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Monday, September 15th.

There are less than twelve hours until the virus breaks out.

Lin Yue stood in front of the window on the second floor of the cold storage, watching the eastern skyline change from iron gray to light blue, and then to light gold.This was the first time since his rebirth that he had watched a complete sunrise.It may also be the last sunrise that I can watch quietly.

The roar of a diesel engine could be heard downstairs.

The old diesel generator that had been idle for five years started running again at 11:47 last night.Wang Hao spent a whole day and night replacing the three fuel injectors, replacing the oil filter with new ones, and since original parts for the high-pressure oil pipe were unavailable, he used an angle grinder to cut a steel plate to make an adapter flange and hard-connected a universal oil pipe to it.The moment the diesel engine started, the light bulbs in the entire power distribution room lit up at the same time. The fat man's cheers passed through the iron door of the power distribution room and reached the door of the cold storage. Zhao Ming was stunned for a moment before he realized that it was Wang Hao laughing.He laughed out loud for the first time since joining the team.

When Lin Yue walked down the stairs, the diesel engine had been running stably for nearly eight hours.Wang Hao was wrapped in a cotton coat that was stained everywhere, curled up on a broken chair in the corner of the power distribution room and fell asleep, with a wrench in his hand.Lin Yue did not wake him up.He gently took the wrench out of Wang Hao's hand, placed it on the tool box next to him, and then closed the door of the power distribution room.

At the entrance of the cold storage, Zhao Ming and Lao Zheng were already loading the truck.Going to Zhaojiagou today, Lin Yue chose the van with the highest chassis.He had experienced the road conditions in the outer suburbs in his previous life. The last five kilometers were dirt roads with many potholes and would turn muddy when it rained.The weather forecast said it would be sunny today, but he wasn't going to gamble.

"How many things did you bring?" Lin Yue walked over.

"Three bags of rice, a barrel of oil, and two boxes of compressed biscuits." Old Zheng patted the supplies in the carriage, then bent down and took out a cloth bag from under the seat.

Lin Yue looked at the tobacco and wine, and the corners of his mouth moved.

"Squad leader." He used the name Zhao Ming used to call Lao Zheng in his previous life, "You even thought of this."

"Running through the countryside." Lao Zheng tied the bag again, "You tell people with nothing that the end of the world will make people move, and no one will believe it. But if you sit down to smoke a cigarette and have a glass of wine with him, no matter what you say, he will at least listen to what you have to say."

Lin Yue nodded.The most scarce thing in the apocalypse is not bullets, but persuasion.He knew Zhao Dezhu's character in his previous life - he was taciturn and did not like hard and soft things, but he recognized the land, the craftsmanship, and the silent plants more than he recognized people.For such people, conventional persuasion methods are completely ineffective.It must be in a language he understands.The language of the land.

"Brother Lin," Zhao Ming opened the driver's door, "I'll open it."

"No. You stay at the base today." Lin Yue took the key and got into the driver's seat. "Old Zheng, follow me. Zhao Ming, you are the leader of the combat team. After I leave, you and Lu Hanshuang will be responsible for the security of the base. No one is allowed to go out of the gate today, and no outside vehicles are allowed to approach. If anyone from the government comes to ask, just say that we are doing cold storage renovation construction, and the contract is in the drawer on the second floor."

Zhao Ming was silent for a moment, and then said: "When will you come back?"

"Before two o'clock in the afternoon." Lin Yue started the engine.

When the van drove out of the logistics park gate, Lin Yue saw Lu Hanshuang in the rearview mirror.She was standing on the temporary scaffolding of the main gate guard tower - it was just erected last night. It was made up of steel frames and wooden boards. Only one person could stand on it, and her field of view could cover three hundred meters outside the main gate - and she was adjusting the scope of a rifle.She went back again last night and came back at two in the morning, bringing back three semi-automatic rifles, five magazines and an equipment box.She didn't explain the origin of the gun, and Lin Yue didn't ask.

The car drove out of the northern suburbs industrial zone and turned onto the county road leading to Zhaojiagou.The traffic on the road is increasing - during the Monday morning rush hour, the entire road is covered with people rushing to work.When Lin Yue stopped at the traffic light, in a black car in the lane next to him, a young man in a suit was tying a tie in front of the rearview mirror, holding half a piece of bread in his mouth.On the sidewalk, a group of middle school students in school uniforms were walking toward school, talking and laughing, with schoolbags dangling on their backs.

Lao Zheng sat in the passenger seat and glanced at the street scene outside the window. He was silent for a while and then said, "They don't know."

"I don't know." Lin Yue said.

"How much can we save?"

This is the second person to ask him this question.Zhao Ming asked yesterday, and Lao Zheng asked today.Lin Yue held the steering wheel, looked at the traffic ahead, and said exactly the same thing: "Save as many people as you can. But you can't build a base just to save people."

Lao Zheng didn't ask again.

After the car drove out of the city, the scenery on both sides of the road began to turn into farmland and scattered villages.Zhaojiagou is located in the hilly area in the northern suburbs of the city. It is an old village that has not been swallowed up by urbanization. The cement road is only paved to the entrance of the village, and all the way inside is dirt road.Lin Yue slowed down the car, and based on his past life memories, he turned three times at the fork in the road and finally stopped at the entrance of a small farmhouse.

The courtyard gate is two faded wooden doors, unlocked and ajar.From the crack in the door, you can see that the yard is full of vegetables - cabbage, radish, garlic seedlings, neatly arranged in rows, as if measured with a ruler.There are farm tools piled at the root of the courtyard wall, including hoes, shovels, and manure forks. Each one has been wiped clean without any rust.

Lin Yue stood at the door and took a look at these farm tools, feeling confident.The tool's status describes the user's status.The owner of these farm tools is a man who is serious about the land to his core.

He opened the door and walked in.

Zhao Dezhu was squatting beside the vegetable bed in the southeast corner of the yard, with his back to the door, holding a small shovel in his hand to loosen the soil of the garlic seedlings.He was wearing a dark blue old-style tunic suit, with the cuffs rolled up to his elbows, revealing two arms that had been tanned by the sun.His gray hair is cut very short. Viewed from behind, his back is slightly arched, but his shoulders are broad. He has the unique figure of a man who has worked on the land all his life.

"Uncle Zhao." Lin Yue stood in the middle of the yard and did not come closer.

Zhao Dezhu turned around.He had a face full of ravines carved by wind and frost, and his eyebrows were thick and most of them were gray.He looked at Lin Yue with a calm look, without any surprise.When a stranger suddenly appeared in his yard, his first reaction was not to be wary, but to wait for the stranger to explain his purpose first.This kind of calm character was developed after decades of hard work on the land.

"Who are you?" Zhao Dezhu's voice was low and hoarse, but not hostile.

"My name is Lin Yue. I'm from the city."

"I don't know you."

"You don't know me. But I know you." Lin Yue said, "I know you are the best farmer in Zhaojiagou. Your land is on a hillside, a piece of saline-alkali land that others don't want. It took you three years to transform it into fertile land. You don't use pesticides or chemical fertilizers, and rely solely on green manure and crop rotation. Your wheat yield per acre is 20% higher than others. Your white radish is so sweet that it can be eaten as fruit."

Zhao Dezhu's eyebrows moved.He stuck the shovel into the soil, stood up, and wiped his hands with the towel hanging around his neck.This movement is very slow, as if to buy time to think.

"Have you investigated me?"

"No." Lin Yue said, "Some things don't need investigation."

Lao Zheng walked in from the door, put the cloth bag he was carrying on the stone table in the yard, and then stepped aside without saying a word.

"Uncle Zhao," Lin Yue pointed to the stone table, "Can we sit down and have a chat?"

Zhao Dezhu glanced at him, then at Lao Zheng, then walked to the stone table and sat down.He didn't take out the cigarette or touch the wine, he just put his hands on his knees and waited quietly.

Lin Yue sat down opposite him.

"Uncle Zhao, I don't have much time to pave the way, so I'll just say it straight away. Around five o'clock this afternoon, a virus will break out in this city. Those infected will turn into biting monsters, and those bitten will also be infected. Within twelve hours, the entire south of the city will fall. Within forty-eight hours, the entire city willThere will be a military blockade.This news sounds like crazy talk.I can't show you the evidence, because the evidence will not appear until five o'clock this afternoon, but I have to come today, because if it breaks out, Zhaojiagou will lose water, power and electricity, and I won't be able to come in if I want to come."

After hearing this, Zhao Dezhu's expression did not change.He was silent for a moment and then said, "How old are you?"

"Twenty-six."

"Twenty-six." Zhao Dezhu nodded, "A twenty-six-year-old man told me that the world is going to end. Why do you think I will believe it?"

"For a reason." Lin Yue said.

"What reason?"

"Ground."

Zhao Dezhu's eyes narrowed.

"Uncle Zhao, you are fifty-eight this year. You have worked on the land all your life. The land you have planted together is larger than the entire Zhaojiagou." Lin Yue leaned forward slightly, "But if this city is in chaos, no one will farm anymore. No one will water it.No one fertilizes, no one weeds.Within three months, all the farmland will be barren.Within a year, everything edible will be gone, because no one will harvest it.”

Zhao Dezhu's eyelids twitched.It was a very slight jump, but Lin Yue caught it.

"What do you want to say?"

"I want to say - if the doomsday comes, your skills are more valuable than guns. Guns can kill zombies, but they can't make a wasteland produce food. You can." Lin Yue said, "There is a cold chain logistics park in the northern suburbs. I rented it. There are cement walls, generators, barbed wire defense lines, medicine and gasoline. But the land inside is wasteland, with no grass growing. I need someone to turn that land into farmland."

Zhao Dezhu was silent for a moment, and then stood up.He walked to the vegetable patch, bent down and pulled out a white radish, rinsed it twice in the bucket next to it, then walked back and handed it to Lin Yue.

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