Zhou Rong quickly had someone tie up Feng Wentai and those unlucky bodyguards, throwing them into the back of the car, then went upstairs to the dormitory. Everything was chaotic; several older women gathered around the bed, Wang Wen with disheveled hair, making soft moaning sounds.
“Do you need hot water, scissors, and cotton cloth? Should I tell her to push?” Zhou Rong asked Dr. Zheng.
Dr. Zheng said impatiently: “Thirty-two weeks premature, the situation is very dangerous now. Quickly boil water to disinfect gauze, maintain lighting, maintain room temperature… Quick, quick! She’s already having labor pains!”
“…” Zhou Rong embarrassedly said: “I’ve only watched historical dramas.”
Zhou Rong hurriedly asked people to prepare things, boil water for disinfection, and move electric heaters and diesel generators. Dr. Zheng was not a professional obstetrician and was not very smooth with premature birth procedures.”
The women began to offer their own childbirth experiences, encouraging Wang Wen, and even running to the kitchen to temporarily start a fire to prepare hot soup for her postpartum.
All survivors were mobilized. Even the men guarding outside at night were expectant, anxiously discussing, as if this new life about to be born in the winter night symbolized some distant and subtle hope.
“It’s possible, it’s possible!” Dr. Zheng was sweating, using one hand to direct others: “Make it brighter, maintain lighting!”
Zhou Rong quietly withdrew from the crowd, looked around and frowned: “Where’s Si Nan?”
Guo Weixiang, who had unexpectedly become a father, was casually standing in the hallway on tiptoe, looking in, saying carelessly: “Probably went back to his dormitory.”
“I’ll go take a look,” Zhou Rong simply dropped this sentence and slipped out of the crowd.
Sinan was so disgusted with Alpha pheromones that he was like a startled bird. If this was a false heat…
Zhou Rong’s breathing unconsciously became heavy, and his heart was pounding in his chest. He didn’t even realize that the fingers gripping Sinan’s shoulders had sunk deep into the flesh, so forcefully that if the shirt were peeled off, there would already be several bright red fingerprints on the skin.
The thin fabric could barely cover anything, and in the rapidly rising temperature, it seemed to be losing even its minimal ability to conceal.
Zhou Rong asked in a low voice, “What are you shy about at your age?”
He raised one hand, seemingly wanting to touch Sinan, but was suddenly grabbed by the wrist.
Zhou Rong looked at Sinan and waited for a response.
After a moment, Zhou Rong couldn’t help but lean closer, asking, “What do you want, hm? Tell me.”
Sinan still gripped his wrist tightly, neither relaxing nor pulling away.
Zhou Rong knew he should withdraw now. If he hadn’t come in, the false heat would have passed during sleep, and Sinan would hardly remember it when he woke up tomorrow.
But he was here now.
The pheromones were vivid and stimulating, continuously interfering with Sinan, giving a hard push to the body at the precipice of temptation.
Zhou Rong shifted from his half-kneeling position beside the bed; his pants were becoming uncomfortably tight. He spoke again, his voice hoarse: “Do you want me to leave?”
Sinan’s lips were slightly parted, but he still refused to speak.
Zhou Rong looked into his eyes and smiled slightly:
“Hm? Little Sinan?”
Sinan gripped him, continuing to tremble, and after what seemed like an eternity, suddenly collapsed, his fingers loosening slightly.
“—Brother Rong!” Footsteps sounded outside the door, and then Guo Weixiang shouted from the corridor nearby: “Brother Rong, are you there? Something’s happened!”
Zhou Rong suddenly turned back, asking gravely, “What?”
“Where are you?! This is bad!”
Guo Weixiang caught his breath, his voice slightly trembling: “Feng Wentai has stolen the shuttle bus, broke through the wire fence, and is heading north!
He stood up and cleared his throat, and when he spoke again, his voice had become completely normal: “Comrade Xiao Si, three minutes to get dressed and armed, gather downstairs!”
Zhou Rong crossed over him and walked out of the room. Guo Weixiang was standing in the hallway waiting, and as soon as he saw him come out, his gaze swept up and down, instantly surprised: “Rong Ge, you… what are you…”
“Can’t I wear clothes and take a bath?” Zhou Rong cursed casually, and asked: “What’s the situation now?”
“Ah? Oh, Feng Wentai and the others knocked out the guards, stole the minibus keys, and the northern barbed wire fence was completely rammed down…”
Zhou Rong strode towards the stairs, sighing inwardly.
Twelve-thirty at night, north side of the factory.
People hurried back and forth, flashlight beams sweeping across the night sky.
A large section of barbed wire lay collapsed in knee-deep withered grass. Chun Cao directed the men to use several ropes to hook the wire, personally grabbing one rope and shouting: “Three, two, one—!”
“Lift!”
Everyone worked together, and the deformed wire was slowly raised, making unbearable creaking sounds; then it split into several pieces with exclamations, crashing back into the soil!
Zhou Rong stopped, his breath visibly steaming: “What’s the temperature?”
“Minus five degrees,” Guo Weixiang said. “It’s getting colder tonight.”
The last bit of moonlight had disappeared at some point. The dark night was vast, and the factory area without wire protection stretched endlessly.
The distant darkness was impenetrable, like a giant devil’s mouth quietly opening.
Zhou Rong suddenly felt an uneasy premonition, but concealed his inner restlessness: “Who’s watching Feng Wentai’s people?”
The guards, struck hard on the back of their heads, were found bleeding and unconscious on the grass behind the car shed. Zhou Rong checked their breath and pulse, and cursed softly: “Damn!”
Guo Weixiang covered the guard with a blanket to keep him warm, saying: “Ding Shi has already gone to chase them, he’ll probably be back soon…”
“Impossible, there’s no time. How could they let the guards keep the minibus keys?!”
After delivering the baby and changing into clean clothes, he handed them to this person—they were close, and unexpectedly assigned him to guard Feng Wentai and the others…”
Zhou Rong knew this wasn’t the time to assign blame, and loudly interrupted Guo Weixiang: “Chun Cao! Organize repairs to the wire, tell Si Nan to bring black powder to bury on the road, quickly! Where’s Si Nan?!”
Chun Cao ran off, and Guo Weixiang immediately said: “I’ll go get Big Ding back!”
“No,” Zhou Rong firmly said.
He seemed to hear something, raised his hand to stop Guo Weixiang, and slowly walked forward.
At the wilderness’s end, north of City B, cold wind swept across the earth from the boundless black night, bringing distant grievous wails.
Guo Weixiang watched Zhou Rong’s back, anxious and afraid to speak. While hesitating, he heard him softly exhale two words:
“…Not good.”
Engine sounds approached, headlights suddenly appeared at the road’s end, followed by Ding Shi’s heart-rending cry carried by the wind: “Rong Ge! Everyone run quickly—!”
“Large numbers of zombies are heading south from City B, they’ll be here soon, just two kilometers away!”
Everyone’s face changed, fearful cries piercing the night!
“Quiet! It’s fine! Don’t be afraid!” Zhou Rong’s stern shout instantly silenced everyone. “Within five hundred meters outside the factory, everyone go bury black powder and nitrocellulose, quickly!”
Guo Weixiang arranged for pregnant women and the wounded to get in the vehicle, moving all military equipment and bringing out the armored car.
“Ding Shi! Prepare to assist civilian evacuation, leave supplies if you can’t carry them!”
