Yan Hao was about to speak when suddenly someone carrying a box crossed the backyard, looking up at the factory roof. It was Si Nan.
Si Nan found a researcher’s white coat from the fertilizer factory laboratory, wearing goggles and gloves, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing his long, powerful arms. He carried a reagent box on his shoulder, standing in the open ground, making eye contact with Zhou Rong and Yan Hao from afar. After a few seconds, he smiled slightly. Then he said nothing and turned to walk away.
Zhou Rong poked Yan Hao, surprised, ‘Have you noticed he’s been avoiding us these past few days?’ No response came from beside him. Zhou Rong turned to see Yan Hao had already leaped down from the roof, landing nimbly, and was chasing after Si Nan.
Zhou Rong put the cigarette butt in his mouth, chewing it for a while, and self-deprecatingly laughed. He crouched by the eaves, spacing out for a bit, scratched his hair, and suddenly shouted, ‘Cao’er—!’
Chun Cao’s voice responded from the chicken coop, ‘What—!’
‘What are you doing—!’
‘Feeding chickens—!’
‘Dad will help you feed!’ Zhou Rong perked up, jumped down from the roof, and clapped his hands as he went over.
Si Nan took off his white lab coat, removed his goggles, and put on a motorcycle jacket and helmet, pulling the zipper up to his chin.”
After wrapping himself tightly, he used a dropper to carefully drip a solution from the test tube onto white paper.
Then he put down the white paper and picked up an iron hammer, taking a deep breath.
Just at that moment, at the chicken coop entrance, a rooster suddenly crowed and flew out, charging towards the open ground—
Zhou Rong stepped forward quickly, shouting: “Don’t run!”
Bang!
Sinan struck the white paper with a hammer, and nitroglycerin violently reacted, causing an astonishing explosion!
The high-explosive speed of 7,500 meters per second produced a dazzling light. Yan Hao felt the impact rush towards his face, instantly stepping back several steps!
Bang! The rooster’s blood splattered, falling from midair.
“Sinan!”
Sinan fell to the ground, with Yan Hao rushing forward to help him up. The white paper had turned to ash, and a bowl-sized pit had appeared on the ground, with fine sand and dust scattered everywhere.
Yan Hao pointed at the pit, speechless for a long moment. Sinan lifted his cracked motorcycle helmet and exhaled deeply: “Were you about to ask me what religion I believe in?”
“… No, nothing,” Yan Hao said.
“Comrades,” Zhou Rong said grimly from behind.
Both turned around to see the yard littered with chicken feathers. Zhou Rong, covered in blood, was holding a dead rooster with a twisted neck and bulging eyes.
“I have no objections to your scientific experiments, but considering this was the only rooster in the chicken coop…” He waved the chicken’s head in front of Sinan and Yan Hao, coldly saying: “Congratulations, the chicken breeding plan is officially dead.”
Sinan, covering his nose, asked: “Can we have fried chicken tonight?”
That night, there was no fried chicken, only shredded chicken stir-fried with pickled vegetables. Each person in the shelter received a small scoop.
He scooped his portion of shredded chicken into Sinan’s bowl. From the other side of the round table, Guo Weixiang was picking at chicken bones and suddenly let out a long sigh: “Ah— better to be a rooster in the next life.”
The conversation continues with the characters discussing gender dynamics, survival, and interpersonal relationships in what seems to be a post-apocalyptic or survival scenario.
Since setting up camp at the fertilizer factory, every night two special forces soldiers would lead ten men on patrol and guard duty, while others exercised, trained in martial arts, and checked the barbed wire and alert facilities around the factory yard.
However, for some unknown reason, Captain Zhou and Deputy Captain Yan, who usually taught martial arts, seemed lacking in spirit tonight. They wrapped up early at 9:30, telling everyone to go back and wash up and rest. Men, women, and children gathered in small groups, walking towards the dormitories behind the factory building.
Suddenly, a sharp sound of car tires violently friction against the road surface erupted from the distance. Zhou Rong abruptly turned back. In the night outside the factory area, some unobtrusive danger was getting closer, bringing an atmosphere of restlessness and unease.
Bang! The back factory door was pushed open. Si Nan quickly removed his goggles and said in a low voice: “North industrial zone entrance, one o’clock direction, eight hundred meters away.” Zhou Rong concentrated, spreading his perception in all directions, suddenly his pupils slightly constricting—
“Bro Rong!” Chun Cao slid down from a tree like an arrow, sprinting over: “A container truck overturned on the northern highway, with over ten survivors, extremely attracting zombies! Roughly estimated, over a hundred zombies are following them here!”
Everyone was stunned, looking at each other in disbelief. However, Zhou Rong didn’t give anyone time to panic.
In a short moment, he had already issued a series of clear instructions:
“Everyone to the north corner, reinforce the iron net, Chun Cao, call Da Ding Xiangzi back.”
“I’ll drive the armored vehicle to draw away the zombies, Si Nan, bring the explosives.”
“Just a few hundred zombies, we can hold them off, don’t panic!”
Survivors who had experienced the T City breakout did not disappoint Zhou Rong. After a brief moment of confusion, everyone quickly sprang into action, grabbing axes, hoes, crowbars, and any other handy tools from the factory building, rushing towards the north corner where the zombies were approaching.
The armored biochemical vehicle arrived like lightning. Zhou Rong opened the door without slowing down. As he passed, Si Nan grabbed the passenger-side handle, and Yan Hao grabbed the rear vehicle’s iron ladder, both leaping onto the vehicle simultaneously.
Zhou Rong floored the accelerator, and the biochemical vehicle roared out of the north gate. Seconds later, Yan Hao leaped from the rear compartment, rolled on the ground, and began scattering nitrocellulose on both sides of the road.
Chun Cao burst out of the warehouse, carrying three dark green metal canisters almost as tall as her, holding a massive flamethrower. She quickly climbed to the top of the wire fence, shouting: “Yan Hao, hurry back!
Screams of people and roars of monsters were clearly audible. In the night, a dense mass of zombies pressed forward, grabbing and tearing apart the last two or three women. Horrific screams pierced the night sky.
Behind the thermal imaging telescope, Si Nan’s pupils slightly contracted.
Zhou Rong shouted: “Open the rear door, drop the ladder!”
The dozen or so survivors on the road spotted the armored vehicle, shouting and running towards it. Zhou Rong executed a beautiful drift brake while Si Nan kicked open the rear door, grabbed the custom roller ladder, and pulled it down with all his might.
The man at the front of the group didn’t hesitate, grabbed the ladder, and with Si Nan’s help, tumbled into the rear compartment.
“Hurry!” Zhou Rong roared.
Several men were pulled up. In the chaos, the zombies’ shrieks were now right in front of them. Si Nan, without turning back, shouted: “Drive! Zombies are coming!”
The biochemical vehicle began to move slowly, two or three steps from the ladder. A tall, bespectacled man ran and cried out desperately: “Don’t leave me behind!”
Si Nan’s brow furrowed. He slid out of the rear door, hanging onto the ladder’s end, reaching out to the man.
However, in the vehicle’s violent jolting, the bespectacled man repeatedly failed to grab Si Nan’s hand. At that moment, a zombie grabbed his back, causing him to stumble.
