RotA – Chapter 11

Chu Ci had said that the world is so vast; the parts that can be seen are not the whole.

Life is fragile, yet also tenacious.

Within the bases they built, humans allowed many creatures from the Old World to escape the harsh environment of the surface and successfully reproduce.

The Underground City and the Floating City constantly exchanged information on the propagation of life in their respective bases, and they constantly declared certain species completely extinct from the world.

But the world is so vast—how large were the Underground City and the Floating City in comparison?

Is it possible that deep within the Fog Zone, or in some distant place unreachable by humans, the life that humanity has painstakingly tried to protect has already found a suitable path for itself?

Chai Yuening felt as if she understood these words, yet at the same time, she didn’t quite grasp them.

She took a deep breath, her toes tapping the floor, gently rocking the old, creaky rocking chair. Her eyes gazed at the white wall, with its peeling paint and fine cracks, and she couldn’t help but fall into a spell of deep thought.

When she came back to her senses, Chu Ci was already quietly reading the book in her hands.

That night, while Chu Ci was in the shower, Chai Yuening changed the sheets, duvet, and pillow for her, replacing them with a new set she had bought.

The old items on the bed were ones she had used for a while before Chu Ci moved in. Although they weren’t dirty, it didn’t feel right to let someone else keep using things she had used herself.

While pulling off the old sheet, Chai Yuening saw a piece of a crushed leaf that had fallen to the floor.

The leaf was small. The dried parts had been crushed, while the undried part was black—it was a leaf from a black vine.

“When did this get on me from the surface…”

Chai Yuening muttered to herself, but then she froze for a moment.

She quickly collected herself, placed the removed sheet on her floor pallet, bent down to pick up the leaf, and nonchalantly tossed it into the trash can.

Just as Chu Ci finished her shower, her long, silver-white hair not yet dry, Chai Yuening walked into the steamy bathroom, carrying the sheet, duvet cover, and pillowcase from the floor pallet.

“Should I wash them?” Chu Ci asked, standing at the door with a damp white towel in her hand.

“No need, I’ll do it. Just dry your hair a bit more. You’ll get a headache if you sleep with it wet.”

After speaking, Chai Yuening turned on the tap. The sound of rushing water filled the air as it washed over the removed bedding.

Standing outside the door, Chu Ci silently dried her hair until it was half-dry, then crouched down and used a tissue to wipe up every drop of water that had fallen to the floor.

She hung the damp towel on a corner of the drying rack and walked back to the coffee table, wanting to read for a little longer.

On the coffee table, next to her book which she had placed face down, an infection test kit had appeared at some point.

Chu Ci hesitated for a moment, then reached out and picked up only the book.

An unknown amount of time passed before Chai Yuening’s voice came from the bathroom.

“Chu Ci, give me a hand!”

Chu Ci quickly got up and trotted over, crouching at the bathroom door to help Chai Yuening wring out the wet sheet and duvet cover for what felt like a long time.

The water on the floor was cool, carrying a hint of spring chill that soaked their bare feet, but it couldn’t hide the smiles in their eyes.

The clean sheet and duvet cover now filled the entire drying rack.

Hanging in the small living room, they looked as if another space was hidden behind them.

But behind them, there was only a white wall.

“After I work for a few more years and my contribution to the Base is enough to qualify for the Main City, I’ll be assigned a bigger house,” Chai Yuening said, turning to look at Chu Ci, who was leaning against the wall to rest.

Chu Ci’s gaze unconsciously flickered to the test kit on the coffee table. “Why did you take that out?” she asked faintly.

“Oh, that. It must have fallen out from somewhere when I was changing your sheets, so I just put it there for now.” As she spoke, Chai Yuening walked over, picked it up, and put it into the waist pouch she usually carried when she went out. She smiled. “I’m always leaving things lying around.”

“Oh,” Chu Ci responded softly and turned to walk into the bedroom.

Chai Yuening thought for a moment, then picked up the book from the coffee table, went into the room, and handed it to Chu Ci.

She saw a flash of surprise in Chu Ci’s eyes, a surprise that seemed to carry a hint of joy.

“Wait for your hair to dry before you sleep!”

“Okay!”

Chu Ci took the book from Chai Yuening and lowered her head to start reading.

The bedroom light stayed on for her tonight.

Lying on her side on the floor pallet, Chai Yuening didn’t speak, nor did she fall asleep quickly.

Night in the Underground City was not much different from day.

The only difference was the broadcast that sounded throughout the outer city at eleven o’clock at night.

“The time is now 23:00. There are thirty minutes remaining until the power is shut off. Please manage your electricity usage accordingly.”

“Sleeping early and waking early is beneficial to your health.”

“May you have sweet dreams tonight.”

“…”

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In one more day, the Main City’s Simulated Ecological Zone would open to the public for the second time.

Visiting the Simulated Ecological Zone seemed to have become a trend among the residents of the outer city. Many people, regardless of whether they were actually interested in the Old World’s ecology, would follow the crowd and get a ticket just so they wouldn’t look like country bumpkins.

This time, everyone in the team except for Chai Yuening and Chu Ci had requested a ticket.

Lu Qi got the tickets through a buddy of his in the Tenth District. He had paid half the deposit at the time, and today was the day to go pick them up.

The Tenth District was quite far from the Sixth District; the train ride alone took four hours.

And so, early in the morning, Ren Dong had dragged Lao Xiang and Lu Qi along to the Tenth District. Before leaving, she had given Chai Yuening a task for the day.

“Captain, I submitted a supply request to the military a while back. The military is coming to our team’s base today to check our inventory of firearms and ammunition. Once they confirm everything is in order, you just need to confirm the addition of a new team member to get an extra subsidy, discuss the frequency of future missions for the military, and then sign a form. The supplies will arrive in a few days.”

“I was going to ask Du Xia to go, but when I contacted her just now, she told me she went back to the Fifth District last night to be with her grandmother, so we’ll have to trouble you to make the trip, Captain.”

“They didn’t say when they’re coming, could be morning or afternoon. Captain, remember to get to our base early and don’t keep them waiting.”

“The train’s here, the signal is bad inside, so I’ll hang up now.”

The call, which had come in so hastily and ended just as abruptly, forced Chai Yuening out of her warm covers. She glanced at her pocket watch, stretched, and sat up.

As Chai Yuening walked into the bathroom, Chu Ci, who was sitting on the sofa listening to the broadcast, looked up and asked, “I thought I heard something about having business today?”

“Yeah, the military is coming to our team’s base,” Chai Yuening said. “Ren Dong usually handles these things, but she went to the Tenth District to get tickets today, so I have to go.”

“I’ll go with you,” Chu Ci said, standing up.

“Then you should get changed. I’ll be ready soon.”

“Okay.”

It was about an hour’s walk from their home to the team’s base.

Chai Yuening took out her key and opened the closed roller shutter door.

A dim yellow light bulb flickered on, illuminating the small base, which had been converted from a garage.

Past the usual work area, the heavy, old armored vehicle was parked in a corner. The weapon racks and ammunition crates were placed to the right of it.

Chai Yuening hadn’t been here in a while, but the place was still kept spotlessly clean.

The military personnel hadn’t arrived yet. Bored, Chai Yuening turned on the old radio that Lao Xiang had complained about and slapped countless times, and listened to the Base’s broadcast.

The old radio was very choppy, crackling with static after just a few sentences.

“It was broken the last time I was here,” Chu Ci said.

Chai Yuening didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Lao Xiang was right, this piece of junk needs to be replaced.”

Ultimately, the reason it hadn’t been replaced was related to her own stinginess a while back.

But people change. Having spent more money recently, she suddenly felt that replacing a radio wasn’t that expensive after all.

“After the military leaves today, we’ll go buy a new one,” Chai Yuening said, sitting down at the desk where Ren Dong usually did her accounting and flipping through the backup ledger Ren Dong had left there.

Chu Ci sat by the radio, her chin in her hands, listening to the intermittent broadcast in a daze.

The military personnel arrived shortly after they finished lunch.

Just as Ren Dong had said, the military was just there to take stock of the team’s weapon inventory, confirm the estimated time and frequency of future missions, and verify the identity of the new member to report back and calculate the supply amount.

The military’s entire inventory process was quick, completed in less than half an hour.

The only thing that held up progress was the step of confirming the new member’s identity.

They absolutely refused to recognize the temporary ID card issued by the Base and were unwilling to grant the subsidy quota for the new member.

Chai Yuening patiently spent a long time wheedling and pleading with them. In the end, she had to drag the military personnel to the Sixth District’s Population Management Sub-bureau and sign a “responsibility letter” for Chu Ci—what it was for, she had no idea, but the military insisted on it—before she finally secured the team member subsidy.

After getting everything sorted out and seeing the military personnel off, Chai Yuening couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

“Our team does a lot of work for the military, so besides weapon supplies, each person also gets some living subsidies,” Chai Yuening said, smiling at Chu Ci. “Starting today, you get them too.”

“A Floating City resident’s identity seems to be somewhat inconvenient here,” Chu Ci said in a low voice.

“Of course,” Chai Yuening said. “But I remember that if you live here for over a year, you can apply for official residency.”

“A year?”

“Yeah. Do you want to stay here permanently?”

Faced with this question, Chu Ci unconsciously pursed her lips, a hint of hesitation in her eyes.

But soon, under Chai Yuening’s gaze, she nodded. When she looked up again, not a trace of hesitation remained.

Chai Yuening smiled. “Then I’ll go with you to handle the paperwork when the time comes.”

“Okay!” Chu Ci’s lips curved into a smile as well.

The two of them, just like always, walked home one behind the other.

The incandescent lights on the street shortened and then stretched the shadows of the people below, each lost in their own thoughts.

They had both forgotten about buying a new radio for the team’s base.

Insignificant things are always easily forgotten.

If the peaceful days had lasted a little longer, perhaps during some idle moment, a forgotten little thing might have suddenly been remembered.

But with a “click” from the ubiquitous loudspeakers on the street…

The Base’s alarm began to blare, piercing the heart of every person.

“Attention, residents of the Sixth District. Attention, residents of the Sixth District. This is an official broadcast from the military!”

“Due to an incident at the Fifth District’s Infection Control Center, an unclassified mutated beast of suspected human-level intelligence has attacked the city defense system. A beast horde has broken through the defenses and flooded the district. As of noon today, the entire district has lost all contact with the Base. The military has halted half of the city’s trains and is conducting a full screening of all passengers on trains that have passed through the Fifth District.”

“Residents of all other districts are urged to remain on high alert. If your district comes under attack by a beast horde, you must remain calm, follow the instructions of the Public Security Office, and evacuate in an orderly manner to the designated districts.”

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Author’s Notes:

The peaceful days didn’t even last that long.