Harvest and Departure

The surveillance host, covered in dust year-round, groaned in protest as it was activated, emitting a series of broken "buzzing" sounds as if it were struggling, followed by a long, continuous "buuuuzzzzz."

Consequently, the boot-up time became extremely long, causing the screen hanging on the wall to flicker with an image after a while, proving it was still alive.

But at least it could still start up.

The quality of this host was clearly inferior to the computers in the office, which were perfectly fine.

--Although the computers were empty once opened, offering no help to Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei.

The two waited for a long time until the screen finally lit up completely, displaying a 4x3 grid of twelve screens.

One at the tunnel entrance, one at the corner, one in the middle section, and one at the end.

Two in the outermost resting area of the Shelter, diagonally opposite each other, and two in the corridors, one on each side.

Then two in the kitchen, one in the office. There were none in the dormitories, the manager's office, or the restrooms.

It seemed that in the eyes of the Shelter's management, the Shelter needed more oversight in public areas and the critical kitchen.

The surveillance had no password, so Lu Xi'an easily accessed the backend and delved into the surveillance records.

The records were kept for three months. Lu Xi'an scrolled back to the earliest recording, where two people were already seen wandering around.

The kitchen was messy, but at least not as chaotic as they had seen it.

The older records must have been overwritten.

Those two people would go out every day to the tunnel entrance. They took many tools, using handcarts, shovels, and hammers to chip away, but nothing worked.

Yet, when they finally gave up in futility, they still went to the tunnel entrance to look every day, returning disappointed.

Lu Xi'an noticed that the two people in the footage were no longer going to the conference room to write numbers. The numbers on the blackboard were unclear from the conference room's surveillance, but it was visible that there were two lines of numbers.

It was clear that the two had been trapped for a very long time.

The surveillance footage played at sixteen times the normal speed. When Lu Xi'an saw no activity, he would drag the progress bar to speed it up further.

By the sixth day of the records, the supplies in the kitchen were completely depleted. The two attempted to operate the mechanical combination lock on the metal door but failed.

They moved the remaining food into the dormitory.

After that, they would come to try it every day. Sometimes they tried several times a day.

On the tenth day, the two never entered the kitchen again.

On the twelfth day, one of them came to the kitchen and repeatedly banged on the cold storage's metal door with a hammer, but it was useless.

On the thirteenth day, this person committed suicide at the entrance of the metal door. As they fell, their face hit the door, and they slid down, leaving a trail of blood.

The other person came in, took one look, but said nothing and showed no reaction. After just one glance, they turned and left, returning to the dormitory.

After that, everything in the surveillance went quiet until the screen went black.

"Hoo--"

Lu Xi'an finished watching at the fastest possible speed. Although he didn't find any valuable footage, he couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy.

He sighed and said, "Let's go."

He let Doggy down to lead the way with the light.

Yao Wei nodded and followed behind Lu Xi'an and Doggy.

Upon reaching the kitchen, they each carried out two bags of rice and one bag of millet.

Because the bags were vacuum-sealed, they weren't too large. Four bags of rice and two bags of millet would fit entirely in the car.

After transporting these items to the tunnel entrance and up the stairs, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei returned the same way to get a case and a half of dehydrated vegetables and half a case of meat sausages.

Unfortunately, Yao Wei's car wasn't very large, and it was already filled with many other things. They couldn't fit any more. The two had to settle for just this much.

Additionally, Lu Xi'an also grabbed a frying pan, a spoon, and a pot of oil. He placed a bag of salt, a bag of sugar, and a bottle of soy sauce on the frying pan to carry them.

These items were all sealed. Although they were past their expiration dates according to the labels, Lu Xi'an had Doggy confirm that they were safe to eat, so they had to take some.

--If expired items couldn't be eaten, they would have starved to death long ago in this apocalypse.

It was a shame there was no cumin here, otherwise, they could have taken some.

After collecting these items, the two came out of the cold storage. Lu Xi'an closed the metal door behind him, ensuring it was locked, while Yao Wei took out the World Atlas Volume One and drew a circle around the location of Tan Village Entrance.

This would be their supply base from now on. If they needed to return in the future, they could resupply here.

Then, Lu Xi'an picked up a hammer and tucked it into his waist. He then left the Shelter with a large pile of items, accompanied by Yao Wei.

--The hammer was left in the kitchen. According to the surveillance footage, the former cook, Li Xun, had used this hammer to smash the metal door for half a day.

This thing couldn't break open the metal door, but it could certainly smash other things. It could even be used as a projectile weapon in a pinch.

Lu Xi'an found it quite useful, so he decided to take it.

Upon reaching the tunnel entrance, they put down all the items. Lu Xi'an suddenly remembered something and asked Yao Wei:

"You know, should we grab a couple of quilts from those dormitories? We can use them for sleeping."

"Yeah, we should."

Yao Wei nodded directly, as if she had already thought of it but hadn't had time to act on it, nor had she told Lu Xi'an.

Lu Xi'an thought about it; things that could keep them warm were the most important supplies in this world. How could Yao Wei possibly overlook them?

The two returned again. After entering the Shelter, they directly took two sets of quilts from the nearest dormitory, but they didn't take anything else.

Yao Wei really couldn't fit too many things.

And it was fortunate that these two quilts weren't too thick. The pure blue quilt covers held a thin inner layer, were very light, and felt like down, so they should be very warm.

Quilts like these perfectly met their needs.

So, this trip to the Shelter was truly a great harvest.

Once again, they returned to the tunnel entrance. After going up the stairs, Lu Xi'an had Doggy scan through the wall. Only after confirming there was no danger outside the wall did he move a stone aside to check.

After thoroughly confirming there were no problems, he then moved all the stones that had previously blocked the entrance.

"I'll move the supplies out. You hurry and bring the car over."

After the two came out and checked everything thoroughly again, Lu Xi'an said.

Yao Wei nodded, having no objections. She said, "Mm," and then ran off to get the car.

Lu Xi'an moved all the supplies from the tunnel out, then blocked the entrance again, sealing it tightly. Just then, Yao Wei drove over.

Lu Xi'an had put effort into sealing the entrance. Stones were crammed in three layers, inside and out, and the surface was camouflaged.

He was certain that without prior guidance, no one could easily discover this place.

Even if they found it, they wouldn't be able to find the correct opening. And if they found the opening, they wouldn't be New Humans and wouldn't have the strength to move the stones.

Only then did he feel at ease.

The car's trunk was almost completely full. The quilts and the dehydrated vegetables and sausages, which filled two boxes, had to be placed on the back seats.

Looking at the fully loaded car of supplies, both of them couldn't help but feel in good spirits.

"Let's go, we're setting off! We'll fill up on gas and drive straight through until nightfall, then find a safe place to rest. I'll make you a feast!"

"Mm."