The first ray of sunshine in the morning shines into the air raid shelter.
I held Xiao Leng and slowly opened my eyes. This was the most peaceful sleep I had since the disaster broke out.
Xiao Leng was breathing evenly and was sleeping soundly.
I reached out and touched her forehead. There was still blood on the cuff. This was Wang Long's blood.
The first time I killed someone, I didn't feel much discomfort.
"Lin...Lin Wen..."
An old voice sounded from the opposite side, and Old Man Sun was waving to me.
Seeing that I noticed him, the old man's wrinkled face showed a smile, "Thank you for yesterday."
"You're welcome, that beast deserves to die."
I said softly, with a hint of coldness in my tone.
There was a noise in the corner. The two brothers of the Li family had woken up. They looked at me with a bit of fear in their eyes.
Maybe in their eyes, I'm just a lunatic.
The light shines on the stone steps, and the blood stains on the ground are mottled and terrifying.
"The world has changed, and we can only survive if we stick together."
I looked at the light at the entrance of the cave and was a little lost in thought for a moment.
"I agree!"
A loud bell-like sound sounded, and it was Li Xiang who stood up from the corner.
"But I think the most important thing is mutual trust, so..." Li Xiang said for a moment, as if he was observing my expression, "So, please trust us!"
This strong man, nearly 1.9 meters tall, looked down at me, and I read a hint of wariness on his face.
"Trust each other, that's what I want too."
I leaned against the corner and looked up into his eyes, "I, Lin Wen, only kill animals."
"Wang Long pushed my sister off the cliff, he should be killed! Xue Anya wants me to die, and if I don't die, it will be her turn to die!"
"I see..."
Li Xiang's alert expression softened, and he lowered his head and rubbed his eyebrows.
"I promise, such a thing will not happen to me. I feel the same as you. I just want to live a good life with my brother."
"Um."
I responded and stretched out my hand towards Li Xiang.
Xiao Leng curled up in my arms, and I leaned against the wall unable to get up.
Seeing my careful movements, Li Xiang smiled, bent down and held my hand.
His palms are very broad and the muscles of his arms are well-proportioned. From Li Xiang's face, I can clearly feel that he has put down his guard.
I let go of my hand, and Li Xiang turned around and smiled at Li Chong, "It's okay. We will all be friends from now on, and we must find a way to survive together."
On the other side, Old Man Sun also spoke up, "At my age, I don't have many days to live."
"But I still want to live."
The old man wiped the corners of his eyes, his palms trembling a little.
No one wants to die, survival is the instinct of living things.
"There will be a way to survive. I have a way."
I said in a deep voice, "We are not short of food and water for the time being, but it is not enough."
"There is a convenience store about three kilometers away from the air raid shelter. The things in it are well preserved. We can move them all back."
Brothers Li Xiang and Li Chong nodded immediately, and I told a few people what we were going to do today.
Old man Sun continued to look for firewood and combustibles near the air raid shelter.
The two Li brothers and I could move as much as we could to that supermarket.
Water and food are necessities and must be sufficient.
Moreover, there are many uncertain risk factors in the outside world, such as nuclear radiation, war, military...
Xia Xue's childish but determined face appeared in my mind again.
Her identity must be very special, and I don't know if we will meet again in the future.
What kind of struggle is she in?
The thought flashed by, and I reached out and touched the metal suitcase beside me.
Starting cold, it's a light, strange texture.
I haven't had time to read the diary inside. The information in the diary is very important to us who currently know nothing about this disaster.
Xiao Leng woke up uneasily from my arms. She seemed to have a nightmare, and she hugged me tightly as soon as she opened her eyes.
…
At ten o'clock in the morning, we set off from the air raid shelter.
In addition to the waterproof bag in my hand, Li Xiang and the others also needed to find some pockets or boxes that could hold things.
The store is a bit far away, so try to move as many things as possible in one trip.
It's not that there's only one convenience store, but the supermarket or warehouse in this dense high-rise building. Who can guarantee that it's not the lair of monsters?
Once you are sure that a point is safe, it is the best way to empty it.
And from the perspective of the route, what we need to pay more attention to is the hidden whereabouts.
If we are encountered by foreign troops again, I'm afraid we won't be as lucky as last time.
In my plan, it is enough to carry the supplies back before twelve noon.
Wait until you are familiar with the route before speeding up.
I handed the bloody long knife to Li Xiang, "You can hold it for self-defense. If you take a small path later, you can use it to clear the way."
Li Xiang took the long knife and nodded heavily at me.
"Don't worry, just leave it to me."
As we passed the ruins of last night, I stopped in my tracks.
The rope was still tied to the steel bar, and at the end of the rope, only a bloody bone was left.
The blood stains almost turned the ruins red, and there were messy bloody claw marks on the surrounding road, and the blood stains were mixed with dark mucus.
There is still flesh and blood on the skull, and you can vaguely tell that it is half of Wang Lung's face.
Everyone was shocked to see it, and Xiao Leng grabbed my sleeves even more tightly.
And I calmly untied the rope and took the blood-stained rope back to my waist.
There will be many places where rope will be used in the future, so it cannot be wasted casually.
Just as I was about to leave, my whole body suddenly stiffened.
"No, something is wrong."
"What's wrong?"
Li Xiang asked, covering his nose. He couldn't stand such a bloody scene.
I didn't answer, but picked up a piece of gravel from the ruins, squatted down and turned over the bones in the ruins.
Most of the scattered bones were bitten into pieces, with bright red flesh and tooth marks remaining on the bones. The monster's bite was very strong.
There was a chill in my heart. In this pile of corpses, only two arms and two leg bones could be pieced together from the broken bones.
In other words, there are only the bones of one person here.
There was a body that disappeared...
I stared at Wang Long's head with only half a face left, and my mood fell to the bottom.
Xue Anya is not dead?
Or is it that she has been eaten by monsters until nothing is left?
She and Wang Lung were tied together last night, how could she escape? !
Even Wang Long's bones can remain. If Xue Anya dies, no matter how cleanly she eats, there will still be traces.
What happened?
My mind raced with all the possibilities.
Suddenly, I grabbed the rope around my waist.
Sure enough, at the other end of the rope, the cross section was a flat cut!
Someone cut the rope with a knife!
I am almost certain that Xue Anya is still alive.
Lifting my feet and walking towards the depths of the ruins, I carefully observed the blood stains on the ground again.
Among the messy bloody paw prints, there was a clear line of shoe prints.
Last night, besides Wang Long and Xue Anya, there was a third person here!
Someone rescued Xue Anya...