follow.

Soon, they were back near the jeep.

"Her?" Jiang Baimian looked at the little girl and expressed his doubts.

Shang Jianyao smiled clearly and said:

"She traded a piece of braised beef with me for a good one."

He immediately sat down and picked up his bowl and chopsticks:

"can we start?"

"Yes." Jiang Baimian and Tian Erhe looked at each other and said.

Shang Jian Yao quickly picked up a piece of beef, put it in a bowl, and handed it to the little girl.

The little girl swallowed her saliva and hurriedly took it, about to stuff the whole piece of beef into her mouth.

But at this moment, Shang Jianyao took the bowl and chopsticks back.

The little girl quickly looked up at him, dazed and aggrieved.

"Be careful." Shang Jian Yao whispered expressionlessly.

While speaking, he put his thighs together, put the bowl there, and then took a chopstick in one hand, slowly and carefully tore up the large piece of beef, dividing it into several small pieces.

After completing this task, he picked up a piece of beef and handed it to the little girl's mouth.

The little girl's eyes lit up, she took a bite and chewed quickly.

"Is it delicious?" Shang Jianyao watched her finish eating the small piece of beef.

The little girl nodded heavily:

"tasty!"

Shang Jian Yao suddenly showed a smile, and took another piece.

Seeing this scene, Jiang Baimian couldn't help sighing:

"You..."

Sighing, she pointed to the distance with her chin.

Shang Jian Yao looked up and found that on the square where various houses were chaotically built, a dozen or twenty children were eagerly approaching, all holding a pile of sundries in their hands.

Shang Jian Yao's body suddenly became a little stiff.

Tian Erhe let out an "ah", turned his head with a smile, and roared:

"Go back! Go back!"

Those children suddenly showed unconcealable disappointment, and walked back to their own home step by step.

PS: Please update in advance on Monday to ask for a recommendation ticket, and the second update will be at 12:30 noon~