Ten days have passed by since Jiang Chen withdrew most of the soldiers.
The atmosphere at Camp 27 was like any other day, but inside Fallout Shelter 027, the atmosphere was peculiar.
There was not a single person inside the four resident areas. The hallways connecting each area was also empty, no one was wiping the almost shining walls and floors anymore.
Where did everyone go?
Contrary to the deserted residential areas, the industrial area was jam-packed with people. Standing on the stairs looking down, there was a sea of people. With a rough estimate, excluding the one hundred residents that moved up to the surface already, the remaining sixteen hundred residents in the fallout shelter were all here.
Because of the high density of the people, the environment was terrible here.
There were children crying and enraged conversations. There were people sitting in the corner with their luggage, and someone people even made a bed on the ground with the intention fo staying long term.
The twenty people security force stood on the high ground as they were on high alert with their weapons ready.
They never faced a situation like this. Nor did they know how to deal with it. The saving grace was, the residents’ emotions remain restrained as they didn’t show any aggressive gestures.
At that time, the door opened.
With two soldiers beside him, Tian Feng walked in.
Because of his work in obtaining the nuclear fusion core, he was appointed by Han Junhua as the chief commander of the security force and replaced the previous commander assigned by the old leader. He was responsible for the security and defense tasks in the fallout shelter. When he heard the gathering happening in the industrial area, he immediately rushed over.
Seeing their commander walk in, the twenty soldiers stood up straight and gave him a standard PAC salute.
Tian Feng returned one as he passed the row of soldiers and walked beside the barrier on the stairs. He began to frown looking down at the enraged crowd.
“What do they want to do?” Tian Feng asked the soldiers beside him.
“They are protesting,” the young soldier heard the commander’s question as he replied truthfully.
“Protest?” Tian Feng frowned. As he was just about to ask what they were protesting about, he heard a roar from the crowd.
“We demand an explanation!”
“Yes! Get Han Junhua to come out.”
“…”
Tian Feng looked at the angry faces. Although he was puzzled, he immediately realized the situation was odd.
“What are they protesting about?” With voice lowered, he asked the young soldier.
The young man had a glimpse of hesitation, but he gritted his teeth and spoke.
“Someone said… The leader established a program in her EP and connect the lock permission of the fallout shelter door with her life signal.”
“Is that it?” Tian Feng was confused.
“Also…” Since he already started, the young man was not afraid the commander may be angry as he spilled out everything he knew. Including Han Junhua used the leader’s permission to take all the residents’ life as a hostage, the resident assembly being dissolved, and the residents demanding an explanation for all her actions.
When he heard the entire story, Tian Feng gasped for air.
One, because he was shocked by the amount of information revealed behind the rumors, and two, because there was a conspiracy hidden behind the spread of these rumors.
Seeing the silent commander, the young man hesitated for a moment and said, “Commander.”
“What is it?”
“What they are saying… Is It true?”
From his eyes, Tian Feng saw a hint of confusion.
That confusion made him feel an inexplicable fear.
“Don’t trust the rumors. Control the situation here. I’ll report to the leader.”
He hastily assigned the task to the soldiers as he was about to turn around to go to Han Junhua’s office.
But then, Wu Yaguo came out of the crowd and stood in front of him.
Tian Feng noticed there was a bruise on his face.
“The residents demand an explanation,” Wu Yaguo fearlessly stared into Tian Feng’s eyes as he said loudly.
“The leader of the fallout shelter had no need to justify her actions, but I trust that leader Han will give you a satisfactory response.” Because he was still lost about the situation, Tian Feng gave a procedural response.
But obviously, no one was pleased with his response.
“Yeah? I hope so,” Wu Yaguo sneered.
“Could you guys go back first?” Tian Feng knew that Wu Yaguo was reputable among the residents, so he lowered his voiced as he tried to persuade him.
Wu Yaguo locked his eyes on Tian Feng. “After knowing the truth behind this event, do you think that’s a possibility?”
Tian Feng couldn’t say a word. His throat moved before he turned around walking away.
As he watched Tian Feng leave, the rage in Wu Yaguo’s eyes was tinted with a hint of hatred.
…
Someone leaked the news and revealed all the details of the negotiation.
The entire fallout shelter was a mess. No one dared to sleep in their bedrooms anymore. No one was willing to be the sacrifice, the betting chip for someone else’s survival. Therefore, everyone gathered in the industrial area and slept together on the ground.
But Han Junhua quickly controlled the situation as she ordered the security forces to forcefully remove the protestors and have everyone return to their duty within an hour.
But during the process, someone shouted.
“She is a dictator! She is trying to use everyone’s life to maintain her evil reign!”
Immediately, everyone responded to that voice.
“That’s right! The future of Fallout Shelter 027, should be determined by all the residents!”
“He is right!”
“The people from the Fishbone base is not as despicable as she described! She is a liar!”
Shouting and screaming echoed between the cold steel walls as it unleashed the anger and suspicion in everyone’s hearts.
When a situation has evolved to this point, a simple explanation will certainly not resolve it.
The situation could no longer be controlled.
Han Junhua was decisive with her plan. She ordered soldiers to use smoke bombs to forcefully evict the residents in the industrial area. To the people defying her order, Han Junhua used the leader’s permission to release sleeping mask to the industrial area and thrown all the unconscious people into detention for ten days.
At the same time, she ordered to temporarily limit the freedom of Xu Lu as well as the five staffs as she tried to hide the internal turmoil inside the fallout shelter deep in the ground. Then, she sent out the security force to investigate the people who spread rumors, at the same time establishing a curfew. Any residents outside of the residential area after the lights were out will be thrown into detention for no less than five days.
But not long after, the prison was full…
Five hours later after the incident.
The information from Camp 27 was sitting on Jiang Chen’s desk.
Cheng Weiguo was standing there as he looked at Jiang Chen in admiration.
“Boss, you are too… How did that proverb go? Yes! Think like a god!”
To the subordinate’s praise, Jiang Chen laughed without being humble at all.
“What thinking like a god? I made people spread the news.”
Before she left, he orders Xu Lu to maintain a good relationship with the residents inside the fallout shelter. She must establish an image opposite of what Han Junhua was portraying. Therefore, the residents inside the fallout shelter will become suspicious of Han Junhua.
Immediately, he used the mouth of a soldier at camp 27 to “unintentionally” leak the information of the negotiation.
Once a third person knew about the secret, it was no longer a secret.
Very quickly, the news spread from the surface to under the earth and spread like a virus inside the fallout shelter. At the same time, with rumors being exchanged, many different versions took form.
The most widespread one –
The leader of the fallout shelter, Han Juahua, used the permission granted by the fallout shelter terminal to take all the residents’ life as the hostage to force the peace-loving Jiang Chen to stay away from the fallout shelter. Or, she will execute the residents by batches until only herself is left in order to force the ‘kind Jiang Chen’ to give up ground.
Han Junhua, of course, clarified this and used the announcement system to notify all residents in the fallout shelter.
But once trust has collapsed, it would be hard to establish. To Han Junhua’s clarification, with Wu Yaguo leading as the ex-residents representative, he demanded Han Junhua display the terminal use history but was rejected. Because she did something similar to the rumors, it would be impossible to clarify her actions.
Therefore, Fallout Shelter 027 was a complete mess.
But what Jiang Chen didn’t expect was for this moment to come so rapidly.
It only took ten days before the relationship between Han Junhua and the residents got to the freezing point.
How deep was this grudge…
“Boss, do we need to send troops now to support the resident assembly, help them uprise against Han Junhua, and then use this opportunity-” Cheng Weiguo passionately suggested.
Jiang Chen smiled as he signaled not to rush things.
“No need to rush. It is because we have left that they dare to be in the process of transitioning. If we return, they would no longer be a mess.”
“But those residents without any weapons, would they have the ability to overthrown Han Junhua’s regime?” Cheng Weiguo was puzzled.
The fallout shelter leader possessed all permission to the fallout shelter, including the ability to release sleeping gas, control sentry guns, control any of the doors, and most importantly the rights to control the security force. Cheng Weiguo who had stayed in a fallout shelter before knew this point clearly.
In this case, without external help, the residents stood no chance at all.
“Old Cheng, how many years did Fallout Shelter 027 exist for?” Jiang Chen smiled.
“Twenty years,” Cheng Weiguo answered without hesitation.
“Yes, twenty years. So the people that were twenty at the time would be forty now right?”
Cheng Weiguo looked at Jiang Chen, unsure of what he was alluding to.
Jiang Chen continued in a lighthearted voice.
“The security force inside the fallout shelter, it is no longer the security force formed by PAC soldiers. At least, the new recruit would make up more than half right?”
“What’s the problem with that?”
“Would the new recruits point their guns at their parents for Han Junhua?” Jiang Chen grinned.