Just as Wen Qian finished canning for herself and took a day off, lying on the bed around eleven o'clock in the morning, she seed to hear a gunshot.
She imdiately sat up, put on clothes and shoes, and took a telescope to listen for any movents at the window.
In that montary sound, Wen Qian then remained silent, but she didn't hear any other noises.
Wen Qian's wall was built quite high, so she quietly stuck her head out from the front by putting up a ladder, using a white veil to cover the telescope as she looked towards the Jade Mountain Range.
There was no way to see anything from the vast expanse of white.
Since there were no other abnormalities, Wen Qian wondered if she was just hearing things?
After all, it was possible to have auditory hallucinations when living alone for a long ti.
But what if it was real? Wen Qian thought it was better to be overcautious than careless.
The gunshot made Wen Qian guess that soone might be hunting.
What kind of ga would it be at this ti? A wild donkey or antelope? Or could it be a wild boar? Since the snow outside was heavy, Wen Qian had not checked the traps far away for many days.
Since she couldn't see anything, Wen Qian observed for a while longer but eventually gave up. However, she extended the ti she spent observing with the telescope each day.
The unchanging external environnt was actually safe for her; any sudden change would make her feel very uneasy.
She even wondered if one day soone would discover her, and how she would confront them.
After a long ti passed, Wen Qian didn't hear any similar sounds again, so it turned out to be a false alarm.
In a place unseen by Wen Qian, vultures were circling overhead at the location of the gunshot. It wasn't soone hunting there, but rather soone being killed.
Only separated by the mountains, although Wen Qian could hear the sound, she had no idea what had happened.
On both satellite maps and paper maps, the place where Wen Qian was located had no specific na, as it was unseen by people.
To ease her unease, she increased the ti for self-defense training every day.
Living alone, whenever she felt any physical or ntal discomfort or unease, she would take action imdiately.
She never ignored any changes in herself, as sotis neglecting small things could lead to bigger issues, which would be more troubleso to resolve later.
She took out the bows, arrows, and crossbows she had assembled before to practice aiming and shooting. In short, Wen Qian would do anything to put her mind at ease.
Fortunately, so far everything was safe and sound. Co to think of it, whether collecting information or gathering intelligence, people would eventually go to places with people or traces of human activity.
While she could believe soone going to the ranch, the possibility of them coming here was much lower.
In fact, before Wen Qian went to the ranch, several groups of people had already been there.
After it was abandoned, the condition of the buildings that Wen Qian saw was actually what was left after others had scavenged it clean.
The small fry that Wen Qian fished out from there couldn't survive the winter in her small pond at ho.
One morning, Wen Qian cooked a bowl of vegetable noodles. After eating, she washed the bowl outside with snow.
Having just finished eating and with her body still warm, she went up the mountain. She hadn't listened to the radio for several days, afraid of missing any news.
She used to listen during the twelve o'clock or hourly ti slots out of habit, but this ti she didn't, and then she heard the news about people attacking the granary.
The guards were injured, and the ringleaders were shot dead on the spot.
The news was brief, but the severity of the incident was likely understood by all listeners.
When people's petty theft was discovered, punishnt would be severe, let alone attacking the granary.
Moreover, the perpetrators weren't acting alone, but inciting a crowd. If not dealt with harshly, others might follow suit, putting the granary at risk.
Logically, protecting the food supply was of utmost importance, so the guards must have been strict. Wen Qian couldn't figure out why those people had to do such a thing.
For now, she could still get so news from the radio, proving that social order still maintained a certain level of stability. Otherwise, all she would hear would be static.
Far away in An Province, Fang Ya also heard the village chief's notice, warning them to be cautious of outlaws from elsewhere fleeing towards their area.
This made the villagers very anxious. Although there were more people in the village now, they were all honest folks. There might be argunts and fights, but outlaws were truly frightening.
Most people, even in this apocalyptic environnt, couldn't quickly transform into the kind of person capable of confronting outlaws.
Those ruthless and bloody-handed ones had already shown their viciousness and cruelty in a harmonious society.
However, good news ca soon after: so outlaws who went to a neighboring village were beaten to death by the villagers. It was a result of strength in numbers, and no one held the ordinary civilians responsible.
At this ti, there was no need to talk about excessive self-defense - those rioters would be executed even if caught.
It seed to have returned to a period of severe and swift punishnt for cris and offenses.
This behavior was reasonable. There was no longer ti and energy to slowly reform and rehabilitate those people. All efforts were focused on defending food security and allocating resources for heating and cultivation.
With the situation already so difficult, those who still chose to commit cris were simply asking for death.
For so reason, after hearing this news, Wen Qian's heart actually felt a little more at ease.
It ant that if she encountered bad people in the future, the psychological burden of self-defense would be much reduced.
In the cold winter, Wen Qian sat on a tree looking towards the distant desert.
From being able to receive many channels on the radio at first, it had gradually dwindled to two channels, which didn't even broadcast around the clock.
Wen Qian wondered if there would co a day when she couldn't receive any channels on the radio, would that an social order had completely collapsed?
That day would inevitably co if there was no progress in scientific research and developnt.
There was new progress related to seeds, not a new variety, but just the rediscovery of an old, forgotten variety.
Winter was getting longer, and people had to endure more extre cold while consuming more materials for heating.
Many people suffered frostbite on their hands, feet, or faces. By the ti the weather ward up, those scars had not faded, and before long, winter ca again, so many people's faces still bore the marks of frostbite.
Wen Qian rarely went outside in winter and protected her skin, so she didn't have any frostbite.
After coming down from the tree, Wen Qian headed towards ho. Every ti she returned from listening to the radio, she would put up a ladder on the back wall of her compound to enter, instead of going around to the front.
However, this habit saved her life.
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