This old building in the liberal arts college looks really old. The steps here don't have neat and uniform porcelain surfaces like those in Wenhui Building, they are just rough gray stone. If anyone wants to sweep the floor in this building, they must first sprinkle a layer of water on the ground to avoid dust.
Hesta walked up Xianghan Mountain. Each step here was embedded with two steel bars, and the soles of her shoes creaked when she stepped on them.
At this time, she had heard some laughter coming from upstairs. As her footsteps gradually approached, all the conversations stopped.
A door suddenly opened, the light in the room was reflected in the corridor, and Lin Jiao walked out from behind the door.
"You are finally here."
…
The moment he stepped into this small room, Hesta suddenly had a strong sense of déjà vu.
The door is closed, there are ten chairs here, and there are ten women in the room. There were not only college students like Lin Jiao and Xiang Hanshan in the crowd. At least the two people sitting on her right should be between thirty and forty years old. They looked a little tired, and there were still wet clothes on their faces. Clean traces of makeup residue. The noisiest and most active young man among the crowd looked about the same age as Ding Yuqing...or even smaller.
They were wearing the same coat, holding different notebooks and pens in their hands, and some canvas bags and schoolbags were hung casually on the backs of chairs or placed on the ground. Behind them, two rows of large bookshelves standing along the wall were filled to the brim, and a foldable wooden ladder about half a meter high was propped open in the corner. It looked like it had just been used.
Although they are of different ages and temperaments, everyone here has a bright light in their eyes that Hesta is very familiar with - Hesta is too familiar with this look, having been in District 14 for so long, It was the first time she saw such a look on the faces of others. It was the unique excitement and joy when a person is in a group she trusts...such as her friends with 403, such as Ava and the children of her mansion.
Under the auspices of Lin Jiao, everyone reported their names. Hesta read them silently several times in her mind, but in the end she still didn't remember much.
She walked to the whiteboard by the window and started writing on the blackboard calmly.
Following Yu Xuekun's suggestion, she erased all details that could easily pinpoint the specific time and place, and only briefly talked about the typical precautions for medical soldiers fighting in the mid-temperate continental monsoon climate area, and then supplemented it with some simple cases. During the process, Hesta got stuck several times because of the language—her common language vocabulary library could not fully cover all professional vocabulary. The older woman in the crowd tentatively spoke in District 3, and finally helped her find corresponding expression.
Hesta's sharing lasted for about forty minutes. She originally set aside ten minutes for answering questions, but she didn't expect that everyone responded so enthusiastically. By the time she finished answering them one by one, the time quickly exceeded an hour.
When the atmosphere in the room cooled down a little, Hesta looked at the time - it was already past nine-thirty.
"Do you have any other questions?" she asked softly.
After a short period of silence, Lin Jiao smiled and said, "It seems that there is no more... What about you, do you have any questions to ask us?"
Hesta put down the paint pen in her hand and returned to her chair to sit down.
She thought deeply for a while, then looked at Lin Jiao.
"What does your club do?"
Everyone's faces showed a little smile at the same time, and they all looked at Lin Jiao in unison.
"Since you are here today, we are ready to tell you the answer." With that, Lin Jiao stood up and said, "Would you like to go downstairs with us and take a look?"
"...If this is a high-stakes question, there is no need to answer it. I'm just asking casually."
"Okay, it's all up to you."
The room fell silent again.
After about three minutes of silence, Hesta stood up and said, "...let's go."
…
Hesta followed everyone downstairs.
At the stairwell on the first floor, a closed iron door blocked the steps leading to the underground. Lin Jiao took out the key and unlocked the door. Behind her, several members turned on flashlights for her at the same time.
Before seeing the real activity room, some strange conjectures flashed through Hestad's mind from time to time: some niche taboo culture exhibition rooms, some shelters for curious collections, and even an animal experimentation site that abandoned all ethics... …
However, when she actually stepped there, she realized that things seemed to be more normal... much more normal than she expected.
First of all, this is just an ordinary basement.
There are no exaggerated decorations or weird smells. On the left hand side of the entrance are two rowing machines placed diagonally, followed by four gantry racks with different purposes, occupying the space on both sides of the basement respectively. Some barbells and dumbbells were neatly stored on the iron rack, and a stack of very old thick yoga mats was piled next to them.
There are no lights on further away, but with the light here, the outlines of some shelves can be faintly seen in the darkness.
Lin Jiao led Hesta forward. She kept turning on the lights, and the originally dark basement gradually became brighter. Hesta's eyes hurriedly glanced at the shelves - most of them were empty, with only a few containing items. Some large items can be identified by their appearance, such as tents, but many more are complete cardboard boxes that have already been packed.
"These are the express items we will send out this week," Lin Jiao stopped in front of a shelf. "I have been putting them off for more than a week, but I can't find the right time."
"What are these?"
"Emergency supplies."
"Where to send it?"
"Send it to our warehouse outside."
"...What supplies are you hoarding?"
"Store everything." Lin Jiao replied, "Food, communications, medical care, clothing, energy... and books are usually sent directly to the warehouse. We will find time to go there and sort them out in person, but there are some things that need to be sorted out first. Mail it to us and then send it over.”
"Are they all tools for survival in the wild?" Hesta asked.
"Yes, but it's more than that," Lin Jiao paused, "We are preparing according to the standards of doomsday survival."
Hesta laughed, "Does that mean we have to stock up on some weapons?"
"right."
"What weapons have you hoarded?" Hesta asked calmly, "Daggers? Axes? Bows and crossbows -"
"There are all these," Lin Jiao replied, "but the big ones are bullets and guns."
Hesta, who had been walking slowly along the shelves, stopped and said, "...What?"
"The bulk of it is bullets and guns," Lin Jiao repeated again, "After all, when public order completely collapses, you are unlikely to survive with only cold weapons."
(End of chapter)
