Loneliness and Hope

2100/5/2

I hid the radio in that shelter. There were too many Decadents outside, and if I carried the radio around, I worried they might rob me if I ran into them one day.

Still, I hoped I wouldn't run into any Raiders. Who knew if one of them had already gone completely insane and turned into a cannibal?

I was right to stand my ground. I should be part of the Reconstruction Faction, not the Hedonists, the Decadent Faction, or the Adaptables.

Though I'd never actually seen what the Hedonists or the Adaptables were like. I'd only seen Decadents.

They lived like walking corpses in this world, with no goals and no hope. They might be alone or in groups, but all they knew was how to plunder and cling to life.

The radio was right. They could no longer be called human. Only the Reconstruction Faction was humanity's hope.

Though, actually, I'd never seen the Reconstruction Faction either. I'd only heard about them on the radio. One day, I'd set out to find them, but not now.

If I left now, I'd die on the road.

When the recording ended, Lu Xi'an frowned and turned to ask Yao Wei, "Have you heard of these groups—the Reconstruction Faction, the Decadent Faction, the Adaptables, and the Hedonists?"

Yao Wei shook her head. "No."

Lu Xi'an glanced at the time displayed in the lower-right corner of the computer. It was 2097/12/17, earlier than the timestamp on the recording.

The computer's clock must have stopped updating online and reverted to its factory settings.

So on December 17, 2097, this world might still have been just fine, not yet struck by the apocalypse?

Then...

"Do you know what year it is now?"

Lu Xi'an asked Yao Wei.

Yao Wei shook her head again. "I don't know. But when I was little, my mom told me the world had been like this for a long time—so long that she couldn't say whether it had been decades."

Decades...

In a world this unpredictable, a few decades could bring tremendous changes. It was only natural that Yao Wei didn't know what things had been like decades ago.

These labels for different kinds of people might have long since been buried by time.

Lu Xi'an kept thinking about the next timestamp and continued listening.

2100/5/3

There was still no news today. I spent the whole day waiting in the shelter, but there was nothing on the radio.

I checked. The radio wasn't broken, and it was on the right frequency. The Reconstruction Faction had been broadcasting on channel 78 before.

I'd been afraid I'd forget, so I'd written down the frequency and kept it on a piece of paper.

I left the paper in that shelter, and I even checked it again. There was nothing wrong.

Could something have happened to the Reconstruction Faction?

"Sigh..."

After listening to the May 3, 2100 recording, Lu Xi'an couldn't help sighing.

That Reconstruction Faction had become the former owner of this shelter's only hope.

How lonely must the owner of this shelter have been, to place their hopes in an organization they'd never seen and had only heard about through a voice on the radio...

Lu Xi'an didn't want to imagine what would happen to this person if the so-called "Reconstruction Faction" turned out to be a phone scam.

He continued listening—

2100/5/4

It's getting cold again.

I've forgotten when it started. It felt as if the endless winter had finally passed and I'd barely managed to make it through. I thought the world was finally going to get better.

But I never expected cold snaps to still come around every now and then. It's awful!

It's too cold to go out today, so I can only hide here wrapped in a blanket. I really don't know how I managed to make it through before.

The radio should be fine.

That shelter is on a cliff beyond Qiuming Road. Most people wouldn't find it. Those Decadents only wander around looking for food and stealing things. Why would they go somewhere so remote?

Even if they did, they wouldn't find it.

Sigh... I guess I really was favored by heaven. Why did I suddenly get the urge before the disaster to go dig out a wilderness shelter there, of all places?

Now look at it—the shelter has become a refuge.

Too bad it's still too crude for me to stay there all the time.

But luckily, I had that hobby. If I hadn't built the shelter back then, I might have become a Decadent too.

So the owner of the two-story building had built this shelter as a hobby before the apocalypse.

Had the person who lived here been a survival enthusiast?

After listening to the recording, Lu Xi'an thought that, sure enough, the person had been incredibly lucky. A former hobby had become their means of survival.

Too bad this place was so small, nothing like the refuge beneath Jiangyu Reservoir, which had been purpose-built to prepare for the apocalypse.

2100/5/5

It's still cold today. The toilet's too cold to sit on, and my butt hurts.

I really don't know how I managed to make it through before.

I hope this cold snap doesn't last too long.

This was the second time this person had said they didn't know how they'd managed to make it through before.

2100/5/6

The cold snap has passed. I went to the shelter, and the radio had news from the Reconstruction Faction.

They actually revealed their location on the broadcast!

I can imagine they must have a lot of people and a powerful organization! Otherwise, how could they dare reveal their location so casually?

I'm hiding in this basement and have to be careful every day. I even camouflaged the iron door, and I have to be cautious whenever I go in or out.

I won't say the location in the recording—even though this recording is stored on this computer and perfectly safe. I've still decided not to.

If I ever set out to find them, the information on the computer won't be of any use anyway.

I've memorized the location. I absolutely won't forget it.

That was the end of the recording.

Lu Xi'an placed the cursor over the timestamp of the last recording and couldn't help wondering what it would contain.

There were no more recordings after that. Had this person already set out to find the Reconstruction Faction, or had something happened?

"Click—"

The mouse clicked, and the final recording opened.

2100/5/7

I can't wait any longer. I'm setting out right now!

I've packed everything: food, clothes, and all the books I secretly collected from the library. They should all be useful for rebuilding society after the disaster.

I went there specifically for them. Back then, the library hadn't been taken over by the Decadents yet.

The Decadents don't care whether books are useful. I was the only one who thought of it.

So I was born to be part of the Reconstruction Faction. I should join them and find them!

I can't take the radio. A group of Decadents has already occupied the way there, and I can't get around them.

But it's fine. I'll leave it in that shelter. The Reconstruction Faction is broadcasting its location so openly, after all. They aren't afraid of being exposed.

What if someone else wanders into that shelter by chance, hears the broadcast on the radio, and becomes part of the Reconstruction Faction too?

That would be a good thing, actually.

All right, that's the end of the recording.

Today is May 7, 2100, the third year after the disaster. I, Fang Shuxin, of the Reconstruction Faction, am leaving now for the Reconstruction Faction's base!