Xu An read halfway through, then took out the radio again. After fiddling with it for a while, it still had no sound. She disappointedly put it aside.
She checked the solar power bank again, confirming that all power banks and batteries were fully charged.
Xu Yan had also finished cooking.
The family sat down together to eat. Xu An didn't forget to give Gou Dan an extra meat can.
After eating, her mother, unable to stay awake, went to sleep first. Xu An tidied up the dishes and changed the ice bucket.
Taking out the unfinished ice cream to continue eating, Gou Dan wagged its tail non-stop. Xu An fed it the frozen fruit.
One person and one dog sat together watching a movie about the apocalypse, both of them jumping in fright.
Gou Dan looked at Xu An, who had buried her face in its fur.
"So weak, yet still loves to watch!"
Xu An felt she must be hallucinating, otherwise, how could she see contempt on a dog's face?
After watching, Xu An didn't forget to comment that the monsters in the movie were much more terrifying than real zombies.
In the latter half of the night, Xu An woke up and looked out the window, "Fewer and fewer people have been entering and leaving the community recently."
She guessed that most of the survivors in the community had already left.
The broadcast mentioned distributing supplies, but there was no sign of it.
People's patience was being worn down by day after day of waiting.
The braver ones packed their belongings and families and left the community to find a new way to survive.
The timid ones continued to hunker down at home, living off their stored food.
The power and water outages caused many households' food to start spoiling and rotting.
Then they began to set their sights on others.
There were not a few people like Su Daqiang and Liu Hong.
Under normal circumstances, laws and regulations would restrain the behavior of such people. But now that survival itself was a problem, they were already fearless.
The first to be targeted were the residents with solar power panels.
Because where there was electricity, there was definitely food.
In just one night, Xu An's door was knocked on three times.
The visitors seemed to be just testing the waters. Seeing no response, they left dejectedly.
It wasn't that no one came with pliers to pry open the door, but when Xu An had it modified, she had chosen the most expensive bulletproof and burglar-proof door.
Even the FBI wouldn't be able to pry open her door today, let alone a few ordinary people.
Xu An and her mother continued with their tasks, packing their belongings, preparing to move.
The most peculiar thing was Gou Dan. Perhaps because Xu An had instructed it earlier, this time when strangers knocked or pried at the door, it remained obediently silent.
Seeing no movement from inside, the people outside left grumbling.
Xu An did not remove the solar power panels. She had a bunch of them in her space, so she wasn't lacking this one.
If a fated person found it, perhaps it could save their life at a crucial moment.
It wasn't that she was being kind, but she needed the solar power panel as a cover.
All the furniture had to be taken, as well as the refrigerator.
Xu Yan looked at the orchids she had been raising with regret.
"Niannian, can't this orchid really be put into your space?"
Xu An shook her head. She had secretly experimented with one of her mother's succulents. As soon as it was put in, it withered and died.
Instead, the young seedling in the center satisfiedly stretched its leaves and branches, making her suspect that this small sapling had sucked the succulent dry.
Fortunately, her mother's focus was on the meticulously cared-for orchids, and she didn't pay much attention to the succulents.
"If you like it, we'll take it. When we change to an RV on the road, you can put it in the RV."
Xu Yan's eyes lit up. She seemed disbelieving, then smiled sheepishly as if she were a child.
"Can we really take it?" She was afraid of causing trouble for Xu An.
After all, who could afford to keep a delicate orchid in the apocalypse?
"It's fine, let's take it. Maybe one day the space will evolve a spiritual soil area, and then we can put it directly inside."
Xu Yan had always loved growing flowers and plants in her life. She didn't want to disappoint her mother.
She went to the kitchen and put all the cookware, food, and seasonings into her space.
Then she went to her own and Xu Yan's bedrooms, packing everything inside and taking it away.
After packing everything, she returned to the living room.
The house was now empty, leaving only a carpet, a few air coolers, and ice buckets.
They planned to leave at five in the morning, before the sun rose.
At this time, people's routines were completely disrupted. Xu An had deliberately observed that around five or six in the morning, people in the community began to rest.
So they chose this time to leave, which was also safe.
Even if someone dared to chase them, they would have to consider it, as the sun was about to rise.
With everything ready, the mother and daughter went to rest.
Finally, after a fierce internal struggle, Xu Yan chose a pot of orchid and hugged it, preparing to take it with her.
Food that people could find outside was becoming increasingly scarce.
The supermarket's warehouses, due to the power outage, had all their frozen meat spoiled long ago, turning into a pool of bloody water, covered with dense swarms of flies and wriggling insects.
Someone knelt in the supermarket and burst into tears.
After the phones completely lost signal, they went to the police station under the cover of night, but apart from a few scattered bodies that had already begun to rot,
all that awaited them was crawling insects everywhere.
Only then did they realize that their normally safe and sound lives were thanks to these public servants who stayed at their posts.
But public servants were also human. After the apocalypse began,
they also wanted to be with their families.
Even if it meant death.
Despair was like a pervasive stench, invading people's minds in waves.
Many who couldn't hold on any longer, cried until they laughed, appearing疯疯癫癫.
Most of them were single people fighting for a living in this city, enduring a precarious existence for a meager salary that was barely enough to get by.
After the apocalypse, they couldn't contact their families, nor could they know if their families were safe.
They were like lonely ghosts wandering in a foreign land.
They laughed until their voices were hoarse.
Finally, facing the rising sun, they looked directly at the sunrise for the last time in their lives.
Under the scorching sun, they walked into the man-eating daylight alone, holding hands.
Ending their pathetic lives.
The onlookers were all silent. No one went to persuade or stop them.
It was like a ritual of rebirth through fire.
They tightly held their loved ones, looking at those who died in the scorching sun. While feeling fortunate, they couldn't help but feel grief.
Wasn't death also a form of release?
Who could guarantee that those who survived would necessarily welcome hope?