After several hours of travel, we returned to the research institute around 2 p.m.

When we got back, we were all relieved to find that everyone was alright.

Fei Lichao told me that a group of people came yesterday, but they didn't take action directly. Instead, they negotiated with Fei Lichao and his group before leaving. During the negotiation, they exchanged some information and then left without returning.

After settling my younger sister in, I told them what had happened in the central town. However, since I hadn't been there myself, no matter how I described it, they couldn't truly understand. I omitted some of the dangerous parts, since we were already back safely, and there was no need to tell them about such dangers.

Afterwards, everyone was incredibly excited when they heard that there would be chicken for dinner.

When Song Muyuan left the central town yesterday, he bought two chickens, one male and one female. The female laid an egg while she was in the car, which is making me very conflicted.

Since this hen can lay eggs, if we keep raising it like this, wouldn't we always have eggs to eat?

After discussing it, everyone decided to kill the rooster, while keeping the hen to lay eggs.

Song Muyuan also said that we could wait until the next town meeting to buy two more chickens, so that more chickens could lay eggs together and everyone could have some.

Everyone thought this method was pretty good.

After making the decision, everyone immediately stopped heating the chicken and began slaughtering it.

Killing a chicken is a bit of a hassle, but two people working together is enough.

Song Muyuan and I grabbed the chicken, cut open its neck, and bled it out.

During the bleeding process, the rooster was convulsing with great force. After a long time, when the blood had been drained, the rooster stopped moving much. I put its head down, and the rooster's head drooped, unable to move.

Soon after, Jingjie and the others brought over the boiling water that had been prepared beforehand, and we put the chicken in.

After we put it in, the rooster started acting up again, which left us feeling helpless.

Fortunately, after a lot of effort, we finally managed to pluck all the chicken feathers off it, cleaned it up, and started roasting the chicken!

Put the cleaned chicken directly into the pot, add water, some seasonings and cooking wine, and start cooking.

We used a pressure cooker, mainly to make chicken soup. After all, there were so many people and only one chicken. Eating only chicken meat would be a bit too little, so having some chicken soup would be nice too.

The pressure cooker worked quickly; we ate dinner a little over two hours later.

Besides chicken soup, we laid out everything we had gathered beforehand on the table for dinner, along with wine and drinks.

Today's meal was the most extravagant we've had since we arrived here; we basically ate most of the food we had left.

Even so, it doesn't matter. Let's just enjoy today and think about tomorrow later.

After dinner, many people had drunk alcohol and were feeling groggy, so they all went outside to get some fresh air.

...

After dinner, I originally wanted to go find my younger sister, but Fang Yuan suddenly came over and said he wanted to know the exact news about the central town.

Left with no other choice, I followed him downstairs, smoking a cigarette as I asked, "What do you want to know?"

Fang Yuan said, "Actually, I don't know what I want to know. I just want to know if my enemy is in Central Town."

I shook my head and said, "A lot happened this time, and there are really a lot of people in the central town. There were at least a hundred raiders who went to the trade fair, and some things went wrong, so I couldn't help you find your enemies. I'm sorry."

Fang Yuan looked disappointed, but shook his head and said, "It's okay. I didn't have high hopes when you set off, so it's normal that you didn't find it. But, Lu Xiaonan, could you take me with you next time you go? I want to go look for it myself."

I nodded and said, "No problem. The Raiders' Trade Fair is held once a month. You can come with us next time they hold the trade fair. But there's something I need to tell you in advance."

"What did you say?" Fang Yuan asked, puzzled.

I said, "Next time you really have to come with me, I hope you will listen to me. Even if you see your enemy, you can't act impulsively or show anything. Otherwise, we're doomed."

Fang Yuan nodded blankly when he heard how serious I was, and said, "I understand, I will listen to you when the time comes."

"Okay, I'll go upstairs first. Do as you please."

After I finished speaking, I went upstairs and entered the room where my younger sister was.

Seeing my little sister sitting cross-legged on the bed in a daze, I walked over, came to the bedside, and called out, "Yao Yao."

My younger sister looked up at me, her eyes were lifeless, and her face was expressionless, as if she had lost her soul.

I said, "How about I take you home in a couple of days?"

Upon hearing this, the younger sister's eyes flickered, and she asked, "Really?"

"Yes, really. In a couple of days, once things have settled down here, I'll take you home to visit."

My younger sister is in a very bad mental state right now, and I'm afraid the only solution is for her to go home.

The younger sister nodded, a rare smile appearing on her face.

I patted her head and said, "You should rest well for the next couple of days and get your energy back. If things go smoothly, it should only take a few hours to get home from here, but if there are a lot of zombies on the road, we might have to take a detour, and it could take a whole day. So don't think about anything for the next couple of days. If you're bored, you can read some books or chat with others."

"Okay." The younger sister nodded in agreement.

I smiled and said, "Okay, then you can rest. If you need anything, just come find me; I'm right next door."

After leaving my younger sister's room, I ran into Sister Jing outside the door. Sister Jing asked about my younger sister's condition, and after I said she was fine, Sister Jing went back to her own room.

I went back to my room, turned on the light, lay down on the bed, covered my slightly throbbing head, and closed my eyes to go to sleep.

I had a few drinks and smoked a few cigarettes earlier, and now that the wind is blowing, my head feels uncomfortable.

Fortunately, I can finally get a good night's sleep now, and I expect my headache will be gone when I wake up.

However, I hadn't been asleep for long when the door suddenly opened. I turned on the light and saw my younger sister carrying a pillow walk in from outside. She came straight to my bed, lay down next to me, and quietly closed her eyes.

Seeing her like this, I didn't know what to say, so I could only let her be.

I turned off the lights again, and everything became quiet.

(End of this chapter)