Just as Wen Qian finished canning for herself and took a day off, lying on the bed around eleven o'clock in the morning, she seemed to hear a gunshot.
She immediately sat up, put on clothes and shoes, and took a telescope to listen for any movements at the window.
In that momentary sound, Wen Qian then remained silent, but she didn't hear any other noises.
Wen Qian's wall was built quite high, so she quietly stuck her head out from the front by putting up a ladder, using a white veil to cover the telescope as she looked towards the Jade Mountain Range.
There was no way to see anything from the vast expanse of white.
Since there were no other abnormalities, Wen Qian wondered if she was just hearing things?
After all, it was possible to have auditory hallucinations when living alone for a long time.
But what if it was real? Wen Qian thought it was better to be overcautious than careless.
The gunshot made Wen Qian guess that someone might be hunting.
What kind of game would it be at this time? A wild donkey or antelope? Or could it be a wild boar? Since the snow outside was heavy, Wen Qian had not checked the traps far away for many days.
Since she couldn't see anything, Wen Qian observed for a while longer but eventually gave up. However, she extended the time she spent observing with the telescope each day.
The unchanging external environment was actually safe for her; any sudden change would make her feel very uneasy.
She even wondered if one day someone would discover her, and how she would confront them.
After a long time passed, Wen Qian didn't hear any similar sounds again, so it turned out to be a false alarm.
In a place unseen by Wen Qian, vultures were circling overhead at the location of the gunshot. It wasn't someone hunting there, but rather someone being killed.
Only separated by the mountains, although Wen Qian could hear the sound, she had no idea what had happened.
On both satellite maps and paper maps, the place where Wen Qian was located had no specific name, as it was unseen by people.
To ease her unease, she increased the time for self-defense training every day.
Living alone, whenever she felt any physical or mental discomfort or unease, she would take action immediately.
She never ignored any changes in herself, as sometimes neglecting small things could lead to bigger issues, which would be more troublesome to resolve later.
She took out the bows, arrows, and crossbows she had assembled before to practice aiming and shooting. In short, Wen Qian would do anything to put her mind at ease.
Fortunately, so far everything was safe and sound. Come to think of it, whether collecting information or gathering intelligence, people would eventually go to places with people or traces of human activity.
While she could believe someone going to the ranch, the possibility of them coming here was much lower.
In fact, before Wen Qian went to the ranch, several groups of people had already been there.
After it was abandoned, the condition of the buildings that Wen Qian saw was actually what was left after others had scavenged it clean.
The small fry that Wen Qian fished out from there couldn't survive the winter in her small pond at home.
One morning, Wen Qian cooked a bowl of vegetable noodles. After eating, she washed the bowl outside with snow.
Having just finished eating and with her body still warm, she went up the mountain. She hadn't listened to the radio for several days, afraid of missing any news.
She used to listen during the twelve o'clock or hourly time slots out of habit, but this time she didn't, and then she heard the news about people attacking the granary.
The guards were injured, and the ringleaders were shot dead on the spot.
The news was brief, but the severity of the incident was likely understood by all listeners.
When people's petty theft was discovered, punishment would be severe, let alone attacking the granary.
Moreover, the perpetrators weren't acting alone, but inciting a crowd. If not dealt with harshly, others might follow suit, putting the granary at risk.
Logically, protecting the food supply was of utmost importance, so the guards must have been strict. Wen Qian couldn't figure out why those people had to do such a thing.
For now, she could still get some news from the radio, proving that social order still maintained a certain level of stability. Otherwise, all she would hear would be static.
Far away in An Province, Fang Ya also heard the village chief's notice, warning them to be cautious of outlaws from elsewhere fleeing towards their area.
This made the villagers very anxious. Although there were more people in the village now, they were all honest folks. There might be arguments and fights, but outlaws were truly frightening.
Most people, even in this apocalyptic environment, couldn't quickly transform into the kind of person capable of confronting outlaws.
Those ruthless and bloody-handed ones had already shown their viciousness and cruelty in a harmonious society.
However, good news came soon after: some outlaws who went to a neighboring village were beaten to death by the villagers. It was a result of strength in numbers, and no one held the ordinary civilians responsible.
At this time, there was no need to talk about excessive self-defense - those rioters would be executed even if caught.
It seemed to have returned to a period of severe and swift punishment for crimes and offenses.
This behavior was reasonable. There was no longer time and energy to slowly reform and rehabilitate those people. All efforts were focused on defending food security and allocating resources for heating and cultivation.
With the situation already so difficult, those who still chose to commit crimes were simply asking for death.
For some reason, after hearing this news, Wen Qian's heart actually felt a little more at ease.
It meant that if she encountered bad people in the future, the psychological burden of self-defense would be much reduced.
In the cold winter, Wen Qian sat on a tree looking towards the distant desert.
From being able to receive many channels on the radio at first, it had gradually dwindled to two channels, which didn't even broadcast around the clock.
Wen Qian wondered if there would come a day when she couldn't receive any channels on the radio, would that mean social order had completely collapsed?
That day would inevitably come if there was no progress in scientific research and development.
There was new progress related to seeds, not a new variety, but just the rediscovery of an old, forgotten variety.
Winter was getting longer, and people had to endure more extreme cold while consuming more materials for heating.
Many people suffered frostbite on their hands, feet, or faces. By the time the weather warmed up, those scars had not faded, and before long, winter came again, so many people's faces still bore the marks of frostbite.
Wen Qian rarely went outside in winter and protected her skin, so she didn't have any frostbite.
After coming down from the tree, Wen Qian headed towards home. Every time she returned from listening to the radio, she would put up a ladder on the back wall of her compound to enter, instead of going around to the front.
However, this habit saved her life.
