In late October, Wen Qian went to the area near the ranch again. After receiving the signal, she learned about the earthquake from the news.
Meanwhile, in the eastern and southeastern directions of Xia City in Xia Province, there were also earthquakes of magnitude 4 to 6, but she didn't feel anything where she was.
The occurrence of the earthquake made discussions about the end of the world increasingly intense, or people thought that this was already the end of the world.
Wen Qian checked Fang Ya's message and responded that she was not in An City and was safe, telling her not to worry.
She didn't tell the other party where she was.
At this time, the Chen Family had already had their son return from outside, and the five of them were camping outside their house in cotton tents. They could still live in the house, but they didn't want to stay there anymore.
Uncle Chen took his family to plant all the fields that could be planted at home, and there was a stove in the tent to keep them warm.
At this time, they only hoped that the whole family would be safe and sound, and had no expectations for anything else.
Cities began setting up shelters for residents, where they could build tents within designated areas, but they had to follow the rules and not build tents exceeding the designated area.
More and more people started to gather at these shelters.
People's normal lives began to gradually disappear, although some people still believed it was just a false alarm.
After all, some places only had one or two small perceptible earthquakes, and then remained very calm, so some people wanted to live their lives as before.
As the weather gradually became colder and no more earthquakes occurred, many people also followed suit and returned.
There were still many people along the coast who suffered severely from the earthquakes, tsunamis, and the constant typhoons that came in October.
Many people who were temporarily residing or working along the coast all planned to return home. Some roads were destroyed by the earthquake, so they had to leave on foot or by bicycle.
In some particularly low-lying coastal areas, there was constant flooding, and people there had to move elsewhere.
If she had received the information in a timely manner, Wen Qian might not have stayed at home from that night onwards.
However, she didn't receive the news until more than twenty days later, by which time most places had already calmed down.
Perhaps it was because of the distance, or perhaps it was because she only received the news from her phone.
After returning home, Wen Qian looked at her own roof, wondering if she should also camp outside, but she thought more about staying inside the house.
Although Wen Qian had prepared a tent outside, she didn't spend the night in it.
At the same time, she planned to raise the height of the fence.
When Wen Qian was checking the news near the ranch, she only had one hour to read through the content from the past few days. After that, she went back and started collecting stones from the mountain.
Even if she had to live in a tent, she couldn't do so without a fence, as tents were too fragile and she didn't feel at ease.
In the following days, she focused more on bringing stones back, but she also noticed that the area she had enclosed was quite large, so she planned to make the rear fence higher and the front fence lower, supplementing it with wire mesh.
Afterwards, she planned to go to the area near the ranch every seven days to receive news and see what the situation was like outside, but fortunately she didn't see any bad news about the country after that.
In the northern cities, where winter had arrived, severely damaged areas could only build temporary shelters, as tents alone would not be enough to get through the cold winter. At the very least, there had to be places that could provide heating and insulation, with prefabricated temporary housing being the fastest solution.
Some southern cities also began constructing such shelters.
Originally, Wen Qian had wanted to go to Mangge City again, but it was too far away, so she went to Jade Mountain Pass instead. There was a protected area on the southern side of the Jade Mountain Range, with abundant vegetation and water.
There were also scenic spots nearby, with people scattered in the valleys and along the rivers. Most importantly, in the middle of the pass, there was a place where the highway and railway intersected.
There was also a train station, so Wen Qian planned to go there again, as it would take less time than going to Mangge City.
The only concern was that since it was one of the few flat areas among the mountains where roads could be built, she would have to pass through the mountain ranges to get there.
Wen Qian was a bit worried that if an earthquake occurred, even a single rockslide or falling boulder could be deadly.
But in the end, she still decided to go, as it was likely that she wouldn't go to such a faraway place again in the near future.
Previously in Xia City, Wen Qian had also bought some seeds, as they were local crops, so she bought some.
Now, she wanted to supplement her stock, as well as purchase some gasoline, as she had used quite a bit before.
She had learned earlier that there were also greenhouse cultivations in Xia Province. Many of the things Wen Qian could grow in her hometown grew better here due to the better sunlight, as long as proper insulation was provided.
Wen Qian's dimensional space also had agricultural insulation film, so she thought she could plant some crops in the spring of the following year as well.
It was winter now, and it was very cold and dry here, with strong winds at times.
The inexpensive skincare products and body oils Wen Qian had bought earlier came in handy.
And after three months here, her skin color, especially on her face, had taken on a similar reddish hue to the locals.
Whenever Wen Qian looked in the mirror, she felt that she could blend in well with the locals.
One morning, she set off and reached the highway, then headed towards the train station in the middle of Jade Mountain Pass.
Indeed, the journey was shorter, and although the scale was small, there were still commercial activities and signal reception.
There was also a small square with a memorial.
Wen Qian didn't buy any seeds, but she saw that the locally grown quinoa and wheat were being sold, so she bought some.
Then she bought some fuel to replenish what she had used before.
In the following time, she stayed in the area near the square, using her phone to check information and see if she had missed anything important.
She felt that although she lived in a remote area, she still needed to understand more information, otherwise, not knowing anything would make her too complacent, and over time, she would become ignorant and closed off.
She didn't want that, as having no understanding of the outside world was actually quite dangerous.
Afterwards, she rode her bike back home. Due to the winter season, there were no tourists on the road, only freight trucks.
In Wen Qian's sight, there were only mountains, and after leaving the pass, she saw the vast flatlands with blue skies and white clouds.
With the arrival of winter, the previously barren land became even more desolate, without a trace of greenery.
Even now, whenever Wen Qian saw these landscapes, she would be filled with awe, still unable to take them for granted.
In October, the lowest temperature was around -7°C (19.4°F), and the highest temperature was around 11°C (51.8°F).
Now, sunrise was around 8 AM, and sunset was after 7 PM, so the daylight hours were relatively long.
Wen Qian was truly living according to the approximate times of sunrise and sunset, rarely using electric lights or candles.
She felt that most of her time was far removed from modern living, which was difficult to adapt to at first, but she had now become accustomed to it.
