Walking on the main street of the city, Liu Qiaoer can see the supermarkets, shopping malls, cinemas and snack streets that she often visited when she was a child.
Unable to resist, Liu Qiaoer turned to her school, which should have been full of youth and the sound of reading, but now it was still in ruins.
The car slowly arrived at the community where she lived, which was the best community in the city and had the best primary school.
However, these are not Liu Qiaoer's own memories, but her grandmother's memories.
Following these memories, Liu Qiaoer found her grandmother's elementary school, middle school, residential community, and where she worked.
I drove all the way to the new house my grandmother bought, but I didn't expect that there were still people living in that community.
Liu Qiaoer looked at how everyone had parked their cars on the ground in irregular, messy patterns, and couldn't help but feel a little annoyed.
"These people, really, can't they just park properly?"
Liu Qiaoer parked her car on the roadside downstairs. Although it was occupying the road, she knew that no one would ask her to come down and move the car.
Because along the way, many cars in the community were soaked in water and could not be driven.
There was a dead body in the car, with a hideous look on his face, and she couldn't bear to look at it any longer.
"Are you sure your house is still habitable?" Cui Boyao took a look at the community, where there were only a few lights.
Liu Qiaoer shook her head: "I'm not sure, but I want to go and take a look. I was the one who bought the house and renovated it. If it weren't for the disaster, I would never give it to that person."
Cui Boxiao also got out of the car, glanced at the 35-story building, and asked guiltily, "Which floor did you buy?"
"Eighth floor."
"Fortunately, even if the elevator is not working, we can still climb."
Liu Qiaoer smiled, and the two of them walked inside. The city was still managed by people, although the ground was a mess and there were some bloodstains, but the bodies were gone.
She saw the notice before she even entered the unit.
There are electricity, gas and heating restrictions in the community. Electricity is limited to one hour in the morning, one hour at noon, and two hours in the evening.
There is water, electricity and gas heating, and the city's basic supplies are still good.
Looking at the date again, it was the day before yesterday.
It should have just been repaired. If the water, electricity, gas and heating had not been interrupted, the Wang family would not have been sent to the countryside.
It must have been stopped for a long time, and it was only repaired after the weather warmed up.
After all, some people have no relatives in the countryside, and some have nowhere to go and still live in the city.
I glanced at the watch on my wrist. It was power-on period and the elevator was still operational.
Liu Qiaoer pressed the button and brought Cui Boyao to her home.
The lock on the door of the house was a fingerprint lock. For some reason, the man surnamed Wang did not erase her fingerprint. After pressing the fingerprint, the door lock opened with a "click".
When I opened the door, there was an indescribable smell in the room.
It smells like powdered milk, but also like something rotten.
It’s not bad. Although the room is a mess, there are no flies, cockroaches or the like.
When Liu Qiaoer came up, she took some noodles, eggs, and a can of canned food, and glanced at the kitchen: "I'm going to cook, you tidy up the house a little. Throw away everything that needs to be thrown away, make a clean room, and have a good sleep today."
They have been sleeping in the car since they drove from Wangcun to now.
Sleeping is uncomfortable and restless, and they need adequate sleep and rest.
The two of them started to divide the work. Liu Qiaoer first boiled a pot of water in a kettle. Then, she put in some high-efficiency detergent and began to clean the kitchen, scrubbing all the pots and pans.
Then we start to disinfect, and after disinfection, rinse it again with boiling water, and then we start to cook the noodles.
After cleaning the kitchen and filling up a garbage bag, Cui Boyao also cleaned and disinfected the living room and bedroom, filling up several garbage bags.
The bedroom was filled with clean sheets and quilt covers, and the floor was mopped twice and disinfected.
Cui Boxiao carried the garbage bag downstairs and threw away the trash.
"The trash can downstairs is empty. It looks like someone must have cleaned it out."
Liu Qiaoer brought out the noodles, and the two of them ate while watching the news on TV.
Sure enough, everything in the city gradually returned to normal. First, someone cleaned out the corpses and garbage, and then water, electricity and gas were restored. Although it was limited, it was better than nothing.
The roads were not damaged much, but the trees and buildings that were knocked down by the rain had not yet been cleaned up, probably because there were not enough people.
Liu Qiaoer glanced at her watch and said, "There's still an hour left. Hurry up and take a shower. There will be a power outage and gas outage soon, and the water heater won't work."
Although the heating in the room was restored, it was still a bit cold. Liu Qiaoer turned on the air conditioner as soon as she entered the room, and the room became warm.
Cui Boxiao glanced at the bathroom and felt a little cold: "Let me wash first, you can wash after it's warm."
Liu Qiaoer nodded, cleaned up the dishes and the table, and asked Cui Boyao to wash them first.
Cui Boyao takes a shower quickly, and is done in just over ten minutes. This is slow. In the past, it would take him five minutes, but now it takes him a little longer because he hasn’t taken a shower for a long time.
Liu Qiaoer was a little slow. She washed her long hair several times and rubbed it thoroughly. By the time she finished washing, all the clothes in the washing machine were done.
Cui Boyao was wrapped in a bath towel. He had washed his clothes, and also washed Liu Qiaoer's clothes. Although there were clothes in the closet, neither of them liked to wear other people's clothes. At this time, they were both wrapped in bath towels, and there was some air between them.
There was a sudden power outage, and the entire city and community were plunged into darkness.
Only the screens of the two people's phones, which were charging, were still on.
Cui Boxiao looked at Liu Qiaoer who had just come out of the bathroom and could no longer care about anything else.
"You are as beautiful as a lotus in clear water..."
Liu Qiaoer frowned: "It's pitch black in the room, can you see me?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Cui Boxiao was already standing in front of her. His desire to conquer her suddenly overwhelmed him. Cui Boxiao tore off Liu Qiaoer's bath towel and carried her into the bedroom.
It was pitch black outside the window, but there was a great shaking inside the house.
When Liu Qiaoer woke up again, she didn't know what time it was. She touched the mobile phone on the bedside table. It was half past midnight.
The night outside the window is still pitch black. Even if the curtains are not drawn, people on the opposite floors cannot see here.
Liu Qiaoer still got up, closed the curtains and locked the door. If she remembered correctly, there were five lights on in her unit when she came in.
This means that there are at least five households in her unit.
After returning here, Liu Qiaoer wanted to have a good rest here for two or three days before continuing to travel south.
The car, the service area, and the gas station are not home.
Only here does she feel safe and secure.
Liu Qiaoer walked around the room to check the surroundings. It was eerily quiet all around. She rubbed her cold hands, quickly ran back and got into bed.
A chill came and woke Cui Boxiao up again. He did not let her go and did another extreme exercise. The next morning, Liu Qiaoer woke up to a series of bang sounds.
I picked up the phone on the bedside table. It was nine o'clock in the morning.
Hearing something was wrong, Liu Qiaoer drove to the window and saw two men trying to lock the back of her car.
She immediately opened the window and threw a vase downstairs: "Hey, what are you doing? If you dare to destroy it again, I will beat you up."