ACT242: It's like a world away

The body shook slightly, the smell of gasoline penetrated into the nasal cavity, and the chaotic mind seemed to ignite a certain nerve, and in an instant, the picture returned to the stilted building in the sun, the pungent smell eroded the brain, and the raging flames exploded...... Yu'an, who was asleep, woke up, between his temples, his hair was sticking to the side of his face, and cold sweat soaked his back.

It's a dream, and it's a dream again.

Yu An breathed a sigh of relief, his stiff body relaxed, leaned softly on the back of the chair, and habitually wanted to wipe away the cold sweat, but his wrist suddenly suffocated, and the cold touch pulled the chaotic thoughts back to reality. Shaking the handcuffs between his wrists, the sound of the metal hitting the iron was still cold, and the tightly locked cuff rings almost broke his wrists, leaving a circle of dazzling blood marks, some of which had scabbed, and some of which were still beads of blood.

This is the work of the Ninth Sister, who is in the same car with Yu An, known as her caretaker, as Caroline's pet, the driver and the field staff turn a blind eye to some of her small movements, allowing her to torture the newly captured captives with all kinds of childish methods along the way.

Outside the window is a sparse wasteland, with poplars standing proudly in the distance, clusters of red willows dotted against a drab background, and the brown earth is empty and lonely, stretching far away. As far as the eye can see, a huge barrier can be seen, and behind the barrier, the moving heads reveal their identity. Retracting his gaze and looking in front of the car, a row of black iron fences blocked the way of the convoy, behind the fence, the circular ditch stood in front of it, and a suspension bridge crossed the ravine, connecting the vast land with the lonely city of Lingding.

Despite being in prison, Yu An feels lucky compared to his dead companions, and since he is still alive, he must always keep some hope in his heart.

From land to sea, and from sea back to land, less than half a month, there is an illusion of vicissitudes.

Yu An looked at the towering city wall in a daze, and the ninth sister on the side had already begun to chirp, this long and wonderful trip was enough for her and her former partners to brag for a lifetime.

The driver and co-pilot are both ghost field workers, and it has become the norm to follow Caroline on field missions, and he has long been accustomed to all kinds of scenery along the way. At this moment, they are only tired, and they don't care about the extraordinary meaning and value of the girl sitting behind them, for them, the wine and women in the station are the end and harvest of the journey.

The convoy stayed for more than ten minutes, and Yu An saw the blonde girl in the rearview mirror, who jumped out of the rear car, holding a walkie-talkie-like machine in her hand, walked to the side of the car, and knocked on the window of Yu An's side.

Yu'an turned her head and looked at her expressionlessly, and the girl pointed to the car window and motioned to open it to speak.

Yu An leaned on the handlebar with both hands, couldn't reach the button, and the ninth sister on the side hurriedly leaned over and pressed down the window, taking the first step to throw a flying kiss to the foreign girl. The blonde girl ignored her, her royal blue eyes swept over Yu An's wrist, she didn't say anything, hooked her fingers, and asked Jiu Mei to open the handcuffs for her.

Caroline looked in a good mood, tied up her fluttering blonde hair, pointed to the towering walls, and asked, "How do you feel?" ”

Yu'an moved her stiff, tingling wrist, not understanding what she was trying to say.

"What the island has, all here, and what the island doesn't have, there is here." Caroline's eyes were full of arrogance and pride, and she smiled: "This is the place where it sprouts, you are different from ordinary people, valuable people, you should belong here." ”

Yu An turned his face and was silent, his heart was like water, and he did not make waves.

"It's always hard to get used to at first, but you'll get used to it." Caroline feels a little strange at the moment, sweeping away the image of the cold-blooded killer on the island before, as if she has become a diplomatic ambassador, leading the lost traveler back to her homeland.

The one-sided conversation did not last long, the sun gradually lit up overhead, the watch hands skipped the number "9", and the sound of a machine turning behind the closed red lacquered city gate gradually opened, and the two doors opened inward, revealing a lonely corner of the city. The passage under the gate is wide and straight, allowing two cars to travel side by side, and the asphalt paved road is smooth and intact, contrasting with the gray-brown earth outside the gate.

Yu An followed the prestige and saw a group of people dressed similarly to Caroline walking under the doorway, both male and female, with Asian faces predominant. The first man and woman crossed the drawbridge and opened the black iron gate, and the man stepped forward to talk to Caroline for a few words, showing a welcome home expression, and turned sideways to get out of the way.

Yu'an was a little stunned, the gate is not big, and the suspension bridge behind is very narrow, how can the car get in?

Soon, Yu An's doubts were answered, and only Caroline, Jiumei and her got out of the three cars, and the driver and co-pilot immediately turned around and left the road. The two big trucks were closer, and the ghost guy jumped out of the car, beckoned to the people from the city, and then opened the closed container. Yu'an stood in front of her, she couldn't see the scene in the container, Caroline didn't mean to wait, she strode ahead, Jiumei followed, and the two female field workers carried Yu'an on the left and right, and stepped across the suspension bridge one after another.

Stepping on the suspension bridge, the wind hit the ears, and the ditches on both sides were bottomless, and there were fine reticulated silk threads crisscrossing the deep ditches, and a smell of incineration was swept up. Before entering the city gate, Yu An couldn't help but look back at the side of the truck, only to see a scene that made her extremely stunned.

Behind the two closed container carts, it was actually stuffed with living people!?

Not far apart, Yu An clearly saw the men and women who were threaded into a string by ropes, and there were dozens of them roughly, most of them unkempt, and their eyes were full of fear and confusion.

"You're not like them." Caroline's voice suddenly sounded in her ears, and Yu An was excited, and hurriedly withdrew her gaze.

Walking through the shady doorway, the eyes suddenly opened up, Yu Anmei's eyes widened, looking at the crowd in front of him obsessively, listening to the hustle and bustle in his ears, and his thinking completely fell into chaos.

"Surprised? You'll get used to it. Caroline hugged Yu An's shoulders very affectionately, causing the ninth sister on the side to pout again and again, and her resentful gaze almost pierced into Yu An's body.

Not surprised is fake, maybe the surprise is too pale, Yu An didn't know how to describe what he saw for a while...... Oasis? Shangri-La? thought that the island was already a precious backyard in the last days, but what she heard and saw in front of her once again refreshed her cognition.

It is impressive to be able to build such a majestic wall in the middle of the desolate Gobi, but compared to the vertical and horizontal streets, shops and tall houses within the wall, you will have the illusion that it is nothing more than a wall blocking the wasteland. It is definitely not an exaggeration, at least in Yu An's opinion, the prototype of a city is far more impactful than the four high walls, as long as it is compared with what has been seen in the past, anyone with a discerning eye can make a judgment.

For example, the riverbank camp that once made Song Jiu extremely envious, the camp is close to the mountains and water, and the biggest advantage is the proximity to the water source, followed by the high wall built around the logs. It is undeniable that when Song Jiu first arrived at the riverbank camp, the survivors there had a very good life, judging from the food alone, almost all of a sudden, which was at most the level of a well-off family in the past, but what about three years after the catastrophe? No less than heaven on earth.

The Song wine team was not at the end of the road at that time, and they could also solve the problem of food, clothing, housing and transportation, but they could not avoid the infestation of wind and food, sleeping in the open and the infestation of the walking corpse. At that time, the riverbank camp had already escaped the exile stage of eating and drinking, and aside from the resource support of the living corpse industry chain, the planting greenhouses in the camp alone could actually provide basic food and clothing.

Looking at the accommodation conditions, compared with camping in the wilderness, or looking for shelter from the wind and ruins, it is also the gap between heaven and earth. With the help of the living corpses, the riverbank camp has built two rows of bungalows, and with the furniture that the survivors have gone out to buy and replaced, it is definitely not a problem to live a small life.

Then there is the roundabout, the external environment of the roundabout is actually not as good as the riverbank camp, because the roundabout is in the center of the city, and it is still in the pathogenic place, and it can be solved by eating, drinking, and lodging, but it is necessary to be on guard against the corpses wandering in the city at any time, and there are also a group of enemies in the strawberry field; The barren mountain cave is a special case, where the Red Mother and a group of female prisoners have established a marginal matriarchal village, enslaved a group of eunuchs, and relied on the military reserve obtained by accident to live, and life is not nourishing, but it is safe and secure, and they are all happy in it.

Compared with these camps, the island is immediately fundamentally higher than a few grades, there is no threat of walking corpses on the island, and there is also a wind and solar power generation system, river banks, roundabouts, and karst caves, these places are considered to be the best in the gathering places of survivors after the catastrophe, but they are basically lit by torches and natural light, and diesel generators are also available, but they have to be kept in case of emergency, where is the island so chic and comfortable?

The island accommodation is made of local materials, the population is not large, there are many mountains and forests, and the cabins and stilted buildings are very elegant, and the conditions are much better than the first three in all aspects. Elsewhere you have to worry about eating and drinking, taking care of the walking dead and outsiders, but what about the islands? It's already idle, and there are still people who want to engage in the historical bridge of internal power seizure.

Having said all that, what is the difference between these four camps and the Wasteland Lonely City?

Yu An felt like she had found the answer.

Survival and life are a fraction of a second, and they are a thousand miles away.

Whether it is a roundabout or an island, the survivors gathered there are actually still struggling on the edge of the survival line, even if the island has no natural predators, eating, dressing, and sleeping are the most basic survival conditions, not a way of life.

The people here are, as Caroline says, and they have started a new life.

Although there was still a lot of fog hanging over the city, Yu An couldn't deny the blonde girl's words.

The crowd in front of them, seeing Caroline and her militants, did not be surprised, did not panic, everything seemed natural, and even passers-by would say hello to these bandits when they walked by. In the same way, these murderers who caused bloodshed on the island would nod to passers-by, and there was no lethality other than the guns on their bodies.

There are also streets, asphalt roads that stretch out from under the city gates, crisscrossing between the buildings, which do not require much rhetoric, and these are the essential passages and paths in the city, not the saddle vine paths on the island, nor the cobweb-like caves in the caves.

Yu'an doesn't know how much area is encircled by the four high walls, but it shouldn't be too small, because people riding bicycles can still be seen on the road, and the crisp bell beats Yu'an's ignorant brain, pulling her back to the early years of reform and opening up.

Caroline led the team forward, with a natural expression, just like the foreign tourists in the past, they would also talk to each other, and they would also whisper, without the slightest hint that these were murderous demons, and at the same time, it was unimaginable that beyond the high walls was still the Shura field where the walking corpses were rampant.

Yu'an knew that she was a captive, but it was the first time she had seen someone take her to go shopping.

The gate is deserted, with low buildings on both sides, the word "security" written on the front of the gate, and many armed men gathered there, and like most camps, there are special guards, except that the gatekeeper has been upgraded to the guardian of the city's security.

Yu An couldn't help but wonder, what do these people in the city call these thugs? Police?

Vehicles are left outside the city, and the drawbridge is not enough for cars to accompany them, so it can be seen that there are no cars in this city, and travel is basically by walking, oh, and bicycles.

A group of people walked unhurriedly, passing through a small square paved with white marble, looking at the sculptures, calligraphy and paintings, and then approaching a bustling and lively street.

Yu An didn't know what to say anymore, she saw restaurants, hospitals, bookstores, clothing stores, small supermarkets, bars, and even banks. The specifications of the storefronts are similar, they should all be uniformly designed buildings, and the other buildings seen before, generally not high, everywhere exudes the atmosphere of a peaceful town, and you can also see a variety of different architectural styles, although sometimes very mismatched, but mixed together, but give people a sense of naughty boy's wanton playfulness.

As he walked, Yu An smelled a strange and familiar smell, and squinted at it, there was a row of simple restaurants, with ovens, oil pots, iron plates, and steamers in front of the semi-closed door.

A young man and woman passed by, dressed in clean-fitting couple clothes, talking and laughing freely, the girl holding a cup of milk tea in her hand, and the boy helping her carry a bag, and a handful of bamboo skewers in his hand, which were skewered with sizzling barbecue and sprinkled with chili noodles and cumin.

Yu An's expression became more and more trance-like, feeling that everything around him was so unreal, and something seemed to be shattered in his head.