Dark Ruins Dawn

Chapter 19 Chips
The ancient code from seven hundred years ago caused the air between the two to freeze for a moment.

But Zhuang Fan's vigilance instantly rose to its highest level.

He could never forget Xu Renyi, the last man who claimed to be from the same hometown, that old scoundrel who used the kindest tone but prepared the most deadly knife for him.

The lesson was so profound that the word "fellow villager" became synonymous with danger for him.

Grey Goose seemed to sense his wariness; her amber eyes concealed her emotions, and she naturally steered the conversation away from the topic.

"We need to activate the defense system as soon as possible; there's no time."

She lowered her voice, her tone returning to its cold hardness:

“Durian is an A-level wanted criminal whose real name is Lyon. He is cruel and cunning by nature. If he gets control of the operation first, we will all become his food reserves.”

Zhuang Fan nodded; this was a consensus that had to be reached.

Compared to Durian's madness, Grey Goose was rational and cautious, at least like a normal person who could be cooperated with.

"I know where the control room is, let's go."

He gripped the gun he had taken from Harry, and Grey Goose had no objection to it.

The two walked one after the other in the dimly lit corridor.

The emergency lights cast a ghastly green light, stretching their shadows long and short on the mottled wall.

On the wall, there were clearly visible, ferocious claw marks, and on the ground, there were a few dried scales and slime scattered around.

Zhuang Fan sniffed it and couldn't help but frown; a faint smell of rotting flesh filled the air.

"What year were you cryogenically frozen?" He broke the silence first, trying to find out more information about the Greylag Goose.

"2028."

Grey Goose's voice was very soft as she asked, "And you?"

"2027."

"That's not far off."

"Are you the Demon Detective?" he asked again.

"No."

Grey Goose shook his head: "The bounty for the Demon Detective is very high, and I'm looking for him too."

It seems that not all people in the Common Era are demon detectives; such a physique is probably one in ten thousand.

Zhuang Fan secretly noted this down.

"There are no people from before 2100 in the official records. You are the first one I have ever met."

Grey Goose's tone carried a hint of desolation, "The identity of a Yuan Dynasty person is very sensitive. You'd better learn to hide."

"Aren't you afraid I'll tell on you?" Zhuang Fan's gaze was direct.

Grey Goose paused, turned her head, and gazed at him in the dim light.

"The oldest person I've met since I thawed is a retired hunter, born in the 24th century, who can speak a few broken Chinese words, but even so, he is from a different era than me by several hundred years."

"You are the first, and possibly the last, person from the same era as me."

She seemed to be organizing her thoughts, pausing for a moment, "If I have to be wary of even my only 'fellow villager,' then there's no point in living. If you really want to betray me, I'll accept it."

Zhuang Fan looked at her silently for a long time before whispering, "I won't."

"It's better not to."

During their casual conversation, Grey Goose's voice lost some of its battlefield sharpness and became more relaxed, even carrying a touch of the soft Wu dialect.

Zhuang Fan was almost certain that she came from the water towns of Jiangnan.

The two arrived at the door of the main control room, but the heavy alloy door was tightly closed.

Zhuang Fan attempted to access the site through the "Wasteland Traveler" app. After a while, the identification system activated, and he recited another voiceprint password, which unlocked the door.

Grey Goose didn't ask any more questions. Everyone has secrets, and asking too many questions can easily breed suspicion.

As the door hinges turned, a strong smell of dust and mildew wafted out.

The scene inside the control room was worse than expected.

Most of the workbenches and equipment were covered with a thick layer of dust, and the casings of many precision instruments had been reduced to ashes by the long-term erosion of the eerie fog.

There was a hole in the corner of the wall that had been violently broken open, clearly the work of the reptilians.

They crawled in from here and stole the expensive nuclear decay battery from the main power unit.

"Damn those tomb raiders." Grey Goose also felt a headache coming on.

Without a main energy supply, the entire shelter's systems are in a semi-paralyzed state, unable to do anything.

Zhuang Fan did not give up. With the help of the map on his wrist panel, he quickly found the spare energy box in a hidden compartment in the wall.

The inside of the box is inlaid with a ring of dull, luminous crystals, which are what effectively isolate it from the corrosive mist.

He pressed the switch, and the backup power supply was activated.

"Om-"

The lights in the control room turned on one by one. Although the brightness was insufficient, it was enough to see everything clearly.

As Zhuang Fan turned around, he happened to see a beam of light shining on Grey Goose's face.

The dark green spiderweb-like patterns looked even more ferocious in the light, like living creatures coiled around half of her cheek and neck.

Disfigurement, excruciating pain, incurable, lifelong torment.

Information about the "spider mushroom" flashed through his mind. His gaze lingered for only half a second before he subtly looked away, pretending he hadn't seen anything.

The shelter's systems have finally returned to basic operation.

Zhuang Fan operated the main control panel, binding the shelter map to the wrist panel in real time.

This is a flat underground honeycomb structure, rather than a traditional vertical deep well.

On the map, most areas are flashing red danger warnings, indicating an invasion by unidentified creatures, but the specifics cannot be determined.

Most of the defensive turrets are also offline and cannot be activated.

"Why did Nuclear Corporation issue an S-level bounty for you?"

Grey Goose looked at him and finally asked the question that had been bothering her, "An eight million gold coins bounty, that's quite a generous offer."

Eight million gold coins... Zhuang Fan's memories were triggered, and he quickly understood the terrifying weight of this amount.

The "gold notes" that circulate in the wasteland world are made directly from gold, with their face value linked to their weight, ensuring fairness for all ages.

A 1,000-yuan gold note is equivalent to one gram of gold.

This is also the trading method recognized by all wastelanders and the black market, and it is more convenient than barter.

The reward of 800 million gold coins is equivalent to a full eight kilograms of gold. What does this huge sum of money mean?
It's enough to raise a well-equipped private army in the wasteland, drive countless outlaws mad, and even get your hands on a mini dirty bomb.

"What are the specific details of the reward?" Zhuang Fan asked in return.

"They'll say you're a 'company employee' suspected of stealing the group's top secrets. Killing you will get you half the reward, capturing you alive will get you the full amount."

Grey Goose paused, her eyes sharp. "But I don't quite believe it. You look like a thawed popsicle, completely ignorant of this world. And the fact that the Nuclear Corporation announced the accidental death of its founder on the same day the bounty was issued is too much of a coincidence."

Zhuang Fan gave a vague answer: "Xu Renyi's death is indeed related to me, but I can't say the specific details. It won't do you any good if you know."

Grey Goose nodded and didn't ask any further questions.

"That old monster is the biggest spender on the bounty list in recent years. He captures frozen people everywhere to conduct experiments in order to achieve so-called immortality."

She made no attempt to hide her dislike for Xu Renyi: "I refused any task that involved catching people for him, which is why my promotion in the unit was very slow, and my superiors were very dissatisfied with me."

Oh, I see. This girl is a really nice person.

Zhuang Fan trusted her a little more, but not much. Just then, an alarm sounded on the panel on his wrist.

On the map, two large groups of heat sources were seen moving rapidly in the same direction—the weapons depot.

“One group is Durian’s people, and the other group… should be the lizardmen,” Grey Goose immediately judged.

Zhuang Fan frowned: "The defense program will take a little longer to restart, but I can unlock the armory door first. We're faster than them."

The two exchanged a glance and immediately rushed back to the central hall.

"Assemble! Move to a new position, immediately!"

The Grey Geese rallied their forces and rushed toward the armory, hoping to get the weapons before Durian could.

When they arrived, the armory had already been looted, with heavy weapon racks overturned on the ground. Not to mention weapons, not even a single bullet was left.

On the back wall of the armory, there was a hole that had been blown open, with fresh soil still remaining at the entrance.

“This hole has been there for at least two or three years,” Grey Goose analyzed.

Zhuang Fan's gaze, however, fell on a seemingly ordinary alloy wall.

According to the map on the panel, there is a hidden vault behind this place. The storage function is intact and can be opened at any time. The items inside should be quite valuable.

He didn't make a fuss and decided to wait until the others left before saying anything.

"They're coming," Zhuang Fan calmly reminded him, looking at the red dot on the panel.

He decisively closed the heavy iron doors of the armory.

Harry, who was already neurotic, thought he had fallen into a trap and immediately shouted angrily, "What's going on? Open the door!"

"Quiet." Grey Goose's voice was full of annoyance.

After Harry understood, his face flushed slightly, and he remained silent.

Then, Zhuang Fan manipulated the airlocks on both sides of the corridor, which snapped shut with a "click," completely blocking the retreat of both sides.

He stared at the panel on his wrist, his tone calm: "Come on, when paths cross, the brave shall prevail."

On the other side, Durian searched every part of the airlock but couldn't find the switch, and couldn't help but frown.

Is it a greylag goose or a reptilian?
"boom--"

Before he could figure it out, a dozen lizardmen silently emerged from the ceiling ventilation ducts and the shadows of the walls, launching a deadly attack.

Before Durian and his group could react, they were caught off guard by the intense barrage of fire.

Zhuang Fan watched these uninvited guests through the surveillance footage.

Their appearance was the same as I remembered: agile and with skin covered in dark green scales, they blended almost into the environment in the dim light, with only their blood-red eyes revealing their murderous intent.

Their weaponry was quite outdated, consisting of rudimentary iron-pipe rifles and homemade Molotov cocktails, but their speed and lethality more than made up for the lack of equipment.

"boom--"

The Molotov cocktail exploded, instantly turning the narrow corridor into a fiery inferno. Durian's team was thrown into chaos, with screams echoing throughout the room.

The lizardmen are as cunning as ghosts. They use the ability of their scales to change color and crawl at high speed on walls and ceilings. As soon as a bandit looked up, his throat was torn open by sharp claws falling from the sky.

"over there!"

Someone screamed in terror and frantically fired into the shadows, but only managed to ignite a series of sparks.

"Don't fire randomly, you idiot!"

Durian roared, his shotgun practically useless in the chaos of the battle.

After a fierce firefight, the entire team suffered heavy casualties.

Durian was furious and annoyed, but finally seized his opportunity, blasting the head off a lizardman with a shotgun, and then kicked his henchman next to him.
"Get out of here! It's only a small hole, and it's taken you this long to dig it!"

The corridor has very few brilliance stones, which has caused many walls to be corroded into hollow shapes by the eerie mist, making it easy to dig a hole.

Durian was the first to crawl inside, and the other underlings quickly followed, their lives being the most important thing.

However, the lizardmen were even better at burrowing and relentlessly pursued them. To protect their nest, these invaders had to die.

In the end, Durian led his remaining troops back to their temporary camp in the hall, where they reunited with the rest of the team.

The pursuing lizardmen, seeing the large number of people on the other side, did not act rashly, but hid in the shadows and let out a hiss to call for their companions.

Durian had no idea how many people the enemy had, but his team only had 16 men left, armed with rifles and pistols, and they certainly couldn't hold out.

In desperation, he pushed all the surviving civilians to the front as bargaining chips.

A mother holding her child knelt on the ground, pleading desperately, "Please, Chief, spare us! I'll give you anything..."

“Yes, Chief, we are still useful, we can work, we…” a man echoed.

Durian remained unmoved, and even found it somewhat amusing.

He kicked the man over and smashed the butt of his gun into his face.

"If you say another word, I'll stuff you into the box right now."

He fired a shot into the ceiling, the sound of which stunned everyone.

Dulian's cold gaze swept over the desperate faces, and he said to the lizardmen with a grim expression:

"These are all for you! We are all healthy and free of disease, but you must let us go!"

The lizardmen hesitated for a moment, then one of their voices was deep: "Don't move, wait for news from our boss."

Soon, the lizardman leader arrived at the front. After calmly listening to the battle report, it secretly observed Durian and his group.

Although the enemy's equipment is inferior, they are like cornered beasts fighting desperately, and if a real battle breaks out, our side will inevitably suffer many casualties.

These dozens of unarmed civilians in front of them represent a risk-free reserve, enough to sustain the tribe for a month. This deal is extremely worthwhile.

It let out a short growl, agreeing to the deal.

Amid the desperate cries of the civilians, Durian and his men fled in disarray through a tunnel dug by the lizardmen.

"He gave all the civilians to the lizardmen?" Grey Goose's voice was soft, yet as cold as ice.

Zhuang Fan did not answer, but instead showed her the surveillance footage of Dulian's face with a cruel smile before he left.

This is more persuasive than any words.

"Is the turret still usable?" she asked Zhuang Fan, her voice devoid of emotion.

Zhuang Fan calmly looked at the panel: "Okay, but we need to lure them into the kill zone."

Soon, the few remaining automatic turrets began to turn, and six android soldiers emerged from hidden compartments in the wall.

After Zhuang Fan input the control command, six android soldiers followed him.

Their shells are made of rough industrial alloys, lacking bionic skin, and their interiors are exposed with cold mechanical components and pipes, exuding a raw, violent aesthetic.

Unfortunately, their weapon mounting ports were empty, and they had no standard-issue weapons.

But Zhuang Fan and his group had no other choice.

The only way out lies behind the lizardmen's lair.

They could only use these few unarmed iron lumps and their own flesh and blood to fight their way through a road.

As for the civilians who were used as bargaining chips... if we act quickly enough, perhaps a few can be saved.

Grey Goose raised its hand, its tactical gesture crisp and clean.

"Prepare for the attack."

A bloody breakout has begun.

(End of this chapter)