Chapter 48: Comes When It's Mentioned

Every few dozen meters along the main road of the village, there was a street lamp pole. Although it was a small village in the mountains, the infrastructure was actually quite good.

Wei Guo felt deeply moved. He had been to the village countless times, yet each visit brought him fresh sentiments.

Think about it, Wei Guo's hometown and this village were neighboring ones, separated only by a mountain. Even if he wasn't particularly familiar with this village, how could he know nothing about it at all?

"When I was young, this village was so poor it was beyond words. Back then, there wasn't any major road, and this village had so little land; they were so poor they couldn't even afford pants. Although our village was more remote, we were situated on the side of a mountain. Even though we were also poor, we had better food than they did."

With a sigh, Wei Guo patted the street lamp pole and said, "Just a few years have passed, look how well it's been built. But then, the aliens came, and everything's gone, everything's gone..."

Wei Guo looked up at the sky, pointing at the spaceship above, "Damn aliens! If I can't beat even one alien, I won't die with my eyes closed!"

The aliens were just hanging there in the sky, a huge spacecraft that hadn't moved since it arrived. You could see it by simply looking up, but wanting to fight the aliens inside was nothing but wishful thinking.

Gao Yuan was holding a massive wrench, looking up at the sky, he asked, "Uncle Xiang, have you seen what the aliens are capable of?"

"I haven't. Have you?"

Gao Yuan nodded, then said gravely, "My home is not too far from the airport. I used to see planes in the sky all the time. After this virus outbreak, when I went home, I happened to see two fighter jets taking off. Well, I don't know what model they were, but I saw them just as they had taken off, not too high up, and all of a sudden, they turned into... powder, no, something even finer than powder, as if there were two clouds of mist in the air."

Wei Guo frowned, "What do you mean, two clouds of mist?"

"Instantly pulverized, no explosion, no sound, nothing. But the two fighter jets that had just taken off turned into two clouds of mist in the air, as if you threw a handful of flour into the air with your hand."

Wei Guo continued to stare at the spaceship in the sky while Gao Yuan also stopped what he was doing, looking up at the spacecraft.

Gao Yuan had been afraid to, and unwilling to speak of these things before, because he feared that sharing them would plunge everyone who heard into greater despair.

A sense of absolute despair emerged in the face of the overwhelming technological disparity.

Now, Wei Guo was feeling that despair.

In Wei Guo's mind, war was about guns, tanks, airplanes, but now these weapons had become ephemeral mists blown away by the wind.

The key issue was that no one knew how the aliens did it.

After staring blankly for a while, Wei Guo waved his hand and said, "There'll be a chance sooner or later. I refuse to believe the aliens will never come down. Let's get back to work!"

Getting the task at hand done was Wei Guo's creed.

The street lamp pole was quickly taken down, a task that presented no technical challenge at all, and then the battery was inside the hollow pole.

The inverter was indeed broken and beyond repair, but Wei Guo only checked one battery and almost without hesitation, "The battery is easy to fix, definitely no problem. Strap on two batteries, grab two solar panels, and head home!"

The return journey was long, and they needed to get back before Yu Shunzhou's call time, so the three men couldn't stay too long in the village, nor did they have much time for sentimentality.

Just as Wei Guo said, repairing the battery turned out to be very simple. After changing just two connection wires, he declared it ready for use.

However, whether it would indeed work would only be known after trying it out when the sun rose the next day.

As time was nearly up, Gao Yuan said to Luo Xingyu, "Xiaoyu, help me turn on the radio."

Luo Xingyu went to turn on the radio and then returned to continue working on the second battery with Gao Yuan and Xiang Weiguo.

Just then, a voice suddenly came from the radio.

"Pipe calling Bladesmith, respond if you receive this."

Gao Yuan dropped what he was holding and dashed over.

"This is Bladesmith, Pipe! Where are you? Over."

Yu Shunzhou's voice was very low, so Gao Yuan also spoke softly, and he hurriedly asked the most critical questions, making sure not to waste time with idle chatter, lest they end up with that kind of melodramatic scene where the important details are left unsaid.

"I'm in Liu Jiahui Village of Nangang County, I'm trapped here. You stay put in Camp One, I'll definitely make it over if I get the chance. Right now I can't say much, the connection might cut off at any time."

There, the most crucial piece of location information was in hand; the rest should be easy to handle.

"Understood, I'm coming to rescue you!"

Yu Shunzhou quickly whispered, "Don't! There are nine of them, with three rifles, all of them. You can't just come over easily, if it was easy, I would have run away long ago!"

"It's okay; we'll set a time and place, we're going to rescue you, I'm not alone now."

"I know, there's also Xiaoyu. I heard everything last night, Brother Yuan, I really admire you. Even with the end of the world upon us, you managed to find a girl. Speaking of which, I have the opportunity to use the radio today; I owe it all to your wretched good luck."

Before he could say three serious words, Yu Shunzhou started to talk nonsense, and Gao Yuan urgently said, "Shut up, stick to the important stuff. Who are those people and how did they trap you?"

Instinctively, Yu Shunzhou lowered his voice even more.

"A bunch of ruthless bastards, a bunch of cocksuckers. It's a long story, but among them, four are gangsters. They've been lying low because of a recent crackdown, but when the disaster hit, they actually killed three soldiers who came to maintain order and help with evacuations. The four of them ambushed them and just smashed them to death."

Gao Yuan was immediately shocked. Are these people human? Could humans do such a thing, attacking soldiers who've come to aid and restore order?

"Four people? What about the other five?"

"They all know each other; they're also gangsters. Now the four with guns act like big shots, and the other five are like their enforcers, goddamn it, I'm just a lackey doing all the heavy and tiring work. Lucky for me, I'm smart and have a sweet tongue; otherwise, they would have beaten me to death already. Let me tell you, these people will kill at the drop of a hat, and now they have even less restraint and will not give you a chance to speak."

"What bad things did you get involved in with them?"

"Fuck off, do you think I'm that sort of person? Besides, would they even include me? Last night, while you and Xiaoyu were being all lovey-dovey, they also got quite the shock. Today four of them took two guns and went hunting, and by hunting, they meant finding other survivors. The remaining five got drunk; they drank quite a bit during today's Lunar New Year, cried and laughed and drank a lot. I found a chance to call you because last night they were all listening. I couldn't just say anything."

Gao Yuan sighed, speaking in a low voice, "I don't know where the village you mentioned is, but I will find it. Also, we have three people here. Let's tentatively set the rescue for three days from now, no, to be safe, in five days at 9 am sharp, we will definitely make it there."

"Don't be reckless, are you out of your mind? They have guns!"

"We've got guns too. Don't waste time with nonsense, just tell me your exact location! Be ready to meet us when it's time."

"There's an irrigation channel at the east end of the village; we're staying in a house at the west end of the channel, it's really easy to find. But be careful, don't do anything foolish; I'm not going to die just yet. You better not rush to your death and drag me down with you."

"Shut up, tell me if you have any distinctive features."

"Hmm, I'm wearing a cap, a red knitted hat. Can't talk anymore, over!"