93: Chapter 93 Official Shelter

Car tires crushed the gravel, racing towards the outskirts.

Inside the vehicle, the scent of blood and smoke mingled, creating an oppressive atmosphere that made it hard to breathe.

Zhang Zhengguo leaned against the seat back, eyes closed, thinking about how to make his report.

Decades ago, the international situation was treacherous and unpredictable, with the shadow of nuclear war looming over the globe.

As a key industrial city, Dachang City had secretly launched a massive project deep underground to withstand potential devastating blows.

The goal was to construct a vast and sturdy underground air-raid defense zone.

Countless manpower and resources were poured into it, working day and night, using reinforced concrete to pour a crisscrossing network of underground veins.

Entering the new century, this underground construction was not forgotten; instead, after several expansions and modernizations, it transformed into the city's final 'Noah's Ark'—

the Dachang City Shelter.

The convoy sped through the night and finally stopped at the foot of a towering mountain.

The convoy bypassed the trees used for camouflage, illuminating a deep tunnel entrance.

'Pass the word down: this mission failure must not be leaked to anyone except Director Du. If anyone asks, say we encountered monsters.'

Zhang Zhengguo ordered.

The convoy drove into the tunnel in sequence, with dim, yellow explosion-proof lights embedded at intervals.

After driving for a few kilometers, a massive steel gate appeared ahead, tightly embedded in the mountain.

It was estimated to be at least five meters high and seven meters wide.

In front of the gate, several fully armed Soldiers were already waiting.

An officer waved a flag, signaling the convoy to stop.

The driver of the vehicle Zhang Zhengguo was in rolled down the window and handed out a transit document stamped with a red seal.

The officer carefully verified the documents and then scanned everyone with some kind of device before signaling them to pass.

'Rumble—'

The sound of machinery turning rang out, and the huge steel gate slowly slid open to both sides, revealing a deeper passage.

The convoy restarted and drove past the gate.

Unlike the primitive tunnel outside, this place was more like a carefully constructed underground highway, sloping downwards.

The rock walls were relatively smooth, and yellow reflective strips were installed at short intervals to guide the vehicles forward.

After driving for a few more minutes, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

A massive underground cavern appeared before them.

The cavern ceiling was extremely high, supported only by numerous thick reinforced concrete pillars.

Dozens of high-power searchlights illuminated the entire cavern like daylight.

Inside the cavern, a long string of various vehicles was already parked; military trucks, armored personnel carriers, and even a few obviously civilian off-road vehicles were lined up in several rows, slowly inching forward.

At the end of the line were five huge lifting platforms.

Each platform was astonishingly large, enough to accommodate several heavy trucks.

The edges of the platforms were crowded with fully armed Soldiers, who vigilantly scanned every vehicle and person entering.

This was the only passage to the core area of the Dachang City Shelter.

Zhang Zhengguo watched others return fully loaded while he brought back only battered troops, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

'Song Yang...'

He chewed on the name again, his teeth clenching involuntarily.

He had to see Director Du as soon as possible and report everything that had happened exactly as it was.

The convoy drove onto the lifting platform and finally came to a steady stop.

Before Zhang Zhengguo could give an order, a squad of Soldiers in bulky white hazmat suits and masks surrounded them.

'Everyone, get out of the vehicle! All vehicles, shut off engines! Undergo decontamination procedures!'

A commander in the same attire, but with an extra stripe on his epaulets, spoke through a loudspeaker.

Zhang Zhengguo's Soldiers looked at each other; they had just escaped from the sharp claws and fangs of monsters, yet now they were being treated as potential sources of contamination.

'Execute the order. This is a necessary procedure for entering the core area of the Shelter; no one is an exception.'

Zhang Zhengguo gave the order.

However, this feeling of passively accepting inspection only made the anger built up from the mission's failure burn even brighter in his heart.

The Soldiers got off the vehicles one after another, and immediately, high-pressure sprayers attacked from all directions, with pungent disinfectant turning into thick white mist, instantly enveloping both vehicles and people.

Every corner of the vehicles, from the tires to the roof, was carefully sprayed.

Afterward, specialists with life-detection instruments scanned the inside and outside of the vehicles to ensure no potential threats were missed.

The decontamination of personnel was even more thorough.

They were taken to makeshift compartments built on the edge of the lifting platform, stripped of all outer clothing, and subjected to a full-body spray.

After much hassle, and confirming that all personnel and vehicles had met safety standards, the hazmat commander finally waved his hand.

'Rumble—'

The previous sound of machinery turning rang out again, but this time, the entire lifting platform began to sink slowly.

The metal plate beneath their feet vibrated, and the surrounding rock walls slowly rose in their field of vision.

After an unknown amount of time, the descent speed began to slow, and finally, accompanied by a dull, loud thud, the lifting platform stopped steadily at the bottom.

Ahead was another thick alloy gate, but it was larger and more complex in structure than the one at the entrance.

This was the true entrance to the core area of the Dachang City Shelter.

...

After all the hassle, he finally stood before a metal door.

There were no markings on the door, only a small red indicator light lit up.

He took a deep breath and straightened his collar.

'Report.' Zhang Zhengguo said in a deep voice.

There was no response from inside, but after a moment, the red indicator light turned green, and the metal door slid silently to one side.

The office was brightly lit, but not blinding.

Behind a huge desk sat a figure.

The person did not look up, remaining focused on a document in his hands.

Zhang Zhengguo stepped inside, stopped three steps away from the desk, brought his legs together, and stood straight.

After a long time, the person slowly raised his head and looked at him.

'Uncle Zhang, you've returned. How did you handle the matter I entrusted to you? I only want a result, a result that satisfies me.'

'You should be aware of how many resources I've mobilized to find the murderer who killed Haoxuan.'

'Inside the Shelter, many high-ranking officials are quite dissatisfied, believing that I am using public resources for my own personal affairs. The pressure on me is not small.'

'Therefore, I need good news to make me feel that these efforts were worth it.'

Zhang Zhengguo's Adam's apple bobbed, and he spoke with difficulty:

'We have indeed found clues to the murderer and have located his hideout.'

Du Yaohua's eyes lit up, but then narrowed due to the pause in Zhang Zhengguo's words:

'But?'

'But, there was an accident during the operation.'

Zhang Zhengguo's voice was low, 'Our people suffered significant losses.'

'An accident?'

Du Yaohua's tone suddenly rose, 'Could the murderer be from another faction, 'Black Water'? Or those 'Iron Scorpion' rats?'

The 'Black Water' and 'Iron Scorpion' he mentioned were both survivor organizations that rose from the ruins after the apocalypse.

They often had friction with the Shelter.

In fact, from the beginning, these two organizations were the ones he suspected the most.