Woke up and checked the watch—exactly six o’clock.

This biological clock really has no equal.

The inner circle was on lockdown, no entry or exit allowed. Yu Xifeng stayed inside the house, didn’t go anywhere.

To guard against Wang Anmin or Xiao Rong suddenly coming to see her, Yu Xifeng didn’t steam large batches of glutinous rice cakes anymore.

After standing in place for a while, she went into the bathroom, locked the door, and entered her personal space to clean the chicken coop and pigpen.

The three piglets had grown noticeably fatter.

Yu Xifeng felt quietly pleased.

She patted the big head of the little fat pig.

The meat was very plump.

She imagined it must taste pretty good, too.

Little Ju affectionately rubbed against her.

When Yu Xifeng used to lie on the bed playing games, she occasionally let Little Ju come out.

Little Ju would quietly lie beside her hand, seeming to understand people, never running around or barking. Sometimes when her palms got sweaty from gaming, she could even use Little Ju to wipe her hands.

For lunch, she had a bowl of rice topped with various ingredients, and the little chicken drumstick inside smelled delicious.

Yu Xifeng opened a bottle of yogurt and gave the lid to Little Ju.

The inner circle lockdown had lasted three days; during this time, Sister Zhang and her son hadn’t returned.

That night, according to surface time, it was midnight.

Yu Xifeng was already half asleep when someone knocked on the door.

She woke up quickly. The moment she opened her eyes, her mind cleared. She was fully dressed, ready to get up and leave.

Yu Xifeng had watched the surveillance cameras and waited a little while before going to open the door, pretending to still be sleepy.

Wang Anmin stood at the door with Xiao Rong.

There were bloodshot veins in Wang Anmin’s eyes. Xiao Rong stepped forward: “Sorry for coming at this hour to bother you. We just want to take a statement. They can’t close the inner circle, and there’s no suitable place, so we’ll do it here.”

Xiao Rong asked questions; Yu Xifeng answered.

“When did they start knocking on the door?”

“Who made the first move?”

“Why did they come to you?”

…

Wang Anmin sat on the only chair and stared at the cup on the table.

The room was simple, clean, with a kind of sharp chill—just like Yu Xifeng herself.

Yu Xifeng basically told the truth, not forgetting to mention Zhao Yao.

And she blatantly hinted that she was on Yang Rong’s side.

“From what we know, Yang Rong is your biological father,” Xiao Rong looked up.

Yu Xifeng said righteously, “He committed unforgivable crimes, severely endangering the lives of the surviving masses. Although he is my biological father, I have the basic awareness of being a human.”

Xiao Rong: “……”

Here’s the pen—why don’t you write this quarter’s ideological report?

When Xiao Rong finished, their eyes shifted, only to see Wang Anmin leaning back in the chair, already asleep.

Xiao Rong lowered his voice: “Our boss hasn’t slept for three days.”

Everywhere were messes caused by the Sun God Cult. Orders came from above, heating needed, food needed.

No food, but plenty of people to arrest.

Xiao Rong had been going crazy arresting people these days. When he saw the higher-ups scolding Wang Anmin, he almost wanted to handcuff the leaders and throw them in.

Wang Anmin’s problems were countless, every single one overwhelming.

Nobody knew why he had to come personally just to take a statement.

Yu Xifeng said, “This isn’t a place for your boss to sleep. It’s late—wake him up and send him back to rest.”

Wang Anmin had already been unstable in the chair; hearing the noise, his head nodded forward and started to fall.

Yu Xifeng moved closer. Xiao Rong thought she was going to help him.

Yu Xifeng was puzzled—what kind of subordinate lacks such awareness?

Your boss is about to collapse on the ground, and you just stand there watching?

Before Wang Anmin’s face hit the floor, he suddenly woke up, then sprang up and stood straight.

His hand lifted halfway and then dropped back down.

Yu Xifeng: “……”

Was he trying to salute her?

No way she could accept that.

Wang Anmin took a deep breath, glanced at Yu Xifeng, and asked Xiao Rong, “Done asking?”

Xiao Rong nodded.

Wang Anmin hummed, “Let’s go.”

Wang Anmin didn’t say much the entire time, as if this trip was just about finishing this statement.

Wang Anmin left first; Yu Xifeng went back to bed.

Deng Mifen arrived.

She came to beg Yu Xifeng to say a few words to Wang Anmin, to release her mother and brother.

“My brother just liked you too much and got confused. I raised him, and he has no ill intentions.”

Deng Mifen wept softly: “My mom only loves my brother too much. She’s the kind to take advantage of small favors. Don’t take her seriously.”

Yu Xifeng just felt this family was unbearably sticky.

“Your brother held a knife to my neck, and you still think he has no ill intentions—after all, it wasn’t your neck.”

“Your mom did such things and made you run around. I don’t think your family lacks food because of her. Why doesn’t she care about you?”

Deng Mifen lowered her head: “Please, my brother went in because of you. You can’t do this to him. He’s never suffered before; this will ruin him.”

Yu Xifeng didn’t let Deng Mifen inside: “They shouldn’t be targeting me, and neither should you.”

Once the inner circle was lifted, Sister Yun came by that afternoon.

Previously, she had stored a batch of fuel with Yu Xifeng and now came to take some.

Heating supply was insufficient; fuel consumption had surged.

Her own supplies were almost gone.

Sister Yun was glad she had bought this batch earlier.

Otherwise, buying more now meant either starving or freezing—hard to avoid both.

Yu Xifeng gathered some honeycomb coal and planned to visit Old Cai.

Hadn’t seen him for a few days; Zhang Qiu should still be alive.

When Yu Xifeng arrived, she saw Zhang Qiu wearing a mask, coughing continuously.

“Caught a cold?” Yu Xifeng asked.

Zhang Qiu sneezed again; his peach-blossom-shaped eyes were red-rimmed. “Probably allergic to the cold air.”

A bit vague.

Old Cai seemed unfazed.

“When there’s a big temperature difference, it happens. It’s nothing, it’ll clear up in half a day.” Zhang Qiu lifted the pot lid. “These are salted duck eggs I saved for you from the Dragon Boat Festival. Try one. This was made after you came in. Not much to say about the underground shelter, but at least there’s no shortage of mud.”

Yu Xifeng brought a hot water bag, originally to give to Old Cai, but she tossed it to Zhang Qiu instead.

Zhang Qiu grabbed it; his exposed hand backs showed patches of red.

He had fair skin, so the redness was very striking, almost like alcohol poisoning.

Yu Xifeng didn’t know what to say.

The salted eggs were golden and oily, the chopsticks squeezed out oil as they lifted them.

Very appetizing.

Outside came the sounds of a noisy crowd. Yu Xifeng looked toward the door. “What’s going on?”

“At the square, the place where they sang hymns before—they are executing that priest. Want to go watch?”

Yu Xifeng shook her head. “No, nothing worth seeing.”

On the high platform, the priest looked calm.

His expression was no different from when he led the hymns before.

His hands were handcuffed in front of his chest, eyes calm.

He was forced to kneel.

Then came the sound of a gun being cocked.

The priest was far from the only one to be executed.

There were too many believers who caused major destruction.

They exercised what they called the rights granted by the Sun God during the riots.

They broke into innocent homes and took everything they liked.

People were executed daily.

But today’s execution had the largest audience.

The air carried a strange atmosphere, a subtle sense of solemnity and tragedy mixed in.

The crowd stirred.

The priest looked up, staring fixedly at the gray-white ceiling.

Suddenly, he became excited.

A strong longing flared in his eyes, as if his gaze pierced through the ceiling to see the sun beyond the surface.

“The sun is with me!” he shouted.

The gunshot rang out.