April 9. Monday. Afternoon, 13:19.

"I don't know." Tao Ye sat up straight on the bed in the isolation ward and replied blankly.

"Well, I'll talk about that later. Now, I want you to assist the police in their investigation and tell me how you survived after the Future Dream Mansion sank underground, what happened underground, and what it had to do with the deceased. ”

"I'm sorry, but the dead you said was ......"

"Luo Haoran."

"He's dead?"

Ye Xiao couldn't tell if his surprise was real or fake.

"You can start at the beginning—seven days, seven nights."

"Seven days, seven nights—" Tao Ye repeated, the corners of his mouth trembling slightly, "I'll think about it...... Think about it......"

"Think about it." Ye Xiao waited patiently for an answer.

"The first night. A lot of people died, so miserable! However, there were still about twenty survivors, and we gathered in the atrium of the mall to discuss how to survive in hell. Regarding the end of the world, the professor is the authority on this, and we all listen to him. ”

"Who's the professor?"

"Wu Hanlei, there are advertisements for his new book everywhere, and no one doesn't know about him."

Ye Xiao was really surprised. The famous Professor Wu Hanlei? Another breaking news! "He's trapped underground, too?"

"yes, the first thing the professor told us to do was to collect all the food and water. It's funny to say that I'm an employee at Calford's supermarket, but I'm guiding people to grab food on the shelves. Fortunately, there were not many survivors, a few more were seriously injured and could not move, and the supermarket had all kinds of raw and cooked food, enough for us to eat for many days. The only concern is preservation, those bagged foods are not a big problem, but what about fresh food? In order to save electricity, Luo Haoran turned off all air conditioners and refrigerators. At everyone's strong request, he opened a refrigerator in the supermarket to store necessary food and medicine. ”

"Wait, you say there's electricity underground? Is it a diesel generator on the fourth basement floor? ”

"Yes, there are five of them, and there is quite a bit of fuel. However, if the diesel generator is used continuously for a period of time, the efficiency will be reduced, and it will consume a lot of fuel, consume too much oxygen and exhaust gas, and not only the personnel who maintain the generator will be poisoned, but others will also be unable to bear it. Therefore, the generators must be used on a rotational basis, with a maximum of two at the same time. We do our best to conserve fuel, and many floors use only one-tenth of the power. Forty-eight hours later, we only generated electricity for a few hours a day, but on the sixth day we ran out of fuel. ”

"Food and water are available in the supermarket, but what about oxygen?"

"This is also the biggest headache for everyone. The air gradually became cloudy, especially in the lower floors, where it was difficult for people to breathe. Fortunately, Zhou Xuan found more than a dozen home oxygen concentrators in the fitness equipment store on the fourth floor, which can produce oxygen when they are electrified. We moved these oxygen concentrators to all corners of the mall, and we also put one on the fourth basement floor to ensure the safety of the people who operate the generators – usually this is Luo Haoran's job. Yoko found a large number of oxygen cylinders for mountaineering in the outdoor goods* store on the seventh floor, the size of mineral water bottles, which can be carried around, and each person has been given two, in case the oxygen runs out, she can live for an extra hour or two. ”

"Who is Yoko?"

"That Japanese woman, Shota's mother, I know she was also rescued, is the mother and child safe now?"

"It should be fine." Ye Xiao remembered the warm hand that was dug out from under the ruins in the passage of the cinema on the ninth floor.

"That's good! It's not himself who worries the most in the underground, but Shota, and it's the kid who is pitiful. ”

"May I ask a question?" Without waiting for Tao Ye to reply, Ye Xiao asked strongly, "That Japanese boy, when I rescued him, I always felt that he was a little weird. ”

"You mean Shota's complexion, right? Indeed, when I first saw this boy, I also felt that he was too white to be abnormally white, not the skin color of a Caucasian child, but completely bloodless, like a vampire. ”

"That's right." Ye Xiao would not say such things in front of witnesses or suspects, but he could induce them to say it.

"However, I dare to use my personality to assure that Shota is a good boy, there is nothing wrong with him, don't doubt it."

"You're too careful!" Ye Xiao's face sank, he couldn't let the interrogation subject take the initiative, he returned to the original topic, "According to what you said just now, you have solved the oxygen problem?" ”

"No, there's a paradox to that. Electricity must be consumed to produce oxygen from oxygen concentrators, but oxygen is consumed and exhaust gases are exhausted during the power generation process. Moreover, as long as the diesel fuel is depleted and the power supply is interrupted, no amount of oxygen concentrators will work. ”

"So, the last two days were very difficult for you?"

"Yes. When you found us, all the survivors were in the movie theater on the ninth floor, because the air quality below was so poor that it was filled with the smell of rotting corpses. Tao Ye showed a disgusted expression and shook his head, "Let's go back to the first night - Professor Wu Hanlei told us that even if the means of survival are prepared, it may be full of dangers, and only when all the survivors unite, help each other, and divide labor reasonably, can we preserve the last hope of mankind in the end of the world." ”

Ye Xiaoxu nodded matter-of-factly: "It makes sense." ”

"As a result, the Professor has become our leader, and he can command everyone underground, even the owner of this building."

"Luo Haoran is willing to obey the professor's orders?"

"Yes, he is very obedient and cooperative, and he can't see the big boss's shelf. He was a taciturn man, never seeing his expression or making out what he was thinking. He is most familiar with the Future Dream Building, and often tells us about these survivors where they can find something. I have been working at Calford supermarket for three years, and I have never met the owner here, and I have never heard of Luo Haoran's name, so it seems that he was originally a mysterious person. ”

"You have a good impression of him?"

"yes, what's wrong?"

"No, go on."

"In addition to Professor Wu and Luo Haoran, those who can still have the right to speak among the survivors are circulating."

Now, every time he hears "circling", it makes Ye Xiao feel uncomfortable, and "circulating" has become his sensitive word.

"Why him?"

"He is the most active, no matter what happens, he rushes to the forefront. He almost never said the words 'the end of the world', as if the rescue team would come down from the sky at any moment to save us from hell - oh my! You guys really did it! You know, since the first night, I never expected to return alive, and most of the survivors shared my belief that the outside world was completely destroyed, and that we would all die in the near future, in hours, days, months, or even years! ”

"So, Zhou Xuan is an optimist?"

"Yes, he is full of hope and strength. Whenever someone is discouraged or has the intention of committing suicide, he is the first to come out and cheer him up. He told everyone not to give up on life no matter what, even in a dark world where there is no light in sight, there must be a bright light in the heart. Zhou Xuan often uses "The Shawshank Redemption" to inspire everyone, saying that Stephen King is his favorite author. He didn't know where to find the movie files, and in the smallest screening room of the cinema on the ninth floor, he used a projector to play on the screen for everyone to show - in the depths of the apocalyptic hell, a group of last survivors of mankind, nested in the cinema to watch "The Shawshank Redemption", to see how Andy spent nineteen years digging tunnels to regain freedom, this feeling is so tragic and exciting! The more Tao Ye talked, the more excited he became, and he almost got rid of the infusion needle in his hand, as if he was still in a hell movie theater.

"Looks like you miss life underground?"

Ye Xiao's words were silent, but he hit the key point of Tao Ye, he was stunned and said, "Maybe, it's too unforgettable." I think anyone who has experienced the end of the world, or thinks that they have experienced the end of the world, will never be able to erase this memory. ”

"I can understand that. For seven days and seven nights, thinking that he was destined to die underground, that his parents and friends had died tragically, he must have thought of many, many things, all kinds of despair and sorrow, fantasies and impulses - those who have not experienced it themselves can only guess boringly, sorry. ”

"Where did you just go?"

"Circling."

In fact, Tao Ye's desire to talk has been hooked, and as long as Ye Xiao guides him a little, he will tell more secrets.

"That's right! Zhou Xuan and I also have a common hobby, which is to read mystery novels. On the fourth floor of the Future Dream Mall, there is a private bookstore, although it is operating dismally, but it has persevered until the end of the world. Seven days and seven nights underground, no need to go to work, no Internet access and no TV watching, most people are bored, to put it bluntly, they are waiting for death! Some people have iPads and can play games. Someone goes to the supermarket's audio-visual area, disassembles DVDs, turns on the brand-new color TVs and disc players on the counter, and enjoys the apocalyptic home theater - the power may be cut off by Luo Haoran at any time, and he is most opposed to wasting extremely precious electricity on entertainment that has nothing to do with survival. And a migrant worker like me from a small place went to a bookstore at the end of the world. Zhou Xuan often occupies half of the bookstore with me, and several times he has taken a fancy to the same book - both of them are works by the Japanese mystery novel master Matsukawa Furutsuki. He turned off the other power sources on the fourth floor, except for the bookstore, where the lights were turned on a few more and the oxygen concentrator was also placed in the bookstore. When I sat on the floor of the bookstore and read a book, I almost forgot all my worries, as if I had returned to my college days, and read without distractions. ”

"Enough!" Ye Xiao interrupted his lyricism, not wanting to hear these details anymore, he wanted information from the survivors, "Tell me something else, such as - how do you deal with the wounded?" Didn't you say that there were still seriously wounded? ”

"Don't give up on anyone! This is the unanimous opinion of Professor Wu, Luo Haoran, Zhou Xuan, and most of the survivors. However, there are also a few people who advocate that the life of a healthy person should be ensured first, and that the precious survival resources should not be wasted on those who are dying or unable to survive independently. ”

"Which bastard said that?"

"Forgot. Not the few of us who survived anyway. Most people, including professors, advocate doing everything possible to save everyone's life. We had no doctors, so we had to simply bandage the wounds of the wounded – medicines and bandages were in good hands, but they didn't solve the problem until someone started to get an infection in the wound......" Tao Ye seemed to think of some terrible scene.

Ye Xiao said softly: "Go on." ”

"It's miserable! In this kind of underground environment, once the wound is infected, it means that the death sentence is pronounced, we have no sterile environment, lack of effective medicine, can only watch their wounds gradually suppurate and rot and give birth to maggots. ”

"Dead?"

"Yes, the seriously wounded died one after another, the last one died two days ago."

"What to do with the corpse?"

"It's still the same as the rest of the dead, concentrated in the garage on the fourth basement floor."

Seamless - Ye Xiao admired in his heart, he looked into Tao Ye's eyes: "Why are there only six of you survivors in the end?" What happened to everyone else except the seriously wounded? ”

"Hey—"

"Don't you know?"

"Some people committed suicide. I've seen it with my own eyes. On the third day, someone jumped over the railing on the ninth floor and smashed directly into the atrium on the first floor, a position where countless people had already died. ”

"Despair of the end of the world?"

Tao Ye raised his head and let out a long breath: "Yes." This disappointed me, and the most painful thing was that his efforts to encourage everyone not to give up were in vain. On the sixth day, the entire building was plunged into permanent darkness. Food began to run short, and the air became more and more cloudy. People who still had a glimmer of hope to survive the end of the world began to despair, and more and more people committed suicide, and I can't count how many died. ”

"Are they all suicides?"

"Someone else is missing. After all, with the addition of four underground floors, there are a total of thirteen floors, plus the hotel lobby, the underground space is very huge, and it is too easy to hide a few people. I don't know where those people went, maybe they died in an accident. ”

Listening to Tao Ye's gushing speech, Ye Xiao sighed and said, "Your answer is perfect. ”

"Why do you use 'perfect'?"

"I don't know."

Tao Ye collapsed a little, lay back on the bed, and closed his eyes: "I'm sorry, I've already said everything I know." I think it's a miracle that we, the six survivors, were able to survive for seven days and seven nights until we finally survived. Finally, I am grateful to the party and the country for saving us from such a deep underground, and I am especially grateful to you! Officer Ye Xiao, is there anything else you want to ask? ”

"No, thank you for assisting the police in the investigation. I shouldn't have taken you so long to disturb your rest. Ye Xiao just turned around to leave, and then turned around, "Finally, there is a little doubt - from the first time I walked into this ward and saw you, I felt that you were an introvert. ”

"Why?"

"Feeling." Ye Xiao's expression was as deep as the sea, making people a little scared, "No need for a reason." ”

Tao Ye opened his eyes and sighed: "That's right, I have been such a character since I was a child, I am silent and dare not speak, probably because of the limitations of this character, I can only work as a tally clerk in the supermarket, which has no future." ”

"Thank you very much. Good bye. ”