Suspicion Being Generated…

Eating the lunch meat raw was really salty, and Ruan Mobei held the can, saying, “I’ll finish it when we get to a place with water.”

His voice echoed in the empty hallway, making the space feel especially desolate. Ruan Mobei returned to the elevator and pressed the down button again, but the button still didn’t light up.

“Where did you find this?” Ruan Mobei asked, pointing at the can and miming a box shape with his hands. Based on his knowledge of the base from the last world, emergency food like this would usually be stored in a warehouse.

He Songming seemed to understand, and he resumed walking, leading Ruan Mobei to a hidden corner. There, a non-load-bearing wall had cracked with deep crevices, and at the intersections of these cracks, a hole barely half a meter wide had collapsed.

This area must have been through an earthquake. Even a base constructed to nuclear defense standards had suffered structural damage from the seismic activity. The non-load-bearing wall had cracked open.

He Songming hunched his shoulders and squeezed through the gap.

His tall frame almost got stuck at the opening, and Ruan Mobei had to push him from behind, helping him through. He followed closely, crawling into the gap.

The temperature inside was colder. Countless small metal boxes, about the size of delivery packages, were stacked together, pressed against the wall. The outermost ones had collapsed, as if they’d been slammed forcefully against the wall.

Among the hundreds of boxes, one had been smashed open by the others, spilling its contents onto the ground. Ruan Mobei picked up one of the cans.

Food wasn’t the immediate priority. The jungle outside was rich in animal resources, and He Songming could easily catch small creatures. Ruan Mobei set the can aside, using the faint light from the warning sign to feel around inside the broken box.

The box had long lost its vacuum-sealed quality and was no longer ideal for food storage.

He Songming stood to the side, looking on eagerly as Ruan Mobei continued to explore.

Cans, cans, and more cans—Ruan Mobei found a lot of them.

Was that all there was? He felt a bit disappointed. Of course, these boxes were clearly meant for food storage.

Ruan Mobei withdrew his hand. This box likely contained over a hundred cans. It seemed like a lot, but if they only ate this, it wouldn’t last more than a month. He Songming’s decision to use these as rations was, in fact, quite practical.

Not finding what he was hoping for, Ruan Mobei sighed softly. He grabbed the broken metal box, which weighed around thirty kilograms. If he stood it upright, it would just fit through the hole.

“Come, help me carry this out.”

He Songming didn’t quite understand what Ruan Mobei wanted to do, but seeing him struggle alone with the heavy box, he extended a hand to help.

Together, they managed to move the box out of the storage area. Ruan Mobei placed it at the point where they would have to pass on their way back. He patted the dust off his hands and said, “Let’s leave the cans here for now. We only need to take the box.”

The environment here was dry and the temperature constant, no sunlight. It was much better for preserving the cans.

Most of the important supplies in the base were stored below the ninth floor underground. But that didn’t mean the upper floors were empty. Before the humans were awakened, to save as much space as possible, all rooms were filled with large amounts of supplies, enabling “saturation storage.”

“The elevator still hasn’t been activated, but there should be stairwells. Let’s go check. If we can’t get down, we can try to see if there are any other storage rooms on the upper floors that can be opened.”

The situation had reversed, with Ruan Mobei leading the way and He Songming following. As a shelter designed by top architects from all over the world, the general structure of all the bases was similar, with only small differences in certain details.

As someone who had personally drawn up the base’s blueprint, Ruan Mobei could walk through with his eyes closed without bumping into any walls. His pace was quick, his footsteps echoing in the empty hallway, while He Songming walked silently behind him, barefoot.

They had to act quickly. The base had three floors on the surface, and exploring all of them would likely take about an hour. They still had to carry the metal box back to the cave, which was far away.

If they delayed too long, they would end up at the cave after dark, and the only option would be to spend the night by the campfire.

Before it got dark, they still needed to hunt and eat a proper meal. A can of lunch meat wouldn’t fill the stomach of an adult man, let alone the fact that He Songming hadn’t eaten anything yet.

Ruan Mobei reached what seemed to be the stairwell and, as expected, found that it was locked by a program and couldn’t be accessed. He immediately went to the northwest and southeast corners of the base, but all three stairwells were sealed.

Before the humans were awakened, the AI and engineers—who woke up once every hundred years—controlled the base. The AI was responsible for periodically waking up the engineers, who would then gain full access to the base. Their job was to maintain the two filtration towers in front of the base and check if the environment was suitable for human life.

At this point, the other sleeping residents of the base had no access rights. Even if they woke up accidentally, they would have to return to their hibernation pods to continue sleeping until they were officially awakened.

And since He Songming was likely the only awake human in the entire base, he had not only wandered the jungle but could also use his palm print to open the base’s side door and the other three security doors.

From his behavior, it seemed that He Songming didn’t understand the true meaning of unlocking with his palm print. He likely accidentally unlocked it during an exploration and had been testing it out ever since, unknowingly “learning” this action.

Ruan Mobei grabbed He Songming’s wrist, pressing his hand against every inch of the wall near the stairwell.

Nothing. The door didn’t open.

Something wasn’t right.

Ruan Mobei furrowed his brows, deep in thought. After a moment, he looked at He Songming, who was obediently standing there, and whispered, “It could be a voiceprint password. We might need the correct voice to say the key phrase…”

“You speak?” Ruan Mobei asked.

He Songming looked at him, curious.

“Right. You can’t speak.” Ruan Mobei sighed deeply. It seemed they couldn’t go any further down. As expected, the security keys for the lower levels were more advanced.

“Let’s not worry about going down for now. Let’s search this floor thoroughly,” Ruan Mobei said, turning and heading for the first storage room.

He kept testing with He Songming’s palm print, and after trying over a dozen unresponsive doors, one finally lit up green, showing “Access Granted.”

Finally!

Ruan Mobei exhaled in relief, rubbing his forehead and walking through the now-open door with great anticipation.

It was a storage room, filled with many vacuum-sealed bags containing various fabrics. The walls had boxes fixed to them. Ruan Mobei pulled He Songming, who was curiously exploring, over and used his fingerprint to unlock one of the boxes.

Inside, it was hard to see clearly in the dim light, but he reached in and touched a cold dagger and a small handgun.

Finally, the items he had been hoping for!

Ruan Mobei couldn’t wait to grab the dagger, pressing it lightly in his palm to ensure it was sharp enough. He hung it on his belt and then grabbed the handgun, feeling its weight in his hand. It gave him a sense of security.

He unloaded the magazine and counted the bullets—seven in total. He quickly reloaded the magazine, and when he came to his senses, he heard a click as the magazine snapped back into place.

…Wait a minute, why was he so skilled at this?

Ruan Mobei swore that this was his first time handling a real gun. He’d always been interested in military gear and had played many war video games, so he was familiar with various types of guns, but that didn’t mean he could handle one so expertly.

It was like using a gun had become ingrained in his instincts.

Ruan Mobei couldn’t figure it out, so he reluctantly attributed it to his natural talent. Well, it was a good thing, and he should be happy about it.

He continued rummaging through the box, finding clothes—shirts and pants—just as if they were left by someone. The person had removed all their clothing and neatly stacked it in the box, placing their firearms and dagger on top.

Ruan Mobei picked up the clothes, intending to give them to He Songming. Although there was no real need to feel embarrassed, it still felt odd to have He Songming walking around naked in front of him all the time.

He kept searching and found a waist pouch, which he put on, placing the gun, the dagger, and even the remaining half of the can of food inside.

The vacuum-sealed bags contained more clothes and blankets. Ruan Mobei opened one and quickly organized it, leaving only two sets of clothes and two thin blankets, setting the rest aside for now.

There were only two of them, and they still had to carry the metal box back to the cave. Too many things would make it harder on the journey.

He had found many useful items, and this trip was quite rewarding. The only downside was that he hadn’t found any lighting equipment. Looks like they would have to explore again next time.

Ruan Mobei called He Songming, and they returned to the hallway, placing the vacuum bags of clothes into the metal box before leaving the base.

As he used the palm print to open the side door, Ruan Mobei covered He Songming’s eyes with one hand. Entering the bright jungle from the dark place would have been very uncomfortable for the eyes without preparation.

The door slowly opened, and the bright sunlight flooded in. Ruan Mobei stood at the doorway, taking a moment to adjust, then stepped back into the jungle with He Songming.

They carried the metal box back along the same path, and thanks to their combined strength, the journey wasn’t too difficult. By noon, they arrived at He Songming’s small shelter.

“Why didn’t you settle near the base? Is it because there’s no suitable water source nearby?” Ruan Mobei asked, unpacking the items they brought back. He Songming squatted nearby, watching him, wanting to help but unable to.

When Ruan Mobei spoke, He Songming stared at his mouth, imitating him by opening his own mouth and moving it, though no sound came out.

He Songming frowned in confusion, touching his lips.