novelraw Chapter 848: When He Fought, She Helped
Chapter 848: When He Fought, She Helped
The shelter on the Allen Peninsula had successfully dealt with its first few crises.
When the Deep Sea Stone began to lose its effectiveness as a barrier, they would abandon the shelter and establish a new settlement deeper underground. If they lost contact with the surface, residents were dispatched to observation posts to monitor the outside world and prevent panic. To cope with the psychological strain of prolonged underground life, the inhabitants were taught that the surface was teeming with anomalies and only the shelter was safe. They regularly inspected their tools, maintaining a supply of functional equipment above a certain threshold, and established a guard force to protect against anomaly intrusions.
The crown of tranquility that people yearned for had rested upon the Allen Peninsula shelter for more than twenty years, which only made the one problem that did arise all the more severe: a food crisis.
The shelter, designed for 300 people, now housed 723 residents.
Worse still, not only had the population become difficult to control, but the amount of food had also dwindled. For the past five years, the annual food harvest had declined by 4-7% compared to the previous year. That might not sound like much, but considering the risky development of arable land in the old shelter, their current cultivated area was 1.3 times larger than it was five years ago, yet the harvest had fallen by 30%.
The scientists suspected the problem lay with the soil and the seeds. The first issue was relatively easy to solve: they just needed to continuously develop new land to expand their crops, while also addressing the lighting and the associated problems that might attract the attention of anomalies. But if the problem was the latter, they had no choice but to obtain new seeds.
And seeds could only be obtained from the surface.
Unfortunately for Eileen, she became overseer right at the beginning of the food crisis.
It was now understood that both problems existed... issues with the seeds, and with the fields as well.
Disaster was looming over the crowned shelter.Faced with the crisis, the shelter's leadership split into proponents and opponents.
The proponents believed that to preserve the shelter, it was necessary to acquire seeds and other scarce resources from the surface. The opponents argued for maintaining blood purity, even if the price was a reduction in the shelter's population.
The straightforward Eileen was obviously a proponent, and her response to the opposition was simple: if the shelter's population had to be reduced, let it begin with them and their descendants.
To Eileen, they were just a bunch of blind fools. The seeds would degrade from generation to generation until they became nothing but weeds.
"I thought the shelter would be 'cleaner'."
Katerina lost the last remnants of her sympathy for the shelter.
"It's always like this where there's power: intelligent people and those who think they're intelligent give foolish answers to balance their interests."
Eileen, rubbing the corners of her eyes where wrinkles had begun to form, also felt a sense of weariness. If it weren't for Lulu, she never would have become the overseer—or she would have taken the position and hanged everyone who opposed her.
Lu Li's appearance was a good opportunity for the proponents. He came from the surface, he was an exorcist, and most importantly, he could be trusted.
Eileen simply hadn't expected things outside to be so dire that there wasn't a single human city on the Allen Peninsula, and the only one left was Vinnelag, a commercial port that had once thrived only in winter.
"Could a trade caravan be hired to deliver supplies?" Eileen asked.
For Lu Li, this was not a difficult task.
He just needed to send a ship to Vinnelag to load up a full cargo of goods.
"Have you decided to no longer hide the shelter?" Katerina suddenly asked.
"The shelter must not be exposed to the public; the fewer people who know, the better," Eileen replied.
"However, we have a way to solve that problem."
"What way?"
"An artifact that can erase memories," Eileen whispered meaningfully.
It was a crucial item that allowed the shelter to remain undiscovered.
Katerina nodded, then looked at Eileen with suspicion.
"You haven't already erased our memories, have you?"
"We've been discovered? Looks like it's time for another round... Lulu." Eileen raised a delicate eyebrow slightly and nodded at Lulu.
Creak—
Katerina shot to her feet, shoving the wooden chair back. Shielding her eyes, she stared coldly at Eileen.
"You erased our memories?"
"She's teasing you," Lu Li said calmly, slicing his steak with a dinner knife.
"Sit down quickly..." Prusius covered his eyes with one paw.
However, Katerina, having survived countless deaths, paid no mind to such minor embarrassment. She picked up the chair and sat down again as if nothing had happened.
"I thought these years might have changed you." Eileen sipped her wine with red lips and raised her glass toward Lu Li.
"What about Tesla?"
Lu Li didn't pursue the topic of Eileen's memories.
"...He escaped from the shelter twenty years ago and returned to the surface. We know no more about his whereabouts than you do."
"Why did he leave?"
"The shelter lost contact with the outside world. Three months after that newspaper you almost bought stopped arriving, how did you manage it?"
"The Merchant. Is the newspaper still here?"
Those newspapers contained Adamfiya's "letters," and they might hold information about her location and that of Remi and his sister.
"I'll have someone look for them later. The Merchant..." Eileen murmured, lost in thought.
The Merchant could be trusted.
The shelter had once blocked the Merchant because they wanted to remain isolated. Now the situation had changed, and without outside help, the shelter could not survive.
"If the Merchant can deliver supplies, we won't have to hire a trade caravan," Eileen said.
"It's possible, but it will take some time," Lu Li nodded.
"He is the last Merchant."
"Just like you?"
Eileen propped up her chin, stirring her mashed potatoes with a silver spoon, creating spirals that made Katerina wince.
Lulu, beside her, suddenly put down her fork. Eileen tilted her head slightly, maintaining a listening posture. A life spent together since childhood had taught her that Lulu had something to say.
"Several years ago, residents discovered the corpse of a Merchant nearby."
"Where is it?" The question came not from Lu Li, but from the Merchant.
Lulu delicately and quickly wiped the food from the corners of her mouth and rose from her seat.
"I will go retrieve the relevant report."
Eileen, still propping up her chin, followed Lulu with her gaze. Then her narrow eyes returned to Lu Li.
"You couldn't have come to the shelter just to visit us. Tell me, what happened?"
"I've lost Anna."
Lu Li told Eileen about his search for Anna.
"Has she appeared in the shelter?"
"It's no wonder she isn't with you..."
Eileen nodded slightly.
"No. Aside from today, the last time anomalies invaded the shelter was several years ago."
Lu Li appeared to remain calm.
"...Ruins, the Abyss, cultists, a tree, a brown carriage. What does that bring to mind for you?"
"Are they connected somehow?" Eileen asked with a frown.
"A prediction about Anna's whereabouts."
"A prediction? Is there something else you haven't told me?"
Lu Li then recounted everything that had happened since his return to Belfast.
"Ruins... the Abyss... cultists... I can't think of anything, unless I stretch the connections," Eileen said, shaking her head. Looking at Lu Li's downcast, dark eyes, she added:
"Perhaps the answer is on the surface of the riddle: here is the shelter, and above are the ruins."
Here, Eileen paused.
"There are ruins below, too."