Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 138 Are there any plums to eat?

Although there are many zombies, they are not invincible to a team composed of third-tier superhumans. As long as the methods are appropriate, it is only a matter of time before they are dealt with.

Pei Che approached the door again and knocked, but there was still no response from inside.

"open to take a look?"

“This door…”

The teammate who was good at opening doors looked troubled; the heavy door looked like it could withstand artillery fire.

Give me some time.

Pei Che nodded, then looked at another teammate: "How is it? Can you hear anything?"

"The outer walls are too thick, it seems..."

The man leaned against the wall, and his words invigorated everyone.

"It sounds like there is a sound."

Just then, Ruan Mingyue suddenly pulled away her teammate who was trying to break down the gate.

"Disperse!"

Instinctively, the group jumped back, and then a series of gunshots rang out, raising a cloud of dust in front of the door.

"Hold the grass!"

A stray bullet pierced Pei Che's bulletproof vest, making him feel as if he had been punched, but thankfully it was just a stray bullet.

"Old Pei, are you alright?"

"Do you have any plums to eat?"

"roll."

The group spotted the firing port immediately, and with their skills, they quickly reached the blind spot—they jumped directly onto the roof of the building.

"Comrade, we're here to take you away. Have you misunderstood?"

Despite being attacked, the team members weren't particularly angry; their eyes were filled with the joy of discovering survivors.

The people in the armory remained silent, offering no answer. Pei Che paused, then said, "You'd better not fire. If you attract high-level zombies, we'll all be in trouble!"

"...You are not welcome here."

The person behind the firing port finally spoke. His voice was a little hoarse, but it was obvious that he was a young child. It was hard to tell if he was male or female, as children of this age all have similar voices.

Pei Che paused for a moment, then subconsciously said, "Where are the adults here? I want to say a few words to them."

"There are no adults left."

"..."

The team members were silent for a moment, then Pei Che said, "Comrade, I think I understand your thoughts, but you can't just keep hiding here forever, can you?"

"Right now, it's just small-scale fighting outside. Do you think it's safe here once a real battle breaks out?"

"Do you have food? How long can you hide here?"

"We found zombie rats in Vault 19. If they appear here too, you won't be able to stop them, will you?"

The armory remained silent for a long time. Just when Pei Che and the others thought that the other party had left, the voice spoke again.

"How do I know you weren't infected by the zombie king?"

"..."

The group suddenly felt a little discouraged. Yes, in this city, it wasn't just comrades who would let you open the door; it could also be a zombie.

How can I prove that I am a good person?
This is a problem that has troubled countless people since ancient times, and of course, it is often seen in the dock.

Seeing that her teammates were at a loss, Ruan Mingyue suddenly pulled out a grenade.

"Oh my god, Sister Xiaoyue, don't be impulsive! That's still a child!"

Everyone was shocked, but Pei Che's eyes lit up: "You mean..."

"Grab my leg."

Pei Che didn't waste any words and cooperated with Ruan Mingyue. As a superhuman, doing this kind of action was no problem for him.

Nguyen Minh Nhut hung upside down on the wall, and with a slight swing, threw the unpinned grenade into the firing port before the person inside could react, and then easily returned to the roof.

Even with the extraordinary control of a superhuman, the grenade landed directly in the child's arms, which he instinctively caught. The child was clearly startled, and after a moment, cried out, "What are you doing?!"

Pei Che smiled and said, "It's obvious that we're not helpless against you. If we were the ones being parasitized, we wouldn't need to waste our breath arguing with you here. We could just blow you up and open the door anyway."

"You can blow me up, but there are others to kill!"

“Keep blasting.” Pei Che said helplessly, “There’s no point in saying this. We’re not mindless zombies. We have many ways to solve this problem. If we have enough time, we can even make a hole in this roof and go in. I can tell you very clearly that we’ve all reached the third level… I don’t know if you know what that means.”

"..."

There was silence on the other side.

After a moment, the child said again, "We need to discuss this."

“There’s no need to discuss it,” Pei Che said. “There’s no time for that. Besides you, there are many other survivors on this front who need to be saved. We’ve already wasted too much time at this door.”

This statement is actually half true and half false. The environment here is too complicated, and there's no time to rush to save people. But by pressing them step by step, they're not giving the other party any time to think.

"Okay, I'll open the door for you."

The child gave in, and the teammates exchanged glances and breathed a sigh of relief.

After a moment, the heavy iron door slowly opened under the drive of the motor, revealing that this place even had its own power supply.

On either side of the gate, a group of young people, perhaps not even twenty years old, faced each other with several even younger children. Sunlight shone in from behind the young people, making the children squint.

There were only four people behind the door, all around ten years old. At an age when they should be holding toy guns, they were already holding real ones.

Upon seeing them, a heavy feeling settled over the group. Pei Che asked, "Is it just the few of you?"

One of the short-haired girls said in a hoarse voice, "No, there are others behind us."

It was the same voice that had spoken to them from the firing port. Looking at the other person's dry, cracked lips, Ruan Mingyue showed a look of heartache. She took a bottle of mineral water from her bag and handed it to them.

The little girl seemed a bit wary of them, but after only a moment's hesitation, she took the bottle, opened the cap, took a sip, and then handed it to her companion.

The children, both boys and girls, didn't care about anything else at the moment. They passed the bottle around, each taking a sip. After passing it around, there was still more than half a bottle left.

Are you experiencing a severe water shortage?

"Yes, the water was... ruined before."

"It's alright, no need to be so frugal." The group took out the water they had with them: "There's still plenty at the grain depot, you can drink more."

Seeing that they had taken all the water, the group felt relieved. The girl with the crossbow in the group even took out a bag of preserved plums from her bag and shared them with the children.

They didn't stand on ceremony and put the money in their pockets after receiving it.

"You won't give me any to eat..."

"Would it kill you to shut up?"

The armory was larger than the granary, mainly because the granary was actually just a few large grain storage tanks on the outside. Led by a few children, the team members twisted and turned and arrived at the second basement level of the fortress, where they met a group of... even smaller children.

There were only about thirty people, the youngest being five or six years old, and the oldest no more than eight or nine.

"This..." The team members looked at each other in bewilderment.

Their original plan was to gather more forces that could participate in the battle, advance along the edge of the occupied zone, and transfer the survivors in the several shelters here to a safer place.

Rushing straight out is unrealistic, but getting further away from the danger zone is still possible.

Now, a large number of zombies are either concentrated in the occupied areas or are gathering on the outskirts, which makes it possible for them to achieve their goal.

"These kids...aren't they even as tall as a gun?"

"No, no, it's not that long. 191 isn't that long. It's not like we're pulling a bolt..."

"How about... we give them a gun and go rescue them together?"

The children carried a silence beyond their years. The short-haired girl with a hoarse voice heard their discussion, stepped forward, and said, "It's okay, we can fight too."

"We will follow instructions and will not run around."

"..."

"..."

“Alright, let’s go together!” Pei Che decided. “A strong youth makes a strong nation. Let’s arm ourselves, with the older ones protecting the younger ones. Let’s show those zombies what the vanguard is all about!”

(End of this chapter)