Two Thousand & Thirteen

Chapter 4 Infection and Hope

In summer, the scorching sun was high in the sky, and at noon the next day, a round of scorching sun scorched the asphalt road as hot as it was about to melt.

They arrived at the outskirts of City S.

"What's going on here?" Zhang Min took off his sunglasses and muttered.

In front of him was the dilapidated entry toll booth. Zhang Min got out of the car, and many people rushed out of the toll booth, all shouting in fear. Seeing that posture, they seemed to be coming to grab the car. Zhang Min made a decisive decision, sat back in the car, and slammed the steering wheel to get off the highway.

"Brother Wang, hello, can you hear me?" Zhang Min put on the earphones and said anxiously, "Yes, we're almost there, we still have 20 minutes drive away. Okay, no problem, where are sister-in-law and Xiaoshan?"

Jue Ming stared at the people in the distance outside the car window, and as soon as Zhang Min entered the car, the people on the opposite side immediately stopped and watched from afar.

"What about others?" Jue Ming asked.

Regardless of checking the surrounding environment, Zhang Min drove to the place specified on the phone, and replied: "He's not at home, it may be a bit crowded later, baby, you have to sit in the back seat."

Jue Ming nodded in understanding, Zhang Min parked the car in the parking lot behind a small two-story building, looked left and right, but there was no one.

The street trees on the side of the road are sluggish, and the empty streets are full of garbage. The overturned garbage cans are pushed back and forth by the hot wind, rolling gently and making a clanking sound.

After getting on the expressway, Jue Ming slept all night, but Zhang Min hadn't closed his eyes for forty-eight hours straight, and now he couldn't stop drooping his head in front of the steering wheel.

"Go to sleep." Jue Ming said.

Zhang Min nodded tiredly, turned sideways, pillowed on Jue Ming's lap, and said in a daze, "Call me when he comes."

Jue Ming hummed, staring into the distance in a daze.

The father and son were waiting for someone in the car. Jue Ming covered his left ear with a headset then his right ear, tilted his head to listen in a music, and raised his hand to touch Zhang Min's handsome side face-his eyebrows were wrinkled .

Jue Ming smoothen du his adoptive father's eyebrows with his fingers, and looked up.

In the distance, a group of children were walking aimlessly under the scorching sun, with their hands slightly raised, shuffling, and crossing the road. One of the little girls had a sunken head and her neck was tilted in an unnatural position.

Jue Ming narrowed his eyes slightly, the person they were waiting for here was Zhang Min's business partner, named Wang Bo, a middle-aged man in his early thirties, and also a comrade introduced by the company commander when Zhang Min was in the army.

Wang Bo is married, his wife is very beautiful, and he has a four-year-old daughter. Zhang Min once brought Jue Ming to play. The couple likes Jue Ming very much.

Jue Ming also likes them quite a bit. Of course, with his personality, he won't express himself too enthusiastically. Wang Bo's daughter is close to him. When Jue Ming is a guest, he will accompany her, take her to the playground, let her play, and watch from the side.

Jue Ming's travel bag still has Xiaoshan's self-adhesive stickers on it.

After a full three hours, Jue Ming shook Zhang Min and said, "Dad, he's here."