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Chapter 10
The worst case scenario in Zhou Rong's mind finally happened. Standing at the top of the factory house, he put down the army telescope in his hands and looked thoughtfully at the sky.
In the evening, the scenery in the distance seemed to merge with the sky, filling the place with the color of autumn.
The far away B City was desolated, like an enormous tomb spread between heaven and earth.
“Short-wave signal in the city has long been disrupted, the communication with the base was cut off, and no positioning signal was fired. A whole week has passed, B City's Military District must have fallen, yet there was no nuclear bomb launched to clean it up…"
Zhou Rong murmured: “What is happening here?”
Someone climbed the iron ladder behind him and said, “Maybe the military districts with capability to launch nuclear bombs have all fallen as well. Even those strong fortress wouldn't be able to fight attacks coming from the inside, you know.”
“Yao Han,” Zhou Rong said, “I’ll beat you if you talk in the same tone as Si Nan again. I swear.”
Yan Hao laughed and handed him a cigarette.
“Oh,” Zhou Rong was a bit surprised, “you still have some saved?”
“One of the survivors gave it to me."
“The People’s Liberation Army should not take a single thing from the citizens…”
“The People’s Liberation Army has guarded and moved the heavy coal gas pots for the citizens. Will they starve without one or two cigarettes? Just take it.”
Amidst the bleak autumn wind, Zhou Rong and Yan Hao stood facing the sky in the distance while smoking. They also gazed at the factory building's front yard where men were gathering together to install barbed wire and doing a lot of other works, while the women were feeding chickens, and planting vegetables.
Zhou Rong flipped the ash from his cigarette and said: “After finishing the defense construction in two days, I'll go to the B Military District to see the situation there. You stay here and wait for news from me.”
Yan Hao frowned, “Are you mad? You know how big B City is, where will you get a helicopter to explore it?"
"……"
“If the B-Military District has really fallen, there will be more than a hundred thousand zombies crammed in that place. You think you’re invincible or what?”
Zhou Rong rubbed his chin in one hand, thinking for a bit before finally saying, “Something feels strange here. How did this virus come about, and how did it spread? How can the defense-tight B Military district be trapped? If you tell me there is no strict epidemic prevention system there, I'll call it bullshit. But if every survivors who enter the shelter have been examined, how can the virus still spread from the inside? "
“Unless,” Zhou Rong continued, “the virus has evolved and evaded the current known examination methods. Just like the nurses at the T-City were infected without being bitten.”
A chill raised in Yan Hao's heart.
Zhou Rong went on: “In term of justice, we are the top, strongest, and most classified team in the northern region, and currently the closest team to B City. If we turn a blind eye here, no one will know what happened to the B Military."
“Simply said, if we don't understand the direction of the virus's mutation, our little shelter will not be able to survive for long. B City is so close to this place, how can we live in peace?”
“…” Yan Hao fell silence and finally admitted: "What you said makes sense.”
Zhou Rong shrugged and pinched out his cigarette's butt.
Yan Hao thought for a while before shaking his head: “But you can’t go alone, it’s too dangerous. We have to plan an action…"
“We?” Zhou Rong said with a smile: “How will all of us go together? What about the 30-something women here, also the one pregnant woman, who’ll protect them? "
Yan Hao was about to reply, but stopped when a man carrying a box suddenly passed through the courtyard and just happened to look up to the top of the factory building.
–Si Nan.
Si Nan was wearing a white coat of researchers from the Fertilizer Factory lab, goggles and a pair of gloves. His sleeves were rolled to his elbows, exposing his sturdy arms.
With a box resting on his shoulder, he stood in the open ground and gazed at Zhou Rong and Yan Hao before smiling a few seconds later.
He said nothing, then turned away.
“…” Zhou Rong poked Yan Hao who was left stunned: “Don't you feel like he is avoiding us lately?”
There was no answer from the other man.
Zhou Rong glanced at him only to see Yan Hao jumped off the roof, landing smoothly on the ground, and running straight after Si Nan.
Zhou Rong put his cigarette's head into his mouth and chewed, smiling at himself.
He squatted at the edge of the roof, scratched his head, then suddenly shouted: “Cao–! "
Chun Cao's voice answered from the chicken shed: “What–! "
“What are you doing,–!? "
“Feeding Chicken–! "
“Daddy will help you!” His spirit back, Zhou Rong jumped from the roof and clapped his hands.
“What is this? Nitrocellulose?” Yan Hao frowned and asked.
Si Nan covered the small open space in front of the factory building with a piece of plastic sheet, used a pair of tweezers to pull out wet cotton from the box, carefully laid it on the plastic sheet, then replied with a fluent english word: “Dispersoid."
“… Are you trying to say 'dispersoid'?"[1]
Si Nan: “? "
They looked at each other for a few seconds, before Si Nan finally asked: “Isn't that what I said? Dispersoid?”
“You said ‘dispersoid ‘. "
Si Nan looked lost for a moment, then said decisively: “You heard wrong.”
He got up and turned to the other corner of the plastic sheet and continued to spread the cotton.
Dispersion was not a daily English word. If it slipped out, at the very least it meant the person's English was very good, or they had certain level of knowledge in chemical aspects - Yan Hao's eyes unconsciously showed a bit of curiosity, but his expression remained natural. He smiled and asked: “You want to make nitroglycerin bomb?”
"Yes." Si Nan answered offhandedly, “I'm trying to. The purity of nitric acid found so far isn't high, the amount of nitrogen in the nitrocellulose is not enough to blow up, but it is feasible to make fire bomb."
Yan Hao silently opened his mouth, nodded, and finally couldn’t help asking: “What did you do in the past?”
“What do you think?” asked Si Nan back.
He thought for a long while and admitted: “I can’t guess. You must have been trained professionally, senior bodyguard or public security? If it’s the latter, it’s possible that you got your knowledge of making a chemical bomb there, which is also a high level skill. Such talent at your age…"
Yan Hao looked Si Nan over, noting how young he looked. He said, "May be 26, or in early twenties is also possible."
Knowing how to handle a gun, had a good driving skill, and capable of making explosives; except for people in those positions above, these combination of skills only made him think of one other thing-
Terrorists。
He blinked and jumped away, then tried to inquire: “… You’re not a religious fanatic, are you?"
Si Nan deadpanned: “What?”
Si Nan carefully laid out the last bit of nitrocellulose, then covered them again with another plastic sheet to avoid direct sunlight and to let them air-dried naturally. After that, he immediately got up and returned to the room in the back of the building which he had personally transformed into a secret laboratory.
Yan Hao wanted to follow him, but as he took a step, Si Nan side-eyed him and said, “Stay there.”
Yan Hao had to stop.
After a few minutes, Si Nan pushed the door and put down the cardboard box in his arms. From the gap, the only things that could be seen was an eyedropper, a white paper, an iron cylinder, and the motorcycle's leather jacket and helmet he had brought out of T City. Before Yan Hao had a chance to speak, Si Nan waved his hand and instructed him to stay away.
Si Nan took off his white coat and goggles, then put on the leather jacket and helmet, pulling the zipper up to his chin. After being wrapped up tight, he used the eye-dropper to suck some solution from the test tube, them carefully put one drop on the white paper.
Then he put down the white paper, picked up the iron cylinders, and took a deep breath.
At this time, from the chicken shed, a screeching rooster suddenly ran out towards them.
Zhou Rong ran after it, shouting: “Don’t run!”
Bang！
Si Nan smashed the iron cylinder on the white paper. The nitroglycerin reacted violently, and an amazing explosion occurred instantly!
The high detonation velocity of up to 7,500 m / s had produced a burning fire. Yan Hao had no time to react, he only felt the rush of energy on his face, then hurriedly stepped back!
Bang！
The rooster's blood splashed and it fell down.
“Si Nan!"
Si Nan fell to the ground. Yun Hao rushed forward to help him, only to see the white paper had turned into gray smoke and a big pit had appeared under it, surrounded by scattered dust.
In his life, Yan Hao had never seen someone who dared to sacrifice himself for science like this. He pointed to the pit and did not speak. Si Nan smashed his cracked helmet, and exhaled a long breath: “What did you mean by religious before?”
“…” Dumbfounded, Yan Hao said: “No, nothing.”
“Guys,” Zhou Rong approached them, sulking.
The two men turned back at the same time and saw messy chicken's feathers scattered around the courtyard. Zhou Rong was full of blood, carrying a big rooster with crooked neck, which was obviously broken.
“I don't mind you doing scientific experiments, but this was the only rooster in the chicken shed…” He dangled the chicken's body in front of Si Nan and Yan Hao, then said coldly: “Congratulations, the chicken breeding plan has officially died."
Si Nan snorted and asked, “You can still eat fried chicken at night, cant you?”
There was no fried chicken in the evening, but fried pickled cabbage with chicken. Each person was given a small teaspoon to eat.
“There is not enough chicken to fried.” Zhou Rong explained to Si Nan, then warned solemnly: “I hope you are not planning to explode nitroglycerin near the chicken shed every day for your own self-interest. We need eggs. "
He put the spoon into the bowl given to Si Nan and listened to the chatter around the table.
Guo Weixiang who was pushing lightly at the chicken bone in his bowl suddenly heaved a long sigh: “Alas—how good it is to be born as a rooster.”
Chun Cao side-eyed him: “Did you eat the wrong medicine, Xiangzi?”
“Think about it, if you were a rooster, then you could be with 20 hens. You could just sit there and enjoy 20 hens on your own everyday. Compare that to your fate if you were unfortunate enough to be born as an alpha."
Guo Xiang picked up a chicken rib and looked at it with focused eyes: "According to the current ABO ratio, one would have to fight about 20 alphas if they wanted to claim an omega. It's even more impossible for betas, you'd have to find a beta girl to marry and have babies, which is difficult for their biology. Omegas don't even have to think about it. I might as well just go gay…."
Chun Cao said: “This thought of yours is a little dangerous, ah. Comrade, don't be so easy to give up on your life, okay?”
“It's not about being gay, but if the virus continues, the future of mankind will be forced to develop on the foundation of same-sex relationships. Well, even if one day I turn gay, I sure as hell won't pick captain."
Zhou Rong: “? "
“Yan Hao would be a good choice. “Guo Xiang thought about it, then vetoed his own statement: "It's a pity that Yan Hao is too strong. At his rate of growing, sooner or later he'd become a king kong barbie…"
Hearing his name, Yan Hao turned back from his place on another table: “What are you talking about?”
“Xiangzi is talking about the possibility of doing you,” said Chun Cao.
Catching the joke, Yan Hao pointed to himself and Guo Weixiang: “-who’s going to do who tonight? Brother, you want to try?”
Guo Weixiang hurriedly raised his hands in act of mercy. He caught a glance of Si Nan and hurriedly said : “Ah, you can do Si Nan!”
Si Nan looked up from his bowl, and stared coldly at Guo Weixiang.
Xiangzi laughed and stepped forward to hook a hand over Si Nan’s shoulder. Fortunately there were only a few people on the round table, only Zhou Rong appeared to have an amused interest in the conversation. He said: “Xiangzi, don't make trouble, our comrades can't keep up with you.”
Guo Weixiang “Eh? Really? "
Si Nan’s answer was to slap the hand around his shoulder, “Being a beta is a good thing, they're much more than alphas, don’t underestimate yourself.”
Guo Wiexiang smiled and was about to say something when Si Nan continued casually, “If you were not a beta, I might regret rescuing you at T City,” he said.
Guo Xiang's "But not all of us are betas” stucked in his throat, he felt like he had swallowed a whole egg.
The special soldiers on the table all became wide-eyed. Si Nan was about to pick up a piece of potatoes with his chopsticks when he suddenly realized the silent atmosphere: “What?”
“…” Zhou Rong, “What did you say just now, Little Si ? I have always thought that you are someone who cares about gender-equality."
Sinan laughed: “Who are you calling a gender-equality activist? I never said I'm one. I’ve always despised alpha."
After a daunting silence, Yan Hao finally asked quietly: “Why?”
“I'm afraid of trouble." Si Nan thought for a moment, then continued plainly: “A lot of alphas are very weak now. In face of danger, you'd have to spare your energy to protect them. Also, most Alphas are deeply rooted chauvinist. Although they claimed as the most genetically superior human beings, in my opinion they are merely animals with incomplete evolution."
He took the last bite of his meal, put down his chopsticks, and said: “I'm full, why are you guys not eating?”
Facing his suspicious gaze, everyone on the table was silent for a long time, with neither sound nor movement.
After a long while, Zhou Rong finally coughed and explained: “Today… we are not too hungry."
The evening meal ended in an unspeakable silence, even Chun Cao didn't finish her third bowl.
Ever since they lived in the fertilizer factory, two special soldiers would be patrolling every night with the shift rotating between 10 men. The others stayed in the courtyard, either learning to fight, exercising, or checking the barbed wire and security details around the factory building.
However, tonight the captain and the vice captain, Yun Hao, who were teaching everyone to fight somehow seemed dispirited. At 09.30, they ended the class early and ushered them all to clean up and rest. From the courtyard, the men and women walked in groups of threes and fives to the dormitory in the back of the factory. Several youngsters was worried and wanted to ask Zhou Rong about what's wrong, but they were cut off when they suddenly heard a loud sound of car tires rubbing against the road side.
Zhou Rong turned back.
In the night outside the factory, an unknown danger was coming closer, bringing about a sense of incitement and restlessness.
Bang !
After the factory door was pushed open. Si Nan hurriedly took off his goggles and rolled up his white coat's sleeves while walking, then said, “The entrance of the Northern Industrial District, at one o-clock direction, about 800 meters away.”
Calmly, Zhou Rong spread his senses in all directions. Suddenly his pupils turned focused–
“Brother Rong!” Chun Cao hopped down a tree and ran towards them: "A container truck on the north side fell over, it carried more than a dozen survivors. They would attract the monsters! "
“There are hundreds of zombies in the vicinity, and all of them are following those survivors here!”
T/N:
[1] So basically, in this dialogue Si Nan said Dispersoid in english, then Yan Hao asked if he meant to say 分散质, which is dispersoid in chinese
Also, the ‘solution’ mentioned above (that Si Nan pulled from the test tube) is referring to the chemistry term of the word, which means a special type of homogeneous mixture composed of two or more substances.
Nitrocellulose apparently looks like cotton, so the wet cotton mentioned above referred to it.
All these chemistry talkkkk lmao
I’m too lazy to read it over, so please do tell me if you find some mistakes ~
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