The Scavengers

Noon on August 6

Xiao Mo didn't know anything about what happened that night.

He slept until noon on June 6.

For three days, his cell phone rang countless times until it ran out of power.

For three days, Xue Lihong acted like a normal person, except that she would come to feel his pulse every day, roll over his eyelids, pinch his nose to help him dispose of his excrement, and didn't care about anything else.Even Xiao Mo was covered with bloodstains, he didn't say to scrub him or change the mat, let alone send him to the treatment point for treatment.

Oh, for the convenience of cleaning, he took off the only pair of boxer shorts that Xiao Mo was wearing.

So when Xiao Mo woke up, the first thing he felt was the glare of the light, the second was the feeling that his skin was tight, and the third was the indescribable and extremely unpleasant mixed smell coming from his nostrils.

Opening his sticky eyelids, the man habitually turned over to look at the alarm clock on the bedside table.The eyes that had just opened were still a little foggy. The man raised his hand and rubbed his eyes while reaching for the alarm clock. He lost his grasp and the alarm clock slipped from the palm of his hand and fell to the ground.

"Boom!" The alarm clock fell to the ground and doubled several times.

The kid Xuelihong who heard the voice appeared at the door of the bedroom holding a bowl of fast food noodles.

"Wake up, Old Xiao." The child said in a very normal tone.

Xiao Mo turned over, leaning on the bed with his elbows, trying to sit up.I don't know if it was because he slept for too long, but he felt as if his whole body was rusted, and it was hard and sore to move.There is also a throbbing pain in the head.

sky!What is this on him?

"What... smells so stinky?" His throat, which had been useless for a long time, was extremely thirsty, and he couldn't make a continuous sentence. Xiao Mo licked his lips, his saliva became sticky, and he felt a thick layer on his tongue. Tongue coating.He raised his hand and picked at the red and black stain on the other arm, but it didn't come off.

Xiao Mo's body suddenly paused, wait, he remembered.hell!So what kind of shit system is real?He was so miserable because he didn't complete the task and punished him?And what is the unknown liquid mentioned by the system?Where did it come from?

"Brother, you should be thankful that you have a cowhide mat underneath, and it's easier to dispose of your excrement, otherwise the place you sleep in will be even more smelly and dirty." Xue Lihong tapped the foam noodle bowl with her handy chopsticks, "Hungry Not hungry? Would you like a bowl?"

"..." Xiao Mo, who didn't know how to react, put his hands on his head.

After drinking two glasses of cold boiled water brought by Xuelihong and eating another piece of dark chocolate, Xiao Mo shuffled into the bathroom.

The phone was already plugged in, and I wanted to reply immediately, but then I thought it was three days late anyway, and it would be okay to be late, so I went to take a shower first, there was no way, the smell on my body was really bad.

When the water hit him, Xiao Mo tried to call softly: "Hey, can you hear me? What kind of system is that?"

"Hello? Are you my hallucination or real existence?"

"Can't you hear it, it seems to be my hallucination."

"It's not an illusion. I'm the Scrap Pickers Recycling Training System, responsible for training new scavengers to recycle all kinds of designated garbage."

Xiao Mo had too many questions, and he didn't know where to start asking, "You...what's going on with all this? What does it mean to take back Liu Wang and his wife? Why do you want to take them back? Is this illness related to Are they related? Why are you running on me? What do you want from me? What do you want from me?"

The system only answered him a few questions: "You are a new scavenger, and I am responsible for training you. The training method is the traditional assignment of tasks. After the scavenger completes, the system judges the degree of completion and rewards or punishes you. If the scavenger has two consecutive Those who cannot complete the task will be regarded as eliminated. For the sake of confidentiality and punishment, the eliminated must be obliterated. As for the content and purpose of the task, it is up to the scavengers to explore and judge by themselves. According to the rules, this system is not obliged to explain this aspect.”

"Damn it! I didn't ask you to be a scavenger! Is this forced to win the lottery? Please get out of me quickly! Otherwise, I will call the police."

The system said indifferently without any threat: "There are only two consequences for you to call the police: first, you will be regarded as a mentally ill patient. Second, you will be dissected and studied."

"I don't want to do any tasks! You go find someone else!" Xiao Mo was very irritable.

The system... entered a state of silence, no matter what Xiao Mo said, it would not respond in the slightest.

Xiao Mo was so angry that his liver hurt, he decided to go to the hospital for a physical examination tomorrow, to find out this ghost system from his body!

Then he spent half an hour scrubbing himself clean. After washing, Xiao Mo felt that his originally heavy body seemed to be a lot more flexible, and the feeling of difficulty when he just woke up also disappeared a lot, but there seemed to be a little bit deep in his bones. It's sore, but it's not a level at all compared to the previous pain, it's completely negligible.

It would be nice if my head didn't hurt.The man sighed and rubbed his temples.

After taking a shower, Xiao Mo immediately took the dirty leather mat to the balcony to wash and dry it.If it wasn't for the mattress being too thick and heavy to move, he wished he could take out the mattress and wash it before exposing it to the sun.

Fortunately, he was laying a cowhide mat, and all kinds of stains and excrement did not reflect on the mattress through the thick cowhide.

Even so, Xiao Mo looked at the mattress and was still a little apprehensive, touched it casually, thinking that he should just get a new one, although it was a bit wasteful.

The moment he turned around, he didn't see that the pattern and color of the mattress he had bought for two years became as bright as ever when his hands left.

Xue Lihong came in with his small backpack on his back, his eyes naturally fell on the mattress, thinking that the mattress was in good condition.

"By the way, what are those red and black stains on my body?" Xiao Mo couldn't think of an answer, so he had to ask the child.

Xue Lihong replied: "Bloodstains. Your whole body's skin was torn when the disease occurred, but now it seems that it has grown back."

Xiao Mo twitched his face, picked up the pillowcase he removed just now and the thin blanket he had covered for three days and walked towards the terrace.Regarding the regrowth of the skin on his body, he actually had doubts when he took a bath. The feeling of the old skin and the new skin are still different.

Xiao Mo asked the child why he had been following him, Xue Lihong didn't speak, just stared at him for a long time before asking: "Aren't you hungry? Do you feel that your limbs are weak and your heart is flustered?"

"Fortunately, I don't have hypoglycemia."

"You slept for three days."

"I know." While charging the phone, he turned it on to check the time.

"I thought you were going to die."

"Children's words are unscrupulous, the strong wind blows away." Xiao Mo muttered with black lines all over his face, gently pushed the child away, and stuffed the pillowcase, bath towel and thin blanket into the washing machine.

"I washed your underwear for you." Xue Lihong claimed the credit.

"……thanks."

"I don't want to eat instant noodles anymore, can you cook for me today?"

"Yes." After finishing personal hygiene and tidying up the room, Xiao Mo felt that his body became more and more relaxed and flexible.

Xiao Mo turned his head and looked outside. He was also watching when the cowhide mat was drying just now, but he didn't pay attention to it.After the physical activity started, the head seemed to become clearer, and when I looked at the outside scene, I found something very wrong.

From the terrace of his house, you can see Ninggu Garden and one of the larger squares in Xinxin Jiayuan.

I saw several large tents appearing in the open space of Ninggu Garden and the square, and there were also large medical vehicles parked beside them.

Doctors and nurses are wearing isolation suits that can only be seen in movies to serve nearby patients.

Xiao Mo also saw the same policeman in isolation suits.

There are very few people standing in line outside to see a doctor, only three or two kittens.

There are almost no pedestrians in the squares, parks, and roads, and there are no vehicles passing by on Ninggu Avenue. Occasionally, one passes by, and they are all special vehicles with a "ten" mark from Xinxinjiayuan.

"The serious patients were sent to an empty building in Xinxin Jiayuan." Xue Lihong also lay on the window sill and looked into the distance.

"Oh?"

"Did you see the van that drove out of Xinxin Jiayuan just now? I heard that it was transporting people who died of illness to the city for autopsy."

"Who told you this?" Xiao Mo frowned.

"Everyone is talking. Haven't you noticed that there are many fewer residents in Shannan Jiayuan?"

Xiao Mo turned around and walked towards the kitchen. From the kitchen window, he could see the opposite building.

During the daytime, it was dark when looking into the window. After looking for a while, he was not sure if the residents inside were really gone, but he didn't know if it was a psychological effect. He felt that Shannan Jiayuan seemed to be much quieter than usual.

"If you're really okay, you can go to the supermarket to get daily necessities." Xue Lihong followed behind him.

"Receive?" Xiao Mo turned around.

"Well. I heard that it is a government welfare. Because the quarantine makes everyone's life inconvenient, the government is responsible for distributing the daily necessities of all the people in the quarantine area. I heard that each person can receive [-] catties of rice, one liter of oil, and five catties. Pork, one chicken, one duck, five catties of eggs, three catties of various vegetables and condiments, etc.

It can be collected all at once, or separately.The first two days were very lively, as long as those who did not fall down came out to get their things, there were still many people fighting to get their things. "Xue Lihong said sternly.

It's really hard for Xiao Mo to treat children like children, who told the other party to speak more clearly than him?

"There are a lot of things, almost enough for an adult to live for a month. Is the government planning to isolate this place for a month?" Xiao Mo was startled by his guess.

"One month?" The child smiled strangely, like sarcasm, but also like some kind of pity, "Don't worry, there will never be a month, just with this speed of infection and the inextricable transmission route, it will be less than a month Zhongshan City is about the same."

"...I, I'll go and call home first." Xiao Mo put his left index finger against the brow that was throbbing suddenly again, turned and left the kitchen.While he was extremely puzzled by the current situation and his own physical condition, he also felt powerless.

What the hell is going on with all this?A new type of virus, a legendary system, a mysterious child...

Xiao Mo felt that his head was about to explode!

Why was he in pain three nights ago, but now he just slept for a long time and he was fine?And it's too good... He didn't believe that the system would be so kind, and after punishing him, he helped him recuperate his body, but the unknown liquid mentioned by the system... Did he drink anything before going to bed?

At the same time, in a certain building in Xinxinjiayuan, which is faintly visible across from the terrace.

A pathologist specially transferred from the medical school and several assistants walked out of the temporarily closed room.

As soon as they saw the expert appear, several doctors who were waiting at the door in isolation suits immediately surrounded him.

"Mr. He, how's it going? Is there any result?"

He Lao shook his head, and he, who was also wearing an isolation suit, whispered in the mask: "The six corpses all had different pathological manifestations, and the causes of death were also different. The same new type of bacteria was not found, except that they were all found to be heavy metal poisoning."

"How could this be? Can't the autopsy find the cause of death?"

It seems that Xue Lihong's rumors were wrong. In the isolation area, some people were already dissecting the dead, not just those transported to the city.

He Lao continued to shake his head, "It's not that we can't find the cause of death, but that we can't find the same bacteria that caused the disease."

Speaking of this, Mr. He suddenly raised his head as if thinking of something, "By the way, I heard that some of the patients who were sent to the municipal hospital at the beginning seem to have woken up?"

Xiao Mo turned on the TV, tuned to the local news station, saw that the phone was fully charged, and immediately called home.

During these three days, from his father to his nephew, everyone in the family called him dozens of times, especially his sister-in-law and younger brother, as well as many friends and business related persons.

In addition to incoming calls, various text messages also occupy the memory card.It's all about asking him "what's the matter now, is there anything wrong, why didn't you answer the phone, the quarantine area can't get in, more and more people are sick, and people all over the country are concerned about the city's flu and the like".

There are also many messages from disease centers and the government in the text messages. These messages tell people how to disinfect, how to protect themselves, how to treat patients when they are found, how to contact the treatment center, how to first aid themselves, and rescue each other.

It can be seen from these text messages that the city attaches great importance to this matter now.Just don't know how wide the scope of infection has been?

Checking the time, Xiao Mo pressed the shortcut key for his brother-in-law's hotel phone.They should still be in the hotel at this time.

The phone rang twice before being picked up, as if someone had been waiting by the phone.

"Xiao Mo! Is that you?" It was Deng Anjie.

"it's me."

"It's really you? That's great! Fortunately, you're fine. You scared us to death. Why don't you answer the phone these days? Your brother and I almost went crazy! We went to find you, but why? Say you won’t let us in. You don’t know anything, you can’t get through on the phone, and you said that this infectious disease will kill people, you..." Deng Anjie was anxious and distressed, and said a lot in one breath, and she had already brought Upper nasal.

Just as Xiao Mo wanted to explain, Deng sniffled and said quickly: "Wait a minute, I'll call your elder brother, third child, and old man, they are all here."

After ordering the waiter to call someone, Deng Anjie asked again: "Are you all right, where are you now?"

"Cough, I went to the community hospital with some discomfort two days ago. I lay there for two days. I forgot to bring my mobile phone with me. I'm really sorry for worrying you. But I'm fine now, very good, really!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, as long as you're fine!" Deng Anjie cried with joy.

When Deng calmed down, Xiao Mo asked: "How is your place? No infection cases have been found, right? Dad, are they all right?"

Deng Anjie replied: "No, our place is okay. The old man and the others are watching the news in the private room, and they will come right away. It's just that the business in the store has been very bad these two days, because I heard that this infectious disease can cause death. Alas, since the news broadcast Afterwards, the number of people coming to eat in the restaurant was much less, and the wife of the chef Lao Wu also called to ask for leave, saying that Lao Wu also fell ill and is now living in the hospital."

"Doesn't Lao Wu live in the north of the city? How could he be infected?"

"You don't know? Just one day later than yours, the Wanhao Villa area in the north of the city was also quarantined, and the city's No. [-] Hospital and the Military Region General Hospital were also covered with plastic skins to prevent people from entering."

Deng Anjie sighed, "Well, the atmosphere in Zhongshan City is extremely tense now. Many people are in a hurry to leave the city, but no matter who leaves the city, they must be checked. Only those who are sure of their health can leave. The mayor goes on TV every day to appeal to everyone to calm down. Said that doctors from all over the country are coming, and the condition will be resolved soon, so everyone should not panic."

"Then how is old Wu doing now?" Xiao Mo turned down the volume of the TV, glanced at the child, and found that the child was sitting cross-legged on the sofa and was messing with something.

Deng Anjie sighed again, and said: "I don't know, his wife didn't make it clear, she just said that his old Wu and her father-in-law both fell ill and couldn't come to work for a short time, and hung up the phone without saying anything else. I I went to see Lao Wu with your brother, but he was not admitted to the hospital at all. I couldn’t get in touch with his wife after that.” Deng Anjie’s voice was full of anxiety.

"Who is the chef in that shop now?"

"The second chef, Zhang Qian, is busy in the kitchen with two garnish workers, but there are few customers, so the three of them are completely busy."

"That's good." Xiao Mo suddenly thought of an important question, and quickly asked, "Answer is also in the store? Is he okay?" If he remembers correctly, the company where his third son works seems to be in quarantine this time within ten kilometers.

"He's fine. Last Friday, their company notified him that the whole company will be on holiday, saying when the quarantine will end and when they will go back to work. That kid almost died of joy! Your brother and the others are here, wait a minute, I'll make it hands-free. "

Xiao Mo heard a sound of running from the phone, and at the same time could vaguely hear his father's loud voice, "Did the second child really call? Is that kid still alive?"

His sister-in-law replied: "It's the second child, he's fine, don't worry."

"Second brother, are you alright?" Xiao Da, the youngest of the Xiao family, was the first to grab the phone and shouted in a hurry.

"It's okay." Xiao Mo smiled.

"It's okay, why don't you answer the phone? Are you trying to scare us all to death!" the boss Xiao asked, patting the counter.

"You boy, I'm not talking about you, why don't you take your mobile phone with you? Your brother, your sister-in-law, and your brother were all scared and ran to the isolation area to find you. Anyway, the police guards wouldn't let you in. I even asked someone Find a way to go to your side to see, has anyone been there?" The old man of the Xiao family asked.

Xiao Mo didn't hear the child tell him that someone came to look for him, so he replied to his father: "Oh, I haven't come back from the community hospital, even if someone comes to look for me, I can't find it."

"Let me just say, I gave the other party two giant pandas, and they must have found no one. Your brother and they insisted that I spent money to find the wrong person. Although they don't care about that area, it must be no problem to help find out." .”

Hearing that the old man began to habitually go off topic again, Xiao Mo quickly changed the topic, asked about the current situation, and then told them to store more food, talking for nearly an hour before hanging up the phone.

"Grumble."

Xiao Mo covered his stomach, are you hungry?

Looking at the time display on the phone, it was just after 02:30, it was neither early nor late, and he planned to endure it until around four o'clock before making dinner.

Looking at the TV, the local news station is broadcasting the news that the Sanitation Office is cooperating with the Disease Center to spread disinfectant and disinfectant powder in every corner of the city.

The director of the show had a very relaxed expression, as if the infectious disease this time was just a very common cold virus, and it would be completely resolved after a while.

I switched to several other news stations. I don’t know if it’s because of the wrong time. I didn’t see any related words such as Zhongshan City appearing on any station.

Xiao Mo intends to look online.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Xiao Mo walked around to the sofa, frowning as he looked at the mess.

I didn’t notice it for a while because I just woke up and my mind was confused. Only then did I realize that the child had made a mess in the living room at home. The coffee table and sofa were covered with screws, springs, chips, wires and other messy things.

"I didn't move your study."

Xiao Mo looked at the other half of the study, um, it was still the same, but... "I asked what are you doing?"

"It's well lit here."

"I'll ask again, what are you doing?" Xiao Mo paused every word.

The child kept busy with his two little hands, without raising his head, he said, "Aren't you going to receive the relief food?"

Uncle Xiao raised his hands in surrender: "Okay, I won't ask any more, but you have to clean up for me and have dinner here at night."

"Oh." The child answered casually and didn't know whether he heard it or not.

Xiao Mo walked towards half of his study room helplessly, his stomach was growling, he seemed to be getting more and more hungry, should he eat a few pieces of chocolate first?

While eating dark chocolate, he turned on his computer and typed in the words "Zhong Shan, infectious disease" in the search bar of Shenlong.com, and nearly [-] messages came out.

[-] pieces of information seem to be a lot, but there are not many of them that are really useful. Xiao Mo found a few that seemed to be reliable and looked through them.

He found that the Zhongshan City infectious disease incident did not arouse much reaction on the Internet. The climax of the hot comments came the day before yesterday, after a spokesperson surnamed Qian from the disease center gave a speech on the local TV station.

Some people also took pictures of the sick person and uploaded them on the Internet, but many people scolded them, many people doubted them, and very few people really cared about them. At most, some people asked what the disease was and whether it was contagious.It didn't cause panic among the people as some people feared.

Is someone deliberately concealing the danger of infectious diseases, or... the nerves of netizens are too thick?

Xiao Mo smiled, thinking that it was probably the latter reason.

Randomly flipped through a few more pages, and a blog diary caught his attention.

It was a blog with the ID "Zhongshan Mengduren", and the title was horrifying, "The virus gave him special functions".

Xiao Mo quickly clicked on the blog, this is a diary that I just wrote, and the time of posting was just 2 minutes ago.The diary is very short, the full text only has more than 600 words, but it makes him more and more shocked the more he reads it.

Posted by: Zhongshan Mengduren

Sunday, June 6, sunny, 19:14.

You will never believe what I saw! ! !

I'm still doubting my eyes! ! !

I told my wife, and my wife didn't believe it at all.Our neighbor has the special ability to produce metal after a serious illness! ! !

The thing is, my neighbor fell ill the night before, but this morning he returned safely from the community hospital.

We are all happy for him.Fortunately, during the outbreak of this new type of infectious disease, none of the three members of our family were infected.His parents are fine, but he is more unlucky.

The young man smiled happily. As soon as he came back, his parents took him to receive relief food.Hehe, by the way: I like relief food, it would be great if we could also send us the salary during the quarantine period.

So far everything is fine, we still think that the young man will be cured, which means that this new type of infectious disease should be fine. I was still telling my wife that the quarantine period will end in less than two days. He came knocking on our door suddenly, crying and saying that his son was sick again, and he was crying for pain in his hands, and asked me to go and have a look.

I was terrified, honestly.

Although I graduated from a pharmaceutical university, I really only know how to sell medicine and not see a doctor, but for the sake of my old neighbors, I decided to go and have a look.

It was this look that made me see a shocking anecdote! ! !

Do you believe it?I saw with my own eyes that the young man's right hand—that is, the hand he kept crying out for pain—was swollen and cracked in the center of the palm, and a small silvery particle fell out! ! !

That kind of luster and hardness is definitely not stone, but metal particles.I swear I'm not lying!I picked it up with medical forceps and watched it for at least 1 minute.

The most amazing thing is that after the metal particle popped out of his palm, his palm grew healed!

Can you believe it?It's a miracle!This is definitely one of the most amazing things in human history!Definitely more awesome than that foreign woman with a wire on her belly!

The whole family was shocked, and so was I. I don't know how I got back. I think I need to see an ophthalmologist and a neurologist. Maybe I was infected before, but I didn't know it myself...