nycdaug Chapter 028 should be a test, right?
Chapter 028 should be a test, right?
On the day they left the city, Yu and Lu Chen's schedule was extremely tight.
—Leaving the city at 7 a.m., arriving at the metal zone at 11 a.m., and exploring and digging until 16 p.m.
Then depart from the metal zone and arrive at the harbor at 19 p.m.
After dinner, the original plan was to spend the night at the safe harbor;
However, plans can't keep up with changes, and we set off again at around 20 p.m., heading towards the "hibernation pod area".
...
After driving for six hours through the night, the pickup truck finally stopped again at around 2 a.m. on August 4.
Yu turned off the engine, put on a mask, pulled up the collar of her trench coat, and gestured for Lu Chen to get out of the car.
Then, they took out several steel cables from the back of the truck, threaded them through the wheels, and secured them to the scorched earth with ground anchors.
He tossed the backpack to Lu Chen, then grabbed a metal detector and an entrenching tool, and walked forward into the night.
"There's still almost a kilometer left."
"Just to be on the safe side, leave the car here and walk towards that area."
Lu Chen nodded helplessly.
Pickup trucks are electrically powered, making them inherently quieter compared to gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles.
As long as the car lights are turned off, you can hardly hear any sound even at a distance of 100 meters in the dark.
But Lu Chen didn't say anything more.
Compared to Lu Chen, a "newbie," Yu has extremely rich experience in scavenging.
Excessive caution may be necessary, or it may not be.
Whether it's necessary or not, Lu Chen, as an outsider, wouldn't meddle with the expert Yu.
The two walked a kilometer in about ten minutes.
Yu walked with extreme caution.
He walked very slowly, afraid of making a sound as he stepped on the scorched earth, and every now and then he would bend down to signal Lu Chen to stop.
Only when they got close to the area did Yu tell Lu Chen to squat down, take out binoculars, and look at the extremely wide area in front of them.
After looking at it for a long time, he handed the binoculars back to Lu Chen.
"About 150 meters to the right front, there is a hidden little mound."
"Below the mound lies a buried architectural ruin."
"Your hibernation pod was found there."
Lu Chen took the binoculars, held them close to his eyes, and looked in the direction Yu was pointing.
—The background light is red, which means the telescope must have some night vision capabilities.
As for the area in front of us, it is neither a depression nor a protrusion.
It was just a plain, unremarkable expanse of scorched earth.
If you don't look closely, you won't even notice that little mound.
"Shall we go now?"
Lu Chen asked softly and handed the binoculars back to Yu.
Yu shook her head slightly, then lay down on the ground and held the binoculars close to her eyes again.
"Wait a little longer."
"Wait half an hour to make sure there are no problems before trying to get closer."
Lu Chen didn't say much, just nodded in obedience.
Time passed second by second.
The wind and sand howled in their ears, but the two of them lay motionless on the ground like a sniper-observer duo.
Yu braced his elbows on the ground, the binoculars always held horizontally in front of him, constantly scanning the fan-shaped area in front of him.
Lu Chen lowered his head, taking the opportunity to close his eyes and rest, conserving his energy.
Yu finally removed the binoculars from his eyes after the timer on his left arm had ticked for a full 30 minutes.
He patted Lu Chen's shoulder lightly, then stood up, bent over, and carefully walked towards the small mound.
Upon arriving at the small mound, he immediately crouched down and set up his binoculars to scan the surroundings.
After confirming that there were no abnormalities, they estimated the location and planted an entrenching tool on one side of the mound.
Before long, a thin layer of scorched earth was dug away, revealing a rusty piece of metal—judging from its shape, it seemed to be an abandoned car door.
The two of them worked together to lift the metal plate, and an oval passage, about one meter wide and half a meter high, only wide enough for one person to crawl through, appeared before Lu Chen's eyes.
With just one glance, Lu Chen felt a strange sensation.
—Like a dog hole.
It looks more like a tomb raider's hole...
"I'll go in and check first; you stay outside."
As she spoke, Yu handed the binoculars to Lu Chen: "Always be vigilant about your surroundings."
"If you don't see me come out in 5 minutes, come down and look for me."
"If any unusual sounds are heard, block the entrance and retreat to a distance of 100 meters—prioritize your own safety."
As she spoke, Yu paused, unable to finish her sentence.
After a long silence, he spoke again: "If someone really gets close."
"You just go back and find the car, don't worry about me."
"Remove the steel cable and ground anchor, do not start the engine, do not turn on the lights—wait in the car for 30 minutes."
"If I don't come back, drive back to the rest area outside the city gate."
"—Pick a scavenger who seems cautious and wary, and tell him: You have deposited money in the bank for 50 days and have no debts."
"As long as I take you into the city, you will give me these [50 days] as payment."
...
After saying that, Yu Shen gave Lu Chen a deep look.
He then resolutely bent down and carefully crawled into the cave entrance.
Outside the cave entrance, Lu Chen crouched down and subconsciously set up binoculars to scan the surroundings.
In my heart, however, a stormy sea was churning.
—Recovered people who go out to scavenge do not necessarily need to be accompanied by other scavengers to be brought back to the city!
Just pick any scavenger—any scavenger will do!
Yu lied before!
Lu Chen understood perfectly why Yu told this lie.
It's only natural for a person to want to ensure their own safety and prevent Lu Chen from having any malicious intentions.
But at this moment, Yu revealed the truth.
By implicitly admitting to lying, he has put himself in a completely dangerous situation.
If Lu Chen had harbored any evil intentions, he could have left right now, driven back to the city, and taken everything for himself, including the pickup truck…
...
"Phew~"
...
"This is probably another test..."
"Such a cautious person wouldn't be..."
As he pondered and reflected, Lu Chen couldn't help but feel a surge of gratitude.
—Whether it's a test or a trial;
Ultimately, it's also a form of trust.
Being able to feel 'trusted' again in the City of Time, in this cold and ruthless world, warmed Lu Chen's heart a little.
...
A few minutes later, Yu poked her head out of the hole.
"Safety."
Lu Chen nodded, handed the binoculars back to Yu, knelt down and crawled into the cave with Yu.
Lu Chen crawled forward, while Yu crawled backward.
In the darkness, Lu Chen could even feel Yu's breath, which occasionally brushed against his forehead.
...
After climbing for about seven or eight meters, the passage finally became a little wider.
After climbing a few more meters, Yu turned on his flashlight, illuminating a closed cavern about two meters wide, seven or eight meters long, but only a little over one meter high.
Around the cavern, one can still vaguely see crooked concrete with sections of steel bars protruding.
Lu Chen tried to stand up, but he couldn't straighten his back or lift his head at all.
Left with no other choice, he had to give up and, imitating Yu, crawl forward on his knees.
When they reached the deepest part of the cave, Yu stopped and shone his flashlight on a gap in the side wall.
"This is it."
"Your hibernation pod was dug out from here."
"I only dug a little over a meter deep."
"It seems that person dug quite a bit deeper before finding Zhao Jie."
Upon hearing this, Lu Chen looked in the direction of the voice and saw a pit that was less than a meter wide, more than two meters long, but four or five meters deep.
Looking at the shape of the pit, Lu Chen's strange feeling grew stronger.
—This shape is really…
Especially when Yu opened her mouth, she kept saying things like, "I dug you out of here," and "Zhao Jie must have been buried under you"...