The surveillance host, having collected dust for years, now powered on, emitting a groaning sound of disrepair, buzzed intermittently as if wheezing, followed by a long, continuous "buzz——".
Because of this, the boot-up time became extremely prolonged, making the display mounted on the wall flicker occasionally, indicating it was still alive.
Nonetheless, it could still start up.
This host's quality was obviously inferior to the office's computer, which was practically fine.
——Although when the computer turned on it was empty, providing no help to Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei.
The two waited a while before the screen finally came fully to life, displaying a 4x3 twelve-grid image.
At the tunnel entrance, one; at the corner, one; mid-section, one; end, one.
In the outermost rest area of the shelter, two, diagonally distributed; in the corridor, two, on each side.
Then two in the kitchen, one in the office, and one in the meeting room. There were none in the dormitories, the manager's office, or the restroom.
It seems from the perspective of the management of this shelter, what required more monitoring was the public areas and key locations like the kitchen.
There was no password on the surveillance, and Lu Xi'an easily opened the backend and delved into the surveillance records.
The records preserved three months; Lu Xi'an scrolled back to the earliest record, where two people were already loitering around.
The kitchen was a mess, but at least not as chaotic as what they saw.
Earlier records seemed to have been overwritten.
The two people would go out to the tunnel entrance every day, carrying a lot of tools, pushed by hand, shoveled with a spade, chiseling with a hammer, all to no avail.
Yet, when they finally gave up in vain, they still went daily to the tunnel entrance for a look before leaving in disappointment.
Lu Xi'an noticed that the two people in the footage no longer went to the meeting room to write numbers. The numbers on the blackboard weren't clear in the meeting room surveillance, but two lines of numbers could be seen.
It was obvious the two were trapped there for a long time.
The surveillance footage played at sixteen times speed, and Lu Xi'an would pull the progress bar forward when there were no movements inside.
By the sixth day of the record, the stored items in the kitchen were completely exhausted, and the two tried the mechanical combination lock of the metal door, to no avail.
They moved all remaining food into the dormitory.
After that, they would attempt it daily, sometimes several times a day.
On the tenth day, neither of them entered the kitchen again.
On the twelfth day, one of the individuals came to the kitchen, fiercely hammering the metal door of the cold storage with a hammer, but it was useless.
On the thirteenth day, this individual committed suicide at the threshold of the metal door, collapsing forward, his face hitting the door, leaving a trail of smeared blood as he slid down.
The other person came in and took a glance, but said nothing and showed no reaction. After a look, he turned around and walked out, returning to the dormitory.
Afterward, this person never appeared again.
From there on, everything fell silent on the surveillance, until the screen blacked out.
"Huff——"
Lu Xi'an watched all this at the fastest speed, and though he found no valuable footage, he couldn't help but sigh.
He sighed softly and said, "Let's go."
He had Gou come down and light the way out.
Yao Wei nodded, following Lu Xi'an and Gou from behind.
Reaching the kitchen, each carried out two bags of rice and one bag of millet.
As the bags were vacuum-sealed, the volume wasn't large, four bags of rice and two bags of millet. There was enough room in the car.
They transported these items to the tunnel entrance, setting them down after climbing the stairs, then Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei returned, grabbing a box and a half of dehydrated vegetables and half a box of meat sausages.
Unfortunately, Yao Wei's car wasn't very big; with so much already on it, they couldn't fit too much, so they took only these few.
Lu Xi'an also grabbed a frying pan, a spoon, took a pot of oil, and placed a pack of salt, a pack of sugar, and a pot of soy sauce on the frying pan to carry.
All these items were perfectly sealed, even though according to the marks on them, they were expired. However, Lu Xi'an had Gou confirm that they were safe to consume, so they had to take some.
——If expired items couldn't be eaten, they would have starved to death long ago in this apocalypse.
Unfortunately, there wasn't any cumin here, or they could have taken some.
After gathering these items, the two exited the cold storage. Lu Xi'an closed the metal door behind him, ensuring it was locked, while Yao Wei took out the , marking a circle at Tan Village's location.
This would be their resource base from now on. If needed, they could return here to replenish supplies.
Then Lu Xi'an picked up a hammer and fastened it at his waist. Carrying a large pile of items, he left the shelter with Yao Wei.
——The hammer was left in the kitchen, and from the surveillance footage, it was apparent that the cook, Li Xun, had used this hammer to hit the metal door for a long time.
While this hammer couldn't break open the metal door, it could certainly break other things. At critical moments, it could even serve as a hidden weapon without a problem.
Lu Xi'an found it quite handy, so he took it with him.
At the tunnel entrance, after putting things down, Lu Xi'an suddenly thought of something and asked Yao Wei:
"Do you think we should take two sets of quilts from those dormitories? They're good for covering while sleeping."
"Hmm, we should take them."
Yao Wei nodded directly, as if she had thought of it earlier but hadn't had the time to act on it or discuss it with Lu Xi'an.
Lu Xi'an thought it made sense. In this world, things that keep you warm are among the most vital resources. How could Yao Wei possibly overlook them?
The two returned once more, and after entering the shelter, they directly retrieved two sets of quilts from the nearest dormitory without taking anything else.
With too many items, Yao Wei really couldn't fit them all in.
Moreover, luckily these two quilts weren't too thick, the duvet covers were pure blue, enclosing a thin layer of lining, extremely light, feeling like down, and should be very warm.
Such quilts perfectly suited their needs.
Hence, their trip to the shelter was truly a bountiful harvest.
Back at the tunnel entrance once more, after climbing the stairs, Lu Xi'an had Gou scan the outside of the wall, making sure there was no danger beyond before moving a stone to check.
After confirming there was no issue, they moved all the stones blocking the entrance and cleared the way seamlessly again.
"I'll move the stuff out; you go and get the car over quickly."
The two, after thoroughly checking again, Lu Xi'an said.
Yao Wei nodded without objection, said, "Okay.", and ran to fetch the car.
Lu Xi'an moved all the tunnel's supplies out, then sealed the entrance shut once more with strong force, just in time for Yao Wei to drive over.
The entrance was shut with all his strength, layers of rocks packed in tightly, and the surface suitably disguised.
He was sure that without guidance, no one could easily find this place.
Even if they did, they wouldn't find the right opening location. Even if they identified the opening location, if they weren't Neo-Humans, they wouldn't have the strength to move the stones out.
Only with this assurance could he be at ease.
The car's trunk was almost full, with the quilts and the boxes of dehydrated vegetables and sausages being placed on the rear seats.
Both of them felt a surge of happiness gazing at the car packed full of supplies.
"Let's go, set off! Once we refuel, we'll keep going until night, then find a safe place to rest, and I'll cook you a big meal!"
"Okay."