The conditions in the park were far worse than those of the back mountains—this was the area subrged by the second year’s flood, and in the past few days, the floodwaters had receded, revealing its monstrous true form.
Beneath the riverbed lay nothing but mud and sludge, all sorts of foul-slling trash, poisonous insects, and moldy objects—you na it. It had all accumulated at the bottom, even blocking the roads.
From a distance, one could sll various pungent, sour odors—the stench of matter that had been rotting for a long ti, truly nauseating. Just as before the apocalypse, because the back mountain could not accommodate more people, so were relocated here.
Jing Shu never thought she would co to this place again. It seed that fate’s hand was always at her side.
"Dad, why don’t we just stay around here? Don’t drive the RV into the park? The floodwater in this park has just receded. Look at the mud pits around us; the RV might not make it through," Jing Shu said, her eyesight keen. The park, beautifully landscaped before the apocalypse, was now nothing but a dump.
The flood shelters were better than this place, but unfortunately, they were unsafe due to an earthquake that had occurred on the mountain, so people were still being relocated to this wetland park.
Mr. Jing frowned. "You two tidy up the things in the RV first, and be careful. I’ll go ask about the situation and then see where we can park."
After all, he was the man of the family and took charge when it mattered most.
That left Jing Shu and Mrs. Jing to straighten up the RV’s interior, where everything was scattered. Even the broken items were too precious to discard; Mr. Jing said he would find a way to fix them.
It was also fortunate that Grandma Jing and the fat chicken were together. Instead of Grandma Jing falling headfirst, the fat chicken fell first, and Grandma Jing’s head landed on the fat chicken. The fat chicken squawked twice but, being as stout as an ox, was perfectly fine. anwhile, Grandma Jing was so scared she couldn’t make a sound, and it took her a good while to recover.
Grandma Jing then rewarded the fat chicken with all the soybean at sauce that had spilled onto the ground. "Eat up, eat up. You saved Grandma’s life. You’re a good chicken; Grandma will give you an extra al today."
This made the fat chicken ecstatic and pleasantly surprised. With its intelligence, it realized that saving a family mber would earn it its favorite food! It resolved to be more observant from now on.
Beastn are never slaves! Unless food and board are provided!
The RV would still occasionally shake. Jing Shu, still worried, went upstairs to check on the Dostic Poultry. The dreaded sight of shattered pools didn’t materialize. Only so water had spilled, and a few fish were hopping on the ground, which Jing Shu quickly picked up and tossed back in.
The Dostic Poultry’s enclosure was in an even more dire state. This was the first real test for the RV in a disaster. A sheep’s horns had smashed into a partition, poking a large hole; the sheep bleated innocently to the side. The scene was chaotic, with chickens flapping about and dogs agitated; a pig had landed on a chicken, crushing it to death. Jing Shu picked up the dead chicken, deciding to make Beggar’s Chicken with it later.
Even the rabbits had jumped onto the roof and were now distressed and unable to get down, looking pathetic. Jing Shu caught them and brought them down.
Overall, the Dostic Poultry room was a complete ss, with chicken droppings everywhere, even plastered on the walls.
Jing Shu sighed deeply and began cleaning swiftly using the Magic Cube Space. She then handed the damaged partition to Mr. Jing to see if the Dostic Poultry room could be renovated, preferably with each animal in a cage. Otherwise, every ti there was an earthquake, the Dostic Poultry would fly into chaos. This ti they hadn’t gotten out, but if they burst into her room next ti, she’d truly have nowhere to cry.
My brain must have been kicked by a donkey at the ti, thinking I should bring Dostic Poultry onto the RV! Now, I fear we won’t even make it past the third year’s earthquake, let alone the great migration in the fifth year. Over such a long journey, there are bound to be unexpected incidents of chickens flying and dogs jumping.
It wasn’t long before Mr. Jing returned and roughly explained the situation. The earthquake in the back hills was so severe it had beco uninhabitable, so those people had also been moved here. Nowhere outside was safe anymore—Xuanwu Lake Park was currently the only place without an epicenter or earthquakes. No matter how dirty or dilapidated, we had to get inside for shelter.
Moreover, Mr. Jing also said that the staff there were very enthusiastic and had even told him that those driving cars or RVs would have exclusive VIP spots, all freshly cleared. Earthquakes were still happening frequently outside, so for safety’s sake, it was better to drive the RV inside.
"Alright, as long as we don’t have to live next to that garbage dump, anything goes," Jing Shu sighed. What was to co had indeed co. In her previous life, due to the hasty evacuation, so hadn’t even had ti to put on clothes; naturally, they hadn’t brought anything.
Flooding wasn’t as imdiately critical, but earthquakes were life-threatening. Everyone scattered and ran without a second thought. In her past life, she had suffered miserably from bites by rotten corpse insects in the stiff, damp quagmire. These insects sucked blood continuously, like mosquitoes by the water in sumr, except mosquito bites were itchy, whereas rotten corpse insect bites caused swelling and pain.
The tall German MAN RV had already driven into Xuanwu Lake Park before the people from the back hills arrived. Guards were already posted at the entrance, and bright lights shone on the RV, stopping it in its tracks.
Jing Shu and Mr. Jing got out of the RV. Two inspectors stood at the gate. Mr. Jing pointed at the vehicle and said with a smile, "Officer, this is the RV; I just need to pay 100 Virtual Coins to get through, right?"
The lead inspector frowned. "Uncle, the RV you ntioned earlier isn’t this big. Entry is free for pedestrians. Small cars are 30 Virtual Coins, large cars 50, and standard RVs 100. But yours is so big it’ll be 200. We charge based on the space occupied. Otherwise, if everyone brought such a large vehicle, where would the people arriving later go? Besides, we even cleaned up a spot for you. If not, try parking it in the impoverished area and see."
Mr. Jing pondered for a mont. "As long as it’s an official governnt charge, we can accept it."
"Don’t worry," the inspector reassured. "Just scan the Wu City Governnt’s unified paynt code. It’s verifiable with big data."
As long as it was ntioned that verification with ’big data’ was available, Mr. Jing could accept it wasn’t a personal fee.
After Mr. Jing paid the fee, he felt a pang of regret; ten months of his hard-saved pocket money had vanished just like that...
Jing Shu felt her horizons had widened. In her past life, she had walked in on foot, but in this life, she had to pay a 200-Virtual Coin toll. The fee might not be unreasonable, but she still felt sothing was off. And why were these people so enthusiastic? Probably up to no good!
"Hey, Xiao Wang," the lead inspector said, "take this uncle to VIP spot number 3, and then go over our rules with him."
"Alright, Boss. Follow ."
...
The spot was indeed decent: a parking lot from the pre-apocalypse Xuanwu Lake Park. It was open with no buildings around, so there was no fear of earthquakes. The area had indeed been roughly cleared of trash, although there was still a thick layer of mud on the ground, and it SQUELCHED underfoot.
The parking lot was square, its parking lines long since faded. The space was roughly the size of a soccer field.
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