Slap! Slap!
Another sandstorm has started outside the window, and it came without any warning. The sand grains, carried by the wind, rattled against the glass windows, like a somber natural melody.
Murphy sat at her small table, the dim light illuminating her face. Her hands were fiddling with something on the table, gradually assembling parts of varying sizes under her manipulation.
Soon, a rounded, old-fashioned radio appeared in front of Murphy.
Murphy held the radio close to her ears with both hands and shook it vigorously to make sure there were no loose parts inside. Then she happily carried it to her bedside.
There is an electrical outlet here.
She had just modified the old radio by adding a wire so it could run on a power outlet, thus eliminating the need for batteries.
Batteries are hard to find these days; many things are no longer in production.
According to my grandfather, the solar panels on their farm could only be purchased after applying for and obtaining approval; they were products specially supplied to special units like theirs.
As for batteries, Murphy didn't know if they were discontinued, but they weren't something his farm could purchase.
Grandpa Donald knocked on the door and poked his head in from the outside.
" Murphy, dinner's ready."
"That shouldn't be called eating, that's more like eating corn porridge..." Murphy complained without looking up. She was fed up with the taste of corn porridge, even though it was a delicacy that many people in this era longed for.
"What are you doing?" Donald walked into the room and watched Murphy plug the newly added power cord into the socket for the radio.
"I modified this radio so I can listen to the radio." xS12
When did you learn this?
"I learned it from a book three days ago."
"But doesn't your school have a public address system?"
Murphy ignored her grandfather for the moment, focusing instead on putting her ear to the radio and adjusting it. Soon she heard a hissing sound.
A look of surprise appeared in her eyes, and she looked up to say, "That was before. Now we don't listen to the radio anymore; Miss Hanley reads the news to us every day instead."
Donald was quite surprised. "Why?"
Is your radio broken?
No, it should be because we heard
"What we shouldn't be listening to?" Murphy started adjusting the channel, speaking like a little adult.
"You have no idea what the expressions on Miss Hanley's and the headmaster's faces were like that that day. It was like they saw an army attacking the school, and then they turned off the radio like it was a bomb, and after that we never saw anything that could receive the broadcast again."
Donald still found it unbelievable and pressed for details about what his granddaughter had heard that day.
Just then, Tom came in from outside carrying a bowl of corn porridge. "The radio said that grain silos in New Jersey have been overrun by starving people, and that tens of millions of starving people across the country have been abandoned in the desert to die. Their situation is dire..."
Donald was surprised again. " Tom, you're no longer at school, how do you know about this?"
"I have classmates." Tom rolled his eyes and shoveled two more mouthfuls of corn porridge into his mouth.
"And many people already know this news."
"The starving people have started to riot! That's terrible!"
Donald covered his forehead, looking like he had a headache.
He hated these kinds of unstable events happening, because they might one day destroy his current life, destroy his little family, or even destroy the lives of his entire family...
After all, this is an agricultural area.
Those who are well-fed in peacetime will naturally suffer more beatings in wartime.
However, it's just a grain warehouse that's been looted, and it's far away in New Jersey, so it's not a big problem.
Just then, Murphy's radio suddenly emitted a different sound, somewhat like a cassette tape had malfunctioned.
But Murphy was pleasantly surprised; the sound was just like the stuttering sound when changing stations on the school radio.
Sure enough, almost the next second, the radio broadcast the announcement:
"As of yesterday, the famine-stricken people's resistance had reached 57 granaries. Teetering on the brink of death, these fearless people unleashed tremendous power, capturing all the granaries and successfully repelling all attacks!"
A sudden sentence appeared in the room, and the sound of the gray-yellow sandstorm tearing through the air outside the window was like the roar of starving people attacking the granary, as described on the radio.
Donald fell silent immediately.
"Isn't it... the same granary?"
"I don't know either, maybe the number of grain depots attacked has increased in the past few days."
" Tom said."
It's over!
This was Donald's only reaction.
Now that things have escalated this much, the situation will likely soon spiral out of control!
Logically speaking, Donald believed that since the war had already spread to 57 granaries across the states in the east, west, north, and south, the outside world must be engulfed in flames.
You never know when someone might attack your location!
The broadcast was repeated several times, and Donald confirmed that he hadn't misheard. He even took out a map and circled all the states that would be "covered" by the war.
After doing all that, he felt like he didn't need to eat, let alone sleep.
Are you still able to sleep?
The broadcast paused briefly, then resumed.
"Recently, China has made significant progress in its space exploration and search for new habitable planets. Previously, China's unmanned exploration spacecraft successfully traversed a wormhole, arrived at a distant New Star, and established a communication connection with Earth through special technological means."
"Furthermore, through collaboration with Professor Brand, the project leader of Lazarus missions, we have identified three planets in the New Star that are highly likely to be habitable for humans."
"Next, we will use spacecraft to explore three targets. Once the location of a habitable planet is determined, our country will launch a human Interstellar migration plan, using special technologies sufficient to relocate all of humanity to a distant new home."
"The suffering will eventually end, and new hope is burning brightly. We hope that the organizations that receive this message will respond to us, along with their current situation, so that we can make an accurate assessment..."
The broadcast continued, but the three generations of the family were no longer listening.
"They just said on the radio that we're going to migrate to another planet?" Donald's eyes widened. He never dreamed he'd hear about such a plan.
He often heard about such plans when he was young, especially when wormholes had just appeared.
But no one has mentioned it in recent decades.
For a moment, he felt as if he had been transported to another world.
"Dad..." Murphy stared blankly, lost in thought.
If she remembered correctly, her father had become an astronaut.
And it seems they're working on the other side now too.
Could this matter be related to him?