The Scavengers

The author has something to say: I didn’t plan to post the short and long episodes of this parent’s story, but I saw many readers who wanted to know what happened to the protagonists who disappeared in the middle of the two months, so I asked the editor over there and I agreed to post it. up~

When I first wrote this paragraph, I didn’t write it as a side story, but because I happened to read a few short novels by parents at that time, I was deeply affected, and when I wrote it, the tone was completely different from the first one, so I just used it as a side story, haha~

At the end of July, a suburban county outside Zhongshan City.

"Sister Deng, what do you mean by guarding the door and not letting us in? Could it be that there is no one inside? Then you should stop occupying this room."

The ear-exploding tenor pierced into the eardrums, literally shaking Xiao Mo out of that strange world.

"Cao Xiang, don't go too far! You clearly know that Xiao Mo of our family is still recuperating in there. Why? The Deng family compound is not enough for you to live in, so you are thinking about such a crappy one-story house?"

Hearing sister-in-law's angry voice, Xiao Mo struggled to open his eyes, his eyes were blurred, and it took a while to get clear.

Well, he didn't expect upgrading to be such a painful thing!And if he passed out, he would pass out, leaving him no time to prepare.I don't know if his sudden coma frightened Xue Lihong?

Xiao Mo laughed when he thought of this, probably nothing can frighten that kid, right?

"Sister Deng, you can't say that." A soft voice said: "Our Cao Xiang is the most soft-hearted person. Look outside the fence, so many poor people just ask for a tile to shelter. If you can put If the house is given up, at least it can accommodate a family, right?"

Before Deng Anjie could fight back, the tenor said in a strange voice: "That's right, you said that the second son of the Xiao family is recuperating, but he hasn't recovered after a month of convalescence. Who knows if there is really someone in this house?" Rehabilitation? I have never heard of a vegetative person who has been in a coma for such a long time for unknown reasons, and can live for a month without any medical facilities. Sister Deng, are you sure that the second child of the Xiao family is really still alive?"

"Cao Xiang! Stay in Germany!"

"Yeah, Ah Xiang, don't talk nonsense. How do you think you've made big sister angry?" The soft voice complained.

The tenor smiled strangely, "I'm sorry, Sister Deng. But seeing how nervous Sister Deng is, those who didn't know thought it was your husband sleeping inside, not your uncle..."

"Ah Xiang!"

"Cao Xiang!"

"Yo ho, say my husband, my husband is here. How are you, Big Brother Xiao, look at Sister Deng, we kindly came to visit Second Brother Xiao, but she insisted on blocking the door and not letting us in."

Inside the house, Xiao Mo's face was cold, but he couldn't move his limbs, he could only stare at the beams of the old house, as if he wanted to stare down the spider webs hanging on the beams.

The weather was quite stuffy, which made his chest tightness and shortness of breath even more.

There was only one small skylight in this room, and when the door was closed, it was almost suffocating.But the strange thing is that the sheets under his body and the thin blanket covering his body seem to be soaked in deep well water, which is very cool and comfortable, so that the two phases cancel each other out, and the body will not suffer particularly.

But the body and the mood are two different things. If you are physically comfortable, you may not be able to feel comfortable emotionally, especially when there are people rushing to make things difficult for you.

A childish finger stretched out and poked his face.

Xiao Mo turned his head, only to find that there was a child lying on the bedside... Xue Lihong! ?

This is without his restoration, Xue Lihong turned back to a child?

Seeing that he finally saw him in his eyes, Xue Lihong poked him again as a compliment.

Xiao Mo raised his head slightly, opened his mouth to bite him, and was pinned down on the pillow by Xue Lihong's unceremonious finger.

Outside the door, the boss of the Xiao family suppressed his anger and said: "Thank you for your kindness. Our second child needs to rest. Cao Xiang, you and your sister are fine, so get out of here quickly, and don't come here every day to make trouble!"

"Brother Xiao, when did we start making trouble? It's fine if you and your wife don't let us visit Second Brother Xiao, but leaving your own brother at home like this and refusing to send him to the hospital is too... heartless, isn't it?" ?”

The tenor clicked his tongue a few times, then turned to his sister and said, "Sister, look at this. They obviously have so much food, but they refuse to spend some to send their own brother to the hospital. Do you think this is a taboo disease? Or is it human?" Is it really that heartless?"

"Cao Xiang! Don't spit on me! Why do you want to send Xiao Mo to a temporary hospital? You know it yourself! Is that place a place for people to stay? It's better to die at home if you go there!"

"Listen, listen! Sister, do you hear that? He is really planning to torture his own brother to death!"

Xiao Mo frowned, and wanted to open his mouth to speak, but he didn't know if it was too urgent, and what he uttered was just a "ho ho" breath.

Xue Lihong at the head of the bed looked at him, then suddenly bent down and took out a plastic basin from under the bed, and walked unsteadily towards the door.

Xiao Mo turned to look at Xue Lihong.What do you want to do?

Xue Lihong opened the door, and the adults outside looked at him together.

The soft female voice said: "Isn't this Xiao Er's child? Child, is your father in there? Poor child, you have to live with an infectious patient at such a young age, alas."

"Get lost." Xue Lihong's toneless voice sounded.

"you!"

"Sister, don't pay attention to this little bastard who doesn't know what's good or bad. It's an illegitimate child, and he doesn't have any tutoring. I don't know how his mother taught him... Hey! What are you doing, little bastard!"

"Ah Xiang, don't say that... ah!" The female voice screamed.

Xue Lihong picked up the plastic basin placed on the ground, splashed it on the targets, turned around immediately after splashing, closed the door, and went back to the house.

There was endless scolding outside the door.

here you go!

Inside the door, Xiao Mo looked at Xue Lihong in surprise with a slightly joyful expression, and asked with his eyes: What is in that basin?

Xue Lihong probably guessed what Xiao Mo wanted to ask, put the basin under the bed, raised her head and said, "Our bath water was from last night. It still contains your excrement."

Xiao Mo... silently.Compared with Xue Lihong splashing people with dirty water, he is more concerned about Xue Lihong's behavior of putting dirty water under the bed and leaving it overnight.

Did he know in advance that someone was coming to make trouble, so he specially prepared this basin of chemical weapons, or was he just too lazy to pour out the dirty water?

"Call that little bastard out! I must teach him a lesson today!"

"Sister Deng, is this how you teach children? What kind of water is this? Why is it so dirty? You are too much!"

The noise outside the door became louder and louder. The tenor voice clamored to draw Xue Lihong out to teach her a lesson, while the soft female voice kept saying that Xue Lihong had no tutor, which was too shameful.

"Get out of the way, don't block the door!"

Xiao Wen and his wife watched the Cao family's sister and brother quarrel with cold eyes, until Cao Xiang angrily wanted to push the door in and arrest them, Xiao Wen brandished a stone ax to block the door.

"Whoever dares to go in and try it! If any of you dare to touch a single hair of my child today, I will hack him to death!"

"Cut it, you dare to try it!"

"See if I dare."

"Xiao Wen! Stop!"

Seeing that the disturbance was about to get out of hand, after Deng Anjie stopped her husband, she said coldly to the Cao family siblings: "It's almost noon, it's almost here."

The Cao family siblings suddenly fell silent, and after a while, Cao Xiang scolded: "You little bastard! Sis, let's go!"

The soft female voice seemed to be very angry, and said with a trembling voice: "We came here with good intentions, but you treat us like this. Your Xiao family is really... uneducated!"

"Ah, you are well-educated, and your whole family is well-educated! Cao Tong, I have endured you until now because of An Jie's eldest brother. If you continue to make trouble here, believe it or not, I will slap you hard ?”

"Xiao Wen! What is it for you, a big man, to threaten my sister? If you have the guts, you will come to me!"

"Okay, come on, I can't kill you, you bastard!"

"Ah Xiang, let's go, they are deliberately delaying time, wanting us... Huh, this family is really bad!"

"Yeah, this family is too poisonous. If you put an infectious patient in the village for a month, you don't know how many people will be harmed. The last time the old Liu's child died of illness, maybe it was the second child of the Xiao family who got the infection... Xiao asked what you are doing! Sister, run quickly, the madness surnamed Xiao has struck!"

"Run? Let me see where you are going? I'll kill you two nonsense bastards!"

"Xiao Wen! Come back!" Deng Anjie shouted anxiously.

Xiao Mo lay on the bed and took a deep breath.

He can't lie down anymore, he must stand up as soon as possible, hurry up!

"Don't worry, your elder brother won't chase him any further. We'll be here soon." Xue Lihong said as she took out a small bottle of liquid from her backpack and poured it into a water gun that looked like a child's toy.

a little?What's the meaning?Xiao Mo looked at Xue Lihong in puzzlement.

Xue Lihong lowered her head and was busy, but she didn't see the man's face eager to explain.

Sure enough, Xiao Wen came back not long after, and the couple chatted at the door.

"What's there to chase after? Those two people are cheap, just ignore them."

"What did you hear what they said? How vicious what Cao Xiang said? If it gets out, those villagers will believe it. Do you believe that the second child will be dragged out and beaten to death by them!" Xiao Wen was furious.

Deng Anjie had nothing to say.

Xiao Wen couldn't hold back his anger, and was still cursing: "The Cao family is nothing, and neither is your elder brother! Last time, in front of so many people, we sarcastically said that our Xiao family is a poor relative who came to fight the autumn wind. Xiao Wen is a coward who eats his wife's soft food. This was said by your brother himself!"

"Then what can I do? Fight them desperately? I'm just a married daughter, how do you want me to fight with my brother?" Deng Anjie couldn't help crying anymore.

Xiao Mo was anxious, he didn't want his elder brother and sister-in-law to feel bad because of these bullshit things, he wanted to get up to comfort them, but after several attempts, he couldn't move any parts below the neck.

Xiao Mo worked hard a few times and became anxious.He opened his mouth and panted heavily.

Xue Lihong looked up at him strangely, poked his mouth with her finger, and commented: "Now you are like a fish washed up on the beach and about to be dried."

Xiao Mo signaled him to go out to adjust the atmosphere with his eyes.

Xue Lihong stuck her fingers into his mouth and touched his teeth, "Please, please, please go."

Xiao Mo was dizzy.

Outside the door, Xiao Wen and his wife were silent for a while.

"Cough," Xiao Wen cleared his throat and lowered his voice, "Don't cry, I'm not talking about you."

After a long time, Deng Anjie replied: "Yes."

"Well... have you gone in to see the second child?"

"Not yet, I'm going in to see him." Deng Anjie was still choking.

Xiao Wen's voice was even deeper, "An Jie, I know you're in a difficult situation. I was just mad because I didn't want you to argue with your brother."

"I know... I'm not mad at you."

"It's good not to be angry. Cough! You said that the second child in our family is also interesting. He doesn't fall down sooner or later, but he falls down when the world is in chaos and people can't survive. He just closes his eyes and doesn't care about anything." Don't bother."

Deng Anjie was annoyed at his indiscriminate words, and slapped him, "Look what you said? My younger brother is also spitting!"

"Why don't I just talk about it."

"Stop talking nonsense, you're in a bad mood, don't make everyone uncomfortable, and the second child doesn't want to lie down by himself. Xiaohong said that he might wake up in the next two days, so be careful when you speak in front of him." Deng Anjie calmed down and wiped away the tears on her face.

"What does Xiaohong know as a child? You are the only one who always takes what he says seriously."

"Don't look down on Xue Lihong, if it wasn't for him, would we have walked here safely?"

Xiao Wen was blocked for a long time and couldn't speak, and finally he muttered: "There is another publicity in the wheat market. I will go over there to have a look, and I will be back later."

"It's only one o'clock in 5 minutes. Run fast. If you see people on the road, it's better to go with others. Don't be alone. Come back early and be careful on the road." Deng Anjie told her again and again until her husband ran away with an ax , then sighed, knocked on the door, and pushed the door open.

When Xiao Mo heard the door knock, he turned his head to look at the door, opened his mouth, his mouth and throat were extremely sticky, coughed dryly, and found that he could barely make a sound, and immediately called: "Sister-in-law..."

Deng Anjie was startled and almost threw the thermos in her hand.

Xiao Mo woke up, and the whole family was happy.

It's just that no one knew that Xiao Mo had actually "woke up" ten days ago, but he couldn't open his eyes, but he could hear and feel everything that happened.

The Xiao family and Xue Lihong often whispered by his bedside, and the Cao family often came to make trouble, letting him know that he had been lying in bed for a full month, and also knew what happened to him after he fell into a coma.

That day, he completed the last task of the first level and was immediately promoted to the second level. After that, he lay down, and fell into a deep coma as soon as he lay down.

At that time, the people from the National Institute of Biological Research forcibly took him away, but it was Xue Lihong who broke through the siege and rescued him.For this reason, they had to temporarily leave General Qiu's protection area, because at that time Qiu Feng was also a little bit overwhelmed.

Afterwards, with the help of Qiu Xin, they took their family away from the base and came to his sister-in-law's hometown, which was actually in the suburb of Zhongshan City.

When he woke up again, he was already at his sister-in-law's parents' house, and he didn't know how he got here all the way and how he settled down.However, the fragmentary conversations between the Xiao family also made him spell out most of the process. In short, there are only three words: not easy!

That was really not easy.

During this month, the outside world can only be described as chaos.

He passes out and the new school his nephew attends suddenly collapses.

Afterwards, another major earthquake occurred, buildings collapsed, and the city was completely uninhabitable.

The urban population was forced to withdraw from the urban areas, and the government began to build temporary resettlement areas in various places.

The animals and insects changed their diets and became very fond of metal. The animals in the zoo simply gnawed through the metal cages and escaped.

A large number of precious metal deposits such as gold and silver disappeared, and no one knew where these metals went.

Plants, which have always been able to live as long as they have water, sunlight, and land, have also been found to be very interested in metals. The roots of these plants are deeply rooted in the ground, and they like common metals such as copper, iron, and tin the most.

Few people cherish the things that are usually at hand, but now when they find that they are gone, people realize that all kinds of metals have already been integrated into their daily life, and once they are missing, it is like breaking a limb.

Without the use of metals, human beings will not be completely defeated. What makes human beings really panic is the mutation of food and water!

In fact, when scientists discovered that plants began to swallow and digest metals, they were already worried about the problem of food and fruits and vegetables. After all, food and vegetables also belong to the category of plants.

Sure enough, half a month after Xiao Mo was in a coma, all the grains, fruits and vegetables that had reached maturity had undergone changes to varying degrees. Not only were the roots and fruits difficult to pick, but the picked ones also contained a large amount of metals. Inedible.

The same is true for water. Many water sources have been found to contain a large amount of metal molecules. Drinking it by ordinary humans is like slow suicide.

If the food can still be cultivated, even if the house collapses, as long as it is rebuilt, daily life can be restored quickly, but the current situation is that all newly produced food, fruits and vegetables cannot be eaten by most humans, and the source of drinking water has also changed. less and less.

Humans are completely messed up.

Grabbing food and drinking water has become the primary goal of everyone.

In just one month, human beings have killed nearly one-tenth of the population due to cannibalism.

In order to survive, the word civilization quickly moved away from everyone.

"At the same time, many weird animals and insects similar to the giant-winged blood mosquitoes we saw before appeared on the earth." Xue Lihong said.

Xiao Mo looked at him.

"These animals and insects that are not like the earth's creatures will not directly eat metals, but will prey on the earth's native creatures that have changed their diets. Of course, they also eat people."

Xiao Mo frowned.

"In addition to these changes, during this period of time, many people have discovered that their bodies can secrete a synthetic metal. This synthetic metal will usually condense out in the palm of your hand, and the size is about the size of a broad bean. The secretion time is very fast. It’s slow, most people can secrete one in a week on average, but some people can secrete one in about three or four days. Scientists have named this thing carbon-based alloy particles.”

"You mean...it's not just Wang Cheng and Qian Yunkai who were first infected with the carbon-based synthetic metal virus that can produce alloy particles?"

"Yes, similarly, the number of people with supernatural powers is also increasing." Before the Xiao family got the news, Xue Lihong brought up some important things that happened during this period to Xiao Mo.

Just now after Deng Anjie was pleasantly surprised, she dragged Xiao Mo to talk for a while, halfway remembered that she wanted to find a doctor to show him, put the thermos bottle to Xue Lihong, explained a few words, wiped off her sweat, and hurriedly fired again He ran away in a hurry.

Xiao Mo noticed that when his sister-in-law left, she grabbed a bamboo that was as thick as a child's wrist and had two sharpened ends.

"It is said that scientists are concentrating their efforts on studying the effects of these metals synthesized by the human body, hoping to find the reason for the mutation of the earth's ecological environment."

Xiao Mo digested all the information he had just heard, cleared his throat, and asked with difficulty: "Is... safe here?".

"Not to mention. However, there is a large military area nearby, and the newly built resettlement area in Zhongshan City is also there. The soldiers have been patrolling the vicinity to maintain law and order. The village has also built a wall at the main entrance, so the situation here It is slightly better than other places." Xue Lihong shrugged.

If he had been in troubled times before, he would have found the safest place and a kinder and responsible family to cover him.But now Xiao Mo suddenly fell into a coma, and he was counting on Xiao Mo to help him restore his adult state, so he could only temporarily stay in this small village that could be attacked at any time.

"That...a little...what the hell is going on?"

"Now there are a kind of killer locusts that appear outside during the day and night, but they don't seem to like the heat. From eleven o'clock in the noon to one o'clock in the afternoon, their shadows are almost invisible. They also appear between one o'clock in the afternoon and three o'clock in the afternoon. Not much, it’s a sub-safe time period.”

"Big locust?"

"The big locust is not a locust, but it looks more similar. It appeared about half a month ago. It is the same size as an adult golden retriever dog. Every time it moves, three of them are together. They can fly and jump, and they have a pair of forelimbs like a praying mantis. The knife arm can cut open the human body in one stroke. They like to eat the human heart."

Xiao Mo cursed, "Where did this thing... come from?"

"I don't know." Xue Lihong disliked the man's ugly voice, poured him a cup of hot water, raised his head and fed him with saliva.

"Well... this period of time... you have worked hard." Xiao Mo knew that Xue Lihong was taking care of him most of the time, although he seemed a little impatient.

"I want to give you two doses of nutritional injections directly, so that you won't starve to death even if you lie down for half a month. But it's too troublesome to explain, so I can only feed you a can of soup every day." Xue Lihong opened it Blanket, "Since you're awake, let's change your diaper by the way. Can you move?"

Xiao Mo, "..."

The process of changing diapers was very embarrassing. Xue Lihong poured a basin of hot water into another plastic basin and placed it beside the bed. Regardless of his strong resistance, she skillfully raised his thighs to rest on her young shoulders, and then Leaning forward with his upper body, tearing and pulling with both hands, he tore off the adult diapers wrapped around his buttocks.

The child tore off the diaper and threw it into the trash can next to the bed, twisted a towel hanging by the bed with hot water, and repeatedly wiped Xiao Mo's butt before and after.That action, that look, it seems that he has done many times as a skilled worker.

Xiao Mo's face was so red that it was about to bleed.

He never imagined that when he was only in his early 30s, he enjoyed the treatment of being personally served, and he still fed, wiped himself, and grabbed the shit and urine.

In the ten days before he was conscious, he received the same treatment every day, but because he couldn't open his eyes, he could still pretend that he didn't know anything, but now...

After the strong shyness, there will be a stronger touch.

These things are cumbersome and dirty, even if it is a biological son, it may not be able to do it.Didn't you see that his two brothers and one nephew didn't do this?

At least when Xiao Mo became aware of the outside world, he only felt that the third child Xiao Da and his nephew Le Duo had fed him soup, which made him almost choke to death, but Xue Lihong was doing all his personal affairs for him. take care of.

And as long as he thinks that Xuelihong and Neili are actually adults like him, he will feel even more embarrassed.

"A lot of people have come to your sister-in-law's house, and the room can't be allocated. You are a patient and forced to move here. I will live with you." Xue Lihong said suddenly.

That's why you "reluctantly" and "have to" take care of me?Xiao Mo tried his best to make his expression appear natural.

Xiao Mo tried hard not to think too much, but the feeling from his lower body made him blush.Lying in front of me was afraid that my body would lose consciousness, but I really became conscious... ahhh!Why are men lower body animals?

I didn't expect a reaction, really!

Brother, please, can you just wipe it down there?Don't wipe it so carefully, I beg you, okay?

Still watching so engrossed... What's there to see?A man's lower body is used for excretion, no matter how much he looks at it, he can't see a flower!

Xue Lihong stared at the slightly raised part of the man, with a strange expression on her face.

It was a super complex expression that integrated various emotions such as envy, jealousy, unwillingness, longing, and curiosity.

The young boy involuntarily stretched out his finger and poked his head lightly.

"Hmm..." A strange groan sounded.

The man stopped him shyly and angrily: "Don't touch it! Have you finished it yet?"

Xue Lihong suddenly had an extremely cruel idea, break it!crush it!Let it never be able to show off its power in front of itself!

"Ah...don't pinch it too hard, it hurts!" The man couldn't stop yelling in a low voice, but he obviously didn't think much about it.He thought that Xuelihong was just grabbing it with his hands for the convenience of scrubbing.

The palm of his hand was hot, and he seemed to be able to clearly feel the pulsation full of vitality.

This is the characteristic of an adult body. Only when a man matures here can his body truly grow up and his life continue.

Xue Lihong's pupils shone with a strange light, and his fiery eyes followed the burgeoning vitality and turned to look at the person who was also carefully taken care of by him.

The brown, small entrance shrank slightly.

Xue Lihong's pupils also shrank quickly.

A strange burning sensation rose from the groin, and the scorching heat gathered and coiled under the lower abdomen little by little, but it had nowhere to go.

Xue Lihong stared there for a long time, then forcibly suppressed the flame that could not be vented like many times before, picked up a wet towel from the hot water basin, wrung it dry, and gently covered the hot towel, Continuing to clean up the man earnestly, his expression returned to normal.

Xiao Mo took a deep breath, his face was on fire.

Why did he find today's cleaning time particularly difficult?Could it be because of the heightened sense of shame just after waking up?

"Look at you...doing these things, you seem to be very used to taking care of people." Xiao Mo asked for words in order to distract attention and reduce the embarrassment in the air.

Xue Lihong rubbed the towel, carefully scrubbed it three times, and made sure that her site was well maintained, with no acne or erythema, so she put on a new diaper.

Hearing Xiao Mo's words, he stimulated his thigh muscles with his fingers one by one, watching his muscle reaction, and replied casually: "If you live for a long time, you will know everything."

How long have you lived?

"The response is good. I will help you increase the frequency stimulation and massage later, and you should be able to move tomorrow." Xue Lihong put down the man's thigh, climbed out of the bed, and put the water basin beside the bed under the bed , put another pillow under his head.The pillows were also cold.

"Get up and drink some soup, you will have to deal with a lot of people later."

"Thank you, Xiaohong, I want to... brush your teeth and rinse your mouth first." Xiao Mo had already smelled the peculiar smell coming from his mouth, and it was rare that Xue Lihong didn't dislike it, and even talked to him for a long time.

But why did this kid stuff the used dirty water under the bed again?Feeling that he just pours out the dirty water in front of it every time before using it?