After a whole night of fussing, all for naught.
The eight people were listless and had no desire to sleep. They didn't even bother to find a black mat on the floor. They just sat down anywhere on the ground, heads drooping, some lost in thought, some melancholy, seemingly unconcerned about whether there was any cold air under their bottoms.
The atmosphere in the entire kitchen was dragged into an endless abyss of dejection by these eight wilted eggplants.
"It looks like someone upstairs is going to beat us up..." Qiao Siqi weakly reminded his friends.
"If he can really jump down, let him beat me up. I'd be annoyed too." Zhou Yilu sighed and silently wiped the blood off the blade with a dirty rag he'd found somewhere.
"Actually, it's not a problem if there's no signal. It's normal for cell phones, the internet, and TV to have problems. What I'm afraid of is…" Luo Geng hesitated for a long time before continuing, "I'm afraid it's not that the signal source is damaged and the news can't be transmitted, but that there is no news at all."
"Impossible," Song Fei denied without even thinking. If he had any hesitation before, he was now resolute. "We fish, shrimp, and crabs can kill a few zombies. The country can't control the situation? It's difficult to pacify 9.6 million square kilometers in one go, but it's definitely no problem to concentrate our forces to stabilize the heart region first."
"Then I just don't understand," Qiao Siqi crossed his legs, adjusted his posture, his brows furrowed deeply, his tone quite indignant, "TV signals aren't like cell phone signals, which require building base stations nearby. Isn't one TV tower enough? The signal just goes through the motions, the TV receives it, and you're done. Did they knock down the TV tower too?"
Song Fei was speechless. He felt there was something strange about Qiao Siqi's explanation, but as a layman, he couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was something so common in daily life, yet it seemed no one had ever thought to explore its technical principles.
Subconsciously glancing at Qi Yan—asking Qi Yan for help with any problems she encountered had become a deeply ingrained belief for Song Fei.
Qi originally intended to remain a dutiful bystander with his eyes lowered, but when Song Fei's voice suddenly fell silent, he knew that what was coming was bound to happen.
Hesitantly raising his upper eyelids, he saw, sure enough, a pair of eyes yearning for the truth.
Qi Yan used to enjoy being gazed at like that because he could always answer fluently, even eloquently. Song Fei's questions were always about studies, life, destiny, and ideals—it was the prime of youth, after all; nobody would suddenly ask, "Hey, do you know how a television works?" while dating.
"Ahem," Qi Yan cleared his throat, and analyzed with a mix of guesswork and speculation, "The signal emitted by the TV tower is similar to a wireless signal, right? The kind that is received with an antenna? But now everyone has cable TV set-top boxes, so I feel it can't be as simple as just 'biubiubiu shoo shoo'."
Song Fei seemed to be thinking about something, and felt that what Qi Yan said seemed to make sense.
Although the words were addressed to Song Fei, it was clearly a rebuttal to Qiao Siqi, who was displeased: "You mean the TV tower is useless now? Just for sightseeing?"
Song Fei hadn't fully figured it out yet, but after Qiao Siqi brought it up, she felt that Qiao Siqi's question was also valid, and then looked at Qi Yan again.
Qi couldn't make up any more stories, so he helplessly shrugged and confessed, "I'm just a biology student."
Song Fei was stunned for a moment, then frowned: "Then you could have just said you didn't know!"
Qi Yan lowered his head dejectedly, speechless.
Things are different now. He is still him, but Song Fei is no longer the same Song Fei, and the world is no longer the same world—the bragging rights of the past will have to be repaid slowly.
"Who said TV towers are purely for sightseeing?" Lin Dilei, who had been listening the whole time, finally found a place to chime in. To be honest, although she studied broadcasting and hosting, things like television signal transmission were actually within the scope of communications engineering, and she only had a superficial understanding of them. However, when it came to the function of TV towers, she still knew the general idea: "The reason TV towers are built so tall is because they are used to receive and transmit signals. In the early days, before set-top boxes existed, old-fashioned TVs all had antennas, which were used to receive analog signals transmitted by TV towers."
Qiao Siqi was still puzzled: "You said it yourself, that was in the early days. Now every household has cable TV, who still uses an antenna? Doesn't that signal become useless?"
Lin Dilei took a breath and patiently explained, "There are still places without cable TV, like remote mountainous areas, so we still need to maintain a certain number of analog signal transmissions at this stage. And TV towers don't just transmit TV signals. If you look closely, they're usually called broadcast TV towers. Besides transmitting TV signals, they also transmit radio signals..." Lin Dilei suddenly froze, her astonished expression as if she had suddenly realized something incredible.
Her comrades, who had been listening attentively with a learning attitude, were startled by her expression.
Song Fei quickly asked, "W-what's wrong?"
Lin Dilei snapped out of her daze, not bothering to explain, and said urgently, "Quick, quick, get all the phones out!"
Lin Dilei's comrades were puzzled, but seeing how anxious she was, they dared not disobey. They immediately reached into their pockets and, in a few seconds, presented her with five mobile phones as if they were offerings. Including the one she already had, there were two Huawei phones, one Apple phone, one Samsung phone, one Xiaomi phone, and one Oppo phone.
Qi Yan and Qiao Siqi watched quietly, completely at ease.
Lin Dilei looked at the phones that had suddenly piled up in front of her, both amused and exasperated: "Who told you to give them to me? I can't unlock the screen. I told you all to take them out and look for yourselves if any of them have a built-in radio!"
A single word awakened me from my dream.
Song Fei wanted to slap himself. How could he not have thought of that? If you can't get the TV, you can get the radio!
I think everyone should have a cell phone. Song Fei opened the system tools folder—in fact, this folder was like his storage room, where he would drag all the useless pre-installed programs that he couldn't uninstall or use to—and after searching for a long time, he couldn't find an icon with the word "radio".
The other participants experienced similar feelings: first excitement, then confusion, and finally disappointment.
Only Wang Qingyuan's Xiaomi phone had an FM radio app downloaded, but that was an internet radio station that used data traffic, which is different from a radio that uses frequency bands.
"That's impossible!" Luo Geng searched again and again, unwilling to give up. He knew rationally that it was really not there, but emotionally he couldn't accept it. "My dad listens to the radio on his phone every day, how come it's not there for me? There's a generation gap in cell phones too!"
The friends couldn't explain it, because they were confused too.
Everyone thinks a phone should have a radio, but it's really gone.
Only Qiao Siqi, trying hard to recall his own mobile phone journey, seemed to find some clues: "It may really be due to the upgrading of the technology. My first mobile phone was bought for me by my dad when I was in the fourth grade of elementary school. Back then, it was still a flip phone, and you could listen to the radio. I always listened to it secretly. Later, I switched to a smartphone in the first year of junior high school, which also had a radio, but I don't remember the mobile phone I got in high school. At that time, mobile phones could do too many things, and no one specifically listened to the radio anymore. Then in college, I switched to an iPhone, and I was on WeChat, Weibo, and various other apps every day, so I didn't pay attention to anything else."
It's certainly not that all brands and models of mobile phones have had their built-in radio module removed, but if we take the mobile phones of Class 1 of the Martial Arts Academy as a sample for investigation, then this is definitely an inevitable trend. However, if Lin Dilei hadn't mentioned it, they wouldn't have even remembered that such a thing existed—the times are developing too fast, so everyone is always chasing new things and doesn't realize that things are quietly changing or even disappearing.
Just like the TV we discussed earlier, you use it naturally and accept that there are programs as soon as you turn it on. But if you think about it carefully, you will realize that it has unknowingly gone from having no set-top box to having a set-top box, from being a standalone device to being connected to the internet, from watching whatever is given to you to choosing what you want to watch, and it has even started to be able to install apps.
This change is so enormous, and the technological revolution behind it may be earth-shattering, but in everyday life, it's as gentle as a breeze. For most users, the transition between old and new technologies is a subtle, gradual process, much like how few people can precisely recall the exact time they first used QQ, downloaded WeChat, or installed Alipay. By the time they realize it, it's all commonplace.
Thump.
The familiar sound of radishes tapping on the window rang out once again.
Those who hadn't yet recovered from the blow of the snowy TV were hit a second time by the demise of the radio, and were momentarily stunned.
Knock knock knock.
The radish was in a hurry and bumped into it three more times.
Song Fei walked to the side of the cot, took out a flashlight from the backpack pressing down on the corner of the cot, then walked to the window, lifted the blinds and turned on the light with a snap—the outside was empty, except for a radish holding a note.
It seems that without the lure of the singing, the zombies have probably gone back to the hall to escape the cold.
Song Fei turned off the flashlight, quickly opened the window, took down the note, and read it on the spot after locking the window.
The handwriting was still the same delicate small characters, and for some reason, Song Fei felt that it was Huang Mo's handwriting.
"What are they going to do? Won't they get so angry from all the cursing that they actually come down and start a group fight?" Zhou Yilu asked nervously.
Josh said, "Didn't you say that if they wanted to beat you up, you should let them? I guess they heard your sincerity and were so moved that they insisted on coming down."
Zhou Lu was speechless for a moment, and was about to say something when Song Fei, who had just finished reading the note, interrupted him.
"They said they wanted to come down and talk to us in person."
To the surprise of his friends, it was already past midnight, which was theoretically not a particularly suitable time to visit.
"What should we say?" Song Fei asked for everyone's opinion, "Should we let them come down?"
They looked at each other, unable to make up their minds.
Cooperation is one thing, face-to-face interaction is another. Although this way of thinking is a bit petty, the food reserves upstairs can't compare to those downstairs. If they do something like inviting a wolf into the house once, it will cast a shadow over their lives for the rest of their lives.
"Are you sure there are only six of them?" Luo Geng asked, looking up at Song Fei.
Song Fei immediately nodded: "Yes."
Lin Dilei also said, "I can testify, there are only six."
"Then let them come down," Luo Geng said to his friends, his tone suggesting a discussion. "Eight against six, we might not be at a disadvantage."
Please consider for a moment—
"OK."
You can use plastic bag rope to tie the radish down, but if you're actually climbing down, just like Song Feilin and Dili came down before, you can only use clothes to tie it. Fortunately, only four students from Class 2 came down at the end, so they were all dressed neatly. The two guards upstairs must have already stripped them bare, so as soon as the fourth person landed, the clothes rope was swiftly pulled back.
Song Fei and his team brought the guests in as quickly as possible. The four guests were Zhao He, He Zhiwen, Huang Mo, and Feng Qibai.
As Qi Yan closed the window and locked it, the number of students in the kitchen on the first floor increased to twelve.
Zhao He and the other three stood by the window, still in the same spot where they had jumped in, barely moving an inch, their tension palpable.
The eight students in Class 1 dared not let their guard down.
Twenty-four eyes met, and for a moment, an awkward silence fell.
Song Fei knew both sides well, so seeing this, he had no choice but to step forward and, from three meters away, ask Zhao He, who was clearly the leader, "Friend or wolf?"
Zhao He was completely baffled by the question.
He Zhiwen and Feng Qibai also didn't understand.
Huang Mo smiled, her smile making her otherwise delicate features inexplicably captivating: "A great river flows wide, the wind blows the fragrance of rice blossoms on both banks."
Song Fei grinned: "We welcome friends with good wine, and we'll fight wolves with guns."
He Zhiwen and Feng Qibai exchanged a glance, and suddenly each grabbed one of Zhao He's arms.
Zhao gritted his teeth and said with difficulty, "Don't worry, I can endure it."
But why do such hateful people exist in the world?!
After such a unique opening, the atmosphere became more lively. Although there was still some mutual wariness, this wariness was more like a survival instinct in a viral crisis, and was not a matter of malice.
If there is no malice, we can live in peace.
Whether a deep friendship can develop remains to be seen.
The four people were invited to sit on the floor. After taking a quick look at the environment, the students from Class 2 understood that this was the treatment of honored guests.
The eight friends who were originally sitting casually in various places also picked up their phones and gathered around. For a moment, the floor mats were a bit crowded, yet also a bit warm. The twelve of us were so close together that it was hard to tell which class was which.Best smartphones
"What are you all doing with your phones?" Feng Qibai looked around curiously and noticed that several people were holding their phones. "Wasn't the internet cut off? Playing single-player games in the middle of the night?"
What was said without malice may have been taken to heart by the listener.
The painful memory was brought up again, and Song Fei sighed, "Don't even mention it. I finally had a flash of inspiration and remembered to broadcast, but not a single cell phone has it."
"We have them," Feng Qibai suddenly said.
The eight friends stared wide-eyed: "Huh?"
"But it didn't work." He Zhiwen replied, taking out his phone with earphones plugged in from his pocket, unlocking the screen, turning on the radio in a couple of seconds, and then handing the white earphone cord to Song Fei.
Song Fei quickly took the earphones and put them in her ears. Aside from a crackling sound, there was no human language whatsoever. Even Spanish or Arabic would have been fine: "It's all static. Try changing the station."
He Zhiwen held up his phone and showed him the screen, saying helplessly, "I've been changing the station the whole time. When the incident first happened, the campus radio was playing, and that's when I thought of using the phone's radio, but it didn't work. The built-in radio in phones is mostly FM, which is a very shortwave band. It propagates in a straight line and has a very limited range. This band can only receive local programs."
"That's not right," Luo Geng recalled the years he was tortured by his father's radio broadcasts. "My dad listened to FM radio all day long, including the news broadcast."
He Zhiwen: "That's a secondary conversion performed by the local broadcasting center after receiving the signal, and then broadcast to nearby areas via FM."
Song Fei seemed to understand: "Now we can't find any channels on the FM radio, and there's no TV signal, which means... our city's radio and television systems are no longer functioning properly?"
"It could even be the entire province." He Zhiwen adjusted his glasses, his words characterized by the meticulousness typical of an engineering student. "While FM radio has a short transmission distance, it's not necessarily limited to one city. Often, it can pick up stations from surrounding cities, so…"
What follows is self-explanatory.
This isn't good news, but after a series of disappointments, one more disappointment isn't so bad. At least I won't have to frantically regret not buying a phone with a built-in radio anymore, and I've even learned something new along the way.
"Hey Hey, aren't you a physics major? How come you know so much about radio?"
He Zhiwen smiled shyly: "Hehe, it's just a hobby."
His already chubby face looked even more adorable when he smiled.
While remarking on the importance of lifelong learning, Song Fei also wanted to delve deeper into the other person's explanation of radio channels. However, after reviewing their previous conversation, he noticed a problem: "Wait a minute, you said that the CCTV news you hear on FM radio has undergone a secondary conversion by the local broadcasting center. So how does the local broadcasting center receive these signals? It can't be FM radio too, can it? Our country is so vast, how many relays would that take?"
"That's why we came to find you." He Zhiwen, caught off guard, found it quite surprising. He had been worried about where to begin, but now, with a group of inquisitive alumni, things had flowed smoothly. "If, and I mean if, the country really hasn't given up on sending information to us survivors, then the most effective channels are two: one is radio waves, specifically shortwave (SW), which has the longest transmission distance; the other is satellite television signals, transmitted from still-operational terrestrial signal base stations to communication satellites, which then transmit the signals back to the ground. Both of these can be received directly without any relays."
"There are no ifs." Song Fei said without hesitation, "We risked being bitten to turn on the TV because we believed that information would come through."
Upon hearing this, He Zhiwen looked around at all the students in Class 1 and found that their expressions were basically the same as Song Fei's. They wouldn't say they were as firm as iron, but they were trusting.
He turned to look at his three companions and received approving glances.
He Zhiwen took a deep breath and finally got to the point: "We are just like you, eager to know what's going on outside. But to receive shortwave signals, we need a radio that can receive signals on that band, or even better, a full-band radio. Alternatively, we could try to get a satellite dish to connect to television , but no matter what, we probably can't manage it on our own."
"So you want to cooperate with us?"
"right."
Where can I find this kind of radio or satellite dish?
"Uncertain."
"..."
Song Fei was speechless. He had gotten all excited for nothing. He was just about to complain about why she was talking so much when she had no goals, when Zhou Yilu asked, "Can a radio be used for the CET-4 and CET-6 listening tests?"
The students in Class 1 had a bright idea. If radios were really good for the CET-4 and CET-6 listening tests, then they wouldn't have to worry about anything; there would definitely be radios all over several teaching buildings.
"No," He Zhiwen had obviously considered this problem beforehand. "The hearing radios we were given only have two bands: AF campus radio and FM radio. We can't receive anything else."
"What about the car radio?" Qiao Siqi suddenly interjected.
Eleven pairs of eyes turned to look at it. The suggestion wasn't exactly groundbreaking, but the idea was quite unique.
He Zhiwen quickly came to his senses, thought seriously for a moment, and replied, "It's hard to say. It depends on whether the radio itself carries this frequency. Also, if it's the underground parking lot of our school, even if it carries this frequency, it will probably be very difficult to receive it."
"You're going to run to the underground parking lot and smash the window?" Zhou Yilu couldn't think of any other ideas, unless he was extremely lucky and ran into a clueless person who forgot to close the window or lock the car door.
Qiao Siqi was baffled: "I can open my own car with the key, why would I smash the window?"
All the students: "You have a car at school?!"
Song Fei: "You brought your car keys?!"
Now everyone's attention has shifted from Qiao Siqi to Song Fei.
The latter was embarrassed and quickly looked at Qiao Siqi, asking instead of explaining, "Didn't you run back to the dormitory without taking anything? You even took your car keys with you?"
"Keys, phone , wallet—you can't forget these three things even if you're running for your life." Johns said, and actually pulled a keychain out of his pants pocket. It was simple enough, with a dorm key attached, two keys that were probably for his house, and a car key that was also quite simple.Best smartphones
"Why did you, someone from out of town, bring a car to school?" Zhou Yilu asked on behalf of all his classmates. In fact, not many locals drive here. Their school has a relatively simple and unassuming atmosphere, and most students are down-to-earth and low-key.
Qiao Siqi hadn't thought anything of it at first, but under the watchful eyes of his friends, he suddenly felt guilty and his speech became less natural: "It's just going out for fun on the weekend, it's convenient to go to the city center or something..."
Zhou Yilu was speechless: "So we don't need to scramble for train tickets to go home for Chinese New Year anymore, right?"
Unexpectedly, Qiao Siqi shook his head vigorously: "No, no, no, my dad won't let me drive long distances. I bought all my cars here, just for driving around the city."
Zhou Yilu: "After all that talk, what kind of car is it?"
Josh: "The Wrangler."
Zhou Yilu: "You're driving a four or five hundred thousand yuan SUV only in the city?!"
Qiao Siqi: "I... I occasionally go to the suburbs..."
Zhou Yilu: "The only thing that can cure me right now is for you to come and help us snag tickets before winter break. Don't tell me you don't need them."
Qiao Siqi: "My family booked all the plane tickets for me..."
Zhou Yilu: "I hate the rich now, I want to beat him up, anyone want to join me?"
All friends: "Take us with you!"