Armory

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

Just as both sides were at each other's throats, 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."

Lou Shasha was young and short, yet she stood in front of Lin Xian and Kiki with that huge weapon in her arms, giving off the fierce air of a ruthless little sister.

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

"Brother, don't take it the wrong way. I just admire how capable you two are. I only brought it up because I wanted to cooperate. If I offended you, please forgive me."

"Yeah, exactly..."

At last, Tang Hai managed to cut in. He wore the expression of a peacemaker.

"Everyone, calm down. Our lives are at stake right now. This fog has trapped us all here, so we should consider our immediate situation first. As for any other grudges, we can settle them after we get out."

Lin Xian suddenly looked at Tang Hai.

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

The moment he said that, the atmosphere turned strange.

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

"Of course. I know none of us trust each other, and that's fine. I don't trust you either. But we all share the same goal: staying alive."

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

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

"An air-raid shelter?" Lin Xian's Light Type turned toward the distant mountainside. "Can we stay inside tonight, then?"

"Of course!"

"Everyone can rest inside the air-raid shelter tonight. It's much safer in there," Tang Hai immediately told the leaders of the various convoys, seemingly trying to show his sincerity.

His nephew Feng Yuming spoke up then. "Uncle, there are so many people. There's no way they'll all fit inside, right?"

"We can squeeze in." Tang Hai sighed. "There's still plenty of room inside."

Opening the air-raid shelter to let everyone in was indeed a suggestion that could dispel some people's doubts.

Yet although he had made the offer, none of the convoy leaders responded. Every one of them wore a strange expression.

"No need. Our people stay with our vehicles. We'll keep watch through the night."

Qian Yu was the first to respond. After the tense standoff had passed, he merely shot 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."

"We'll gather again tomorrow."

"Same here..."

Tang Hai said nothing when no one accepted, but Feng Yuming looked displeased. "Tch. How could the vehicles be safer than the air-raid shelter? What idiots."

"Yuming."

Tang Hai rebuked him. "Forget it. It's fine if everyone keeps to themselves."

In truth, the convoys' reaction was perfectly normal. Setting aside whether they trusted Tang Hai, these people had fled all the way here. Their entire lives were packed into their vehicles. To them, nowhere was safer than their own cars. If danger came, they could drive away at any time. Under such circumstances, who would go 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 good rest. We'll need to trouble you two tomorrow as well..."

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

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

He had already planned to explore the air-raid shelter. Although 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 opportunity to probe Tang Hai's intentions.

He hadn't expected Tang Hai to actually agree.

So while he smiled politely on the surface, suspicion rose in his heart.

There was nothing wrong with Tang Hai's actions. In fact, they even seemed somewhat foolish in this apocalypse. Yet Tang Hai kept waving the banner of cooperative escape, and Lin Xian couldn't tell what the man was really after.

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

Just as he was about to enter the air-raid shelter, he noticed Lou Shasha nearby and paused.

Seeing Lin Xian's Light Type, Sha Sha hurriedly waved her hand and pointed toward the pickup truck. "You two go ahead. My brother and I are used to sleeping in the vehicle."

"Be careful," Lou Ye added briefly.

Lin Xian nodded and walked through the crowds from the various convoys 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 felt a Light Type watching him. Turning around, he 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 didn't understand what he meant and blurted out, "Ordinary people... so what?"

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

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

After climbing the slope, the first thing they saw was a freight platform. A cargo rail line cut through the valley from within the fog, and behind the platform stood a large air-raid shelter.

On the mountainside above and beside the shelter was a 1130 CIWS, its imposing outline visible through the mist. Lin Xian's expression shifted. He had only ever seen such a thing on television before. He hadn't expected to encounter the real thing here.

It was obvious this had not been an ordinary military outpost.

After entering through the iron doors, they came upon a hollowed-out space within the mountain. This large area had been used to park various armored vehicles and store supplies.

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

Passing through the empty hangar, the three followed Feng Yuming down the stairs. In the underground facility, Tang Hai's survivors were sitting in small groups throughout the hall, eating. Most were ordinary people from Beiwan County, men and women with their families scattered throughout every corner of the basement.

From Tang Hai, Lin Xian learned that there had originally been far more people than this. But as the days passed and more people died, many had become withdrawn and silent. The suffocating aura of despair weighed heavily in everyone's hearts.

"There's a warehouse, dormitories, a combat room, and an armory over there. Stay wherever you want." Feng Yuming introduced the place indifferently, then turned to leave.

"An armory?" Lin Xian frowned.

"There's nothing left." Feng Yuming turned back and sneered mockingly. "If there had been anything good, we would've taken it long ago. You think we'd save it for you?"

With that, he turned and left with obvious disdain.

Lin Xian raised an eyebrow as he watched Feng Yuming's back. Without another word, under the survivors' Light Type, he led Kiki straight toward the armory at the end of the corridor.

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

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

"Hey, what did that guy mean when he specifically said everyone here was ordinary?" Kiki suddenly asked.

"Can't you tell? 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 people are bound to see us as dangerous."

This was no simple air-raid shelter. Although the outside 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, an armory, storage rooms, dormitories, and other facilities.

"It really is a great place to hide."

It had to be said that this place was a natural apocalypse shelter. As long as supplies were sufficient, it could house 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 in 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 already been thoroughly looted by Tang Hai's survivors. The entire armory reeked of feces and urine, making their heads spin.

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

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