Cataclysm
After the sudden cataclysm, the earth is devastated, species have mutated, food is scarce, living environments are abominable, eras have been completely destroyed, and civilization has vanished without a trace. ...
On an unnamed street in the unplanned anarchy zone, 300 kilometers to the left of the Ninth Special Zone, a 23-year-old young man is walking quickly with his head down, clutching his clothes to his chest.
The street is dilapidated and ugly. The underground sewage system completely collapsed years ago. Makeshift outdoor toilets emit a foul stench, connected to rows of shabby storefronts. Lights are rare in the entire area. From time to time, you can see groups of people standing by the roadside, mostly women and few men.
The young man, walking quickly without looking aside, is named Qin Yu. He is 1.82 meters tall, burly in build. He lost his job today and is preparing to buy an official resident identity for the Ninth Special Zone, completing the first step of his plan.
Qin Yu originally had delicate features and a upright face, making him a sunny-looking handsome guy. But now he is rather disheveled. He hasn't shaved, his slightly long hair is matted, and his clothes are stained with oil and dirt. All in all, he is inconspicuous in the crowd.
Walking quickly all the way, Qin Yu looks up at the intersection, preparing to return to his residence from the left.
"Sir... Sir...!"
A crisp shout rings out. A woman, wearing a somewhat faded dress and wrapped in a coat, gently tugs at Qin Yu by the roadside.
Qin Yu is stunned for a moment, turns back and asks, "What do you want?"
"Thirty yuan." The woman raises three slender fingers, glances back at the shabby storefront behind her, and whispers, "Let's go there."
"Hehe, can't afford it." Qin Yu smiles and continues walking.
"Wait." The woman tugs at Qin Yu again, "Twenty-five, how about twenty-five?"
Qin Yu turns back to look at the woman, pauses for a long time, and continues shaking his head, "I have no money."
"You don't like me? There are others inside."
"I really have no money." Qin Yu shakes his arm, "Let me go, I'm in a hurry to go home."
The woman bites her red lips, tightly grabs Qin Yu's hand, remains silent for a long time, and then whispers, "Two bowls of rice will do, but we have to use my bowl to measure."
Qin Yu frowns, "I said no, get lost!"
The woman still doesn't let go, looks back pitifully at a group of seven or eight-year-old children next to the storefront and says, "...I have three children. If I don't get any business tonight, I can't feed them... Sir, please be kind, help me this once. Even a bowl of rice is fine, I'll kneel for you."
Qin Yu looks at the woman and says coldly, "How many years has the world been like this? In such an environment, if you don't have the ability to feed them, why did you have them?"
The woman is stunned.
Qin Yu vigorously shakes off his arm, clutches his clothes to his chest, and continues forward.
The woman stands there for a long time, then runs back to the storefront quickly, panting, "That man has it, he does. When I tugged at him, I saw what was in his clothes."
...
About half an hour later.
Qin Yu returns to a dilapidated six-story building, climbs the old and dusty stairs, and enters his home on the fifth floor.
Only Qin Yu and his friend Xiao Zhuang live in this building. Many of the outer walls have collapsed. In the past, it would have been a dilapidated building on the verge of demolition. But in this era, the meaning of home is only about where you are, not where you live. Qin Yu chose this place because there is no electricity or water source, so he doesn't need to bear any expensive living expenses.
The interior is very simple: a bed, two broken cabinets, and no entertainment facilities. The only thing is a military magazine that's been read to tatters, with a publication date of 2019.
After entering the house, Qin Yu takes off his dirty coat, takes out a worn-out canvas bag from his arms, carefully walks to the bed, picks up a broken bowl, and starts scooping tempting white rice from it. He shouts, "Xiao Zhuang, is the meal ready?"
"Not yet, I just got back too." A voice responds from the inner room, and then a young man about the same age as Qin Yu comes out. He has dark skin and a determined face.
"Bang bang bang!"
Just as Qin Yu is about to talk to Xiao Zhuang, a deafening sound of footsteps suddenly comes from downstairs. He is stunned for a moment, immediately hides the bag and bowl in the cabinet, and walks to the door, which is just a broken wooden plank.
In less than ten seconds, seven or eight children under ten years old, leading dozens of men and women, appear in the stairwell.
The stairs are outdoors, with cracked cement and aging iron railings. So many people rush up at once, and with their hurried steps, the dilapidated building seems to shake for a moment.
Qin Yu immediately waves his hand and shouts, "Don't... don't come up so fiercely, damn it, the stairs are going to collapse."
"Uncle, I'm hungry." "Uncle, I want to eat... "
"...!"
Each child takes a small bowl, stands on the stairs, and looks at Qin Yu dirtily.
"Uncle is hungry too. Have you had dinner at home? If not, let's eat together?" Qin Yu replies with a playful smile.
The children have pure eyes and simple thoughts, but the adults behind them have shed the most basic pretense of humanity. A burly man with a bald head shouts first, "Hand over the food, or you won't get down."
"I have no food," Qin Yu waves his hand and replies, "I really don't. We are all starving ghosts in the unplanned zone, none of us have it easy. If I really had it, not to mention protecting you, at least I would give you some... "
"Stop talking nonsense, we saw you hiding food." The strong man continues, "Hurry up, we'll leave after taking half."
"No." Qin Yu shakes his head.
"Go into the house." The strong man shouts in a thick voice.
"Uncle, I want to eat."
"Give me something to eat."
"...!"
The crowd rushes up, and the stairs hanging outside the building shake again, seemingly on the verge of collapse at any moment.
Qin Yu looks at the overwhelming crowd, his eyes red in an instant. He lifts his right leg, pulls out a dagger from his dirty trouser leg with his right hand, points it at the crowd, and shouts, "Damn it, do you think I'm a lone wolf?! Who the hell is afraid of death here? I have food. If you break this knife, I'll give it to you."
The crowd is stunned for a moment. The strong man shouts coldly, "The children are in front. You can stab them all to death first."
"Fuck me...!" Qin Yu is speechless for a moment.
"Go into the house and get the food." The strong man waves his hand and roars again.
As soon as the words fall, the people on the steps rush forward. The children also surround Qin Yu in an instant, pulling him and shouting, "Uncle, give me something to eat."
"Uncle, I haven't eaten for several days."
"Get out of here!"
Qin Yu holds the dagger and shouts at the children helplessly, "Otherwise, I'll really stab, I'll stab..."
Inside the house, Xiao Zhuang sees the conflict at the door, immediately steps forward to stop Qin Yu, and shouts to the crowd, "Don't be impulsive, let's talk it out."
The children are extremely hungry and fearless, only clinging to Qin Yu, while the adults behind them have already squeezed up through the gaps.
Qin Yu is burly, takes a step across the door, stares and roars, "I only live for myself, don't fuck push me!"
The crowd rushes towards the door madly, ignoring Qin Yu's words.
Qin Yu is constantly pulled by the short children towards the side of the door, but he can't bring himself to really stab, so he can only struggle, preparing to deal with the adults coming up.
"Uncle, just a bowl of rice is fine..."
"Get lost!"
When a ten-year-old child pulls Qin Yu hard, the latter shakes his arm vigorously, preparing to break free, but unexpectedly, the child bumps into the rushing crowd, immediately loses his balance, and falls backwards through the gap in the iron railing.
"Ah!!"
A terrified scream of a child rises and echoes for a long time.
"Thud!"
Immediately after, the sound of a body hitting the ground comes from downstairs.
Qin Yu and Xiao Zhuang are stunned, panting as they look at the iron railing, at a loss for a moment.
The crowd falls silent, and the stairs return to stability.
"The child, the child fell down." Xiao Zhuang is the first to shout anxiously.
Dozens of people turn their heads to look downstairs, their expressions numb. They are silent for less than two seconds, then turn their heads back collectively. The child's mother is stunned for a long time, then howls and rushes downstairs.
Qin Yu is stunned.
"Food."
"If the child fell, we definitely won't let him go without giving food."
"Rob him."
"...!"
The shouts are deafening and imposing. The rest of the people don't turn around to look at the child who fell downstairs, but continue to squeeze together and rush inside.
Xiao Zhuang stands at the door, staring at the crowd squeezing over, knowing very well that if he doesn't bleed today, he will definitely have to fight for his life. So he licks his lips and shouts, "Okay, you guys are awesome, I concede, I admit defeat... I'll give it to you."
Upon hearing this, Qin Yu immediately grabs Xiao Zhuang's arm and orders in a low voice, "Can't give it, not a bit."
Xiao Zhuang looked at the dense crowd outside the door and replied, rolling his eyes: "The grain has already leaked. If we don't give them some, these people will definitely not leave."
"You'll get more trouble if you give them" Qin Yu replied very seriously: "We'd rather fight to the death than give in."
"Nonsense!" Xiao Zhuang disagreed with Qin Yu and insisted: "You're the only one with a gun between us, but there are so many people outside. Are you sure you can hold them back? If you can't, we'll definitely be robbed. They've already got red eyes, can't you see that?"
"Just do as I say. I'll go back and get the gun."
"Xiao Yu, can't you see? They didn't leave even when the child fell. These people have lost their minds... " Xiao Zhuang pulled away Qin Yu's arm and whispered: "We've had enough to eat, and we've exchanged everything that needs to be exchanged for money. Giving them a bowl of rice won't cost us much, so I don't want to gamble with our lives. The grain is part of mine, so I have the right to decide how to use it."
Qin Yu was speechless upon hearing this.
Xiao Zhuang straightened his posture, rolled his eyes, and shouted at the leading strong man: "There's a way to survive in the pending planning area. Take the rice and stop causing trouble. Get out of here quickly!"
"As long as we don't starve to death, we'll leave right away." The leading strong man nodded.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhuang stepped back, went into the house to get a large bowl of rice, placed it on the ground with a bang, and said: "Get out."
Dozens of people looked at the rice on the ground. There was greed in their eyes, but none of them took the initiative to step forward to take it. The leading strong man was silent for a few seconds, then pulled out a cloth bag tied around his waist and poured the rice into it in one go.
"Get out quickly!" Xiao Zhuang drove them away impatiently.
The crowd lingered at the door. The leading strong man looked at the two, tied the rice around his waist with a sweaty forehead, and didn't leave immediately.
"Can't you understand when I tell you to leave?" Xiao Zhuang frowned and drove them away again. After a moment of silence, someone in the crowd shouted: "Damn it, if he can give us a bowl of rice, there must be at least a big bag of rice left!"
"Give us more. There are too many people, and this is not enough to fill our stomachs."
"Give us rice."
"Otherwise, let's just go in and rob. What's the point of talking nonsense?"
"...!"
Shouts and curses spread through the six-story building again. This time, someone in the crowd secretly took out knives and weapons, looking at Xiao Zhuang with gloomy eyes, without any gratitude...
The leading strong man spread his hands and said in a low voice: "You can see that these people are starving crazy. I can't hold them back. Why don't you take out the rice bag and we'll split half of it."
"You motherfuckers...!" Xiao Zhuang panicked and took out a knife from his arms.
"What are you doing, want to fight?"
"Are we afraid of you? We're about to starve to death, are we still afraid of knives and guns?"
"...!"
The crowd didn't fear Xiao Zhuang at all and followed the strong man into the house.
Xiao Zhuang was stunned and stood there at a loss. He wanted to act, but he didn't have the confidence to deal with these crazy grain robbers; but if he didn't act, he would obviously be unable to protect his belongings.
"Click, click!"
At this moment, Qin Yu took out a large-caliber revolver with three cylinders, more than twenty centimeters long, from the cabinet, rotated the cylinder immediately, and loaded the bullet.
The crowd instinctively stopped when they saw the gun.
Qin Yu took out a whole large bag of grain from the cabinet without any expression, threw it on the floor, and shouted: "All the grain is here. Those who want to eat can come and take it."
The crowd fell silent.
"Who are you trying to scare?" The leading strong man shouted, his eyes red: "If we don't eat, we'll die. Are we still afraid of you with a broken gun?"
Qin Yu looked at him sideways, pointed at the grain bag with his left hand, and shouted: "The grain is here. If you have long hands, you can take it. Come on up?!"
The leading strong man hesitated for half a second, then turned around and shouted: "There are so many of us, and he only has one gun. I don't believe he can kill everyone."
After saying that, the leading strong man stepped forward and reached out to grab the grain bag. "Bang!"
A gunshot rang out, and the gear rotated. The leading strong man was thrown half a meter away, blood splattering on the floor, and a big hole was blown out of his chest.
Qin Yu held the gun in his right hand and shouted expressionlessly: "If you don't have food, you might starve to death in a few days. But now, whoever reaches out first, I'll kill him first."
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at each other and said nothing.
"I still have two bullets. Are you going to take it or not?" Qin Yu suddenly shouted loudly.
The crowd took two steps back when they heard this.
Qin Yu stepped forward, bent down to untie the grain bag tied around the strong man's waist, and shouted in a low voice: "Xiao Zhuang, take your things and let's go."
Xiao Zhuang immediately went back into the house when he heard this.
Qin Yu held the gun in his right hand and shouted: "Line up in two rows and make way for me."
The crowd didn't move.
Qin Yu raised his hand and pointed the muzzle at the person closest to him, shouting: "Will you let me through or not?"
The man hesitated for half a second and immediately made way. At this time, the others also followed suit and made way for the path downstairs.
Five minutes later, when Qin Yu reached the downstairs, he saw the mother holding the injured child crying loudly.
Qin Yu was silent for a few seconds, then handed the rice he had given to the strong man just now to her and said: "They'll be down soon. Hide the grain."
The mother was stunned, immediately took the grain bag, and said: "Thank you, thank you. I'll kneel down for you. With grain, we won't die..."
Qin Yu led Xiao Zhuang and quickly disappeared into the night. ...
At more than three o'clock in the morning, in the endless Gobi desert, Qin Yu divided the grain, threw it to Xiao Zhuang, and said: "I've given you your things. Let's go our separate ways."
Xiao Zhuang was stunned and asked in confusion: "Is it necessary? It's just that we had different opinions just now... I don't think I was..."
Qin Yu waved his hand to interrupt him: "Xiao Zhuang, if people are not on the same path, they shouldn't be together. It's easy to harm you and me. I'm going to District Nine... Take care of yourself."
After saying that, Qin Yu turned around without any nostalgia and left for his first stop of a new life, the Ninth Special District.
...
In the military camp on the left side of the pending planning area, a black man showed his big white teeth and asked in fluent Chinese: "There was a gunshot inside just now. Should we go and have a look?"
"Look at what the hell. There's grain robbing and people dying here every day. They even dare to ambush military vehicles. What are we...?" An old soldier smoking inferior dry tobacco replied lazily while lying on a dilapidated wooden bed.