19: Challenges before the shelter

Chen Wang's finger gently moved away from the electromagnetic pulse gun's switch, his fingertip tracing half a circle along the edge of the steering wheel. The fuel gauge pointer rested at 7.2%, unmoving. Instead of driving straight ahead, he slowly turned the vehicle name armored car thirty degrees to the right. The tracks rolled over a hard, frozen snow ridge, and the vehicle body sank half a foot, perfectly concealing itself in a crevice formed by broken ice, like a quietly crouching beast.

Su Ling had already unbuckled her seatbelt, half her body reaching into the weapon rack in the back seat. She took out the sniper rifle's lens assembly, quickly wiping it with her sleeve, her movements swift and precise. After attaching the barrel, she smoothly slapped the magazine into the magazine well with a 'snap,' set the safety to half-open, and then quieted down.

"The ventilation pipe on the upper left," Chen Wang whispered, his voice as soft as wind over ice, "Don't shoot through it, just make the people inside look up."

Su Ling said nothing, only nodding slightly. She crawled to the rear firing window, her cheek pressed against the rifle stock, her right eye closed, her left eye scanning the shelter's outer wall through the scope. The metal structure was trapezoidal, with three exhaust pipes at the top. The one on the left had a thick layer of frost on its exterior, but there were subtle air current fluctuations inside... indicating it was in use.

Bai Hu suddenly raised its head, its front paws on the co-driver's control panel, its nose almost touching the windshield. Its ears were pricked straight, its pupils narrowed to a thin line, as if it had sensed something.

Chen Wang immediately reached out and turned off the car's climate control system, and the engine entered silent mode. The vehicle body settled slightly, the tracks stopped turning, and the entire car seemed to be frozen in place, not even a breath could be heard.

Su Ling pulled the trigger.

"Bang—" a muffled sound, the bullet grazed the outer edge of the ventilation pipe, sending up a shower of metal fragments. Immediately after, a plume of grayish-white smoke erupted from the pipe opening, as if the internal wiring had short-circuited and caught fire. In less than three seconds, metal clanging sounds came from behind two ice rocks on the shelter's side wall, someone pulled a rifle bolt, and the surveillance cameras quickly turned towards the explosion point.

Chen Wang stepped on the accelerator, and the vehicle name slid horizontally across the ice, its tracks crunching over thin snow without raising a speck of dust. The car circled to the west, using the remains of a discarded oil pipeline to block the direct line of sight. He stopped steadily, unbuckled his seatbelt, and pulled out a sealed can from under the seat.

This was a homemade incendiary he made on his last day at the auto repair shop. Its casing was welded shut, and the fuse was a flint friction device he learned from an old master.

"I'll clear the sentries behind," he said, "You keep an eye on the door crack; if anyone comes out, suppress them."

Su Ling raised her left hand, thumb up, as a response.

Chen Wang pushed open the car door, sliding down close to the vehicle body, his knees slightly bent upon landing to absorb the impact.

He crouched low, moving forward, each step placed in old tire tracks or frozen cracks, fearing a 'crunching' sound.

Fifteen meters from the cover, he stopped, pulled out a reflective piece, tied it to a wrench, and then gently tossed it out.

The reflective piece arced low, flashing once in the residual light of the searchlight.

Rustling footsteps immediately came from behind the ice rock, and a person peered out to check.

Chen Wang seized the opportunity, flicking his right hand, and the incendiary bottle arced, accurately smashing onto a pile of discarded oil barrels.

The flint fuse ignited, flames roared up, and the heat instantly melted the surrounding snow into clouds of white mist.

Two guards screamed and jumped out of cover. One, with a rifle slung over his shoulder, was about to turn his gun when his companion yanked him down.

The fire spread extremely quickly. An exposed oil pipeline began to leak, and fuel dripped onto the hot metal, sizzling and continuously flaring up.

Chen Wang didn't wait for them to react, turning and retreating. He climbed back into the car, locked the doors, and engaged the track propulsion. The vehicle name glided forward at its lowest speed, its body always parallel to the shelter's outer wall, ready to move sideways and block the door.

[Break through Obstacle, Survival Points +350, Unlock Member Synergy: Assaulter (Chen Wang)]

The system prompt appeared before his eyes, but he didn't even look, closing it immediately. The fuel was now at 6.9%, he couldn't afford to waste any more.

The car stopped twenty meters in front of the main gate, positioned horizontally in the center of the entrance passage, serving as a temporary cover. Chen Wang rotated the driver's seat to face the gate directly, and the mechanical arm automatically extended, its end clutching a spare cable, ready to connect to an external power source at any moment.

Su Ling re-positioned her sniper rifle, its muzzle aimed at the door crack. Her left hand unconsciously pressed against an old injury on her shoulder, her knuckles slightly white. The recoil from that shot had agitated the frostbitten tissue, but she said nothing, her breathing remaining steady.

Bai Hu was still lying on the control panel, its tail slowly wagging. Its eyes were fixed on a metal plate on the right side of the main gate, where there was an almost invisible seam, less than two millimeters wide. Its nostrils flared slightly, and its breathing frequency changed, as if it smelled something humans couldn't perceive.

Chen Wang brought up the microwave detection screen and found that the electromagnetic shielding in front of the door was still active, its intensity undiminished. This meant that the internal power system was still working, but no life signals were leaking out. He switched to infrared mode, scanning around the door frame, and finally discovered a slight anomaly.

At the foundation connection in the lower right corner, there was a slight fluctuation in heat circulation, like a hidden vent intermittently expelling air.

He reached for his toolkit, pulling out a modified screwdriver. The handle was wrapped in electrical tape, and a small piece of copper wire was soldered to the tip. This was his crude method for dealing with old electronic locks, simple but effective.

"You're going to break the door?" Su Ling asked.

"No," he shook his head, "I'm waiting for them to open it themselves."

No sooner had he spoken than Bai Hu suddenly stood up, its front paws slapping the control panel with a 'pat,' as if issuing a warning.

Immediately after, the sound of machinery operating came from inside the main gate.

The heavy alloy door slowly rose, revealing a gap about eighty centimeters high.

No light shone through, and no figures moved. Only a cold wind surged out from beneath, carrying a stronger burnt smell, mixed with a pungent odor similar to ozone.

Su Ling's rifle muzzle slowly rose with the widening gap, locking onto possible firing angles. Her finger rested outside the trigger guard, muscles tensed, ready to fire at any moment.

Chen Wang, however, remained motionless. He stared at the bottom of the gap, noticing a very thin film of water on the ground, slowly condensing into ice crystals.

This wasn't caused by natural snowmelt; it was condensation produced by an artificial refrigeration system in operation.

"There's air circulation inside," he said, "The temperature is probably around minus ten degrees Celsius."

Su Ling nodded: "Seventy degrees higher than outside. Enough for living people to stay in."

"But also enough to hide bodies."

He pressed the mechanical arm's release button, aiming the cable head at the metal grounding point below the door crack. As long as there was a ground fault circuit in the internal wiring, he could determine if there was human supervision.

As soon as the cable made contact, the system alarm vibrated slightly: [Low-frequency pulse current detected, source non-natural discharge, suspected remote monitoring trigger].

Chen Wang immediately retracted the cable and closed all external interfaces. He turned to Su Ling: "They're watching us."

Su Ling's lips curled slightly: "Then let them watch to their heart's content."

She suddenly raised her sniper rifle and fired two shots at the surveillance camera above the door crack. The first shot was to the left, the second hit the center of the lens, shattering the ceramic casing and sending sparks flying. Immediately after, she quickly disassembled the barrel and put it into the storage compartment.

The entire process took less than ten seconds.

Silence returned outside the door.

The door gap remained open, its height unchanged. The cold wind continued to blow out, and the water film continued to freeze. No alarms sounded, and no one appeared.

Chen Wang's hand reached for the emergency lever below the steering wheel. It was a short-distance booster he had installed, capable of forcibly releasing the energy core's reserve power, allowing the vehicle name to reach its maximum speed within ten seconds.

The cost was that it would then have to shut down for at least forty minutes to cool.

He didn't pull it.

Bai Hu's body suddenly leaned forward, its nose almost touching the glass. A very low whimper came from its throat, like a warning, and also like... a summons.

Chen Wang stared at the door crack, his right hand slowly tightening its grip on the lever.