Chapter 750: The Undercity
Chapter 750: Chapter 750: The Undercity
They rested in place for five days before setting off again. Thanks to the downtime from her period, Evelyn Ford had fully recovered.
Just as the two were preparing to set out, Ronan Kendrick discovered something a kilometer away from the RV.
He led Evelyn over. Seeing the giant sphere before her, she was dumbfounded.
"If I’m not mistaken, isn’t this the Undercity that the mole on Rhys Chase’s team flew off with?"
Ronan Kendrick nodded. "That’s right. It’s Rhys Chase’s spherical Undercity."
The once high-tech and luxurious Undercity was now stranded here. It must have run out of fuel and plummeted from the sky, carving a massive crater into the ground. There were several fireball craters next to it as well. The fireballs had exploded and burned, yet the Undercity was surprisingly undamaged. No wonder Liam Sterling had said this Undercity was the shelter Rhys Chase poured his life’s work into creating. Not even a volcanic eruption or a magnitude-20 earthquake could affect it.
Evelyn walked up to the Undercity and wiped the dust from its surface. She then closed her eyes, placed both hands on it, and focused her will. In an instant, the Undercity was stored in her space. Evelyn lost her balance and nearly tumbled into the giant crater, but Ronan Kendrick reacted in a flash and pulled her back.
’What an incredible surprise! I wonder if it can still be activated and used. This will be so useful for Rhys Chase; we can take it back to him. Most importantly, I remember him saying it requires his fingerprint and iris scan to open. If he can reactivate it, we could live inside the Undercity from now on.’
"I thought this Undercity would have flown into outer space or some other realm by now. I never expected to find it here." At the thought, Evelyn couldn’t help but laugh.
The corners of Ronan Kendrick’s mouth lifted into a slight smile. "I doubt even Rhys Chase would have imagined finding it here."
***
A few days later, they entered a vast, empty expanse. Aside from the giant craters gouged out by fireballs, there were hardly any stones to be seen. The soil was still its natural color, untouched by fire or extreme heat.
"This place was probably barren before the fireballs hit. So, even though they exploded and burned upon landing, there was no vegetation to ignite. That’s why the land itself wasn’t damaged. Most importantly, there’s very little carbon ash here."
Ronan Kendrick nodded. "That’s right. The Khoros Desert is probably just a few more kilometers ahead. Based on our direction and travel time, we should reach Eldoria soon."
Evelyn breathed a sigh of relief. "That’s great. We’ll be in Eldoria soon."
The flat terrain meant they could drive again. Evelyn took out the RV and went aboard to tidy up while Ronan Kendrick made a circuit of the area to survey the terrain.
"I’ve checked it out. The ground here is quite hard, and the topsoil is turning to sand. It must be an arid region. Remember the central arid zone we passed through on our way to Demon’s Ridge in Serena two years ago? I’m pretty sure that’s where we are right now."
Evelyn had a flash of insight. They had encountered the falling fireballs at Mount Grol, and they had been traveling north ever since. Reaching this spot proved they were heading in the right direction.
"If we drive from here, we can get back to Eldoria in three days at most."
Evelyn was both excited and happy. She’d been worried they might go the wrong way, since neither she nor Ronan Kendrick had a particularly good sense of direction. To think they had managed to stumble their way back to central Serena.
After a half-hour rest, Ronan Kendrick took the wheel and they pressed on. Eager to get back to Eldoria, he sped up. When the roads became impassable, they switched to bicycles. At four in the afternoon the next day, they finally arrived back at the Khoros Steppe. The once vast grasslands had long been burned clean by the fireballs, the flat earth now riddled with craters of varying sizes. The carbon ash in Khoros was so thick it was impossible to breathe or speak normally without a gas mask.
Evelyn’s legs felt like jelly. They had been cycling since eight in the morning, and she was now so exhausted her limbs were trembling uncontrollably. Fortunately, returning to the steppes meant they could drive again. To be on the safe side, however, they switched to an ordinary cargo truck before pressing on.
Ignoring their exhaustion and bedraggled state, they raced back to Eldoria. However, as the truck approached the base and she saw the massive craters and sprawling ruins, Evelyn’s mind went blank. For a few seconds, she felt as if her heart had stopped beating.
Ronan Kendrick took Evelyn’s hand. "Let’s go in and see what’s going on," he said softly. "Don’t panic. I hear voices. There are people alive."
Evelyn nodded. When she got out of the truck, she stumbled. She couldn’t accept the reality of the base’s destruction. What made her heart ache even more was the knowledge that the base had housed over ten million people. She didn’t know how many were buried beneath the ruins, or how many had managed to escape.
’Officer Graham, Quincy, Wendy...’ Evelyn thumped her chest a couple of times, feeling a suffocating pressure. She couldn’t seem to catch her breath.
"Don’t overthink it. They’ll be fine." Ronan Kendrick stored the truck in his space and had Evelyn change into a pair of thick-soled shoes to protect her from stepping on sharp debris. Flashlights in hand, they carefully picked their way around obstacles and climbed over heaps of rubble. When they spotted a figure rummaging through the ruins up ahead, Evelyn immediately ran toward them.
"Please, don’t rob me! I haven’t found anything," the person cried, trembling in fear at Evelyn’s approach. She glanced at what he’d collected: nothing but a battered iron pot and a few clay bowls.
"Where are the others?"
The man seemed to relax upon hearing a woman’s voice. "The survivors all went downstream from the lake. There’s still a little bit of water there. You didn’t know?"
"We were out on a mission. We just got back. Do you know where the base commander is?"
The man shook his head. "Don’t know. The base is gone. A lot of people died. The base commander’s probably dead too."
Evelyn frowned. ’With Rhys Chase’s capabilities, he wouldn’t die that easily... but the others...’
"How long has it been since the explosions?"
"Over two months now. Can I go? I still need to look for stuff."
’It’s been over two months? Does that mean Ronan and I were unconscious for a month?’
The man picked up his makeshift sack, fashioned from a bedsheet, and limped away to continue his search. Evelyn and Ronan Kendrick exchanged a glance, deciding to check the small courtyard for Officer Graham and the others first. If they weren’t there, they would head downstream to the lake.
They had only walked a few steps when they saw several other people ahead, crouched over the ruins and rummaging through the debris. One of them must have found something, because another person immediately lunged at them to snatch it away. The two quickly started brawling. Evelyn spared them a single glance before looking away and continuing forward. Their priority right now was to find Officer Graham and the others as quickly as possible.