The cold night air filled the room. Brian Carter realized that at some point he had taken off his clothes, curled up under the covers, and even pulled the dark green thick cotton coat from the bedside over the blanket.

He didn’t have a clock and didn’t know what time it was, but he was sure it wasn’t yet 6:30 in the morning, because the streetlights hadn’t come on.

He estimated that he had probably fallen asleep before 8:30 last night, more than two hours earlier than usual, so he woke up earlier than normal as well.

Feeling the pressure in his lower abdomen for a few seconds, Brian Carter reached beside his pillow and picked up a bulky flashlight with a black plastic casing, pushing the switch forward.

A focused beam of light shot out, illuminating the sink diagonally across from him.

“Forgot to wash my face, brush my teeth, and soak my feet…” Brian Carter muttered, suddenly throwing off the covers and getting out of bed.

Within the company, except for higher-level employees and managers who were assigned private bathrooms, everyone else could only bathe in the large bathhouse attached to the “activity center.”

And except for employees in certain special positions who needed to wash daily, everyone else was limited to two times a week, with unused quotas expiring and not rolling over.

After getting out of bed, Brian Carter didn’t delay. He threw on the dark green thick cotton coat, grabbed the flashlight, hurriedly opened the door, and headed straight for the public restroom at the end of the street.

The batteries in the flashlight were part of his energy quota, so he didn’t dare waste them—quite a few employees kept wooden buckets, chamber pots, and similar items at home just to avoid going out at night, but unfortunately, those things also had to be exchanged for contribution points.

At this hour, the public restroom was empty. The motion-sensor light turned on with Brian Carter’s footsteps, but it was quite dim.

After taking care of his needs, Brian Carter walked out of the public restroom, ready to head home.

Just then, he saw a beam of light, clearly from a flashlight, shining from around the corner of the corridor.

A few seconds later, a man wearing the same style of dark green cotton coat as Brian Carter walked briskly by, heading in the opposite direction from the public restroom.

Brian Carter stared for two seconds, then suddenly turned off his flashlight and silently jogged in the darkness toward the small patch of light the other man had created.

Soon, he got close to the man and realized it was a middle-aged employee from a nearby block, someone he had to call uncle—James Sullivan.

“Hey!” He suddenly jumped out of the “darkness” and patted the other’s shoulder.

James Sullivan’s hand shook, almost dropping the flashlight.

He looked at Brian Carter in terror, then let out a sigh of relief:

“Little Carter, you scared me to death!

“In the middle of the night, don’t sneak up on people like that to say hello!”

Brian Carter grinned:

“Good evening, Uncle Sullivan. I wanted to ask what time it is?”

“It’s not even six yet,” James Sullivan replied instinctively.

Outside his home, at the intersection, there was a wall clock.

“Uncle Sullivan, where are you going?” Brian Carter glanced around.

“I’m, uh, going to the restroom…” James Sullivan trailed off and shut his mouth.

He was heading in the exact opposite direction from the nearest public restroom.

Under the flashlight’s glow, his refined face looked pale and blue, though it was unclear whether it was from the cold night air or something else.

After organizing his words, James Sullivan forced a smile:

“I’m going to the public restroom in Zone C. Sigh, I dropped something there last night while playing at the ‘activity center.’ I only realized it when I got up just now, so I thought I’d hurry and look for it.”

Brian Carter nodded, his deep brown eyes seeming to absorb the surrounding darkness.

He chuckled:

“Uncle Sullivan, look, you’re wearing a green coat, I’m wearing a green coat, you’re a man, I’m a man too.”

James Sullivan was confused for a moment, then suddenly understood:

“So, we’re fellow believers!”

He immediately became enthusiastic:

“You’re also going to listen to the ‘Guide’ preach?”

“That’s right.” Brian Carter replied with a smile.

Chapter 7: Preaching

James Sullivan immediately said with a smile:

“Let’s go together, but be careful to avoid…”

He didn’t finish, instead glancing up at the ceiling, signaling Brian Carter to be cautious.

Every floor of the “residential area” had surveillance cameras installed, but not many—only at key intersections and indoor public spaces.

By comparison, both the “inner ecological zone” and the “factory zone” had many more cameras, though still far fewer than the “research zone” and the “management zone.”

Following James Sullivan’s gaze, Brian Carter looked at the intersection ahead and said with a smile:

“It might not even be on.”

“True.” James Sullivan actually agreed with Brian Carter.

That was because situations like this were all too common within the company—every now and then, it would come out that some piece of equipment had been broken for ages and was just sitting there for show.

It was said that this was related to the chaos when the old world was destroyed and some surviving humans hurriedly retreated into the underground buildings.

Besides, it was already Year 46 of the New Calendar. It was perfectly normal for some equipment to break down, and the corresponding production lines might never have been rebuilt due to resource shortages, lost technology, or lack of documentation, so replacements and repairs were impossible.