The cold wind poured into the relatively warm building, which immediately attracted everyone's attention and dissatisfaction.
In order not to arouse the disgust of others, Li Qingshui turned around and pulled down the shutter.
"Where did they come from?" The people at the door saw Liu Chang and Li Qingshui—the two were dressed neatly but surprisingly thin, even in the temperature of dozens of degrees below zero, they even showed a large area of skin including their necks, This is a bit puzzling.
"Which district are you from? Why haven't I seen you? What are you doing in our thirteenth district?" The person who came to ask Li Qingshui was a middle-aged man wearing a thick hat. The beard on his face was about a year old. They hadn't been taken care of, and they were just tangled together on a red face, so dark that they couldn't see clearly.
"We are passers-by, and we want to inquire about the situation here." Li Qingshui took out some delicate food from the leather bag at his waist as he spoke, and handed it to the man who hadn't seen it for several years. It looks like a red-faced bearded man in charge here, "We understand the rules, these are our inquiry fees!"
"That's it..." The man took the food that Li Qingshui handed over suspiciously, and just wanted to continue to say a few harsh words to see if he could blackmail him with something more, but Li Qingshui, who didn't want to waste time, snatched it away with his left hand. A metal hip flask on him.
"Of course, we are polite, and I hope you can communicate more easily." Li Qingshui twisted the man's metal jug into a flower while speaking, and blocked his mouth at the same time.
Slap!
After throwing the metal jug on the ground, Li Qingshui and Liu Chang entered the first floor of the Internet cafe one after the other.
The so-called Internet cafes in the past have long since lost the appearance of "Internet cafes". Except for some traces of computers that can be seen in the corner of the room, there are no other places. The room has been evacuated, and in an area of about 300 square meters, you can only see simple paving and various iron pipes and drums burning with flames. The fuel is usually firewood. Firewood together.
There was no trace of willow fruit in the house.
Under everyone's attention, the two slowly scanned the room, and then Li Qingshui squatted in front of a three-year-old child.
"Little friend, may I ask you something?" A jelly bean-like ball appeared from the palm of his hand like a magic trick—Liu Chang recognized that it was a kind of artificially synthesized carbohydrate that he had eaten on the road. The advantage of supplementing energy is that it can be stored for a long time.
"Hmm..." The child looked at the "Jelly Bean" in Li Qingshui's hand, a little afraid to take it, and finally turned his questioning gaze to his mother.
"Take it, and have a good talk with uncle." Mother glanced at Li Qingshui, she saw the process of twisting an iron jug into flowers just now, so she didn't dare to refuse this man's proposal at the moment .
"Oh." The child took the things in Li Qingshui's hand, then stared at the expressionless "uncle" with blank eyes, struggling not to know what to say.
"Let me ask you a few questions." Li Qingshui squatted in front of the child, and after thinking for a while, asked, "Do you know about the red fruit in the outside world?"
"Yeah." Over three years old, equivalent to the age of kindergarten, he already has a ignorant understanding of the world, but he can't see the whole picture of the world.
"Red fruit, have you guys ever eaten it?" Li Qingshui asked.
"I don't know." The child shook his head—and Liu Chang frowned.
He didn't know why Li Qingshui asked a child such a question, because if he had to ask it, it would be better to ask the adults here, and this kind of thing didn't need to be asked, it could be seen by looking.
"En." Li Qingshui nodded after listening to the child's words, "A few days ago, when the forest outside changed, were you afraid?"
"Well, I'm afraid." The child nodded.
"Why are you afraid?"
"Because mother is afraid, mother has been crying." When the child was speaking, he glanced at his mother again.
"Oh." Li Qingshui also glanced at the child's mother, "What was going on here at that time."
"Everyone was very scared. Some people ran away, and some people didn't want to run because they didn't know where they were going. Because for those of us who lost our houses, we couldn't run a hundred miles away, and we had to freeze to death on the road. The woman shivered involuntarily when thinking of the situation that day, "I was in the house when the big tree came that day. Come over here. I'm in the house and I don't feel anything except the ground shaking..."
As the woman spoke, the child in her arms glanced at her again.
"Then why don't you eat the fruit outside." Li Qingshui asked again.
"Don't dare, although I heard that some people have eaten it, and there is no toxin, but I just dare not..." the woman said truthfully.
"En." Li Qingshui nodded, stood up, "Let's go."
"Okay." Just like that, Liu Chang and Li Qingshui, in front of everyone's eyes, opened the shutter and walked out.
"It seems that the willow tree is much more thoughtful than when it rushed to Zhengzhou last time." Walking outside the cold and windy door, Li Qingshui sighed, "The adults don't eat the fruit just because Fear, and children do not have the most intuitive fear of willow trees. Their fear is passed on indirectly by adults. Therefore, if real hunger comes, everyone will choose willow fruit as food. , it seems to me that it is almost here."
"En." Liu Chang nodded, looking at the desolate land around him.
"The willows did not invade the city, but they sucked away all the nutrients suitable for plant growth in the soil around the human city and in the city. Since a few days ago, it was no longer possible for human beings to grow food, and the species in the jungle were almost gone. Everything is in the hands of Willow, under this kind of control, it is almost impossible for humans to hunt for food, so there seems to be only one way out..." Li Qingshui took a deep breath as he spoke. In a calm tone, "Willow is stronger than I thought, and there is only one purpose left for him to do this."
"He wants to talk to us." Liu Chang also took a deep breath, "It's amazing, keeping humans in captivity, leaving fruits, but taking away all other possibilities of survival. Didn't do things absolutely , but this feeling of anger with nowhere to vent is more terrifying than directly declaring war with humans. It seems that he has set a time limit for us. Humans lack a source of food, and it is impossible for humans to endure longer."