Global Shelter Game
Chapter 78: Triggering the Alarm
Li Wei quickly removed the decoder, then stepped back a few paces.
After confirming nothing was amiss, Li Wei ordered the mercenaries beside him:
"Han Dong, Jie Rui, Harry, Leisen, push the door."
The four mercenaries who were called out felt a surge of reluctance.
After all, they weren’t idiots.
The fact that Li Wei didn’t immediately push the door after unlocking it told them this task wasn’t as simple as it seemed.
Although the four mercenaries were terrified, they couldn’t show it with everyone watching. They had no choice but to steel themselves and step forward.
They exchanged a look, then pushed together with all their might, slowly opening the heavy metal door.
As the metal door, sealed for hundreds of years, was slowly pushed open a crack, a muffled alarm began to blare from within the shelter.
Hearing the alarm, the four men exchanged glances, none of them daring to move.
Li Wei frowned and urged them on.
"Keep going. What are you panicking about? This is just the alarm triggered by opening an emergency accessway."
Hearing Li Wei’s urging, the four had no choice but to brace themselves and continue pushing the door. A moment later, the heavy metal door was pushed completely open.
Surprisingly, no immediate danger lay behind the door. There were no hidden traps or ambush-ready robots, only a long, dark corridor stretching into the gloom.
From deep within the shelter, the blare of the alarm grew clearer.
"Warning! Warning! Unauthorized intrusion detected. Please evacuate immediately!"
"Warning! Warning! Emergency entrance breached from the exterior. Level-three threat warning."
"Warning! Warning! Level-three risk alert. All personnel, enter a state of emergency. Security staff, proceed to the armory and arm yourselves..."
A robotic female voice echoed throughout the shelter, its tone cold and cautionary.
Hearing this robotic female voice, Hawkins narrowed his eyes.
’The shelter’s condition is even better than I had imagined; its alarm system is still functional. Although this shelter doesn’t have a perfect self-sustaining cycle, so the system can’t last forever, the 50-year limit is only for ordinary humans of flesh and blood. For robots without bodies of flesh and blood, and for AI programs existing on silicon chips, all that’s needed is sufficient power. As long as the electronic components aren’t heavily damaged, two or three hundred years is nothing to them. After all, before the Great Cataclysm, things like nuclear fusion reactors weren’t particularly difficult technological products. A small fusion reactor, if only used to meet normal living needs, could be used continuously for several hundred years. As long as the maintenance robots remain functional, performing regular upkeep with the spare parts from the warehouse, it’s theoretically not a major issue for the facility’s equipment and machinery to run for several hundred years.’
He couldn’t help but feel relieved about his initial decision.
’If it were just Li Wei’s group of four entering in exoskeletons while the shelter’s defense robots were all fully operational, they might have actually suffered casualties. Now, with this large group of cannon fodder to scout ahead, the risk is practically negligible.’
Hawkins now only hoped that there weren’t too many defense robots inside.
After all, although exoskeletons could also be equipped with external weapons, their overall firepower was far inferior to that of power armor.
"Li Wei, Deng Yu, you two lead the teams. Advance cautiously."
"Everyone stay alert. Follow the planned route."
"The artificial intelligence inside is still working, which means the robots will likely attack you."
"You have authorization to fire first if you encounter hostiles. But the space inside is tight, so be extremely careful about stray fire."
"The countdown is now 24 hours. Whether you complete the mission or not, pull out immediately when time is up."
"Understood," Li Wei and Deng Yu responded in unison.
As soon as they replied, they waved to the troops behind them and led the way, slowly advancing into the shelter.
As they stepped inside, the once pitch-black corridor suddenly illuminated with a soft, white light.
Xisuo was amazed. This shelter, sealed for who knows how many years, still had its basic power grid online.
·················
Just after Li Wei and Deng Yu led the 41 mercenaries into the shelter...
「On a hill 2 kilometers away.」
All the remaining members of the Black Wind Raiding Group were hiding quietly behind cover.
Black Wind observed the activity at the shelter’s entrance through a pair of expensive military-grade binoculars.
His eyes glinted with greed and cunning, like a wolf lying in wait, ready to pounce the moment its prey grew careless.
"Boss, are we really not going to make a move? Those are people from the Academy. If we can take them out, we’ll be rich."
A burly man with a scar on his face lowered his voice and asked the observing Black Wind.
Black Wind shot him a cold glance.
"Shut up. What do you know? Are people from the Academy that easy to deal with?"
"Are you fucking blind?"
"That’s power armor. Forget four suits, even one of them could wipe us out easily."
"Can you take on a suit of power armor, or can I?"
The scar-faced man scratched his head resentfully.
"But Boss, are we just going to stand here and watch them go in? If they find some kind of treasure, didn’t we come all this way for nothing?"
"Besides, two of them have already taken off their power armor and gone inside."
"Their defenses should be at their weakest right now."
"How about we rush over now, snatch their power armor, and then block the door?"
The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes. Although the scar-faced man’s proposal was tempting, he didn’t make a rash move.
’If it was just one suit of power armor, I’d grit my teeth and go for it. After all, the potential payoff is so huge that even if all my men here died, I could easily make a comeback with a stolen suit of power armor. I could even quickly assemble a team stronger than my current one. But we’d be up against two suits of power armor, and I have no confidence my useless subordinates could handle them.’
"Don’t worry, I have my own plans. We’ll wait for them to go further in, then we’ll find our chance to strike."
"The shelter is a labyrinth inside. With that many people, they can’t possibly cover all their bases.
As long as we pick the right moment, we’re sure to snag some loot."
His gaze turned back to the shelter’s entrance, a vicious glint in his eye.
"Besides, I suspect this shelter isn’t as simple as it looks."
"The Academy is willing to go to such lengths for this shelter, so they must have their reasons. If we just follow them, we’re bound to find some clues."
The scar-faced man gave a sinister chuckle and said no more.
He knew his boss had always been cunning. Since the boss had said so, he must have a plan.