The more Yang Yang tried to hold back, the clearer Jing Shu could hear the excitement buried in his voice. She wasn't thrilled though. It felt like ten thousand wild horses were stampeding across her chest, leaving her tangled in knots.
According to her plan, she was supposed to wait at least a month or two before going to America with Yang Yang's group. That way she'd be fully prepared and feel safer making the trip.
The real issue was the quakes in year three had only just begun. No one had figured out the pattern yet. It reminded her of when the floods first came. Everyone thought it'd only last a few days, or maybe a month at most, but hidden dangers just kept piling up.
This year was full of accidents. Like in her past life, Su Yiyan's whole family had died in a quake. In this life, she absolutely couldn't let that happen. Luckily, that tragedy was still half a year away, when people had already become hardened survivors. She believed her judgment, but she'd have to keep that date in mind.
The way things were now, every few days they had to evacuate again, shifting shelters like they were fighting a guerrilla war against the earthquakes.
She wanted to use the next couple of months to teach her family how to judge danger properly during quakes. Sure, after a few months of practice everyone would pick up survival skills on their own, but she wanted them ready sooner, to give them another layer of safety.
She didn't want to go to America and come back to find her family wiped out. If that happened, living through the apocalypse would mean nothing.
On top of that, her parents' sudden job transfers made the third year feel even more unpredictable. In her past life, at least she'd known where the real dangers were, which let her act like she could foresee disasters. This time, she'd already changed the main storyline, so everything had shifted into unfamiliar territory.
How could she feel comfortable leaving China for America under those conditions?
Another problem was her Cube Space hadn't leveled up yet, which meant she couldn't carry as much. Without enough supplies, she couldn't prepare properly. If she was going to risk such a trip, she had to come back with gains. But if she got there and still couldn't upgrade the space, she'd go insane with frustration.
All these worries kept her silent, the atmosphere heavy. After a long pause, she finally asked, "Didn't you say the beginning of the year? The new year's barely even started."
Her classmates around her perked their ears, listening to every word. Even though they were freezing, none of them dared to stomp their feet or make noise, afraid of disturbing her.
"Because the whole world's shaking," Yang Yang's voice was persuasive, almost coaxing. "America's quakes have turned the place into chaos. When the enemy's in chaos, that's the time to strike. Miss this chance, and once things calm down again, we won't be able to stir the waters."
She had to admit, he had a point. Right now, in these first days of quakes, the whole world was in disarray, China included.
China's plan had been simple: recover, plant crops, make sure everyone could eat. But with the quakes, farming was out of the question. First came disaster relief, then constant evacuations, all while still having to feed the people. Just thinking about it made her realize how swamped the government must be.
Russia, proud of its reputation as a nation of warriors, had actually organized squads to catch wild polar bears with their bare hands, planning to either eat them or breed them. Then came the quakes. Snowcaps collapsed, avalanches buried border cities, and the polar bears were lost under the rubble. Goodbye to the bare-handed bear-catching plan.
And Japan? That poor island nation was already on its last legs, with less than one percent of its people hiding under Mount Fuji. The quakes threw their survival plan into chaos. Rumor had it they were flying a perpetual motion aircraft built just for the apocalypse, staying in the air 24/7. They lived in the sky now, circling at low altitudes to dodge lightning.
So what about America?
The people were out on the streets with banners, demanding the president be replaced and that food be distributed. The brand-new president was scrambling to grab power and clean house. Local governments were busy fighting landowners, since unlike China, America's grain wasn't nationalized. It was all in the hands of private farm owners.
The farm owners? They were busy forming gangs, fighting the government, fighting the people, fighting anyone who looked at their grain the wrong way.
The conflict had exploded because the government tried to suppress food price hikes, cutting into the farmers' profits. In response, the farmers simply refused to sell.
America had already been torn apart by two years of apocalyptic civil war. Even half-dead, the camel was still bigger than a horse. They weren't short on food yet. Year one was a power struggle, year two was about profit. Just when things had settled a little, people turned around and rioted about food again.
The public knew from the news that most of the world was starving, but developed nations with smaller populations and stronger industries were still okay. In America, plenty of farmers had hoarded stockpiles and even set up gangs. There hadn't been food shortages yet, and prices had stayed steady thanks to capital's control, but now even with money, ordinary folks couldn't buy grain. Farm owners were hoarding and refusing to sell.
The people didn't care. They demanded the president give them food, no matter what the farm owners did. Otherwise, they'd replace him.
The new president hadn't even warmed his chair before he was buried under public outrage. To make things worse, waves of Mexican and Cuban refugees were flooding in. America tried all kinds of measures, but the sheer numbers made it impossible to stop. In darkness, sneaking across the border was child's play.
So now, America was seeing endless robberies and murders every single day.
This was the most chaotic time in its history, capitalism's selfishness laid bare. If you didn't own a few guns, you couldn't even leave the house.
Compared to that, China's half-year of inhuman cruelty was nothing but child's play. Domestic chaos was like a third-rate martial arts flick. Abroad, it was full-on sci-fi gunfights. Not even the same genre. But it proved one thing: China's security system was holding strong.
Right now, America was the fattest sheep around, and plenty of neighbors were eyeing it hungrily. If they didn't go now, when would they?
"Alright," Jing Shu finally said, her voice serious. "Tell me the time. I'll get ready as fast as I can."
"The earliest is the morning after tomorrow," Yang Yang replied. "First we'll head to the capital and meet with the main squad, then set off from there."