Chapter 43

Chapter 43

As they were taking Feng Chen away, Yan Bubu didn't resist anymore. Instead, he rushed back to the room, grabbed a cloth bag, and followed them.

He followed them all the way to the elevator, where General Lin forbade him from continuing. Yan Bubu then asked, "Can I give my brother his birthday gift? Today is his birthday, and I haven’t given him his present yet."

General Lin remained silent, but Colonel Yu said, "Then give it to him."

Yan Bubu pulled out a dagger from the cloth bag and approached Feng Chen.

"This is your birthday gift. The uncle who sold it to me said this knife has slain dragons, defeated gods, and even helped Binunu fight the dark wizard."

Everyone involuntarily glanced at the dagger, then quickly averted their eyes.

"It's a great gift, you'll definitely like it." Yan Bubu placed the dagger in Feng Chen's pocket, "You need to get better soon, you must."

Feng Chen, carried on a soldier's back with his head and hands dangling limply, seemed to hear Yan Bubu's words. His cracked lips moved slightly, and his eyelashes trembled faintly.

"Colonel Yu, can patients bring weapons into the medical center?" a soldier whispered to Colonel Yu, "The rule is not to allow anything inside, and this is a knife..."

Colonel Yu glanced at General Lin waiting for the elevator and replied in a low voice, "Let him keep it. It’s a child’s sentiment. Besides, with the patient in such a condition, carrying a dagger won't pose a safety threat. It's convenient for cutting fruit and such."

The soldier replied hesitantly, "…Okay."

Another soldier asked quietly, "Are there even fruits in the sick ward? I haven’t seen any fruit in the entire shelter."

"Don’t ask. If Colonel Yu says there’s fruit to cut, then there must be."

Major General Lin stood by emotionlessly, waiting for the elevator, as if he hadn't heard anything.

After the elevator left, Yan Bubu walked back slowly, head down. Wu You patted his head, "Let's go, Uncle Wu will take you to eat."

Yan Bubu, preoccupied, sat at the canteen table, pressing down on the potatoes in his lunchbox with a spoon, mashing them completely without bringing any to his mouth.

Wu You took out a glass jar from his pocket, unscrewed the lid, and placed two pieces of pickled radish in Yan Bubu's lunchbox, "Eat up, potatoes aren't good when they're cold."

"Major General Lin said my brother will be back in a day or two," Yan Bubu murmured, as if talking to Wu You and himself, nodding as he spoke.

Wu You agreed, "Certainly, Qin Shen is just sick with a fever. That kid has a strong life, nothing will happen to him. Just wait peacefully for a couple of days, and when you wake up, he'll be right there in front of you."

"Not two days, one or two days," Yan Bubu corrected, emphasizing the word 'one.'

"Right, one or two days."

Yan Bubu smiled, scooped a spoonful of mashed potatoes, and ate it with the pickled radish, his cheeks puffing out.

Wu You watched him with a warm smile and added two more pieces of pickled radish to his bowl, "This is the pickled radish I used to make. My son never had a big appetite, but he could eat two bowls of this with egg-fried rice."

Yan Bubu chewed the pickled radish noisily, "What about your son? I've never seen him."

The smile on Wu You's face faded, and his gaze towards Yan Bubu became distant, "He's gone."

"Ah?" Yan Bubu stopped chewing, "Gone?"

Was it the 'gone' he was thinking of? Gone to heaven?

"He was in kindergarten during the earthquake. By the time I got there, the entire kindergarten was just a pile of rubble," Wu You said, a glimmer of moisture flickering in his eyes.

After a moment of silence, Yan Bubu softly said, "He's in heaven now, where there are lots of toys and delicious food, and the latest cartoons to watch. My mom and dad are there too, they will play with him."

Wu You blinked away the moisture in his eyes, "Yes, he's in heaven, living a better life than us, not having to eat potatoes all the time."

"Yeah, heaven is a lot of fun, better than how we live," Yan Bubu said with a smile, his eyes curving into crescents. Wu You's gaze softened as he looked at him, "Eat up, the potatoes are already cold."

As he ate, Yan Bubu asked, "Uncle Wu, it's raining so hard outside. Could it break down the door and flood the beehive?"

Wu You replied, "No, the entrance door is made of special materials. Even explosives can't blow it open, let alone a bit of floodwater."

"But what if? What if the water comes in from somewhere else?"

"There's no 'what if'. Our underground city is airtight. Not even a fly can get in, let alone floodwater."

Yan Bubu's gaze fell on the air exchanger on the wall. Pointing at it, he asked, "But doesn't that lead outside? Flies could get in through there, right?"

There were several large air exchangers in the water room, humming constantly in operation. At first, he was a bit frightened by them, always feeling that behind those rotating blades, in the deep darkness, lurked unknown monsters.

It wasn't until Feng Chen told him that the darkness only contained air ducts leading to the surface, and no monsters were hiding in them, that he gradually stopped being afraid.

Wu You explained, "You can rest assured about that too. Although the ducts lead to the surface, the exposed parts are very secure. The Western Alliance Army checks them daily. Even if we can't go out now, those air rooms could soak in floodwater for twenty years and still be fine."

Yan Bubu nodded, seemingly understanding.

After breakfast, Wu You asked if he wanted to stay with him, but Yan Bubu declined, saying he wanted to wait for his brother at the medical station.

Wu You had no choice but to say, "Alright then, stay at the medical station and don't wander around."

The medical station, facing the military building from afar, was also heavily guarded by soldiers. The only difference was that the medical station was not only occupied by soldiers but also frequented by many in white coats coming in and out.

Yan Bubu, carrying Bunu, casually wandered to the entrance of the ground floor lobby, edging inside step by step, sneakily glancing at the soldiers on guard.

After a glance from a soldier who then looked away, Yan Bubu confidently entered the lobby.

He sat uneasily on a bench in the lobby, his feet dangling in the air, with Bunu resting on his knees. Doctors and soldiers bustled in and out of the lobby, paying him no mind. He sat there all morning.

At lunchtime, he went to the Beehive cafeteria to eat, then returned.

He sat quietly on the bench all day, only looking towards the staircase whenever footsteps sounded, and shifting his gaze away when he didn’t see the person he was waiting for, continuing to wait with Bunu in his arms.

A child sitting in the lobby all day, neither fussy nor wandering, eventually drew some curiosity. When a nurse couldn't help but inquire, he replied softly, “My brother is sick. He’ll be better in a day or two. I’m waiting here to pick him up.”

As night fell, although there was no day and night change in the Beehive, the number of staff visibly decreased. The lobby grew quiet, the bright white lights illuminating the bench and casting the small figure in a lonelier light.

The soldiers at the door changed shifts, and one walking by urged him, “Kid, you’ve been sitting here all day. In an hour it’ll be eleven, and you can’t stay outside after that. Time to go back.”

“Oh.”

Unable to stay any longer, Yan Bubu left the medical station, slowly crossed the plaza, and returned to the Beehive.

For the first time, he went to bathe alone, using a basin he couldn't place on the wooden cabinet due to his height, so he left it outside the stall. After his bath and getting dressed, he found his clean clothes in the basin wet from the water splashing under the curtain.

Fortunately, they weren’t too wet and would dry soon. He silently dressed, put his dirty clothes in the basin, and carried it to the laundry area to wash.

The water room, like the medical station lobby, was deserted. He added water and detergent to the basin, tapped his forehead, saying, “Start.” Then, rolling up his sleeves, he stirred the water with his right arm, first to the left, then to the right, humming a buzzing sound.

After buzzing for a while, he tapped his forehead again, “Pause.”

The water room quieted down, and Yan Bubu stood there, head hanging, motionless. After a moment, he sniffled, rubbed his eyes against his shoulder, and then tapped his forehead again: “Start.”

He resumed stirring the clothes in the basin.

After hanging the washed clothes on the wire outside the air exchanger, Yan Bubu carried the basin back to his room. He had just lain down on the bed when the curfew bell rang outside; it was already eleven at night.

He didn’t turn off the light, afraid to be alone, and pulled over the fleece blanket Feng Chen usually used, wrapping himself tightly in it.

Surrounded by the familiar scent, he felt less uneasy and finally closed his eyes and fell asleep.

On the surface, the heavy rain had not ceased, turning Haiyun City into a vast ocean. Occasionally, the roof of an uncollapsed building emerged, resembling a small, solitary island. Only the towering Haiyun Tower still stood above the water.

Several beams of light pierced the dense rainy night, and the loud sound of motors approached from afar. A few speedboats raced across the water, stopping beside Haiyun Tower.

On one of the speedboats, a person holding a terrain detector looked at the underwater building contours displayed on the screen and said to someone at the bow, “Custodian Chu, the machine room is right here.”

The person at the bow, lifting a mechanical arm, tossed his cigar into the water. He zipped up his diving suit, strapped on an oxygen tank, gave a thumbs-down gesture, and then backflipped into the water.

Adai and other henchmen from the accompanying boats, closely following him, also got ready and jumped into the water one after another.

Underwater was a dome-topped structure, resembling a large Mongolian yurt, with no doors or windows to be found. The building’s surface appeared ordinary, but a closer look revealed its unique material, resembling a kind of metal but not matching any known metal.

Chu Shi, in his diving suit, circled the structure and finally stopped at a specific spot, tapping on the metallic wall in front of him, signaling the others to come over.

The man was holding a disc-shaped device in his arms, which he placed against the metal wall. The device started to flash red lights.

Moments later, the red light vanished, and a faint click echoed from somewhere. The metal wall in front of them slowly opened, revealing a space, and water instantly began pouring in.

Chushi excitedly clapped his hands and was the first to swim in. The others quickly followed, and soon all twenty or so people had entered, then closed the metal door.

Inside the building, there was only one corridor, brightly lit. Although water had flooded the corridor, rising a foot high, the water level was rapidly decreasing.

This was due to the building's drainage system, which had begun to pump out the accumulated water.

"Damn, even after an earthquake, there’s not a single crack in these walls. If it weren't for you, Chushi, getting this door-opening gadget, not even ten tons of explosives could breach these bunker walls," one of the subordinates said, tapping the wall beside him, admiringly.

Chushi strode forward along the corridor, replying, "This is a new type of military-grade synthetic metal developed by the Eastern Alliance Army. It's expensive. They provided the technology, and the Western Alliance funded it, creating this bunker specifically for air exchange in underground shelters. I spent a few years in the Eastern Alliance Army, so I knew which kind of security locks they use. And look, I guessed right."

"Chushi, you really have a foresight," the subordinate complimented.

Chushi snorted coldly: "Not really, they just focused on earthquake and water resistance, never expecting it to be breached by people."

The subordinates burst into laughter: "Hahaha."

At the end of the corridor, there was another tightly closed door. It took some effort this time, but they finally opened it and everyone walked in.

This was the interior of the bunker, with several large machines operating, making a rumbling noise. There were several thick pipes along the wall, one end going deep underground, the other connected to the machines. There were also pipes on the other side of the machines, similarly buried underground.

Chushi pointed to the pipes on both sides, "These pipes on the left go from underground to the top of the Haiyun Tower, and the ones on the right lead to the underground shelter. The air at both ends is exchanged through these machines."

The henchmen, half-understanding, nodded frequently: "So that's how it is."

Chushi gestured with his index finger, and a subordinate stepped forward, attaching several adhesive bombs to a pipe leading to the underground shelter.

Everyone left the bunker and stood in the corridor. A subordinate pressed the controller, and a loud explosion echoed from inside the bunker.

As the dust and smoke in the room slowly cleared, the pipe, blasted open by powerful explosives, revealed a deep, jagged opening.

The subordinates gathered around the opening, peering down. One of them asked, "Chushi, what do we do next?"

Chushi glanced at his wristwatch, which showed it was half past eleven: "Next, we wait."

"Wait?"

"Just another ten minutes."

The underground shelter was silent in the dead of night, illuminated only by searchlights sweeping across the empty square. A sneaky figure crouched on the ground, lifting an iron grate to reveal the drainage pipe below.

Dressed in a black jacket, the figure took a bomb from his backpack and placed it into the pipe, then closed the grate.

This was one of many drainage pipes. Hunched over, he moved forward, placing a bomb at regular intervals. The entire honeycomb area and the corners of the square had this drainage system, and it was unclear how many he had already planted.

After placing the last bomb from his backpack, he glanced at his watch, dodged the searchlights, and ran towards Building B of the honeycomb complex, swiftly entering the water room on the ground floor.

In the ground floor machine room, Chushi stood beside the ruptured ventilation pipe, constantly checking his watch.

When the minute hand reached a certain point, he suddenly bent down, pressing his ear to the broken end of the pipe, listening intently.

A humming sound...

As a continuous vibration resonated from deep within the pipe, a sly smile spread across Chushi's somber face.

"Prepare for action."

"Yes."

Everyone took out black jackets and trousers from their waterproof backpacks, putting them over their diving suits, and donned hoods that only left their eyes and mouth exposed.

Two subordinates extracted descent devices that could control sliding speed, affixed them to the inner walls of the ventilation pipe, pulled out safety ropes and tied them around their waists, then leaped down through the broken end of the pipe.

The descent devices adhered to the inner walls of the pipe, sliding down at a steady pace, while the silhouettes of the two subordinates gradually vanished into the depths of the pipe.

One after another, people slid down the pipe, with someone nudging the person standing still in front: "He San, go on."

"You go first, I'll follow right away."

He San moved to the back, watching a subordinate finish planting bombs on all the remaining pipes, then turned to leave the machine room.

He San followed, noticing the subordinate heading towards the main door of the machine room.

"What are you doing?" He San bellowed, rushing forward to pin the subordinate against the wall, pressing the cold barrel of a gun against his temple.

"No, no, He San, Master Chushi, look at He San," the subordinate cried out, turning his face to yell.

He San didn't loosen his grip, only turning to address Chushi: "Master, I saw him sneaking over, he must be trying to open the door of the machine room..."

Chushi turned and walked over, his face showing no surprise. He San's voice grew softer and more uncertain.

"Let him go," Chushi said indifferently.

"Master—"

"Let him go! Let him open the door!" Chushi shouted.

He San stood stunned, disbelieving: "Master, if we blow up all the ventilation pipes and then open the door, the floodwaters will pour into the underground shelter."

"So what?" Chushi's cold eyes began to gleam with excitement. "What do you think I'm doing all this for? Just for the password box in that kid's hand?"

Chushi patted He San's face: "He San, you've followed me for so long and even evolved into a sentinel. Don't you know what kind of world I want? The shelter is filled with insignificant ants, merely wasting resources. Wouldn't it be better if the world only had people like us, without those ants?"

"Master..." He San's face turned pale, but he mustered his courage, "But our mission was only to get the password box, not to kill everyone in the shelter..."

Slap!

A loud slap rang out, He San's face instantly swelling red, a trickle of blood oozing from the corner of his mouth.

"This is the oracle, the choice made by the god Heras. The god evolved us into a superior race, so there is no reason for the others to exist anymore."

Chushi's voice carried a chilling eeriness, and suddenly a grey wolf appeared beside him, baring its long fangs menacingly and staring at He San with equally sinister eyes.

"Yes, I was wrong. Please, Master Chushi, punish me." He San dared not touch his face, and the subordinate was too frightened to move, standing frozen by the door.

"No need for punishment, just perform well in a bit." Chushi turned and walked back into the machine room, ordering the subordinate without looking back: "Continue with your task."

"Yes," the subordinate responded.

He San wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and followed Chushi and A'Dai, leaping into the broken end of the ventilation pipe.

The remaining subordinate pressed the controller in his hand, and after a series of explosions, he tightened his diving suit, donned an oxygen mask, and opened the main door of the machine room.

The moment the door opened, floodwaters surged in, rapidly filling the entire machine room...