The Mechanic [BL]

[125]

Chapter 125 – End Game (1)

Anya used a mini-bomb to break through the heavy ice, then used a laser gun to burn the frozen lock and kicked open the door to the expedition base, which had been abandoned for over 300 years.

This base had been abandoned before Eden was created. When the sea level suddenly rose and the island was in danger of being submerged the expedition team retreated in a hurry and it was buried in a blizzard soon after. The expedition hadn't produced useful results so the ruins were almost completely forgotten.

But for the bandits or the Free Folk who were fleeing Eden and trading information on the dark web, information about these places that hadn't been taken over by Eden was a rare treasure and information on such places was always up for auction on the black market.

After Anya had decided to help Diego come here to find Zhang Shuo, she bought the coordinates of this wonderful sanctuary from the black market. It was originally intended as a place to hide as a last resort, but she never expected to actually use it.

There were still cold weather clothes from three hundred years ago, some primitive tools and machinery for some unknown purpose and even a long-defunct radio communicator. The kitchen cupboards even contained a lot of canned food and first aid supplies and a few of the beds were left with quilts that had been frozen hard and brittle.

Anya's three remaining men carefully moved Natalie to one of the beds. Anya frowned, whispering to Diego, "How do we know if she hasn't been injected with nanobots too?"

Diego said, "Zhang Shuo was locked up separately, but she and I were always locked up together. I'm sure she wasn't injected."

Anya glanced at him with an odd look.

Diego tsked, crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, "What? You doubt me?"

Anya looked at him for a moment, shrugging her shoulders, "I'm just wondering why it didn't just inject everyone."

"How would I know? I've never been interested in this machine stuff."

The one man among them who knew Eden best was nearby, looking blankly at the radio.

Diego and Anya looked at each other, a dark look of worry spreading between them.

Ever since Zhang Shuo's death Zhang Xun had been acting calmly, perhaps a little too calmly.

After Zhang Shuo's body collapsed, Zhang Xun's eyes had widened slightly and for a while he didn't move, as if he was frozen in the ice and cold.

No one could react, no one had expected Zhang Shuo to shoot so abruptly.

Zhang Xun looked steadily at his father's body lying on the driver's seat then after a long time, he took a few steps forward and stared down. There was a bit of confusion in his expression, and that confusion was followed by endless blankness.

Zhang Xun never shed tears from beginning to end. He had tried, but there were no tears. He wasn't even sure if he was sad.

Before his father pulled the trigger, he finally experienced vivid, human emotions once again. That kind of numb panic, the feeling of his heartbeat suddenly rising to the limit, the blood roaring in his blood vessels... But when his father fired the gun, all those feelings vanished.

It was this lack of grief that almost made him want to reach for that gun and put a bullet in his own temple as well.

A hand rested on his shoulder. Zhang Xun turned around to see Diego's worried face.

"Are you okay, brother?"

Zhang Xun nodded hesitantly.

What was it to be okay and what was it to not be okay?