"Ajie... hold on... we're almost there..." Wen Shifei's voice was hoarse as a worn-out bellows, and every word carried a strong smell of blood. These words weren't so much a comfort to Ajie as a final incantation to keep herself from collapsing.
"Shut up! Save your energy for dragging them!" Rick growled, not even turning his head. He abruptly stopped and raised a hand wrapped in a thick canvas glove. He listened, like a vigilant animal. High above, from the fortress's dome, several muffled explosions echoed, accompanied by the faint, swarming sound of weapons fire. That was the direction of the battlefield they had just fled. The rebels in the lower city were still using their lives to delay the executioner.
"This way!" Rick quickly changed direction and entered a narrow, downward-sloping passage made up of huge abandoned pipes. The passage was filled with a strong smell of rust and the pungent smell of some kind of chemical coolant.
Wen Shifei gritted her teeth and, half-dragging, half-carrying Ajie, struggled to get into the pipe. The inside of the pipe was slippery and cold, covered in greasy moss and rust. Suddenly, she stepped on a loose metal plate!
"Ah!" Wen Shifei screamed, and his body instantly lost balance, sliding down with Ajie!
At the critical moment, a rough, powerful hand suddenly grabbed her arm, abruptly stopping her fall. It was Rick. He had somehow returned, supporting Wen Shifei with one hand while the other steadily held Ajie's limp body, preventing his chest injury from hitting the ground again.
"Waste!" Rick cursed through his mask, but his movements were incredibly swift. He roughly yanked Wen Shifei to a steady position, then squatted down and mercilessly slung the unconscious Ajie onto his broad shoulders like a sandbag. "If you don't want him dead, follow closely!" He stood up, Ajie's body weighing him down slightly, but his steps remained steady, carrying a person as if it were nothing, and he quickly moved downwards again.
Wen Shifei watched Rick carrying Ajie on his back, a mixture of emotions welling up in her. Still dazed, a complex wave of emotions welled up within her. This man, made of steel and rock, spoke with a sharp tongue, yet his actions carried the almost instinctive, reliable nature of a warrior.
The passage wound downward, seemingly reaching the center of the earth. The air grew increasingly stagnant and oppressive, illuminated only by the faint, ominous flicker of a distant, leaking pipe, a faint blue or green light. The traces of garbage gradually diminished, replaced by thicker, older metal walls, studded with thick rivets and welds. The walls were covered in bullet holes, charred marks from explosions, and hideous graffiti smeared in various pigments, perhaps even blood—twisted skulls, roaring beasts, and the shattered emblems of chaebols. An invisible, heavy pressure, a mixture of rust, motor oil, gunpowder smoke, and sweat, permeated the air, the lingering scent of countless despairs and struggles.
Rick stopped in front of a massive wall made of thick alloy plates. There were no obvious signs of a doorway, only a few hidden observation holes that looked like loopholes. He set Ajie down and leaned him against the cold metal wall. Ajie let out a barely audible groan of pain.
Rick ignored Wen Shifei's vigilant gaze. He walked to the wall, raised his hand, and knocked hard on a few seemingly randomly protruding rivets in a specific rhythm. Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.
A few seconds of suffocating silence passed. Wen Shifei clenched her shotgun, her heart in her throat. She could sense cold gazes from behind the wall, casting their undisguised scrutiny and hostility upon her and Ajie through the observation holes.
Click... creak... a heavy metallic friction sound echoed. A thick alloy plate, about two meters high and one meter wide, slid slowly and silently inward, revealing a passageway just wide enough for two people to walk side by side. The passageway was dimly lit, filled with the smell of motor oil and metal dust. From further in, the cacophony of voices, the roar of machinery, and the sparks of welding could be heard faintly.
"Come in!" Rick shouted in a low voice, picked up Ajie again, and stepped into the passage first.
Wen Shifei took a deep breath, suppressed her anxiety, and followed closely. The alloy plates quickly and silently closed behind her, blocking out the stench of the garbage dump outside and the faint sound of artillery fire. The passage was short, and after turning a corner, the view suddenly opened up.
Wen Shifei took a breath.
This is not the end of a passage at all, but a huge, shocking underground space!
It seemed to be crudely welded, stacked, and hollowed out from countless massive abandoned industrial containers, shipwrecks, and fortress support structures. Its steel skeleton lay exposed, and thick pipes coiled overhead and between the walls like giant pythons, some hissing and leaking steam. The space was divided into several levels, connected by rusted metal staircases and rickety suspended corridors. Below was an open "square," where several crudely modified tracked vehicles, welded with thick steel plates and weapon mounts, were parked. On one side was a bustling work area, with flames flashing and the deafening sound of hammers striking metal. On the other side were piled with various weapons, ammunition boxes, and barrels of supplies.
But what shocked Wen Shifei the most were the people here.
They wore ragged but functional patchwork armor, their faces mostly smeared with oil and radioactive dust, their eyes fierce and alert, like wolves forged in desperate situations. The air was filled with the strong smell of sweat, engine oil, and low-quality synthetic food, as well as a tense, almost bowstring-stretched atmosphere of war. Many were wounded, some welding with blood-soaked bandages, others limping as they carried boxes of ammunition. When Rick walked in carrying Ajie, countless eyes instantly focused on them, like physical searchlights, filled with undisguised scrutiny, suspicion, and... deep hostility. Especially when they saw the traces of the Fortress-style combat uniform remaining on Wen Shifei's body, that hostility instantly became sharper.
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