Chapter 885: Chapter 44: Mecha Engineer New Mei_2
Zhang Xiaoman nodded and didn’t explain much. Instead, he led the middle-aged man towards the spot he saw.
As they approached, a faint knocking sound suddenly came through, making Sol, who couldn’t see the situation ahead, tense up. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ɴoᴠel Fɪre.nᴇt
“Don’t be afraid, it’s just a starved mutant.”
Zhang Xiaoman walked over and unleashed a Wind Blade, instantly decapitating the mutant knocking on the alloy door.
The monster looked just like the previous two, emaciated and skeletal like a refugee starved for years, no wonder Zhang Xiaoman described them as starved mutants earlier.
“Why…why do they look ?”
Sol obviously noticed and instinctively asked aloud.
While using the Violent Spirit Technique to cut through the Fallen Metal door in front of him, Zhang Xiaoman explained:
“Although mutants possess extraordinary speed and strength beyond that of ordinary people, they are, after all, a type of living creature. Being living creatures, they cannot avoid energy intake, and the Crimson Light outside is the best nutrient to maintain their activity…”
“I don’t know what happened here to cause so many mutants to appear, but one thing is certain: they have been confined here for a long time without access to the light outside, so gradually losing their ability to move and becoming this weak is not surprising.”
After Zhang Xiaoman’s explanation, Sol immediately understood.
“I see, I understand now…it seems these creatures aren’t invincible…if we could trap them, we might be able to…”
He couldn’t help but shake his head, rejecting his own idea.
“No, the cost would be too great to bear. Instead of slowly depleting them, we should find a way to eliminate them directly…”
Zhang Xiaoman said nothing in response to his idea, his hands not pausing for a moment as the door in front of them opened.
The alloy door was cut open, revealing the scene inside.
It was a warehouse-like place, with various boxes neatly piled around. From some open boxes, Zhang Xiaoman saw the supplies he and Sol had come to find.
“Corona set, compressed food…it seems this is the underground base’s warehouse…”
He thought to himself, realizing Sol hadn’t lied; there was indeed a large amount of food and combat supplies here.
But besides these things, something else concerned him even more: in the corner of the warehouse, a figure in a white Corona Combat Suit was huddled against the wall.
Sol shouted when he saw this, bolting over in three strides. Clearly, this was the “good brother” he was looking for.
“New Mei, are you okay? It’s me, I’ve come back, it’s Sol…”
He reached out to check her breathing, relieved to find she was still alive.
Zhang Xiaoman walked over, holding a Four-leaf Flower, and handed it to the man in front of him, saying:
“Feed this to her. Also, she’s very weak now, probably dehydrated. You should quickly find her some water.”
Upon hearing this, Sol hastily took the flower from Zhang Xiaoman’s hand, believing it could save New Mei, and thanked him before stuffing it into the woman’s mouth.
Ten minutes later, the woman who had been sitting unconscious on the ground finally awoke. Zhang Xiaoman didn’t mind spending his points on such an engineer.
The moment the woman opened her eyes and saw Sol waiting in front of her, she was still slightly in disbelief.
“Am I dreaming…did you really come back…?”
Sol hugged her tightly, continuously whispering comforting words. Having been separated by life and death barriers, their reunion naturally brought warmth.
Zhang Xiaoman did not interrupt them. He wandered around the base, admiring the two twenty-meter-tall white mechas, satisfying his long-standing curiosity about them.
Had he found the entrance, he might have considered trying to sit inside and experience the joy of being a Mecha Driver.
Finally, Sol and New Mei, who appeared as wartime comrades but were actually a divorced couple, finished their catch-up session and exited the warehouse.
New Mei’s legs had sustained permanent nerve damage and could not be healed, so Sol pushed her out in a wheelchair.
“This is Lord Ji Xing, the powerful leader from the Advanced Civilization Star Alliance. I owe being able to return here to him…”
Sol introduced them face-to-face.
Zhang Xiaoman also understood New Mei a bit more.
As he thought, New Mei was his girlfriend, but they had always been in an ambiguous stage and hadn’t confirmed their relationship.
After such an incident, they finally found the opportunity and became a couple during the apocalypse.
“Thank you, Lord Ji Xing…”
New Mei appeared to still be quite weak.
This was due to being confined in an enclosed space for a long time, lacking water.
However, she didn’t seem to have major issues and should recover with some time and care.
“New Mei, what exactly happened here? When I left, everything was fine, but when I came back, this happened. Where did these mutants come from?”
Hearing this, New Mei showed a slightly bitter expression.
“Sol, we were attacked, and someone got infected, turning into mutants, which eventually caused the entire base to fall…”
“It was a worm-like monster. It emerged from the underground energy core, bringing a pile of black stones. Wink was exposed to the red engravings on them and soon became one of those mutant creatures…”
“Black stones…is it the divine seal!?”
Sol immediately understood what she meant.
This thing called the divine seal took its name from a famous post-apocalyptic science fiction movie, like zombies on Water Blue Star; it was a term everyone knew.
The divine seal wasn’t rare out there. Places where it appeared almost never had any survivors because anyone touched by its crimson light would be contaminated, eventually turning into mutants.
“Yes, it’s the divine seal…although we sealed the basement immediately, Wink still broke in. Not only that, he brought those black stone fragments…”
New Mei confirmed his suspicion.
“Then, what happened to the outer doors? Why were they sealed off?”
“It was Danica. In order to save the remaining people, she went out alone with the black stones…those creatures can open doors, and to prevent us from facing danger, she completely sealed the doors…I lost my legs…I couldn’t stop her, I’m sorry…sobs…sobs…”
New Mei explained the reason for the sealed doors, which clarified the entire event.
Sol comforted his girlfriend, while Zhang Xiaoman returned to the warehouse to check the supplies.
Originally, he planned to see if this place could be developed into a new base. But now it seemed that external threats were too many, far less safe than the city.