There was a white fish belly in the east, and it was another sunny day. The birdsong and frog chirping seemed to bring Luo Zhi back to yesterday morning. Luo Zhi almost instinctively wanted to look at his watch, the purpose was to get up and wash up, and then catch the bus to work. He looked at Liu Xuejuan in his arms, she didn't fall asleep either, her bloodshot eyes were slightly open, and she looked back at him. Luo Zhi got up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and the buildings could already be seen outside, and the window that was lit last night was now difficult to distinguish.

Throughout the night, Luo Zhi thought a lot. He doesn't have many thoughts that ordinary people miss for their relatives and friends, and Mr. Li, if nothing else, is just as clueless as everyone else. Luo Zhi has always adapted quickly to the environment. By now, he's familiar with the empty streets outside his window, even though it's been less than 24 hours.

The most important is always the most important.

Food, water, fire, guns, medicines. It was the thing he thought of the most last night. At present, food can only be taken from supermarkets and vegetable markets, and dehydrated food should be selected as much as possible, and the problem of preservation has not been solved. Water, now you can only drink pure water, there are many water delivery stations downstairs, and it is not a problem for the time being. Fire, lighting, heating, food handling, safety fire, Luo Zhi has a ZIPPO lighter on his body, there is only a little bit of fire oil left, you need to go to the store to get it, and then try to get as many lighters as possible. Guns, you must find a way to find them today, preferably a little more, and it is not too much to have an arsenal now. Medicines, which are available in pharmacies, are the most important over-the-counter medicines.

Luo Zhi didn't worry too much about surviving. Documentaries of all kinds of wilderness experts surviving unarmed in the harsh natural environment are everywhere, and the current environment is simply worry-free in comparison. In fact, he needs to think about more questions: Where do people go? What else is there to do besides to live a life?

However, Luo Zhi has always been very realistic, he refuses to think about the meaning of survival and other important but useless issues, and forces himself to think about the current situation in more detail. Without electricity, fuel in gas stations is not easy to extract, yesterday's two barrels of gasoline will soon run out, and wood and charcoal will be used to make fire. Fuel can be picked up from thousands of cars parked on the road, but gasoline has a shelf life of only a few months. Food, which needs to be planted, gathered, and hunted. There must be air and water detection devices, there must be filtration and purification equipment, there are too many enterprises here, there are all kinds of factories everywhere, pollution is bound to come, and if you want to be rescued, you can't go to sparsely populated places. Having enough antibiotics can make both of them sick, whether it's anxiety or possible future survival.

Well, let's do today's work first, and then slowly study more problems. Luo Zhi turned around and said to Liu Xuejuan: "You need to rest for a while, I'll go get something to eat." Probably due to the abundant light outside the window, Liu Xuejuan also regained a lot of courage and did not follow Luo Zhi to get up.

The power is still there, but it shouldn't last more than 24 hours. The voltage is still stable, and the backup generator in the cell also seems to have an automatic control system, with only a few points activated. Luo Zhi didn't turn off the lights, took out the remaining bread and sausages, and put them in the microwave to heat them up, hot food is also very important.

After eating, Luo Zhi briefly explained a few words to Liu Xuejuan, and then took the garbage bag, dishes, chopsticks, ornaments and other items, and came to the window in the north. He yelled a few times, the sound echoing back and forth through the buildings, and then threw various objects to the ground around him. If any beast inhabits the nearby vegetation, it will scare them away. There was no reaction from the ground. Luo Zhi listened to the gradually smaller echo, and he was not in a nervous mood, and his heart hardened. Liu Xuejuan hid behind Luo Zhi, still a little frightened, but her face was no longer miserable white, revealing a little redness.

The two of them packed up some things and walked briskly to the stairwell. Luo Zhi handed the boning knife to Liu Xuejuan, and took a kitchen knife from the kitchen in his hand. When he got to the car, Luo Zhi felt as if all these cautions were superfluous, the sky was so fine, the birds were flying far and near, the earliest insects had already begun to chirp, the air, the wind, the shadows, and the roses in the flower beds were still so wonderful. On weekdays, the dog walker has been going around here, Grandpa Zhang and his wife on the fourth floor who play tai chi, the insurance salesman who gets up early to exercise, the rented student couple who goes out to have breakfast and the aunts who dance aerobics in the community elderly activity room all gather here to enjoy the morning sunshine and warm air. Only the black smoke that continued to drift northwest reminded him that there had been an explosion last night. Luo Zhi sighed lightly and drove the car to the Qixia Public Security Bureau, which was five kilometers away.

The two-story white building of the substation was beautiful in the morning light, and the two walked in hand in hand. Reception room, household registration office, police officer's office...... At the back of the sub-chief's office, there was an unhung room with a thick cabinet inside. Fingerprint gun cabinet. Luo Zhi secretly prayed that there should be no control core other than fingerprints. He walked up to a Roewe police car at the door, smashed the window, knocked out the electronic control unit on the center console, connected the fire, and the engine started with a roar. He took out the prepared cable from Liu Xuejuan's car, removed the xenon lamp from the police car, connected it to one end of the wire, and connected the other end of the wire to the lamp base. He had seen this trick in the movies, but he never imagined that he would use it one day.

Holding the bright and dazzling xenon lamp, Luo Zhi returned to the sub-chief's office, closed the curtains, and only the strong light of the xenon lamp was left in the room, so that the fingerprints on the items could be illuminated. Quite simply, he found countless fingerprints on the teacup. It is possible that the fingerprints on other items are someone else's, and the teacup is probably only the sub-chief's own. Luo Zhi carefully identified it. The computer's mouse is on the right side, and the sub-chief should be a normal right-hander, and the unlocked finger is roughly on the right hand. There are also fingerprints on the teacups, preferably right-handed. He noticed a fingerprint on the left side of the handle of the cup, which was compared with his right index finger, about the same size, and he could try it. He pulled out a box he had prepared in the morning, containing an alcohol lamp, a small thick-bottomed glass bowl, a bottle of anti-inflammatory iodine, and a thin roll of scotch tape. The iodine wine is poured into a small bowl and baked with an alcohol lamp, and the iodine vapor wafts out little by little and sticks to the glass. The imprint of that fingerprint is getting clearer and clearer. Luo Zhi extinguished the alcohol lamp, carefully glued the fingerprints with scotch tape, and took them to the gun room.

For good fingerprints, Luo Zhi was a little nervous. Disassembling a police car and going to the public security bureau to get the firearms, no matter what, this is not in line with the logic of normal people.

To adapt, it's a matter of survival.

The fingerprint lock clicked, and the door opened. Luo Zhi was happy in his heart, and it was very smooth. Inside the cabinet were only three Type 92 pistols and a few boxes of ammunition. Luo Zhi was a little disappointed, he had hoped that there would be a Type 95 automatic rifle or a Type 56 submachine gun here.

It's better than nothing. Luo Zhi put the three pistols and all the bullets in the bag, turned around and walked out of the public security bureau. Liu Xuejuan seemed to be accustomed to Luo Zhi's methodical and confident, and did not show any surprised expression.

With guns, the two of them seem to be a little bolder. Luo Zhi told Liu Xuejuan that she was going to the Metro supermarket in the south of the city to pick up various items, and by the way, she would inspect the situation along the way. Liu Xuejuan nodded. Food, water, fuel, and medicine that would last at least a few months could be found nearby, but both wanted to visit the city again and explore the trails of the others. The city had a permanent population of more than 8 million a day ago, and even a fluke would have prompted the two to continue their search for surviving humans.

Picking the path, the two finally arrived at the METRO supermarket under the overpass on Shuanglong Street. The scene along the way was the same as yesterday, the streets and alleys were jammed with cars. There are many pet dogs wandering on the side of the road, occasionally wailing a few times, and hiding away when they see their cars. There was still no one, the silence on the street was very eerie, and Luo Zhi's scalp was tingling like a pinprick.

There is no daily lighting in METRO, and the purple emergency lights are all on, so you can vaguely see the items on the shelves. Luo Zhi pulled the bolt and opened the safe. The smell of food in the supermarket may attract wild beasts, and no one knows if the tiger that roared in the north of the city yesterday will come here.

The two pushed two of the largest shopping carts and took a lot of instant noodles, vacuum-packed meat products, compressed biscuits and high-calorie potato chips, and didn't look at frozen food and fresh meat. Liu Xuejuan saw the drink area and wanted to get some mineral water. Luo Zhi stopped her: "Only take juice, preferably with pulp." "For a short period of time, fresh vegetables and fruits may not be available, and fruit juice is a great source of vitamins. Filled with a shopping cart, Luo Zhi took Liu Xuejuan to the tool area. Rubber hoses, gloves, shovels, sets of knives, short saws, tents, sleeping bags, blankets, tool boxes, lighting headlamps, batteries, walkie-talkies, outdoor backpacks, all kinds of things were taken, Liu Xuejuan carefully took two stainless steel exquisite storage boxes, and also took some women's products a little shyly.

After loading things into the car, Luo Zhi decided to go back again, and there were still many things that could be used. Liu Xuejuan became a little calmer and began to talk to Luo Zhi, before that, she was almost silent.

"What did you do before?"

"Clerk of the company." Luo Zhi smiled, he hadn't laughed in a while. Liu Xuejuan was infected and responded with a shallow smile. The two seem to have found more tacit understanding.

Back at the supermarket, the two picked up lighters, charcoal, steel files, small folding barbecue grills, various models of blades, field stewpots, warm and quick-drying clothes, detergent, some underwear, and a large bucket of lube. Luo Zhi could see that Liu Xuejuan was not willing to stay in her 50-square-meter rented house, and like herself, one day she would pack her bags and go out to explore. This made him feel some relief, and at the same time, it also gave him a little more understanding of this woman. It's just that less than 24 hours ago, he didn't know her.

At this time, Luo Zhi saw the filter mask and air detector, which were just ordinary household improvement items, and it was okay to detect whether formaldehyde and benzene exceeded the standard, and it may not be able to come in handy for other purposes. But he took two anyway.

There are also water purification equipment. Luo Zhi knows that the water purification process is based on the principle of reverse osmosis, adding a permeable membrane between two types of water with different salt contents, and the water molecules in the low-salt water will slowly seep into the high-salt water on the other side. If pressure is added to the side of the highly saline water, reverse osmosis is created to extract pure water. This requires a permeable membrane and a pressure pump. The pressure pump can reach a pressure of 10 bar, which is equivalent to holding up nearly 4,000 pounds of objects on the palm of one hand, which is obviously not possible by manpower. It seems that leverage is needed.

These ideas were only completed in Luo Zhi's mind in an instant, thanks to his diligence in the school's industrial experiment course. He didn't say anything to Liu Xuejuan, intuitively, Luo Zhi had a strong sense to protect her.

The two of them sorted out all their belongings and drove towards the library. Luo Zhi told Liu Xuejuan that he had to go to the library to get all the atlases he could collect. In the future, you will have to rely on paper materials.

Along the way, the two chatted about their views on things. They all believe that this must be caused by some human factor, and the problem is that it is impossible to speculate whether the process is reversible without knowing what the exact factors are, and it is unknown whether even those who disappeared are still alive, let alone the motive for this. The two even discussed why they were still here. It's a difficult topic to discuss in depth, and once you think about it, it involves your body, your environment, and even your mind, and in the current situation, neither of them wants to talk about it. Due to the need to observe their surroundings at all times, they did not discuss much. Luo Zhi was keenly aware that Liu Xuejuan seemed to think more about the possible reasons for the matter than he thought.

The library was still quiet and audible, but it wasn't as eerie as it was yesterday, and both of them were basically used to the empty environment. Liu Xuejuan is indeed a strong woman. In the seventh-floor library of the archives, Luo Zhi quickly found the atlas. City maps, province maps, national and global prospecting materials, road maps, self-driving guides, all required. At the same time, Luo Zhi also filled two backpacks with Lu Jiaxi's History of Science and Technology in China and Joseph Needham's Science and Civilization in China, and paid special attention to the fascicles of agriculture, medicine, chemistry and machinery. If you want to return to a more primitive way of life, this is a valuable guide. Liu Xuejuan took a copy of "Advanced Quantum Mechanics" and a copy of "Statistical Physics", and Luo Zhi secretly wondered. Subsequently, she insisted on taking back the Encyclopedia Britannica and the second edition of the Encyclopedia of China. The two of them carried it upstairs and downstairs four times before they brought all the books they needed to the hall on the first floor.

Just as they were about to carry the heavy books to the car, there was a sudden noise in the exhibition hall downstairs. The two of them were suddenly terrified. In such an empty and quiet environment, this sound is like a bolt from the blue. Luo Zhi immediately took out a pistol and grabbed Liu Xuejuan with one hand. The two looked at each other, and Liu Xuejuan's eyes flashed with horror and doubt.

The car is right outside, and it's not hard to get out. But Luo Zhi didn't want to let go of this suspicion and ran away. A must see. The sound just now sounded a bit like human movement, somewhere between a frightened and a low cry, but I couldn't be sure. Luo Zhi suddenly thought that he had seen a figure in the gap of the escalator yesterday. Isn't that Liu Xuejuan? Luo Zhi didn't dare to ask her, here, any whispered words felt amplified. He thought quickly, Liu Xuejuan came out of the boiling water room on the first floor, and she was frightened at that time. The boiling water room is more than ten meters away from the escalator, and the stairwell is next to the boiling water room. She shouldn't have walked a dozen meters to the left and then quickly ran back into the stairwell on the right, right? Luo Zhi looked at Liu Xuejuan, and her eyes told him that she didn't know what was going on.

Get out first. Luo Zhi pulled her out of the hall as lightly as possible. At the door, he asked her softly where she had been since she came out of the boiling water room yesterday.

"I didn't go anywhere, I just went straight into the stairwell, and I was terrified." Liu Xuejuan said softly.

Luo Zhi is now sure that there are still people in the library, nothing else, people. The heart beat violently again, and the blood was quickly pressed into the internal organs, and the faces of both of them turned pale. Liu Xuejuan took out her pistol.

"Check it out." Luo Zhi whispered.

Taking out a flashlight from the car, the two walked into the library holding hands. None of them are professional fighters, Luo Zhi knows that walking back-to-back is the safest way at this time, but they will not have tacit cooperation, the two can only walk hand in hand on the same line, constantly looking back and forth. If, as expected, there were people downstairs, Luo Zhi was not afraid, he was eager to see more people. But is there anything else besides people? The fear of the unknown prevailed for a moment, and he didn't even dare to imagine what the man was like. Going down from the stairwell, he blocked Liu Xuejuan behind him, and his palms holding the handle of the gun were covered with sweat.

From the little sound just now, they couldn't determine the exact direction of the sound, so the two had to search little by little. In the exhibition area of the relics of the Six Dynasties, under the glass floor is the remains of the imperial city in the Jiankang City of the Liang Dynasty during the Six Dynasties, which is more than one meter deep from the floor, and the timid people are always frightened when they walk up. It's empty, there's no one. The door to the exhibition hall was ajar, and it was pitch black. Luo Zhi stood in the doorway, the beam of the flashlight shining on the opposite wall. A Chinese painting.

"Anyone?" Luo Zhi shouted loudly to embolden himself.

No response. The man was probably scared too. Luo Zhi thought back to the sound just now, a bit like a child's voice. The two walked along the walls of the exhibition hall, and the beam of the flashlight shone around every corner, and no one was there.

They walked into the lecture hall again. For about a few seconds, Luo Zhi remembered the famous lectures he had listened to here, Wang Meng, Yi Zhongtian, Zhou Guoping, Kong Qingmao...... It has brought him a lot of joy. Almost alone in this world, apart from books and these spitting forums, there is little to bring him a sense of presence and real comfort. He couldn't help but burst into tears, where did all these beautiful things go? Liu Xuejuan looked at him a little confused and gently pulled his hand. Luo Zhi gritted his teeth and walked into the depths of the lecture hall.

Rows of seats, the two of them searched through them one by one. Gently, from under the last row of seats near the wall, there was a grinding sound, like a shoe rubbing on the floor. Luo Zhi ran over suddenly.

There was a little boy under the seat, about ten years old, staring at Luo Zhi in horror. The boy didn't scream, and Luo Zhi was stunned for a moment. Liu Xuejuan hurriedly ran over, and when she saw the child, she smiled: "Don't be afraid, uncle and aunt are here to pick you up." The boy didn't move. Liu Xuejuan slowly stepped forward, squatted down, took the boy's hand, and smiled very gently: "Come, go out with your uncle and aunt, okay?" The little boy nodded, tears streaming down his face. Luo Zhi's heart was also sour, this kid was a bit like himself back then.

The boy stood up, about 1.3 meters tall, a little thin, wearing a pair of Doraemon's short-sleeved shorts, with a little snot hanging on his small nose, looking a little cold. Liu Xuejuan hugged him and slowly walked out of the lecture hall. Luo Zhi was not in a hurry at this time, it was still early, so he had to settle the child first, and he still needed to search in the library again. It's a strange place, three people have already survived, will there be others?

When he got to the car, Luo Zhi brought a bottle of fruit juice with a higher sugar content and asked the boy to drink more. Sugar water can suppress panic and replenish energy. The child gulped the bottle and did not speak. It seemed that he was thirsty, and the fright, from yesterday afternoon until now, enough for this little fellow. Liu Xuejuan had already brought biscuits and a small bag of vacuum-packed sausages, and the little boy immediately devoured them. Luo Zhi called Liu Xuejuan aside to discuss what to do. The little guy must be reluctant to go back to the library, but Luo Zhi felt the need to search the library again. Liu Xuejuan smiled: "This is easy to do, leave it to me." ”

The boy ate and recovered quickly. Liu Xuejuan chatted with him with a gentle expression. Luo Zhi listened for a while and admired her affinity. The language is very ordinary, but the softness on Liu Xuejuan's face makes even adults willing to open their hearts to talk to her. After chatting for a while, Luo Zhi knew that the boy's name was Yu Guannan, and the little guy deliberately emphasized that it was Yu Bao's "Yu", not Yu, and Luo Zhi couldn't help laughing.

"I'm almost in the fourth grade, and I'm here with my dad, who doesn't know where to go." The child's tears flowed again. Liu Xuejuan gently hugged his head to his chest and comforted him softly: "Don't be afraid, let's go to find Dad with my uncle, okay?" Yu Guannan raised his head and nodded seriously. After a while, he already had a sense of trust in Liu Xuejuan.

Luo Zhi walked over and took Liu Xuejuan's hand, Liu Xuejuan held the little boy, and the three of them walked into the library again.

Luo Zhi's gun was always in his hand, and he didn't dare to put it down. Danger can still happen at any time, and he must be responsible for three people. Yu Guannan didn't flinch obviously, but just moved his body closer to Liu Xuejuan. They searched the entire building, even every cubicle in the restrooms, and this time, they didn't find anyone. The doors of several rooms were locked, and Luo Zhi knocked lightly outside, asking in Chinese and English, but no one responded.

You can't delay any longer, you have to collect medicines, find equipment to purify water, you also need more gasoline, and more importantly, diesel, the generator in the community has an automatic control system, which can still supply power in the case of only one household, which proves that the power of the generator is now very low, the fuel consumption will not be high, the more diesel, the more electricity in the room can be guaranteed. The sooner you prepare for these things, the better. Tomorrow we will have to look for more weapons, and in addition to psychological support, we also need to be well prepared from a practical point of view. Someday, they will leave that house together and go out to explore the wider range.

Liu Xuejuan coaxed Yu Guannan affectionately, the child's feeling of losing his father was difficult to calm down for a while, Luo Zhi simply handed him over to Liu Xuejuan, she was more like a mother, and she was just a big brother at most.

From the map, only 500 meters to the north is a water purification equipment company. Luo Zhi drove the car to the Taiping Business Building on Taiping North Road. On the eighth floor, they found the company. Luo Zhi discovered a very strange phenomenon, for a day, the ground of the place they had visited was very tidy, and nothing was scattered. Could it be that when people disappear, so do the things they hold? In a normal office place, there must be people walking around with papers, documents and stationery in their hands, and in METRO, there must be many people with items taken from the shelves in their hands, but there is almost nothing on the ground. Half-full shopping carts are everywhere, and there are many non-motorized vehicles lying on the streets. And cars, the steering wheel has not disappeared.

Anything that came into contact with people, only clothes and things in the hands disappeared along with them. It is further speculated that only the small pieces of the intimate items have disappeared. Luo Zhi frowned, without a clue.

He turned around and went to the display area to take a look, and the water purifier here was of another type, filtering. A one-meter-high, two-centimeter-diameter water purifier can be used at home for up to 6 months without having to replace consumables. That's good, Luo Zhi took two, Liu Xuejuan took two boxes of consumables, and Yu Guannan followed the two out of the building for unknown reasons.

It's overcast, and the summer rain is about to fall, and although the rain is not dangerous, the field of view will be much narrower than before. They decided to go home first. Home, this concept has changed in Luo Zhi and Liu Xuejuan's minds, and even Yu Guannan is aware of it. The only three people left together, in one house, this is home.

When he arrived downstairs, Yu Guannan's astonishment at the scene on the street had been somewhat eased by Liu Xuejuan. The three of them laboriously moved most of the supplies upstairs together, and also went to the water station in the center of the property to move two large barrels of pure water. Luo Zhiben wanted to take a look at the generator in the management center, but he felt exhausted. Let's take a break.

The rain had already begun to fall, and the black clouds from the north were rolling in, and in a short time a large amount of water poured down. Two large tubs of purified water served the first purpose: the excrement of three people needed to be rinsed. No one wanted to eat, and Liu Xuejuan and Yu Guannan fell on the bed, drowsy. Luo Zhi wanted to stand guard by himself and let the two of them rest, but the exhaustion pressed down like a mountain, and directly put him into sleep, filtering the dream, pure sleep. Outside there were dark clouds and torrential rain.