New Year's Day.
Li Yu rubbed his slightly dizzy head early in the morning. He had drunk a lot with Dapao last night. Although he did not black out, he still felt moderately drunk.
Upon waking up, he headed straight for the main gate, a habit he had always maintained, regardless of whether it was his turn on duty or not; he would always check it out after exercising.
Once outside, the cold air jolted him to full alertness.
Creak, crunch –
Li Yu trudged through the snow towards the main gate.
It didn't take long before he arrived at the gate of the base, and Li Yu pushed open the door to the duty room.
Inside, he saw his Second Uncle, struggling to stay awake and just happening to yawn.
"Happy New Year, Second Uncle," Li Yu said with a smile.
"Li Yu, Happy New Year," Second Uncle said, rubbing his eyes.
"You really worked hard last night," Li Yu said apologetically. Second Uncle often took duty during gatherings, although he would take a break and join in for a while.
But last night, on New Year's Eve, Second Uncle had to be on duty at the main gate.
Originally, Li Yu had prepared a duty roster for yesterday, splitting shifts among several people, but Second Uncle insisted on taking the duty.
"That's nothing; it's just like any other ti. Plus, I joined the celebration last night. Alright, now that you're here, I'm going to head back to sleep," Second Uncle said.
He quickly put on his coat and left the duty room.
Right after Second Uncle left, the duty room door was pushed open again, and two people walked in.
It was Li Haoran and the second daughter of Lai Dongsheng; today, they were the two on day shift at the main gate.
"Big brother, Happy New Year~"
"Big brother, Happy New Year~"
Li Haoran was a bit surprised to see Li Yu, but quickly greeted him, and standing beside him, Lai Dongsheng's second daughter also called him big brother.
Li Yu nodded and returned the New Year's greetings.
Then he stepped out of the duty room.
He planned to walk around the top of the wall as a stroll; with his pace, it wouldn't take more than 10 minutes to complete a circuit.
As he walked atop the wall, he encountered others from the base, all exchanging New Year's greetings.
After making a round, Li Yu returned to the residential area for breakfast.
A new year always brings sothing different.
The Chinese people, more or less, all share this expectation, hoping the future will be better, wishing for everything to be safe and sound.
New Year's Day.
There was a sense of the New Year within the base, the newly posted couplets, the small red lanterns that were hung up.
And everyone you t, wearing their new clothes.
"Happy New Year," Li Yu murmured to himself, standing on the roof of the villa.
.....
Ti swiftly passed by, and the temperature began to rise slowly. Although it was a slow process, it was no longer the terrifying temperatures of fifty degrees below zero.
It was now around minus thirty degrees, and outdoors, everyone could especially feel the difference.
The warr weather was like the darkness before dawn.
Trapped by the severe cold weather without being able to go out, everyone was feeling quite cooped up.
However, compared to the majority of survivors in other parts of the world, those in the Big Camphor Tree Base were lucky.
At least they don't have to worry about food, or freeze due to the cold weather, suffering injuries or death from it.
As evening approached, Li Yu returned to his room.
.....
Safe City.
In the cold weather, the gate duty personnel have already retreated, setting up the outdoor barriers properly, and locking the iron gates.
At this mont, Safe City was no longer so safe.
Every night, Mr. Wang could always hear screams around, along with argunts and desperate pleas for rcy.
Mr. Wang looked through the window and saw that, at first, the mbers of the Patrol Team would still intervene to ensure people's safety.
But as such incidents beca more and more frequent, and as everyone's supplies continued to deplete, many were struggling on the brink of starvation.
When it cos to life and death, especially when one's life hangs by a thread, morality, decency, face—they all cease to matter. Death looms either way; might as well fight desperately for a chance to live a few more days.
Mr. Wang hid in his room, not daring to go out.
He even barricaded his door with the few pieces of furniture he had at ho to prevent others from targeting him.
That dust-covered refrigerator was also pushed against the entrance, blocking it.
However, what he didn't know was that the couple downstairs had already set their sights on him.
When Mr. Wang had first moved in, the skinny man downstairs had watched him carry his things up.
Mr. Wang had carried his belongings up and down more than a dozen tis, and since the weather started to turn cold, Mr. Wang had never left his room.
Occasionally, they could hear the brief noise of him opening the windows upstairs.
That day, as Mr. Wang lay in bed, he suddenly heard knocking at the door.
Bang bang bang~
Mr. Wang thought he was hallucinating. He didn't know anyone in Safe City, so it was highly unlikely soone would co looking for him.
"Hello, I'm your neighbor downstairs, our fire went out, I was hoping to borrow a lighter. If you don't have a lighter, just so fire would do," the person hastily explained, as if afraid that Mr. Wang might misunderstand.
The voice was that of a woman, soft and weak, seemingly without any aggression.
Hearing the woman's voice, Mr. Wang thought it indeed sounded like the woman from downstairs, although previously all he heard from her were pleas or screams.
Mr. Wang shifted slightly, very subtly.
The weather was weirdly cold; he didn't want to waste any strength or heat doing anything.
Not getting up.
Bang bang bang~
The person knocking at the door persisted stubbornly.
Mr. Wang remained unmoved, turning over and continuing to sleep.
The knocking went on for a few more minutes but received no response and seed to have given up.
Mr. Wang pricked up his ears to listen; indeed, there was no sound anymore, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Now, all the windows and anti-theft panes in the house, as well as the front door, were tightly shut.
There had been a commotion in the building opposite last night, which had kept him from sleeping well, and now was the perfect ti to catch up on so sleep.
Just as Mr. Wang was about to drift off.
Boom—a loud noise startled Mr. Wang with a jolt.
That sound.
It was at the front door.
Damn.
Boom!
Another loud noise.
No doubt about it, it was the front door.
These two bastards were forcefully trying to break down his door.
"Think I'm easy to bully?" Mr. Wang's anger surged.
He'd been keeping out of trouble these days and had no interactions with this neighbor, but that didn't an Mr. Wang was afraid of trouble.
Mr. Wang got up from bed all at once, normally he would be very careful every ti he got up, afraid of letting the warmth escape from under the covers.
But now he didn't care about anything.
After getting up, he quickly put on his coat and then his shoes.
anwhile, the banging at the door continued.
Mr. Wang's anger grew more intense. Once he was dressed, he glanced to his right.
Then he pulled a handgun from under his pillow and checked the bullets.
Okay.
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