"That's why this door is so broken." Carrying the heavy box to the front entrance of the storage room, Aaron saw a thick steel gate with a gap underneath that was almost big enough for an arm to pass through. He was looking for why this gate didn't work.

When it was opening and closing normally, Aaron saw a mechanical leg stuck right at the corner of the gate.

"It should be that the prosthetic man, who was still thinking normally, wanted to run away, but lost a leg here." The engineering designer also glanced at the mechanical leg pressed by the gate and said.

"But it's not the reason why the gate can't be opened, right?" Looking at the thickness and design level of this gate, Aaron doesn't think that if a mechanical leg gets stuck, the entire gate will be scrapped.

"Of course not. It should be said that the current gate can still be used to transport some things because of this leg." The designer shook his head, "I checked this gate and someone used hacking methods to forcibly lock the control mechanism outside.

, maybe I wanted to lock something in at that time to prevent it from coming out, and thanks to them locking the gate, there was something left inside."

"Is this luck?" Aaron shrugged, stretched out his hand and knocked on the gate a few times.

"I'm here! I'm still here!" came the voice of the young woman following the designer from behind the door. She was left outside to wait alone, and it could be heard that the short time alone made her very uneasy.

"We'll slide the things out from underneath, and you'll connect them and repackage them." The designer opened the box and took out the individually wrapped chocolate bars inside, and reluctantly stuffed them out through the gap under the gate.

"There's really something good!" The woman's voice sounded surprised and filled with a sense of hunger.

"Our supplies have basically been exhausted. Except for those who went out to look for food, those who chose to stay have basically not been able to eat anything serious these days." The designer shrugged at Aaron.

Aaron nodded in understanding. No wonder this woman, who seemed to have little courage and no ability, would follow the designer out to search for supplies. It seemed that she was so hungry that she had no choice but to take risks to get more rations for herself.

It took the three people more than ten minutes to move out about three boxes of supplies, including food, medicine, and weapons. There must be more useful inventory in the warehouse, but the three of them who have not undergone prosthetic transformation can't do anything.

To return things safely to the place of residence, we had to choose safety between efficiency and safety.

"You didn't take any of the stuff and we asked you to help us transport the stuff. Even a guy like me who likes to take advantage would feel bad." After getting Aaron's promise to help them return the supplies to the base, the designer felt a little guilty.

said.

"It seems I'd better get some reward." Aaron smiled, grabbed a bag from the box of chocolate bars and stuffed it into his pocket, "That puts your mind at ease, right?"

"Let's go." The expression on the designer's face became more and more awkward, and the young woman looked at the interaction between the two people strangely, as if she wanted to understand the atmosphere between the two in this short period of time.

Why does it become so subtle?

What the designer told Aaron before was true. The survivor stronghold he belonged to was indeed in a basement somewhere in the outer layer. In other words, in the chaos in the central area, it would be difficult for anyone to do it unless they had overwhelming force.

It is tenable. After all, in addition to drones with rigid actions, there are also a team of survivors whose number and purpose cannot be determined. They come here every day to make a living, and every encounter with them will be full of various uncontrollable variables.

The journey back to the base was relatively safe, thanks to the designer's unusual familiarity with the roads and building structures along the way. The risk of walking through the buildings was much lower than walking on the streets, at least drones usually did not

Will search for targets deep into buildings.

"Uncle, you're back!" The three of them, carrying boxes on their backs, had just passed through several maze-like dark alleys when they suddenly heard a cheerful boy's voice above them.

"We're back. The harvest is good this time." The designer raised his neck and waved to a half-grown man who poked his head out from the second floor of the ruins. "There was no trouble when we went out, right?"

"No, it was hard to walk in this damn place before, and now there are not many people left who know how to walk here." What complemented the kid's hearty smile was the shiny solid wood baseball bat in his hand.

nail.

"It's no trouble. Just keep watching. I'll bring you the food directly later." The designer seemed very pleased and didn't know what his specific relationship was with that kid.

Continuing to walk along the alley, the three of them arrived at their destination. At the end of the stairs going down was a heavy iron door. It may be that it was often wet by rain, and obvious peeling paint and rust spots could be seen on it.

"Would you like to come in and sit down?" the designer stopped and asked.

"If possible, I would like to find a safe place to rest." This was originally the purpose of Aaron's willingness to help carry. Instead of asking the designer if he had seen Uncle Ling, it would be more reassuring for him to come here and find it himself.

"Please, although it's not a place to entertain guests." The designer walked over and put his thumb on the fingerprint lock, and the iron door opened.

The musty, sour smell mixed with a little blood smell hit his face. If he hadn't still thought about going to find Ling Chong, Aaron almost decided to back out. Seeing Aaron's momentary retreat, the designer smiled sarcastically at him and hugged him.

Pick up the box and walk inside.

The situation inside was as bad as the smell. Most of the survivors that could be encountered in the narrow corridor were disheveled, and almost everyone could see bandaged wounds. This situation reminded Aaron of his time in Yu Wanzhi.

The state of the surrounding camp when he woke up. The tragedy on the ground on the day of the incident still exceeded the limit of Aaron's imagination. Even if they were lucky enough to find a safe corner to survive for a while, most of the survivors were in the process of seeking asylum.

Having suffered a certain degree of damage, coupled with the subsequent lack of supplies and the hopelessness of the situation, these guys who survived were almost sitting and waiting to die.

"This place is worse than what you told me." As Aaron passed by with the box in his arms, he accidentally tripped over a man who was sitting by the wall. However, the other person just mechanically raised his head to look at him and then lowered his head again, with a look in his eyes.

There is almost no look at all.

"As long as you are alive, there will always be value. This is what you told me." The designer turned his face and retorted, "Do you still think so after seeing them?"

"..." Aaron didn't know how to respond for a moment. To be honest, Aaron felt that it still needed to be defined whether these people were "alive."

Even if they can eat and drink, they may not make any efforts to improve the situation of themselves and others.

"Just put it here." The designer did not continue to dwell on this topic, turned around and led Aaron into a room.

"The harvest is good." Sitting inside is a one-armed man, who seems to be much more energetic than the guys with healthy limbs outside. "Not only did you get back supplies, why did you also pick up a person?"

"I didn't pick this one up. If he hadn't helped me, I would probably have sieved the drone by now." The designer and the one-armed man told the truth.

"Thank you for taking care of me." Hearing this, the one-armed man took off a stainless steel flask from his waist and unscrewed the lid, "Would you like some white wine?"

"Bring it to me." The one-armed man obviously told Aaron, but the designer snatched it away and took a swig.

"Hey! It's not for you!" The one-armed man was furious and stretched out his only arm to grab the wine bottle back.

"I may not be able to come back now. What's wrong with drinking your wine?" The designer curled his lips, screwed on the wine bottle, and gave it to the one-armed man with his backhand.

"Ah?" The one-armed man was stunned, "What did you say?"

"Little brother, let me ask you again, do you really plan to go?" The designer turned to Aaron without talking to the stunned one-armed man.

"I have to go." Aaron nodded decisively.

"Okay, I am a man." The designer suddenly showed a simple smile, "I will accompany you on this trip. I have designed or helped maintain many buildings around me. It is better to walk inside the building than on the road.

Safety from being chased by drones.”

"But you didn't mean..." Aaron was stunned, wondering why the designer would make such a decision.

"Actually, I was thinking about it along the way. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that you are right, brother." The smile on the designer's face turned bitter. "If we don't solve the problem fundamentally, everyone will die in the end. Since we are going to die sooner or later, it's true.
Chapter completed!