End of the World

There were traces of a campfire on the ground in the cave, left behind a long time ago. Several people had built a fire at the original location.

"Rumble"

The sky was flashing with lightning and the rain was pouring down. The water vapor provided by the forest would eventually return to the forest and enter the next cycle.

Tonight will be a very gloomy and dark night, without stars or moon, and the only things that can be seen are the mountains that only appear when the sky flashes with the wrath of thunder.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, the sound of water was echoing in the valley, and a gust of wind blew up the dead branches and leaves on the campfire.

Wu Bin is a little worried. With this heavy rain, he hopes there won’t be any flash floods or something like that!

They could make a fire but couldn't cook, so the five people could only make do with dry food.

Half an hour later, the rain eased. Chen Guangjun put on a raincoat, went out in the dark, cut a few branches, and placed them across the entrance of the cave. No one knew whether there were any ferocious beasts in Qishan.

Someone has to be on duty at night to take care of the campfire. If there is a fire, wild animals will not dare to approach easily. Wu Bin is on duty in the first half of the night, and Chen Guangjun is on duty in the second half.

After a tiring day, even though my sleeping position was not very comfortable, I fell asleep quickly due to the hypnotic sound of rain outside.

The next day, the sun was shining. The sky cleared up after the rain, and today's sun was particularly bright.

The river valley was filled with a thin layer of mist in the morning. The scenery in the distance was a little hazy. The birds on the branches had already chirped non-stop. Several people got up almost at the same time.

According to Chen Guangjun's estimation, the five people are still about 20 kilometers away from their destination. If the road conditions are the same as yesterday, they will arrive at the earliest tomorrow.

In order to speed up the process, Wu Bin gave up the idea of ​​moving along the river bank and instead headed straight to the power station by land.

Chen Guangjun spread out the map and used a compass to check the direction so that he would not lose his way even if he left the river. He Yuxin paid attention to the sun in the sky. If there was no compass, she would need the sun to determine the direction.

The vegetation away from the river is not as lush as that in the river valley, and the dead leaves on the ground indicate that no one has ever set foot here. Fortunately, this is not a rainforest, so footprints will be left but one will not sink.

Chen Guangjun was in front, holding a hatchet to clear the way and chopping away the plants blocking the way. The forest was sparsely populated, and the timid might be frightened.

The five people climbed up a hillside with difficulty. They could clearly feel that there were fewer plants in front of them, and they were all tall trees.

The plants growing in the shade of the trees are few and small, probably because there is not enough sunlight.

“It’s a little weird here…”

Chen Guangjun walked forward and looked around.

"You noticed it too?" Wu Bin said. This place seemed like a watershed between two environments.

"Um!"

Chen Guangjun walked to the top of the slope and looked down. At the bottom of the slope was a winding river with gurgling water flowing, forming a flat sandy beach on the ground, and there were rolling mountains in the distance.

Chen Guangjun frowned and said, "What should we do now?"

He asked the people around him.

"I don't know either..." Dafeng just shook his head.

"I didn't expect it to be so difficult to walk on." Wu Bin pointed forward. There was a small cliff at the bottom of the slope.

Several people were frowning and wandering around.

Chen Guangjun stood on the top of the slope and looked at the scenery in the distance. If he wanted to move forward, he would have to take a detour.

At noon, the temperature rose under the scorching sun. The people on the road were sweating and cooking under a tree. Since they were a bit far from the river, they could not cook the food immediately.

With the help of Yan Nuoling's wooden bow, Chen Guangjun caught two wild pheasants.

After eating and drinking, they continued on their journey. Not long after, they found a human skeleton under a pile of dead leaves. It had completely turned to bones, and all the clothes on the body had rotted away.

There was even some moss crawling on the bones, which showed that they were very old, at least not after the apocalypse.

It should have been buried under leaves, as the heavy rain last night washed away the leaves.

Dafeng also found a broken climber's backpack, a mobile phone, a power bank, a compass, and a nylon-covered mountaineering pick in the surrounding area.

The model of the mobile phone is two or three years old. Among all the other things, only the compass and the mountaineering pick are still usable. The deceased should be a hiker.

Time passed as the five of them were on the road. When the sun was setting, they found a leeward slope to spend the night. Chen Guangjun spread out the map. They had walked more than ten kilometers today and according to their progress they should be able to arrive tomorrow afternoon.

The night in the forest is exceptionally dark, and the stars in the sky are exceptionally bright.

Since the end of the world, with less pollution from human industry, the starry sky is cleaner than before. Wu Bin saw such a starry sky when he was a child in his rural hometown, but he didn't know when it disappeared.

After traveling for two consecutive days, the group fell asleep quickly.

At dawn, the singing of birds in the forest is the bell of nature, and there is a hint of coolness in the woods in the early morning.

After a simple breakfast and putting on our bags, we all became more motivated as we thought about how close we were to the power station and how we could spend the night there.

Finally, at noon, the five people arrived at the outskirts of the power station. A barbed wire fence appeared in front of them with a high voltage electricity sign hanging on it. If there was no one in the power station, the power should have been cut off.

The five people did not bring pliers. Chen Guangjun climbed up first to deal with the anti-climbing wire, and then asked the four people to climb up carefully.

The barbed wire was three or four meters high, and the five people took a lot of effort to climb over it and get inside.

After walking across the barbed wire for a few minutes, the five people heard the sound of flowing water. They came out of the woods and saw a dam. The dam was not very big, only half as wide as the river and about ten meters high.

"It's smaller than expected, but it's enough for us!" said Chen Guangjun.

"Well, that's just right for us!" He Yuxin nodded in agreement.

The five people did not hesitate and went through the passage next door and went up to the dam. The dam was only wide enough for one car to pass through.

"The air here is very good. Although a little humid, it is much better than in the city!" He Yuxin exclaimed.

Chen Guangjun also nodded in agreement, and then looked at the people around him: "What should we do now? Let's find a place to rest for a while, and then look around to see if there is anything special!"

"I think about this! Let's go to the reservoir first to see if there is any food!" He Yuxin suggested. It was almost time for dinner.

"Okay!" Chen Guangjun nodded in agreement.

A few minutes later, when they arrived at the reservoir, the five of them were all surprised, because this reservoir was really... really... it was like a paradise on earth.

"Wow, so beautiful!" He Yuxin exclaimed.

"It's really beautiful!" Yan Nuoling also exclaimed in surprise.

"The environment is really good!" Chen Guangjun nodded in agreement.

The small reservoir formed by the dam has extremely clear water because of its running water. Many unknown flowers grow on the beaches on both sides of the reservoir, which are vying for beauty and are pleasing to the eye. The beaches are covered with plush grass, which is the most real carpet of nature.

At the end of the reservoir, two white waterfalls, one large and one small, fall vertically, as if they could not resist the scenery and plunge into the reservoir. The water washes the stone slabs on the shore, making a rustling sound, and the weeds and plants on the shore flutter in the wind.

"It would be nice if there was a pavilion there so we could enjoy the waterfall and the scenery over here!" He Yuxin pointed in the direction of the waterfall. Not far away there was a huge round rock, like an observation deck.

Yan Nuoling nodded, agreeing with her point of view, while Dafeng looked at the waterfall and said, "Why don't they just install the generator on the waterfall? Wouldn't that save trouble?"

He Yuxin rolled her eyes at him. Would he be able to speak happily?

Wu Bin didn't expect this guy to be so talented, and said, "Forget it then!"

"There are big fish in the water!" Chen Guangjun said seemingly unintentionally. Dafeng's eyes lit up when he heard it. For him, filling his stomach was the most important thing, so he quickly asked, "Where is it?"

The two of them used fishing nets to catch fish, and Wu Bin accompanied the two women, looking at the scenery and enjoying the quiet and beautiful time, feeling that all the tiredness had disappeared.

Set up the pot and start cooking food. Then thoroughly check the entire power station in the afternoon. If there are no accidents, we can start the return journey tomorrow and settle the fleet in as soon as possible.

Dafeng caught three fish, one big carp and two crucian carps, which was enough for five people to have two meals.

I cooked the carp into soup, but since I only had a round pan, I couldn’t fry or stir-fry the fish, so I could only grill it.

The power station here is divided into two parts, both surrounded by barbed wire.

One is the functional area and the other is the living area, which are located on both sides of the reservoir respectively. The area circled below the dam is where several people come in, which may be a preparatory development area. As for the area above the waterfall, I don’t know. In short, the power station as a whole looks like a two-level staircase.

There was nothing much to say about the living area, so the five of them went straight to the functional area, which was on the west side. There were only two two-story buildings in the functional area. From the air, most of it was blocked by tall trees.

To enter the functional area, one has to pass through two gates. The convoy will occupy this place later, so the five people did not destroy it and chose to climb over it.

When I entered the functional area, I found that the outer wall had been replaced with a five-meter-high concrete structural wall, and was no longer separated by barbed wire.

There are only two lonely buildings in a huge functional area. Obviously, the main body of the generator station is all underground. The military built the power station after transforming the river valley. The five people were shocked by this move, knowing that this is deep in the mountains and forests.

The entrance was a code door, which was locked, blocking the five people.

After a careful inspection, Chen Guangjun concluded that even with explosives it might not be possible to open it.

He Yuxin pointed upwards and asked if it was possible to enter from the roof.

Chen Guangjun said that he could give it a try, which required climbing up the tree next to him and then swinging over like Tarzan.

When Chen Guangjun climbed halfway up the tree, he found that it was covered with anti-climbing iron spikes. As you can imagine, the military had already taken precautions.

Wu Bin could only exclaim in amazement. If the code door loses power, how will the army open it?

Dafeng said that if he had a sledgehammer he would just smash the wall in.

Wu Bin felt that this wall was difficult to break down, as there might be steel plates embedded inside.

After walking around the building, the five people were all at a loss. If they had tools, they could have tried again.

The five people couldn't get in, so they could only go to the living area on the east side. There was no access control in the living area, and here, the five people finally saw the gate of the power station, a huge iron door.