Before they left, Jiang Chen and Sun Xiaorou went to the power room and hibernation center separately.
Just as Sun Xiaorou suspected, someone came to the fallout shelter to install a new fuel rod for the place. The person even lived there for an extended period of time but for some reason, or perhaps because he reached his goal, he left.
And it had been years.
After he left, he shut down power to the fallout shelter until Jiang Chen entered the password at the terminal to finally wake up the dormant Fallout Shelter 071.
“Immortality, or at least extending life, is part of the intergalactic colonization plan, although it isn’t necessary. The Dusk Church attempted to take me here, and they did get here. But because they didn’t know the password to the office, they could do nothing about the things inside.”
“Could the door not be blown open?” Jiang Chen asked.
Based on what Han Junhua said, the door of the office at Fallout Shelter 027 was opened through force.
“Not unless it was permitted by design. Otherwise, even if you blew up the entire fallout shelter, you might not even blow open this room.” Sun Xiaorou sighed.
Jiang Chen processed that information and shook his head.
“This is too dark.”
He was referring to both this place thousand meters below the surface and the fallout shelter itself.
Sun Xiaorou grinned and continued the topic.
“The Church finally did collect some interesting clues outside the fallout shelter. For example, the experiments of the observer and the director refusing to continue with the experiment involved a girl.”
“The girl took off the list mentioned in the diary?”
“It’s possible.” Sun Xiaorou nodded seriously. “Since she was chosen as an experimental subject, there should be something unique about her.”
“Observer, girl… only these two clues?”
Jiang Chen searched through the entire fallout shelter without finding the lab mentioned in the diary.
Sun Xiaorou carefully sifted through her memories from when she was young and had no recollection of the lab at all.
The horrific experiments conducted by the observer were brought to the grave along with the abandonment of Fallout Shelter 071.
But aside from the secret to immortality, the two also found some “interesting” stuff.
One experimental quantum computer, a taken-apart soilless plantation device, and some stuff only available in the fallout shelter.
It was a pleasant surprise to find a quantum computer there as most of the abandoned fallout shelters had been razed through by scavengers. The electronic parts and special material of the quantum computer could be used for weapons.
Since the quantum computer hadn’t been uncovered by scavengers, that meant it was hidden well.
The two took a stroll in the fallout shelter. After confirming there was no other useful stuff, they left marks on the items that needed to be moved.
Along with the diary, Jiang Chen and Xiaorou stood in the elevator as they returned to the surface. When he pressed the start button, he raised his left arm and glanced at the time on the EP.
It was precisely six.
When they arrived at the surface, the soldiers all went to greet him.
“General, if you didn’t come out just now, we would’ve gone down.” Li Wang was relieved when he saw Jiang Chen.
“It’s already this late?” Jiang Chen looked up.
The day had turned completely dark. It looked like it was about to rain.
“What are you planning to do with the fallout shelter?” Sun Xiaorou asked.
“Temporarily take control of the place, and at least maintain an inspection station here… as well as a cemetery,” Jiang Chen said while scanning the bodies all around.
With a gracious smile, Sun Xiaorou gently nodded.
“Mhmm.”
He ordered Li Wang along with five soldiers to guard the place as Jiang Chen entered the vehicle and returned to the military outpost.
Before dark, a helicopter would arrive, bringing supplies and backup.
…
Qingshan Arena, the capital of Empire.
In the beginning, Empire wasn’t called Empire but had a plain name – Qingshan Survivors Gathering. The people there were nowhere close to nice, they occasionally did some mercenary work while being raiders in the dark.
But the villages west of Gan River formed an alliance and referred to themselves as Federation. They elected a President through voting and established a wireless base station to launch propaganda at nearby residents. The survivors at Qingshan saw this, used the opportunity to clear their name and adopted a different name.
With the principle that they would never be inferior to their arch enemy, Federation, they referred to themselves as Empire.
Using the ideology of rebuilding civilization, and promoting openness and freedom to attract merchants and population growth in the region, Federation gradually became a wealthy gathering spot. But with the increase in traffic, loose laws, corruption, and crime prospered there and spread to every corner of Federation like a plague.
Everything there could be bought with a clear price tag.
Whether it was the position of president or the head of a parliament member.
The contrary was true for Empire. With their origins as raiders, they had the thug tradition all along, so they took the route of centralized power.
They gathered a group of raiders and gave “stocks” to powerful mercenaries then they accepted the mutated human’s tribe as their own. People with histories of crime could become accomplices to share power while the honest could only work hard. The clear social structure was simple, yet it established a primal power pyramid.
As for who would be the emperor, patrilineal succession would definitely not work. Otherwise, the bosses of the raiders and mercenaries wouldn’t be pleased. Then who should be the emperor?
The first leader was an intelligent leader. He dug out the crown abdication system (1) embedded deep in history.
Everyone could be the emperor, and everyone took turns being the emperor.
Federation and Empire.
It was hard to say who was more heinous and who was more civilized.
Since this was the wasteland, it was a dumpster.
“This is the history of Empire and Federation.” A mercenary with a PK2000 rifle on his back took Zhao Baodong to pass through the gates while explaining the history.
Zhao Baodong, an ex-Qingpu survivor. He joined Fishbone Base with the Hunter Division and cleared out the bacterial source with Jiang Chen long ago. But he wasn’t as well off as his friend Ma Zhongcheng; that guy already became the head of the Hunter Divison, and he was only the captain of a reconnaissance platoon.
He couldn’t be blamed since he made the wrong decision from the beginning. The first survivor community Jiang Chen visited was his, and what did he do? Not only did he reject the proposal to fight with him, but he took out a recoilless cannon and asked Jiang Chen to leave…
Jiang Chen didn’t seek responsibility from him in the end.
While a gun was pointed at Zhao Baodong, he cooperated. Without the Qingpu survivors, the X2 bacteria source couldn’t have been eliminated by the power armors alone.
If he could achieve success in his missions, he thought he could get promoted. Therefore he requested to go to Hucheng and boarded the supply blimp with the reconnaissance platoon.
After he entered the gate, he stood in front of the arena.
The mercenary eyed him, the guard with a homemade rifle also looked at him.
Zhao Baodong immediately took out four grain-sized crystals from his pocket with a smile and stuffed them into the guard’s hand. He then pointed at the mercenary beside him.
“Together.”
Without saying anything, the guard tossed the crystal on the detector, and the number stopped at four.
Zhao Baodong looked reminiscent, watching the number jumping up and down on the crystal detector.
The Sixth Street hadn’t used this equipment for a very long time; the entire Suhang Province had no trace of this device at all. People all used NAC’s credit points to purchase goods, so crystals became a product instead.
That was why a lot of soldiers were unwilling to be sent here. Compared to the “advanced” Wanghai, this was an undeveloped mountainous range.
Still, without speaking, the guard waved his gun and looked at the survivors behind the two of them.
The mercenary beside Zhao Baodong immediately dragged on his sleeves to signal he could pass.
“Do we not need to hand in our weapons when we enter the city?”
“No need. You only need to do that when you enter the palace,” the mercenary said.
“Palace?” Zhao Baodong paused for a second.
“It’s right there.” At the end of the hall, the mercenary pointed at the highest point of the arena.
Stepping into the open arena, an explosion of scenery instantly entered his vision.
The wide field had no grass on it. Instead, it was replaced by markets, houses, and even fruit gardens. The place was surrounded by “natural” walls guarding the place like city walls. On the tall stand was Empire’s flag.
This was the capital.
Worth mentioning was that the arena of the 22nd century was much bigger compared to the 21st century. It was comparable to a nine-hole golf course.
Including the area underground, the arena could hold a total of 50 thousand people.
This was the center of Empire.
“Thank you, buddy. If there’s anything you don’t need, you can find me at the bar. Before I accept new mercenary missions, I’ll be there.” The mercenary waved at him and disappeared down the street.
Based on their agreement, Zhao Baodong would pay a two crystal gate tax and the mercenary would bring Zhao Baodong here while giving him a vivid “history lesson.”
It was extremely worth it for Zhao Baodong to purchase such valuable information with just two crystals.
While the mission budget was generous, it was better to use crystals at critical points.
He took a piece of paper from his pocket and confirmed the task Jiang Chen gave him for the last time before he headed to the hostel. He needed to find a place to stay to organize the information he already gathered then he would transmit the information wirelessly to the military outpost.