Chapter 488: The Not-so-heartwarming Reunion
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Caron_
1000 meters underground.
The vertical tunnel down was replaced by a new elevator supported by a durable graphene beam heading directly into the deep underground.
Jiang Chen, in T-3 power armor, was now on the elevator with his eyes focused on the hologram instructions in the helmet. The decreasing oxygen concentration made Jiang Chen especially wary.
Just like he expected, the fallout shelter underground wasn’t designed for humans.
Lin Lin was standing beside him and she was completely covered by an orange protective suit with a large oxygen tank strapped behind her. Although she was a digitalized human, her brain, and vital organs were still made out of organic matter. Even if a lot of organic parts were replaced by mechanical parts, she was still a human.
“Open the oxygen supply device.” When the oxygen concentration dropped below the threshold, Jiang Chen said calmly.
“Mhmm!” Lin Lin obediently put her hand on her neck and opened the switch.
When they arrived at the temporary camp established at the New Age Square, it was already nighttime. But a thousand meters underground, there was no fundamental difference between night and day. In the beginning, Cheng Weiguo was firmly against the idea of going on until Jiang Chen made an order as the General.
It made sense that he was worried since this was the enemy home base.
But Jiang Chen didn’t worry too much as he still had 100 cubic meters in his storage dimension, so even a few Reptiles wouldn’t be too troublesome especially since Lin Lin was with him and the Harmony creature hidden inside her was a robot killer. Almost no electronic units could survive under the Klein particle ray.
When they were close to the bottom, Jiang Chen took out a tactical rifle and turned on the flashlight attached to it.
Lin Lin beside him gulped and crouched cowardly with a hint of fear on her face.
[Let me do it.] A contemptuous voice appeared in her heart; it must’ve been Tingting. After learning how to speak, she was more and more ruthless.
[Who-who said I’m scared?] Lin Lin’s face turned red as she immediately spoke in her mind.
[It’s not me.]
“Just follow behind me.” Jiang Chen noticed Lin Lin’s fear and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Mhmm?! Mhmm!”
Lin Lin, who was distracted, flinched at Jiang Chen’s actions. It wasn’t until she realized what happened that an awkward blush appeared on her face.
Jiang Chen looked at her, puzzled by the sight.
[Is she really okay in her current state?]
The elevator slowly reached the bottom and Jiang Chen’s rifle locked onto the door of the fallout shelter.
But just as he expected, the door was locked shut.
He took Lin Lin to the door and he put his hand against it.
[Storage dimension, activate!]
There was no reaction…
“The door and the wall are considered one?” Jiang Chen frowned and muttered to himself.
Just as Jiang Chen was deliberating how he should open the door, Lin Lin walked beside Jiang Chen and proposed to him in a small voice:
“How about I use the ray to take out all the robots inside then we’ll go back…”
“Take them all out? Mhmm, that’ll be our last resort. If possible, I want to get the stuff inside.” Jiang Chen felt his way all along the gear-shaped door in an attempt to find a switch.
Since it was the home base of the Supreme, if they could invent something like Lin Chaoen, then they must be advanced in electronic technology. Compared to Harmony’s genetic technology, electronic technology was more coherent and applicable to the needs of the NAC.
Lin Lin seemed scared of the darkness as she looked around the place, feeling unsettled.
[There seems to be something not good about living inside, could I fire one ray at it?] Tingting said.
[Let’s not do it. If we destroy the stuff inside, Jiang Chen will be angry.] Lin Lin said in her mind.
[Then we don’t have a solution.] Tingting didn’t say anything further.
Without any luck finding a switch, there wasn’t even a communication cable similar to Fallout Shelter 27. Jiang Chen took out the laser sword from the storage dimension and stabbed the thick door.
Ten minutes pa.s.sed by and the energy of the laser sword was completely drained.
Jiang Chen directed the flashlight at only one hol. The size of a nail was burnt out.
“What material is this thing made out of?” Jiang Chen cursed and kicked the door.
The noise echoed back was very deep. Just judging by the sound; the door was at least seven meters thick. It was more fitting to describe it as a wall.
[Is giving up the only option?]
Jiang Chen sighed.
Just as he wanted to ask Lin Lin to use the Klein particle ray at the door, the door suddenly moved.
Jiang Chen was alerted and pulled out his rifle.
“NOOO!”
Lin Lin screamed out in fear and hid behind Jiang Chen’s back.
The gear-shaped wall slowly moved forward and caused rock debris to fall down. Jiang Chen moved back slowly with Lin Lin and established a clear distance from the door. The vibrations continued for half a minute before the door came to a sudden halt and started to roll toward the side.
[8.1 meters thick, mhmm… I might not be able to penetrate this.] Tingting said.
[Is there anything you can’t penetrate?] Lin Lin was curious.
[Of course. Although Klein particles can cause strong electromagnetic pulses, it doesn’t mean they have infinite penetrative power. You research this area and you should know this?]
Although Tingting’s voice didn’t show any scorn, Lin Lin’s face turned uncontrollably red. Just as she wanted to rebut, Jiang Chen stood in front of her and suddenly said:
“Lin Lin, be prepared to fight. Try your best to control the power of the output and don’t take apart the noncombat units.”
“Oh, okay!” Lin Lin nodded.
But from inside the pitch black hole, a man with hands up to surrender walked up.
When he saw the face, Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes and a red scope was already pointed on his face.
“Lin Chaoen.”
“That’s right. It’s me.” Lin Chaoen let out a sigh then joked, “I can’t believe we meet again, in this fas.h.i.+on.”
“You provoked me multiple times, so you should’ve expected this day would come.” With finger rubbing against the trigger, Jiang Chen spoke emotionlessly.
Lin Chaoen shrugged and looked at Jiang Chen.
“Regardless, you won. In the end, Father wants to see you.”
Lin Chaoen then looked at Lin Lin who hid behind Jiang Chen with a bright smile on her face.
“And you, my dear sister.”
“Sis… sister?” Jiang Chen looked at Lin Lin in shock, but she looked puzzled too.
“What?” Lin Lin looked at Lin Chaoen, puzzled.
“You will know once you come in.”
Lin Chaoen smiled mysteriously at her, turned around, and headed into the fallout shelter.
Looking at the pitch black tunnel, Jiang Chen was uncertainty whether it was a trap or if they really did surrender like what Lin Chaoen said.
After debating for a while, Jiang Chen took out a signal stick, pulled the cord, and threw it in.
The bright red light luminated the s.p.a.ce. Other than rows of hibernation chambers, the basketball court-sized room didn’t have any weapons. With his rifle raised, Jiang Chen took Lin Lin into the fallout shelter.
“Lin Lin.”
“Mhmm?” Lin Lin hid behind Jiang Chen looked at his helmet anxiously.
“If they’re planning to close the door, shoot that engine at the door.” Jiang Chen used a voice that Lin Chaoen could heart.
“Oh…Okay!” Because she was too nervous, she almost bit her tongue.
There wasn’t too much light in the room other than the signal rod Jiang Chen threw out. The air in the room was filled with concentrated ozone. Because of this, the signal burned brightly.
A tower-shaped computer sat in the middle of the room with the flas.h.i.+ng signal lights indicating it was running. The middle of the computer, a vial with a brain inside and the bottom, was connected with a complex series of wiring to the different machines in the room.
The room was filled with computers, hibernation chambers and nothing else with a sign of life.
Other than saying it was a fallout shelter, the place was more of a mechanical city hidden underground. The central computer was its brain, and its heart and the complex wiring was its vein.
Lin Chaoen walked beneath the computer and stopped.
“Father, they are here.”
The screen suddenly lit up and a middle-aged face appeared in the center. The hairstyle looked sleek, the two eyebrows were thick but tidy, the blank pupils looked collected but possessed a degree of sharpness, and the gla.s.ses gave him a more educated vibe.
Lin Lin looked at the man with pupils suddenly contracted as she took two steps forward.
“Fa, father…”
“Don’t go.” Jiang Chen put his hand on her shoulder.
“No! That’s my father! Let me go—” Lin Lin fought in an attempt to break free from Jiang Chen to run.
Jiang Chen was stunned by the situation.
He didn’t expect this could happen. His right hand was still holding the rifle with the left hand tightly grasping Lin Lin’s shoulder.
“Lin Lin! Your father already went to—, went to the s.p.a.ce colonization s.h.i.+p. This is only a video!”
He almost said “went to heaven” but he changed halfway in the sentence.
“Father, father! You’re back to pick up your daughter, right?” Mist began to cover Lin Lin’s eyes as she was about to cry,
Jiang Chen stared at the middle-aged man and aimed at the screen.
“If you continue to pretend to be Lin Lin’s father, I’ll shoot your brain!”
“No—” Lin Lin screamed out.
“I didn’t pretend to be anyone.” The middle-aged man on the screen closed his eyes and pointed down there, “I’m here. You should be able to see my brain.”
The room quieted down.
Lin Lin blankly looked at him with disbelief in her eyes. “Brain? Dad, you…”
Shock also appeared in Jiang Chen’s eyes as he adjusted the aim to the vial.
Seeing Jiang Chen’s small adjustment, the middle-aged man laughed.
“Is this how you treat your father-in-law?”
[Father-in-law?]
Jiang Chen took a moment to process.
Lin Lin’s face blushed as she waved her hands to cover up. “No, no, dad you’re mistaken, he is not…”
It was just that when she said that, she didn’t sound like she meant it.
“Ahem.” The middle-aged man interrupted his daughter and looked seriously at Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen stared at him without a word. The rifle in hand still pointed at him – the brain.
“If you feel like this will bring you a sense of security, you can point at it. But I have to let you know that the vial’s gla.s.s could withstand the bullets of the anti-armor sniper rifle.”
[The Old man who smells like ozone, can I shoot him?] Tingting didn’t disguise her disgust to mechanical parts.
Lin Lin restrained Tingting who was eager to move.
Jiang Chen smiled and lowered his rifle.
“By letting me in, you’re preparing to surrender?”
“I just want to see my daughter.” The middle-aged man had a genuine smile on his face.
Jiang Chen’s eyes lit up. He didn’t think the situation would evolve into the reunion of a father and a daughter.
“Dad, where-where are you, the colonization s.h.i.+p—”
“I didn’t board the colonization s.h.i.+p,” the middle-aged man told Lin Lin.
Lin Lin’s eyes widened as she didn’t realize what he said. She didn’t know how she felt – shocked? Happy? Sad? Perhaps similar to no one, but close to all of the emotions combined.
After a while, she squeezed out a few words.
“Why?”
“Because there’s no need to leave. s.p.a.ce is dark and it’s the same going in any direction.” The man slowly said.
He then looked at Jiang Chen.
“I’m confused. You seem to have a remarkable ability. Instincts tell me it’s the primary reason why I’m lost.”
“I don’t disagree with your perspective,” Jiang Chen said.
[No sh*t. Without my interdimensional travel and storage dimension, I would’ve died many times already.]
The man gazed into Jiang Chen’s eyes then he sighed.
“Is that so? Although I hoped I would’ve lost because of a deeper reason.”
He then looked at Lin Lin, his daughter.
“I’m not a qualified father. On the path to Supreme, if there is anything I regretted, it would be you.”
Lin Lin eyes teared up, “No, dad, you gave me life, you gave the opportunity to—”
The middle-aged man interrupted her.
“Do you know why you had muscular dystrophy?”
Lin Lin stopped, “Is it that because it is congenital—”
“No.” The man shook his head. “I did it.”
Lin Lin became idle with tears freezing on her face then she murmured in a quiet voice, “Why?”
“It’s a long story, if you have patience, watch this.”
His face looked reminiscent and slowly faded on the screen.
The picture in the screen changed just like the old film tape rolling. It unfolded the history belonging here.