Silence returned once more to the Central Control Center in City Four.
But compared with before...
This silence carried a heavy air of death.
Ren Feng raised his head and glanced at the expressionless Zhang Zhengqing beside him.
"So..."
"Why can't we unplug the Central Computer and restart it?"
Zhang Zhengqing's breath caught.
He walked toward the ventilation duct, explaining irritably, "One is stored in there!"
"Forcing a shutdown and restart would turn One into a jumble of corrupted code!"
"Then things would get even worse!"
"At least One has only crashed, not disappeared!"
Ren Feng scratched his head with a sheepish smile and hurried after Zhang Zhengqing.
Ren Feng turned his flashlight up to its brightest setting and followed Zhang Zhengqing toward the hospital.
The city streets were utterly deserted.
For a moment, Ren Feng almost had the illusion...
That the two of them were the only humans left in City Four.
But soon, a sharp burst of cursing came from the residential building beside them.
Ren Feng instinctively stopped.
"Come on."
Zhang Zhengqing said expressionlessly, "We need to get to the hospital quickly."
He hesitated for a moment, then added, "Resources are limited. Now isn't the time to let sympathy get the better of us."
Ren Feng fell silent for a while.
He turned to look at the building beside him again.
In the faint spill of the flashlight beam, he thought he saw a figure at a window.
"Whew..."
He took a deep breath, turned, and shouted, "If you want to live, come with us to find oxygen equipment!"
Then he smiled at Zhang Zhengqing. "Let's go."
"..." Zhang Zhengqing did not move, merely staring at Ren Feng in bewilderment. "Why did you do that?"
"What if they fight us for..."
"Because right here, right now,