Shelter No. 03 in the Nozomi Ecological Zone in New Tokyo City did have Area R at the beginning of the design, which is also where the circulation system of the entire shelter is located.
But for Fang Xiaodong, there is no R-zone in Shelter 03.
Watching the door slowly fall, Fang Xiaodong sighed deeply as the refuge that once represented hope turned into a huge tomb.
Natsume returned to the team, but fell ill after he came back.
No one knew what he had gone through, only the doctor who treated his wounds had seen the eye-catching wounds on his neck.
From the incident at the end of May to the finalization of the rescue plan, to the successful arrival of the rescue team in Neo-Tokyo City and the rescue... the rescue mission that lasted for more than two months can be said to have ended in "failure".
Three shelters, 1.91 million innocent civilians, less than one in 10,000 survivors.
When the mighty rescue team set off on their way home, everyone's faces were filled with gloom...
…
Hanako also started her new life in Zone R, the deepest part of Vault 03, but she may have never dreamed that choosing to stay would be the beginning of a nightmare...
If Hanako chooses to stay, Liang Qiuru will have to start solving her food and drink problem.
This is actually not a big problem in Area R. After all, there is a small-power generator that runs on geothermal energy. With it, the water source can be continuously purified, and the temperature in the algae cultivation tank will remain normal. The only thing
The shortcoming may be that except for the basic needs of life, any other higher than basic needs cannot be met.
Moreover, this low-power generator is modified from multiple circulation components, and it needs someone to take care of it every day. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, there will be no water to drink.
In order to ensure the safety of the generator, the camp developed a work form and determined the guards on duty every day.
When Hanako and Natsume met Liang Qiuru when they came down, they happened to catch up with their shift change.
At that time, Liang Qiuru had just finished her day's work and was returning to the camp. She heard gunshots and rescued Hanako and Natsume.
"But you don't have to worry about this. Taking care of the generator is a very dangerous job. It's usually done by men. You may have never even touched a gun, so..." Liang Qiuru took her daughter to visit the camp.
While introducing her to various facilities in the camp, he talked about the key points of survival in the camp.
Upon hearing this, Hanako retorted, "No way, I've become a lot stronger recently, okay, I can also use a gun."
When Liang Qiuru heard this, she turned around and rolled her eyes at Hua Zi and said, "Does knowing how to use it mean the same thing as being able to fight those monsters alone?"
Hanako was suddenly speechless.
Continuing to walk forward, Liang Qiuru pointed to the drinking water table at the corner and said, "This is the only water source in the camp that can be drank directly, but the taste is not very good. You'd better pick it up and boil it before drinking."
Hanako was startled, looked at the empty surroundings and said, "Huh? There are no guards in such an important place?"
"Guard? What are you guarding for? It's not a treasury." Liang Qiuru looked at Hua Zi as if he was looking at a fool.
Hanako was the same. The two of them stared at each other for a long time before understanding what the other meant. However, when they were about to speak, they both held back and just exchanged opinions tacitly with their eyes.
Bypassing this transfer, the passage ahead is glowing with blue light on both sides.
Liang Qiuru said, "This is a cultivation tank that we have recently renovated, but I don't know why. No matter how we try, seaweed just can't grow normally here. It's really a waste of so much of our time."
Hanako took a closer look and saw that the glass on both sides of the cultivation pool was glowing because they were special milled glass used as wing plates for molecular concentrators.
Although this kind of special glass looks very beautiful and has high permeability, it is like a milling cutter after all. It can cut the light into many parts and introduce them into different working areas of the molecular condenser.
Using them as culture tanks for breeding tanks is overkill and underutilized. If you are not careful, the refraction produced by these milled glasses may cause irreversible damage to the human body, let alone seaweed?
So Hanako immediately grabbed her mother's clothes and walked out of the tunnel and said, "There are crouching tigers and hidden dragons in your camp. Is it the only one without a professional algae breeder?"
Ms. Liangqiu, who was dragged back, asked inexplicably, "Yes, am I not your mother?"
Hanako had a black line on her face. After calming down, she looked up at her mother with a smile and said, "You really remember that you are also a professional breeder? How come you dare to use polished glass as a breeding tank for cultivation?
Groove?"
"Absorb light? What absorb light?" This is really an injustice to Ms. Liang Qiuru.
She is indeed a qualified breeder and a marine botanist, but she usually doesn't care who made the tools she uses or what ingredients they contain, she just knows that they are useful.
So we really can’t blame Ms. Liang Qiuru.
After reacting, Hanako sighed softly and explained the characteristics of milled glass to Ms. Liangqiu.
Then Ms. Liang Qiuru suddenly realized it, and even smiled and said a little embarrassedly, "Let me tell you, when we first installed it, the faces of those young men were getting worse and worse?"
Hanako's eyes widened when he heard this. "What? Someone has been injured because of this?"
Ms. Liang Qiuru came back to her senses and realized that she had spilled the beans, so she changed the topic and said, "Well...it's okay. They'll be fine after a night's rest. There's no big problem."
Hanako doesn't quite believe that "milled glass can be used as a weapon even if it is taken out alone and exposed to strong light, not to mention that you have electrified it and changed it to one that can emit light on its own to heat the water in the breeding tank."
A deformed tool, this is more deadly than nuclear radiation, you can’t joke about it.”
Ms. Liang Qiuru said calmly, "I'm not joking.
, there were only three or four people who had the problem at that time, and it’s been a week, and they are still very active, so what could possibly happen?”
Hanako was doubtful, but she had no choice but to give up. She sighed, "Okay, I believe you, but the power of this thing must be cut off immediately. It's too dangerous."
"Okay, okay, I'll let them turn it off right now." Liang Qiuru said and picked up the communicator.
After a while, the passage became dark.
But Hanako still didn't intend to go forward through it. She asked, "I've seen most of the area. If there's anything else ahead of here, just tell me."
Liang Qiuru said, "There is actually nothing in front. It is the place where the diary was found and the monsters were dug out. However, it has been blown up and then filled back up. There is nothing to worry about."
When Hanako heard this, she couldn't help but look at the other end of the passage. In a daze, she seemed to see the scene where everyone in the camp panicked and fought when the monsters rushed out.
After being stunned for a few seconds, Hanako came back to her senses and asked, "Mom, where is that diary... now?"
"In my bedroom, what? Do you want to see it?"
"Well, I'm curious about something."
"Hmm... Okay, it's okay to show it to you, but Mom wants to remind you in advance that the diary is very evil, and it also records a lot of heresy like witchcraft and summoning arrays. You can read it, but
You are never allowed to draw them secretly, let alone try them! Understand?"
Hanako was a little puzzled when he heard this. You must know that this is the middle page of the 2100 era. Witchcraft? Summoning array? There are still people who believe in such an old-fashioned thing?
However, looking at Ms. Liang Qiuru's serious expression, Hanako nodded and said, "Okay, don't worry, I'm just taking a look at it purely academically. Besides, don't you know me? I have a 'study coma'
syndrome'."
"Ah? What syndrome?"
"Well, it's not like you don't know that I just want to sleep when I read a book."
"Tch, if you like to sleep, you just like to sleep. These are some weird words. Okay, let's go back. Let's sleep in the same room tonight. When the leader comes back tomorrow, we will find you a nest of your own."
"Chief?!" Hanako thought she heard wrongly.
"He is the leader of the more than 100 people in the camp."
After Hanako understood it, she rolled her eyes and said to herself, "While I'm complaining about others, I'm also making weird words myself. I really don't know what to say about you..."
At the same time, she asked, "Huh? Mom, aren't you the boss here?"
Liang Qiuru smiled, "I'd like to, but I'm just a stinking academic scholar. I don't have that ability. Besides, being a leader has to take care of more than a hundred people. It's too tiring. I don't care about it."
.”
Listening to this inconsistent explanation, Hanako chuckled and was embarrassed to say, 'I'm afraid the first half of the sentence is true, and the second half is just an excuse.'
…
Liang Qiuru's hut is relatively remote, located on the innermost left side of the entrance to the closed area of the camp, next to the main outer structure of the shelter.
According to Liang Qiuru herself, there were a lot of tools piled here before, and the room was filled with the smell of engine oil. Ms. Liang Qiu spent a lot of effort to clean them up.
Entering the house, Hanako found that there was only a single bed made of boxes and a table also made of boxes.
The internal space is at most five square meters, but there are a lot of various things piled inside.
The space is already small, and if you pile things on, it will be difficult to turn around.
After Liang Qiuru brought Hanako into the house, she asked her to lie down on the bed, then took out the diary from the drawer and handed it over, "Here, take a look, I'll write something."
After lying down, Hanako felt much more comfortable.
She did not rush to open the diary, but turned sideways and quietly looked at her mother's serious expression.
Perhaps because she felt a little uncomfortable being stared at, Liang Qiuru asked, "Why are you staring at me if you don't read the diary? Is there something written on my face?"
However, Huazi suddenly stood up and hugged Liang Qiuru.
At that moment, Liang Qiuru understood. She sighed deeply and said, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Aren't our mother and daughter both fine now?"
There were tears in Hanako's eyes, she knew it, but she just felt a little incredible.
A few days ago, when she arrived in Neo-Tokyo City with the rescue team, she was still thinking about all kinds of bad consequences... Now, she was in the same room with her mother again.
Although this place is not the home she is familiar with, even if she recalls it carefully, she can realize that there are still hundreds of thousands of corpses in Area E less than twenty meters above her head...
The numb nerves may have been sealed by the darkness and cold for a time, but now, they have awakened again in the small room.
At that moment, Hanako couldn't help but tremble all over. She couldn't help asking in her heart, 'What on earth have I experienced... Are what I saw real?'
Until she hugged Liang Qiuru tightly, hugged her mother tightly, and smelled the lingering smell of engine oil in the air.
She suddenly woke up.
All of this is true…
It’s true that the sun disappeared, it’s true that the whole world was turned upside down... It’s true that when the warriors of the country blew up the Pacific Rim nuclear power system, she was still talking and laughing with her colleagues in the shelter in Xiongan District... Crossing the Sea of Japan
It’s true to arrive in Neo-Tokyo City…it’s true to witness hundreds of thousands of people freezing to death in Vault 03…
Maybe... only one thing is false.
That's her calmness...it's fake...
Even in the arms of the person closest to her, Hanako could feel that her calmness was fake and fake.
She was frightened.
After an unknown amount of time, Hanako fell into a deep sleep.
Liang Qiuru didn't know how many days and nights the child had not slept before putting her back on the bed.
Her brows didn't even relax at that time, and whenever Liang Qiuru stood up, Huazi would moan uneasily like she did when she was a child.
In desperation, Liang Qiuru had no choice but to suspend her work, took off her coat and went to bed. She held her daughter in her arms and opened the diary again while staying with her.
…
Time: November 9, 2125
It's a sunny day. I didn't plan to write this diary because the starry sky outside is so beautiful, but my time is limited. I thought about it and finally decided not to be willful.
This day was very fulfilling. Professor Liu and I went to the ruins again in the morning. We found many exquisite murals in the ruins. This should be a very happy thing. After all, our exploration has paid off.
But slowly, we discovered that these murals did not come from the same period, or... they should not have appeared in the same place.
At that moment, Professor Liu and I both thought that this site might be the residence of a collector from a civilization that had once been glorious. That collector must have collected many older things here.
This is the first time we have reached an agreement. Of course, I am not saying that Professor Liu and I can't get along. In fact, we are very compatible. Of course, archaeological exploration cannot be the same thing. It is a game for politicians and does not belong to us.
After we came back, we shared our findings with Lao Yan and the others.
Everyone is very happy, well...
Yes... I can go home in another month. Maybe I am happiest about this all the time. Haha, I feel a bit irresponsible.
…
Time: November 13, 2125
I……
I was wrong.
Professor Liu and I were both wrong.
Xiaozha's guess was right. Those murals were too "young" and even overlapped with our civilization.
But those ruins are too old?
I don't know what I'm writing or recording.
It just feels...like...there are more advanced equipment and more intuitive ways to preserve my thoughts and emotions, but I still choose to keep a diary.
A guy who lived in an era very close to us, he got there first and then desecrated this ancient ruins in his own way.
Okay, maybe blasphemy is a bit strong.
Yes... blasphemy...
Who would leave traces of different eras in a site that is 30 million years old?
…
The time is 2125...probably November.
It is raining again.
This is already the third heavy rain this month.
The entire ruins were submerged, especially the pit.
There must be something valuable down there...but it's flooded now.
Professor Liu had a quarrel with Lao Yan over this matter. I guess if they weren't academics, they might have started fighting.
I'm sick and have a slight fever.
Maybe it's because of the weather, or maybe...heh...I didn't tell them that I went down quietly.
There was a space down there for me to rest, but I didn't have the courage to go deeper.
Because I saw that thing again.
I don't know what it is... It looks like a mummy, or some strange statues... I didn't dare to tell them that they are atheists, but what is God?
I have always felt that whether it is God or science, it is just a kind of human thinking that belongs to that era.
Just like a while ago, I heard that a team in Africa destroyed a local temple that was said to suppress demons, and they also had conflicts with the locals.
But Lawns, who was leading the team, had a gun in his hand. He was serving the New American League and it was impossible to reason with the aborigines.
What's more, there is a complete believer in science like Mo Xiao in the team?
They opened the temple.
Unexpectedly, there is a very ancient animal cemetery underneath the temple. The special environmental structure of that place made the bacteria in the cemetery fat and strong!
That night the entire team fell ill…
Yes...the ancient ancestors didn't understand science, and they couldn't use scientific terms to define the categories of bacteria.
But they know those things are dirty and murderous, so they call them devils!
The ancestors' priests built a temple to suppress them in a way that seems stupid to modern people.
Seal the only outlet for bacteria to ensure the safety of local people... What a scientific approach...
But what era is this... Science has become increasingly superstitious, giving birth to a large number of believers, but no one wants to believe in theology... Maybe it is science itself.
Haha...why am I writing this? I won't tell them anyway.
...My head hurts...I really want to dive down, to the deepest place, there must be the answer I most want to get.
…
The time is January 1, 2125.
At the beginning of the new year, I want to go home.
…
The time is January 3, 2125.
The new supplies arrived, and I wrote a greeting card to Hanako, hoping that she would receive it and forgive her irresponsible father.
Besides...I miss my wife very much...but it's hard to say whether she misses me or not.
Hey... I am really good at being the husband of a Chinese... especially a Northeastern girl.
Okay, let’s just write this much. My wrist is starting to hurt again.
Maybe it will be better once winter comes.
It’s really hard to imagine that this place was covered by glaciers just a few decades ago... Could our ancestors be lying to us?