End of the World

Chapter 271 Returning to the team

"The direction is wrong!"

When the vehicle stopped, He Yuxin turned around and explained to the three people.

"How far have we walked?" Wu Bin glanced out the window and saw that it was still a forest.

"More than twenty kilometers!" Chen Guangjun replied, controlling the vehicle to turn back. There was no point in going any further.

"More than twenty kilometers, we couldn't even walk for a whole day before!" Yan Nuoling said. It took less than an hour to drive here, so you can imagine how difficult it was.

"Look, we are probably at this location." He Yuxin handed the map to Wu Bin in the back seat. She was not just sitting there doing nothing in the passenger seat. She recorded the route on the map and calculated the direction and distance on the map based on the actual distance and the scale on the map.

Wu Bin took it over and said, "It's different for a good student. To be honest, he has forgotten the scale calculations he learned in junior high school."

"It will be afternoon when we get back to the power station. We will use the remaining time to build a raft and return to the convoy early tomorrow morning." Wu Bin arranged in a deep voice.

The vehicle returned to the outside of the power station and the five people got off. Wu Bin asked Dafeng to disconnect the power of the vehicle, and returned to the power station with the three of them to find ropes for tying the raft.

Although the five people carried ropes, they were all professional climbing ropes and they were reluctant to use them, and they were not long enough.

Half an hour later, we found all the tools and came to the river bank below the dam. Bamboo is the best material for making a raft, but there was obviously no bamboo in this place, so we found some dry wood instead.

Wu Bin and Dafeng went to chop dry wood. Chen Guangjun asked the two women to go back to the power station to find some empty plastic bottles, the bigger the better. Tying them to the raft can increase buoyancy, because dry wood easily absorbs water and can no longer provide buoyancy after being saturated.

After several hours of hard work by the five people, a simple raft was born. It was not very big, but enough to bear the weight of five people.

It started to get dark before He Yuxin and Yan Nuoling started a fire to cook. It was too dark and Dafeng only caught one fish, which was enough to make a pot of soup.

After eating fish several times, the five people still didn't get tired of it. One reason was that He Yuxin's cooking skills were good, and the other was that the food they had previously eaten was too bland, and they rarely had the chance to eat fresh fish.

The team could only catch some fish by setting down the traps in places with water sources and pulling them up the next day, but the number was not large, and sometimes there was not even a single fish.

Jiang Hong and his friends brought a few chickens from the island and had been raising them. One of them died for no reason last week, probably due to motion sickness. Everyone drank the soup with tears in their eyes. It tasted very bland, mainly because there were too many people and too little meat, so it was good enough for each person to have a piece of meat.

In the early morning, covered with mist, five people carried the raft into the water. The launching ceremony was very simple. Chen Guangjun jumped on first to stabilize the raft.

The return journey is downstream, so there is no need for a wooden paddle. Two people in front and behind can each use a pole to control the direction.

The raft carried five people slowly down the river. The process was still very stable, and this section of the river was very calm.

It was a bit tiring to stand and difficult to keep balance, so the three people in the middle simply squatted down. Chen Guangjun in the front had to work harder, and he had to paddle the pole into the water from time to time to keep the raft in the direction.

The raft drifts slowly, but it is much better than rushing along the river bank, and most importantly, it does not require any physical effort.

In two hours, the five people drifted ten kilometers on the raft. At this speed, they would be able to return to the convoy later today.

"Pay attention, the current ahead is a bit fast!" Chen Guangjun reminded the others, "Dafeng, keep the direction and don't let the raft drift!"

"Okay!" Dafeng replied and did a horse stance.

"Stand still, there are stones in the water!" Chen Guangjun controlled the direction, and the stones at the bottom of the water divided the water flow and turned it into a rapids.

The raft entered the rapids and instantly became unstable, swaying from side to side.

The two people in front and behind worked closely together to maintain direction. They bumped into rocks in the process, but fortunately it was not serious and they passed the rapids safely.

A few hours later, the five people had no idea how far they had gone. They passed through many rapids, and the raft had absorbed a lot of water. The wood had become heavy and had sunk halfway, and the five people's feet were wet.

Not to mention the wood, even the ropes that tied the raft could not hold on. They were ordinary thin hemp ropes. When passing through shallow currents, they were scraped wildly by the rocks on the bottom of the water, and coupled with the force, they immediately fell apart.

When one rope breaks, it causes a chain reaction, and the other ropes are on the verge of breaking.

"The raft is about to break up, Dafeng is docking!" Chen Guangjun shouted.

However, it was too late. Fortunately, it was just a shallow water area. Several people ignored the raft and jumped into the water, splashing water. The water was about waist-deep.

The five people climbed ashore in a somewhat embarrassed manner, and they all wanted to laugh when they looked at each other. Well, the raft could not take them home.

"Where is this?" Dafeng asked, looking around.

"Let me see the map!" He Yuxin took out the map and wanted to calculate. Wu Bin put his hand on the map she took out.

"No need, look there!"

Looking over there, there was a trace of fire in the shallows.

"Huh? That's where we cooked for the first time!" Yan Nuoling said, the pot rack was still there.

Everyone felt that this place was somewhat familiar, and Dafeng went into the water again after hearing this.

"Huh! What are you doing?" Wu Bin was stunned and asked puzzled.

"I can't go back today, I'll catch some more fish and shrimp!" said Dafeng.

Chen Guangjun took a look at the sky and for the first time felt that Dafeng was right. The convoy had half a day's journey here and really couldn't make it back.

Although it’s still early before dark, I’ve been hungry all day, so I’ll cook first.

He Yuxin asked everyone to change their wet clothes, dry them over the fire, and then set up a pot to cook.

When it comes to food, you can trust Dafeng. This guy caught a lot of shrimps and crabs with his bare hands, enough for five people to enjoy.

Chen Guangjun went around the area to see if he could hunt anything. There were so many small animals in the deep mountains and forests.

Half an hour later, Chen Guangjun came back with a porcupine. He didn't ask Yan Nuoling for a bow, nor did he use a gun. I really don't know how he hunted it. This thing has so many long thorns on its back.

Porcupines were protected animals with severe penalties before the end of the world. Most people had never eaten them. But now, porcupines have become rare animals, so who cares about them?

"Brother Jun is awesome!" Dafeng cheered when he saw the porcupine.

At this time, Wu Bin also came back with a few fish.

"Brother Bin is so awesome!" Dafeng shouted again when he saw it.

“……!” Wu Bin really wanted to kick him.

After a few days of experience, the five people were full of hope for life. They were no longer as aimlessly confused as when the convoy was traveling, and the road ahead was no longer suffocatingly dark.

Five people cannot finish the porcupine in one meal, so they leave half for Qiao Xinghua to take back tomorrow.

Although we didn't eat lunch today, the dinner was extremely sumptuous and several people were almost full.

The other porcupine could only be roasted over the fire. It didn't matter if it was cooked, after all, food would go bad quickly in this kind of weather.

At noon on the second day, the five people returned to the convoy. Qiao Xinghua was gathering the team, as if there was some big operation. The return of the five people surprised him. He originally estimated that it would take at least a week for Wu Bin and his team to go back and forth.

"Hahaha, it seems like I've come at the right time!" Dafeng laughed out loud.

"I'm glad you're back. You guys take a rest first!" Qiao Xinghua waved to a few people.

"We are not that tired. Let's talk about what happened!" Wu Bin said. This was the truth. The five of them were not exploring the way at all. It was more like traveling.

Qiao Xinghua pondered for a moment and said to the team members: "Go back and prepare, and set off at any time!"

After giving the instructions, he got into the RV with Wu Bin and others. When Meng Zi Han and Meng Qi came back, he took the two girls aside to talk. It seemed that Meng Zi Han and Meng Qi got along very well. I don't know if it was because they had the same surname. After all, the Meng family is relatively rare.

"How is it?" Qiao Xinghua asked twice before he even sat down. This was related to the team's next plan.

"If I don't want to tell you, then I won't tell you!" Dafeng gave two answers in a row, without any seriousness.

"Get out of the way!" Qiao Xinghua kicked Dafeng and asked about serious matters.

"Fuck, you said you were good brothers, but you were so vicious!" Dafeng yelled, "I missed you so much out there!"

Qiao Xinghua's face was dark: "Who told you to miss me!"

"Damn! You have no conscience. I met the wrong person!" Dafeng covered his chest with his hands, feeling heartbroken.

Dafeng's words made everyone laugh. What a damn thing he did to meet the wrong person. He ended up like a shrew.

After the joke, Wu Bin told everyone about his gains from the trip. The destination was indeed a power station, which also looked like a military base. Except for the fact that there was no way to confirm the condition of the generator set, everything else was great.

The five people also took photos with their mobile phones. Qiao Xinghua took a look at them and nodded with great satisfaction.

"Xiao Han, give the phone to Yu Xuan and ask her to upload the photos to the team group so that everyone can clearly see the target!"

"Okay!" Meng Zihan took the phone handed to her by Qiao Xinghua and got out of the RV.

Publishing photos can help boost morale, let everyone know the goal to strive for, and enhance team cohesion.

Wu Bin and Chen Guangjun both gave a thumbs up to Qiao Xinghua, saying that this was a great job.

The problem now is how to get the convoy through, which is the biggest challenge.

"These past few days, I led people to search all the places nearby where there might be machinery. We found two excavators in Tongyi Town, 50 kilometers away, and a bulldozer in a private gravel yard, 30 kilometers away!" Qiao Xinghua said slowly.

"I remember that there are quite a few villages less than 20 kilometers to the south. Why did we run so far?" Chen Guangjun asked puzzledly.

"There are survivors active over there and we had a conflict!" Qiao Xinghua replied, otherwise why would he go so far away instead of near by.

"Are we injured?" Wu Bin asked.

"One person was injured, Sister Yun handled it!" Qiao Xinghua didn't say who it was, and Wu Bin didn't know him either.

"Fifty kilometers, we need a transport vehicle!" Chen Guangjun said thoughtfully.

"That's no problem. They have found a flatbed trailer over there, and we just need to take two truck heads with us." Qiao Xinghua nodded. They had already completed the relevant preparations.

"Can we get them all back in the afternoon?" Wu Bin asked.

"Time is a bit tight, but it should be possible!" Qiao Xinghua replied.

There was a sound of car outside. The driver was unloading the trailer. To be on the safe side, Qiao Xinghua prepared three truck heads.

"Is there anything we can help you with?" Wu Bin asked, turning his head to look out the window.

Qiao Xinghua hesitated for a moment, looked at Wu Bin and said, "Uncle Zhao said that this type of machinery requires a lot of lubricating oil and hydraulic oil."

"Okay, leave these to us!" Wu Bin patted his chest.

After a few more words, Qiao Xinghua got out of the car and set off with his team members in three semi-trailer trucks.