On the glass window of the lobby on the first floor of Zhongshan Hospital, the two big characters for taking medicine have not been scraped off, but a big word "water" was hastily written on white paper, which was covered on the position of the original word medicine, and the window for taking medicine became a window for taking water. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

There were not many people in the hospital, and there were no doctors in white coats in the hall, only a few soldiers in camouflage uniforms guarding the entrance of the hospital with guns. The soldiers did not question and interrogate the people who came in and out, but just stood silently by the door. Zhang Jiqian pinched the number plate marked with the number 137 in his hand, sat on the bench and looked at the soldiers at the door in a daze.

It has been half a year since there were soldiers standing here, and people saw a soldier with a cold face and a black muzzle that was no longer as awe and curiosity as it was at the beginning, and the faces of these soldiers were not cold, compared with desperately working on the "wall", guarding the hospital was an advantage or disadvantage, and the faces of several young soldiers were somewhat relaxed, and for these young men, the current calm was a rare enjoyment. The hospital is no longer a hospital, the ward has been changed into a dormitory for the families of the army's logistics unit, and the downstairs has been changed into a community control resource distribution center.

The wall is the name given to the causeway built on the north side of the city. This concrete embankment, which is more than 60 meters high and more than 10 meters wide, isolates the peninsula city of Ben Thanh from the outside world. The outside world, on the other hand, refers to the whole world.

Whether it is the citizens of Bincheng City, the soldiers who have been transferred from various places, or the tens of millions of refugees who have poured in from Liao Province, they have not received news from the outside for nearly a year. As for the world outside the wall, the last news was brought back by refugees from all over the country who poured into Bincheng, and the refugees said that Shencheng was gone, and that it was the capital of Liao Province. Some of the surrounding small towns are still there, but there are no troops left, and only some people who are unwilling to leave. Those who were willing to transfer with the troops were protected and came to Bincheng, and the rest were never heard from again.

The penultimate news is the final speech delivered by a senior official before the network and power outage, saying that the country and the nation have reached the most critical moment, which is a test for the people, and even for all mankind.

Seeing that the queue in front of him was still long, Zhang Jiqian took out a small iron box from his pocket, which contained the treasure of the fisherman. After rubbing it in his hand for a while, he put the iron box back again. The insects besieged the city for more than half a year, and even mints became a scarce commodity, and one piece was missing from eating. Before the number of Lingshui was called 100, he leaned back in his chair and began to look back on the past.

The nightmare began a year ago, first in Africa, where reports of giant bugs were being found in some countries. But under the pressure of governments, the media did not mention much, only some videos taken by people were circulated on the Internet. Two months later, South Africa, the most developed country in Africa, was flooded by the sea of insects, the last of the three capitals of South Africa, Pretoria, fell, millions of people were swallowed by the sea of insects, the United States satellite captured this scene, compared with South Africa, the most developed country in Africa, more backward countries on the African continent are less capable of resisting insect swarms, no peacekeeping troops, no rescue.

Three months later, the U.S.-led coalition declared the failure of the rescue operation, and the U.S. military around the world fully returned to the mainland. For the first time, people in South Korea and Japan appeared on the streets to keep American troops. At the same time, for the first time, the official media in China reported positively on the insect swarm, and Bincheng was the first city to be reported to have found insects, and the Northeast Military Region mobilized a large number of troops to eradicate them.

However, on the land of Shenzhou, the insect swarm also began to erupt on a large scale. Another month passed, and Shenshi, one of the most important cities in the country, fell. Then the Internet in Ben Cheng failed, the mobile phone signal and TV signal disappeared, and soon even the electricity was cut off.

Bincheng City has become an isolated island.

In the face of the catastrophe, people's hearts became as fragile as eggshells, and robbery, rape, and all kinds of vicious cases began to occur in large numbers, which were only quelled with the intervention of the army. The Penang city government issued the most severe order, imposing a curfew, and the police have the power to shoot anyone who obstructs official business if a single shot fails. The whole city implemented a wartime economic policy, and all shops, grain stores, pharmacies, and gas stations were placed under the management of the military-government joint command, and all materials were brought under the protection of the army.

At the same time, the cash-for-work programme was launched, and a large number of refugees and local residents who had run out of food at home were transferred to the front line to participate in the construction of the high wall, and the government guaranteed food. For those who are unable to participate in the construction of the wall, there is also a daily food distribution in each settlement. It's just that it soon changed from the original emergency food such as mineral water and bread to a pie porridge three times, then twice a day, and then slowly changed to once every two days, and the porridge has become thinner and thinner. If you want to be fed, you have to participate in the government's labor program and go to the north of the city to build that high wall.

In the case of lack of modern machinery and shortage of materials, Bincheng relied on manpower to build this cement barrier. The lack of necessary safety measures during the construction process, and the lack of safety knowledge of a large number of personnel, led to accidents almost every day, and thousands of people died on the construction site.

In order to buy time for the construction of the wall, the troops defending the front line were changed several times, and the consumption of artillery and air force was unprecedented. Fortunately, this barrier was finally built, and the fragile hearts were stabilized a little.

Wall has become the most common word in the mouths of ordinary people and soldiers.

"137, 137 to the window, 138 ready."

Zhang Jiqian was dragged back from his memories by the shouting of the window aunt, and walked to the water window with the folding bucket in his hand.

"Five liters." The folding bucket was placed on the counter, along with forty dollars.

"No tickets?" The aunt at the water counter didn't lift her eyelids.

"Yes, no." The ticket refers to the water ticket, which is the product of the temporary command after the military administration. In addition to water tickets, there are also food tickets, gas and oil tickets, etc., but soon gasoline tickets were soon canceled, gasoline and diesel were listed as important materials and included in the military management, and the cars of the common people were lying on their stomachs, and there were no private cars left on the streets for several months.

"There is no ticket to increase the price, five liters fifty."

Zhang Jiqian took out another ten yuan from his wallet, he was not surprised by the price increase, it would rise sooner or later.

The aunt who sold water in the window raised her eyelids and looked at the people outside. In principle, water is a restricted supply of goods to be purchased by ticket, but there are people who are willing to pay for it when it is not too scarce. The purchasing power of banknotes did not collapse as quickly as expected, but stabilized after falling for a while. There is no unit to pay wages again, bank deposits cannot be withdrawn, and the money in the hands of the common people is getting less and less. In the coastal city behind the high walls, civilization and order were still preserved, and it was impossible to directly enter the era of barter, not to mention that many people had nothing to "barter" with others at home, so after a few months of turmoil, banknotes began to play a role again.

The old lady who is in charge of distributing water, her son is a small cadre in the street, and at the age of 60, she was pulled out by her son to do this "fat difference" again. At first, the old lady was reluctant. But soon I felt that my son was really far-sighted, and since he did the work of the government's water distribution, he could not only eat one dry meal a day, but also take advantage of the convenience of his position. Collecting some money is a small thing, the key is to experience this feeling of being looked up to. Old neighbors and colleagues from the past come here, who doesn't smile and say a few good words? It's the same five liters of water, shake your hands, and it's not your own decision to have more or less?

The official quota is 500 millilitres per person per day, which is the amount of one bottle of mineral water, and an additional share of one day per week, which translates into a supply of four litres of drinking water per person per week. This is undoubtedly not enough, many people use money to buy water, and the old lady generally looks at the face of the "relief masses" to open up the Internet and make some extra money by the way. The disaster came too quickly, electronic money completely collapsed, and many people who are accustomed to credit cards and QR code payments do not even have much cash in their pockets, and 50 yuan is no longer a small amount in this era.

The young man in front of the window often comes to buy water, and every time he can do without a ticket, he never uses it, even if the price of water rises again and again, he insists on buying it with money. There have been several people who came to buy water today, and when they heard that the price had risen again, they obediently took out their tickets, which made the old lady very unhappy.

"Dead poor ghost, don't buy it today, you will be thirsty in the future"

But the young man's face was calm, as if the price of water was a matter of course, and the aunt was not very embarrassed, so she gave a little more.

"Don't say that Auntie doesn't take care of you, this water is all control materials, don't want your ticket to take care of you, don't think Auntie wants too much money, I have added a lot to you."

"Well, thank you, Auntie." After fetching water and thanking him, Zhang Jiqian closed the leather lid on the folding bucket tightly, turned around and walked out of the courtyard gate.

It was already autumn, and a gust of wind blew a little cool, and I tightened the collar of my clothes. In addition to fetching water, there are other things to do today.