Chapter 211: Polar Day, When Will the Apocalypse End
"Big brother, try the fried locusts. They taste really good."
Zheng Yan enthusiastically recommended, his expression sincere.
The smell of fried locusts was so tempting that Zheng Yan almost drooled.
If these two bowls weren't bought for Meng Ci and Shen Que, he would have started eating them himself.
Shen Que stood in front of Meng Ci and reached into his pants pocket, but actually pulled out a plastic bag from his personal storage space.
"Thank you."
"But there are too many locusts. We can't finish them in one go."
"It's better to put them in this bag and eat them slowly back home."
Shen Que only talked more when facing Meng Ci or when it concerned him.
It was the first time Zheng Yan had heard Shen Que say so much. Given Shen Que's intimidating face, Zheng Yan had no choice but to pour the locusts into the open plastic bag.
"Big brothers, I'm going to return the bowls now. You guys continue browsing!" After saying that, Zheng Yan, afraid Shen Que might hit him, took off.
Meng Ci glanced at Shen Que, then at Zheng Yan's retreating figure, and realized that Shen Que's serious demeanor could be pretty handy sometimes.
The two exchanged some water and food and then went home.
Shen Que fed the locusts to Eggplant and Eagle.
Not long after, the polar day arrived quietly—when the sun doesn't set for an extended period.
In the long-lasting apocalypse, many people no longer had clocks or other ways to tell time, so they often relied on the rising and setting of the sun.
That day, everyone felt like they'd been working in the fields forever, but the sun still hadn't set.
At first, everyone thought they had misremembered the time, but after two hours had passed and their stomachs were growling, the sun was still in the sky.
Finally, someone noticed something was wrong.
"Have you noticed the sun hasn't budged in hours?"
"I noticed it a long time ago."
"I thought I was hallucinating or losing it!"
"Let's head to the exchange point—they've got a clock there."
...
A large group of people left the fields and headed to the exchange point, only to be shocked when they saw that it was already 7 PM.
"What's going on? It's past 7 PM, and it's still not dark!"
"Damn it, we just had polar night, and now we're stuck with polar day."
"Damn! How are we supposed to survive like this?"
...
Due to the large number of people, the discussions were loud and noisy, and when they heard the noise, residents who were originally doing other things or resting flocked to the exchange point.
After seeing the time at the exchange point, they were all astonished.
It's still so bright out—how can it be past 7 PM already?
This doesn't make any sense—could another weird disaster be coming?
During the locust period, some people heard the rumor that the End Times were created by the state, but no one took it seriously at the time.
After all, back then, the temperature was around 40 degrees Celsius, and the sunrise and sunset were normal.
Everyone thought the End Times were over and life could return to normal.
Now with the arrival of polar day, many people couldn't bear it and felt mentally overwhelmed.
The residents headed to the government building at the West Mountain Wild Base, demanding an explanation about the End Times!
"Damn it, get out here! You useless bureaucrats—can we get some straight answers? When the hell is this End Times gonna end?"
"If you caused this mess, can you at least care about the lives of regular folks like us?"
A few government workers emerged with megaphones, trying to calm the crowd, but it didn't help.
Instead, the residents picked up tools and began to vandalize the government building.
Soon, Lu Chen from the military district received the message and arrived with soldiers to maintain order.
But the grief-stricken residents continued with their actions and didn't listen.
It wasn't until Lu Chen fired two shots into the air that the chaotic crowd finally quieted down.
Lu Chen picked up a megaphone and calmed everyone.
"The End Times are a catastrophe—use your heads. Can humans control something like that?"
"We are doing our best to minimize the damage and help everyone overcome the End Times."
"No one wants this kind of hell on earth."
"After the polar day, the End Times might finally be over—or we could face even worse disasters. Only by working together can we achieve ultimate victory."
Lu Chen delivered a grand speech and subtly informed everyone that even more dangerous disasters might be coming in the future.
Meanwhile, armed soldiers had already surrounded the residents.
They forced and persuaded the residents to calm down.
However, when the residents saw the officials asking who had smashed the government doors and windows, they took the opportunity to flee when the soldiers weren't paying attention.
In front of the government building, the vice mayor, who was the highest-ranking official in the West Mountain Wild Base, let out a long sigh of relief.
The vice mayor, who had been quite plump before the apocalypse, now had sunken cheeks and dark circles under his eyes from working day and night to deal with the locust situation.
"Lu Chen, we owe you big time!" Vice Mayor Hua Jianghai clapped him on the shoulder, visibly relieved.
"Mayor Hua is too kind."
After exchanging pleasantries, they left.
After all, they had many other matters to attend to.
Before leaving, Lu Chen stationed a few soldiers outside the government building, in case any other unexpected incidents occurred.
Meanwhile, Meng Ci and Shen Que had no idea what was going on. At that moment, they were handling tasks in the field inside the special space.
The stalks from the harvested wheat, rapeseed, corn, and other crops were still in the field, and they needed to clear them out before planting anything new.
After dealing with the things in the field, the two began to dig the soil.
"Shen Que, do you think Zheng Yan might have tools for plowing the field?"
Meng Ci rubbed his back, sitting on the ground.
Even though the temperature in the space was normal, they were drenched in sweat from all the hard digging.
Meng Ci remembered seeing a machine that could plow fields back in the real world.
Shen Que, despite being strong, had never plowed a field before and was just as exhausted.
He nodded in agreement.
"We can go and ask."
Meng Ci set down the hoe and walked over to the drinks. He grabbed a cup of iced lemon water, ignored Shen Que's warning, and guzzled it down in a few big swigs.
Then he handed another cup to Shen Que.
Shen Que, who usually didn't care for such things, hesitated for a moment as he saw the condensation on the cup. Then he took it and drank it in two gulps, feeling instantly refreshed.
This time, when they entered the space, Meng Ci brought Eagle along as well.
The moment Eagle found itself in this unfamiliar place, it instantly became alert.
Later, it was unclear what Eggplant said to Eagle, but the two little ones began to play around the space.
Eggplant even showed Eagle the ham it had hidden—and yes, the one it had peed on outside the box.