White Olive Tree

Chapter 19

Chapter 19
Li Zan and Song Ran continued on their way.
The road ahead is in extremely bad condition.  Many road sections were damaged in the war, and the forward speed dropped sharply.
Under the high temperature, the road was bumpy, and the heat and fatigue tested people's endurance.
After walking for several hours, sporadic buildings gradually appeared on the wasteland in the distance.  They are all sand-yellow bunker houses, the outer walls are full of incomplete, and some of the roofs were blown off.  Continue to drive forward, the outline of the big city is outlined on the horizon, accompanied by the faint sound of guns.
The two of them looked at each other and knew that Hapo City was in front of them.
Li Zan picked up the helmet hat and put it on Song Ran's head; subconsciously clenched the gun in his hand, and said, "Go south."
   "Um."
Battles raging in the north and east of the city, the sound of cannons could be heard from far away.  After a while, the smoke from the explosion can be seen rising from the horizon.
Song Ran didn't dare to relax, and carefully drove around to the south of the city.  Along the road, a large number of newly dug graves gradually appeared, and some of the dead did not even have a place to bury them, and they were exposed to the sun on the side of the road.
All the way to the south, the sound of artillery fire was no longer heard.  Song Ran couldn't relax.
There were no living people on this road, but when the car drove into a street in the southern suburbs, a figure appeared.
Song Ran felt something was wrong, but he turned on the camera involuntarily and placed it under the windshield.
The scavengers, dressed in rags and with disheveled hair, roamed the streets like ghosts.  The elderly, men, women, and children are all dirty and desolate, wandering aimlessly, or curled up in corners.
When the car passed by, the eyeballs of these people also slowly turned, but there was no brilliance.
A sad and creepy atmosphere permeated the street deeply.
Song Ran was tormented in his heart, he grasped the steering wheel and drove forward slowly.
A woman holding a child appeared on the side of the road ahead. Long-term hunger made her hands thin like bamboo poles.  The child in his arms was more than three years old, his eyeballs were protruding, and he was struggling to breathe in his mother's arms.

Song Ran suddenly stepped on the brakes, and without further ado, picked up a backpack from the back seat.
Li Zan immediately stopped her: "Wait a minute!" But before she had time, she had already opened the door with her bag and rushed out of the car.
Song Ran took out a bag of bread and milk from the bag and handed it to the woman.
The woman hugged her child tightly, her eyes full of vigilance.
Song Ran managed to force a smile, opened the plastic bag, put a straw in the milk, and handed it to her again.
The woman hesitated to take it, and gave the milk to the baby in her arms.  The child sucked it as soon as it was picked up, and the woman tore the bread in half for the child, and then started gobbling it herself.
Unable to bear it, Song Ran took out another bag of bread from the backpack.
"Reporter Song!" Li Zan got out of the car and called out to her.
Song Ran turned around, and saw scavengers surrounded him at some point.  Men, women, young and old, described as haggard.  Their naturally deep eye sockets were even more sunken due to hunger. They stared at the food in Song Ran's hands, stretched out their bony hands, and slowly approached.  Just like walking zombies in Hollywood blockbusters.
Song Ran felt a chill in his heart, stood where he was, not daring to move, and moaned softly: "Officer Li..."
Li Zan quickly ran to her side in two or three steps, grabbed her wrist tightly and pulled her behind him, then turned to face the people who were walking slowly. 
But there were people coming from all around, and no side was safe.  Afraid of causing confusion, Li Zan did not bring down his rifle, only a pistol pinned to his waist. He carefully pressed the stock of the gun with his hand, ready at any time.
Song Ran also handed his back to Li Zan, and looked defensively at the crowd slowly surrounding him.
The first to approach was a middle-aged man who was almost as old as Song Ran's father.  He pointed to the backpack in Song Ran's hand, with a begging expression on his old face, and begged her with his hands clasped together.
Song Ran looked at Li Zan tremblingly and asked for his consent.  Li Zan pursed his lips and nodded.  Song Ran gave him a bag of bread.  The man held the bread, bowed deeply, and walked away slowly.
And the crowd that came up lined up behind him.
Li Zan let go of Song Ran's wrist.  She immediately pulled the zipper of the backpack to the maximum, took out all the bread inside and handed them out one by one.  The person who received the bread bowed deeply, and an ignorant child was also bowed down by her mother.
Song Ran couldn't bear their humble thanks, and didn't dare to look at them at all.
And she doesn't have much stock in her bag, only seven or eight bags.  All of a sudden it was empty.
Li Zan said: "I still have some compressed biscuits."
He walked quickly to the car.  There were guns and ammunition in the car. Just in case, he locked the car.  He unlocked it and rummaged through his backpack.
Song Ran also opened the trunk and found a bag of loose snacks brought from the resident.
But a drop in the bucket.
When Song Ran held biscuits and other snacks and distributed them to everyone, her heart felt cold. She didn't dare to face the group of people behind the line.
"Wait a little longer." She ran to the back seat to search, found a few pieces of melted chocolate, a bag of peanuts, a bag of candies and plums, and gave them all away.
Someone took the food and left.  The rest of the more hungry people still held hope, standing where they were, looking at them quietly, with desolate eyes.
Li Zan's voice was very low, he could hardly raise his head, and said, "I'm sorry, there are no more."
"I'll look for it again." Song Ran ran to the side of the car again, found the back bag of the trunk from the luggage bag in the back seat, and turned all the bags upside down.
"No more. I'm sorry." She suddenly choked up, and tears came out as soon as she opened her mouth. The tears fell down in big ones. She lowered her head and shook her head, "I'm sorry, there are really no more. I'm sorry."
God knows how much she wishes that all the clothes in her bag would turn into bread.  But no more, even the bag compartment has been turned over.  Even if it means giving her another bag of potato chips.
"I'm sorry, there are really no more." She didn't dare to look at them, she just lowered her head and stubbornly flipped through her bag, tears streaming down her face.
Knowing that there was no hope, the scavengers silently dragged their weak legs and walked away slowly.