Chapter 1337 Broken
The more Lao Zhou thought about it, the brighter the faint flame in his heart became, as if he could already see his son wearing clean clothes and carrying his schoolbag walking into the classroom.
A wistful smile unconsciously appeared on his rough face, and he even forgot to smoke the cigarette in his mouth.
The night wind blew a little harder, and he shrank his neck, preparing to finish the last bit of his cigarette before going back to sleep to avoid getting cold.
Sudden--
Woo-woo-woo-woo!!!
The shrill, piercing alarm, which seemed to tear eardrums and clench the heart, suddenly erupted from all directions of the gathering place without warning, like a thunderclap from a clear sky or the scream of a dying beast!
Not just one place, but countless places!
The sounds of loudspeakers, sirens, and metallic clanging mingled together, instantly shattering the tranquility of the night sky and converging into a violent, ominous wave of sound that swept across the entire Gucheng Lake!
Old Zhou froze, the cigarette butt in his mouth falling to the ground, the sparks tracing a brief arc in the darkness.
The smile on his face froze instantly, then shattered, completely replaced by a deep-seated fear stemming from the instinct for survival in the apocalypse.
The alarm... the volume, the frequency...!
What a big deal!
This is an alarm that was emphasized during the training; it only sounds in times of crisis or life-or-death situations!
"Stone!" he screamed, his voice distorted. He could no longer care about anything else. He turned around abruptly, burst open the balcony door, and lunged at the small bed.
Little Stone on the bed had been startled awake. He sat up blankly, rubbing his eyes, his face full of fear.
The other workers in the dormitory were also awakened, and a flurry of shouts and clattering sounds filled the darkness.
"what happened?!"
"Alarm! It's a maximum alert!"
"Quickly! Get up!"
...
Old Zhou held his son tightly in his arms. He could feel the child's small body trembling violently, and his own heart was pounding like a drum, almost bursting out of his chest.
He stared intently out the window. The once orderly streets were now a scene of frantic running and shouting by the patrolling militia. In the distance, more searchlights were flashing in the direction of the military district, their beams flickering wildly and casting an ominous, dark hue across the sky…
The beautiful dreams about the future that had just been lingering in my mind vanished without a trace, like ashes swept away by a gust of wind.
All that remained was the chilling sound of alarms and the boundless, resurgent fear.
.....
The piercing alarm ripped wildly through the night sky, but the cold, clear, and unquestionable announcement that followed, broadcast through loudspeakers throughout the settlement, acted like a shot of adrenaline, plunging into the boiling panic.
"Attention all survivors! Attention all survivors! This is the Jinling Military Sub-district Command. A top-level emergency evacuation order is hereby issued!"
"All personnel, immediately proceed to the designated assembly point in an orderly manner, following the pre-arranged street, work unit, and production team sequence, under the organization of the person in charge, and prepare to transfer to the designated shelter!"
"Repeat, move in an orderly manner! Do not panic! Do not crowd!"
"Along the route and in the assembly area, troops directly under the military sub-district and officers and soldiers of the garrison regiment are maintaining order with their guns on!"
"Anyone who takes advantage of the situation to cause trouble, spread rumors, attack the ranks, seize supplies, or disobey orders—no warning needed, execute them on the spot!!!"
...
The announcement, carried by the electric current, had a metallic quality and echoed repeatedly. It offered no reassurance, only commands and ironclad rules.
But it is precisely this ruthless and cold-blooded approach that, amidst the extreme chaos, forcibly dictates a course of action for countless people who are like headless flies, injecting a distorted sense of "order."
Old Zhou, holding his son, squeezed into the narrow, dimly lit dormitory corridor, which was now filled with running figures and terrified gasps. His heart was pounding in his throat.
But when he heard the words "execution on the spot," his wildly beating heart strangely calmed down.
Fear! Everyone is afraid!
But it was this fear of the military's iron fist that outweighed the unorganized panic that could lead to stampedes and even more horrific consequences.
No one dared to push too hard at this moment, no one dared to shout and create chaos. Everyone kept their heads down and stumbled down the route they had practiced more than once in their memories.
Old Zhou shielded the little stone in his arms with his body, repeatedly growling, "Don't be afraid! Son, don't be afraid! Stay with Dad! Hold on tight!"
He didn't know if he was comforting his son or encouraging himself.
The faces of the workers around him were distorted in the dim light of the emergency lights, but their eyes all showed a similar fear and a hint of obedience forcibly restrained by discipline.
I made it downstairs relatively smoothly, and the small open space in front of the dormitory building was already packed with people, at least a thousand.
The construction team leader, a man in his forties with a scarred face, was standing on a broken box, shouting hoarsely and waving his arms, trying to maintain basic formation.
The crowd managed to remain quiet, but a silent, seemingly contagious panic and anxiety, like a thick fog, permeated the cold night sky, making it hard to breathe.
The children's suppressed sobs, the women's low whimpers, and the men's heavy breathing mingled together.
Just when public sentiment was about to reach a critical point—
“Buzz buzz—!!”
"Rat-a-tat-tat—!!"
The deep, rough roar of diesel engines, like rolling thunder, came from the direction of the temporary garage on one side of the dormitory building!
Immediately afterwards, the screeching sound of wheels rolling over the gravel road blended together, and the bright beams of headlights suddenly pierced the darkness, sweeping wildly and illuminating the terrified faces of the crowded people with a deathly pale light.
Dust billowed up and swirled under the light.
One after another, civilian trucks, medium-sized trucks, and even a few reinforced buses of varying sizes and conditions of wear and tear were driven out of the garage and lined up in the open space, like awakened steel behemoths.
Some of the vehicles still had pre-apocalyptic advertising stickers or rust on them, but the tires were full and the engines were powerful, indicating that they had been carefully maintained.
Upon seeing these cars, the tense atmosphere in the crowd visibly relaxed for a moment, and some even let out a short, relieved sigh.
"A car! There's a car!"
"The army hasn't forgotten us!"
"Quickly! Form the groups as practiced in the previous drills! Get in the vehicles!"
...
Looking at those vehicles, Lao Zhou was also shocked, and a complex emotion welled up inside him.
He recalled that a few months ago, not long after the Jinling Military Sub-district was established, it launched a vigorous "everyone has a car" campaign.
The army dispatched armed squads for cover, and almost all the able-bodied young men in the gathering area were mobilized, divided into several teams, and swept through abandoned villages, national highways and towns within a radius of dozens of kilometers like a comb.
The objective is clear: to find vehicles that are still drivable or have repair value!
Gasoline, diesel, spare parts... everything was in short supply, but the army seemed to have connections to get some. More importantly, they brought in technicians who knew how to repair things.
At that time, many people who were exhausted complained in private that the army was wasting its time and that they should have used that energy to build more walls.
Old Zhou also felt that this was a decision made "on a whim by the superiors," which wasted everyone's energy.
But now it seems... it wasn't just a pointless fuss at all. It was clearly a precautionary measure, a prediction that there might be a day when a large-scale, rapid evacuation would be necessary!
The vision and preparation of those at the top are indeed far beyond what ordinary people like us, who only seek immediate peace and stability, can imagine.
