MTL - How to Feed an Abyss!-Chapter 23 refuge

The screaming crowd, the chaotic footsteps, and the frightened faces. The world turned upside down in an instant.

Shi Yuan promised Lu Tinghan that if there was an alarm, he would hide in the shelter.

So, he followed the others, and was dragged into an entrance leading to the ground by the crowd—this entrance was usually closed, but now the half-meter-thick metal door was opened, and the green indicator light was flickering.

The passage behind the door is very narrow and winding, only for three people to walk side by side. The emergency light above his head was dim, and there were so many people that he could hardly breathe. Shi Yuan didn't know how long he walked, and felt that he was almost reaching the center of the earth before he saw a huge space.

—They are on the top floor of the space, and there is a metal corridor under their feet, which is about a dozen floors high from the bottom floor, which makes people feel weak under their feet.

Shi Yuan leaned on the railing of the corridor and looked out, the emergency passage on the ground connected different floors. He saw people pouring into the space in a steady stream, and the corridors were full of people. There are aisles and pillars criss-crossing in the air, and there are densely packed, honeycomb-like doors on the wall, with numbers hanging beside the doors.

There is a guiding robot at each entrance, and his mobile phone also received a text message: [It has been detected that you have entered the shelter in Area A from passage 17, please go to residence No. 5202]

This was assigned nearby, and the house number closest to him was [5177]. Shi Yuan followed the crowd and found [5202] quickly.

Push open the metal door and walk in, the whole room is extremely dark, with a strange triangular structure, twelve beds squeezed tightly together.

There were already people sitting on two beds, silently looking at him.

Shi Yuan asked a middle-aged man: "Which bed is mine?"

The man was silent for a long time, and said in a low voice, "Whatever, first come, first served."

Shi Yuan picked the bed in the farthest corner.

The bed is that kind of metal bed, without a mattress, only a thin layer of quilts, and it makes you feel flustered when you sit on it. Shi Yuan sat with his tail propped up and felt better.

A few more people came in one after another, sitting by the bed without saying a word.

The siren was still echoing. After Shi Yuan sent Lu Tinghan [I'm in the shelter], he had nothing to do and took a nap.

When he woke up, the siren had disappeared, and the room was still silent. The already narrow space was oppressive.

In the dead silence, Shi Yuan secretly observed everyone.

The old lady on the bed stared at the ceiling in a daze, the young couple leaned together, the man hugged the woman's shoulders, the scruffy middle-aged man crossed his legs, the pale light of the mobile phone illuminated his expressionless face, and the others...others People are also silent in the dark.

There is a text message on the phone.

Lu Tinghan sent a very simple sentence: [Don't be afraid, wait for me to come back]

Shi Yuan bent his eyes and smiled, but the phone screen went black.

out of battery.

He went to ask the boy in the next bed: "Hello, where can I charge it?"

"Charging?" The young man looked at him incredulously, "This is a shelter, not your home, how can there be a place to charge it? At this time, electricity should be saved, and it should be used for those military facilities—military, Use, set up, implement, do you understand?"

"Okay." Shi Yuan lowered his tail, he couldn't reply to Lu Tinghan anymore.

For the next three hours, there was still suffocating silence.

Shi Yuan didn't find it difficult, he had spent too many silent days in the wasteland, and he had long been used to it. It's just that this place is too narrow, and the density of human beings is too high, which makes him uneasy.

He lay down again.

The room has a triangular structure, the ceiling in the middle is the highest, and it slopes to the sides at 60 degrees. The unique structure is particularly cramped. Shi Yuan was at the farthest corner, and when he was sleeping against the wall, the sloping wall almost pressed against his head.

He saw many people writing on the wall.

It's probably because it's too boring here, and I always have to find something to do. The writing is deep and shallow, some are carved out by a knife, some are drawn out by a key or a ballpoint pen, it says [xxx I love you], it says [today is my birthday] [I really want to eat cake and potato chips], It reads【The glory of the alliance will last forever! 】

The last line is in crooked font: [Everything is meaningless, we are mortal]

Shi Yuan reached out and touched the handwriting, imagining what kind of mood those people felt when they were engraving—this was also part of his observation of human beings.

His hands were uneven, he touched the wall plaster with one hand.

Another two hours later, the iron door was knocked twice.

The robot delivered the compressed food, and everyone could get one.

There is a direct drinking water nozzle in the corner of the room. Shi Yuan got a bag of compressed biscuits and ate them slowly with plain water. The taste of the biscuits is not bad, with a dry burnt aroma.

After eating, the surrounding atmosphere finally got better, and someone started talking in a low voice.

"Hello," the boy in the next bed called Shi Yuan, "Is this your first time visiting the shelter here?"

Shi Yuan nodded.

The boy asked again: "Which city were you in before? The main city or Fengyang City?"

"I'm from outside the city." Shi Yuan said.

"Outside the city?" The boy opened his eyes wide, "Is there still a living person outside the city?"

— This is a familiar question.

On this issue, Shi Yuan has been unable to make up a suitable lie.

At the time of identity registration, he couldn't answer, but Lu Tinghan helped him fool it - the kind with a hand on the back of his neck and rubbing it. Fortunately, the infected person has never been sane, and no one has ever suspected that he is a monster.

Later, they also brought up the subject again.

It was an unusual night, Shi Yuan took Lu Tinghan's bed at the price of a piece of nougat.

As the night was dark, Lu Tinghan asked, "Where did you come from?" Shi Yuan hesitated, and buried his head in the quilt—he vividly explained what "hiding the head and showing the tail" means hiding the head Yes, most of the tail leaked out of the quilt, and the tip of the tail was curled up into a ball.

Lu Tinghan asked again: "If someone asked you this question, how would you answer it?"

"I don't know..." Shi Yuan said sullenly.

Lu Tinghan looked at the bulging blanket and the tangled tail silently for a while, and said, "There is an abandoned outpost outside the city."

Shi Yuan didn't understand why he mentioned this, so after waiting for a long time without any movement, he poked his head out to look at him.

Lu Tinghan sighed softly, and patted Shi Yuan's forehead, "Pa!" There was a crisp sound.

Shi Yuan opened his eyes wide: "Ah, why are you playing me again?"

"The outpost has supplies and simple defenses, so it is still possible to live in it." Lu Tinghan said, "Seven years ago, the alliance army found a family in an abandoned outpost."

Shi Yuan only cared about the slap he got on the forehead and confiscated Lu Tinghan's nougat, and only realized the next day that this was an excuse Lu Tinghan made for him.

He's been using that excuse ever since.

Shi Yuan replied to the boy: "I live in an abandoned outpost outside the city."

"You can live in that place? It's awesome, didn't the monster find you?" The boy was dumbfounded, but he didn't doubt it. "Fortunately, you entered the city."

While eating biscuits, the boy told Shi Yuan that he wanted to go to another city.

"I've bought all the tickets, and I'm going to take the shuttle bus to the main city." The boy said, "It's really unfortunate that this happened."

"Why are you going to the main city?" Shi Yuan asked.

"My girlfriend is there." The boy took a big bite of the biscuit and swallowed it whole. "She is in education. The salary in the main city is high, with an hourly salary of 12 yuan. She can live well." His eyes rolled Turned around, "I'll show you something nice."

Shi Yuan leaned over, and the young man dug out a black plastic bag from under the bed, and when he opened it, there was a pot of budding Xue Jian under it, there were four branches in total, and they were placed in a small flowerpot.

He said: "This is for her. I was carrying flowers on my way to the station when the alarm rang on the way. I had to carry them down. I don't know if they can bloom without sunlight."

It was only then that Shi Yuan remembered that the first batch of Xuejian would be opened in two days.

When he was in the car, he often saw Xuejian growing on the balconies of various houses. Those budding white flowers trembled in the wind, which made people feel affectionate, but it was a pity that no one could take care of them.

Shi Yuan said, "We'll be able to go back soon, no problem."

"Soon?" The boy sneered, "Too optimistic, this is the highest level I warning. Do you know how long we stayed underground for the last time I level warning?"

Shi Yuan shook his head.

"About four months." The boy said, "At that time, it was the peak period of infection. Every time I received a level-I warning, I could always hear news that several small towns and bases had been destroyed. Of course, I was not born at that time, yes Listen to what my parents said." He looked around, "Being trapped in a place like this for four months, people must go crazy."

four months.

To the abyss, it's nothing but a passing moment. Shi Yuan was only worried that he would not see Lu Tinghan for too long.

Shi Yuan ate the biscuit silently, listening to the boy tell the story of the past.

The boy's name is Zhou Ping'an.

He said that the I-level warning has not appeared for 21 years. Every time it appeared before, the city would suffer. No matter how large a city is, as long as it is breached, it will be a disaster.

He said maybe they would stay underground for a few more months too, boring and gloomy enough to make people musty.

He said maybe they would die here, on this day.

By 7pm, a second meal was delivered.

"The refuge is not absolutely safe." Zhou Pingan said while eating canned soybeans, "The monsters are the most active on the ground and in the air, but there are also monsters underground. If the underground monsters come, the refuge will be safe." It's dangerous."

Shi Yuan said, "They won't come down from the ground." He thought for a while and added, "Not this time."

The singing he heard came from the air, and the ground was very quiet.

Zhou Pingan didn't take his words seriously: "It's hard to say, but it's possible. Of course, the shelter is built very strong, no matter what, it's much safer than the ground."

While eating, he asked Shi Yuan again: "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No." Shi Yuan replied.

Zhou Pingan sized him up: "Your face shouldn't be... Where's your boyfriend?"

Shi Yuan was confused.

He said: "I have someone I like very much. I think he also likes me a lot, at least he likes me."

"So you're not together?" Zhou Pingan ate a big mouthful of soybeans, "Is there any insurmountable obstacle between you, such as vicious parents, rival rivals who get in the way, or whatever after eight o'clock? The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl have deep sadomasochistic love."

Shi Yuan said, "I don't quite understand."

He has watched a lot of stage plays and love scenes, but human beings are too complicated, and he can't explain such a delicate definition of emotion.

like? Love? Or more complicated feelings?

As long as Lu Tinghan is by his side, he doesn't care that much.

Zhou Pingan was about to say a few more words, when he suddenly heard Shi Yuan say, "Besides, we haven't had **** before."

"...cough, cough, cough!" Zhou Pingan sprayed a hand of soybeans, and wiped it with a paper in embarrassment. Seeing that Shi Yuan seemed to have discovered a new continent, "Brother, you are a bit wild!"

Shi Yuan:?

Zhou Pingan said while wiping his hands: "Okay, let me, the master of feelings, tell you how to identify feelings. If, if he wants to have **** with you...uh, go to bed, will you agree?"

"We've slept, we just haven't copulated yet," Shi-yeon explained.

Zhou Pingan couldn't hold back anymore: "Shi Yuan! Don't use this word anymore!" He looked at Shi Yuan who was full of bewilderment, looked him over and over again, and found that he was serious, and said with a hand on his forehead, "Okay, okay, let's press In your terms, what if he wants to 'mate' with you?"

"Then I should agree." Shi Yuan said, "It's not a big deal."

His tone was so natural, as if he agreed to an extremely trivial thing, such as "bring me a bottle of soy sauce" or "pass me that book".

Zhou Pingan looked at him again.

Shi Yuan asked: "How is it? Have you identified it?"

"No," Zhou Ping'an rubbed his chin for a while, "I always feel that you are different from the people I've met. The way of thinking is novel and the way of speaking is... how to say, unique."

"Really?" Shi Yuan said, "But I think it's meaningless for us to mate. We are both males and cannot reproduce." He thought of Lu Bafang and Compass again, "I can't lay eggs either, although I I really want to learn."

Zhou Pingan: "..."

Zhou Ping'an's expression was completely blank in an indescribable way: "...stop, stop, stop, Shi Yuan, stop talking, you are too scary, you are too scary!"

Shi Yuan bent his tail in confusion.

In the end, he still didn't figure it out.

At night, the sound of the radio echoed in the refuge, and the mechanical female voice said: [The power will be cut off in 30 minutes, except for the emergency power supply. Residents, please don’t panic and stay calm. May the glory of the alliance last forever]

Thirty minutes later, the room was plunged into darkness, and the shelter was dead silent.

Shi Yuan and Zhou Pingan slept head to head. Shi Yuan lay in the dark for 5 minutes, and heard Zhou Ping'an whisper, "Hello, hello."

"What's the matter?" he asked in the same low voice.

"It's too early now, I can't sleep." Zhou Pingan said, "Call me for a chat."

"Okay." Shi Yuan said.

He listened to Zhou Ping'an's nagging for another half an hour, talking about his girlfriend's affairs, trivial and sweet.

Zhou Pingan finished speaking in one breath, feeling comfortable, and had long forgotten the feeling of being thundered during the day, and asked Shi Yuan: "By the way, where is your 'mating partner'? Is it also in this shelter?"

Shi Yuan hesitated for two seconds whether to correct the title, but finally gave up, and replied, "I don't know where he is, anyway, he's not in the refuge."

"Where is that?"

Shi Yuan: "On the battlefield."

Zhou Ping'an was obviously stunned: "Oh... so..." He turned over and said, "What is he, pilot? Commando?"

Shi Yuan said: "Commander. A very powerful commander."

"Commander," Zhou Pingan relaxed, "That's good. Generally speaking, commanders are the key protection targets, and they are safer than other soldiers. He will definitely come back safely—he will come back to see you." He said After a pause for half a second, "I said in the morning that we were all going to die. I was talking nonsense. The city's defenses are perfect, and, this time, there are land generals here. You know the land generals, right?"

Shi Yuan: "I know."

He didn't dare to say that the land general was his "mating partner".

"If you ask me, if the generals on land were born 50 years earlier, how could human beings have fallen to this point." Zhou Ping'an raised his voice, "The size of the alliance army 50 years ago is completely different from today's army. The factory is still there, there is never a shortage of heat/weapons, all of our…”

"Keep down!" Someone nearby protested, "It's time to sleep!"

Zhou Pingan restrained his voice, and said in a low voice: "In short, if you understand what I mean, Lu Lu will be able to win this battle. Besides, you are still here, even if your friend is here to see you, he will come back .”

"Really?" Shi Yuan asked.

"Of course!" Zhou Ping'an said affirmatively, "Okay, I won't say any more, just go to sleep—"

The pillows are too thin and the bed board is too hard, which is really uncomfortable. Shi Yuan finally hugged his tail, pillowed on the end of the tail, and fell asleep curled up.

He was facing the wall, and the inscriptions on the wall were still there, and each stroke was almost ferocious, as if someone was shouting hoarsely and unwillingly in front of him:

【We are mortal】

…

"My God, what's that—?" The observer's eyes widened.

Not only him, but the entire command center held their breath.

It was already late at night, but the sky was dazzlingly bright.

Countless wings flapped, holding up a huge sphere covered with white feathers—it was hard to tell what it was, the sphere was covered with eyes of all sizes, orange-red, bright and frighteningly bright. Maybe it used to be a giant bird, maybe it used to be a human being, all these are not important in the face of distortion.

If it falls on the ground, it will be even bigger than the most magnificent Plaza of Glory in the alliance. Light burst from every feather, every eye, and it was like a burning mountain, a newborn sun, suspended above a sea of ​​clouds.

The alliance army fought with the infected birds and beasts all day long, and it was detected in the channel that some kind of high-frequency, singing-like sound encouraged the monsters to fight.

They speculate that a particular infestation is urging its kind to attack.

Its code name is "The Horn".

Now, everyone has seen the true face of "The Horn".

Not everyone can look directly at this advanced infected creature. The sense of oppression is too strong, and it also carries the spiritual pollution of the abyss. If you are not careful, you will fall into madness forever.

Several people were forced to look away.

Lu Tinghan went to the top floor of the command center and stood in front of the huge French windows.

"...I guessed you were here." A familiar voice came from behind, and Su Enqi strode forward.

"Teacher Su." Lu Tinghan nodded.

Su Enqi walked up to him, and said casually, "I've seen many such things before, such as 'scimitar', 'hot hurricane' and 'galaxy', most of them died, and some disappeared... General Lu, is this the first time you have fought against special infected creatures?"

"Yes." Lu Tinghan said, "But it won't be the last time."

"Then take a good look at it—!" Su Enqi sighed, "No matter how many times I have seen this deformed body that surpasses human beings, I must sincerely say that it is a strange beauty."

The probability of special infected organisms appearing is less than one in ten million. It is like a certain kind of monster that has evolved to the extreme, unique, deadly and terrifying.

Lu Tinghan stared at the "horn" intently. The two stood side by side in front of the window, looking at the burning night cloud and the indescribable monster. One old and one young, one teacher for life, one stable and watertight, one tough and strong, and now they are the mainstay, known as the strong shield and sharp blade of the alliance, and their shadows are stretched very long by light.

Su Enqi twitched the corner of his mouth and put his hands behind his back: "Your tactics are tougher than before, what happened?"

"...It's nothing special, it's just that there is someone in the city that I want to protect." Lu Tinghan looked at the sky, and the orange-red light of the "horn" fell in his eyes. It was hot and brilliant, like a flame burning in a gray-blue sea , he said, "it is more beautiful when it falls dead."