Chapter 722.3: Oh, It's Me, Hehe

At the Dolphin's current speed, they had probably already left the Mutant Humans behind. But that also meant the warriors who had jumped from the submarine in those Emperor Crabs were now on their own.

Sisi remained silent for a moment. Within the limits of the player code, she searched for an appropriate answer.

Eventually, she muttered, "From the moment we stepped out of the Shelter, we were already prepared for our mission. To us, death is merely a form of returning home."

Chen Jianhong's throat moved slightly and he said nothing. Instead, he turned his gaze back toward the darkness beyond the viewport.

Inside the recreation area, the rescued sailors from the Glory watched the battle unfold on a television mounted in the corner. Their moods grew equally heavy.

Those people...

They had seen them only earlier that day, right there in the waters northwest of Ring Island.

Some silently offered military salutes while others clenched their fists atop their knees.

Protecting these waters had originally been their responsibility. Yet now others were carrying out the duty that should have belonged to them.

The guilt caused many of them to lower their heads.

...

The bloody battlefield gradually faded into the distance. The spotlight could no longer illuminate the kelp forest where the fighting continued.

The Dolphin slowly arrived above an underwater canyon and descended into the bottomless abyss.

After passing around a T-shaped rock pillar and entering an enormous cavern structure, concrete walls soon appeared on both sides of the submarine.

Looking at the structures around them, Chen Jianhong's face showed a trace of pride.

Speaking in a nostalgic tone, he said, "... This is the shelter's emergency entrance. It was also the construction entrance used when the shelter was originally built. I've heard that back then, people sealed off this entire cavern, hundreds of meters wide and several kilometers long, drained all the seawater, constructed an airlock, then reinforced the interior with steel and poured concrete throughout."

"Ordinarily, only shelter residents know about it."

He had never witnessed that monumental engineering project himself but his father had told him stories about those days.

Sisi nodded. Then, suddenly curious, she asked, "How do you distinguish shelter residents from everyone else?"

Chen Jianhong replied,

"Generally speaking, if one parent is a shelter resident and the child is born inside one, then they're a shelter resident. Or if both parents are residents, then regardless of where the child is born, they're still considered a resident. Aren't things the same for you?"

"Oh! We've never had babies, so we don't know!" Tail suddenly interjected.

Sisi's face immediately reddened.

Though after spending so much time together, she had long since grown accustomed to Tail's lack of a filter. She merely coughed lightly and regained her composure. "We don't have situations like that."

"Right. I think I heard someone mention that your shelter is one of those cryogenic hibernation shelters. That makes you all first-generation residents." Chen Jianhong rubbed his nose and sighed. "That's actually pretty good. At least you got a peaceful hundred years. We've already found most of the mines ahead of you. Of course, whether you choose to clear them is up to you."

"Mines?" Sisi asked.

Chen Jianhong nodded. "Infinite power and infinite responsibility... Yet before a truly irreversible disaster occurs, nobody actually has to take responsibility. Before leaving the shelter, we never realized that the administrator position itself contained a massive bug. When the shelters were designed, administrators were simply administrators. The role wasn't nearly as complicated. I doubt people during the Prosperity Era thought about it that deeply either."

After thinking for a while, Sisi frowned. "I don't think that's inherently a bad thing. If the administrator can do the job well, what's the problem?"

Chen Jianhong gave her a meaningful look. "And who gets to define what 'well' means?" He chuckled and continued, "If Chalas wins, then the pipe you built becomes a noose around the necks of Federation citizens. If the Peace Island faction wins, it becomes an olive branch of friendship."

"An underwater pipe is still a pipe. Trade is still trade. Objective facts are difficult to alter. Once you try, contradictions appear everywhere."

"But there are countless ways to interpret those facts. Believe it or not, if Chalas wins, even Mutant Humans could become friends of the Federation."

"And those things not only eat people, they perform live sacrifices too. They're as evil as they come."

Tail clenched her fists and stared directly into his eyes. "Maybe so, but we're not going to let them win!"

Chen Jianhong laughed, "I'm only using an example. Our histories may be similar, but there are still major differences."

"When I reported to Dawn City, I met your administrator once. That gentleman is a smart man. He's learned from nearly every success and failure experienced by the other shelters and he carefully preserves every administrator's log."

"Perhaps your future really will be different."

After a brief pause, he continued. "And one more thing. Never underestimate your opponents. They aren't completely useless. Their battleship in particular is a serious problem for you."

"We calculated that its main gun only needs two or three shots to overload the your shield core. We built it specifically to guard against the Army."

"It's just that after an entire century, the Army never came. And now, we're using it against our own people."

Everyone on the bridge exchanged glances. What he just said was an astonishing piece of intelligence.

The Heart of Steel seemed to use the shield core of a starship. Did that mean the battleship's main gun had actually been removed from a starship?

But how had they solved the atmospheric drag issues associated with kinetic weapons?

As everyone discussed the implications, a steep concrete wall suddenly appeared directly ahead of the bridge, blocking their path.

Roshan blinked. "Is that a dead end?"

Looking at the talking polar bear, Chen Jianhong smiled and pointed upward. "It's up there."

The moment he finished speaking, the submarine stopped advancing and slowly rose toward the surface.

After a short wait, the bridge emerged from the water and the view ahead suddenly opened up.

They were in a cavern deep beneath the ocean. Above the concrete wall stretched an open platform. At the far end stood an enormous gear-shaped metal door. Like a giant button, it was firmly embedded within the massive rock formation.

Looking through the viewport, Tail and the others widened their eyes as wonder filled their faces.

The crew reacted similarly. Many of them were residents of the shelter or Coral City. That massive metal door was as familiar to them as a highway sign outside their own homes.

"We're finally back..." A relieved smile spread across Chen Jianhong's face.

He shouted toward everyone on board, "What are you waiting for? Turn 90 degrees to port! Bring the hatch alongside! We're home!"

Working together, they quickly maneuvered the submarine alongside the concrete dock.

At the same time, people inside the shelter noticed them. A surprised voice soon sounded from the loudspeakers above the plaza. "The Dolphin? Thank goodness! You're alive!"

Stepping onto solid ground, Chen Jianhong stuck a finger into his ear and adjusted to the external air pressure. "Hahaha! We're doing great!"

Then he turned toward Tail and the others who had just disembarked. "You probably won't believe this, but only two months after that incident, friends from Shelter 404 found us. Remember the Baiyue Province? They came there in airships and built a settlement."

A shocked voice came from the loudspeaker. "Baiyue Province?! How did they manage that?!"

Landing there wasn't difficult, staying there was. Anyone attempting to establish a foothold faced constant casualties and losses.

Shelter 70 had attempted colonization several times in the past. After a series of severe casualties, the efforts were abandoned.

The resources on land were necessary. The cost, however, was simply too high.

"They..." Chen Jianhong scratched his head. "Honestly, I still don't fully understand how they managed it. But now they're our neighbors."

"Oh, right. Their homeland is in River Valley Province. They've built an alliance of survivors there. I've visited it and the locals are very welcoming, especially toward shelter residents."

"I even met..." He paused for a moment and decided not to speak any further. Explaining Sun Yuechi's story would take forever. Fortunately, he had brought a copy of Goblin Observation with him.

There would be plenty of time to discuss it later.

A laugh came from the other side. "No problem! We're restoring power to the entrance now! This entrance hasn't been used in ages. We'll also need to balance the pressure in the airlock chambers. It'll take some time."

"Oh, and by the way..." The voice suddenly became playful. "Ahem! Beautiful ladies from Shelter 404... Can I get your contact information? Wait. Do your VMs have chat functions?"

"We modified them a long time ago," Sisi replied politely. "But our operating systems are probably different, so exchanging contact information likely won't work."

She wasn't particularly fond of the man's frivolous tone. Only afterward did she remember she was inside a game and couldn't help regretting that she might have just missed a side quest.

"Well... that's unfortunate. My name is Lin Nuo. At the very least, please allow me to show you around."

The man didn't press the issue, though he didn't sound entirely ready to give up either.

Chen Jianhong cleared his throat. "Alright, alright, stop using the public broadcast to flirt. How much longer?"

"10 minutes. This door hasn't been used in a long time."

"Oh, by the way..." The voice suddenly shifted. "Who are the people behind you? I don't remember the Dolphin carrying that many passengers. Are they from Shelter 404 too?"

The suspicion in his voice was unmistakable. Knowing the truth couldn't be hidden, and guessing the man was already comparing facial recognition data, Chen Jianhong coughed lightly and decided to come clean.

"They're sailors from the Glory..."

Before he could finish, static suddenly crackled through the loudspeaker. It sounded as though someone had physically snatched the microphone away. Then a cold voice came through.

"Tell them to get lost."

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