By noon, the survivors' patience was gradually exhausted under the dual depletion of heat and boredom.

Just as they were nearing collapse, the door that had been tightly locked outside was finally opened by someone.

Upon hearing the melodious sound of the lock opening, everyone breathed a long sigh of relief.

A heatwave swept in, revealing a strong figure slowly coming into view before the crowd.

"The quarantine time is up, you can come out now!" Dazhuang's face was tense, and his whole body was covered with large beads of sweat.

With nothing else to say, the suffocated-to-the-point-of-madness survivors immediately got up, then dragged their stiff limbs out of the room.

The afternoon sunlight was scorching and harsh, hitting the skin like needles, causing pain.

Tang Xiaoquan instinctively raised his hand to shield his forehead, looked towards the horizon, and a wave of dizziness immediately enveloped his mind, making him dizzy.

This time, Wang Qiang unexpectedly walked at the back of the line. His hesitance seemed like he was harboring some concerns, especially when he walked past the storage door and brushed past Dazhuang, his clenched fists and tightly closed lips revealed his nervousness and hesitation at that moment.

Finally, at a place about 2 meters away from the gate, Wang Qiang stopped his steps. He took a deep breath and resolutely turned around, stepping up to Dazhuang. Without a moment of hesitation, he apologized:

"I'm sorry, big brother. Yesterday when I contradicted you and called you a dog, I was wrong! I apologize to you, and I hope you can forgive me! If you still feel angry..."

Sweeping his eyes over Dazhuang, Wang Qiang pulled Dazhuang's arm, then gestured at his own chest a couple of times and continued: "If you're still angry, hit me a couple of times, you can do that!"

Slightly taken aback, Dazhuang stared blankly with round eyes at Wang Qiang before him, obviously bewildered by the young man's sudden actions.

After a moment of adjustment, he slowly retracted his arm without responding verbally or punching. He just glanced indifferently at Wang Qiang, then turned and continued walking towards the front of the line, leaving Wang Qiang's lonely silhouette reflecting under the glaring sun.

"Everyone, follow me. I'll show you around the factory!" Without the slightest emotional fluctuation due to Wang Qiang's earlier actions, Dazhuang, as if nothing had happened, firmly gripped two old-fashioned scythes and waved them twice at the front of the team, then led the way without looking back.

It is said that there is no greater sorrow than a dead heart. Tang Xiaoquan could understand the man's wooden reaction. After all, anyone who witnessed the horrific death of their closest kin would inevitably exhibit some abnormal behavior.

These abnormalities can only gradually settle and heal with the passage of time in the river of years.

Wang Qiang followed the group, although he did not receive Dazhuang's verbal forgiveness, he was not discouraged.

This is just like the meaning contained in the "Qiang" in his name, Wang Qiang would never easily admit defeat no matter what difficulty he faced.

Because he firmly believes that true feelings can move people, and he will surely be able to use his sincere emotions to gain Dazhuang's eventual forgiveness.

This is the so-called "Xiao Qiang" spirit.

Under Dazhuang's guidance, the team strolled around the periphery of the factory. As expected, the layout was almost identical to what Tang Xiaoquan had observed from the storage room, with no notable differences.

If there was something different, it would be the latrine hidden behind the factory building.

Admittedly, the appearance of the latrine completely overturned Tang Xiaoquan's perception of the usual pit environment.

He could already smell the foul stench emanating from the latrine just by looking from afar.

Can this place really solve personal problems? Tang Xiaoquan could not imagine!

After completing the tour around the factory area, Dazhuang finally led the survivors to the last stop of this journey: the main factory building.

Upon entering the factory, Tang Xiaoquan experienced a sense of ice and fire, although somewhat exaggerated, but the cool environment inside the factory did indeed give him a strong shock due to the sudden drop in temperature.

Thus, he somewhat understood why there were rarely any activities outside the factory.

After all, no one would be foolish enough to abandon the cool and comfortable environment inside while opting to stupidly run outside under the scorching sun to endure the so-called "sun bathing."

The interior of the factory was slightly cluttered; on the left side were numerous sewing machines piled together, while the right side was a long wooden table covered with scraps of fabric and living supplies, with a tool resembling a knife at the head of the table.

Regarding this table, Tang Xiaoquan later learned from chatting with an in-factory master that it actually has a scientific name, known as a "cutting bed," primarily used for cutting finished fabrics and garment pieces.

Looking upwards, Tang Xiaoquan found that the long wires originally used for lighting were now utilized as hanging ropes, with a plethora of items hung on them, such as towel strips, diapers, socks; if not for the iron wire spanning east and west, Tang Xiaoquan would genuinely be worried if the wires could bear the weight.

The arrival of the survivors undoubtedly stirred the women in the factory, but Tang Xiaoquan did not see much joy on their faces.

On the contrary, most of them wore gloomy expressions, with their sallow skin showing signs of malnutrition.

It seems they are worried that our joining will intensify their resource depletion, reflecting bitter with a shake of the head, Tang Xiaoquan could very well understand their concerns.

Even for himself, whenever a newcomer joined the team, he'd have hesitations for various reasons.

His gaze continued to pass over the women, and contrary to their sallow skin, most of them were dressed brightly and unconventionally, presumably chosen from factory exports, which added some color to their monotonous life.

The women sat on the floor, layered fabrics, and cardboard constituted their beds, as Lin Junfu said, the bedding was arranged in the form of communal beds.

Every 5 or 6 meters, a not-short distance would be left vacant, blocked by cardboard boxes in between, presumably to prevent tragedies like mutant man-eating monsters from happening.

Tang Xiaoquan roughly counted the number of women sitting on the cardboard, and after counting twice, he only came up with eleven.

And based on Lin Junfu's statement last night, the expected survivor count in the entire factory should at least be around 20, but the current significant discrepancy...

Unable to help but furrow his brows slightly, clearly humans couldn't just vanish into thin air. Not to mention the factory manager Wang who had never appeared, Tang Xiaoquan suddenly felt the factory seemed somewhat eerie...

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