Chapter 34
A New Year, A New Beginning
It was the first New Year after the apocalypse. At this time in her previous life, Du Yue and her neighbors had gathered together to share a pot of cabbage dumplings. When they were distributing the dumplings, everyone got into a fight because of the different amounts each person received. When everything fell into chaos, it did not feel like it was the new year at all.
Du Yue was all alone now, but she felt very happy and satisfied.
If she had any New Year’s wishes now, it was that she hoped that her days would not get worse from now on and that she could maintain them just like this.
After the new year, the electricity was completely cut off and the self-service water dispenser in the community was no longer filled with water. It was abandoned just like that. The large supermarkets were still open every night, but there were fewer and fewer things for sale and more and more people were queuing up. Most of them could only waste time queuing outside as they would fail to buy any useful materials in the end.
The rivers in the city had long dried up, and the sun baked the earth day after day. The shrubs on the roadside had long been dried up and cut down to be used as firewood for cooking. The tall trees were also half-dead and would soon lose their vitality.
Such a life where people died every day made them unable to see any hope of survival. The last bit of hope in most people’s hearts was also worn out in the suffering day after day.
Some people who had their ancestral homes in the countryside decided to return to the countryside, but they couldn’t buy gasoline and drive. Figuring out how to get there was a big problem.
If they really returned to the countryside, life would be more difficult and arduous than it was now. Everyone shared this same concern.
Some of the residents in Du Yue’s neighborhood had already left the city. Some neighbors even knocked on her door to borrow gasoline before they left. When they knocked on her door, Du Yue rejected them without hesitation, saying that she did not have gasoline herself.
In order not to raise any suspicions, Du Yue stopped driving out every night and walked instead.
There were also some bold ones who wanted to break into Du Yue’s house to find out what was going on. However, they had not undergone any systematic training and could not beat Du Yue at all. In the end, they could only give up.
Many people had left, but Du Yue stayed in her home obediently. Her only mission now was to wait for news about the base.
In her previous life, Du Yue had made the same choice as most people and returned to the countryside. However, life in the countryside was not good either. Most of the wells in the countryside had dried up due to the high temperature. There was only a little water in a few wells that went deep into the ground.
In the countryside, there were no chain stores to sell supplies. The farmers in the village had the habit of hoarding food, but due to how things were in the world, no one was willing to sell their supplies.
The people who returned to the countryside had no source of food, so they could only gnaw on tree bark and tree roots. Some even caught field mice to eat. In any case, people ate anything that could not kill them. In the end, before they starved to death, they heard about the base and journeyed to the small base together.
However, life in the small base was just as difficult.
It was not long after they arrived at the base that the weather started to turn extremely cold. The days after that became more and more difficult to bear.
In this life, Du Yue did not want to take any more detours. She was going to wait here quietly. When the government announced the news about the 10 bases, she would move to one of the official bases.
In her previous life, Du Yue had only heard about the 10 major bases from others. They said that the resources there were abundant, and life was good there. It was not much different from life before the apocalypse.
Du Yue did not know when the official bases would be announced, so she decided not to go out anymore. She turned on the radio every day and waited for news about the base.
Du Yue had set up the radio earlier. She had set up dozens of different models and sizes. She even bought a lot of accessories in sets.
Soon, half a year had passed, and it was July. One afternoon, Du Yue was taking a bath when she heard a faint voice coming from the radio.
When the word ‘base’ was mentioned on the radio, Du Yue stood up abruptly from the bathtub. She held the radio to her ear and continued to listen to it.
The country had established 10 security bases in 10 places across the country. The first base with the most complete facilities was located more than 300 kilometers away from the municipality where Du Yue was.
A distance of more than 300 kilometers was not considered far. If she drove under normal circumstances, Du Yue would be able to reach the place in three hours. Even if the situation had changed and she might encounter all kinds of difficulties on the road, she would be able to reach the place in half a day.