NABC Chapter 326 Extreme Weather
Chapter 326 Extreme Weather
Li Jianqiu and the others, who were eating this kind of porridge for the first time, were so moved that they almost cried.
For them, this was absolutely the most delicious food.
As night deepened, the wind on the wasteland grew increasingly fierce.
Li Jianqiu held the canned food box, with only one last bite of food left inside. It was so warm and soft that he couldn't bear to swallow it all at once.
This was the most decent meal he had eaten since the end of time.
It wasn't that the taste was amazing, but rather that the feeling of "everyone eating together around a fire" was something I hadn't experienced in so long.
He glanced at the people around the campfire out of the corner of his eye.
Tashan, holding the large pot, was putting the finishing touches on, completely disregarding his appearance, yet exuding a reassuring sense of groundedness.
Fu Xiaojian, Shao Bing, Yang Fan, and a few others sat a little further away, talking in hushed tones, with occasional snippets of their conversation drifting over.
This is not something he can get involved in right now.
He looked at the bus. Pei Xiu told everyone to get off but he didn't, which made him feel somewhat ashamed.
Although Pei Xiu personally told them to fend for themselves, that feeling still lingered.
It's like the old employer hasn't gone bankrupt yet, but the employees are already rushing to jump ship.
If it's not ingratitude, if it's not betrayal, then what is it?
The dim lighting inside the bus contrasted sharply with the noise around the campfire.
Li Jianqiu finished the last bite of food in the can and stood up.
"Old Li?" Fang Bo looked up.
"You guys eat, I'll be right back."
He walked toward the bus that had completely stopped running.
The car door was not closed.
Pei Xiu leaned back in the smooth chair, closed her eyes, and relaxed as if she were sunbathing in her own backyard.
"Elder Pei," Li Jianqiu asked tentatively, standing at the car door.
"Yes, it's you!" Pei Xiu responded, her eyes wearily squinting open.
"What...what are your plans for the future?"
"You don't need to worry about me! This old body of mine can still move!" Pei Xiu waved his hand.
He had already discussed today's events with Lin Zhennan.
Now that the bus is getting old, he will be sharing a bus with Lin Zhennan from now on.
But this dilapidated bus had accompanied him through all the hardships since the apocalypse, and he was truly reluctant to part with it.
Lin Jianqiu silently bid his final farewell, for it was only when one held a high position that one truly appreciated the importance and scarcity of human relationships.
In the end times, this point is both extremely minimized and extremely magnified.
……
The convoy parked very early today. After finishing her boxing practice, Su Su sat on a rock with her eyes closed, like a statue.
Jiao Jiao nestled at her feet, listlessly counting the stars in the sky.
Although the clouds are so thick tonight that you can't see a single cloud.
"Auntie, why does Red Hair always stay alone?" she suddenly asked in a low voice.
"Because he likes to be alone."
"Why? I just don't like being alone."
"Because you talk too much."
Jiao Jiao choked, and angrily kicked a clod of dirt on the ground.
Xu Si does indeed prefer to be alone.
Because in this way, he can only resolve all his emotions by dealing with them internally.
He doesn't expose his vulnerability and pain, nor does he rashly encroach on the happiness and joy of others.
In the apocalypse, everyone is an island.
"Yi-yi," he whispered in his heart.
no respond.
The night in the wilderness was very quiet, so quiet that you could hear the faint snoring coming from a car, so quiet that you could hear the rustling sound of the wind blowing through the dry grass.
He suddenly remembered that a long time ago, when his younger sister was still a child, his family lived in the countryside.
The nights back then were just as quiet, but a completely different kind of quiet.
I never know where the noisy chirping of insects comes from, and I never know whose big yellow dog is howling in its sleep.
When I was little, the nights were bright and cool, and my little sister always followed behind him, always having so much to say.
"Brother, what's that brightest star?"
"have no idea."
"What about that one?"
"……have no idea!"
"So what do you know?"
"I know I'll punch you if you ask me again!"
"Oh, what about that one?"
……
Xu Si could hardly remember that blurry face anymore.
"Commander, we have detected abnormal fluctuations in your heart rate. Would you like us to play some music for you?"
The voice of Nirvana echoed in his mind, low and deep, as if understanding Xu Si's troubles.
"Whatever!"
Xu Si didn't know what he wanted to hear right now.
Nirvana did not respond; instead, a melody slowly flowed from the car stereo.
There are no lyrics, only simple piano notes, tapped out one by one in the night of the desolate wilderness.
Like a hazy summer night deep in my memory, with the wind blowing through the gaps in the sycamore leaves.
Xu Si was stunned for a moment.
He seemed to have heard this song before.
Nocturne
Xu Si sat motionless on the roof of the car.
The piano music continued, simple, clean, and repetitive, like the tide repeatedly washing over a solid embankment.
Jiao Jiao suddenly raised her head and looked towards the roof of the car.
The night was too dark for her to see Xu Si's expression clearly; she could only make out a blurry outline, motionless, like a silent sculpture.
"Auntie," she whispered.
"Red Hair..."
Su Su didn't open her eyes, but simply hummed softly.
"Isn't this a bit too relaxed?"
The convoy members all looked toward the source of the music, their hearts filled with mixed emotions.
"Isn't it good to relax?" Fu Xiaojian smiled but didn't say anything.
Everyone relaxed and listened quietly to the long-lost rhythm of music.
Jiao Jiao opened her mouth one last time, but ultimately said nothing.
The piano music continued.
The night gradually darkened with the singing.
"Commander, your mental stability has increased by 3.2%. Music therapy confirmed to be effective."
Xu Si twitched the corner of his mouth but didn't respond. Nirvana was still not intelligent enough.
"Step down!"
The night was deeper.
The campfire in the camp was almost extinguished, with only dark red embers still flickering.
The convoy stood silently, like a herd of sleeping giants.
Jiao Jiao had fallen asleep on the roof of the chariot at some point.
The night grew deeper.
As the convoy gradually awoke under the urging of their biological clocks...
Everyone was taken aback, because what greeted them was not the crimson light of the blood-red sun.
Instead, dark clouds covered the sky, making it seem as if it were about to collapse at any moment.
Jiao Jiao rolled over on the roof of the chariot, almost falling off. She screamed and sat up abruptly, rubbing her sleepy eyes as she looked up at the sky, then froze.
"Is this... going to rain? Could it be that the Deer King is chasing us relentlessly?!"
Above the sky, thick clouds, like a giant lead-gray blanket, completely obscured the blood-red sun.
Those were real clouds, not the blood-red mist commonly seen after the apocalypse.
The clouds hung extremely low, almost brushing the tips of the withered grass on the wasteland, their edges swirling with a deep, inky blackness, as if brewing something about to burst forth.
"It's going to rain." Fu Xiaojian stood beside the Mengshi vehicle, squinting at the sky.
His heightened senses after advancing to Sequence 4 allowed him to detect the rapidly increasing humidity in the air.
"This..." Tashan leaned halfway out of the bus, scratching his head.
"This... won't it be like what happened in Yanshi again?"