On a winter afternoon, the sky gets dark very early, and it seems that as soon as the sun turns west, the ground gradually loses its sunlight. Behind a leeward hillside, Chi Hua and others were leaning on the truck to light a bonfire.

"It's such a cold day, even the evolutionaries can't stand it, and I don't know how many ordinary people can survive it." Luo Zhigang sighed while roasting his hands on the bonfire.

"I won't sleep in the wild again tonight, I miss my hot springs!" Qin Yurou kept stomping her feet and complaining.

As he spoke, a wind suddenly fell from the sky, bringing up the snow on the ground and blowing on everyone's faces, causing the flames of the bonfire to sway from side to side.

"Zou Lang, you're going to die, hurry up and reincarnate!" Qin Yurou smiled and scolded Zou Lang who fell in a hurry.

"Captain, there is a village seven or eight miles ahead, I see a fire, there should still be people to live in." Zou Lang said.

"Then let's pack up our things and hurry over, at least we don't have to live outside anymore." Qin Yurou moved first.

……

The sky had completely darkened, and everyone dragged the truck closer to roughly see that this was a small village at the foot of the mountain, and thirty or forty courtyards were scattered on the side of the mountain, and seven or eight of them could see a bright light coming out from a distance.

As if receiving some kind of code, when the truck was about to enter the entrance of the village, all the lights in the village were extinguished at once, and the village was completely plunged into darkness.

Everyone was on alert, and even Xie Xiaodan held the Type 07 pistol in his hand. Walking through the quiet streets, it seems that you are about to leave the village, and there is no movement.

Chi Hua and Luo Zhigang glanced at each other, and Chi Hua walked directly to the largest courtyard next to him. It is a courtyard composed of five main houses and two side houses, and the stone courtyard walls that are more than one person high and the painted wooden doors on the opposite side show that this family is obviously richer than the other families in the village.

"Anyone?" Chi Hua slapped the wooden door with a snap.

I screamed for a long time, but still no one responded.

Chi Hua tried to push the door, and the valve was on the inside, shaking it vigorously, and there was a sound of chains colliding. Chi Hua smiled, pushed hard again, and the door creaked open.

This is a typical northern rural house, pushing the door into the house is the stove, and the east and west houses are the northern earthen kang. Yan Jie threw a fireball under the stove, and there was still some unburned firewood in the stove, which immediately burned, and there was light in the room again, but there was still no one in sight. Chi Hua reached out and touched the kang, but the kang was still hot.

"No matter, we'll stay here tonight, Brother Luo, let's make a fire and cook!" Chi Hua deliberately shouted loudly.

Still nothing happens. Luo Zhigang simply started cooking, there was a water tank in the house, and there was still a small half of the water in the tank.

The rice porridge boiled in a large wood pot is thickened, and shrimp meat is added to enhance the freshness, and the aroma of kung fu porridge will permeate several rooms after a while. After a few more boxes of canned food, everyone ate directly around the fire in the hearth. The warm environment, the delicious food, and the atmosphere in the house are unusually cheerful.

"Yan Jie, you burn the fire again in a while, this girl will sleep on the kang tonight."

"Sister Yurou, I also want to sleep on the kang."

"You sleep in another room, and the silly boy sleeps on the kang, do you know?"

"Xiaofei, do you want to sleep on the kang? Or do you want to take the opportunity to sleep with your sister Yurou? ”

"Zou Lang, I cut you!"

While everyone was laughing, there was a coughing sound all of a sudden, although the sound was not loud, but it was very clear to everyone in the room who had been paying attention.

The room was quiet all of a sudden, and following the direction from which the sound came, Luo Zhigang immediately moved away the water tank placed against the wall, and a hole the size of a pot lid was revealed on the wall.

Chi Hua took the porridge bowl in his hand and shook it in the cave, "Do you want to come out and eat something together?" Then he left no concern to the people in the cave and went on eating.

After waiting for a while, the people inside seemed to have finally made up their minds and climbed out of the hole one after another, and the first one to come out was an old man in the countryside in his 50s, with a high nose, a red face, and a slight hunchback; Then came out a pair of men and women about 30 years old, the man had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and his face was honest, and the woman looked very scared, holding the man's arm; The last one to come out was a seven or eight-year-old child, with big eyes looking curiously at the people in the room.

The old man nodded and smiled dryly, not knowing what to say.

It was Luo Zhigang who broke the silence first, "Brother, this is your house, we knocked on the door and no one answered, thinking that no one came in, we have no malice, we just want to spend the night." ”

"A few of you haven't eaten yet, so let's eat with us." Chi Hua said as he handed over the box of cans that had been opened on the table to the child.

The child was the most unsuspecting, the woman didn't stop it, the child had already taken it, grabbed a piece of luncheon meat from the box with her hand and put it in her mouth.

Seeing that the few people in front of him really had no malicious intent, the old man put his mind at ease, "My name is Zhang Zhanyuan, this is my son, daughter-in-law and little grandson." ”

"You haven't eaten yet, but while eating, don't be polite to us in your own house." Chi Hua smiled and handed another bowl of porridge to the old man Zhang Zhanyuan.

"Heck, we can't eat anything so good ourselves. You are different from other refugees. ”

"Do you have a lot of refugees here?" Chi Hua asked.

As soon as the old man put on the porridge bowl, he completely let down his guard, and then opened the conversation box endlessly, "After the nuclear war, many people in the city ran to the countryside, and some people passing by the village bought or borrowed food from the villagers. When we didn't borrow it, they started robbing, and if people were hungry, they would do anything, and in the end they would kill people. There was really no way to do it, so the people in our village hid the grain and hid in the mountains by themselves. Recently, there have been fewer people passing through the village, and it is too cold in the mountains to stay still before coming back. But as soon as outsiders came, we all hid, and they naturally left when they couldn't find food. ”

In the absence of order and no one or organization to provide shelter, this is also a way to survive, Chi Hua listened and nodded again and again.

"Do you think we look like refugees?" Chi Hua asked with a smile.

Zhang Zhanyuan also smiled, his smile revealed a simplicity that has been rare since the end of the world, "I don't see it, don't talk outside, go to the kang to talk, the kang is warm, today you all live in our house, I let my son and daughter-in-law live at his second aunt's house, there are many empty houses in the village now." The old man finished eating the porridge and hurriedly let everyone go to the inner room.

"How many people are still in the village? Does anyone take the lead? ”

"You are the right person to ask this, the old man is the village chief of this Xishan Village, and now there are 21 families and 67 people in the village, and less than half of the people who remain in the village are less than half of the people who were before!" The old man sighed heavily.

Several people have already been on the kang, and there is a small kang table on the kang, a candle is lit on the table, and the old man also asked his daughter-in-law to make tea, and while pouring tea for everyone, he muttered, "Now these things are used a little less, if it weren't for the distinguished guests, the old man would be reluctant to drink it himself." ”

"Is there anything missing in the house?" Luo Zhigang took the opportunity to ask.

"In the early years, I was hungry and scared, and I saved a little firewood, rice, oil and salt at home, if I didn't get robbed of this winter, there would be no problem, but if I wanted to say that I was lacking, I didn't know the taste of meat." The old man laughed first.

Luo Zhigang gave Yan Jie a look, Yan Jie walked outside the house with understanding, and after a while, he brought a large strip of pork into the house and put it directly on the table, about more than ten catties.

"Oh, this can't be helped, it's too expensive!" The old man hurriedly excused himself.

"Take it, brother, it's our accommodation fee for tonight." Luo Zhigang said to the old man with a smile.

"That's not good, this bit of meat is enough to eat for a family to live for half a month!" The old man still resolutely refused.

If this is put outside, how many people will work hard for this bit of meat, Chi Hua couldn't help but secretly admire in his heart. Seeing that the old man resolutely refused to accept it, Chi Hua said: "That's it, do you have a surplus of oil and salt at home, if we use this piece of meat to exchange with you?" ”

The old man accepted it, and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Who are you?" I've seen a lot of snatchers in the past few months, but I haven't seen anyone who takes the initiative to deliver things? ”

"We're all evolutionaries, you know, evolutionaries?"

"You know, I've seen it on TV before, and the refugees who pass by always say, 'Where are you going?'"

Chi Hua smiled, "We have no destination, we wander around from the city to the countryside, we search for and hunt mutated animals, eradicate the bad people who have lost their conscience, and give people the help we can." ”

"That's great, there have been so many weird people lately."

Chi Hua heard the voiceover from the old man's words, and couldn't help asking, "Have you ever seen an adventurer like us?" ”

"I don't know if it's an adventurer, some time ago there were three people in white robes in the village, they claimed to be from the gate of heaven, they didn't give us food, but they gave us a painting, and they also said that they could give us shelter, and if they joined them, they could gain power, and they could go to heaven or something, anyway, I don't believe that they are fooling, but there are people in the village who believe in them."

Chi Hua suddenly became interested, "Where is the painting you said?" ”

"Why, let my daughter-in-law paste the window." The old man pointed to the window.

Chi Hua approached the window with a candle, and Luo Zhigang, Zou Lang and others also surrounded curiously. I saw a solemn and ornate arched gate erected on the colorful clouds in the painting, the lower part of the left and right doorposts each painted a half-naked girl kneeling on both knees and holding her hands in the shape of a lift, the upper part was an angel flying with a sword, in the center of the lintel was a huge cross, and under the door stood a white-robed man with his arms outstretched in the shape of a hug, but the man's face was blurred.

"Heaven's Gate, interesting!" Chi Hua muttered in a low voice.