Arsenal

"Hey! What are you trying to do?!"

Just as the two sides stood at swords' point, Lou Shasha shoved her way out of the crowd with a grenade launcher in her hands. At the same time, the tall Lou Ye followed behind her, carrying a machine gun.

"We're together. Qian, if you've got the guts, try firing."

Though Lou Shasha was young and short, she stood in front of Lin Xian and Kiki with that massive weapon in hand, exuding the fierce air of a ruthless little sister.

Qian Yu's gaze swept over the hostile group, his expression shifting uncertainly. After a long while, he finally gritted his teeth and backed down.

"Brother, don't take offense. I just admired how capable you two are. I only spoke with cooperation in mind. If I offended you, please forgive me."

"Yeah, exactly..."

At last, Tang Hai managed to cut in. Wearing the look of a peacemaker, he said, "Everyone, don't get worked up. Our lives are at stake right now. This fog has trapped all of us here, so we should think about our current situation first. As for any other grudges, we can talk about them after we get out."

Lin Xian suddenly looked at Tang Hai.

"Is that so? You'd better mean it."

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere suddenly turned strange.

The corner of Tang Hai's eye twitched slightly. Looking at Lin Xian's expression, he gave a faint smile.

"Of course. I know none of us truly trusts one another. That's fine—I don't trust you either. But everyone's goal is to stay alive."

As he spoke, he turned and pointed at the people behind him.

"We've been staying in this air-raid shelter for months. There are dozens of us here now, and everyone wants to live. Bringing you in is actually a huge risk for us. Doesn't that show our sincerity in cooperating?"

"An air-raid shelter?" Lin Xian's gaze shifted toward the distant mountainside. "Can we stay inside tonight?"

"Of course!"

"Everyone can go into the air-raid shelter to rest tonight. It's much safer in there, relatively speaking." Tang Hai immediately addressed the leaders of the various convoys, seemingly trying to demonstrate his sincerity.

His nephew, Feng Yuming, spoke up then. "Uncle, with so many people, won't there be no room inside?"

"We can squeeze in." Tang Hai sighed. "There's still quite a bit of space inside."

Opening the air-raid shelter and letting everyone in was indeed a proposal that could ease some people's doubts.

But although he had made the suggestion, none of the convoy leaders present responded. Every one of them wore an odd expression.

"No need. Our convoy doesn't leave our vehicles. We'll stand watch through the night."

Qian Yu was the first to respond. Now that the tense standoff had ended, he merely gave Lin Xian and Kiki a cold glance before turning and leaving.

The leaders of the other convoys also refused one after another.

"We don't need to either."

"We'll just gather tomorrow."

"Same here..."

Seeing that no one responded, Tang Hai said nothing. Feng Yuming, however, looked disdainful. "Tch. How could the vehicles be safer than the air-raid shelter? What a bunch of idiots."

"Yuming."

Tang Hai rebuked him. "Forget it. It's fine for everyone to keep to themselves."

In truth, the convoys' reaction was perfectly normal. Setting aside whether they trusted Tang Hai or not, these people had fled all the way here. It could be said that all their possessions were in their vehicles. To them, nowhere was safer than their own cars. If danger appeared, they could also flee at any time. Under those circumstances, who would run into his air-raid shelter?

Tang Hai looked at Lin Xian. "I'll have Yuming take you inside. Find any place you like and get some proper rest. We'll have to trouble you two again tomorrow..."

"We're all in the same boat, so there's no need for such formalities."

Lin Xian smiled politely. It was exactly what he wanted.

He had already planned to investigate the air-raid shelter. Though there were several decent treasures in the courtyard outside, he couldn't exactly devour machinery in front of hundreds of people. He could use this excuse to probe Tang Hai's intentions.

He had not expected Tang Hai to actually agree.

Thus, although he smiled politely on the surface, suspicion rose in his heart.

There was truly nothing wrong with Tang Hai's actions. If anything, they seemed somewhat foolish in this post-apocalyptic world. Yet Tang Hai was waving the banner of cooperating to escape, and Lin Xian couldn't tell what the man's real purpose was.

He could only leave the matter aside for now. Since they couldn't leave the fog, he and Kiki could only wait and see.

He was about to go take a look inside the air-raid shelter when he noticed Lou Shasha nearby and paused.

Seeing Lin Xian look at her, Shasha hurriedly waved her hand and pointed toward the pickup truck. "You guys go ahead. My brother and I are used to sleeping in the truck."

"Be careful," Lou Ye added tersely.

Lin Xian nodded and passed through the crowds from the various convoys, heading toward the air-raid shelter at the foot of the mountain. Kiki hurried after him.

"Hey, bad guy, our motorcycle is still on that truck."

"What, do you want to drive it into the air-raid shelter?"

Lin Xian replied. As he walked, he suddenly sensed someone watching him. He turned around and saw Feng Yuming, who had been standing beside Tang Hai, following them.

"Hey, brother. Everyone inside is one of us. They're basically all ordinary people."

Kiki frowned at that. She did not immediately understand what he meant and blurted out, "Ordinary people... so what?"

Lin Xian took a deep breath and said flatly, "We're just looking for a place to rest for the night. We won't disturb you."

Feng Yuming's gaze swept over the two of them uncertainly. He said nothing more and walked ahead to lead the way.

As they climbed the slope, the first thing they saw was a cargo platform. A freight rail line ran through the valley from the mist, and behind the platform stood a large air-raid shelter.

On the mountainside above and beside the shelter was a 1130 CIWS, its imposing silhouette emerging through the fog. Lin Xian's eyes widened. He had only seen this thing on television before; he had never expected to find the real deal here.

It was clear that this was no ordinary military outpost.

After entering through the iron gate, they found themselves in a hollowed-out mountain space used to park various military vehicles and store supplies.

The hangar inside the air-raid shelter was now completely empty. Lin Xian figured that Tang Hai's jeeps might have been found here.

Passing through the empty hangar with Feng Yuming in front, the three of them descended the stairs. In the underground facility, Tang Hai's survivors were already sitting in small groups around the hall, eating. Most of them were ordinary people from Beiwan County—men and women with families, scattered throughout the basement corners.

From Tang Hai, Lin Xian had learned that there had originally been far more of them. But as the days passed and more people died, many had grown quiet and withdrawn, with an air of despair weighing on everyone's hearts.

"There are warehouses, dorms, an operations room, and an armory over there. Stay wherever you want." Feng Yuming gave them a detached introduction, then turned to leave.

"An armory?" Lin Xian frowned.

"There's nothing left." Feng Yuming turned back and gave a speechless, mocking laugh. "If there'd been anything good, we would've taken it already. You think we'd leave it for you?"

With that, he turned and walked away disdainfully.

Lin Xian watched his retreating back, raising an eyebrow slightly. Without another word, he led Kiki straight toward the armory at the end of the corridor under the survivors' watchful eyes.

"Hehe, I knew you'd definitely come here."

Kiki looked at Lin Xian smugly. "But this place has been picked clean too~ Ah, what a pity."

"Hey, why did that guy deliberately say everyone here was ordinary people? What did he mean?" Kiki suddenly asked.

"Didn't you notice? The two of us have become the biggest threat here."

Lin Xian spoke as he walked.

"Haha, he's afraid we'll rob them."

"That's normal. One Esper can be the core of an entire convoy. The two of us are on our own, so it's only natural for them to see us as dangerous."

This was no simple air-raid shelter. Although the outside only looked like a military base the size of an outpost, a complete underground fortification had been built beneath the shelter, equipped with an information warfare room, armory, storage rooms, dormitories, and other facilities.

"What a great place to hide."

It had to be said that this truly was a natural post-apocalyptic refuge. As long as supplies were sufficient, it could accommodate at least fifty people for more than half a year. But judging from the survivors' condition, they had plenty of military vehicles, guns, and ammunition, while their food supply seemed to be running into trouble. Otherwise, they would not have planned to flee before Polar Night.

When they opened the armory door, all that remained inside were rows of empty shelves. Aside from gas masks, helmets, and other useless items, everything else had long since been thoroughly scavenged by Tang Hai's survivors. The entire armory reeked of urine and feces, making their heads spin.

Kiki covered her nose and backed out. "Let's go somewhere else."

New author seeking follows and recommendations!