To my frozen hometown

Chapter 55 Waiting is always the easiest thing

Johnson left work at nine o'clock this morning.

As a guard soldier of Greenhouse No. [-] in the west, he was on duty in front of the gate of the greenhouse again yesterday.

Counting the two homeless people who were driven away yesterday afternoon, he has turned away 32 people in the past month.

It made him so tired that even an all-night shift wouldn't make his spirits so sluggish.

Because he knew that he might be killing those people.

With the lights turned on in the morning, Johnson walked on the street and looked up at the towering walls and transparent dome of the greenhouse.

He can still see the sky, but he no longer has the feeling of looking at the sky.

I don't know when it started, Johnson felt that the greenhouse seemed to have changed.

It has become less warm, it has become less like a shelter for humans, and more like a prison.

It uses towering barriers to lock everyone's eyes, uses temporary stability to make people numb and depressed, and in the end, it will use resources that will eventually be exhausted to make people die in irresistible despair.

To borrow a phrase familiar to Johnson, it's like boiling a frog in warm water.

It is not clean and tidy, but it can make people who are slaughtered forget to struggle.

The ridiculous thing is that many people in the greenhouse know this, but they have no sense of struggle.

The exploration distance of the exploration team is getting closer and closer, and the work of the greenhouse guards is becoming more and more negligent. The research institute aimed at restoring human technology has also not produced any new results for an unknown period of time.

Including Johnson, they are all people who choose to lower their heads and deceive themselves in the current struggle.

It will be all right, everything will be all right.

Johnson said silently in his heart.

Even if he knew exactly what the real future should be like.

······

At the end of the dark age, the Greenhouse, as the new city-state, once carried all the hopes of mankind.

Now, however, it has become the longest-accumulated lesion of mankind.

The temporary warmth made too many people gradually forget the past resistance.

It also made too many people choose to "wait" for an effortless and less painful death.

······

At the Greenhouse Guards camp, Johnson collected his resources for the day as a Guardsman.

Today's resource pack is very good, and there is a small strawberry in it. He plans to take it home and give it to his daughter.

When leaving, the soldier saw one of his old friends resting at the gate of the camp.

"Paul, haven't you gone back yet?"

Stepping forward to ask, Johnson stopped his footsteps.

"Ah, nothing, just a sudden desire to sit here for a while."

Paul sat on a bench next to the camp, with half a stick of firewood in his mouth, and looked into the distance.

Seeing Johnson, he patted the seat next to him and asked aloud.

"Want to sit together?"

"..."

"Okay." Anyway, since he had nothing to do, Johnson agreed to Paul's invitation.

He sat down and looked in the direction Paul was looking at.

There was a scene of the city, in the pale light of the conservatory.

"This city is really magnificent." Paul said suddenly, smoking a cigarette.

"Yes." Johnson nodded. It is undeniable that human beings have really achieved great achievements in the past.

However, the two did not stay too long on the topic of the city.

Because after a few breaths, Paul asked again.

"How many groups of refugees have you driven away in Ximen?"

"32." Johnson replied slowly, and then added.

"Yesterday, I just drove away a woman and a child. They said they had no resources to go to the next greenhouse, so I told them to wait in the rubble until the storm was over."

"They may not survive." After a while of silence, Paul said softly.

"I know, so I hope I don't have to go to the ruins to clean up the corpses then."

Holding the resource pack in his hand, Johnson tried his best to keep his expression calm.

The pale light made this supposedly warm city look extremely cold.

After a few minutes, Paul finished his cigarette.

Putting out the cigarette butt between his fingers, he stood up and exhaled the last puff of smoke from his mouth.

"Tell me, how long can this greenhouse last like this?"

Johnson froze for a moment, then sighed, and sat on the bench and replied.

"Who knows, it can last for a year. At least from the current point of view, it should not have any problems in more than ten years."

"What about ten years from now?"

"..."

"talk later."

"Well, let's talk..."

Beside the bench, neither of them spoke anymore.

It seems that this is the current status of the greenhouse residents.

However, Johnson suddenly thought, is this really the meaning of the existence of the greenhouse?

Is this really the meaning of the people in the dark age, building this city-state with their lives?

Let the later people wait for their demise in this way?

Should, no.

It should carry a more important entrustment.

What this entrustment was, Johnson felt that he might know.

It's a pity he didn't dare to think about it.

Because that may be something that people of the previous era paid countless lives to pass on.

They roared in the dark, fought in blood, and wept bitterly in front of the wreckage.

The purpose is to hand over this possibility to the people of the next era.

Yet the people of this era have failed them.

Use numbness and cowardice, use selfishness and indifference.

······

Among the ruins, on the roof of a tall building.

Liu Yuan was standing on the edge of the roof, staring at the greenhouse in the distance.

Liz was behind her checking a relay while Al crouched aside, practicing aiming with his rifle.

Looking at the huge building in ruins, Liu Yuan seemed to remember something.

She remembered that when the first greenhouse was lit, it seemed to be in darkness.

At that time, it attracted everyone's attention, and then it burst into light like a star, making people cheer, shout and hug each other.

Back then everyone thought the world would be a better place again.

At that time, everyone felt that they had finally left hope for future generations, and the possibility of their survival and continuation.

At that time...

"Liu Yuan, what are you doing, come here and help me quickly." Suddenly, Liz's voice came from behind.

Liu Yuan blinked, regained consciousness, then gave a wry smile, turned and walked over.

She thought she should be thankful, because that kind of light did not completely dissipate after the darkness ended.

It's faded a lot, but it's clearly still there.

Because there are still people who are not willing to wait.

(End of this chapter)