Chapter One: Sunshine

“I’m back!” Zhao Qiang pushed open the door.

Inside the room, two women were sitting close together, working on cross-stitch while casually chatting, completely ignoring Zhao Qiang standing frozen at the doorway. It seemed their friendship was unusually close.

“I’m back,” Zhao Qiang repeated, still standing at the entrance.

Peng Sha replied with a brief “Hmm,” indicating she’d heard him, then lowered her head to whisper something to Zou Lin. The two women giggled softly.

Damn! No one’s paying attention to me. Zhao Qiang scratched his head and found a spot to sit down by himself. What was going on with these two women? The room showed no signs of the fight he had imagined; everything was normal, and their clothes were perfectly neat. What was going on? Had they reached some kind of agreement? Could it be that the tale of E Huang and Nu Ying was unfolding before his very eyes? Heh, if that were the case…

“Old Meng was so eager to find you. You’re just going to sit there now that you’re back?” Peng Sha’s words pulled Zhao Qiang out of his daydream.

“Oh, that, well, the weather’s nice today, haha,” Zhao Qiang mumbled, not really listening to what Peng Sha said, laughing nervously.

“What are you thinking about? Hurry up and tell me what Old Meng said,” Peng Sha teased.

“Good news!” Zhao Qiang teased with a smile. “We’ve made contact with the outside world!”

The base had never stopped trying to reach out externally. For months, the sky had remained overcast, and the air was thick with unknown interference waves. Except for closed-circuit communication, all radio transmissions were cut off.

Every day, Meng Longwei arrived early at the radio station, constantly adjusting the frequencies, listening to the chaotic static in his headphones. Yet he never gave up. He believed that as long as they kept trying, there was hope. If they stopped, the base would become an isolated island in the human world.

One morning, bright spring sunshine finally returned, sweeping away months of gloom since the disaster. At the same time, Meng Longwei found hope for the base.

The static in the headphones vanished, and Meng Longwei felt a faint glimmer of hope, like the morning sunlight breaking through. At a certain frequency, he finally heard a message from the outside.

“This is Jianglu Machinery Factory. Is anyone receiving?” A man’s excited voice came through the receiver.

Meng Longwei grabbed the microphone and shouted with excitement, “This is Changsha Prison, Jianglu Machinery Factory, we received you!”

Without needing Meng Longwei’s signal, a young radio operator snapped out of his shock and dashed out of the communication room, shouting joyfully, his youthful face alight with excitement.

Infected by the operator’s happiness, everyone who heard the news cheered. For months, people had seemed to have forgotten what sunlight was like, living under the constant shadow of zombies. Many believed they might be the last survivors on Earth. The deep loneliness was enough to drive one mad.

Gradually, people abandoned their work and gathered at the communication room’s door, waiting eagerly for more good news.

“Jianglu, are you still there? This is Changsha Prison.” Meng Longwei held the microphone, his excitement fading.

There was a long silence before the other side finally responded, “Yes! We’re here! We’re glad to hear your voice.”

“Jianglu, can you tell us your location?” Meng Longwei asked cautiously. The name Jianglu Machinery Factory sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.

“We’re in Xiangtan,” the other side hesitated briefly before revealing their city.

Jianglu Machinery Factory! Now Meng Longwei remembered. This enterprise was well-known among Chinese soldiers. Along with its sister factory Jiangdong Machinery Factory, it was descended from the 19th-century Hanyang Arsenal, famous for producing the renowned Hanyang rifle.

Today, it was a major first-tier enterprise under the China Ordnance Industry Group. Although it mainly produced large civilian construction machinery, its primary business was the manufacturing of armored vehicles and tanks.

“No wonder they dared to disclose their location,” Meng Longwei murmured. Everything had happened so suddenly that he hadn’t even considered the radio call sign “Changsha Prison” carefully. Though convenient, it could easily cause misunderstandings.

After a long time, new survivors began to appear on the radio, not many, but each new voice brought warmth to everyone’s hearts. Since the base and Jianglu had made contact first, they had already passed the initial excitement and naturally relinquished the increasingly lively radio frequency.

Throughout the day, many survivors might still be unable to communicate due to lack of equipment. From those who appeared on the radio, most were small groups of a few or a dozen people. In terms of scale, only the prison and Jianglu camps were larger and better resourced.

“Would anyone like to meet in person?” Jianglu suddenly proposed after a long silence, silencing the lively radio chatter.

“Meet? How would that work?” one survivor asked. Not everyone had the strength to travel, especially long distances. Zhao Qiang roughly judged that his side had expanded survival space through formidable personal combat and teamwork. If Meng Longwei was correct, Jianglu likely relied on formidable heavy weaponry to secure more resources. As for the other survivors, just staying alive in this world was a remarkable feat.

Zhao Qiang was curious too—how exactly did Jianglu plan to organize this meeting?

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Jianglu replied happily. “In three days, we’ll give everyone a surprise. If you want to join, you can leave your location, and we’ll make proper arrangements.”

After considering for a moment, Meng Longwei pressed the talk button: “No problem! We accept!”