059 Pros and Cons, Part 3

The boy, already on the verge of collapse, instinctively ignored everything Sheng Qingru said. He heard only the four words he cared about most. His body, starved for several meals, erupted with unimaginable strength. Before anyone present could react, he scrambled and tumbled his way to Wang Chen’s feet, threw himself down, and clutched one of Wang Chen’s legs with desperate force, crying out at the top of his lungs, “Save my grandfather! Please! Save my grandfather! He’s the only family I have left! Please!”

Wang Chen had never in his life been begged on one knee like this. He was so taken aback that he could not even find his voice. Sheng Qingru recovered first. She crouched in front of the boy and comforted him softly. “Don’t panic. Don’t panic. First catch your breath. Fang, get some water. This child’s lips are all split open.”

The boy looked at Sheng Qingru, whose brows and eyes were gentle, and then at Wang Chen, who had also crouched down beside him. His eyes were full of panic, fixed on them in a hard, unblinking stare. “You said you could save him, didn’t you? You said it. I heard you, right? Please, I’ll do anything you want, as long as my grandfather lives!”

Fang Qiang handed over a cup of water, but the boy waved it away with a sweep of his hand and did not even look at it. Fang Qiang did not take offense; he only said, with a little regret, “This kid’s lost his mind.”

Wang Chen lifted a hand, wanting to slap the boy twice, but for some reason could not bring himself to do it. The first person he had ever killed had been a half-grown boy just like this one. Though he had been forced into it, that scene kept haunting his mind, impossible to shake. Changing his thought, Wang Chen gave Sheng Qingru a glance. When she did not understand, he nodded toward the medical kit at her side.

“Oh... right. I was about to give your grandfather an injection.” Sheng Qingru understood his intent, pulled a single-use morphine syringe from the medical kit, rolled up the old man’s sleeve, and stuck the needle straight in without even disinfecting the skin.

When the boy saw the needle go into the old man’s arm, his whole body went limp on the ground. His lips moved as though he were muttering to himself, no doubt saying that Grandpa was saved now, that he was so grateful to them, that Grandpa could live again. In less than two minutes, the child was lying on the cold concrete floor, fast asleep, snoring softly.

It seemed the sight of his grandfather falling ill had struck him far too hard. Under the strain of panic and the fear of losing his only relative, this half-grown boy had not slept for at least a full day and night. Watching the boy’s pitiful face, tears still streaming even in sleep, Wang Chen could only shake his head and sigh. Then, with Fang Qiang’s help, he carried the boy onto the bed and laid him beside his grandfather.

Perhaps it was the morphine, or perhaps it was the last flicker before death, but the old man, who had been half dead on the bed, slowly opened his eyes. In a trembling voice, he said, “I’m not dead yet... Who are you people?”

“Water, quickly!” Wang Chen sat down beside the old man, took the cup Fang Qiang handed him, and gave the elder a couple of swallows. Then he asked offhandedly, “What should we call you, sir?”

After the clear water went down, the old man’s complexion grew even rosier. He weakly waved away the cup, breathing hard. “My name is Zhou Quanyou. That child is my grandson, Zhou Anwen. I know my time has come. The world outside is in chaos, and the only thing I cannot rest easy about is this child. Could you... could you help me take care of him?”

Wang Chen nodded without hesitation.

“Good... good... At the very end, heaven at least left us a way to live. This hydropower station... was contracted by my son. It looks old, but the equipment is all fairly new. Outsiders... outsiders can’t get in easily. I think you should settle here... In the tool room next door, there are my son’s... manuals... drawings... and... Dahei can be trusted... my grandson... grandson...”

The final burst of strength before death lasted only a few minutes. The old man struggled to explain some details about the hydropower station, held tightly to his grandson’s hand, and with a trace of reluctance, left this world.

Looking at the old man, whose breathing and heartbeat were gone, Wang Chen shook his head. He lifted the elder’s upper body, tucked one arm around the neck beneath the gray-white hair, and rubbed hard with both hands. After the crisp snap of the cervical vertebrae, he straightened the old man’s head and laid the body flat back on the bed.

After reporting that all was safe over the radio, and leaving Sheng Qingru to watch over the boy named Zhou Anwen, Wang Chen and Fang Qiang inspected the hydropower station inside and out. Including the power house, the whole place was no bigger than one-third of a substation. Just as the old man had said before he died, the station was still operating normally. This was probably thanks to national grid integration policies and similar private-grid arrangements. Quite a few quick-minded farmers and small-town folk had begun to set their sights on private power supply. Solar, wind, and hydro were their first choices. Those with smaller setups hung a solar panel on the roof of their own home and sold a little electricity each month to make up for household losses. Those with larger operations, like the old man’s son, would restore a small hydropower station, invest money to renovate and connect it to the grid, and earn a certain profit every year.

“Wang Chen, this place is actually pretty good for four or five people. Any more than that, and it probably won’t be very convenient.” Fang Qiang dug out the materials the old man had mentioned, handed half to Wang Chen, and while flipping through them, nodded. “Not to mention, judging by the dates on these documents, this hydropower station was refurbished two years ago. It’ll be fine for another three to five years.”

“Since their family was contracted to run the hydropower station, why was his son buried in the substation?” Wang Chen had no real patience for the highly technical materials in front of him and asked casually.

“That’s easy. His son was most likely a staff member at the substation, or even its director. I don’t know whether the substation had any spare money to skim, but setting up a hydropower station for his own family’s benefit probably doesn’t count as profiting by harming the public, does it? After the outbreak, taking his family to hide in the substation would have been more spacious than the hydropower station. If we searched along the reservoir shore, we might even find the boat his son hid away. But then his son died of illness, and with no one to rely on, the old man could only bring his little grandson to hide in the more defensible hydropower station. In the end, even he fell ill...” Fang Qiang understood all these tangled social arrangements inside and out. Without much thought, he put together a pretty accurate picture.

Wang Chen automatically chose to filter out Fang Qiang’s rambling. When Fang Qiang went on and on without end, he had no choice but to cut in. “If that’s the case, then this hydropower station should already be tied directly into the substation’s power supply, right?”

“Not should be — definitely is! I’m guessing as long as we adjust the wiring on the substation side, we’ll have a stable power source there!” Fang Qiang finally found the key point after all that chatter, but just as he was getting excited, he turned gloomy again. “The problem is, none of us know anything about electrical work. This is high-voltage power. One mistake and somebody could die!”

“Let’s take it one step at a time. Maybe luck will bring us a pillow when we’re sleepy. Perhaps one of the people we brought back from the museum is an electrician? Or should we have Xiaohua post a recruitment notice online?” The energy issue had just been discussed at the previous meeting; it was a top-priority matter. Now that they had a stable source, Wang Chen felt a little lighter and made a small joke.

Fang Qiang agreed wholeheartedly. No matter how hard things got, they were still better than going hungry, freezing, and having nothing to burn. Winter was nearly upon them, and whether they burned coal or firewood, neither compared with a stable electric heater for warmth. Compared with other survivor groups struggling to survive by clumping together, their little circle was truly one step ahead, then every step ahead, with both timing and advantage on their side.

“All right, it’s getting dark. Hurry up and bury the old man before nightfall. Then bring Zhou Anwen and the big dog back to the substation for dinner before we deal with anything else.”

“Up to you.”