Chapter 285 - Continuing Search
TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney
Walking down to the end of the hallway and turning left, they arrived at another cabin door. Pushing it open, Treadmill heard whispering noise coming from another cabin room.
Moving quietly, Treadmill and his group walked closer to the sound’s source. They discovered that it was coming from a small room, that turned out to be the communications center. It was running on backup power, so the electronic equipment was still functioning. The whispering noises were coming from the communication devices.
“h.e.l.lo? h.e.l.llllooooo?” Treadmill started shouting into the microphone.
No response, there was only a continued wheezing sound. It sounded worse than if someone was about to have an asthma attack, barely human, rougher and deeper. Was the communicator malfunctioning?
“Hey! Hey! This is the Serenity, who are you? What are you doing?” Treadmill started shouting into the microphone again.
“Don"t tell them we are on the Serenity...” HuJun reminded Treadmill, a bit late.
“Help…help me…” the communicator devolved into static, and words that sounded like a woman.
“Who are you? Where are you?” Treadmill angrily glanced at HuJun and continued to shout into the microphone.
Once again there was no reply. The communicator produced a sharp piercing sound, like feedback. It was enough to hurt their eardrums. Huang WeiTao quickly turned off the device to stop it.
“What the h.e.l.l?” Treadmill placed the microphone back on the table.
“You really shouldn’t have said that we were on the Serenity. That was exposing our location,” HuJun complained to Treadmill.
“I know. I know,” Treadmill replied to HuJun, embarra.s.sed.
The airship wasn’t too large, the communications room was located near the rear of the ship. Treadmill’s search was coming to an end, at least for that floor. If the search continued, they had to go up or down the stairs. This was something Treadmill was very reluctant to do. Instead, Treadmill reported back to Han GuangMing on the situation and requested further instructions.
“Elder Liu is also onboard now. He is at the main reception hall. Let’s meet up there. You can head back to the reception hall first,” Han GuangMing replied to Treadmill. Even though the Serenity was an airship, it was located on water, so most team members were referring it as a ship.
“Elder Liu came onboard? Okay, I will get to the reception hall immediately,” Treadmill replied. Then, Treadmill explained to Huang WeiTao and HuJun of the situation, as they walked back along the route they came from.
While Han GuangMing was executing his operation, Liu Gan and Yin He took the time to search the whole dock. They felt satisfied that there was no potential ambush in the surroundings, there was nothing alive nearby at all. With the potential threat of night drawing closer and rain drizzling down, Liu Gan was updated on the situation by Han GuangMing and made the decision to board the airship.
Once within Serenity, Liu Gan had the two vehicles driven right near the main cabin door. He left behind several members to safeguard the vehicles while the rest of the team members started moving stuff. Food, corn and their equipment was taken off of the vehicles and into the reception hall.
***
“I finished looking around the whole front side of the ship, I wasn’t able to find any survivors, players, or even zombies. Not even corpses can be found. There is evidence of people living aboard, but they suddenly left,” Han GuangMing reported to Liu Gan.
“How were things on your side?” Liu Gan asked Treadmill.
“Yeah, we didn’t meet anyone on our way in. But, toward the rear of the ship, we received a distress call. We answered the call, but there was no reply. Only a sharp whistling sound right afterwards,” Treadmill reported back to Liu Gan.
“Treadmill was communicating through the microphone that we were onboard the airship. That is like revealing our location,” HuJun quickly added.
“HEY! Brother, I already acknowledged my mistake,” Treadmill said, embarra.s.sed.
Even though Liu Gan didn’t open his mouth, he was thinking of a solution to that problem.
“Elder Liu, according to my speculations, all the pa.s.sengers aboard this ship suddenly disappeared without traces of battle. It feels very eerie,” Treadmill gave his thoughts, trying to divert attention from the recent accusation by HuJun.
“There are still floors above and below! We aren’t completely done looking through the ship. They might be hiding in a particular cabin on a different floor. As long as we can find just one person alive, we will know what had happened here,” Han GuangMing said to Liu Gan.
“Continue the search. Make sure you check every cabin and pay attention to the evidence. Look for firearm and resource storages. If there was anything abnormal, there will be a sign left behind. It is not possible that there is no evidence of it,” Liu Gan said to all the members.
Now that everyone had gathered in the reception hall. The twelve people were split into four groups. Every group had three people. Each group was responsible for a floor. Liu Gan and YIn He first went to the communications room. When they turned on the device, nothing could be heard, not even the feedback or static from before.
The Serenity had three floors above sea level. The first level had been searched thoroughly. Below the waterline was the main cabin of the airship. This level contained the centralized control centers and cargo bay. Aside from all the cargo stored, there was also a miniature submarine. By the marked logo, it could reach depths of up to four thousand meters.
The airship’s second floor was guest rooms. The third and highest floor held the fuel tanks and flight control room. In addition, the weapon armory was also located on the third floor.
After a very detailed search, the final conclusion was that the Serenity was abandoned. There were no signs of an enemy and not a body to be found. There were a few stashes of food left in the cargo hold. The dry stored goods were going to be depleted, but there were a lot of freshly picked corn and vegetables. It seemed like the former players or survivors were able to pick fresh food to replenish their supplies.
On the third floor, the armory was empty. However, in the second floor guest rooms, there was quite a large amount of ammunition in each room. It seemed they carried their weapons wherever they went. At least, until the owner of those weapons disappeared, leaving behind their weapon and ammunition in the rooms.
Han GuangMing was able to find a small generator in the cargo bay, with some fuel still in its tank. After getting permission from Liu Gan, Han GuangMing started up the generator and plugged it in. It was able to illuminate a good section of the room.
After the groups returned from completely searching the ship, the sky was dark outside. It started raining again, and a thunderstorm was brewing in the distance. As a result, Liu Gan’s crew would have to stay on the Serenity for the night.