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.
