Most of the time, Wen Qian did not leave her place of residence. Many people would think of going to warmer places to take shelter, but warm places were ultimately limited.
With too many people around, it would not be very good for Wen Qian, so she decided to stay here, especially since the virus had not yet been cleared.
She went to the spring water area in the meantime, but she did not see the spring water because there were already people guarding the checkpoint, so Wen Qian did not get close.
Wen Qian had actually expected that many people would rely on this spring water, but the degree to which it was surrounded still made her feel it was very exaggerated.
But when she thought about it, clean water sources were very important for both humans and wildlife.
The snow that fell this winter might be different from the snow in previous years, so although Wen Qian stockpiled snow, she still used her previous drinking water.
She would only use the snow from this year to wash clothes or water plants.
The sky was never so clear, but Wen Qian knew that it was much better than other places. For places that were originally shrouded in mist and fog, they probably couldn't even see a sunny day now, while this place was slightly better.
One night during this period, Wen Qian heard the howling of wolves. The last time, before the volcano erupted, she encountered a wolf pack transporting prey.
This time, she was worried that it was a wolf pack.
The howling of wolves can travel very far. This time, Wen Qian was on guard for a while, but she did not see any wolves through her telescope.
The animals now must be having a hard time. If the environment around the basin became more harsh, they would probably approach human settlements or migrate to protected areas with more abundant vegetation and greater biodiversity.
It was just unknown whether they would encounter Wen Qian's home on the way, which was Wen Qian's biggest concern.
Her home's walls were very thick and tall, making it difficult for either humans or wildlife to enter.
Even so, for her peace of mind, she still needed to prepare to make some traps. It was difficult to dig pits at this time because the ground was frozen solid.
She could make wire snares, but she was hesitating about whether to use bait.
If the other party was just passing by but was attracted by the bait and fell into the trap, it would not be very good.
When Wen Qian had food to eat, she absolutely did not want to deal with dangerous animals again, not knowing who might be the prey of whom.
If it was a single animal, it would still be fine, but if it was a pack, it would be very bad for Wen Qian.
Therefore, Wen Qian did not use bait, and instead took out an outdoor warning device from her own space.
Warning device - this was a suggestion that she had seen someone mention on a survival forum before.
However, when Wen Qian just installed this warning device, she found that it did not work well in winter.
Because if there was a strong wind or heavy snow, its receiver would set off an alarm, and the first time it went off, it gave Wen Qian quite a fright.
She had installed the device directly on the outer wall of the fence, wanting the warning range to be farther and the warning time to be earlier, so that she would have time to prepare.
But after this false alarm incident, she gave up on it.
Later, she thought she might as well just put the device in the yard. Although having it in the yard would not be very useful for warning, it was still necessary for Wen Qian when she was sleeping at night, so she chose to place the alarm in the inner wall at night.
The inner wall blocked the strong wind or rain and snow, so the alarm was not so sensitive and functioned normally.
In this way, even when resting, Wen Qian could feel a little more at ease. At this time, she felt that the possibility of wildlife appearing was greater than that of humans.
At this time, humans should want to go to places with more people and activity. Other remote areas would not have any desire to explore outwards.
The original environment was already very harsh, and now the degree of harshness had intensified. Unless absolutely necessary, no one would do such a laborious and unrewarding thing.
What Wen Qian did not know was that although no wildlife had come to bother her, the village with a river that she had seen through the valley frequently had wild animals appearing.
Their purpose was for food, and another reason was that the temperature in the valley was relatively higher than other places, and animals were good at choosing places to survive.
However, if there were not many locals, they could still make traps, so hunting also became a good source of food for them.
As for the protected areas, they were already in a mess now. When people could not even take care of themselves, how could they have time to maintain the reproduction of other species?
People would slaughter both wild animals and domesticated animals to fill their stomachs. Some even exchanged and ate their beloved pets.
When people ran out of food themselves, no one would specifically produce food for other animals to eat.
Of course, unless the animal was of great use to humans, like hunting dogs whose owners would not give up on them at this time.
Other animals that could not help and only wasted food would be eaten or abandoned.
Perhaps humans' aggression was also very strong now, and many wild animals seemed to realize that looking for food in human areas due to a lack of food had become dangerous.
Therefore, some wild animals, after being chased by humans and escaping death, would keep a great distance from humans and be very wary.
Wen Qian's thoughts were consistent with these wild animals.
Due to the impact of volcanic ash, many international flights were canceled, slowing down people's transportation speed and increasing transportation costs.
Now, most people did not go out anymore.
The first winter after the volcanic eruption was considered to be the last relatively normal winter.
This was not people being pessimistic, but rather their conviction that the days to come would be harder than this winter, so some cherished it more, while others were more anxious.
As the new year approached, the country gave a speech. Starting at noon at 12 o'clock on the last day of the year, the speech content would be repeated every two hours.
Perhaps there were other ways, but Wen Qian could only receive it through the radio.
The speech content first described the current difficulties and the series of disasters that would be faced in the future, and then outlined the plan for the first year after the new year - to build concentrated shelters.
From the new year onwards, no one could live as they wished anymore, but rather had to live for the purpose of survival, with everyone required to register, participate, and share the results.
Each province began to build shelters of varying sizes, and since construction was difficult in the harsh cold, they would first requisition some underground facilities from before, which would be more scattered.
Being scattered would also have its advantages. Although being too concentrated would be more convenient, it would also be easier for something to go wrong, especially being wiped out by a virus all at once.
As for the villages, they would first concentrate on a village basis, but there were problems with the most basic level of governance, as some people had already tasted the flavor of power and begun to proclaim themselves kings, bully others, and exploit them.
Even just a little bit of power would be maximized in its usage - a truly ridiculous reality.
But fortunately, the people now were not like the people of the past. In the past, as long as people could still survive, they would not think of rebelling. But the people now were actively resisting, kicking out those who were selfishly exploiting others from the local concentrated areas.
There would always be people who wanted to take advantage of the chaotic situation to act arrogantly and indulgently, but who around them was born to be oppressed?
Those who wanted to trample on others were instead beaten bloody and trampled by even more people.
At this time, unless someone was killed, not many people would care about minor disputes, because there were more important things to do.
Those who briefly grasped power but were then pushed down could only slink back home and be ostracized from then on.
