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墨書 Inktalez
As soon as the woman got out of the car, she slammed the door shut. She muttered something about rudeness before walking away. Yu Tian instinctively crawled into the passenger seat, while Li Yan pulled the pitifully wronged Li Ming into her arms and kissed his little face before speaking, "Are you going to just open doors for anyone in the future?"
"I was opening the car door," the child retorted, showing some cleverness. However... he clung to Li Yan's neck, seeking comfort with a kiss. In fact, Zhou Miao had known about Li Yan and Li Ming's situation for years. This kid had a brain structure different from others; when he first stumbled upon Li Yan and Li Ming's secret, he merely teased them a bit and shamelessly asked Li Yan for a hush money a few days later.
Li Ming didn't pay attention to Li Yan's words, but Yu Tian began to ponder the issue. What if such a situation occurred again in the future? He would definitely want to help those people according to his own thoughts, but... today it was a woman who snatched away Mingming's cookies; what about next time...? What if today it wasn't a woman but a fierce man? These hypothetical situations made Yu Tian increasingly anxious, and his expression darkened. Suddenly feeling a tight grip on his hand, he looked down to see his cold hand enveloped in warm ones. The palms of those hands were calloused; they weren't soft when held, but they were warm.
For the first time, Yu Tian didn't push away Zhou Miao's affection...
Li Yan quickly nibbled on Li Ming's little lips and playfully teased him with her tongue for several rounds before letting go. Li Ming gasped slightly, looking at Li Yan with dazed eyes; feeling a bit uncomfortable, he hugged her tighter.
Zhou Miao couldn't help but feel emotional. Look at what kind of realm this was! Wanting to hug and eat whenever they pleased. He glanced at his wife, who was deep in thought beside him; last night he had merely touched Yu Tian and almost got kicked out of the room. Why was there such a disparity in how people were treated? Forget it; let's start with holding hands first.
Receiving all kinds of envy and jealousy from Zhou Miao, Li Yan accepted it all; this was a man's pride. "Mingming, will you still open car doors in the future?"
"No," the child mumbled as he buried his face into his brother's chest. Thinking about his Teddy Bear Cookies made him particularly upset since those were meant to be shared with Tian Tian in the afternoon. That annoying younger brother had snatched their afternoon snacks away; next time he saw that brother, he would also take his Teddy Bear Cookies—no, he would take two packs!
Seeing that there were still quite a few cars ahead, Li Yan held Li Ming and took a nap for a while. During that time, someone came to knock on the window again, but this time everyone pretended not to hear. Especially little Li Ming, who shouted at the door, "No bears left! They're all Mingming's!"
Some people left after realizing it was futile to knock; others with bad tempers could kick your car door while spewing all sorts of filthy words without repeating themselves even once. They might lightly curse your parents as well, making one realize that cursing is indeed an art form. Fortunately, there wasn't any violent uproar like before; usually only one or two people would come by, and if they really didn’t get an answer, they would just leave.
After waiting for two and a half hours, it was finally their turn. Now X wasn't as intimidating anymore, so there was no need for extensive checks. That's how things worked in ZG; when problems arose, they knew how to use power and money to cover them up. It wasn't until many lives were lost or significant issues occurred that the government would step in with a positive image to resolve matters.
After paying and swiping their cards, they could leave. To prevent riots from occurring, the state encouraged purchasing items with money; however, this only applied in places like toll booths where money was acknowledged. In general private trading venues, cash increasingly resembled worthless paper.
Once they exited the toll booth, Zhou Miao was the first to notice they were being followed. Unfortunately for their pursuers, their tracking skills were too poor; they were spotted after just one hundred meters. It was a black Audi and a BMW. Li Yan and Li Ming had been consuming space water and food for so long that both their vision and hearing were remarkably sharp. Li Ming pointed at the Audi behind them and shouted, "Brother, that's the kid who stole my bear!"
Sure enough, children with poor self-control wouldn't sit still like adults; probably there were many people in that car as well—anyone sitting next to them would easily spot them.
"Oh look at this! After taking what they wanted they're still not satisfied; seems like they want to rob us of our money or something," Zhou Miao scoffed as he glanced at the rearview mirror before turning to Yu Tian with a heartfelt expression. "Tian Tian, don't worry; whether it's sweet talk or good looks, I will never yield! My feelings for you are as clear as day!"
"Shut up!" Just a moment ago, I actually thought this guy was gentle; it seems I've really lost my mind. Yu Tian felt that his patience had improved, really improved. After being harassed by this jerk for so many days, he could still hold it together.
Because there were quite a few vehicles on the road right after the toll booth, Zhou Miao's driving skills had been honed during his time in the special forces. In just a few moves, he shook off the two cars behind them, and the four of them continued towards their next rendezvous point.
"What are you doing? What now?" The woman was the first to lose her temper, pulling at the man driving and shouting. "You useless piece of trash, following you has only brought me suffering... Ah! You hit me!!" The woman stared at the man in disbelief.
"Damn it, you worthless piece of shit, shut your mouth." The man had just eaten a bag of Teddy Bear Cookies and was already feeling irritable. "If you keep nagging, I'll throw you out of this car. Do you believe me?"
Seeing the man's fierce gaze, the woman really didn't dare to speak anymore. This man she had been with for ten years was indeed capable of doing that. While her heart sank, she also began to make plans for herself.
After leaving the toll booth, they were supposed to take the highway, but it was already closed. Even if it weren't closed, given the weather, they would likely be stuck in traffic anyway. If they took the lower roads, even without snow, it would take at least five hours to reach Zhangjia Village, and with the current weather conditions, it would take even longer. Calculating all this, if they didn't drive at night, they wouldn't reach Zhangjia Village until at least the afternoon of the next day.
Zhou Miao listened to Li Yan's analysis and felt a bit worried. Staying in the car overnight was definitely not an option; they needed to find a farmhouse to stay for the night. By around three in the afternoon, the temperature dropped even more, and there was ice forming on the windshield wipers, making them less responsive.
Throughout their journey, they tried to avoid passing through downtown areas—not because they feared traffic jams but because cities represented people; where there were more people, there were more problems and difficulties. As long as they encountered a group like that, they would be in trouble. However, since the disaster had just begun, humanity hadn't reached its breaking point yet; for now, it was mostly about looting.
Zhou Miao's speed gradually slowed down until he could only drive at fifty kilometers per hour. The less populated the road became, the more snow accumulated and the slipperier it got. By around four o'clock, it was basically dark outside. The group parked their car in front of a village and looked around to see no one before Li Yan decided to try and hide the car in a space to avoid any tampering. However, after trying for a while without success, Li Yan thought that perhaps he alone didn't have enough strength. So he teamed up with Li Ming, and together they managed to succeed. However, both felt somewhat exhausted; it seemed best to avoid such tasks in the future.
It was only a little past four o'clock when they noticed that there were no people in the entire village; occasionally they could hear a dog barking but it quickly fell silent again. Zhou Miao knocked on one family's door and shouted for a long time without getting any response.
It seemed that this village wasn't very secure; otherwise, its residents wouldn't have such a high level of vigilance—just like how they opened their car doors cautiously. They went from house to house knocking on over ten doors before finally managing to open one; however, several doors opened simultaneously. It appeared that these families had communicated with each other beforehand; although mobile signals were poor now, landlines still worked.
"Who are you?" asked an older man who seemed to be representing this group.
"We're just passing through; our car is parked over there on the road. It's getting late and driving is too dangerous; we would like to borrow a place to stay for one night in your village. Don't worry—if someone can take us in for one night, we'll give them this rice," Li Yan said as he took out about two bowls' worth of rice from his down jacket pocket. Food was scarce now; this amount would be enough for a family of three for two or three days.
However, people in the village surely weren't lacking food; plus these were all big men—if something went wrong, there wouldn't be time to call for help. Everyone looked around and hesitated to respond, keeping their heads down in silence.
The Old Man understood what everyone meant and sighed deeply; these days were tough for everyone. Letting someone stay out in such cold weather did seem cruel but for their own safety, they had no choice but to act this way.
"Brother, I really need to pee," Li Ming tugged at Li Yan's sleeve and stomped his foot a few times to show he was urgent. "I need to pee, hurry up!"
"What’s wrong with him?" Although Li Ming had only said a few words, it was unusual for such a big child to speak like that.
"My brother has a brain injury, sir. My brother is very well-behaved," Li Yan clearly expressed his displeasure at others speaking ill of his brother. However, this situation caused the villagers' attitudes to take a complete turn; someone who could take care of a mentally challenged brother surely wasn’t one of those desperate criminals.
Looking closely at these people, they all appeared clean and tidy, especially the mentally challenged boy who seemed well taken care of; his little face was fairer and more delicate than the village girls. Such a child could not possibly be one of those abducted kids; they had seen those children before, all pale and thin, and there was no way they could wear such thick down jackets.
Li Ming's unintentional actions greatly reduced the villagers' wariness, something neither he nor Zhou Miao had anticipated. In the end, it was little Li Ming who helped out significantly. An elderly couple took them in; their children were working outside and hadn’t returned yet. Seeing Li Ming's innocent demeanor made them feel a pang of nostalgia. That evening, they even specially boiled an egg for him, saying it was to help the child regain some strength.
In today's context, an egg was already considered a rare source of nutrition. Li Ming politely thanked them and gave one of his lollipops to the old lady. She laughed heartily and said Li Ming was sweet, then put the lollipop away for her little grandson, but when she mentioned her grandson, she sighed again. With the weather being so harsh, she worried about how her children were faring outside.
Since they were staying at someone else's home, they didn’t dare take anything from their space. Instead, Li Ming took some biscuits from his bag and asked Aunt for some hot water to make do with. At least he had the egg for nutrition.
The next day, as dawn broke, the four of them left the village. They were worried that the villagers' wariness might return and wanted to get on the road early. The villagers saw that the four were genuinely honest people and even sent them off as they left. Yu Tian was deeply moved; after seeing so much darkness along the way, encountering a group of kind-hearted elders made him feel that there was still hope in the world.
Li Yan noticed something strange; he wasn't sure if it was because he had exhausted himself putting the car into space last night, but after a night’s rest, he felt stronger in every aspect. He could even hear the ice cracking in the nearby pond very clearly. Moreover, when he went to get the car earlier, he unexpectedly found that his strength had increased quite a bit.
The preservation effect of space was excellent; whatever condition the car was in when it went in last night remained unchanged today. So, inside the car… it was still filled with ice.
Having filled up a canister with oil and preparing to get in the car, three or two military jeeps approached from afar.
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