Among the eight bodies, only two were still basically intact, the others were in a horrible state. Qiu Shi regretted that he had neglected to wear his old clothes that he usually used for collecting bodies. It had not been long since he last did this job, but he had actually forgotten the habit of more than ten years.
He glanced at Xing Bi, mainly because it was Xing Bi who came with him today. If it was Zhao Lu, he would not forget it.
"Hmm?" Xing Bi tilted his head.
"It's okay," Qiu Shi said, "Let's check where the audience is so that we can perform for you."
Xing Bi smiled, walked over, bent down and prepared to reach out to grab the corpse.
"Hey," Qiu Shi's hands and arms were already covered in blood, so he could only quickly stretch out his legs to stop him, "Don't do it, this inexperienced person will splash your face with brains."
"Did you really ask me to come here to see this?" Xing Bi asked.
"What else?" Qiu Shi said, "I saw you didn't say anything all night, just staring at these people and wondering if you wanted to see what the life of ordinary people is like."
"Very perceptive." Xing Bi said.
"Not bad." Qiu Shi tore off the torn clothes from a corpse, tied the broken pieces of the corpse together, and carried it into the truck bed.
However, he would not feel anything when doing these things normally, but when he saw these body parts today, he would think of the fertilizer pool behind the city. When they collected the bodies, they would take away valuable items and even good clothes, but they would try their best to keep the items they did not take with their original owners.
Who could have imagined that after entering that hole, their final destination would be a fertilizer pool.
Although these bodies were difficult to clean up, Qiu Shi quickly put them all into the truck bed, threw his gloves on the pile of corpses, and then sat in the cab.
"Do you want me to open it?" Xing Bi asked.
"Forget it, I've already sat down," Qiu Shi said, "and the seat is already dirty."
Xing Bi got into the passenger seat: "Are we going back to the bunker to sleep soon?"
"Why do you have such a judgment about me?" Qiu Shi smiled.
"That's right," Xing Bi said, "If your hands are dirty, you will wipe them on others."
"I'll take you to the hot spring later." said Qiu Shi.
"Is this the place where you practice skipping stones?" Xing Bi asked.
"If you dare to skip a ball today, I will scold you," said Qiu Shi.
Xing Bi smiled and said nothing.
The smell of blood in the car was very strong at this moment, mixed with some other odors, and Qiu Shi didn't say anything else.
When going back, we cannot take the original route because the road is uneven and the body may be easily thrown out. We have to pass the checkpoint and drive through the wasteland in front of Dahei Mountain.
When the car passed the refugee site, we saw pairs of eyes through the gaps in the roadside sheds, looking at the bodies in the truck bed. I wonder what these people were thinking.
The weather is cold now. If they don't get the chance to enter Yuncheng, in less than a month, the only difference between them and these corpses will be their current body temperature.
When they returned to the corpse cave in silence, it was snowing heavily. When Qiu Shi got off the car, he felt like he was blown through by the wind.
"Do you know what's under this corpse cave?" Qiu Shi pushed the first bundle of corpse parts into the cave and listened to the sound of corpse parts mixed with gravel sliding down until they disappeared.
"I don't know." Xing Bi said.
"There is a fertilizer pool outside the north side of the city," Qiu Shi said. "The bodies here and those in the inner city were all sent there."
Xing Bi said nothing and pushed a corpse into the cave.
"The old man used to live in a tavern called Dayan Tavern. The owner said that if he died, we should burn him instead of throwing him into the cave," Qiu Shi said. "Zhao Lu and his men burned him here."
"Have you thought about what happens after you die?" Xing Bi asked.
"Zhao Lu asked me about it," Qiu Shi said, "and I asked him to make a specimen for me to display at his bedside."
Xing Bi laughed.
Qiu Shi said nothing more. He threw all the bodies into the cave, then he stood up and clapped his hands: "Let's go take a shower."
When I went back to the bunker to get some clean clothes, the drinking group was still laughing and talking, and it was estimated that they would not stop until the second half of the night.
"Do you take a bath frequently?" Xing Bi followed Qiu Shi towards the hot spring.
"That's what you asked," Qiu Shi said, "What's wrong?"
"Very far." Xing Bi said.
"We have a lot of free time," Qiu Shi said. "When no one died, we had so much time that we didn't know how to waste it. So sometimes I would go to the abandoned towns nearby and come back after two or three days."
"Is it fun?" Xing Bi asked.
"It's not fun," Qiu Shi shook his head. "A place that has been abandoned for dozens or hundreds of years is much lonelier than a wild mountain with rocks."
After walking two steps, he asked again: "Where were you before you came to Yuncheng?"
"A very far city." Xing Bi said.
"Is it on the old man's map?" Qiu Shi asked.
"No, it's further east." Xing Bi said.
"What kind of city?" Qiu Shi was a little curious.
"It was very big, with many tall buildings," Xing Bi said, "shopping malls, squares, and parks, but it had already begun to decline. I didn't see the best of humanity."
Humanity at its best.
Looking at the current state of the world, who knows, in a few dozen or a hundred years, now will be the "best time" ever.
The temperature is not that low when you get closer to the hot spring, and the rising white steam is warm.
Qiu Shi walked around several small springs and stopped beside the largest one: "This is it."
Xing Bi took out a waterproof patch and handed it to him: "Put this on the wound."
"... You actually still want to take this?" Qiu Shi was a little surprised.
"I hope your injury heals quickly," Xing Bi said, "Qiu Yu is so happy that he almost jumped out of his grave."
"Fuck." Qiu Shi smiled and took off his clothes. He stuck the waterproof sticker on the gauze on his chest and pressed it tightly. While taking off his pants, he looked back at Xing Bi and found that he was still standing there with his clothes on. "Do you want to soak in the water with your clothes on?"
"No." Xing Bi said.
"What's wrong?" Qiu Shi said, "You are not a shy person. You even take off all your clothes just to warm yourself by the fire."
"You have a lot of wounds on your body." Xing Bi said as he began to take off his clothes.
"They all fell when they were little," Qiu Shi walked into the water, sat down, and then moved forward a little bit until the water was deeper. "For a kid to stay in a place like this, it's already a natural gift to get these injuries."
Xing Bi was not as careful as he was when he walked into the water. He took a few steps and then sat down in the water with a splash. The waves pushed towards Qiu Shi, and he immediately sat up upright by supporting himself with the rocks in the water.
"You have to know your limits!" Qiu Shi said, "Throw water on my face."
"Are you afraid of drowning when you wash your face?" Xing Bi asked.
"I wouldn't have thought so originally," Qiu Shi slowly leaned back and rested his head on the rock sticking out of the water behind him. "Now that you've said that, even if it's just a psychological hint, I might get scared."
Xing Bi didn't say anything, but slowly leaned back against the stone to keep the water surface calm.
"Is it warm?" Qiu Shi looked at the snowflakes falling from the sky.
"Yeah." Xing Bi responded, "Have you kept your hands warm?"
"It's kept at a constant temperature." Qiu Shi smiled. "Have you ever been to a hot spring before?"
"No." Xing Bi said, "Just take a bath in the bathtub."
"Bathtub?" Qiu Shi thought for a moment and said, "I see. I've seen one in the building in the abandoned town. It's about the same size as the small spring over there."
"Well," Xing Bi responded, "It's not as comfortable as this."
"Where did you live before?" Qiu Shi turned to look at him, "Did you have your own home?"
"Dormitory," Xing Bi said, "There are many rooms in a building. I have a small room, which is a little bigger than the bunker you live in now. Sometimes I live in the teacher's house."
"That Lin Sheng," Qiu Shi thought for a moment, "Are you familiar with him?"
"We have always been in the same group," said Xing Bi.
"It seems the relationship is just average." said Qiu Shi.
"You are very perceptive." Xing Bi smiled.
"Do you have a good relationship with any biochemical body?" Qiu Shi asked.
Xing Bi didn't say anything, just stared at the sky in a daze.
Qiu Shi suddenly regretted asking this question. He had drunk a little wine and his brain was slowing down. All the biochemical bodies in Yuncheng were cleared out by Xing Bi and Lin Sheng. What other biochemical bodies could he have a good relationship with
When the war started, those who chose to stand on the side of humans had already thrown away those of their kind standing on the opposite side, and then they personally cleaned out their own kind in Yuncheng.
After what happened, Xing Bi was probably the public enemy of all biological beings.
"Xing Bi," Qiu Shi reached out and patted Xing Bi's arm gently, "After all, my brain is not randomly generated in the optimal range, and sometimes my words may..."
"No need to be so careful." Xing Bi said.
"Hmm?" Qiu Shi looked at him.
"I'm an old antique," Xing Bi said, "I know why people say what they say. I've met more people than you've eaten canned food."
"… You can't compare like that," Qiu Shi said, "Li Feng hasn't always been so generous. Now I'm useful to him, so he gives me truckloads of supplies. If it was before, he wouldn't give me canned food casually. He only gave me bean cakes, which were hard to swallow. I now suspect that the bean cakes were made of dead bones. If you want canned food, you have to go to the Outer City Gang or get it on the black market."
"Director Li is so cruel." Xing Bi said.
"I'm not called a dog official for nothing," Qiu Shi said, "so I've actually eaten less canned food than I've collected more corpses."
"Then the number of people I have met is more than the number of ancestors you have fucked." Xing Bi said.
Qiu Shi stared at him for a long time before he burst into laughter and almost fell into the water: "Fuck your ancestors, what kind of brain do you have?"
"That's enough." Xing Bi smiled.
"That's enough." Qiu Shi said with a smile.
Li Feng changed into his pajamas. He was in a good mood today and the meeting went smoothly. Colonel Xu did not find any loopholes in his report, and Lin Sheng was also approved to leave the cabin tomorrow.
What surprised everyone but was not surprising was that at the meeting Colonel Xu announced the joint decision of the general and the company, that Li Feng would serve as deputy leader of the working group from then on.
"I didn't expect that Director Li has such great ability to seize power." Zhang Qifeng held back on saying this until after the meeting before saying it to him privately. This shows how patient he is.
Li Feng does not desire power. Power is just a necessary condition for his simple requirement of living a good life.
He lay down on the bed and breathed a sigh of relief.
Just as he was about to turn off the lights, Xiao Chong jumped up from the bedside table, and the secretary called: "Director Li, Colonel Xu will be in your office in ten minutes."
"Tell her I'm dead." Li Feng said.
"Do you need me to go back to the office now?" asked the secretary.
"Will you collect my body?" Li Feng sat up. "No, you can have a rest."
I took off the pajamas I had just put on, changed my clothes and walked out of the lounge. The office door was pushed open and Colonel Xu and Minister Liu walked in.
"Director Li hasn't rested yet." Minister Liu said.
"People who are more awesome than me are still working," Li Feng yawned and brought them two bottles of water. "How dare I go to bed so early?"
"It's getting late." said Colonel Xu.
"Thank you for your hard work," Li Feng said, "What can I do for you?"
Colonel Xu sat on the sofa and glanced at him: "There are some work matters."
"Is it urgent?" Li Feng asked. None of the people he had placed in various places in the Security Bureau responded, which meant that there was no urgent "work matter" happening at the moment.
"It's not urgent, it's just not convenient to talk about it at the meeting." Minister Liu smiled.
"Oh." Li Feng also sat down.
"Now all the work has been carried out. The military and the city defense bureau are cooperating with each other, which is a very important security measure for Yuncheng," said Colonel Xu, "In order to respond more quickly at work, and also for..."
"Colonel Xu, we are not in a meeting right now. It's just the three of us," Li Feng suppressed a yawn. He had understood what Colonel Xu meant, so he interrupted her. "Just tell me directly. Is there any problem with the City Defense Bureau? Or is there any problem with Director Zhang Qifeng?"
Colonel Xu paused, turned to look at Minister Liu, and then looked at Li Feng: "Deputy Team Leader Li, do you have any more suitable candidates to recommend for the position of Director of the City Defense Bureau?"
Good job.
Li Feng looked at her.
So fast.
Li Feng has been waiting since Colonel Xu announced the deputy team leader.
Li Feng was not surprised that they targeted Zhang Qifeng, who was at odds with him and always caused trouble for him but always cooperated with him at critical moments. It was simply because he couldn't stand the fact that he had some power, and he wanted to quickly replace the people who could be commanded by him with that little power.
It was considerate of me to ask him to make the recommendation.
At this moment, Li Feng had the urge to take out his gun and shoot Colonel Xu.
You can say these people are smart, they are still thinking about fighting for power when war is imminent. No one may survive this war. If you say they are stupid, they have made preparations for after the war. If they can maintain the peace of Yuncheng this time, as long as Li Feng is not dead, he will definitely be reused. So they have to start restricting them now.
Li Feng sighed.
Zhang Qifeng cannot be replaced, as he has been his good friend for many years.
"Director Zhang should have no problems with his work, right?" Li Feng frowned, his tone was confused, "Although he has a bad temper, he is still very stable at work."
"Zhang Sihai is his son. Director Li should know this, right?" Minister Liu said, "Zhang Sihai has been colluding with the biochemical forces for a long time, and he used his power to replace Zhang Sihai while he was in prison... Now we suspect..."
"This..." Li Feng pinched his brows, "It's me."
"What?" Colonel Xu looked at him.
"I got Zhang Sihai out," Li Feng looked at his hands, "Zhang Sihai is... my informant."
"What?" Minister Liu looked at him in surprise.
"The first suspicious biochemical body to appear in the inner city was provided by Zhang Sihai," Li Feng cleared his throat and looked at them. "He approached Deng Yeye for further intelligence. Deng Yeye still trusts him very much. Zhang Sihai is the only person who can contact Deng Yeye. I hope we don't alarm her."
Colonel Xu was obviously a little confused.
"Director Zhang didn't know. He just enforced the law impartially and locked up his own son," Li Feng said. "After I got Zhang Sihai out, he had a falling out with me and later sent Zhang Sihai to the refugee team. Everyone should know this. It was Zhang Sihai who discovered that the infected had sneaked into the inner city and reported it in time."
Colonel Xu didn't say anything, and Minister Liu looked at her thoughtfully.
Minister Liu and Colonel Xu are not in the same group. Colonel Xu brought him here simply because he needed a witness.
So it doesn’t matter whether Colonel Xu believes these words or not, as long as Minister Liu is shaken.
"Director Zhang is very dissatisfied with me for always interfering with his son's discipline and disrupting law enforcement," Li Feng said, "so our relationship is not very good, but Director Zhang's loyalty to Yuncheng and the general is unquestionable. In terms of public and private, I can't think of anyone more suitable than him to lead the City Defense Bureau."
Colonel Xu looked at him and said, "Director Li, it fits perfectly."
"If we move Director Zhang now, the enemies outside will definitely know that we already suspect Zhang Sihai," Li Feng said. "I previously arranged for secret surveillance of people related to Deng Yeye, for fear of alerting the enemy, so I would like to ask Colonel Xu to reconsider this."
"That's true..." Minister Liu nodded, "We still don't have a complete grasp of the situation of the forces outside."
"Colonel Xu has been in the army for a long time. He is disciplined and rigorous in his work. He may not be used to the way we deal with the grassroots," Li Feng said, "I will communicate with you in time in the future."
"Thank you for your hard work, Team Leader Li." Colonel Xu said very insincerely.
"I should bear the corresponding responsibility for releasing people privately in violation of discipline," said Li Feng.
"Hey," Minister Liu waved his hand, "I don't mean that. For the sake of work, some means still have to be used."
"I will report back in a timely manner in the future," Li Feng said, "and thank you both very much for your trust in me."
After seeing off Colonel Xu and Minister Liu, Li Feng contacted Zhang Qifeng.
Zhang Qifeng's sleep schedule was normal. Judging from his voice, he had slept for at least two hours. His sleepy voice was filled with impatience: "Director Li! What's the matter?"
"I'm going to the City Defense Office now," Li Feng said, "I'll be there in ten minutes."
"Are you sick?" Zhang Qifeng said, "What's the matter? Tell me."
"You will no longer be the director tomorrow morning," Li Feng said. "That's all. I'll be at the City Defense Office in ten minutes. If I don't see you, I'll go back to sleep."
"What did you say?" Zhang Qifeng's voice immediately brightened up. "What do you mean?"
"Let's talk when we meet." Li Feng hung up the phone.
Then he contacted Xiao Lei.
"Director Li!" Xiao Lei spoke with his tongue stuck out, and there was a lot of noise in the background.
"Life is good." said Li Feng.
"Qiu Shi came back today, and the brothers from the corpse collection team came to welcome him," Xiao Lei said, "I drank a little, but my mind was clear."
"It's just that the tongue is too big, right?" said Li Feng.
"Yes." Xiao Lei replied.
"Tell Qiu Shi," Li Feng said, "I will go to see him tomorrow morning and ask him to wait for me in the bunker."
"Got it!" Xiao Lei answered loudly.
"Go and drink." Li Feng said.
"I don't want to drink anymore!" said Xiao Lei.
"Just drink if I tell you to," Li Feng said, "Don't be so easily startled."
"Yes!" said Xiao Lei.
"Are they going to keep making noise like this all night?" Xing Bi asked, leaning against the head of the bed.
From the sounds of the people drinking in the bunker over there, at least half of them had not fallen down yet. They were laughing and talking, but I didn't know what they were talking about.
"It will almost be finished before dawn." Qiu Shituan was lying on the bed with the quilt pulled over his head to cover his head.
"Do we have so much to talk about when we are together every day?" Xing Bi said.
"That room is warm," Qiu Shi said, "even if they have nothing to say, they will stay there together tonight."
"Are you cold?" Xing Bi turned and looked at him.
"Aren't you an intelligent optimal biochemical body?" Qiu Shi said, "Don't you know whether I'm cold or not?"
Xing Bi laughed.
"Come here," Qiu Shi said, "squeeze in."
Xing Bi looked at a cylindrical heater placed beside the bed and asked, "Can this be adjusted?"
"No," Qiu Shi said, "Putting that thing in this shelter is like lighting a match in the snow. Now those bastards in the City Defense Department won't let us light a fire, so why don't we just make a fire in the house?"
"Who built this bunker?" Xing Bi took off his clothes and lay down on the bed.
"Come closer," Qiu Shi rubbed towards him, "We have to squeeze in."
Xing Bi also squeezed towards him and asked: "Are you guys also so nervous about bedding?"
"Why are you so nervous?" Qiu Shi said, "One bed for each of you. I'll ask Li Feng for another one tomorrow. He probably didn't expect you to stay here overnight."
"Yeah." Xing Bi responded.
"I thought you weren't afraid of the cold." said Qiu Shi.
"I'm not afraid," Xing Bi said, "but being too cold will affect my body functions."
"I see. This means that even though you are not afraid of the cold, you may still freeze to death." Qiu Shi pulled the quilt towards him and pressed the corner of the quilt next to his neck.
Xing Bi's body temperature is much more stable than that of ordinary humans. At this moment, Qiu Shi felt like there was a heater next to him, making him feel much warmer.
"The bunker was built by Brigade Zhao and I," he said.
"You two?" Xing Bi turned to look at him, and his breath felt warm on his forehead.
"These are all the oldest ones," Qiu Shi said. "The old man got us some dynamite, blew a hole on the hillside, then flattened it, and piled half of it with rocks."
"Two children?" Xing Bi asked.
"Yeah." Qiu Shi nodded.
“So even though humans die so easily, they haven’t all died out yet,” Xing Bi said.
"If you have a chance, you can take a look at Zhao Lu's back." Qiu Shi rested his head on his arm.
"This... I have no interest in it." Xing Bi said.
“Fuck,” Qiu Shi laughed, “He has a whole scar on his back. It’s because I was running too slow when we were blowing up the pit, and he blocked for me, and the rock debris hit his back.”
"Is that so?" Xing Bi thought for a moment, "a life-long friendship."
"Yes, Zhao Lu and I are friends who have risked our lives for each other," said Qiu Shi.
"So he will kiss you." Xing Bi said.
"He tends to get excited easily." Qiu Shi smiled.
"I've rarely been exposed to such..." Xing Bi looked at him, "Straightforward emotions, very exaggerated, very strong."
"We are not advanced humans," Qiu Shi said. "This is the world we live in. This is how we live. This group of brothers is everything. Who are we pretending for?"
"Yeah." Xing Bi responded, still looking at him.
Qiu Shi also looked at him.
After a few seconds, he pointed at Xing Bi and said, "Don't learn it. It's not appropriate to lie on the bed."
The author has something to say:
To be continued tomorrow⊙▽⊙.