Chapter 6 Chapter Six

For the first year after she was gone, Halston waited for her to come back.He became as crazy as she was.He could see her body lying on the dune, but he believed the sight must be fake.He had been harboring hope that she would come back.After she left, on the anniversary day, he was alone in the detention room, scrubbing the floor and cleaning the yellow gate.He longed desperately for the voice behind the door, the knock, the spirit of his wife to return to him and free him from this whole year of torment. However, she didn't come back.Later, he began to think of another way: to go out and find her.He kept searching her computer files, day after day, for several months, and found some information she had pieced together, and he didn't know much about it, so he began to fall into a semi-crazy state.He began to believe that this world was fake, not to mention that Alison was no longer by his side, so even if this world was real, he had nothing to miss.

However, the day Alison went out for two years, he acted like a coward.When he walked into the office, he wanted to announce in public that he was going out, but the moment he was about to say it, he suddenly swallowed it back.That day, he went out on patrol with Deputy Security Officer Manes, and the secret burned like a flame in his heart.Throughout that year, he acted cowardly, and he turned his back on Alison.In the first year, he betrayed her, and in the second year, he betrayed her.By the third year, though, he wasn't planning on continuing that way. Now, the third year has passed, he sits alone in the airlock, wearing a protective suit, suspicious of the world in front of him, full of confidence in his choices.The thick yellow gate behind him was closed, shutting him out of the bunker.Holden suddenly thought that before, he never thought that he would die like this, and he never hoped that his life would end like this.In the past, he always thought that he would stay in the bunker for the rest of his life. In the end, just like his parents, his bones were buried in the soil of the soil farming area on the eighth floor.He once dreamed of owning his own home, having his own children, and even hoped to give birth to twins, or get a second lottery, and grow old with his wife.

Soon, a siren sounded from the other side of the yellow gate, warning everyone present to leave.except him.He has to stay here.He has nowhere to go. The argon tank began to hiss, the airlock began to fill with thick argon, and within a minute Halston felt the pressure as the seams of the suit tightened.Breathing the oxygen in his protective suit, he stood at the door of another gate.That is the taboo door, and the terrible world is outside the door.He waited quietly. Then, the piston inside the wall suddenly made a metallic "creak" sound.The entire airlock is covered with a disposable plastic film, which has now been wrinkled by the high-pressure argon gas.After Hoston is out, the film will be burned, and the crew will clean the airlock before dark, ready for the next mission.

Later, the large gate trembled, and the two door panels began to retract into the door frame, revealing a gap between the door panels.The gate was originally designed to be fully open, but they did not intend to fully open it, because it was necessary to minimize the infiltration of poisonous gas and reduce the danger. High-pressure argon gas began to leak out from the gap. At first it was a sharp "hissing" sound. Later, the gap became larger and larger, gradually turning into a low-pitched roar.He approached the door slowly, and was surprised to find that he had no intention of flinching.He thought of those people from the past.He had wondered why those who had gone out would not flinch from the dreaded floodgate.Now he understands that if he stays in the airlock, he will soon be burned to ashes like that layer of plastic film, so he might as well go out and see the outside world with his own eyes.They would rather live a few minutes longer.

Finally, the gate opened wide enough for Halston to squeeze through, the hazmat suit scraping the edge of the panel.He was shrouded in a cloud of mist, because the air outside was relatively thin, and the argon gas that spewed out condensed.He couldn't see ahead and could only grope forward in the mist. Before the fog cleared, the gate began to "creak" and slowly closed.Then, the thick steel plate closed with a "bang", blocking the sound of the siren inside and also isolating him from the outside full of poisonous gas.The airlock chamber began to be disinfected by fire spraying to completely eliminate the toxic substances that had seeped in.

Then, as the fog cleared, Halston found himself standing at the bottom of a concrete passage with slabs slanting upwards.It was as if a voice in his head was saying—Hurry up!hurry up! ——he knew that time was running out, that his life was passing by.He struggled to climb up, a little puzzled why he wasn't facing the horizon when he stepped out of the gate.Looking at the images on the wall in the big restaurant before, I always felt that the ground under my feet was the horizon of the outside world.He was so used to that feeling. On the narrow cement board passage, there are lumps of raised cement on the walls on both sides.He shuffled up.Through the mask, he saw only a white light, a little confused.Later, when Halston climbed to the top of the slope, he saw the sky.Not long ago, for a small desire to see this sky, he was sentenced to death.He turned and looked around, scanning the distant horizon, and seeing the endless greenery, he suddenly felt a little dizzy.

Green hills, green fields, and green grass under his feet.Horston let out a gasp in his helmet, his heart agitated by the sight in front of him.And above the emerald green mountains, there is a clear blue sky, the bright color is exactly the same as in the fairy tale book.And the pure white and flawless clouds are billowing in the air like living animals. Holden twirled and twirled, enjoying the beauty in front of him.At this time, he suddenly remembered that his wife had done the same thing back then.At that time, he saw her turn around awkwardly and slowly, as if she was lost, or stunned, or wondering whether she should wipe the lens.

lens!Wipe the lens! Holden reached to his chest and pulled a woolen cloth from his pocket.Wipe the lens!He finally understood, and he felt dizzy as the sudden realization rushed to his forehead.That's why!That's why! He turned to look for the wall.The uppermost level of the bunker is surrounded by a wall.He instinctively thought that he would see it when he turned his head, but soon realized that, by the way, the wall was under his feet.Behind him is a small concrete dome, about two meters high, with an iron ladder on the side and an antenna on top.On the side facing him, there is a large-diameter fisheye lens with a slightly protruding round mirror.However, as he got closer, he found that there were cameras in all directions of the round mound.The super camera in the bunker has a lot of shots.

Holding up the fleece, Halston slowly approached the first shot, imagining in his mind that if he were in the big dining room at this moment, he would see himself getting closer and bigger and bigger.Three years ago, he had seen his wife do the same thing.He remembered her waving at him and at the time he thought she was just trying to keep her balance, however, looking back now, was she trying to tell him something?What was the look on her face then, behind the visor of the helmet?Are you smiling foolishly like yourself at this moment?He wiped the lens desperately, sprayed the cleaner repeatedly, wiped it repeatedly, and then dried the lens and pasted the anti-corrosion film.At that time, was she full of hope like a child, with her heart beating wildly?Halston knew that there must be no one in the big restaurant at this moment, because no one cared about him, no one loved him, no one would be reluctant to part with him, and stayed there to watch.But he waved to the camera anyway.At this moment, as he wiped the camera, his mood was not as resentful as he had imagined, nor was he gloating, believing that everyone in the bunker deserved to die, but he, the condemned man, was freed instead.At this moment, he holds the woolen cloth in his hand, and slowly wipes the camera with a movement of drawing small arcs in mid-air, and the impetus does not come from a feeling of betrayal.That is mercy.Compassion, and boundless joy.

Halston suddenly felt that the world in front of him was beginning to blur again, but it was a wonderful blur, and tears filled his eyes because he had already.His wife was right: the images in the bunker turned out to be fake.The shape of the hillside in front of me is exactly the same as in the image.He had seen that scene in the bunker for many years, and he recognized it at a glance.The problem is, the colors are completely different.The scene on the wall in the bunker was created by the program his wife found.They didn't know how to turn the bright green into a dull green and wiped out all signs of life.

Horston wiped off the dirt on the lens, feeling a little suspicious, the image became more and more blurred, is it real or fake?Of course the dirt is real because he wiped it off with his own hands and he can see it.Could it be just normal dust, though, and not poisonous acid floating in the air?Could the program Alison discovered just be used to "modify" the real scene, changing the blue sky and green grass into dark tones?At this moment, too many new materials and ideas are churning in Halston's mind. He seems to have turned into a child and was suddenly thrown into a huge and vast world. There are too many things that must be thought about and understood at once, and his head hurts from thinking about it. up. He wiped the grime off the second lens thoroughly, and at this point he deduced that the blurring of the image was real.The lens is covered with a layer of dirt, the reason is the same as the effect produced by the program.Procedurally created fake grayish-yellow tones over green fields, blue skies and billowing white clouds.Such a beautiful world is hidden by them from everyone to see.The sight was so magnificent that Halston would involuntarily stand there dumbfounded, forgetting to wipe the lens.He had to deliberately not look at the scene, so that he could concentrate on cleaning the lens. There are four lenses to polish in total, and he is polishing the second.He suddenly remembered the wall under his feet.The wall captures the real world through the lens, modifies it, and then projects a fake image.Then he thought, how many people in the bunker knew the truth?Does anyone know?How fanatical and obsessive it must be, and how much painstaking efforts must be made to maintain this depressing illusion?Did this secret exist long before the last riot?Is it possible that, through thousands of years and countless generations, this deceptive program has been running automatically in the computer in the bunker, and no one has even known it?If anyone knows, if they have the ability to create any images, why not let everyone see the beautiful world outside? Because of the riots!Perhaps that was to prevent everyone from rioting again and again.Horston put a layer of anti-corrosion film on the lens, and another problem came to his mind.Some people have turned the outside world into a terrifying scene to mislead everyone, are they trying to suppress everyone's "want to go out" by this means?Did someone think the truth would cause him to lose power and lose control over others?Or is there a more complex and horrific conspiracy?For example, he is afraid that everyone will be free and liberated, and they will have children unscrupulously, as many as they want?There are too many possibilities, and the more I think about it, the more terrifying it becomes. And what about Alison?where is she?Halston walks along the edge of the concrete dome to the third camera, and at this moment, he sees the abandoned city on the distant horizon, the towering buildings, what a familiar sight.However, some places are different.There are more buildings than usual.Some stand on the side, and one is relatively close, which looks particularly abrupt.The other buildings he was familiar with now looked intact and shiny, not at all dilapidated and dilapidated as he remembered them.Halston looked out at the verdant hills ahead and imagined that Alison was walking along the hills and would appear soon.But the idea was ridiculous, because how could Alison know that he would be kicked out today?But maybe she remembers that today is the third anniversary of her coming out, doesn't she?Maybe she was waiting for him to come out on this day in the first year and the second year, but he missed it, right?Halston secretly cursed himself for being cowardly.He wasted two years.He told himself that he must go to her. He suddenly had an urge to go to her immediately.He really wanted to take off the helmet, take off the bulky protective clothing, leave only the carbon fiber inner suit, and then rush up the hill, take a few deep breaths of fresh air, laugh a few times, and then run all the way to the huge mysterious city.Maybe there are many people in the city, and there are groups of children laughing and playing.Maybe his wife was there waiting for him. But no.He still has to continue to wear protective clothing, and cannot immediately reveal the truth.He didn't know why he felt that way, but his wife was like that, and so were those who came out before.None of them immediately revealed the truth.Now, Horston has become part of their group. "outside" groups.He can't overturn history, he can't betray those who went forward, he must be like them.They have their reasons.He had just joined their "circle" and for their sake he had to pretend to the end.He didn't know why he did it, only that everyone before him did it, keeping their shared secrets.Secrets are like high-purity drugs.At this moment, he just wanted to complete his task, take out tools from different pockets in sequence, and wipe the lens clean according to the procedure, while thinking about the outside world in his mind.The world is so vast that you can't browse it in a lifetime, and there is endless air, endless water and endless food.What a beautiful dream that was. Halston lets these sweet dreams linger in his head while he continues his mission to polish the third shot.Spray cleaner, scrub, wipe clean again and again, and move on to the last shot.Even though he was wearing a heavy protective clothing, he could still feel his chest "pounding" and hear his own heartbeat.He told himself, it's going to be okay, it's going to be okay.He pulled out a second wool cloth and wiped the dirt off the last lens.Spray cleaner, scrub, and finally dry the lens, then stuff the tools back in your pockets before you make a mess on the floor.At this moment, the green grassy ground was so pleasing to the eye, he couldn't bear to get it dirty.finished.Halston stepped back and gave the camera one last look, although he knew that the restaurant and the hall were empty at the moment, and no one was looking at him.Then he turned and walked away.He was going to turn his back on them because they turned his back on Alison, turned away from those who were sent out.Horston finally understood why those people never came back to find the people in the bunker.There is a reason for that.Based on the same reason, they all once declared that they would not clean the lens, but they all completed the task in the end.He was free, and he was about to join the ranks of those who had gone before, so he strode up the track-filled little ravine, following in the footsteps of his wife.The small ravine stretches all the way up the hill.In the past, when looking at the outside scene in the bunker, he would always see his wife's body curled up on the hill, like a pebble.And now he knew that he would never see that body again.The pebble that never sleeps will be seen again.Horston believed that the corpse he had seen before was just a shocking illusion.