Chapter 81

Let's rewind a bit. When Lin Tu and the others charged up to the rooftop, they found that someone had gotten there before them.

This group had blown a hole in the ceiling and set up a makeshift ladder to reach the roof. The clothes on the leader were not unfamiliar to Lin Tu—they were the uniform of the Government Army. Watching them drag a person out from the deepest room, a sudden flash of insight told her who it was.

"Rui Si!" Lin Tu shouted.

.

"And then?" Guan Suixing asked anxiously. "Was it him? And where did those Government Army soldiers come from?"

"And then—we're here," Lin Tu said, pointing at the shelter ahead. "You two go wash up first. I'll get the medicine and treat your wounds."

"How can you just—" Seeing her actually go dig out the keys and let the story trail off, Guan Suixing nearly jumped out of her skin with frustration.

Fortunately, at that moment, someone inside heard the commotion and opened the door.

His red-rimmed eyes swept past the others and landed on Lin Tu, who had just emerged from the greenhouse. "Miss Lin! You're finally back! Grandma Doro... she's gone!"

Why was she gone, how could she be gone—none of those questions made it past Lin Tu's lips. She walked forward with heavy steps. "Did she pass half an hour ago?"

David's expression turned to shock. "You... how did you know?"

"Because I met Rui Si."

This time, Lin Tu didn't speak in riddles. She picked up the story from where she'd left off.

When she'd shouted Rui Si's name, the man had indeed looked over—but both of his eye sockets were hollow, empty voids. The Government Army soldiers eyed her warily and demanded to know who she was.

Lin Tu didn't answer. She was about to make a move when the tension in the air seemed to reach him—

"Please, don't save me!" Rui Si said. "I am about to truly betray the Rebel Army. But this was my mother's plan—she traded her life for mine. So I must keep moving forward, to honor her, and not let her down."

Lin Tu turned to David. "Do you know? What plan?"

"I know. Of course I know. It's all my fault..." David broke down sobbing at Rui Si's resolute words. "Grandma said she'd trade a secret to the Government Army to save Rui Si, and asked me to pull some strings to make the connection. She said she might die because of it, but the odds weren't high. I believed her."

"I should have known!" David covered his face and wailed. "She kept saying not to tell you, that she wouldn't drag anyone in the shelter down with her. Why didn't I realize? It was never someone else who killed her—it was herself. Half an hour ago, she took her own life!"

"Dad... don't be sad. Grandma must have left happily. She said she was going to heaven, and to celebrate, she gave us candy," Little David said, standing behind him holding a piece of candy. "Dad, Grandma said there's more candy under the bed, and told me to remind you to take it out and share it with everyone."

As if recalling something, David rushed into Shi Duoluo's room and came back with a small notebook, pressing it into Lin Tu's hands.

The moment the notebook touched her palm, her phone buzzed with a notification—

[Side mission progress 1/2: You have successfully inherited the civilian shelter. Current shelter completeness: 36%; average health of seven residents: 49%. Continue to hold the civilian shelter. When the disaster ends, side mission rewards will be distributed based on shelter completeness, number of surviving residents, and health values. (You may now claim the reward for side mission 1/2.)]

[Players may now join your shelter.]

"Property deed?" Luo Yongzhi leaned over, surprised.

"You're doing a side mission..." Guan Suixing blurted out, then swallowed the rest of her sentence when she remembered there was a local in their midst. "You're really brave."

As a player, merely surviving a disaster was already a major win. Maybe if a mission was simple enough, some players might do it along the way, but survival always came first. [Inherit and hold the civilian shelter] was clearly not that kind of mission.

So when Yi Ying gathered the team and sent everyone the disaster briefing, they'd all silently agreed to skip the missions.

Their original plan was to stay at the shelter where they'd spawned, wait until those shelters were mostly destroyed, then regroup and move to the next safe shelter together—until all shelters fell, at which point they'd pick a relatively safe spot and hunker down until the disaster passed.

"There are still over three hundred shelters rated green for safety, and Lin Jie's is one of them," Yi Ying said. The Black Factory had a special item that could locate "safe houses" for disasters below A-rank—though, of course, many disasters didn't have safe houses at all. This round's disaster and the previous [Abnormal Plant Crisis] were both exceptions.

"In that case, why don't we just join Lin Jie's shelter?" Luo Yongzhi said gleefully. His spawn shelter had already been destroyed in the earlier bombing anyway.

David looked at these strangers, waiting for Lin Tu's decision.

"Alright," Lin Tu nodded. Having players here would make the shelter safer and faster to repair. "But the place is small. You might not get private rooms—you'll have to sleep on the floor. And the original residents have been here longer than you, so you need to defer to them."

Luo Yongzhi was practically itching to haul his stuff over—hell, since when hadn't he slept on the floor?

"No problem!" Yi Ying agreed. Her spawn shelter wasn't destroyed, but compared to Lin Tu's, she knew perfectly well which one was safer. "I'll cook up a feast for everyone tonight."

"From now on, we're all brothers," David started to wave off the offer, but Luo Yongzhi draped an arm over his shoulder. "I'm really grateful you're letting us stay. If you ever need anything, just come to me. I don't have many talents, but I've got strength!"

Strength? Could it be more than Lin Tu's... David was about to ask when he saw Luo Yongzhi scoop up Little David and hoist him onto one shoulder, whooping with glee.

Little David was scared at first, but quickly started loving it. He clung to Luo Yongzhi's head, laughing, drawing the other kids from upstairs down to marvel at these amazing new big brothers and sisters in the shelter.

"They're all so handsome and pretty," Bu Daixi whispered excitedly to her brother. "Except that one," she added, giving Guan Suixing a look of distaste. Guan Suiyue was ragged too, but she had a certain rugged charm that the girl could appreciate. This Guan Suixing, though... blackened mouth, ears full of piercings—who knew if she'd eat children or not.

Guan Suixing, being a player with enhanced physical attributes, caught the girl's side-eye immediately. She grew indignant and looked at her sister, hoping for some backup—

Sure, their shelter was gone, but they'd just moved into a new one. It was smelly, it was small, the ceiling was tarpaulin, and they had to pay rent—but still, it was better than Lin Tu's place by any measure.

"Can I ask you a question?" Guan Suiyue said.

Lin Tu nodded.

"You never finished the story. I want to know how it ends."

.

After he'd said those words, Lin Tu didn't take it at face value.

No way. She'd put in so much effort—locked up for two days without food, racking her brains to sneak into the Blue Light Hotel—just to see Rui Si. She wasn't about to be turned back by a few words.

She hurled three corn cobs ahead of her, shouting "Cornfield Effect," enveloping nearly all the rebels. At the same time, she darted forward, pinpointing Rui Si and grabbing his arm.

"I don't care how your mother plans to save you. All I know is you're carrying a secret, and until I learn what it is, you can't die!" Lin Tu pulled him to leave, but found she couldn't budge him.

She turned around, startled.

"You want to know the secret? I can tell you—but only if you don't take me away."

"I made a promise to your mother. I'm getting you out of here."

"Really?" Rui Si's hollow gaze stared at nothing, as if he were both laughing and crying. "But by now, she should already be dead."

Lin Tu was stunned.

"If you really did it for my mother, you should leave. I have my own mission to complete," Rui Si replied. "If you want to know the secret, why not earn more military merit? Once you've earned enough to exchange for the [Human Evolution Liquid], everything will become clear."