Chapter 481 Shelter

Just as everyone was about to pass through the lobby doors, the wall closest to them suddenly lit up, and then a figure appeared on the screen. Hao Ren and the others immediately reacted and looked at the big screen in surprise. It was a middle-aged man with gray hair and a stern, dignified appearance. He was wearing a smart black uniform trimmed with gold braid, and two rows of large gold buttons were fastened all the way to his chin.

The man on the big screen looked at Hao Ren and his group, a hint of surprise in his eyes. "Why are you outside?"

Hao Ren had already adapted to the desolate ghost town on this planet, but he never expected to suddenly see a living person on the screen. He was taken aback. "Holy crap… there are still people on this planet?!"

"Still people?" The middle-aged man on the screen was taken aback. "What are you talking about? Did you run out of the shelter? Or are you from other areas?"

Vivian immediately reacted and coughed lightly. "We… we came from somewhere else. There might be something wrong with our equipment. We got lost here."

She spoke vaguely, being as ambiguous as possible about the origins of their group out of caution. The person on the big screen didn't seem to think much of it. He just nodded. "Very well, it's good that you're back in the safe zone safe and sound. Hopefully, you haven't been affected by the radiation near the engine. A guide robot will take you to the shelter, and then a civil investigator will ask you about your situation."

As soon as he finished speaking, the big screen on the wall dimmed again, quickly returning to its original appearance. Hao Ren and the others exchanged glances, feeling that there was something strange about this person who had suddenly appeared, but they couldn't quite put their finger on what was wrong.

"There are still people on this planet?" Lily smacked her lips, looking incredulous.

Vivian stroked her chin. "According to what he said, there seems to be some kind of shelter… I didn't expect there to actually be survivors!"

Led by the little robot, the group passed through the lobby doors and entered a long corridor illuminated by red lights. The robot signaled them to go to the other side of the corridor to complete the disinfection. Hao Ren muttered in confusion as he walked, "But this isn't right…"

"It's not right," Vivian remembered what everyone had discussed before. "This planet's original sun exploded ten thousand years ago, but the planet's engine was only activated a hundred years ago. So, in theory, the survivors here should have missed the escape window back then—since there are people alive, why didn't they set sail ten thousand years ago?! Could it be that they slept next to that cooled star for ten thousand years?"

Lily immediately curled her lip. "You think everyone's as suicidal when they sleep as you are?"

This husky really didn't forget to bicker with her nemesis even in the midst of everything.

Nangong Wuyue had a complex expression on her face, a mixture of expectation and fear. "Could my parents be in that shelter?"

Hao Ren immediately reacted. "That's right! Since there's a shelter here, it's very likely that the Nangong couple were also taken inside, just like us!"

Everyone felt that it made sense after thinking about it, and they immediately quickened their pace to pass through the corridor. At the end of the corridor, another guide robot was waiting for them. The little robot opened the semicircular gate at the front of the corridor, and a special small room appeared before everyone's eyes.

The small room was empty, and there was nothing else to see except for a large cylinder in the center. The front of the cylinder was a translucent glass door, and inside, they could see a device similar to an elevator—it seemed that the shelter was underground.

In order to go to the shelter smoothly, Hao Ren and the others were very cooperative at this time, quietly watching the little robot open the elevator door and signal everyone to enter. But just as everyone stepped onto the elevator platform, Hao Ren caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye.

It was a long sea serpent tail—Wuyue's.

"Wait," a thought flashed through Hao Ren's mind. "Wuyue, you've been in this form the whole time?"

Wuyue moved her tail, confused, making herself more comfortable (the narrow space of the elevator was a bit cramped for her large body, but she hadn't had a chance to transform into another form just now). "Yeah, what's wrong?"

"…That uncle on the screen didn't seem curious at all about your appearance," Lily also reacted at this time. She touched her ears and tail. "Also, there's my appearance…"

Wuyue immediately curled her tail up tightly, becoming nervous. "Could it be a trap?!"

At this time, the elevator door had already closed, and the entire platform began to accelerate downward. Hao Ren glanced at the metal frames and mechanical layers flashing by outside and gritted his teeth. "Screw it, let's see what happens. Everyone, be vigilant, but don't act rashly unless there's an emergency."

Lily nodded vigorously and drew out her ice and fire claws with a whoosh. "Don't worry, landlord, I'll protect you!"

Vivian pushed the husky to the side with all her might. "You idiot, put your claws away! This is an elevator… Ow, my clothes! I only have two good outfits!"

"Can't you two be a little quieter in this situation?" Hao Ren was really helpless with these two frenemies sometimes. He could only lean to the side to find some peace. Izhaks, on the other hand, looked down at the floor of the elevator platform: Decorative transparent glass was inlaid in the floor, and they could see the situation below. Now, they could only see faint lights coming from the bottom of the extremely deep shaft. "It seems the shelter is extremely deep underground."

"Perhaps they're using geothermal energy to maintain the ecosystem," Hao Ren was rummaging through his brain for that bit of professional knowledge. "A common shelter plan for low-tech civilizations."

The deep shaft seemed to have no end. Everyone waited in the elevator, tense, vigilant, or expectant for a long time without reaching the bottom. Anyway, Lily's serious energy lasted for five minutes before she couldn't hold on any longer, and she simply squatted on the ground and started scratching at the floor. Just as she drew her third stick-figure puppy on the floor, everyone finally felt the entire car shake slightly, and the sound of mechanical devices locking came from outside.

Izhaks looked up. "At least tens of kilometers… it seems you're right, they're using magma from the earth's core to maintain the shelter's heat."

With a soft "hiss," the elevator doors slid open to both sides. Nangong Sanba immediately threw out a small piece of paper talisman, and the paper talisman turned into a human shadow that walked a few steps outside, but it didn't trigger any traps or anything like that. He then cautiously walked out with his crossbow raised. "Safe, follow me."

"Your brother can be pretty reliable sometimes," Vivian said casually to Wuyue.

Wuyue curled her lip. "If he didn't even have these hunter skills, he would have died in some ancient castle long ago… Wow!"

Wuyue's words were interrupted by her own exclamation. Everyone came out of the elevator, speechless at the sight before them!

Outside the elevator was not the dark, cramped steel shelter that they had imagined, nor could they see rows of narrow living capsules stacked up like a prison. Outside was actually a huge city!

Neat, wide roads stretched out endlessly before them, and tall buildings were arranged in an orderly manner in their sight. Between the buildings, they could see lush plants and artificial landscapes for decoration. Hao Ren looked back and found that the elevator shaft they had come in was actually a huge pillar that reached the sky in the city. This pillar was in the center of a square formed by the intersection of several roads, and in the far distance, he vaguely saw other similar pillars.

It seemed that there was more than one entrance to the shelter.

Lily opened her mouth and stared blankly for a long time before squeezing out a sentence. "…For a shelter, this place is really exaggerated."

Izhaks looked up at the top. The city was not dark, on the contrary, it was as bright as day under the illumination of a large number of lights above. Izhaks narrowed his eyes and saw the rough rock ceiling and huge steel support structures through the gaps in the "light nets" that simulated the sky. "The top is a rock layer… this is a huge cave, I don't know if it was dug out artificially or if this planet naturally has such a structure."

Vivian immediately looked up at the rock ceiling and began to mumble to herself. "A cave…"

Hao Ren subconsciously replied, "You're not planning to hang upside down and rest, are you?"

Vivian quickly reacted and shook her head vigorously. "It's okay, I can control it!"

Lily turned her face away. "Tch, a bat."