The Scavengers

Before 6:19 pm on June [-]

"What?" Xiao Mo's expression changed drastically.

The child looked up at Xiao Mo, why did he look so surprised?

"Ring bell bell."

Xiao Mo and Xue Lihong looked at each other.Who will come at this time?

Xiao Mo suppressed his weird mood mixed with nervousness, suspicion, etc., walked to the door, picked up the answering phone, took a deep breath, and asked, "Hello, who is it?"

"Hello, we are the census team of the sixth district in the south of the disease center, and we want to go to your home to confirm whether there are any patients infected with the disease in the household."

coming!The acute infectious disease is so severe this time, it will be a matter of time to check the patients at home, but I didn't expect the people from the disease center to come so soon.

Xiao Mo wanted to send these people away quickly, he was going to ask and question that damn ghost system, and then tell it clearly again: he will not be manipulated by it to do any shit missions!

"No one in our family is infected with the disease." Xiao Mo said quickly.

"Sir, please understand that we need to go to your home to check whether there is one or not. Could you please cooperate? Thank you for supporting our work." The person who spoke was very polite and his tone was very gentle. Like a trained operator.

Xiao Mo was silent for a while, pressed the switch, opened the door downstairs, and hung up the answering phone.

Without waiting for Xiao Mo's instructions, Xue Lihong said beside him: "I won't tell them that you're sick and you're fine again."

Xiao Mo glanced at the child and patted his head.

"Do you like touching children's heads?"

"What? Ah, haha!" Xiao Mo laughed loudly, took the child casually, rubbed his soft fur carelessly, and said with a smile: "Yes, the child's head is the best thing to touch, my brother has grown up now, I won't be allowed to touch it anymore, even my baby Duoduo is very reluctant to be touched on the head."

Xue Lihong said seriously: "Brother, don't you know that a man's head and a woman's waist are places that cannot be touched."

"That's an adult, children don't count. It's strange..." Xiao Mo suddenly put away his smiling face, and said to the child with a puzzled expression: "Our house is on the seventh floor, and the first and second floors are merchants. It stands to reason that they should start from the third floor." May I ask? If they were the first to ring the doorbell on the third floor, why are they still outside the downstairs door now?"

"There are two possibilities." The child held up two fingers, "One, they plan to ask from the seventh floor down, so the first one to ring is the doorbell on the seventh floor; second, no one from the third floor to the sixth floor heard the doorbell." The doorbell rings, or nobody opens the door for them."

Xiao Mo denied it without even thinking about it: "The second is impossible. There are eight families living in the third floor to the sixth floor, and it is impossible for one family to be empty."

Xue Lihong thought of the two days of observation, but said nothing.

Xiao Mo stared at the child in disbelief, "...is there really no one left?"

"At least for the past two and a half days, I haven't seen any living people other than me come out of this building."

"Impossible! Even if the people who went to work on the night of the 16th didn't have time to come back, but as far as I know, there are old people and children at home on the third and sixth floors, and the outsider who rents at 402 on the fourth floor is also because his wife is about to give birth. Every day at home with my wife, these people must be at home."

"Maybe they all went to the first aid station, maybe someone like you has been sleeping for days and hasn't woken up yet."

"Yes, yes, it must be so."

While the two were talking, a different doorbell rang.The visitors had already climbed the seventh floor and came outside their house.

As soon as the door opened, the person outside took a quick step back.

"Hello, we are the staff of the census team of the disease center, thank you for your support and cooperation in our work."

Outside the door, a middle-aged man in a one-piece uniform forced a professional smile on his face, showed the work card with the words "Disease Center", and said nervously to Xiao Mo who came to open the door.

Behind him was a medical worker in a white coat and two armed policemen.All four of them, without exception, were wearing full-body protective suits and helmets with transparent visors.

The medical staff member was the farthest from the door, and the two armed policemen stared nervously at Xiao Mo with batons in their hands, as if they were ready to pounce on him anytime and anywhere to suppress him.

"Hi, you've worked hard." Xiao Mo turned his eyes and said politely, intentionally or unintentionally turning his body to one side, blocking the man's gaze from looking inside.

Inside the house, Xue Lihong was quickly putting the tools and parts on the sofa and coffee table into the small backpack.

Probably Xiao Mo looked normal, and the enumerator's expression relaxed a little.

Xiao Mo didn't understand why these people seemed so nervous.

The man took a small step forward.

"Excuse me, do you live alone here?" The man found that he couldn't see the inside of the house, so he had to pick up the record folder first and start asking.

"Yes, I live here alone."

The man's pen tip paused slightly, "Do you remember the census a few days ago? You also filled in a child in your information."

"Oh, you said Xiaohong, he is my friend's child, and he is staying with me temporarily for the past two days." Xiao Mo said very naturally.

Before opening the door, he had considered whether to tell the truth about the child's origin, but he changed his mind as soon as the door was opened.

He didn't think it was a good idea to tell these overwrought census takers that the child's origin was unknown under the current special circumstances.

"Then where is your friend now?"

Xiao Mo frowned, "Aren't you here to check if anyone is sick? What does it matter to you where my friend and husband are?"

"Hehe," the man laughed awkwardly, "just asking. How is the health of the two of you? Have you felt unwell these days?"

"No, we are all fine, we just found that the outside situation is not very good."

"You haven't gone out these days?"

"No, we didn't dare to go out because of the bad situation."

"Didn't go to receive relief supplies?"

"I'm going to pick it up, but there are children at home, so I'm not at ease. I plan to wait until the situation calms down in the past two days before going out."

The man saw that Xiao Mo's answers were impeccable, and that he looked very healthy and his expression didn't seem to be hiding anything, so he didn't ask any more questions.

"Can you ask the children to come out and do a simple inspection with you? It's very simple, and it won't take you long."

Xiao Mo turned his head and called Xue Lihong, and then asked anxiously: "What's going on? Is it some new type of virus? Can it be treated? Can we go to the city? When can we resume normal life? "

While gesturing to the medical staff to come up for routine checkups, the man said perfunctorily, "Don't worry, the virus has been brought under control. There is currently a treatment plan. Just to be cautious, this area needs to be quarantined for a while."

"About how long?" Xiao Mo asked.

"This... There will be a notice on the top, you can just wait at ease. It shouldn't be long." The man showed a comforting smile to Xiao Mo.

The medical staff stepped forward and signaled Xiao Mo to put a test strip into his mouth.

Xiao Mo acted according to his words, and when he took out the test paper, he asked casually: "What kind of test is this?"

"See if the amount of metal in your body exceeds the standard." The medical staff probably received instructions and did not conceal the purpose of the test.

"Metal? Is the virus poisoned by heavy metals this time?"

"Heh, your reaction is really fast." The medical staff praised him.

"But there is no paper factory near us, and there is no such thing as a dangerous chemical factory." Xiao Mo asked suspiciously.

"So we're looking for the source of the virus."

Xue Lihong came over with a small backpack on her back, the medical staff took the test strips and signaled him to open his mouth, Xue Lihong hugged Xiao Mo's thigh and refused.

Xiao Mo smiled and said that the child was afraid of strangers, so he took the test paper and looked down at the child.

The child raised his head and opened his mouth obediently.

Watching the child lick the test paper wet, Xiao Mo returned the test paper to the medical staff.

Because it is just a simple test, the results come out quickly.In less than 5 minutes, the medical staff told their companions that there is no problem with one big one and one small one.

Xiao Mo thought that the inspection was over at this point, but who would have thought that the medical staff took out an electronic thermometer and asked to take the temperature of the two of them.

"What's going on here?" Xiao Mo asked with a slightly impatient expression.

The man on the side stepped forward and replied: "Oh, this is to see if you two have ever been infected with the virus."

Xiao Mo was startled, and asked tentatively: "Didn't all the infected people go to the hospital? Wouldn't they have died if they stayed at home?"

"Some of them are indeed like this, but there are also some people who, because of their relatively strong immunity, can recover on their own without medicine after surviving the pain of the onset."

"Isn't that a good thing? Why check?"

"This is to prevent a second attack, so it is necessary to register those who have not registered."

Xiao Mo didn't know what was going on with him either, a strange intuition made him not want to tell others about his illness and recovery, especially these census workers.

"Mr. Xiao, have you ever been unwell before, and now you are cured?" Following the man's question, the atmosphere at the door suddenly became tense.

"Uh, I don't know if it's like what you said." Xiao Mo slowed down his speech, thinking of countermeasures quickly in his mind. Lying is definitely not acceptable. He has a record of taking medicine in a community hospital, as long as someone is interested. It can be found out. Instead of lying now to make them suspect later, it is better to tell the truth...

Before Xiao Mo could figure out how to explain it, the child who had been hugging his thigh suddenly said:

"Uncle Xiao had a fever a few days ago. I'm so worried about him. Uncle, can you take care of him?"

"Oh? Really? It's just a fever?" The man and the medical staff stared closely at Xiao Mo's expression.

"Yes, it's just a fever. But it's cured now." Xiao Mo didn't understand what Xue Lihong meant when he said he had a fever, but he still followed his words.

When Xue Lihong heard his last sentence, she couldn't help but want to bite him.Stupid, there is no tacit understanding at all!

"No other symptoms?" The man looked at the child deliberately when he asked this sentence.

"No. My fever should be caused by a hot cold. Before our community was quarantined, I didn't feel well, but it should be just a common cold. Hehe, look, it just happened to be a coincidence, and I scared myself half to death. The reason why I dare not go out in the sky is because I am afraid that I will be infected." The more Xiao Mo spoke, the more slippery he became, and the calmer he became.

The man noticed that the child had a shy look on his face, and he would avoid his eyes when he looked at him, but there was nothing else, and he didn't have any special expression after hearing Xiao Mo's words.

"Whether it is a fever caused by this virus infection, we will know by taking the temperature now."

The man also couldn't tell whether Xiao Mo was telling the truth or a lie, because such coincidences as Xiao Mo said were not without exception.And if Xiao Mo was really infected by the virus, then the tragic appearance of the disease will definitely leave a deep impression on the children around him.

Adults can hide expressions and lie, but can such a small child?

"Can you tell by this temperature measurement?"

"At present, we have found that all recovered people will have a high body temperature within 24 hours after recovery." The medical staff replied.

Xiao Mo was a little worried, he hadn't been awake for more than 24 hours.

Xue Lihong hugged his thigh tightly.Xiao Mo's body temperature was indeed a bit high. He said that he had a fever just to cover up the situation, but this idiot actually said that he was cured, what should he do now?

Xiao Mo watched helplessly as the thermometer got closer to his neck.

This is a more popular contact thermometer in recent years. It only needs to touch any skin for 1 minute to get a very accurate temperature value.

"Then it won't be visible after 24 hours?" Xiao Mo was at a loss for words.In my heart, I was chanting frantically: To be normal, it must be normal!

"That's right. So we must hurry up and check as much as we can."

"I think you went straight up to our seventh floor. Have you checked the residents downstairs? Are they all right?"

The man glanced at the medical staff, as if hesitating whether to talk to Xiao Mo.

The medical staff said: "I suggest that you should not visit relatives and friends during this period, let alone go to other people's homes casually. This is to avoid secondary infection and for the sake of your health."

"Of course, I will pay attention."

"As for the residents downstairs, most of them are in the hospital now, and some of them should still be at home, but we can't contact them." The man paused, "We will record these residents who cannot be contacted. Other relevant personnel will come to check."

"Is that so..." Xiao Mo thinks about it, if someone really died at home, it is impossible to let the corpse rot at home, someone must come to deal with it.

The sound of "beep" sounded, and the medical staff took away the thermometer and looked at the display screen.

The more nervous Xiao Mo became, the more relaxed he became, and the smile on his face deepened little by little, and he nodded to the two armed policemen who had been stern.

"36.3 degrees is a normal value." The answer of the medical staff relieved everyone present.

Xue Lihong felt strange, when he hugged this person's thigh, he could clearly feel that the person's body temperature was on the high side, why did it drop all of a sudden now?

In the end, Xuelihong passed the body temperature test smoothly.

Xiao Mo thought he could finally send these Buddhas away, but who knows...

"Excuse me, can we go into your house and take a look? We just want to check the air value to see if there is any virus left. It will be over soon."

It seemed that this census was really strict, and Xiao Mo was powerless to stop it, so he could only invite four people into the house.

As soon as the man and medical staff entered the room, they began measuring the metal levels in the air.

One of the two armed police officers went around every room.

Xiao Mo noticed that the armed policeman who was circling around the room also had a small instrument in his hand, and he didn't know what he was checking.

The armed police also circled around them specially.

Like an ordinary child, Xue Lihong looked curiously on tiptoe when the armed police passed by.

The armed police didn't stop him, seeing him as a child, they smiled at him.

Xue Lihong also showed him a shy smile.

The armed police seemed to want to reach out and touch the child's head, but held back.

The armed policeman walked away, the census taker walked into the kitchen, Xiao Mo and Xueli Hongyan followed together, and at the same time they yelled in their hearts: "It's not good!"

really.

The man in charge of the inspection turned around and stared at Xiao Mo almost as soon as he entered the kitchen, and asked, "There's a lot of rubbish. I can't tell that the two of you ate quite a lot."

Xiao Mo smiled, and patted the head of the child beside him, "Haven't we not been out these few days, no, the garbage has also accumulated."

"Really?" The man didn't care whether what Xiao Mo said was true or not, and wrote the line "found a lot of garbage such as food bags and food packaging boxes" in the remarks column under Xiao Mo's name.

He also didn't know why the higher-ups asked them not only to check whether there were any hidden patients and illnesses in each household, but also to pay attention to the food consumption of each household.However, since the above has requested, he will naturally act in accordance with the requirements.

The man said "sorry" to Xiao Mo, and began to look through the open and dark cabinets.

Xiao Mo really wanted to ask him if this complied with the regulations, but the man said, "We are checking the source of the virus, your house is not hiding anything" blocked what Xiao Mo wanted to say.

The other three also joined in the search.

Xiao Mo felt that they didn't seem to be looking for the source of the virus, but instead seemed to be confirming the food storage situation at his home.

Because if you just check for heavy metal leakage, you only need to look at the air value, and there is no need to rummage through such cabinets.

Xiao Mo unconsciously clenched Xue Lihong's little hand.

Xue Lihong stepped on him.

Xiao Mo lowered his head to look at the child, and when he came to his senses, he quickly let go of his hand and comforted him: "Sorry, I didn't notice."

Xue Lihong looked at her little red paw that was being held, and shook her hand wordlessly.

Xiao Mo quickly grabbed his hand to check the situation, and then squatted down and blew several times.

Xue Lihong thought, what about this person coaxing the child?

Xiao Mo said guiltily: "I'm sorry, does it hurt? Let me rub it for you." As he spoke, he gently kneaded the child's little hand.

After kneading, he discovered that the child's hands were not only less fleshy, but also had several calluses on the fingers and palms.

If you don't look at the child and the size of the hand, he will definitely think that it is the hand of a blue-collar worker, and it is the kind of front-line worker who works very hard and often uses various tools.

He also has calluses on his hands, but not as many as children.

Xiao Mo looked at the child, with a bit of distress naturally in his eyes.

Now which children's hands are not fleshy, soft and tender?Even the children in the orphanage don't have such hands.If it was his child, he would not be willing to let the child suffer so much.

The child silently stretched out his other hand and pressed the man's head.

"..." Xiao Mo was confused, kid, what does this mean?

"Cough, Mr. Xiao, thank you for your cooperation. If you have anything to do, you can contact the police and civil affairs officers in the quarantine area."

"Oh, have you finished the inspection?" Xiao Mo got up and let go of the child's hand.

The child suddenly raised his right hand and looked at it.

The man said that the inspection was over.

Xiao Mo looked at the expressions of the four census takers and couldn't see what was going on. He didn't know whether he had passed the test or not.

"Let's walk slowly." Xiao Mo sent the four out of the door.

The man was polite, and reiterated again that Xiao Mo should not go to other people's homes casually, nor leave the isolation area.He also told him not to worry, let alone follow others' advice, but to trust the government, the country, and so on.

Xiao Mo expressed his knowledge one by one.

Xue Lihong stood behind Xiao Mo, staring at her right hand again and again.