"Mom, stop crying."

Zhou Xiaoshan helplessly comforted his old mother.

Today he found his mother hiding in the bedroom and crying secretly again. She had cried so many times in the past few days that her eyes were swollen from crying.

Yesterday, he complained that his eyes hurt. He went door to door and exchanged two kilograms of fruit for a bottle of eye drops.

"I want to go back to my hometown, and I still miss your grandparents." Zhou Xiaoshan's mother said.

"I want to, too." Zhou Xiaoshan sighed, "If they could go back, everyone would want to go back. I heard that more than a dozen people have died in the past few days."

"Is your dad going out with that group of people again?" Zhou Xiaoshan's mother asked.

"Well, I heard that someone discovered the water pool. My dad went there with those people." Zhou Xiaoshan said. "If we can find it, it will be a new water source."

"Didn't you say there is a stream at the foot of the mountain?"

"That's different. Although the waterhole is a bit remote, it's closer. It only takes more than an hour to go back and forth. If you can determine the location, it will definitely be much more convenient than going down the mountain to fetch water. You can also take a hot bath by then.

." Zhou Xiaoshan said with a smile.

There was one more thing Zhou Xiaoshan didn't say.

As you go down the mountain, you will pass through brown bear territory.

In the past few days, several people have died from brown bear attacks.

Unless the brown bear can be dealt with, it will be very dangerous to go down the mountain to fetch water.

The newly discovered waterhole is on the mountain behind, which is not the territory of brown bears. Although some people have discovered snow leopards, snow leopards are stronger than sneak attacks and outbreaks. As long as there are more people, it is always safer than facing brown bears.

...

Back mountain to the north,

After climbing over a small hill, in the shade of the back mountain where the sun is blocked, a small pool of water as blue as a mirror stands quietly.

The four men fled in panic, all the way to the pond.

Looking back, I saw a snow leopard with a white background and gray spots standing quietly on a high stone.

Looking down at this group of people.

"The snow leopard doesn't seem to be following." In the team, a man with a beard and a brown mountaineering bag said breathlessly.

The snow leopard chased them all the way, and they refused to disperse due to the large number of people. Several times the snow leopard tried to move forward, but was forced back by them.

Because their escape route was blocked, they couldn't return to the building and could only run forward.

But when they got close to the waterhole, they miraculously discovered that the snow leopard no longer followed them, but stood in the distance and watched them coldly.

They were not fools and noticed something strange.

Looking back at the pool, his eyes were a little frightened and inexplicable.

"There can't be any more terrifying monsters in this pool."

Zhou Daling clenched the machete in his hand.

"There seems to be nothing in this pool." The man carrying a brown hiking bag stood on tiptoes and stood on a rock to observe the pool not far away.

The water pool is crystal clear and has a blue pool.

You can clearly see what's under the water at a glance.

But except for some gray-white pebbles at the bottom, there wasn't even a single fish.

A gust of wind blew from the south, causing ripples on the water.

Several people approached cautiously, and one of them tried to dip a little water into the knife he carried with him, and then touched the drop of water with his finger.

There is no pain and it should not be highly corrosive.

Some people were going to lie down and drink water, but their mouths were already dry from walking along the way.

Nowadays, every household has little water, and few people can resist the temptation of fresh water.

In the distance, Snow Leopard looked at several people and turned away without looking back.

"Be careful there are parasites in the water," another person warned.

"I know, don't worry and be prepared."

A few people built a simple "stove" with stones beside the pool.

Then he used an iron box to scoop out a large box of water.

He also took out some dried pine bark and dried pine shavings from his backpack.

Use a lighter to light the toilet paper, throw it into the pile of dry wood chips, and soon a fire will start.

After a while, the water in the iron box was boiling...

...

Out of curiosity, Bai Ye went to the "chess and card room" on the tenth floor that Li Yundong mentioned.

Before he reached the tenth floor, Bai Ye heard the sound from upstairs in the safe passage on the ninth floor.

"Four K's!"

"Three with one pair."

"..."

The chess and card room is located at 10-10.

There is a row of small benches from the door of the chess and card room extending to the corridor and the elevator.

The people sitting on the bench were all old people, children and women, chatting away from home.

The conversation was also varied.

"I heard that your old Mr. Li is a retired traditional Chinese medicine doctor?"

"It's been a few years since I retired."

"Can you check my daughter-in-law's pulse to see if she is pregnant?"

"You still want to get pregnant at this time? That's not a sin."

"Hey, of course I don't want to get pregnant. You can't get pregnant at this time. I'm just worried."

"..."

"My grandson used to be naughty, but now he doesn't have to study. He's very happy these days."

"Hey, my grandson has good grades. He could have been admitted to a key middle school, but now he can't."

"I heard that another death occurred in a family on the 27th floor. Yesterday, a man died in her family. It seems like something happened again today."

"When did it happen?"

"Not long after, the bird rushed into the house."

"Oh, that's terrible. Fortunately, I don't live in a high-rise building."

"That's not true. I heard that not many people want to live in those high floors now."

...

In the chess and card room, several large fire pits were burning for warmth.

The temperature in the room is not low.

It was so hot and sweaty that some people even took off their clothes, went shirtless and shouted loudly.

It was even more crowded with people, some were playing mahjong on the table, and some were simply sitting cross-legged on the floor to fight the landlord.

The room was filled with a strong smell of pine and sweat.

The reality is too bitter, so some people choose to use entertainment to numb themselves.

"Four and two, we don't have much food at home. Do you want to go east together tomorrow?" A shirtless man asked the other people around him at the mahjong table.

"I heard someone saw a deer in the east."

"There are really deers?! Didn't you say it was fake?"

"Of course it's true, I saw it with my own eyes."

"Then if you don't catch it and eat it, how much meat can a deer have? It will be enough for you to eat for several months, hahaha."

A group of people around laughed.

Someone's eyes shone and they licked their lips.

"I would have caught it a long time ago. Damn it, have you ever seen a deer that is about the same size as a horse? The antlers on the top of its head are even more exaggerated. It would be crazy if anyone could catch this thing." He said at the beginning that he had seen a deer.

The man spoke.

"You can catch fish in the creek at the foot of the mountain."

"The creek is not safe either. It is said that some people have seen python shed skin there."

"Who saw it?"

"I heard that."

"Then you're talking about a hammer, it's just empty talk."

"Oh, by the way, have you all learned the method of controlling beasts?"

"What's the use of learning it? No animal can give me a contract."

"You can go catch a few bugs and come back to sign the contract."

"How long can this insect live? It died two months after the contract was signed."
To be continued...