Translator: _Min_ Editor: Rundi
The riot occurred at night.
Although the fallout shelter without sunshine had no concept of night.
It was only five hours after the security force forcefully removed the residents from the industrial area before the detention room inside the fallout shelter was stuffed full of protestors.
No one could bear that while they slept, a sharp sword could fall down anytime and hang above their heads. The ventilation that no one had paid attention to for twenty-something years has now become a gun pointed at them.
A gun sprouted in people’s hearts.
Reality had proven that when everyone could not stand the same question, people become more courageous than they imagined.
The security force was comprised of less than one hundred people and was limited in power. Additionally, most of the soldiers were born in the fallout shelter. They didn’t feel the obligation of the PAC. Compared to the emotionless and distant Han Junhua, they missed the kind and warm old leader. To the residents that protested, they not only felt compassion, but they were also supportive of their cause.
Compassion in breaching the rules would never occur in a PAC force, but they were not a force to begin with.
The resident assembly was re-establish again. Although they didn’t receive permission from the fallout shelter terminal, they received support from all the residents. Under the leadership of ex-representative Wu Yaguo, in the name of justice, a mission detail was spread among the residents.
An hour to overthrow the dictatorship! An hour to renegotiate!
When the rumor of the mission started to spread, a few people already started to plot. But to the events occurring among the residents, Han Junhua was not clueless.
The external threat was already there.
This would be one move to eliminate the internal threat.
First, it was to shatter the sword.
The power system was temporarily out, which triggered the emergency protocol to use the backup battery. Although the power outage during this transition only lasted for a short ten minutes, the short ten minutes was enough for a lot of things to happen.
The entire fallout shelter was in sudden darkness.
The elevator was stuck underground which prevented any interaction between the underground and the surface. The mechanical engine of the fallout shelter door was also destroyed by maintenance workers which eliminated the possibility of Han Junhua closing the door. Due to part of the security force joining the rebellion, all the residents joined forces in the grand hall of the fallout shelter. Therefore, even if the power had returned after ten minutes, Han Junhua releasing the sleep gas to the entire fallout shelter would be futile.
The sword that hung above everyone’s head was completed eliminated.
Then, there will be discipline!
80% of the security force chose to join the temporary assembly. 20% of the previous PAC security force swore to protect. Both parties engaged in intense gunfire along the major hallways as they pushed towards the fallout shelter leader’s office.
The residents first occupied the armory and opened the detention room. Just like the conquering Bastille, the united residents released the imprisoned warriors. The warriors cheered as they armed themselves with the weapons.
Two hundred residents in gas masks and automatic rifles joined in the battle as the scale tipped towards the fallout residents’ side.
Tian Feng led the last remaining ten soldiers in the valiant fight. They were the first group of soldiers that entered the fallout base. Twenty years ago they were just young men who recently joined the army, now they were at the age where they should have retired. They had planned for the worst, such as encountering NATO soldiers that would break into the fallout shelter.
But what they didn’t expect was, during their last call, they had to face the residents they protected.
It was a suffocating feeling.
Tian Feng fiercely fired back as he tried not to remember the names that belonged to the faces in front of him.
But he couldn’t.
Within the crosshairs, he saw the child from his neighbor. He still remembered the teen had said he wanted to be a botanist when the day the fallout shelter opened. He wanted to look at the grass grow. Wanted to see how resilient the radiation-contaminated grass was.
But he had already died, he had fallen in the pool of blood yet to be cool.
And him, and him, and even her…
“Ahhh!”
Finally, someone couldn’t resist the mental torture. A soldier ran out of cover and frantically fired with his rifle.
“Dammit! Come back!” But Tian Feng didn’t manage to stop him as he watched a few blood holes appear on his own comrade’s body with his own eyes.
He died, but there was no agony on his face.
Tian Feng smashed into the wall and ducked into cover. His chest pumped violently up and down while he tried to regather his breath.
“Dammit! Cough, cough!” Spit mixed with blood splashed on the wall.
He didn’t know who to curse, or who should be cursed.
The noise of bullets was all that could be heard.
At that moment, everyone was mute.
…
Within the leader’s office, through the bulletproof glass, Han Junhua silently watched the battle inches away from her.
Too weak.
Not even considered a small regional conflict.
Pre-war, she had commanded a battalion of mechanical paratroopers to suppress a riot planned by NATO on the PAC border. The gore she had seen, a hell far bloodier than this, she had seen them too many times.
But for some reason, she felt her heart ache.
Academician Qin stood beside her as he silently gazed out the window.
The shaking figure along with the young figure created a vivid contrast.
Just like father and daughter.
Long after, Han Junhua spoke, “Are you not going to stand on the side of the residents?”
Academician Qin shook his head. “I stand by the truth.”
“is that so?” Han Junhua looked surprisingly at the elderly man in his final remaining years.
“Because the truth is always the most difficult to accept, the people searching for the truth is always the most lonely.”
“That’s really disappointing.” Han Junhua looked out the window emotionlessly.
The sparks from the bullets jumped between the cold steel walls, reflected among the angry pupils. The soldiers still loyal to her constantly suffered defeat, they had no more backup.
“Human nature is the burden of survival, but without this burden, civilization would not be born.”
“Do you want to say, I am wrong?” Han Junhua was straightforward.
“You are not wrong, but not correct.”
Not wrong, but not correct? Han Juahua repeatedly chewed on those words in her mind, even though she knew there wasn’t any purpose in thinking about it.
After moments of silence, Han Junhua asked, “You know in the beginning that this would be the result right?”
He was always more silent compared to anyone else, but he always knew the situation better.
She began to be suspicious.
Academician Qin didn’t deny it, but his smile was bitter.
“Mhmm, I don’t deny it.”
“Why?” Han Junhua didn’t look at him as she still used an emotionless voice to ask.
“I thought you had realized a long time ago.” Academician Qin sighed.
Han Junhua was waiting for the elderly man to continue, but he didn’t speak anymore.
“Even in the last moment, you can’t tell me the reason?” Han Juahua asked.
Academician Qin only used silence to answer her.
“I have been thinking about a question for a long time. The candidate for the leaders of the fallout shelter, is it based on careful consideration?”
“You can think of it that way,” Academician Qin said in a quiet voice.
“I used the supercomputer at the fallout shelter before to recreate the mathematical model of the population growth curve and the energy consumption speed, but the result I received surprised me… From the start, the energy of the fallout shelter was not enough. Right?”
Academician Qin did not answer.
But in a situation like this, silence was admitting by default.
Looking at the expression on Han Junhua, he knew that she had already guessed it.
Academician Qin let out a sigh as he gently said.
“Could you not serve your duty until the final moment?”
The voice carried a hint of pleading.
“Okay,” Han Juahua said emotionlessly.
Academician Qin asked in surprise.
“Are you not afraid?”
Han Junhua shook her head.
“It’s only death.”
Outside the window, Tian Feng had already fallen.
With one hand against the wall, blood dripped from his arms.
He struggled as he raised the pistol to aim with his blood covered left eye.
Perhaps the clip was empty, no bullets came from the dark muzzle.
In that instant, a rioter dashed in front of him, he swung the fire axe and chopped off his head. Blood dripped along the axe as the “hero” enjoyed the crowd’s cheers and hugs.
He swung the axe dripping with blood up with his strong arm. It was like the torch of the statue of liberty.
Throwing the bulletproof vest away, Han Junhua silently watched the last scene.
She noticed the person with the axe smiling insolently at her.
As if it was the smile of the statue of liberty.
Human nature is the burden of survival, but if it were not for this burden, civilization would not exist. But once civilization is born, it must be accompanied by the gruesome brutality.
She seemed to have understood something, but in the attempt to prolong a civilization, an individual’s realization would not change anything.
“At the end of the mission, can I ask you a final question?” Han Junhua gazed at him as she said expressionlessly.
Academician Qin was silent.
“I will just assume you have agreed by default,” Han Junhua continued.
She walked to the window as she put her hand gently on the bulletproof window. The axe smashed onto the window where she had placed her finger in an aggressive act.
She felt the light tremble from the tip of her finger as she slowly said.
“Is the window specification of this room built to the lab’s standard?”
“Yes.”
Although it was only a single word, it made Han Junhua’s cold heart feel a trace of comfort.
The rioters outside the window saw that they could not open the office door, so they brought the welding gun. From the crowd, she saw Wu Yaguo’s face and the bruise on his face.
“If you release the explosive gas, you have a chance at killing the people outside the door,” Academician Qin abruptly said.
“Is this part of the experiment?” Han Junhua asked.
He didn’t speak anymore as he gave the final choice to her.
Like a pale experimental report was placed in front of her.
Hypothesis: The rationale dictator in the final moment before she is overthrown. Would she choose the lunatic choice to die with everyone?
Han Junhua closed her eyes as she carefully considered for a moment.
“I will not do that.”
Experimental result: False.
“Mhmm.” Academician Qin nodded as a smile with a trace of comfort appeared on his face.
At the end of the smile.
The door collapsed.
