Chapter 46 Chapter Forty-Six

Footsteps continued down the stairwell.Juliet stood there motionless, listening carefully.She gripped the handrail, feeling the vibration.She had goosebumps all over again.She really wanted to yell and tell that person to stop, but she was so frightened just now, her chest was constricted, and she couldn't make a sound at all, as if a cold wind was blowing into her lungs, freezing her voice.It turned out that she was not the only one in the bunker.There are still people alive.And now they're gone. She immediately jumped off the platform and rushed down the spiral staircase desperately, using the fastest speed.After running a few steps, she gradually calmed down, so she shouted, "Don't run!" But her footsteps were too loud, covering her shouting.She could no longer hear the sound of that man running, but she didn't dare to stop and listen carefully, for fear that he would run too far.However, when she passed the door on the 31st floor, she suddenly panicked, because she thought that maybe they would hide in that floor.If they were just one or two, well, the bunker was so big, she might never find them unless they were willing to let her find them.

Then, she thought of another thing, and suddenly felt that it was the scariest thing in the world: for the rest of her life, she would probably spend the rest of her life searching, exploring, and talking to things in the bunker, while several other people would also be everywhere in the bunker Wandering, but the two sides never meet face to face.Thinking of this, she felt very depressed, and it took a long time to realize that there was another possibility: maybe these people were not good people, and instead of avoiding her, they would come to her instead. What's worse, her knife is in their hands.

When she reached the thirty-fourth floor, she stopped, grabbed the railing, and listened carefully.She was afraid that her breathing would be so loud that she would not be able to hear the footsteps, so she tried her best to slow down her breathing, but she was too tired, and she still couldn't help panting heavily.However, she tried to stand as still as possible, holding on to the railing with her hands so tightly that she could even feel her pulse in her palms.Then she heard it.The footsteps were still below, and louder.That means, she has caught up with him!She regained her spirits, and immediately started running again, jumping down three stairs at a time, as if returning to her childhood.Holding on to the railing with one hand and raising the other to keep her balance, she leaped around the spiral staircase, leaning her whole body outward, springing off with a light tap of her foot on the stair, and quickly jumped to the next stair, concentrating on her body. every step.At this speed, a fall could be fatal.It suddenly occurred to her that she had seen people with plaster casts on their hands and legs, and had heard stories about old people with broken buttocks.But no matter what, she still rushed down desperately, as if she was flying.In a blink of an eye, the thirty-third floor passed, and she jumped down a few more steps, when she suddenly heard a door slam shut.She immediately stopped and raised her head, climbed on the railing and looked down.The footsteps disappeared, only the sound of his own panting could be heard.

Juliet immediately walked around the spiral staircase and came to the platform on the thirty-fourth floor.She reached out to open the door, but the door would not open.However, the door was not locked.She pressed the doorknob, and the door panel moved, but it seemed to be blocked by something.She tried her best to open the door, but it still wouldn't budge.Then she pulled again, and this time, she heard something crack.So, she stretched out one foot to block the other door panel, and then pulled it with all her strength, tilted her head back, pulled desperately, and kicked the other door panel violently——

She suddenly heard a "pop", the door opened suddenly, and her hand slipped off the doorknob.At that moment, she suddenly felt a bright light in front of her eyes, and a dazzling light shot out from the door, but in the blink of an eye, the door closed again. Juliet immediately struggled to crawl forward, grabbed the doorknob, opened the door, and struggled to stand up.She saw a broom handle that had been broken off on the ground, and the other half was hanging on the handle of the other door.The lights inside are bright, so you can see clearly.The lights on the ceiling are fully lit, and pieces of rectangular lampshades extend along the corridor, with no end in sight.Juliet pricked up her ears to listen carefully, but she couldn't hear the footsteps, only the "beep and beep" of the lamp tube.In front of her was the revolving door, with the red light on it blinking, as if it knew something secret but wouldn't tell it.

She got up, walked to the turnstiles, and jumped through.This has become her habitual action.Then she yelled "Hello," which echoed through the hall.However, I don't know if it was her illusion, but in this brightly lit hall, the echo sounded different.There seems to be life here.There is electricity here, and someone will hear her.I don't know if it's because of this, but the echo sounds weaker. She walked down the corridor past several office doors, poking her head through each door to see if anyone was inside.The place is really devastated, the drawers have been torn down and scattered all over the floor, the iron filing cabinets have been overturned, and high-grade paper is scattered all over the floor.There was a desk facing Juliet, and she noticed that the computer was on and the screen was full of data.She suddenly felt as if she had stepped into a dream world.Not long after she came to this bunker, she had gradually adapted to the dim green light of the stairwell, gradually adapted to this lifeless wild world, and adapted to life without electricity.The taste of dirty water still lingers on her tongue.But now, the office in front of me looks so normal. Although the cabinets are rickety, it is alive, as if someone will come in from the stairwell at any time, chat and laugh, organize files, arrange tables and chairs, and then start working.

Thinking of work, she was suddenly a little puzzled, not knowing what they were doing here.She had never seen such a layout display.She felt very curious, and began to search here and there, almost forgetting why she came here and the sound of footsteps.Turning a corner, she saw a large iron gate.However, this door was not like the others.This door won't open.Juliet slammed hard, but the door only moved a little.So, she pressed her shoulder against the door like this, pushed hard, and pushed it open bit by bit. Later, she finally managed to squeeze in through the crack of the door.After entering the door, she found an iron file cabinet lying on the ground in front of her feet.Apparently someone had pushed it down on purpose to block the big iron door so it wouldn't open.She stepped on it.

It was a huge room, almost the size of a power plant, much bigger than the big dining room on the top floor.There are many large iron cabinets here, larger than the filing cabinets, but without drawers.In addition, the difference is that there are many flashing lights on the front of the iron cabinet, some are red, some are green, and some are yellow. The floor was littered with papers that had been spilled from the filing cabinets.Juliet picked up the papers and looked at them, and suddenly realized that there were other people here.Someone pushed the filing cabinet over to block the door.That person must be in there.

"Hi?" She walked along the whole row of big machines.She thinks it should be some kind of machine, because she can hear a kind of electric "squeak" sound, and there will be occasional "squeaky" sounds inside the machine, as if it is running.She was a little skeptical, wondering if this was some kind of alien generator—could the lights here be powered by these machines?Or, do these machines have batteries in them?She saw a lot of wires and cables extending from the back of the machine, and suddenly thought it should be a battery.No wonder the lights are so bright here.The sum of these machines is roughly equivalent to the power storage rooms of twenty mechanical and electrical districts.

"Is anyone there?" she yelled again. "I won't hurt you." She walked slowly along the row of machines to the innermost part, pricked up her ears and listened carefully to see if there was any movement.Later, she walked to a machine and found its panels had been disassembled.She poked her head in and found that there were no batteries inside, but pieces of boards, which looked like the kind of circuit boards old Walker had been soldering all day long.In fact, the inside of this machine looks very much like the computer in the work scheduling room—— Juliet suddenly figured it out, and couldn't help but take a step back. "Server." She muttered softly.By the way, this is the information area of ​​the bunker.Thirty-fourth floor.No wonder.

At this time, she suddenly heard the sound of rubbing against the wall in the distance.It was the sound of two pieces of metal rubbing against each other.Juliet immediately ran over there, running along the aisle in the middle of the server, wondering who was hiding from her and where she was going to hide. She ran to the last server and saw a hole in the floor behind the server, and someone was pulling a grid iron plate to cover the hole.Juliet squatted down immediately, the tablecloth covering her legs.Before the man had time to cover the iron plate, Juliet had already grasped the edge of the iron door with both hands.She saw a pair of men's hands also gripping the edge of the iron plate.Then she heard a cry of surprise from him, and then a moaning and struggling sound, trying desperately to put the iron plate back on.And Juliet tried desperately to lift the iron plate, but couldn't find a point of strength.Then suddenly the man let go of one hand, and after a while she saw a knife sticking out, cutting along the edge of the iron plate, trying to cut off her finger. Juliet threw her legs forward, sat down on the ground, pulled hard, and the iron plate was torn off by her, and at that moment, the knife cut her finger. She screamed, and the man below screamed too.He leaned out from the hole and pointed the knife at her, his hands were shaking constantly, the knife reflected the lights on the ceiling, shining brightly.Juliet threw the iron plate aside and took hold of her wounded finger.The blood kept dripping down. "Don't be afraid!" She quickly jumped away. The man looked down, then looked up again, looking behind Juliet, as if there was someone behind her.She wanted to look back, but held back.She didn't hear anything behind her, so she decided to keep an eye on him, lest he deliberately trick her with this kind of feint and slip away. "Who are you?" she asked.She pulled a corner of the tablecloth around her fingers.She noticed that the man was bearded, unkempt, and wearing gray overalls that looked a lot like her bunker clothes, with just a few minor differences.He stared at her, his black hair disheveled over his face.He grunted, put his hands over his mouth and coughed, as if about to shrink back into the hole and run away. "Wait!" said Juliet, "I won't hurt you." The man looked at her hand, then at the knife in his hand.Juliet looked down and saw that the blood had flowed down the arm to the elbow, and felt a little pain from the wound.However, this is nothing compared to the injuries she suffered in the electromechanical area. "Yes... yes... sorry." The man stammered.He stuck out his tongue to lick his lips and swallowed.The knife in his hand shook violently. "My name is Zuer." She suddenly understood that this person was more scared than her, "What's your name?" He looked down at the knife, the blade edged toward him, as if looking in a mirror, and shook his head. "I don't have a name," he said hoarsely. "I don't need a name." "Are you alone here?" she asked. He shrugged. "Alone. I was an orphan," he said. "Many years." He looked up at her. "Did you—" He licked his lips again, clearing his throat.He seemed to feel that the light was very dazzling, and there were tears in his eyes, "——where did it come from? Which floor?" "All these years, have you been by yourself?" Juliet couldn't believe it, she couldn't imagine it. "I'm not from that floor," she told him, "I'm from another bunker." The last words were spoken slowly and in a low voice, for fear of irritating him.This man looks so vulnerable. The orphan actually nodded, as if he understood what she meant.Juliet didn't expect him to have such a reaction. "Outside——" the orphan looked down at the knife again, then stretched out his hand out of the hole, put the knife on the iron grid, and pushed it away, far away, far away from the two people. "—Is it safe outside now?" Juliet shook her head. "It's dangerous," she said. "I'm wearing hazmat suits. It's not far, but I should have died." The orphan nodded again, then looked up at her, two lines of tears streaming from the corners of his eyes, streaming into his beard. "Both of us should have died," he said. "We shouldn't have lived alone."