Safe Deposit Box

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei both looked at the Mechanical Dog.

After spending these past few days together, Yao Wei had come to understand what it meant when the Mechanical Dog's eyes lit up.

"Tap, tap."

The Doggy lifted its front left leg, and the toy motorcycle wheel attached to its leg tapped on the floor tile. The sound was solid and dull, not hollow.

But having traveled together this far, Lu Xi'an had long since placed great trust in the Doggy's abilities. He immediately crouched down to examine the tile closely.

Yao Wei, though still skeptical, followed Lu Xi'an and crouched down as well.

However, after examining it carefully for a long time, touching it, and tapping it, they found nothing unusual about the tile.

It looked ordinary, perfectly flush with the surrounding tiles. You could even still see the grout lines from when it was laid years ago. It didn't look like anything was hidden beneath it at all.

"Let's go."

Yao Wei gave up and stood up.

But just as she stood up, she saw Lu Xi'an suddenly raise his Submachine Gun high and smash the butt of the gun down onto the floor tile.

"Bang—"

Great force works wonders. The tile cracked, and even small fragments flew out.

Lu Xi'an shook his head to dodge the debris, then carefully lifted the cracked tile pieces, avoiding cutting his hand on the jagged edges.

Yao Wei looked down at Lu Xi'an's actions, her eyes widening.

Beneath the tile was a thick layer of ash, used for laying floor tiles. But as the broken pieces were lifted, they brought up chunks of hardened ash, revealing a metallic sheen underneath.

Something was actually hidden down there?!

She couldn't help but glance at the Doggy, then squatted down to help Lu Xi'an.

After clearing away the broken tile and ash, a metal surface appeared before their eyes. It had a slightly raised mechanical combination lock, covered by a protective cover.

It was a combination safe embedded in the ground!

This combination safe had survived because it was hidden underground.

But even if it hadn't been buried, it probably wouldn't have been easily opened, right?

Lu Xi'an tapped the metal, feeling its solid, sturdy construction. It was clearly made of superior material, and likely expensive. Whatever was inside was probably even more valuable.

It was time for the Doggy to shine again.

"Doggy, your turn."

Lu Xi'an lifted the protective cover on the combination lock and gave the Mechanical Dog its command.

This Doggy was so convenient. The last time at the Mo Zhou City Police Station, he had relied entirely on the Doggy to find guns and bullets in the armory.

Yao Wei glanced at the Mechanical Dog and made space for it.

The Doggy came closer, extended its head, aimed its dog eyes at the combination lock, and scanned it. Then, its eyes lit up.

"Two, four, three, seven, zero, six, seven, one."

Lu Xi'an read the combination numbers from the flashing lights in the Mechanical Dog's eyes and turned the dial in sequence.

"Click—"

The combination lock was opened with ease.

Yao Wei pursed her lips and looked at the Mechanical Dog a few more times.

However, after Lu Xi'an opened the underground safe, she couldn't spare any more attention for the Doggy and peered into the safe with Lu Xi'an.

Then, they were both disappointed.

The safe was filled with one gold nugget after another. In a past era, these would have been the hardest currency, but now, they were useless.

Lu Xi'an took out a rectangular gold bar, weighed it in his hand, and sighed inwardly. If only it were like this in my past life. A safe like this would have made me rich.

"What do you think about using these things as projectiles to throw at people?"

He casually said to Yao Wei.

With his current strength, throwing a gold bar would be effortless. It was heavy and packed a punch, so it might actually be quite effective.

Yao Wei didn't reply, offering no comment on Lu Xi'an's idea.

Lu Xi'an wasn't ready to give up. He took out all the gold bars from the safe and looked inside again. As expected, there was another surprise.

—On the side of the safe, there was a hidden compartment, previously blocked by the gold. Now that the gold bars were moved, it was revealed.

Lu Xi'an reached out and unlatched it. A black-covered notebook slid out diagonally, attached to the compartment's latch.

The notebook was bulging. Its side was darkened and warped, likely from years of being handled, exposed to damp air underground, and gradually changing.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei exchanged a look, then took out the notebook.

Opening the cover, they were greeted by a signature page.

The notebook's owner had neatly recorded their personal information on it—

The first line, under "Unit," read: Fengcheng County Emergency Water Supply Administration.

The second line was the job title, which read "Emergency Water Supplier."

The third line was the name. The handwriting was relatively messy, with flamboyant strokes, as if it had been specially designed for a signature. Lu Xi'an could barely make it out, but it read "Yao Tianlai."

"Same last name as you," Lu Xi'an said, glancing at Yao Wei.

Yao Wei didn't respond.

Lu Xi'an casually flipped through the notebook. It was a work log, filled page after page with records of delivering water to specific households on certain dates.

On one page, a line of text suddenly appeared in the upper right corner: "Delivering water every single day! Everyone's freezing to death! Why is Jiang Yu okay?!"

Lu Xi'an suddenly understood. This must have been a notebook from after the Apocalypse began. Even then, people were still delivering water to every household.

He didn't know exactly what had happened during that time, but judging by the situation, a severe cold had descended upon the world. The water pipes in Fengcheng County were frozen, while the Jiang Yu district remained intact, even now.

He flipped further back. Household numbers on the notebook began to be crossed out, and after being crossed out, they no longer appeared.

Then, more and more names were crossed out, and more and more names began to repeat, until finally, there were a few torn pages, crisscrossed with lines, rendering the last few names fragmented.

Lu Xi'an sighed, suddenly remembering when he had first transmigrated into this world.

The heavens and earth were vast, with only the biting cold wind for company. The world was empty, and all he could see was endless white snow and a gray sky.

Despair enveloped his heart, leaving him only able to rage impotently.

The person who kept this work log must have felt the same way he did at the time, right?

Flipping past these few fragmented pages, a complete page revealed simple, concise text:

I took quite a lot of gold bricks from the bank. I never thought about it before. But now that the world has become like this, it doesn't matter if I took them. I'll consider it a bonus for my hard work.

I'm going to the command center to take shelter.

I only now realize that they knew the disaster was coming long ago and had been preparing for it all these years.

I used to hear the propaganda and thought it was just some extreme cold period, that all the preparations were to survive it. I never expected they had also prepared for a greater disaster.

The closure project at Tan Village Entrance a few years ago was actually a temporary command center.

The changes and price increases for gasoline and diesel standards were also related to this, meant to add something to extend their shelf life.

We were all kept in the dark, damn it!

But fortunately, I'm lucky enough to be able to go to the temporary command center.

There are plenty of supplies in the temporary command center; we should be able to hold out until after the extreme cold.

I'll store the gold bricks here first. After the extreme cold passes, I'll be a rich man.

I'll definitely get through this.

Only then did Lu Xi'an learn that gasoline also had an expiration date.

Thinking about it now, it was truly fortunate that the people back then had prepared early, changing the gasoline standards to extend its shelf life. Otherwise, their cars wouldn't even be usable now.

He sensed there was more text further on, so he flipped to the next page. On this last page, it was written:

The road below the reservoir has collapsed.

I'm back to wait for death.

Damn it, why did they only build a passage at Tan Village Entrance for the command center?! Are they insane?!

I shouldn't have taken the gold bricks. This is retribution