The road is long, and there is no end in sight. On either side are rolling fields, with the faint outline of mountains in the distance.

The roads are empty and there is nothing. The grass poked its head out of the gap in the side of the road, as if intending to cross the four-lane road.

A year ago, there would have been a constant stream of cars – people in the cars wouldn't have been in the mood to look at the scenery on either side, or at the mountains at the end of the road. At that time, everyone was busy and full, relying on modern means of transportation to get from here to there, and after a short stop, to run farther away.

But right now, it's just a bicycle.

A sturdy, rustic, old-fashioned black bike. It's not like those high-end goods that cost hundreds of gold dollars, there are ergonomics and other devices, and there are no gears. It's just a simple iron frame, two wheels, a chain, and a bell.

Wherever something goes wrong, it's easy to find the right fitting.

Li Zhen rode such a bicycle and sped in the middle of the road. The wind whistled in my ears, and my clothes were blown and hunted. It's really like flying.

He squinted his eyes and looked ahead, noticing a figure in the distance.

It was a novelty – the road had gone deep into the suburbs, and he had only seen three people in four days. Together with the previous one, it is the fourth.

But when he saw that person, he suddenly remembered another thing—something from his high school days.

These days, the memories of the past are flooding back one after another. seems to want to fill the "window period" of the past few months as quickly as possible, so that he can have a deeper understanding of what kind of person Li Zhen was in the past.

He was just a freshman in high school at the time. The original junior high school classmates were divided into classes, some studying in the east of the city and some studying in the west of the city. One day, he was walking down the road like the man in front of him when he noticed that on the other side of the road, one of his junior high school classmates was riding a brand new bicycle.

The man used to be a nerd, but now he wears a basketball shirt, bare arms, and a basketball in the basket at the front of the bicycle.

The one smiled heartily when he saw Li Zhen, and then seemed to plan to show off his driving skills.

So he let go of his hand and hugged it to his chest. Tilting his head up quite magnificently. Then the basketball in the basket rolled for a moment.

The front of the car suddenly tilted. He crashed into a tree on the side of the road with his car and people.

At that time, he laughed about it for a long time, and he still remembers it. So thinking about it now, he couldn't help but glance at the man as he passed by.

It turned out to be a girl - not pretty, but with a healthy complexion. She walked this road alone. There was a big package on his back. Wear a sunhat on your head. The blouse was tied around the waist. I only wore a pale pink T-shirt.

Originally, it was just a faint glimpse.

But Li Zhen saw surprise in the girl's eyes - he didn't care, and sped by.

In his mind, this person may have seen himself in the newspaper, but now he has seen it with his own eyes. I was a little surprised. About one out of every ten people he met during this time would frown slightly in confusion.

But after a while he felt that something was wrong.

Not only because of the faint shouting behind him, but also because he realized that there was something strange in his eyes.

It's not the simple "surprise" I encountered before, but there are some "doubts" and "surprises" in the "surprise".

He frowned slightly and slowed down. There was a long "crunch" sound from the hand gate, and he stopped. Turning her head, the girl trotted all the way over, panting and shouting, "Hey, pay you back!" ”

Li Zhen was stunned for a moment - pay back the money?

He frowned in confusion. The girl had already run up to her, and she had wrenched her backpack from behind her back, rested it on the back seat, and as she pulled it in, she said, "Strange you, didn't you go to the front?" Rounded back again? ”

Li Zhen didn't speak.

The girl wiped the sweat from her face again, took out a wad of gold yuan and sent it to him: "Well, I saved enough money yesterday, and I will pay you back." ”

He stepped off his bike and looked the girl up and down.

The other party looked at himself suspiciously: "What's wrong?" ”

Li Zhen thought for a while: "Have you seen me?" ”

The girl tilted her head to look at him: "You...... No way? I'm not mistaken. Ordinary people don't look like you, ...... like this."

She was too embarrassed to say the next word.

So Li Zhen realized that maybe she saw another "self". He laughed and patted his head: "Ha, I almost forgot, it's been too long." ”

"It's only been four days." The girl pouted, "Noble people forget things." ”

Four days ago. Li Zhen nodded slightly in his heart. Quite naturally, he took the money and put it in his pocket, and smiled, "I left something behind." He pointed to the other side of the road, "and went back." ”

The girl put her backpack back on her back and tilted her head to look at him, "You look a lot better today—you seemed to be dying of sorrow the last time I saw you." ”

Li Zhen pushed the bicycle and walked slowly, and the girl was side by side with him. He thought for a moment and asked, "Then guess what happened to me last time?" ”

The girl looked at him and pouted, "Actually, you're really weird." Last time, you said that you were unhappy that a friend had passed away, and now you are like a person who has nothing to do. ”

Li Zhen was stunned for a moment, and his heart jumped.

A friend? Passed away?

He instinctively thought of Shen Mu.

The other one, who also knows the news?

It's been almost a month since that afternoon. Now he is in Shaanxi Province. He took a crowded diesel bus, walked by by footsteps, and met a simple farmer who took him on the way. If you enter Shaanxi from the north, this road is one of the necessary routes. This means that someone moves faster than him.

And that one of himself......

It seems a bit unexpected.

He lent money to the girl. Six months ago, I wouldn't have cared about such a trivial matter, and I wouldn't have frowned even if someone had stopped me in the way to rob me - because it was a dirty thing between humans...... He looked at it very lightly.

However, that "self" showed considerable humanity, and even helped a stranger whom he had never met.

Is it the one who calls himself Levin?

He smiled reluctantly: "I have to think about it." People can't be resurrected from death, we all have to look forward. The way of this world ......"

"Okay, just when you want to open it. What now? Where are you going? ”

Li Zhen frowned helplessly - what the hell was going on with that one? He seemed to be quite familiar with this girl, and almost said everything. He couldn't figure out what that one was doing, but of course he couldn't be honest with her. So he smiled: "What about you?" What else do you have to do? At this time, it is not easy for a young girl to walk on the road. Maybe if you walk a little further, you will encounter a robbery. ”

That's true. When he was in Binh Duong, the society in the city was quite stable. After all, it was the northern center of the empire, and there was a northern base nearby. But as soon as he left the city of Pingyang, he found that the current territory of the empire was not as "orderly" as he imagined.

The countryside is okay and basically self-sufficient. But in some of the more remote towns, the situation is quite bleak. Either the population is moving to the big cities that can provide the quota of food, or they are struggling to stay there.

The empire is fighting against a different species, and its military expenditures are huge. However, the vast majority of people are unemployed, and manufacturing plants that rely solely on manual collaboration have not yet become widespread on a large scale, because skilled workers are also the bottleneck.

But tax standards have not been lowered – because war is actually a burn of money, no matter who it is fighting for.

So there was a rather interesting and frustrating situation in which the residents of a certain town voted to dissolve their town hall in order to pay less taxes. As soon as the council was dissolved, the town government was dissolved – and the fire station, police station, and other institutions under its jurisdiction disappeared...... The town is now in a state of anarchy, and is directly under the control of the city.

When he got there, he was on fire in the town. It is said that it was because two groups of men fought and lit the fire. But the police from the city were still walking on bicycles, and there was no one in the fire station to put out the fire, so the fire burned two streets to the ground, and the howls of the people were almost all over the town.

There was nothing he could do about this kind of thing, so he had to leave. When he was leaving, he listened to the people in the town discussing whether to reorganize the cabinet and stop tossing like this.

In fact, there is not necessarily a shortage of food to the point where everyone will not have enough to eat—the Empire's grain stock is claimed to support the entire population for six years. But on the one hand, everyone doesn't know how long the aurora will last and how long it will take to regain productivity, so they are cautiously saving food.

On the other hand......

The actual situation may not be as they say, "to support the whole country's population for six years". Perhaps some of the storage silos have long since been empty - long since been emptied by moths.

In this case, there were quite a few bandits on both sides of the road. They are in groups of threes and fives, armed with a variety of weapons, and set up barricades to rob the occasional passing vehicle or pedestrian.

The local police force did not have time to cover the whole territory, and those people became more and more rampant. He had met two groups on the road, and there were not many of them, and they were all packed up by him without danger. In fact, he would rather meet capable people than ordinary people with long-range weapons and strong bodies.

After listening to his words, the girl smiled slightly: "I, ah, continue to travel." I used to be so busy every day, but at this time, others were so worried that they were dying, but I was idle. So take this opportunity to hike - to Lhasa. Once you call one day, you can't find such an opportunity again. ”

As she spoke, she tugged at the strap of her backpack again. Two wide straps dug deep into her shoulders and looked rather heavy. (To be continued.) For mobile phone users, please go to read. )