Chapter 45 Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland 8

The glaring red warning, like a death knell from hell, instantly dragged all the survivors from their euphoria of surviving the ordeal back to the cold reality.

"A...a power outage?" The young man with glasses, who had just relaxed, jumped into his throat again. His voice trembled with tears: "What will happen if the power goes out? Will the door open?"

This question, like a pebble thrown into a stagnant pond, instantly created violent ripples.

"Oh my god! If the door opens, the zombies outside..."

"If the door doesn't open, we'll be trapped here and die! Isn't this just an iron coffin?!"

"It's all over, everything's over. It would have been better to die out there..."

The fragile hope that had just been established crumbled at the mere mention of "total power outage." Despair spread rapidly through the crowd like a virus. The brightly lit corridor seemed to be shrouded in darkness once more because of this warning.

Wang Yong's face also turned extremely ugly. He suddenly stood up and roared at the crowd, "Shut up! What are you howling about! The boss is still here, the sky isn't falling!"

His roar temporarily silenced the crowd, and everyone's gaze instinctively turned to the black-clad figure who had remained absolutely calm throughout.

Zhou Jue ignored the commotion behind her. Her attention was completely focused on the control panel screen. A power outage meant that the air circulation system, water purification system, and defense system were all paralyzed. Although the alloy door would automatically lock physically after a power outage, a sealed space without air and water was no different from a tomb.

Ten minutes.

Another countdown to death.

"Brother Tongzi, give me the complete structural diagram and energy distribution map of the shelter," Zhou Jue quickly ordered in his mind.

[Retrieving...Complete structural diagram of the B4-level biohazard isolation zone, already loaded onto personal terminal. Energy system analysis complete.]

The shelter uses a dual-energy system: the primary power source is a small nuclear fission reactor, which shut down 13 days ago due to a malfunction. The backup power source consists of three parallel diesel generator sets located in the power room on the basement level (B1-LEVEL).

Based on the current fuel consumption rate, generator set number three will shut down in 9 minutes and 41 seconds.

A small nuclear reactor? Zhou Jue's heart skipped a beat. That would be a good thing, but it was clearly unreliable right now. The only hope for survival was diesel fuel.

Where are the fuel reserves?

The diesel storage facility is located in a separate storage area on the third basement level (B3-LEVEL). Warning: This area was not within the initial security scan area; its internal condition is unknown.

Zhou Jue's gaze raced across the 3D structural diagram projected on his personal terminal, and an optimal route instantly formed in his mind. From here to the diesel storage depot in B3, passing through two corridors and taking an internal freight elevator, it would normally only take three minutes.

But now, every second is incredibly precious.

She turned around, her cold voice coming through the voice changer, precisely interrupting the survivors' whispers.

“Wang Yong, you stay here and keep an eye on them.” Zhou Jue’s tone left no room for argument. She took out a few more magazines from her tactical backpack and tossed them to Wang Yong: “If I’m not back in fifteen minutes, or if the shelter loses power, you take them and find a way to leave through the ventilation duct. That’s the only exit.”

She manipulated the control panel for a few moments, and a detailed diagram of the ventilation ducts was retrieved and projected onto the wall.

"Boss! Where are you going? I'll go with you!" Wang Yong was anxious. He knew that Zhou Jue was going to solve the energy problem, which would inevitably be accompanied by unknown dangers.

"What will happen to them if you go?" Zhou Jue asked rhetorically, her voice completely flat: "Your task is to keep things under control here. Within 15 minutes, no one, for any reason, is allowed to leave this area. Anyone who acts without authorization will be dealt with as I said before."

Wang Yong gripped the gun tightly, feeling its cold weight. He knew this was an order, and also a sign of trust. He nodded heavily, his teeth clenched: "Yes, boss! I guarantee I'll complete the mission!"

Zhou Jue said no more and turned to walk deeper into the corridor. Her steps were not fast, but each step was steady and powerful, as if nothing could stop her.

As the black figure disappeared around the corner, the survivors were overwhelmed with mixed emotions. They both hoped that this powerful "black-armored woman" could create another miracle, and feared the fate they would face if she failed.

...

Zhou Jue's figure moved quickly through the empty white corridor.

Following the map, she quickly found the freight elevator leading to the inner area. Unlike the alloy gate outside that required authorization, the facilities inside the shelter opened up to her without hindrance once she gained the highest level of access.

The elevator descended smoothly, and the number on the screen jumped rapidly from [G] to [B3].

"bite--"

The elevator doors slowly opened.

A slightly musty smell, a mixture of engine oil and dust, wafted over.

Before her was a long metal corridor, flanked by various closed storage warehouses. The emergency lights overhead flickered, casting her shadow on the ground, sometimes long, sometimes short.

[WARNING: Trace amounts of biotoxin leak detected in the area ahead.]

Zhou Jue frowned slightly, glanced at the combat suit which was always in internal circulation mode, and relaxed a little.

It seems that this "safe" shelter is not absolutely safe.

Without the slightest hesitation, she cautiously stepped into level B3, gun in one hand and shovel in the other.

The entire B3 level was eerily quiet; the only sounds were her own footsteps and the buzzing of the emergency lights. According to the map, the diesel storage depot was at the end of the passageway.

She quickened her pace.

Fifty meters.

Thirty meters.

Ten meters.

The heavy iron gate of the storage warehouse, marked with a yellow flame symbol, was now in sight.

Just as she was about to step forward to open the door, a very faint "click" sound, like fingernails scratching metal, came from a warehouse with the door half open next door.

Zhou Jue's movements froze instantly.

She suddenly turned to the side, hiding herself in the shadows, and activated thermal imaging mode at the same time.

The entire world was once again transformed into images composed of different color temperatures.

Inside the half-open warehouse, a humanoid silhouette emitting a low-temperature signal was crouching on the ground with its back to the door, seemingly gnawing on something.

Another zombie?

wrong.

Zhou Jue immediately rejected this judgment. This thing's body temperature was higher than that of ordinary zombies, and its movements... were not the stiff, unconscious twitching of ordinary zombies, but rather carried a... eerie sense of coordination.

She slowly approached and peered through the crack in the door.

With the dim light of her night vision goggles, she was able to see what was inside.

It was a "person" dressed in a white lab coat, but its body had undergone a horrific mutation. Its spine was arched high, its limbs had become thin and long, and its fingernails were sharp as knives, deeply embedded in a long-decaying corpse.

It seemed to sense the prying from outside the door, and its gnawing motion abruptly stopped.

Then, slowly, very slowly... it turned its head.

What a face it was!

Half of its face still retained a human appearance, while the other half was covered by a grayish-white mycelium, and one eye had become a cloudy, white sphere without a pupil.

It saw Zhou Jue.

"Heh..."

A roar, unlike anything human, like a broken bellows, was squeezed out of its throat.

The next second, its body, like an arrow released from a bow, used all four limbs and pounced on Zhou Jue in a posture that completely defied human anatomy!

Its speed far surpasses any of the fast-moving zombies we've encountered before!

Zhou Jue's pupils suddenly contracted.