post-adult-society

In the opening moments of the Supernova Era, all adults have disappeared, leaving children alone to manage the world. The children in Beijing communicate with peers across the country, confronting immediate crises such as fires, floods, and caring for infants, highlighting their confusion, fear, and the sudden burden of responsibility. The chapter portrays a society in chaos, with children forced to organize emergency responses and grapple with the absence of adult guidance.

In this chapter, the children of a post-adult society enter a period called Candytown, marked by carefree abandon and the collapse of traditional work and study routines. The children freely take and consume resources left behind by adults, leading to a temporary state resembling primitive communism due to overabundance and lack of property enforcement. The child leaders recognize the societal upheaval but are uncertain how to respond, as the economic and social structures of the adult world rapidly dissolve.