death of hope

Chapter 13 "The Flying Windfall" (13) The Old Drunkard

Seeing that half a bottle of whiskey was down, Roy persuaded:

"Drink slowly, old man, think about your liver."

"Liver? Fuck the liver! It's a big deal with cancer, I'll talk about it after I'm fucking drunk!"

Old John unscrewed the cap of the wine bottle contentedly, wiped his mouth, and asked squintingly:
"Why, want to go to the shelter?"

"Yes, mainly to take a look around and retrieve the things that were put in the safe last time."

"Okay, let's go after I have two bites, together, there are artificial steaks and slices of bread in the room."

"Then I'm welcome."

After drinking and eating, the two continued to walk towards the depths of the car processing plant.

The huge ruins left over from the old world almost covered the entire surface of the planet, and the new Terra Federation was built on this pile of rubbish.

This place is like an alternative automobile culture museum. For Roy, who loves retro machinery, it has an inexplicable strong attraction, gears, multi-riveted steamed steel, large-displacement internal combustion engines, and the charm of industrial power.

Classic cars from the last century are piled up on both sides of the road, some birds and bats nest in the garbage, the air is filled with the smell of rust, and the stench of bat droppings and bird droppings.

Outside an old bunker, Old John stopped in his tracks:

"Come on, boy, give me a hand."

The two rolled up their sleeves, grabbed the roulette on the iron door and spun it vigorously,
The gears creaked and creaked. Thanks to the anti-rust and anti-corrosion treatment of the metal surface, the entire mechanical structure can still operate effectively.

This is the charm of old world civilization technology. Although it is not exquisite, it is better than durable.

The inner layer is a 30-ton homogeneous steel-clad lead armored safety door, and the surface is marked with the radiation protection level certification mark. In addition, there are colorful sprinkler graffiti.

Old John took out two heavy alloy keys from his pocket, and the two inserted one into the keyhole respectively, and counted: "3...2...1."

The keys were turned at the same time, and the "click..." sound of the mechanism unlocking was still very crisp.

Thanks to the good maintenance of Old John and his countless generations of former administrators, the hinges of the safety door are still smooth after a hundred years, otherwise it would be difficult to push it open with the strength of the two.

This is a large shelter built in the last century. It has a half-meter-thick alloy armor plate and a ten-meter-thick concrete layer, which can resist any bombing of ground-penetrating bombs, or even nuclear weapons.

There is a large amount of drinking water and cans in the warehouse of the shelter, which can be used for tens of thousands of people to live for two weeks. They can return to rebuild civilization after the radiation on the surface is relieved.

It is sad that this civil air defense project, which cost a lot of manpower and material resources to build, did not come in handy.
In addition to launching nuclear bombs to each other, the two sides in the war also launched electronic warfare. The computer virus caused the artificial intelligence AI of the computers of both sides to rebel, leading to a series of chain disasters.

Tracked heavy combat mechs turned their muzzles to aim at their own people, drones dropped guided bombs regardless of enemy or friend, and even the sweeping robots at home began to riot. As long as there is a network connection, there will be no peace.

Terra, the home planet of mankind, became chaotic, and civilians also took up guns to kill each other.

There were no victors in this war, and when the dust settled, all national polities ceased to exist.

When the betrayed artificial intelligence lost its power and stopped, people cautiously poked their heads out from the ruins. The surface of Terra's home planet had been completely bombed, and more than half of the creatures had been wiped out.

Perseverance is the virtue of human civilization,

Under the leadership of the new Terra Federation, human civilization has risen from the ruins of the old world. Without the influence of war, the population has increased tenfold within a hundred years.

Roy recalled the things mentioned in the history book, and as the door was pushed open, his mind gradually returned to reality.

The two were exhausted, squatting on the ground and panting heavily, the inside of the security door was dark, you couldn't see your fingers, and the smell of dust was heavy, Roy was choked and coughed, and he could hear an obvious echo.

"Boy, next time you come here, you'd better wear a gas mask or a mask, otherwise you will easily get pneumoconiosis."

"Oh, I know, one of those diseases that miners are prone to."

"You'd better not be fooled, boy, that's how my old miner went."

"Listen, old man, I'm not interested in knowing how your dead daddy got away. On the home planet of Terra, even if you don't go to the mines, many people die from air pollution every day.

Moreover, we don't need to worry about what will happen in the future. Instead of living in fear, it is better to live in the present and be happy. "

Old John scratched his ass and said, "Stinky boy, what you say is not big or small, but it makes sense, yes, there is no use in thinking so much, haha!"

I picked up the kerosene lamp from the wall and lit it with a lighter. With this faint light, I could see a very spacious concrete staircase stretching downwards, bottomless.

If a claustrophobic person comes here, he must be scared to death.

"I'll send someone to explore the road." Roy stepped on an empty wine bottle and pushed it down with his toes. The sound of glass colliding with concrete became smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared into the darkness.

"Idiot! Be quiet, you will startle the mutated creatures in the ground, and those big rats stalking around will use their sharp claws to open your stomach, pull out your intestines and eat them!"

"Come on, these are all old and outdated legends. You old man is really bad, and you like to make up some jokes to scare children. Now that I have grown up, I won't be scared by your old man again."

"Boy, believe it or not, if you don't listen to the old man's words, you will be at a disadvantage! Let's wait and see."

"Even if there are monsters, I will eat you, a big fat man first, let's go!"

The two talked and laughed as they walked down the stairs. Old John was carrying a kerosene lamp, and Roy was using a miniature flashlight. All he could see were gray concrete steps, occasionally mice passed by, and they were not as huge as the legends mentioned.

After walking for about 3 minutes, you can see that the stairs in front of you have been painted with a layer of orange paint, which reads;

"This place is still 1m away from the escape passage on the L20 floor. Residents are requested to wear ID badges and use a foam spray gun to remove the radiation dust before entering."

"It's almost there." Old John coughed and choked on the dust, cursing, "Damn it, he should have brought a bottle of wine down."

"Don't complain, I'll bring you a case of brandy in cans next time, so you can drink it while you're working."

"Hey, boy, this is like a human saying."

After another 20 meters, Roy stopped,
Raise the flashlight to shine on the protective door on the side, and there is a Halloween rubber ghost mask hanging on the doorknob,

Although it's just a toy, it still looks extraordinarily weird in this dark and dark environment.

If an ordinary person saw this scene, he would definitely be shivering with fright, but Roy was not afraid, because he always played here when he was a child, and he picked up this mask from the garbage dump and hung it on it.

Old John used a bunch of keys to try one by one, and Roy said impatiently:
"Old man, can't you use tape to mark it, and you have to find it every time, and it's not too tiring."

"Stop talking nonsense! Do you still want to go in?"

When he tried more than 20, there was a "click" and the door opened.

Roy walked inside with a big stride, an old hand grabbed his shoulder.

"What are you doing? Old man."

"Tell me, boy, what was the last thing you hid?"

"Hundreds of dollars of private money, and some information."

"What information?"

"A few movie discs, and a membership card for the XXX bar."

"Good guy, no wonder it's hidden, if I hand these membership cards to Anna..."

Roy pretended to beg and begged: "Please, old man, I will give you all my private money, don't tell it."

Old John's laughter echoed in the empty underground:
"Haha! We won't do that immoral thing!"

(End of this chapter)