The small pot on the stove made a gurgling sound of boiling water. Fu Tianhe took the pot off, carefully poured the water into the bottle he carried with him, and handed it to Chen Ci.

Chen Ci held the bottle in both hands, the warmth faithfully transmitted into his palms through the plastic, and quickly spread along his arms to his entire body.

The body warmed up quickly by the fire.

Their soaked clothes were wrung to remove the rain and hung over the fire to dry.

Fu Tianhe's underwear was finally almost dry. He got up silently, ran to a secluded corner, and put it back on.

Finally, he no longer had to use a vacuum. Fu Tianhe breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the fire with a red face.

There were busy sounds outside. The people in the camp slowed down a little and were hurrying to pack up.

Once this rain is over, the campsite can be restored to its original state.

There was a knock on the door, and Fu Tianhe shouted loudly, "Come in."

Lal came in with a matchstick. He had already learned from the girl about the accident the night before. It was she who asked Fu Tianhe and Chen Ci to rescue everyone.

She wiped her hair with a matchstick, changed into dry clothes, and took two quilts and spread them out in a clean corner of the room.

"The rain won't stop any time soon, so please rest here tonight. We are used to sleeping on the floor with blankets instead of beds. I hope you don't mind."

Fu Tianhe: "It's okay. We used sleeping bags when we camped before. It's fine."

Lal sat down next to the two men. The blood on his body was washed away by the rain, revealing his severe wounds. He was seriously injured and had to walk in the rain for four hours. Even a person in good health would find it difficult to bear it.

"Don't bother any more." Chen Ci said softly, "If the broken ribs are not treated properly, they will pierce the lungs and cause death."

"Thank you for your concern. I will go to see a doctor tomorrow when the weather clears up."

Fu Tianhe was curious about the lives of the scavengers and asked, "Are we going to the main body of Cinnabar?"

Lal: "Well, if we have any problems, we still go to the hospital in the CPU wing. There is a car in the camp, so it doesn't take long to drive there."

Living together, purchasing supplies and using them together to cherish resources is much better than wandering alone. Strictly speaking, this is the home of forty-one people, and Lal is their patriarch.

The four of them started chatting like this. To be precise, it was Fu Tianhe and Laer who were chatting, while Chen Ci and Matchstick sat quietly on the side, listening silently.

Most of the people in the camp were injured. Fu Tianhe couldn't help but worry: "We are helping you like this. After we leave, the people in the Mom camp will probably come to cause trouble again."

"If it weren't for the despicable sneak attack, Mom would never have succeeded." Lar waved his hand and said, "There are a total of seven camps in the Abandoned Suburbs. Minor frictions often occur between them, but they are not serious. As for hatred, it is even less of a problem. After all, it is not too difficult for everyone to live their own lives. No one has ever thought that someone would launch an attack on other camps."

"Mom took advantage of the fact that only a few of us were left when we were out working during the day, and brought everyone here. Then he defeated us one by one when we were going home in the evening. That's how he succeeded. If they had fought openly, it's not certain who would live and who would die."

"We will definitely be more vigilant after such incidents. We will leave more people in the camp in the future. If we encounter similar situations, we will not show mercy and will just shoot them."

Chen Ci got to the point: "Do you have guns? Where did you buy the bullets?"

Lal said truthfully, "There is a well-hidden workshop in the CPU side room that specializes in selling arms to scavengers like us. If you need it, I can introduce him to you."

Chen Ci: "Okay, that's exactly what I need."

Now that the bullets have been found, it can be seen that Chen Ci is very satisfied.

Shouldn't he have to rack his brains to make bullets? Fu Tianhe breathed a sigh of relief, wondering if this workshop could make flying machines.

Fu Tianhe thought of the nearly ninety mechanical cores he had in his hands: "By the way, how do you usually deal with mechanical cores? Do you sell them to the production workshop?"

Lal: "Well, the purchase price of this thing is quite high. It is much more valuable than selling the metal directly."

Fu Tianhe: "What does the production workshop use this for?"

Lal: "I'm not sure, but I think the buyer mentioned it by chance. What...polymer? Prepolymer?"

Chen Ci: “Is it a chimera?”

Lal: “Yes, that’s the name.”

"Chimera?" Fu Tianhe was stunned. He certainly knew what this thing was. For thousands of years, humans have come up with countless ways to deal with the primitive creatures in the ocean.

Chimera is one of them.

Throughout the ages, humans have gained a lot of inspiration from nature and invented countless bionic devices by studying the working principles of various organisms.

Chimeras are made by imitating bacteriophages.

Bacteriophages are able to attach to the bacterial coat, pierce the coat, and inject their genetic material into the bacteria through their tails.

The phage's genetic material will then use the substances inside the bacteria to replicate and synthesize itself. When the offspring multiply to a certain number, the bacteria will be broken apart from the inside, and new phages will be released exponentially to look for the next target.

The same is true for chimeras.

They enter the original organism, interfere with the operation of mechanical parts through a series of rather strange principles, and promote the formation of new chimeras.

Fu Tianhe had read a lot of relevant information before, but he was completely unable to understand the core principles of the technology. How could the original organisms willingly allow the chimera to enter their bodies?

After hearing what Lal said, he suddenly understood.

Because the chimera is modified with a mechanical core.

There is a very complex food chain between primitive organisms. They hunt and devour each other to seek their own "evolution".

The mechanical core exudes a fatal temptation to them. The original creatures can't wait to devour it, not expecting that the core has already been transformed by humans, which will destroy them from the inside and completely disintegrate them.

Fu Tianhe couldn't even imagine how expensive each chimera was. This thing was jointly produced by the military and the research institute and was not open to the public at all.

As the raw material of the chimera, the preciousness of the mechanical core is self-evident. Under normal circumstances, the value of the core should be at least several times higher than the current selling price.

The people in the production workshop took advantage of the scavengers' ignorance and bought the items at the lowest price.

Fu Tianhe had a general idea in his mind, maybe he could do some research in this area.

The conversation, which was gradually deepening, was forced to end only when Lal's wife called him to go and do something.

Matchstick didn't understand a lot of the things they were talking about. She was almost sleepy listening to them. She didn't stay any longer after Lal left - she decided to let the two benefactors have a good rest. They must be very tired after conquering the Mom camp.

The room became quiet again.

The fire was still burning, Chen Ci's body had almost warmed up, and his hair was almost dry.

He put down the bottle of water he had been holding in his arms to warm his hands, and his palms felt hot.

Only the feet remain.

Chen Ci's feet had been soaked in wet shoes for so long that his toes turned white and wrinkled, and he felt cold from the soles of his feet to his knees. Now he took off his socks and put his feet close to the stove to keep warm.

The ground was still quite dirty, with a lot of sand and dust. Chen Ci didn't want to step on it directly, so he lifted his feet slightly. This was an awkward and tiring posture.

Seeing this, Fu Tianhe reached out and grabbed Chen Ci's feet.

Chen Ci: “Huh?”

Chen Ci's legs were lifted up, his center of gravity moved backward, and his body naturally fell backward. He quickly supported himself with his arms. He raised his head slightly and looked at Fu Tianhe with some confusion.

Fu Tianhe held his calves through his pants and put the boy's cold feet directly into his arms.

"It warms up quickly and is comfortable this way." Fu Tianhe was careful not to have any skin contact with Chen Ci that might make him uncomfortable. There was always a layer of clothing between them.

Chen Ci: …

After a few seconds, Fu Tianhe felt Chen Ci's tense body gradually relax.

The young man withdrew his arms from behind his body, adjusted his center of gravity, and sat down again. He did not struggle, but stepped lightly on Fu Tianhe.

The feet were white and tender, as if they had never walked before.

Fu Tianhe placed Chen Ci's feet against his abdomen, which is the warmest and softest part of a person's body.

It was indeed very cold, even through his clothes Fu Tianhe could feel his belly was cold.

Fu Tianhe couldn't help but think of their first meeting. At that time, Jiuyue was like a little hedgehog, and even had to put a piece of paper under her hand when she put it in his palm.

Now I am willing to hold his waist on the back seat of the motorcycle and let him hold my feet in my arms to warm them.

"My mother warmed my feet in the same way when I was a child." Fu Tianhe suddenly said.

It was the first time that Chen Ci heard Fu Tianhe talk about his mother.

He thought of the engineering textbook that Fu Tianhe had given him. There was a dedication on the title page and the notes were neat and tidy. At that time, Chen Ci guessed that it might be a family member such as Fu Tianhe's mother or sister.

The gift message was telling Fu Tianhe to always have hope for the future, but the wording was a bit strange.

Therefore, Chen Ci asked another question: "Don't you live with her?"

Fu Tianhe said in a relaxed tone: "She went on a trip. I came to Chensha now to see if I can find her."

Is that so?

Chen Ci took a casual glance at the front desk of the hotel and saw that Fu Tianhe's household registration was in Beacon Sanshui.

Chen Ci didn't know what to say. He had no mother and no memory of a father. Parents were completely unfamiliar concepts to him.

That was the end of the conversation about family.

The extremities are always the most difficult to warm up actively. Being held in Fu Tianhe's arms, Chen Ci's somewhat numb feet quickly regained consciousness.

The rain was still falling, but he was already warm all over.

Chen Ci stared at the dancing flames and couldn't help wondering, if he had chosen to travel alone in the beginning, and encountered rainy days, would he have been able to curl up in a corner by himself and wait for his body to warm up?

No wonder Jiang Dai and Chen Nian both told him to find a companion before going out.

Although Chen Ci had long been accustomed to loneliness, he still had to admit that it was good to have someone to accompany him.

The warmth spread from the soles of the feet along the calves to the knees, and the cold, numbness and stiffness disappeared. Chen Ci gently kicked Fu Tianhe, indicating that it was okay.

"Are you warm enough?"

"Um."

Chen Ci's feet were on Fu Tianhe's stomach, and he could clearly feel that his waist and abdomen were exerting force when he spoke, causing vibrations and tension.

Only then did Fu Tianhe let go of Chen Ci's feet.

Chen Ci started to feel sleepy while sitting on the back seat of the motorcycle, and now that he was in the safe room, he could hardly sleep.

"Go and have a rest." Fu Tianhe said softly, "We don't have anything urgent to do, we just need to wait for the rain to stop."

Matchstick had already made a quilt for them, half of it was used as a bed, and the other half was used to cover the body, just right for sleeping.

This thing is no different from a sleeping bag, so Chen Ci certainly wasn't picky. He crawled into the quilt. Fu Tianhe turned down the fire a little and lay down next to Chen Ci.

Chen Ci didn't plan to spend the night outside, so he left his earplugs and eye mask at the hotel.

He closed his eyes. The light was dim, but it still shone through the gaps in the doors and windows and shone on his thin eyelids.

It was windy and rainy outside. The people who had come to rest were reorganizing the camp. The building was not soundproofed well, and if Chen Ci paid more attention, he could even hear the entire content of their conversation.

Even with a blanket on the floor, it's still hard to sleep on the floor.

Not warm enough, not dark enough, and not quiet enough, Chen Ci had never seen a residence more comfortable than his bedroom in the White Tower, but no matter how good it was, he was already tired of it.

Now, even if he has to endure a little hardship and be disturbed by the noise and unable to fall asleep, he is happy to do it.

"Can't sleep? Is it a bit noisy?" After a while, Fu Tianhe said softly.

"Not bad." Chen Ci closed his eyes.

"Let's get along for a day first. We can go back when the rain stops." Knowing that Jiuyue must understand all this, Fu Tianhe couldn't help but comfort her.

He remembered that when he was a child, his mother would repeat over and over again those words that he knew very well. It was indeed useful. Understanding something yourself and having someone else tell you sincerely are two completely different things.

Many times people just need a word of comfort from others.

Chen Ci had thought before that since he was so sensitive to sounds, would he suffer from insomnia all night long after sleeping in the same bed with Shafla after marriage?

Even if Shaflay sleeps well and doesn't snore, a living person staying next to him will definitely make noises such as breathing or turning over.

He couldn't let Shafley hold his breath.

But once they get through the initial period, they can sleep in separate rooms.

Now, Chen Ci realizes that he can sleep peacefully with someone next to him, although that person is not absolutely quiet and is careful to control the amplitude of his movements, so there will still be slight noises.

Hmm, there is also the pheromone smell that is unconsciously emitted, the scent of amber and wood.

This is a scent that many perfumes use, but it is slightly different from what Chen Ci has smelled before. It always reminds him of a lush forest in the afternoon, with the sunlight shining through the gaps between the leaves, casting amber beams of warm light.

It is raining in the forest.

Chen Ci was thinking aimlessly when he felt something gently touching his eyes.

Blocked out all light and plunged the world into darkness.

The faint smell of pheromones told him that it was the shirt that Fu Tianhe had just baked.

Perhaps he was really too sleepy. In this not-so-ideal sleeping environment, Chen Ci fell into a daze again.