NOVPUB57: Chapter 45 Strolling
57 -45 Strolling
Gu Yanlin left, and Chu Guodong brought out his bicycle, leisurely moving down the stairs.
He pedaled and quickly caught up with the main troop ahead.
Chu Guodong’s injuries had almost fully healed, and starting from today, he had officially ended his sick leave and returned to his work position.
According to the regulations, the whole team should have moved to the Songshan District barracks, but since the barracks were still being renovated, Squad 532 would continue living in Building 10 for a while until the renovation was completed.
Barracks Canteen Entrance
Chu Guodong stood at the entrance, counting the people running inside, nodding his head in satisfaction.
Good, not a single person was late.
Even the newly joined Gu Yanlin, who had been delayed for some time earlier, was the third to arrive, which pleased Chu Guodong even more.
Although the breakfast at the army canteen wasn’t as good as the ones at home, it was still considered a rare luxurious breakfast in this post-apocalyptic world.
A bowl of steaming white porridge, steamed buns with an unlimited supply but with no waste allowed, and pickles to go with the porridge.
This once ordinary breakfast for a normal family was now out of reach for most families.
Most could only nibble on the free white steamed buns provided by the government with hot water.
Worth mentioning, thanks to the last time Gu Yanlin’s Building 10 ice-picking team discovered some resources, a few jars of salted duck eggs were found in a corner of the pile, surprisingly not smashed by the collapsed building.
Due to the small quantity, they were not distributed as relief supplies, but instead sent to the army canteen.
Gu Yanlin was lucky; today was the last day salted duck eggs were provided.
One jab of the chopsticks and out oozed the sun-colored, slightly red sheen of egg yolk, a delicious rarity when paired with white porridge.
As Gu Yanlin ate, he thought to himself why they hadn’t thought of stockpiling some salted duck eggs in the first place.
Fortunately, they had stored quite a few duck eggs, so he could go back and ask his brother-in-law to learn how to pickle some.
After breakfast, the day’s tasks began.
Squad 532’s current duty was still leading the work team, which was relatively leisurely.
Gu Yanlin, on his first day in the squad, did not participate in the tasks but instead received special training from Chu Guodong to familiarize himself with all the rules of the military in the shortest possible time.
Back to the Gu Family.
Gu Yanzhi and Song Zhao woke up quite late.
By the time they got up, Gu Yanlin had already finished a round of basic training and was now learning how to fold a tofu-block quilt.
Gu Yanlin, who had hardly ever folded a quilt from childhood to adulthood, was filled with regret.
Why had he thought of joining the army?
Heaven knows how many times his quilt had been overturned by Chu Guodong.
Unlike Gu Yanlin’s despondency, Gu Yanzhi had slept very well and woke up in an excellent mood.
“Zhaozhao, let’s do something today, shall we?” After their brunch, Gu Yanzhi lazily leaned on Song Zhao.
Recently she had grown bored of staying at home and was eager to go out for a stroll.
Song Zhao also couldn’t find a reason.
He was naturally a homebody, usually reading books at home apart from work.
In the past, they might have gone to an amusement park or traveled somewhere for fun, but now with the apocalypse upon them, they couldn’t travel far and there were no other recreational facilities outside.
He didn’t know what to suggest.
“Zhaozhao, let’s go scavenge for supplies.
Didn’t the government say we can trade what we find?” Gu Yanzhi, suddenly inspired, said.
No sooner said than done, Gu Yanzhi, once certain of their destination, acted quickly.
In just a few minutes, they changed their clothes, grabbed their gear, and left.
Since they didn’t have any particular destination in mind and considering they had already been to Song Mountain several times, Gu Yanzhi and Song Zhao chose to head towards where the old Gu Family villa used to be.
I took a quick glance to see what had become of the old family home now.
The old residence was located in another district of City C, quite some distance from Songshan District, equivalent to traversing the city center from south to north.
Gu Yanzhi and Song Zhao wandered and paused along their way, playing and strolling, and by the time they arrived, more than three hours had passed.
“As expected,”
Gu Yanzhi sighed internally.
History hadn’t changed, and the area around the old residence was still encased beneath a layer of ice, as she remembered.
If it weren’t for the Guest Pine standing tall at the entrance to the residential area, Gu Yanzhi might not have even recognized this smooth expanse of ice as the home she had left only at the age of 24.
At the moment, several people were actively chopping down the Guest Pine at the entrance.
“I’ll shout ‘come on,’ and you respond with ‘one, two.’ That way, it’ll be more energetic and forceful.”
“Come on!”
“One, two!”
“Come on!”
“One, two!”
A few men stood by the Guest Pine, with a younger-looking guy on the side egging them on while the other four shouted “one, two” in unison as they sawed with their handsaws.
Gu Yanzhi watched for a moment, feeling a bit sorry for the tree, which was older than herself, being cut down for firewood – such a waste of nature.
However, she had no ground to persuade them to spare the tree and let it grow peacefully here.
After all, the entire neighborhood had been leveled, and the Guest Pine had become unclaimed property.
In this extremely cold climate, wood was in short supply, and no one could really say anything if it was found and chopped down.
Including Gu Yanzhi herself, who had done the same, leading others to scavenge such ‘ownerless’ items during flood times, which really meant the homeowners were not around.
And the chances of their returning were slim; even if they did return, they wouldn’t know who had taken their belongings.
With the law unable to hold everyone accountable, many items were taken back home, ensuring the survival of everyone in Building 10 for a certain period.
Gu Yanzhi simply turned her head away.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Pretending not to see was the only way to make herself feel a bit better.
The two continued walking further in and could see that there were many more teams drilling ice; this area used to be an affluent neighborhood before the apocalypse, with plenty of resources.
No wonder there were numerous teams here.
Gu Yanzhi looked away as she walked and indeed found a 10-person team that was short of 5 members, presumably the ones chopping down the Guest Pine.
Gu Yanzhi fell silent for a while, then reasoned that even if the tree wasn’t being chopped down, the Guest Pine would not have survived much longer.
Although extremely cold-resistant, withstanding temperatures as low as -4 or -5 degrees Celsius, the current temperature was -60 degrees.
The Guest Pine was not dead yet, but based on Gu Yanzhi’s experience in such freezing weather, it wasn’t far from death.
It might as well be cut down if it could still provide some final warmth.
Gu Yanzhi consoled herself with this thought.
The duo also spotted Zheng Cheng, a member of Squad 532.
Zheng Cheng noticed them too and covertly greeted them without drawing the attention of others.
This was the secrecy protocol for Special Forces mission execution: during a mission, regardless of its scale, they were not to casually engage in conversation with acquaintances.
The Special Forces’ operational tasks were life-threatening, and any misstep could jeopardize the overall situation.
