After hearing what the man said, Lu Chu didn’t know what to think.
He was the only one who could exit from the tower……
This ‘exit’, just what did it mean?
Ever since he realised that the man was following him, and after he had let the man into his house, everything had been moving in an unpredictable direction. It was strange, and hard to have a grasp on. Now, it was just as the man said, only through entering the tower before the sky turned dark, could he figure out what was going on in this town.
Lu Chu squatted down and patted Carrot’s head and ruffled the fur around his neck. Carrot squinted comfortably, enjoying Lu Chu’s scratching.
Fortunately, he wasn’t alone.
Reorganising his thoughts, Lu Chu held onto the man’s hand, and got ready to move out again.
This was a relatively straight and wide path without any turns. From what Dr. He from the clinic had said, Lu Chu could infer that he had went out to find food, and also returned safely. The closest place from the clinic that one could find food was the small supermarket.
They just needed to cross a flower shop to reach it.
It looked as if it wasn’t Dr. He’s first time going to the supermarket to find food. If that was the case, it meant that the situation at the supermarket was still okay, and wasn’t so chaotic that people couldn’t even enter. Of course, this didn’t include the chance of Dr. He being extremely lucky, thus not meeting the ‘senseless people’ that were wandering around the supermarket.
No matter what, they had to be cautious about everything.
At this moment, Lu Chu couldn’t be happier that his town didn’t have much people, if not, these streets would be seeing another scene.
A bunch of ‘senseless people’ randomly colliding and jamming up the streets like an ant colony — just thinking about it was terrifying.
Two people and a dog walked along the side of the road.
Within seven days, some flowers were still okay, yet others were starting to wilt. When they crossed the flower shop, a rotten scent came along with the fresh fragrance of flowers, pleasant, yet full of despair. Before the infectious disease had started, time to time, Lu Chu would buy some flowers back, and placed them in the living room. Although he couldn’t see them, he really liked their sweet-smelling fragrance.
When they walked to the supermarket’s entrance, Lu Chu could vaguely hear some people talking from the inside. His hearing had always been good, and now, he even held his breath and concentrated. Perhaps they could even get some information, to let him understand what the situation of the road beyond them was like.
“Did Dr. He go back……”
“En, he went back. I passed to him some hardtack biscuits and instant noodles, and also some snacks that children would like. When he returned, he left behind some flu medication, disinfectant……”
“If we can help, let’s try to help, but this…… ay, if this goes on, sooner or later, everything would be used up……”
“……”
Lu Chu had gotten a general idea about the conversation between the man and woman, however, he didn’t manage to get any reliable information. Just as he wanted to use his walking stick the scout the route ahead to continue moving forward, the tip of his walking stick happened to touch something that let out a clear clanging sound, and the conversation in the supermarket instantly stopped.
It was extraordinarily quiet inside, as if they were waiting for something. Lu Chu quietly stayed outside, looking out for the changes without saying a word.
The woman’s voice floated over, “is it Dr. He or Xiao Jiang outside?”
Lu Chu knew Xiao Jiang, she was the owner of the flower shop.
Lu Chu still didn’t say anything, and at this moment, he heard the man inside lower his voice as he told the woman, “wait inside, I’ll go out for a bit, and if it’s someone crazy, I’ll knock them out……”
“You must be careful……”
“It’s okay, when everybody can’t see, at least my ears are more sensitive, and I can move quickly……”
As soon as the man said that, the rolling shutter of the supermarket rolled up.
It wasn’t a good idea to run without knowing the situation, thus, Lu Chu must directly communicate with the people inside.
Lu Chu was the first one who talked, “hello.”
“You, you……”
“We were going to the centre of the town, however, we seemed to have accidentally touched something while passing through this area.”
“So that’s the case,” The man let of a sigh of relief, “what you came across was a little thing I temporarily came up with. It’ll make a loud noise when touched, and I’m using it as an alarm.”
Even in the face of adversity, humans were intelligent creatures, and once they calmed down, they would make some small traps. It was normal that Carrot couldn’t discover it.
“Sorry to break it.”
“No problem, no problem. This ‘alarm’ will always sound a few times a day.” Then, the man asked, “but this world so chaotic, why are you going to the city centre?”
“To find my relatives.”
“So it’s like this,” he smiled, “do you want to come in and sit for a bit?”
“There’s no need,” Lu Chu politely refused, “time is tight and we’re in a hurry, so we can’t delay.”
The man closed his eyes and nodded, “that’s true, it’s better to quickly find your relatives…… But I was just thinking, if you were like those people who had lost their reason, how I was going to knock you out and bring you back, ahahah.”
After hearing this, Lu Chu tensed up and went on the alert, “bring me back?”
“Yeah,” the man sighed, “these people are just sick, we can’t just leave them alone.”
“I won’t go out looking for them, since the world is too chaotic out there, and my wife and children are still here. However, as long as they can get to my supermarket’s door, I’ll help those that I can help. For those who are already crazy, I’ll tie them to a chair and try my best to give them two meals a day, and take care of them.”
Lu Chu fell silent for a moment.
The man sighed again, “do you think that I’m worrying too much?”
Lu Chu asked, “how many people have you saved?”
“Eleven.”
“Your family……”
“My wife is the only one who supports me. Even Dr. He and Xiao Jiang had advised me, and said that it’s better if I take care of myself.”
Indeed, this was the most realistic approach.
The man asked again, “I ask you, with something like this happening, are you afraid?”
Lu Chu didn’t say anything.
The man continued, “anyways, I’m scared. I’m scared to death. But these people who went insane, all became like this because they couldn’t see or hear. Even my child lost the ability to speak. They, are even more afraid than we are.”
“But do you have enough food?”
“For the time being, it’s enough. The supermarket’s warehouse is in my house. I know that food would slowly decrease, but I believe that our little town would be able to come out from this panic sooner or later, and all of this chaos is because humans are afraid. Once this fear passes, even if everybody has lost their senses, all of us will get our lives back on track.”
The man’s tone was mixed with hope, “who says that if you can’t hear and see, means that you can’t live a good life?”
Thanks for the chapter! I really hope the dog doesn’t die in this novel…