"What are you thinking of, bro? Your mouth is drooling a little."
"Nothing."
As my sister snapped back into reality again, I didn’t think of what happened last night any further.
All I could say, it was the most morable night I ever had so far.
---
The next few days, I was finally able to remove all the bandages as the scar had mostly vanished on my chest.
I was still a little shocked by how fast I was able to heal up considering the cut to my wound, but I digress.
Heading to the draft office with Jieqiong early in the morning, I signed up for the draft list at one of the booths.
They told that they will announce the news next week. So I had an entire week of waiting until I was fully cleared.
In the anti, I went to the job center with her, hoping to get a job to lighten up the burden for my parent.
Unfortunately, almost every single one of them required technical skills that I didn’t have. Not to ntion, I only had a high school degree.
I was once again stuck at ho, tutoring my sister.
It made feel even more guilty seeing my parent co ho with a tired face every night. I felt useless for the first ti.
Jieqiong noticed the change in my mood and tried to comfort , but seeing her going to work every day made feel even worse.
I was a freeloader. There was no other way to sugarcoat it. A fully grown man who couldn’t work to provide for his family.
For a short period of ti, I was seriously considering the option to just leave. Of course, I wasn’t just leaving anywhere.
Rather, I was thinking of joining one of those salvage groups that advertised a bountiful reward at the job center.
Although both of my parent and Jieqiong wanted to stay safe in the settlent, I just couldn’t watch myself do nothing at ho.
I told myself that I was going to join the salvage group by the end of the week... Until a mysterious man in army clothes showed up one morning.
What did he tell , you may ask?
I had sohow hit the most unlucky, or luckiest, draws of all ti, as the man told only twenty people out of a hundred thousand were selected in.
I was now a part of the army, reporting for duty the next day at the barracks. When I told them about it, they were imdiately shocked.
But after the initial reaction, they had no choice but to accept the fact.
---
At first, I was extrely nervous and excited at the sa ti when I arrived at the military barracks.
My mind was already thinking of all kinds of exercises and drills ahead of .
The opposite of what middle school and high school’s military education is. Not just standing still and running around in circles for two weeks.
I was thinking of what my dad had always bragged about back in the days with actual guns and shooting range practice.
However, reality is often disappointing.
The army training was completely different from what I had imagined. Or should I say there was no army training at all?
A senior soldier just ca to the barracks in the morning and handed and ninety other people a rifle with blank bullets.
We were told to patrol the wall every morning and afternoon. With day and night shifted determined among ourselves.
It was the exact sa job as the one I had back in the village. Except this ti, I had a gun in my hand that couldn’t even kill a zombie.
Half of us were a little bumped out, including . But the other half barely flinched at all.
It was almost as if they knew it was going to happen. We soon divided among ourselves, with one half taking morning duty and the other half taking night duty.
---
I was a part of the morning duty for the first month, which ant I had to arrive at the wall for check-in early in the morning by six o’clock.
The ten of us quickly headed towards the wall with our weapons, walking past hundreds of other soldiers who looked to be ard to the teeth.
Along the way, I learned the wall itself had four different entrances, each managed by a separate army unit.
After climbing up the stairs for a whole minute, I finally arrived at the top of the wall for the very first ti.
I was instantly awed by the view.
In the far, far distance was a massive water reservoir that almost looked more like an ocean at first glance.
Right next to it was a large city with a bunch of buildings. All around us were a bunch of mountains, with a much smaller water reservoir just a few miles away.
Looking down, we were almost a hundred ters tall from the ground, with only a singular highway leading up to the settlent.
Various armor vehicles containing soldiers were preparing to leave, followed by a bunch of civilian cars ard with only lee weapons.
They were clearly the salvage groups that I was about to join if it wasn’t for the job I now have at the wall.
Patrolling down the wall, I soon got to know several of the soldiers who were on duty with .
Most of them were just like , people who had just recently gotten here. So of them were even from Kaifeng.
We chatted and chatted as the hot sun shot its hot rays down to our faces. One of us soon couldn’t handle the heat as he sat down underneath the battlent.
I, too, joined in as we took turns lying down in the shade. A boring job that had nothing happening, as the road looked clearer than crystal.
No zombies, no enemies. Nothing was in sight other than the heat. It was becoming clear why the other half pushed the morning duty to us.
Still, we had no choice but to endure it. Waiting for the sun to continue to rise until it was finally ti for lunch.
Half of us rotated for lunch while the other half remained on duty. Then, when one half finished, the other half went to get lunch.
All the long wait until the sun finally sets on the horizon. Heading back to the barracks until the next day.
---
After a month of what felt like the most boring job I ever had, we were finally given our salary and a day break to head back ho.
The pay wasn’t much, but it was enough to buy several pork chops and canned fish at the store located in the fancy part of the settlent.
As I arrived back ho, my younger sister instantly greeted with a warm hug. No one else was ho yet as they were all at work.
She imdiately began asking what the military was like, only to be disappointed when I told her it was a boring, mundane task.
A few hours later, Dad and Mom finally ca back ho, with Jieqiong coming over as well.
They all asked the sa question as my younger sister, and I gave them the exact sa answer.
Rather than being disappointed, their face looked a little relieved. They were more than happy to learn that I was assigned patrol duty.
When I showed them the food I brought, their eyes were in shock. Even Jieqiong was impressed as she grabbed the canned fish to have a closer look.
I could still rember the proud look on Dad’s eyes as he patted on the shoulder while Mom popped open one of the lids to reveal the tasty sll.
Seeing how excited everyone looked in the shack, I, for once, felt the patrol job wasn’t as bad as I had thought.
It was all worth it in the end.
---
The day quickly went by. I was back to the boring old patrol job at the wall, sitting idly next to one of my peers with my rifle on the side.
It was just supposed to be another normal day with nothing happening. The only difference was that it was nightti rather than in the morning.
I was fortunately out of the seething heat, but unfortunately, my body and my peers’ bodies haven’t really gotten used to staying up late.
Our eyes were closing on their own once every few minutes... Until a sudden small light dot appeared in the distance.
I instantly woke up my peer and took out a pair of binoculars, only to see a civilian car with its headlights on driving closer and closer towards us.
"What do you see, Zhaoxun?" My peer asked, noticing the light dot in the distance.
"A normal car. I can’t tell who’s inside driving it... Oh shit! T-There’s a zombie chasing after it." I nervously responded.
"Just a zombie?" My peer asked again, his eyes almost closing again, as it didn’t sound alarming at all.
"No. I-It’s too many to count!"
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