The glowing vine on the table has become dim and invisible. Ivan wanted to pick a new one yesterday, but was warned by the soldiers that no poor people were allowed to pick the glowing vine.
Glowing vines will stop growing in winter, and they will give priority to civilians.
As for the nobles, they have electricity and light and don't need that weak light source.
After a while, there was a knock on the door. Ivan stood up and opened the door, letting in the figure whose outline could not be seen in the darkness.
In the past few minutes, people have been entering one after another. Without knowing it, they sat on the ground and waited silently for everyone to arrive.
The silence lasted for several minutes, and then was broken by a dry voice.
"Let's start Ivan."
Ivan walked to the door and looked on both sides of the street.
"Paul hasn't come yet."
"He won't come."
"...Understood." Paul understood the meaning of this. He sighed softly and came to the bedside, took out an iron box from under the straw mat, and slowly shook the handle.
Then it shook slowly, and a faint sound came from the iron box. This was a hand-cranked radio.
This is their little secret and their only entertainment facility.
[Let’s establish a new order in the wasteland together.——The government army is now released to all states on the west coast——]
The radio station gradually became clearer. As usual, Ivan planned to tune to Hale City Radio to listen to the music, but there was something extra in today's broadcast.
[This is the Dawn Camp Radio Station. We now extend an invitation to all surviving humans...]
A faint unfamiliar voice came from the radio.
Ivan was stunned. They escaped and established a new stronghold?
Of course he knew about the Dawn Church, which had become famous a few days ago. If it weren't for the batch of pre-disaster weapons hidden in Hale City, Hale City would have changed hands by now.
"Come on Ivan."
Someone urged.
Ivan came back to his senses and reluctantly adjusted the frequency to Hale City. Soothing piano music flowed in the shack, and his original excitement gradually calmed down.
Only then, listening to these old songs, did Ivan feel like a human being. He sat at the dining table, enjoyed the breakfast prepared by his wife, and drove to the company to work on a sunny morning. Colleagues greeted each other warmly and friendly.
Just like a bubble, suddenly all the peace and beauty disappear.
Since the failure of the Church of the Dawn, their lives have become increasingly difficult. Civilians rarely hire them. Every shack is searched by soldiers. If valuables are found, the people are dragged away. No one knows what will happen to them, only those who were dragged away.
The person never showed up again.
These soldiers took revenge on the Church for their rebellion.
After a few dozen minutes, the guests who had heard enough began to disperse. Ivan Chui tuned back to Radio Dawn. After listening to it a few times, he turned on the radio and went out and walked along the winding street.
There is nothing going on on the streets, and there are more people leaning against their homes.
Another two to three thousand people will die this winter, maybe more. Ivan thought.
It's not freezing to death. Even in winter, it won't get too cold here, but starving to death. The streams are frozen, and the common people and nobles no longer need to work hard. The poor who have no food source will sleep to death in their homes from hunger, and then be smelled by those who smell it.
The meaty ghouls were dragged out to share the food.
Squeak——
Ivan opened the door and three poor people in the shack looked up at him.
"Your god has made some noise." Ivan took out the radio and shook it.
The eyes of these three people are different from those of most poor people. Their eyes are not lifeless and indifferent, but closer to pre-disaster humans.
A group of poor people who still have hope... But Ivan is not qualified to laugh at others. After all, three years after the disaster, he still maintains his ridiculous kindness.
"Want to join us?" An old man raised his head. Only three of the original eleven original believers were left.
"No, I'm just here to inform you." Ivan put away the radio and turned to leave.
"Are you confident you can survive this winter?" someone behind me said.
Ivan paused.
"We plan to follow my lord before winter comes."
"You will die before me." Ivan said without looking back.
"How will you know if you don't try? We are human beings who have climbed to the top of the earth on our own, not pigs waiting to die."
Ivan eventually joined them. He did not believe in God, even if God did appear.
He just wants to live.
There are now less than 300 of the two thousand believers left. What they have to do is to gather them again.
Ivan's little noise made great achievements. Everywhere he went, he would play Morning Radio with "little noise" - "little noise" was the name Ivan gave to the radio.
There are too many poor people who cannot survive this winter, but only a small part choose to follow them. Most people would rather rot in decay than take a new path.
As time went by, more and more people agreed to leave. They did not have a detailed plan. They just agreed to meet in front of entrance No. 3 when the bell rings and winter arrives two days later, and then rush to the checkpoint to escape from Hale City.
It's night, although there is no difference between day and night in Hale City.
In the slums, countless people got up from shacks covered with hay. They brought their only belongings, put on cloaks made of withered grass and had almost no warmth, and waited for the bell to ring.
"Mom, I want to pee..."
In a dark shack, a little girl with a thin body and yellow hair raised her head and said to her mother.
"If you bear with it a little longer... we will be able to leave here soon."
"Why do we have to leave here?" A childish voice sounded. "Don't we need to drink dirty water in other places?"
The mother hugged her daughter: "Yes... there are lights, warm goose feather bedding and delicious cakes..."
Similar scenes occurred throughout the shack.
They have nowhere to go.
Boom——
The faint sound of the bell slowly swayed.
Coincidentally, countless figures opened the door of the shack.
They looked at each other, left the home where they had lived for three years, and walked in the same direction.
Some people agreed but did not come, and some people refused but came. But no one cares about these now.
A few minutes later, thousands of people or even more gathered in the open space not far from entrance No. 3.
They were huddled together, forming a dark outline, and the silence was eerie.
They waited for ten minutes until no one came anymore.
They were about to leave, but it was still too late. A dazzling light suddenly lit up behind them. The sound of footsteps on the ground with military boots was heard.
Soldiers surrounded the city guards and appeared before them.
"Hello, traitors," he said.
Next to him was a poor man in ragged clothes. The poor man lowered his head and said in a vague voice: "I'm sorry, I just want to live..."
"You did a good job." The city guard patted his head as if he were a dog.
The cries and cries of the crowd immediately merged into one mass, and despair appeared in their lifeless eyes.
At this moment, an old man suddenly rushed out of the crowd, hugged the soldiers who were caught off guard, and shouted miserably.