67: Barbecue and beer, life is wonderful.

Ever since they arrived at the mountain, Da Wang's restless heart couldn't be contained; he was desperate to go play in the woods. Unable to withstand Da Wang's constant acting cute, Ai Yue helplessly granted him temporary freedom.

Having received Ai Yue's permission, Da Wang let out a long, happy roar toward the sky, kicked off his legs, and lunged headfirst into the forest.

Ai Yue inspected all the buildings and found none of them habitable, nor did they contain anything useful. Some precious plant specimens were completely destroyed, and the plants cultivated in the research base were almost all dead or dying, with no possibility of being revived.

"Sigh, it's a good place, but it's uninhabitable now. The corrosion is too severe," Ai Yue muttered to herself.

Ai Yue wandered around the base alone at a leisurely pace. After several laps, she still hadn't discovered anything.

Suddenly, Ai Yue found a plastic-sealed diary in a laboratory. She opened it carefully with delight, hoping it might record some information she needed or help her understand what secrets this small base held; a base shouldn't have so little to show for itself.

Upon opening it, Ai Yue was surprised to find that the notebook recorded some extraordinary things, including the existence of a hidden basement within this laboratory.

Following the description in the notes, Ai Yue found a metal shelf standing against the wall. This metal shelf had fallen over, exposing a hidden door that was specially disguised to match the color of the wall.

Ai Yue's eyes lit up, but unfortunately, no matter how she tried, she couldn't get it open.

She thought the door might be electronic, requiring facial recognition or other technological means to open. However, the entire base's power system was destroyed, and she didn't know how to fix it.

Was it really impossible to open this door without electricity?

Ai Yue studied it up and down. She figured that since there was a door, there must be multiple ways to open it. Otherwise, if the power went out and the researchers couldn't get in, wouldn't that disrupt their work? There had to be a physical way to open it; she just hadn't found it yet.

The more she thought about it, the more it made sense.

Ai Yue searched even more actively, but the door was perfectly white with no special features at all. Refusing to believe it, Ai Yue took out her military knife and scraped forcefully across the entire door, inch by inch.

The method was crude, but it actually worked. She discovered a tiny slit in the very center of the door that was invisible to the naked eye. She carefully gouged it with her military knife and found that the outer skin could be peeled off.

This discovery gave her more motivation. Soon, a hole the width of a palm was revealed in the wall. Ai Yue reached in and pulled out an iron chain. She gave it a tug... and the hidden door slowly opened. Ai Yue was astonished; she hadn't expected such a high-tech research base to use such an ancient method for a secret room door.

She stared in surprise at the open door. Good heavens, this looked like a vault door—it was half a meter thick! What kind of treasures were being protected by such a thick door?

Utterly amazed, Ai Yue observed how to open the door from the inside to get out. Exiting from the inside was much more convenient; a massive key was hanging right by the door, and there was a keyhole the thickness of a thumb on the door. Ai Yue took the key, inserted it into the hole, and turned it. It wasn't difficult at all; the door opened easily.

She also discovered that as long as the door was locked from the inside, it couldn't be opened from the outside. Excellent, it was secure enough—truly an ideal defensive location.

Ai Yue stopped studying the door, turned on her flashlight, and walked down the steps one by one. After descending what felt like ten stories, she finally reached the bottom.

Wow!

At a glance, there were rows of transparent rooms lined up on both sides.

Ai Yue was shocked because every single room was filled with seeds—plant seeds!

Is this a Seed Bank? Is it a Seed Bank like the Svalbard Global Seed Vault? No way, how could such an important place be left unguarded?

After the initial shock, Ai Yue fell into deep thought.

Unable to figure it out, she stopped thinking about it. Upon careful observation, she noticed that some seeds had already gone bad. Presumably, this place was meant to mimic a permafrost environment before the Apocalypse.

The sudden onset of the Apocalypse had caused a power outage, ending the permafrost conditions and causing some seeds that were difficult to preserve to spoil.

Ai Yue decided to collect these seeds; they would definitely be useful once the Apocalypse ended. If she didn't take them and left them here, they would all eventually spoil. It was better for her to preserve them.

There were about fifty glass rooms, all filled with seeds. With a wave of her hand, Ai Yue collected them all.

Ai Yue looked at the surrounding environment and realized that with a little bit of setup, this place could be habitable. Moreover, the power system here was intact; except for the transparent rooms used for seed storage, everywhere else had electricity.

Ai Yue was very satisfied with the security here and decided to make this their family's first base of operations.

Although she had found one spot, Ai Yue thought she couldn't have just this one. A wily hare has three burrows, after all. For future safety, she should find a couple more places as a precaution.

Returning to the surface, Ai Yue disguised the door again, making sure it wouldn't be discovered by others. Once she felt there were no issues, she used the drone to find Da Wang, planning to proceed to the next leg of their journey.

After finding Da Wang with the drone, Ai Yue realized the fellow had gone wild and was completely unwilling to leave. He had trampled over the entire hilltop and even caught a few wild chickens for a snack. It was his first time eating live animals, and the tiger was absolutely thrilled, completely ignoring Ai Yue's calls.

Ai Yue was somewhat helpless, knowing this bratty child wouldn't come back until he'd had his fill of fun. She could only delay here for a day.

Ai Yue stopped bothering him and walked around the vicinity of the base on her own. From time to time, she heard Da Wang's excited roars echoing through the mountains and smiled silently.

She didn't know when the Apocalypse would end. If it did, Ai Yue would definitely release Da Bai immediately to let him find his freedom. For now, though, to avoid being caught and eaten by others, he'd better stay obediently with her.

She imagined that if he were to leave, Da Wang would surely miss them too, especially Li Shilan, who had raised him.

Watching the sun gradually sink in the west, the clouds on the horizon were dyed in brilliant, mesmerizing colors.

After a walk around the mountain, Ai Yue returned to the base and called her parents to tell them she was safe. She spoke about her discoveries along the way and Da Wang's disobedience. Hearing their happy laughter, Ai Yue hung up the satellite phone with a sense of contentment.

As the sun set, it was time for dinner. Ai Yue suddenly had a whim to eat barbecue; it had been a very long time since she'd grilled anything herself. Since she was out in the middle of nowhere and no one would come by, Ai Yue happily brought out the grill from her space, added charcoal, and began to cook.

She prepared a few skewers as large as Xinjiang lamb kebabs, some grilled chicken wings, and plenty of meat dishes like fish tofu, sausages, and tempura. She also added some vegetables to help with digestion: enoki mushrooms, green peppers, leeks, potato slices, and grilled corn. This was about enough for her to eat alone.

She opened a bottle of beer. As the saying goes, barbecue and beer make for a wonderful life.