Chapter 51: Farewell

Although Chen Jian had consciously slowed his pace, since the greatest threat within the urban area had already been neutralized, compounded by the fact that the small monsters and minor wildlife showed no hostile intent, their traveling speed remained quite rapid.

The squad moved northward along the Baishazhou Avenue viaduct, turned right after covering ten kilometers, and merely two hours later, they arrived at their destination: the Hanshui Ordnance Non-Commissioned Officer Academy.

The secret lay right before his eyes, and Chen Jian could not help feeling a surge of excitement.

Even so, he maintained his utmost composure.

After conducting a brief observation of the surrounding terrain and plotting their entry and retreat routes, Chen Jian issued his orders:

"He Shuo, find a vantage point on the perimeter and establish an observation post."

"Keep the drone on low-altitude reconnaissance to ensure the surrounding environment is secure."

"Shen Yue, set up a machine gun firing position at the main gate and keep watch on the road ahead."

"Xie Liu, Zeng Yi, Li Shi, separate and guard the east, west, and south sides respectively."

"Report immediately if there are any issues."

"Switch your tactical radios to the new frequency I just gave you. From now on, nothing we do can be known to Xu Lie."

"Lei Jie, enter the campus with me. Advance while searching and pinpoint the exact coordinates."

"Understood!"

"Copy that."

Everyone acknowledged in turn. Without further delay, Chen Jian switched his exoskeleton into combat mode and stepped across the threshold of the ordnance academy's main gate.

In truth, he had never been here before, but judging purely by the architecture before him, the architectural style differed slightly from that of his own era.

Taller buildings, broader drill grounds overgrown with weeds and shrubs, and an abundance of things that absolutely did not belong here...

Countless trucks, armored transport vehicles, and a small number of various models of tanks.

All these vehicles were completely rusted beyond recognition and could no longer be started.

Yet, at a mere glance, Chen Jian could envision that before the arrival of the so-called Cataclysm, a massive emergency mobilization must have been organized here.

"What on earth happened..."

Chen Jian murmured as he walked forward.

Lei Jie looked around, scraped away the rust on a tank with his dagger, and shook his head, saying:

"Can't make out the unit insignia. It's been too long."

"But without a doubt, these are our own equipment."

"And these vehicles show no signs of damage—I mean, they don't look like they've been through a battle."

"Just like that Type 99A in Hanshui City, it's as if they had just finished assembling here, and then..."

He did not finish, and Chen Jian did not press him.

Both men understood what that unfinished sentence implied.

The equipment was abandoned?

To that military force, the only possible reason for such a thing to happen was that the people operating the equipment had already perished.

Therefore, it was highly probable that the Cataclysm had occurred in a completely irresistible form.

The assembly here might have been that unit's desperate, last-ditch effort before fate befell them.

It was just unfortunate that they seemed to have failed.

----Or perhaps, they had succeeded?

Otherwise, where did the people who remained behind come from?

Chen Jian took a deep breath, gestured with his hand, and signaled Lei Jie to press on.

At this point, they were less than six hundred meters away from the target coordinates.

According to the coordinates, the latitude and longitude indicated a location directly behind the academy's teaching building.

The two men did not separate; instead, after He Shuo confirmed the surrounding area was safe, they bypassed the teaching building from the left in synchronization.

The closer they got to the target location, the denser the weeds and vegetation became.

Fortunately, enhanced by their exoskeletons, their advance was not overly slow.

Chen Jian carefully watched his footing. Although it was already late October and the temperature had dropped significantly, no one could guarantee that a highly venomous snake wouldn't suddenly dart out from the brush.

If he were bitten, without any antivenom, he might die in a rather absurd manner...

He maintained his vigilance every second, but just as he took his next step, a faint "click" sounded beneath his boots.

Unlike the crisp snap of a twig, this sound carried the crisp, brittle resonance of breaking plastic or metal.

"Hold up."

Chen Jian raised a hand, then used his dagger to clear away the surrounding brush.

Lei Jie approached, squatted down, and asked:

"What is it? Did you step on a landmine?"

"No."

Chen Jian shook his head, continuing to clear the area as he replied:

"If I'd stepped on a landmine, I'd have been blown to pieces already. Do you think we're in a movie with pull-release mines?"

"Feels like some kind of metal piece... Wait, it's a rifle."

Chen Jian fished a shattered piece of plastic out of the loose soil beneath his feet. After lightly shaking off the clinging mud, Lei Jie immediately recognized it as the polymer handguard of a QBZ-191 rifle.

"More than one."

Chen Jian continued clearing, and Lei Jie joined in as well.

Within mere minutes, a patch of the surrounding area had been cleared.

And buried amidst the soil were scattered firearms...

Along with weathered skeletal remains that had almost turned to soil.

"Human bones," Lei Jie said in a low voice.

"Duh, of course they're human bones."

"They all died here... No."

Mid-sentence, Chen Jian suddenly realized the truth.

"They didn't all die in this tiny patch... The entire rear of the teaching building is their 'graveyard'!"

"No wonder the vegetation is thicker here; it's because there is more organic matter in the soil..."

He spoke those few sentences with great difficulty, knowing that those who had fallen here were very likely his unseen comrades.

Yet now, they had become nourishment for plant growth.

What on earth was it? What exactly was that Cataclysm?

Chen Jian stood up, put away his dagger, and said:

"Keep moving forward. The target location is less than two hundred meters away."

"Understood," Lei Jie replied briefly, and the two resumed their advance.

Hacking their way through the undergrowth, when a low earthen mound appeared before them, they knew they had reached their destination.

"An underground fortification," Lei Jie said gravely.

"I figured it was an underground fortification, but it's very strange..."

"If there's a fortification here, why did they die outside of it?"

"Or could it be that they didn't have time to enter the fortification before dying here?"

"Possible."

Chen Jian nodded silently, pointing toward the iron door at the underground entrance, and said:

"This should be the first ordinary security door. Blow it open."

"No need."

Lei Jie stepped forward, grabbed the rusted iron bars, and engaged his exoskeleton at full power. Accompanied by a teeth-setting screech of friction, the already fragile gate was instantly torn away.

"Engage night vision, prepare to enter."

Chen Jian issued the order once more. Both men lowered their night-vision goggles and stepped into the darkness of the underground fortification's entrance.

The tunnel was long, and scattered bone fragments and textile remnants littered the floor.

In terms of density, however, the number of people who had died here was far fewer than those outside the door.

Was something preventing them from entering the fortification?

Or were they trying to keep something outside from entering the tunnel?

A grim thought arose in Chen Jian's mind.

If things had reached the point where even this military unit lost their faith in survival, just how terrifying was the so-called Cataclysm?

He could not bear to dwell on it further and simply lowered his head to press onward.

The tunnel spiraled downward, with their altitude steadily decreasing. After walking nearly five hundred paces, he finally spotted a new iron door.

A heavier, three-defense isolation door.

"Can you open it?"

"No problem. The environment in here is relatively stable; the corrosion doesn't seem as severe."

Lei Jie stepped forward and turned the opening wheel, and Chen Jian stepped in to help.

After multiple rotations, accompanied by a soft "click," the latch sprang open.

"Pull it open."

Working together, the two men pulled the isolation door open just a crack.

Yet what unfolded before them was not an underground space, but... another door.

Something was pasted onto the door.

A line of characters was written on the yellowed paper.

"Open the pressure relief valve first. The pressure relief valve is on the right."

Beneath this line of text, the shape of a pressure relief valve was drawn in red ink, with an arrow pointing toward the right.

Chen Jian looked in the direction indicated by the arrow and immediately spotted the pressure relief valve.

Without wasting a single second, he twisted the valve immediately.

White vapor surged from the seams of the isolation door, and immediately afterward, a howling gale rushed in from the tunnel behind them!

The massive pressure differential nearly pinned Chen Jian against the door panel. It took a full minute for the fierce wind to gradually subside.

"The interior is in a semi-vacuum environment..."

Chen Jian let out a long breath and continued:

"Put on your masks, activate your internal air supply, and let's go in."

"Copy that."

The two men joined forces to pull open this final isolation door. This time, the vast interior of the fortification was finally revealed before them.

It truly was an underground fortification.

Moreover, it was an underground fortification stockpiled with massive quantities of supplies.

Those supplies were stacked haphazardly across the open ground, as if the people who transported them inside had simply lacked the time to organize them.

Furthermore, these supplies bore no signs of having been used at all.

Having endured hundreds of years, this place still maintained its original appearance.

Where were the people?

They had built this underground fortification, but where on earth had they gone?

Chen Jian looked around and then noticed a piece of paper on the ground before him.

A piece of paper resting atop a prominent flag.

Fearing he might damage the paper, he dared not reach out to grab it, so he stepped forward and knelt on one half-knee to read it.

The handwriting on the paper was somewhat hurried, and the phrasing was simplified to the extreme, clearly penned in haste.

And the contents within shook Chen Jian to his core.

"October 19, 2045.

We know:

Sudden, massive deaths.

Cause of death: multi-organ failure and thrombosis.

Time from onset to death: two hours.

No abnormal celestial phenomena.

Not a man-made disaster.

No radiation.

No virus detected.

We are out of time.

Emergency reserve supplies have been brought in.

To ensure the internal environment remains clean and safe, we will leave the fortification.

After disinfection, this fortification will switch to continuous operation mode.

More information is to the north.

They survived longer.

We do not know what you will have to face.

But when you open this door, the responsibility falls upon you.

Walk the path we did not finish.

Farewell, comrades."

...

Chen Jian took a deep breath.

The people here did not walk inward.

They walked outward.

They knew they could not die here.

Because this pure land was meant for those who would come after.