Mobile City Farming Guide

Chapter 210 Wendy and Vault-Nine (4K)

early morning.

Wendy woke up early as usual.

The young woman, in her early twenties, pressed her face against the smooth pillowcase, occasionally reaching out to yawn.

Pale yellow light seeped into the small room like a thin mist.

It is not pure natural sunlight, but artificial light.

With a mechanical hum, the ventilation system increased the air exchange frequency, pumping the circulated and filtered air into each living quarters.

It carried a faint, icy smell of disinfectant and synthetic oxygen.

Yes, Wendy is not in a town on the surface, but in an underground shelter.

Wendy tilted her head slightly and her gaze fell on the yellowed plant guide on the opposite wall—a guide she had secretly saved from the shelter's recycling center.

The sunflower in the illustration is growing towards something called the "sun".

As she looked at it, Wendy couldn't help but rub her eyes.

As before, she dreamed about life on Earth again last night.

In her dream, she was standing in an enormous space.

There was no metal ceiling, no humming ventilation ducts, just an endless blue dome—a color clearer than the healthiest algae in her hydroponic lab.

The air was damp, with a sweet, earthy smell and a certain plant fragrance that made my nose itch.

The lighting is also different.

It wasn't the uniform, pale white of a shelter's lighting system, but rather a flowing, warm glow.

Thinking of this, a hint of melancholy appeared in Wendy's eyes.

"What is the world on the ground like now?"

As the clock struck 6:30, the display screen on the wall lit up automatically, showing today's shelter announcement.

In the morning, participants clean their individual rooms, listen to the supervisor's morning address, use the public washing facilities in shifts, and collect their nutritional supplements.

The morning's routine work.

The group watched an educational film and socialized with residents at noon.

Afternoon routine work plus daily life stress test.

Evening gatherings in the auditorium, and mandatory fertility promotion courses for eligible residents.

Everything was arranged clearly and precisely, one by one.

After dressing and tidying herself up, Wendy arrived at the room door.

She showed the resident bracelet she was wearing on her left arm and pointed it at the device at the door.

With a "beep" sound, several lines of text appeared on the device's screen.

Name: Wendy Carter

[Age: 20 years old]

【Gender: Female】

Marital Status: Single

[Citizen's health status: Good]

[Today's On-Duty Area: Water Recycling Treatment Plant]

When Wendy came out of the room, a long line of people had already formed in the hallway to wash up. They mechanically chewed on synthetic nutrient blocks, crumbs getting onto the faded light blue fronts of their uniforms.

Yes, everyone here is wearing a uniform.

This is one of the unshakeable rules in the shelter.

The goal is to make every resident realize that they belong to a community.

When Wendy looked up, she saw the display screen in the hallway showing today's shelter news.

"This month's crop yields increased by 2.7%, thanks to the hard-working citizens."

The announcer always had that standard smile on his face.

"Also, please remember that your safety is the shelter's top priority."

As usual, Wendy secretly swapped shifts with her friend and went to the vault's archives to begin her routine cleaning work.

Compared to the diverse recreational facilities in the shelter, this was actually the place she longed for the most.

The archives contain a great many old documents.

Through these materials, Wendy learned a great deal.

The shelter itself has an electronic system in which all past data and files are entered.

The archives exist primarily to serve as a kind of "insurance" system within the shelter, preventing the loss of all data and records in the event of electronic system failure.

No matter how advanced human technology becomes, paper-based media will still have a reason to continue to exist.

This archive is very, very old and has been forgotten by the vast majority of people.

When Wendy pushed open the door, the rusty metal hinges made a low creaking sound.

The moment I pushed open the door, a musty metallic smell mixed with the odor of moldy paper hit me. The air was stagnant, like still water, with only the occasional faint gust of air seeping in from cracks in the ventilation ducts, stirring up ripples of dust.

Most of the ceiling lights were off, and the one or two that remained flickered intermittently, casting a sickly, cold light on the filing shelves.

The steel frame is covered in rust, and the peeling paint reveals dark red oxidized marks. The once neat labels are now illegible.

This archive is very, very old, and it is located in a very remote area. Most people in the shelter have forgotten about it.

But Wendy liked the place very much because it was quiet and undisturbed.

The archives are cleaned approximately once a week.

Therefore, Wendy cherishes every visit.

After finishing her cleaning, Wendy picked up a file and slowly began to read it in a corner.

The file mentions that her planet is Weilan Star.

Past human civilizations had a population of approximately 340 billion, spanning 15 continents and possessing a series of continental organizations.

The East China Alliance, the North Alliance, the West Alliance, the Star Ocean Community, and the Steel Pact.
Wendy is currently in the "B9 Shelter," which belongs to the Iron and Steel Convention.

The files also mention the size of Vault B9.

It can have a 23-story underground structure, including residential areas, agricultural areas, energy supply areas, medical centers and public facilities, and also has a complete ventilation and internal circulation system.

The archives also mention that human civilization in the old era was once extremely prosperous, until that "Great Cataclysm" came.

Upon seeing this, Wendy couldn't help but tilt her head.

She knew about the cataclysm.

The entire planet was supernaturally altered, and countless monsters descended upon it.
Driven by curiosity, she continued watching.

The archives mention that in order to combat this cataclysmic event, various continental organizations at the time proposed a series of specific plans.

The Star Ocean Community assumes that the land will fall in the future, so it proposes to concentrate resources to build a giant ark, sail into the ocean, and avoid the monsters on land.

The Western Alliance proposed a "survival in outer space" plan, which involves building a large number of colony ships and escaping to a planet near the planet Weilan to colonize and survive.

The Northern Alliance proposed the "City Fortress" plan, concentrating military forces to defend major cities and using them as fortresses to resist monsters.

The Steel Pact proposed an "underground survival" plan, which involves building a series of underground shelters. The shelters vary in size, with smaller ones accommodating nearly a thousand people and larger ones capable of holding hundreds of thousands.

Wendy nodded slowly as she watched.

From the current perspective, the Steel Pact plan can be considered a success.

In fact, she longed for planetary colonization and the Ark.

Just as she was about to continue reading, footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.

The young girl realized something, and a hint of unnatural tension appeared on her face.

The footsteps stopped at the door, then the door was pushed open, and a middle-aged man walked in. Seeing Wendy huddled in the corner clutching the files, a look of helplessness appeared on his face.

"I knew you were here."

He was Wendy's father, Hyde.

The power structure of Vault B9 is simple and straightforward.

The highest level is the Overseer, followed by the Vault Council.

Next are the medical group, the education group, the agriculture group, the technical maintenance group, and the security group.

Finally, there are the ordinary residents.

Hyde was a member of parliament.

"Wendy, the water recycling station is much cleaner and brighter than this place, isn't it? Why don't you go there every day?" Hyde sighed. "Hurry up and finish cleaning up so we can go back."

The father and daughter then walked out of the archives and strolled slowly down the corridor.

After glancing at his daughter, Hyde spoke softly.

"It's time for you to get married."

At this point, Hyde's face showed a hint of helplessness.

There are only about two thousand people in the B9 shelter.

After years of reproduction, the vast majority of people in the shelter are now related by blood.

To avoid inbreeding, shelters need to arrange marriages with outsiders.

However, Vault B9 faces two problems.

First, the entire shelter had not been open to the public for hundreds of years, so they had no idea what the outside world was like.

Secondly, the seven other shelters located in the same area as Vault B9 have been out of contact for a very long time. Nobody knows their current situation.

Wendy, a beautiful blonde in her early twenties, is still single.

“You go ahead and get busy, Dad has to go to a meeting,” he said to Wendy.

He took the elevator to his floor and entered the conference room.

Everyone had already taken their places in the conference room.

The manager of Vault B9 is named Martha.

This is a middle-aged woman who acts in an extremely rigid and conservative manner.

Her face looked like a square face pressed by a hydraulic press, with high cheekbones and perpetually downturned corners of her mouth, as if she was born without a love for smiling.

Her eyes were deep-set, and she always looked at people with a scrutinizing gaze, as if a scanner were checking product labels.

"."

Hyde's gaze slowly descended, landing on Martha's sharply tailored uniform. Three "Efficiency Model" badges were prominently displayed on the chest of her uniform.

After everyone finished their routine progress reports, Martha nodded and then spoke.

"I have something to tell you all today: a subway train from Vault L8 is heading towards our vault."

According to the Iron and Steel Convention plan, tunnels and subways will be built between shelters in a region.

This allows shelters to communicate and even intermarry via the subway.

When a disaster occurs in a shelter, residents can take the subway to other shelters to escape.

Upon hearing the news about Martha, everyone was stunned.

"Are you serious, Lady Martha?" one of the councilors exclaimed excitedly.

After all, Vault B9 had been out of contact with the other seven vaults for a very long time, and there was no way to know their situation.

The subway station at the shelter has been closed for a long time.

As she nodded, a look of seriousness appeared on Martha's face.

She told everyone that the signal was correct, but something was strange.

That is, when she sent someone to try to contact the subway, the subway did not respond with any message.

After clearing her throat, Martha spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Therefore, I have determined that this subway train is dangerous, and B9 shelter will refuse to open the station for it to stop."

Upon hearing this, one of the councilors stood up abruptly.

“This isn’t something you can decide, Martha! Whether or not to open the station requires a vote in the council.”

Judging from his tone and the fact that he addressed me by my first name, it was clear that he had reached his limit.

Not only him, but other members of parliament were also finding it hard to tolerate.

The B9 Vault's past overseers have almost all been conservatives, rejecting countless plans to explore the outside world over the years.

When communication between shelters is lost, the regulators' first thought is to seal off the station and preserve shelter B9 as much as possible.

Other members of parliament also stood up to express their opposition.

Hyde couldn't help but rub his forehead.

This time, he sided with Martha.

Faced with the questioning from the lawmakers, Martha spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you naturally understand that regulators have veto power."

“Martha, you can’t refuse the shelter’s external communication and exchange based on your own whims!” a middle-aged councilor said indignantly. “After all these years, we have no idea what the situation is like on the surface! Perhaps it has become safe there, and humans can return to settle on the surface!”

Other members of parliament echoed this sentiment.

Upon hearing this, Martha's eyes dimmed, a stark contrast to her usual tough and aloof demeanor.

"It's impossible."

She said slowly.

"The idea that the ground world can become habitable again is simply impossible."

"The world now must be a wasteland, teeming with monsters."

"Humans have absolutely no place to stand."

The councilors were stunned, probably because they had never seen Martha like this before.

But the thought of the conservative actions of previous regulators and Martha's consistent style reignited their anger.

"Not exploring the surface world is understandable, but communication and intermarriage between shelters are essential!"

An elderly female member of parliament spoke slowly and deliberately.

“Our shelter was never very large to begin with. Because of inbreeding, over the years everyone has become related by blood, and many young men and women are unable to get married as a result. Martha, hasn't your own son been single for so many years because of this?”

Another young male councilor quickly chimed in.

“This time we need to accept this subway train. On the one hand, we can find out what happened at Vault L8, and on the other hand, we can arrange intermarriage.”

He shrugged helplessly.

"This is clearly a win-win situation, so why would you choose this, Lady Martha? Are you giving up the future of the shelter?"

The last sentence seemed to shatter Martha's spirit.

The usually cold and tough regulator now showed an unprecedented look of exhaustion.

“You are right, ladies and gentlemen,” she said slowly. “This time I will not exercise my veto power; you will decide by vote.”

The crowd immediately held a vote.

7 votes in favor, 1 vote against.

The dissenting vote was cast by Hyde.

The meeting then concluded, and the members of parliament immediately began work on opening the station.

(End of this chapter)