When Li Feng walked out of the inner room of the office, he was still wearing pajamas and a casual coat. The secretary was about to go home and was stunned when he saw him like this: "Where are you going? What happened?"
"Tell the driver to drive the car to Exit 3," Li Feng took a gun from the cabinet, "and transfer two transport trucks that are not damaged in the warehouse to the outer city tunnel."
"Okay," the secretary glanced at the gun he was holding, "this is..."
"Take it and play with it." Li Feng said and walked out of the office.
There are not many people in the Security Bureau at this moment. The fewer people who see the director in his pajamas and holding a gun, the better. Although the crisis that Yuncheng is facing has been kept strictly confidential, it is a law that secrets cannot be kept. People in the inner city are now somewhat panicked.
His car had already stopped at Exit 3. The driver was stunned for a moment when he saw him, but didn't ask any further questions.
"You go home," Li Feng got in the car, "No need to follow me."
He wanted to block people at the tunnel entrance, and it would be inconvenient to have a driver beside him.
During this sensitive period, the pressure he was under was extremely great, but he still chose to trust Zhao Lu at the first moment. He could only trust Zhao Lu. There was no room for any accidents at this time.
Director Wu called and Li Feng put on headphones.
"Are you sick?" asked Director Wu.
"Among the samples you have, how long was the longest duration of infection?" Li Feng asked.
"No more than five days," said Director Wu. "Director Zhang and Minister Liu of the Ministry of Emergency Management are already in the conference room. I'll be there right away. Have you thought about what to say?"
"I've already told Director Zhang." Li Feng saw the two transport trucks from the Security Bureau. He stretched his hand out of the window and gestured for them to follow behind his car.
"Where are you?" asked Director Wu.
"We'll be at the outer city tunnel soon." said Li Feng.
"What do you mean?" Director Wu was stunned. "What are you going there for?"
"Traffic jams and people jams." said Li Feng.
"If you really need to block it, why don't you ask your subordinates to do it?" Director Wu said, "Is it necessary to go there in person?"
"If I wasn't there," Li Feng said, "the City Defense Department's car would have dared to crash right in."
Director Wu suddenly cut the projection over.
"Are you sick?" Zhang Qifeng's nose almost popped out of the projection. "Are you sick?"
"I don't know. I'll check it out when I have time." Li Feng said.
The car drove into the tunnel and he stopped in the middle of the tunnel. Three cars were stuck in the tunnel, and the city defense department's car had just entered the tunnel.
"If the Security Bureau's car doesn't pull out of the tunnel within five minutes, I will report to Colonel Xu!" Zhang Qifeng pointed at him.
"It's just that the refugees can't enter the city," Li Feng smiled, "Do we have to report such a small matter to Colonel Xu?"
"Weren't these people originally sent to the Security Bureau for emergency use?" Minister Liu's face appeared and looked at Li Feng. "Director Li, is it because of that... intuition?"
"Yeah." Li Feng nodded.
"You're still humming!" Zhang Qifeng was almost laughing out of anger. "Li Feng, you're so close to the people that your brain doesn't work anymore. Just based on a corpse collector's words, without any evidence, and just a hunch, you mobilized a large number of troops and disrupted the normal operation of production and life in the inner city!"
"Director Zhang, don't be impatient," Minister Liu said, "Let Director Li explain this matter more clearly."
"I've made it very clear. If someone else told me this, I wouldn't believe it," Li Feng said, "but 90% of the infected people in the outer city and outside the outer city were cleared by the corpse collectors. Qiu Shi and Zhao Lu have been living outside the city. They have seen many more infected people than us, have much more experience, and their intuition... is much more reliable."
Minister Liu frowned and said nothing.
A large number of refugees were consumed in building walls in the woods before. Now there are not enough people for various production tasks, including the maintenance of some old water and electricity facilities, which also rely on manpower. The inner city needs a large number of laborers, and the refugees stranded outside the city and not allowed to enter are losing food every day due to food shortages. Now the refugees who have passed the inspection are not allowed to enter the city. It is really hard to understand with just one word "intuition".
"Have you ever thought that this might be a conspiracy by these corpse collectors for Qiu Shi?" Zhang Qifeng asked.
"Then could you please explain to me in detail, Director Zhang, what benefits will it bring to Qiu Shi and the corpse collectors if we don't allow refugees to enter the city?" Li Feng lit a cigarette.
"If you can see through it immediately, can it still be called a conspiracy?" Zhang Qifeng roared.
"Director Zhang, you have to have confidence in our brains that are good at plotting and deceiving people," Li Feng said. "If you don't see through it, then it doesn't exist."
Zhang Qifeng opened his mouth but no words came out.
"Director Li," Minister Liu appeared on the screen again, "tell me your solution."
"Isolate this group of people and send them to the exhibition hall as samples," Li Feng said. "I will immediately have people find out where the previous groups sent into the city went to and monitor them. For those who haven't entered the city yet, let Brigade Zhao check them out to see if they can be screened first. Send in those who can be used, and dispose of those who can't be used."
"What?" Zhang Qifeng's voice sounded at the side. "Director Li means that the corpse collectors should not only guide the work direction of the Security Bureau, but also guide the inspection work of the City Defense Bureau? Listen to it yourself, is it absurd?"
"Minister Liu," Li Feng didn't respond to Zhang Qifeng's words. He took a puff of his cigarette, put it out and looked at the screen. "If Brigade Zhao didn't make a mistake, if there really was such a time bomb in the city, it would be a big trouble. At that time, it would not be a question of who guides whom, but whether to carry out another major cleanup. When we sit in this position, the first thing we should consider is the safety of the residents in the city."
Zhang Qifeng's face entered the frame, his eyes seemed to say "How dare you say such a thing?"
"Could it be a fungal mutation?" Minister Liu turned to ask Director Wu.
"All the fungi we can detect are of the same species," said Wu. "Their current state is the most suitable for the environment and has not changed since they appeared. But whether humans can carry fungi for such a long time without outbreaks... still needs to be verified with this batch of samples."
Minister Liu walked away.
Only Director Wu and Zhang Qifeng were left in the picture. Li Feng looked at them without saying a word. Director Wu tapped his fingers on his leg, and Zhang Qifeng did not say a word either.
Li Feng leaned back in his chair and sighed softly. Minister Liu went to ask Mr. Long for instructions.
He didn't want to alarm Mr. Long as this matter was not a small matter. However, if Zhang Qifeng was not there, he could just do it first and report it later.
He now regretted not doing more with Zhang Sihai's case. He thought it would be enough to have some evidence against him. After all, it was better to have Zhang Qifeng in this position than to have someone else's brain...
A few minutes later, Minister Liu returned to the screen: "Director Li."
"Yeah." Li Feng responded.
"You have 24 hours," Minister Liu said, "If no solid evidence is found after 24 hours and refugees continue to enter the city, you will be temporarily transferred from your post..."
"What if we find evidence?" Li Feng asked.
"It's to be determined. Mr. Long will make the specific decision when the time comes." Minister Liu said.
Li Feng narrowed his eyes and said, "Deal."
“Director Li,” Minister Liu said, “this is not a deal.”
"I'm used to it," Li Feng said, "Yes, sir."
The people from the City Defense Bureau on the other side of the tunnel probably received orders from Zhang Qifeng. Some of them got off the car and prepared to hand over the refugees to the Security Bureau.
Li Feng contacted the two transport vehicles at the back: "Don't get off the vehicle, open the back door, and ask the City Defense Department to take the people on board. Don't touch the refugees."
"Understood." The driver behind replied.
When the people from the City Defense Bureau passed by the car with the refugees, Li Feng leaned against the car window and looked at the refugees one by one. They were all selected according to the requirements of the Security Bureau. They were men between 20 and 40 years old, in good health, and could hold out for at least half a year before dying of exhaustion.
To be honest, Li Feng couldn't tell what was wrong with anyone.
After everyone got in the car, the Security Bureau's car exited the tunnel, and Li Feng took them straight to the exhibition hall.
On the way, Li Feng called Xiao Lei again.
"Director Li." Xiao Lei could tell from the voice that he was still awake.
"I'll go to the bunker in a bit," Li Feng said, "Tell Brigade Zhao to pack up and wait for me."
"Don't you want to rest?" Xiao Lei asked.
"…Is it because I don't want to rest?" Li Feng asked.
"No." Xiao Lei replied.
Li Feng took a breath and exhaled slowly: "You should pack your things too, and we'll go together."
"Okay!" Xiao Lei answered loudly.
Li Feng quickly ended the call, feeling that his sleepiness had been wiped out by him.
Qiu Shi felt that he probably didn't get enough sleep. Normally when he was outside the city, he could sleep anytime unless there was anything special going on. But these past few days, he didn't even have much time to get enough shut-eye.
He originally wanted to sleep a little longer in the car, but the scenery around him began to change not long after the car started moving forward, making Qiu Shi unable to sleep.
The open wasteland outside the car window was no longer there. At first there were some sparse trees, and then the trees became denser and denser, and small patches of black fungi could be seen on the ground.
Ahead was a large jungle that looked like a mountain, and it looked like the car was about to drive into it.
The jungle in front of me is different from the one in Yuncheng. There are no rocks, only flat land. The trees are much taller and look much thicker. The road leading to the dense forest only extends a short distance into the forest and then becomes unclear, as if it had been swallowed up by the forest.
"Is Donglin Town built in the jungle?" Qiu Shi asked.
"Yes, it was originally a timber base, but it had been abandoned long before the war," Gao Shan nodded, "It's the woodland in the east, so it's called Donglin Town."
"Is there Xilin Town?" Qiu Shi asked casually. This kind of woodland is really suitable for ambush.
“Yes,” Gao Shan said, “but when we were clearing out the infected, the entire town was gone, and now it’s uninhabitable. Some homeless people might be there.”
Qiu Shi didn't say anything else. When he got close to the jungle, he said, "Stop the car."
"What's the matter?" Gao Shan asked in surprise.
"I'm peeing," Qiu Shi said. "I'm nervous and can't hold it anymore."
Gao Shan glanced at Lao Zhao in the last row, and Lao Zhao said from behind: "Stop for a while, stay at the front or rear of the car, don't leave the vicinity of the car."
Three cars stopped at the same time, and Qiu Shi opened the door and got out.
He didn't want to pee, but he could squeeze out some if he really wanted to. He wanted to leave a message for Li Feng, but if he went any further he would probably have no chance to contact Li Feng.
Qiu Shi pulled his scarf to cover half of his face. He did not choose the front or the rear of the car, he chose the side of the car, and the door on the side where his partner was.
In fact, it is easiest to hide your movements when you are at the rear of the car with your back to the car behind you, but he can feel the danger in this place. If anything happens, he can't trust the people in those cars. The only one who can keep him safe in the first place is Xing Bi.
Xing Bi was not surprised that he chose to pee while looking into each other's eyes through the car door. He didn't even turn his head away, just looked out the window, and even curled the corners of his mouth very subtly.
"Li Feng," Qiu Shi lowered his head and urinated while whispering a message to Li Feng, "The signal may be blocked in a while. They even shielded the car escorting us. It looks friendly on the surface, but something is definitely wrong. If I can't go back, please behave like a human being and don't touch Zhao Lu and the others..."
He glanced at the front window of the car behind him, but couldn't see inside either.
Both escort vehicles looked quite strange. When you got closer, you could see that the entire body of the vehicle was covered with small holes that looked like bullet holes, as if it had been shot from top to bottom by a hundred people with guns.
Back in the car, Qiu Shi leaned back comfortably, stretched his legs, and pulled at his pants: "Are there not many homeless people here? There are quite a few over there on the river."
"Yes," Gao Shan said, "less recently."
Were they all killed by you
Qiu Shi stopped talking and closed his eyes to take a nap. He could still see the map in front of him with his eyes closed. It would have annoyed him in the past, but now he had to keep looking at it.
However, after entering the jungle, in less than five minutes, the map flashed and disappeared.
really.
This jungle is much older than the one in Cloud City. A while after the car entered, the light around it gradually disappeared, and the air began to smell a mixture of tree bark and soil, as well as some smell of fireworks that came from nowhere.
"It may be a little bumpy ahead," Gao Shan said, "Don't get off the car under any circumstances."
"Yeah." Qiu Shi responded.
Bumpy? Can it survive the rocky river in the forest over in Cloud City
In less than an hour, all we could see around us were ancient trees, crawling vines, and green moss on the ground. The road also became less smooth and the car had to cross slippery streams.
Qiu Shi glanced at Xing Bi, who was looking out the window. Maybe he felt his gaze, but he turned his head and looked at him.
Neither of them spoke.
If something really goes wrong in this damn place, it would probably be difficult to escape.
The car drove forward to a slightly open area, which must have been cut down in the past. There were tree stumps covered with green moss and ferns on the ground.
Xing Bi suddenly said, "Someone is here."
Then I saw the lights of the escort vehicle in front flash.
Qiu Shi had already held the gun in his hand when Xing Bi opened his mouth.
Then he knew what Gao Shan meant by the bump.
The attack started from above, and several black objects were suddenly thrown out from the huge and dense tree canopy.
It started to explode before it even landed near the car.
"Fuck." Qiu Shi felt the car shake.
"It's okay," Gao Shan said, "This car has a very high level of protection."
After one round of bombing, intensive shooting from the air began, and the bullets hit the car windows, making muffled sounds.
Qiu Shi was originally sitting by the door, ready to get off the bus if anything happened, but now he quickly sat in the middle, next to Xing Bi.
Their car did not stop and continued to drive forward, but at the same time, more than a dozen gun barrels, some thick and some thin, extended from the bodies of the two escort vehicles, as if they were full of arrows.
Then all the gun barrels opened fire simultaneously into the air, sending up sparks like fireworks from Cloud City's city celebration.
Someone fell from the tree nearby, hit the roof of the car, and rolled to the ground.
Qiu Shi stared at the two cars in front and behind, trying to count how many guns there were.
But the fire and smoke spread almost at the same time, and he could hardly see the car, let alone the gun barrel.
"The first twenty-five," Xing Bi whispered in his ear, "the last twenty-eight, there are two cannon barrels, but they are not firing."
"Sure." Qiu Shi turned to look at him and whispered.
Old Zhao at the back had been watching them, so Qiu Shi spoke in Xing Bi's ear, so close that he could see a small mole on Xing Bi's left temple.
A biological body actually has a mole
He couldn't help but go off topic in this intense battle and asked in a low voice: "Is this a mole? Or an injection port or something like that?"
"Mole." Xing Bi glanced at him and pinched his wrist.
"Is it also random?" Qiu Shi looked forward, "I am not insane due to nervousness."
"Yeah." Xing Bi responded.
However, he didn't expect that this car, which he thought was a broken car, could be so resistant to impact. Although it was shaking all the time, it still followed the escort car in front and continued across the open space.
The three people in the car, who looked very weak, did not show any panic or tension when bullets were whistling and exploding in all directions.
"Who are these people?" Qiu Shi was thrown around and asked while grabbing the handle on the roof of the car.
"Vagrants from Donglin Town." replied Lao Zhao.
"Homeless people?" Qiu Shi turned his head and looked back at Lao Zhao. "Do homeless people have such equipment?"
"You must be a resident of the former Donglin town," said Xing Bi.
"Yes." Lao Zhao did not deny it.
It seems that Donglin Town has indeed been occupied by someone.
This small ambush did not last long and caused almost no damage, but there must have been many casualties among the so-called vagrants. Qiu Shi saw several of them falling from the trees. At that height, even if they were not shot to death, they would have fallen to death.
Qiu Shi felt that this was more of a rebellion than an ambush.
Resist at all costs, even if the other party is unharmed.
No one spoke in the car anymore, and they went deeper into the jungle in silence. Then from time to time, they could see tree houses like bird nests on top of the thick old trees on both sides. Judging from their structures, they should be used for warning.
It was not until abandoned earth and stone houses began to appear on the roadside that Gao Shan sat up straight, turned around and said, "We're here."
Donglin Town has no walls. There are two tall towers built against trees at the entrance of the town. The houses that can be seen are not very tall. Most of them are made of wood mixed with earth and stone. There are also many brick houses that are very old and belong to the pre-war era.
There were a few people standing under the tower, and the car stopped in front of them.
Qiu Shi didn't feel very good when he got off the car. Apart from the few people in front of him who were waiting to "welcome" them, his long experience of cleaning up and collecting corpses outside the city also allowed him to feel the gazes coming from all directions, including from the front, back, left, right and above.
"Welcome to Donglin Town." A slightly plump middle-aged man walked over with his arms outstretched.
"Where is Hu Xiaoling?" Qiu Shi did not respond to him and asked directly.
"I'm the mayor of Donglin Town," the man said with a smile, "My last name is Luo, and Mr. Long and I are old acquaintances. How is he now?"
Qiu Shi didn't say anything.
Mayor Luo paused, still smiling, and sighed: "The way we invited you here was indeed a bit rough, please..."
"Where is Hu Xiaoling?" Qiu Shi asked again.
"He's fine," Mayor Luo said as he turned back, "You guys settle down first, I'll arrange for someone to bring him over right away."
Qiu Shi stood there without moving.
Several people who were standing with Mayor Luo slowly walked over. It was obvious that they all had guns. The door of the escort car behind them opened and the people in the car got out.
Qiu Shi looked back and saw that there were still quite a few people in the car.
Mayor Luo looked at him in front with a smile.
Gao Shan came over and said, "Take a rest first. You've worked hard along the way."
Qiu Shi looked at Xing Bi and walked forward. Being surrounded from both sides, he had no choice but to cooperate.
"What are you daydreaming about!" A stick hit Zhang Sihai on the back.
Zhang Sihai almost lost his balance and fell into the sewage. He turned his head and stared at the person behind him.
"Don't look at him." Someone next to him whispered.
Zhang Sihai could only grit his teeth and turn back, picking up the shovel and continuing to clean the sludge of unknown composition under his feet.
This is the bottom of Yuncheng, a place that never sees the sun. All the filth of the inner city is discharged from the underground ditches beneath his feet. Because the facilities are old, manual cleaning is necessary.
This was the tenth day that Zhang Sihai had been thrown into the labor camp by his father. It was the third place he had been transferred to as punishment for all the trouble he had caused.
The only people who knew his identity were the supervisors of each place. Apart from that, in front of everyone else, including the foreman, he was just an ordinary refugee like everyone else.
He did not resist. He just wanted to see how rotten and dirty this city was.
It was only now that he knew where so many refugees who had entered the city had gone.
“Don’t resist,” the man next to him continued in a low voice, “or you won’t survive here for more than two hours.”
"How long have you been here?" Zhang Sihai asked in a low voice.
"It's been two months, I can't tell the time anymore," the man said. "Don't worry about it. We will all die here in the end."
Zhang Sihai said nothing, and pushed the shovel into the mud with force, but he couldn't pull it out for a long time.
The people on the other side were working very hard.
Zhang Sihai couldn't help but turn his head to look. Three people were holding shovels and cleaning skillfully.
But what was strange was that the actions of these three people were surprisingly consistent.
Raise your hands at the same time, drop your shovel at the same time, and stir up the mud at the same time...
Zhang Sihai felt a chill down his spine.
How long have you been doing this? Have you gone crazy
The author has something to say:
See you tomorrow⊙▽⊙.