The upper area has been completely taken over by the invaders. Xing Zhuoshan, who was under house arrest, never waited for the other party to speak. He thought it would be a negotiation, but he didn't expect that after Ma Xianmin showed up, it became a bystander.
But that's okay, Xing Zhuoshan has always wanted to calm down and think.
After several days of brainstorming, combined with the reports he had read before he was placed under house arrest... Xing Zhuoshan could basically determine that the person who caused the accident in the water circulation system of the shelter and the person who attacked the advance team and took a large number of hostages should be the same group. Their original intention
The plan should be to ask Ma Xianmin to come forward to negotiate terms.
But something new happened along the way. Traitors appeared among the people sent by the First Central Axis to support Shelter No. 1 in Xiongan New Area, which resulted in the current situation. But what the old secretary couldn't figure out was that even if
As Ma Xianmin said, the First Central Axis has been conducting experimental research and development in private these years that violates human ethics and dare not disclose it to the public. So the First Central Axis will not use the current method to ensure that the secret is not spread, right?
Therefore, Xing Zhuoshan felt that there might be another possibility.
That is, the group of people who invaded and gradually began to infiltrate and occupy the No. 1 shelter in Xiongan New District were not members of the First Central Axis at all. This can also be seen from their staffing. Although they have never been with the First Central Axis
We have had contact with the special service armed personnel of the Axis, but according to Xing Zhuoshan's idea, these people should be standard military personnel with a similar height, short, fat, and thin body. Why do they look like a "rabble".
And if this possibility is true, then who are these people?
Did Ma Xianmin know each other?
Xing Zhuoshan fell into deep thought again. These days, he tried to communicate with the people responsible for guarding him to obtain useful information, but these guys seemed irregular, but they were very principled and did not fall for the trap at all. Regardless.
Whether Xing Zhuoshan insulted them or had a heart-to-heart talk with them, they could sit in the room and stare at Xing Zhuoshan for more than ten hours without talking or laughing.
Sometimes Xing Zhuoshan is so angry that he thinks to himself, "What's so good about me as a rotten old man in his eighties? Why can't I get tired of these things?"
Xing Zhuoshan felt even more aggrieved when he thought about being stared at when he went to the toilet. This reminded him of his experience working at the Commission for Discipline Inspection. But the treatment of being watched when he went to the toilet was experienced by others before.
But now, he is the protagonist.
After slowly getting used to it, Xing Zhuoshan no longer bothered to make a fuss about these people. He began to secretly use his original code to spy on the situation of the shelter at this time. As a result, as soon as he looked at an upper area, he was attracted by the technology of these people.
The personnel found out. Not only was the internet disconnected from the room, but even the antique record player that Xing Zhuoshan used to listen to music had been moved away. It really took him back to the farming and animal husbandry era before industrial civilization.
Now, in addition to eating, drinking and sleeping, Xing Zhuoshan is brainstorming without any tools at hand to search for information. Of course, this process is not continuous. He will occasionally use the things behind his desk that were just for decoration.
Take down the books and read them. This office was previously reserved for a naval admiral, but the general was urgently transferred to Heilongjiang Shelter No. 13, and Xing Zhuoshan became the new owner.
Most of the furnishings and books in the office were prepared according to the general's preferences. Xing Zhuoshan was not so particular and simply left them as they were. Now that he starts reading the books that the general likes, Xing Zhuoshan is really in touch with this general.
The general began to make love.
Some people say that a person's complete personality can be read from the books he likes.
Xing Zhuoshan has also heard of this, but he probably disdained it in the past. After all, who has so much time to understand a stranger deeply through books? But now Xing Zhuoshan has a lot of time.
After the information he had previously acquired was exhausted by brainstorming and all possibilities were blocked by more questions, Xing Zhuoshan spent more of his free time reading.
There are two bookcases, each with seven shelves, which are densely packed with various books. But they can be roughly divided into classical literature, biographies, novels and some unnamed ancient books.
Classical literature is nothing more than a compilation of famous works or poems from all over the world. He has read a lot of these things, so Xing Zhuoshan naturally has no interest in reading them again. Biography is an important area to get a glimpse of personality, but Xing Zhuoshan only briefly glanced at the titles of these books.
He put it down because he found that most of the protagonists in these biographies were autobiographies of famous military strategists or politicians in the world, and most of them were narcissists or extremely paranoid characters. Xing Zhuoshan probably understood this without reading the contents of the book carefully.
Who is this general?
As for full-length novels, Xing Zhuoshan found that they are also divided into three categories. There are collections of Chinese-style reflective science fiction short stories, Western suspense and decryption-themed niche novels, and some Cthulhu-style ancient theological novels. For these
Xing Zhuoshan was reluctantly interested in things. After all, when he was in high school, he had dreamed of becoming a well-known writer one day. However, it was only when he started writing and submitting articles in college that he realized that he didn't have it at all.
He had a lot of talent, so he stopped thinking about it early and concentrated on studying sociology.
However, this did not make Xing Zhuoshan lose his feelings for the novel. Now he is over eighty. Although his body is still strong, when he reads these books again, Xing Zhuoshan can't help but sigh and sigh that time flies.
Pass away.
In recent days, Xing Zhuoshan has been reading a fantasy novel called "Return". The author of this book is a Chinese, but her real name is not recorded in the book, only a photo of her and her pen name.
.
The photo is quite impressive, with the black sand beach, the lonely back, and the aqua blue dress.
Xing Zhuoshan is actually familiar with this place. It should be somewhere in Iceland. Very few people go to such inaccessible places, let alone take photos wearing such thin clothing in the cold wind of dozens of degrees below zero.
Her pen name also sounds very cold.
"Ice track."
Some weird names.
The preface on the title page is very brief.
"I probably fantasize about saying goodbye to this world because I no longer want to miss it, but I am a cursed person. I can't feel alive, and I can't really die.
Time and time again I tried to come back, but time and time again I was ruthlessly forced back by the waves of reality.
I want to stand on the street and curse every sinner who lives in this world. Underneath the false prosperity of this world is stinking rot. How can they just use lies to cover up the stench?
How can you bear it?
How can I bear it..."
When he first read this preface, Xing Zhuoshan frowned, probably feeling the author's cynicism. But after reading the first chapter of the novel, Xing Zhuoshan realized that he was wrong. This was not cynicism, it was clearly unforgivable hatred.
The author seems to want to kill the world through words, so her words are full of blood and blood. Slaanesh is a sensitive and taboo word, but it is different in this book.
She described it as a joy that does not need to be concealed, and a reason why existence should be faced squarely. The reason why the world suppresses it is because people's lives are very difficult. She even wrote this in the book.
"Why do you think this world is heaven? This is clearly an endless hell. What is given to you and what you pay are usually unequal. What you expect and what is given back in reality are often contrary to each other. You take pleasure in hardship.
When you are paralyzing yourself, have you ever thought about a more ideal country? Don’t always make excuses for yourself. It’s because you are cowardly, weak, and not strong enough! If you can stand in the universe and overlook this planet, then the sun will also
If you can hold it in your hand, do you still think hunger is a problem? Is cold a problem? Don't brag about your greatness, let alone feel sorry for yourself and feel helpless. It was you who gave up early, you were defeated by reality, and you and
Your civilized feelings are all bullshit, bullshit not worth showing off at all!"
This passage is the line in which the heroine of the story scolds her father who is suffering from cancer. In the story, her father was once a great scientist, but because of cancer, he became an old man who was disliked by everyone. He felt that everything was wrong.
The whole world owed him, so he tortured everyone around him who cared about him in various ways.
Including the heroine of the story, his daughter.
Finally, the daughter took her dying father out and took him to see the sea. Then at the beach, her suppressed emotions finally burst out. The father's eyes filled with tears, and he cried and laughed. He kept saying "I'm sorry."
I don’t know who I am expecting to forgive.
Maybe it was his wife who was pulled by her hair and pushed to the ground, or the student who was killed by the data he deliberately modified. Of course... it was more likely to be him, who became hysterical after learning that he had cancer.
, becoming without a bottom line... degenerating into a crazy self.
What fascinates Xing Zhuoshan is not the plot of the story itself, but the subtle irony of this story.
The girl finally pushed her father into the sea according to his last wish, and she was also accused of intentional homicide. In court, the girl defended herself in this way.
"He didn't leave a will... Yes, I can't deny the reality, even if you, the jurors here, know very well that he only has a few more days to live... I am not qualified to deprive anyone of his life, including my man who is a human being.
My father, who dedicated his life to the cause of science and suffered from illness in his twilight years... I am guilty, the law thinks so, and I know it very well, but what I feel unwilling to do is that the law itself does not exist
, it may have a certain basis in biology and sociology, especially when it comes to issues of a person's life and death... But after all, it is artificially created on a basis to manage this society, so that everyone can
I clearly realize that this world needs order. They are rules. You have to maintain them. I will not reject or contradict them...but I don't want to accept it...even if the law says that I am guilty, it is still the same. I follow my father's rules.
His last wish pushed him into the sea. He was smiling at that time, as happy as a child. He said... I heard the truth in the morning and died at night... I said what did you feel? But he just laughed, and then I pushed him
As he ran towards the sea, he said, don't walk gently into the cold night! Be angry! Roar! Even if you become a demon! For the great will of mankind, go crazy!" the girl roared in the court,
It's like going crazy.
But everyone looked at her coldly, even with some sympathy and some disgust.
In the end, the girl was sentenced to three years in prison and suspended for five years.
This should be a relatively satisfactory result. But the girl still lost her job because of this... because the company cannot allow an ungrateful person who "killed" his biological father to stay in the company and continue to work.
The malice of society slowly engulfed her. She was blocked by her friends, and her daily necessities were thrown out of the room by the landlord. She walked out of the small house alone with a pile of things.
When he was in the area, he was suspected of being a thief by the security guard.
The girl who almost drowned in such malice struggled to survive. She bought herself a bus ticket and then returned to her hometown in violation of the regulations of the local judicial system. Of course, in order to completely solve the trouble, she used her professional knowledge to
The tracker on my ankle was removed.
The girl who became a "fugitive" returned to her hometown, to the village where there were only two old people, three dogs and one cat left.
She had gotten rid of all the high-rise buildings, social welfare or rules. She had never felt such tranquility and freedom... She finally completed her return.
…
There is no love entanglement in this novel, and there is no very obvious but blunt grudges. What is there is just the various pains and ultimate relief of a native family after encountering the protagonist's father's cancer.
It is so realistic that after reading this book, Xing Zhuoshan once suspected that it was not a novel at all, but the writer's diary. Evaluated by secular standards, this book is very ordinary, so ordinary that even after reading it, I can't remember anything about it.
Exciting points. It's not scary, not funny, and not exciting at all. It's just painful!
Life is so tiring, but you still have to read a painful book? Isn't there something wrong with it...
But Xing Zhuoshan was still unfinished and didn't speak for a long time.
After he closed the book, he let himself go, and then re-examined everything he was going through.
The sudden disaster has put the world's disputes on hold. At this moment, what every ordinary person on earth desires is probably a simple "living".
Since when did the sun rise in the east and set in the west, three meals a day, eight in the morning and five in the evening become a luxury?
This is a big drama that everyone is qualified to participate in, but no one is willing to participate in. All living beings are the protagonists...it's just a matter of time before they leave.
Thinking about it, before the disaster happened, the New American League was still trying to get a piece of the pie from Africa. Naturally, other countries would not allow this group of powers that occupied the American lands to continue to act arbitrarily. But who really realizes that the cause of these conflicts and disputes is because
Has the earth become too small without realizing it?
Centuries ago, crossing the ocean was an adventure with life as a bet. During the Tang Dynasty, Buddhist disciples made six eastward voyages to Japan in order to spread Buddhism to all sentient beings. The difficulties and obstacles were no less difficult than those of today's human exploration of the moon or Mars.
…Where has the all-or-nothing risk gone? Where has the courage gone?
It's dark, and no one knows when the "sun" will rise or whether it will rise again.
But if the world is still like this after the "sun" rises... then...
Thinking of this, Xing Zhuoshan suddenly felt horrified! Because wasn't this thought exactly what his former comrades said to him when he met Ma Xianmin a few days ago?
Why did Xing Zhuoshan feel the same after just reading a few books?
That day, he finished lunch alone in silence. Xing Zhuoshan planned to continue studying, but unexpectedly, someone came in from the door.
a woman.
After she entered the house, several people in the house who were responsible for guarding Xing Zhuoshan immediately got up and left.
Xing Zhuoshan didn't recognize the woman in the red dress. He frowned and asked, "Are you their leader?"
When the woman heard this, she covered her mouth and smiled, "I'm not really a boss, I just have something to say."
Xing Zhuoshan sat down and asked, "What's your name? You came to me...to negotiate?"
"What's your name... My name is Wen Ren Jingxue. I'm not here to negotiate with you today because you don't have the capital to negotiate with us."
Wenren Jingxue?
Weird name.
Xing Zhuoshan turned the pen in his hand and asked, "Then why do you still keep a bad old man like me?"
Wen Ren Jingxue said, "Because you still have some value."
"What's the value?"
"For example... join us and continue to be a good manager of the new shelter."
Xing Zhuoshan was stunned for a second, then opened his mouth and laughed.
Wenren Jingxue also laughed, lowered her head and smiled.
"You're such an interesting girl! Although my old man is old, I'm not stupid. If you expect me to be complicit, you might as well just kill me."
"Hmm... It's a good idea, but can you bear to see that the shelter is left unmanaged after we leave?"
"What?!"
"We're leaving. The purification is almost done. Now the shelter has been divided into black and white. As long as you can hold on, it's no problem to save half of the people." Wenren Jingxue took a deep breath, paused and said, "Well
...The house smells quite good.”
Xing Zhuoshan held his fist and asked, "Why did you break into the shelter?"
"Well... to put it simply, I will help you solve hidden dangers, so that the shelter can last for a few more decades... probably." The woman spoke weakly, which made people feel uncomfortable.
Xing Zhuoshan sneered, "Then I still have to thank you?"
"Thank you, no need. We are just doing what we should do, and you can handle the rest by yourself." After saying this, Wenren Jingxue stood up and walked out the door.
"Stop!" Xing Zhuoshan said coldly.
Wenren Jingxue stopped at the door. She didn't look back. "There's no need to hold grudges. When the sun rises, you and I may not be here anymore... If you carry hatred... it will be very painful."