Chapter 28

The people in the patrol looked at each other, and finally looked at the captain. The captain suddenly looked at the people on the street.

There were workers hanging on the wall to install security windows, a family of three out for a walk, residents going to and from supermarkets... At this moment, many people were lamenting that the strong wind had blown away the heat.

The captain quickly made a decision: "This wind is a bit demonic. It is better to believe that it is there than to believe it is not there. Let's split up and tell the people to hide quickly. Don't hide in the direction of Chaowang Street."

After speaking, he picked up the car's walkie-talkie and contacted the nearby patrol team.

When people on the street heard the shouting from the trumpet, they subconsciously looked at the sky. There was neither lightning nor thunder, and they were immediately doubtful.

People with cautious personalities obediently look for places to hide, while others always only believe what they want to believe and continue to do their own thing indifferently.

To put it bluntly, some people will not know fear until they witness death with their own eyes.

But soon, some of these people started to get scared. Because following the strong wind, thunder and lightning flashed and rumbled in the night sky, as if something was brewing.

As soon as the strange sign appeared in the night sky, Qiao Xi rushed to the green belt and went straight to the entrance of the underground garage of the office building. When she reached the ground, she was slightly relieved, and the other half was worried about the fire on Chaowang Street.

Is the fire out?

Will it spread here?

Qiao Xi parked the car with the front of the car facing the entrance and the headlights on.

People in a hurry continued to hide in. Some people hid because they saw the situation was wrong. The community's sincere words and sincerity worked in the end; some people heard the patrol team's reminder.

The young man who was forcibly pulled down by his family looked suspiciously at the patrolling soldiers who finally took refuge: "Thunderstorm? Lightning strikes, hail, and tornadoes. Why don't I believe it?"

The patrolling soldiers had not seen it either, so they told the truth: "I'm not sure. You can be careful. After all, your life is at stake."

The young man curled his lips and said in a neither loud nor soft voice: "I'm not sure you still shouted so loudly. It scared my dad and almost knocked him into the flower bed."

The patrolling soldier smiled good-naturedly and said nothing.

Qiao Xi saw that the middle-aged couple standing behind the boy not only did not stop, but looked at the patrolling soldiers dissatisfiedly, as if blaming them. Sure enough, behind the naughty child there must be a bear parent.

"It's not loud, can you hear it? If you didn't hear that there was an accident, do you think it's because of the small sound?"

"How can you talk like this?" The naughty child's mother was unhappy and glared at Qiao Xi, "Whoever has an accident, who do you think has an accident?"

Qiao Xi's mother was not happy either: "Why are your children talking? People kindly remind you to run for your lives, but it's better for you to just slap them if you don't appreciate them."

"That's right," someone started, and the rest of the people started to chime in. There are only a few elites who don't understand Si Liu, and the vast majority of people can tell the difference between good and bad. "It's not just for you to hear me loudly. Who knew you guys couldn't help it?" Scared."

"Good intentions are not rewarded. Don't let your soldiers' hearts get cold. If they hadn't been patrolling day and night, you would be living in peace now. You have to be conscientious."

The more talkative people said, "I think Brother Jun is being alarmist. OK, the exit is right there. If you want to leave, go quickly. No one will stop you."

Several young soldiers had not yet mastered Kung Fu, and they were a little suffocated at first, but now they finally felt relieved, and the corners of their mouths were raised quietly.

You said something to me, which made the mother of the naughty child turn red and white: "My son is still young, and I didn't mean it."

The aunt in the floral dress rolled her eyes: "Looks like he is sixteen or seventeen years old, not young. My grandson knows how to say thank you when he is six or seven years old."

Seeing that his family had made public outrage, the naughty child's father apologized and said, "The child is ignorant and ignorant. We will blame him later."

At that moment, there was a shocking thunder outside, which was deafening.

The naughty child suddenly turned pale and hugged his mother: "Mom, it's such a loud thunder!"

The naughty mother hugged her fat son, who was half a head taller than herself, and gently patted his back to comfort him: "Don't be afraid, good baby. Don't be afraid, good baby. Mom is here, and dad is too."

To be honest, this scene is a bit eye-catching. If it were a six or seven-year-old child, it would be quite normal, but for such a big boy huddled in the arms of his skinny mother, the scene was so beautiful that no one dared to look at it.

"I have never seen such a big thunder." Some people swallowed their saliva and couldn't help but feel glad that they listened to the advice. Regardless of whether there were scary situations such as lightning strikes, hail, and tornadoes, this thunder alone was scary enough.

At this time, in a shopping mall one kilometer away, staff who noticed the weather change notified the leaders, who immediately ordered to sound the alarm bell. At that moment, someone held a loudspeaker and directed the summer vacationers in the shopping mall to take action.

Some people couldn't figure out the situation and lay there blankly.

Some people don't take it seriously and think it's a big deal.

Some people hurriedly squeezed down, causing people to yell and curse.

The leader almost burst into tears. He had seen photos of scenes after thunderstorms in southern cities, as if they had been bombed by planes. Although not every thunderstorm will be accompanied by lightning and hail, once it occurs and there is no way to avoid it, people will really die. Many, many people will die.

There is a glass roof above this shopping mall, and the stainless steel protective net fence is only half installed. If hail comes, the leader will be excited and roar: "Why are you standing there? Line up in an orderly manner and go down!"

There are still many people in the mall who have not had time to move to a safe place. There are too many people and they dare not cut off the power easily. Until the power supply was destroyed by lightning, the surrounding area fell into darkness, and the panicked crowd became a complete mess.

Immediately afterwards, hailstones fell from the sky, smashing the glass, breaking the sunshade curtain, and hitting the crowd. The people who were hit lay on the ground uncertain whether they were alive or dead, and their relatives and friends were crying in panic.

The people around him changed from their previous hesitation and crazily squeezed in, and no one noticed if they stepped on him. Soon, more and more people were carried forward by the crowd, and more and more people were under their feet, and they could no longer get up.

No matter where you are, there are stubborn people.

The strong wind brought a long-lost coolness. People who had been hot for more than a month couldn't help but walk to the balcony.

The property management staff used loudspeakers to shout to turn off the power in the home and go to the underground garage. The people on the balcony did not want to move. It was too painful to run up the 26 flights of stairs. They had to run up again when they turned around. This rubbish property cannot even guarantee the power supply for the elevator.

He lay on the balcony railing, letting the strong wind blow his hair, looking at the big trees swaying in the wind, and let out a sigh of relief.

He should enjoy such a comfortable wind for a while longer. When thunder and rain started, he would hide in the bathroom. That bathroom is a secret guard, isn't it the so-called safe house they say? Why bother going to the underground garage when you're close? I'm such a clever little guy.

He raised the corner of his mouth proudly, and a bolt of lightning suddenly lit up in the dark night sky. It was a thick lightning bolt, like a giant python, rushing towards the world with its teeth and claws, choosing to devour everyone.

The person on the balcony only had time to let out a short scream, convulsed and fell to the ground.

People hiding at home are looking for any safe room away from the windows, and the once-disliked secret storage room has become the last safe haven.

The family trembled and hid in the small room, hearing the earth-shattering thunder and the crashing and cracking sounds. Every sound was frightening.

People in the open field who had not had time to hide in safe areas screamed and ran as hard as they could into the building.

The middle-aged woman, whose face was covered with blood, protected her daughter wearing a bicycle helmet and ran towards the underground parking lot. Seven meters, six meters, five meters - a piece of hail hit her back, and she staggered under the inertia. forward. At the last moment, she used all her strength to push her daughter in front of her and push her daughter into the underground parking ramp. The young girl who lost her center of gravity screamed and rolled down.

Huge hailstones fell densely. The middle-aged woman who fell to the ground endured the severe pain and crawled forward while looking worriedly at her daughter who was rolling down. Until two green figures caught her daughter, she curled her mouth in relief. All her strength dissipated at this moment, and she lay motionless on the spot, her eyes still looking straight in the direction of her daughter.

"Mom! Mom!" The young girl wanted to rush forward, but was firmly grabbed by the soldier's arm. She was about to yell, but she saw two soldiers holding anti-riot shields rushing out. One of them grabbed her mother's hand and dragged her in.

"Mom!" The young girl cried and rushed forward, holding her bloody mother in panic. "Mom, how are you, how are you! Speak, don't scare me, who will save my mother, mother!" "

"Little girl, let go, don't shake your mother, I used to be a doctor." Xi Jingyun quickly stopped and motioned to the young girl to gently put down the injured middle-aged woman.

Qiao Xi, who took out the medical kit from the space in the car, rushed over and placed the medical kit next to Xi Jingyun.

However, they still could not save the middle-aged woman. She was hit in the head by the hail, and half of her skull was dented.

The young girl cried heartbrokenly while holding her mother's body, which made many people in the parking lot sore. Apart from pity, I am glad that I hid in time.

More and more hailstones rolled in along the garage ramp. Qiao Yuanshan picked up a complete hailstone. He couldn't hold it in his hand. He couldn't help but gasp. Such a big hailstone would cause so many casualties.

When he looked up and saw his daughter standing at the entrance of the passage, Qiao Yuanshan was frightened and went over to pull his daughter: "Why are you standing at the entrance? Come back."

Qiao Xi was watching to see if the fire was over. Adding hail to the fire would be hell mode. He would either be burned to death or crushed to death. Looking around at the other people in the dark, there was water, gas masks, and oxygen tanks in the space. She was 80% sure that she could protect her parents in the sea of ​​​​fire, but it would be very troublesome to have so many people present, and she was even more worried about leaving hidden dangers.

"It's okay. It's far away and can't be hit. I'll see if the fire comes over."

Qiao Yuanshan comforted his daughter: "It's seven or eight kilometers away. Didn't you say that the hail will usually stop in about two hours? Even if the fire comes in our direction, it won't burn this side of the city in two hours."

It makes sense, but the end of the world doesn't make sense. What if a tornado comes? It's not like she hasn't encountered it before. In today's world, only humans can't think of it, and nature can't do it.

Qiao Xi still stood at the entrance and paid attention to the situation outside.

Thirty minutes later, lightning and thunder stopped in the sky. After another hour, the wind slowed down, the hail became smaller, and stopped completely after a few minutes.

The world became very quiet again, as if nothing happened.

Qiao Xi's heart finally fell back into his stomach. The threat of hail was lifted, and even if the fire came, there was still room for escape. She quickly walked out of the parking lot and onto the ground, where she stood frozen.

The burning high-rise buildings a few kilometers away are eye-catching. You can clearly see the fireworks and billowing black smoke, lighting up half of the night sky. In the night, it is particularly thrilling.

Hail was also raging on Chaowang Street. Because of this, they were unable to concentrate on putting out the fire. They could only watch the fire surge under the strong wind, igniting everything.

To make matters worse, an electrical appliance in a house caused a fire due to a lightning strike.

The two ignition points are connected in a line, forming a volcanic sea of ​​​​fire.

When the patrolling soldiers who ran up saw this, their expressions changed in horror, and they loudly reminded the people: "Quickly, get as far away from here as possible."

While the voice was still speaking, the person was already rushing towards the direction of the sea of ​​fire. The road was covered with hail and debris, making it difficult to drive, so we had to run.

The people who came out a few steps behind were so frightened that their faces turned pale. The lady in the flower skirt pointed at the night sky and yelled: "God, you are not going to let us live anymore. It rained so much hail and set off such a big fire. Do you want to force us to death?" ?"

Qiao Xi returned to the parking lot. There were still people inside, and the cars could not be taken away. There were simply too many cars, so he would not feel bad if they were burned. She took away the battery in the trunk, and then took out three backpacks, which contained some emergency supplies to prepare for unexpected situations. She walked past the young girl who was holding her mother's body crazily, and paused: "There was a big earthquake three or four kilometers away. The fire may come, get out of here quickly. Your mother is trying her best to save you, and I definitely hope you live well. "

The young girl's eyes moved: "What about my mother, my mother?"

"The living are more important than the dead. Don't let your mother die in vain." Qiao Xi put down a head-mounted flashlight and a bottle of water and left quickly.

Back outside, she handed the backpack to her parents and asked them to put on head-mounted flashlights for night walking: "Let's go to the reservoir."

When the fire got there, it proved that the fire was out of control and it was obviously no longer appropriate to go home. The area of ​​lakes in the city is too small, the largest is only 2 square kilometers, while the area of ​​suburban reservoirs is as high as 180 square kilometers. Go there first, and then decide whether to hide further away or take an inflatable rubber boat to the center of the reservoir based on the intensity of the fire.

"Reservoir?" The aunt in the flower skirt who was scolding God passionately looked at Qiao Xi sensitively.

Qiao Xi told the truth: "I'm afraid I can't control the fire."

The aunt in the flower skirt's cheeks twitched, but she couldn't stop talking, but her heartbeat was as loud as a drum. She looked straight at the red sky, her heart sinking uncontrollably.

The family of three quickly set off, and everything they could see was a mess.

The glass windows of high-rise buildings along the street were smashed to pieces, and some buildings still had scorch marks from lightning strikes. The road was covered with hail, as well as vehicles, broken glass, trash cans, billboards, big trees, benches... and bodies.

Xi Jingyun used to be a doctor and had seen a lot of life and death, so it was okay. However, it was the first time for Qiao Yuanshan to face so many tragic corpses, and his expression was very ugly.

As they walked, they encountered a large group of people rushing out of the subway station in a panic. The leaders inside made a prompt decision and decided to urgently evacuate the people who were seeking refuge from the summer heat. They waited until the heat came over before running away. It was not easy to evacuate tens of thousands of people.

Upon seeing this, residents in residential buildings along the way ran out one after another with large and small bags to join the large transfer team.

There were too many people walking in the same direction and there was no way to avoid them. Qiao Xi held Xi Jingyun in one hand and Qiao Yuanshan in the other, for fear of being scattered by the crowd. Although everyone has a wireless walkie-talkie in their backpack, they cannot be contacted beyond a certain range. In this case, losing contact is very dangerous.

Xi Jingyun stared at the depressed and dilapidated streets and the panicked crowd, and suddenly asked: "Do we look like we are fleeing from famine?"

She thought of the movie "194X" she watched a few days ago. It was really, really real and extremely tragic. In a trance, reality and the movie overlapped, and an unspeakable fear surged into my heart.

"It's not that bad." Qiao Yuanshan quickly comforted, "It's just a transfer. Don't scare yourself. The fire may not be able to burn here. I just want peace of mind."

Qiao Xi shook Xi Jingyun's hand and said firmly: "It's nothing even if it means running away. As long as we are together as a family, we can start over wherever we go."

Xi Jingyun looked sideways at her daughter, and then at her husband on the left of her daughter, her anxious heart slowly calming down. Yes, as long as the family is together, we are not afraid anywhere.

"Mom, what are those uncles and aunts doing?" A childish voice came from the side.

The little girl lying on her father's back looked curiously at her mother next to her. The mother, who was dragging her suitcase, moved her mouth. She didn't know how to explain the scene in front of her young daughter - many people were looting the supermarket.

The supermarket was badly damaged by hail. The people trapped inside waited for the hail to stop and took advantage of the chaos to grab a large amount of merchandise and leave. If there were one, there would be two. There were not enough security personnel.

Darkness and chaos will amplify people's courage. When passers-by and nearby residents see this, more and more people join in the looting series.

Soon, people in the transfer team also joined them, and the number doubled. Everyone was scrambling for fear that they would not be able to grab good things if they were late.

No matter how much the military and police shouted, it was of no avail.

Qiao Yuanshan's eyes were complicated, they were all people driven crazy by this fucked up world.

Qiao Xi pulled his parents to quicken their pace. After walking a hundred meters, they heard several loud gunshots.

If you are too soft, you have to be tough. After the military and police fired warning shots, the chaos finally subsided a little.

Qiao Xi ignored the chaos behind him and just wanted to leave the thunderstorm-stricken area as soon as possible. Then he found a place to take out his car and headed to the suburbs as quickly as possible.

After walking for a while, we finally walked out of the disaster area. Separated by a thin line, one side is riddled with holes, while the other side is just dew after a long drought, revealing a sense of absurd separation.

People coming out of the subway station go to another summer resort, and people coming out of residential buildings subconsciously follow suit. Everyone has a herd mentality.

The family of three went to look for an empty underground parking lot. After finding it, they took out their off-road vehicle.

After getting in the car and walking for more than an hour, Qiao Yuanshan and Xi Jingyun both breathed a sigh of relief. They were really a little tired. Time is not forgiving. It seems that they will have to exercise more in the future to not slow down their daughter.

Qiao Xi, who noticed this scene in the rearview mirror, felt heartbroken. His parents have been so pampered these years: "Mom and dad, what do you want to eat?"

The two of them had no appetite, and there seemed to be still bloody corpses in front of them. But if you don't eat, you won't have enough energy, and you won't be able to run fast if there's another accident later.

Xi Jingyun said: "I just ate a piece of beef jerky. I'm not hungry. Give me a cup of coffee to cheer me up. Forget it, I don't want the coffee. Let's get some mangosteens." He drank a bottle of mineral water along the way and drank coffee again. It is inconvenient to go to the toilet.

Qiao Xi still gave her coffee and a big bag of various fruits including mangosteens. Knowing her mother's concerns, she said, "Drink if you want. If it's convenient, just park the car. There's still some time." She has prepared a portable toilet that can be used in the car.

Qiao Yuanshan, who only drank water and didn't eat anything the whole way, asked for a box of leek and egg fried dumplings, and Qiao Xi gave him an extra box of milk.

Xi Jingyun warned: "Eat some yourself."

Qiao Xi took a piece of seafood pizza and ate it.

There was a distance from the sea of ​​​​fire, and there was no large-scale escape. There were no cars on the road, and we arrived at the suburbs smoothly.

In the dark and uninhabited areas of the countryside, Qiao Xi changed his off-road vehicle into a RV and drove all the way to the reservoir.

There were many people and cars next to the reservoir. There were tents of various sizes scattered about, and there were even a few barbecue grills emitting aroma.

The relatively cool reservoir has become a summer resort, attracting surrounding residents to come and enjoy the cool weather. Many people come here specifically to swim, but they have to do so secretly. Because this reservoir is the source of drinking water for Beijing City, swimming is prohibited. At this moment, there were staff wearing red armbands patrolling back and forth with loudspeakers, and there were also people patrolling the water in boats.

Qiao Xi found an open space away from the crowd and parked his car. He looked at his watch. It was three-thirty in the morning. Everything that needs to be done is done, and all that's left is to wait for the fire to be extinguished or burned over.