Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

"Base station? Base station? Is anyone there?"

The term "base station" is a relatively rare "technical term" on the Teyvat continent. Shen Liang would deliberately encrypt such frequently used but specialized terms with an easily typed ciphertext, saving considerable time in telegram transmission. Otherwise, during the already precious period of telegram transmission, not knowing how to describe a "base station" and having to devise a string of modifiers to describe "the term I'm referring to is a telegram base station" would be very troublesome.

Shen Liang replied, "Yes, what do you want? Just say it!"

"Is this Your Highness? Contact General Yingda, or find someone at Yujingtai!"

"Speak your mind! Don't talk about Yujingtai at a time like this, just tell me directly, and I'll have Yingdafanan come immediately!" Shen Liang quickly sent a telegram, "Who are you? Where are you?"

"I don't know where I am, I've gotten separated from my unit!"

Even from just the text, Alice could sense the telegraph operator's panic. If it weren't for the need to keep telegrams as concise as possible, avoiding unnecessary modifiers and adjectives, Alice estimated that the telegraph operator would have cursed a few times to relieve the psychological pressure.

But... this is a very irresponsible telegraph operator, unlike the previous quartermasters who were telegraph operators. He has absolutely no professional ethics and doesn't understand the value of a single word. Most importantly, this is wartime; what is he doing occupying the telegraph line for no reason? If you get separated from your unit, you should contact General Yingda or Yujingtai. This kind of overstepping of authority in communication is utter nonsense!

Who sent this? Have you ever studied telegraphic communication? If you really had an urgent message, you should have sent it in the first communication. This long rambling means it's not a big deal at all!

But what Alice found even stranger was that Shen Liang, who was usually lazy, was actually very serious at this moment, communicating with the other party meticulously, and he was not in a hurry even if the other party could not grasp the key point for a long time.

Could it be... that he thinks the other party's telegraph operator is very important?

"Where are you now?" Shen Liang persisted in asking.

"I'm underground in the Abyss of Layered Rocks. I don't know my exact location, but I do know that this is Radio Station 35371!"

Alice suddenly raised her head.

"Radio station 35371 is located in a stone chamber inside the rock wall below crane number six. Have you arrived here?"

"arrival!"

“I have a rough idea of ​​your location. Although there is no map of the underground of the Layered Rock Abyss, if it is this stone chamber, its location is approximately in the southwest of the second level of the mining area.” Shen Liang flipped through an old map of the underground mine tunnels of the Layered Rock Abyss and told him the location of the telegraph operator’s hiding place.

Although the underground of the Layered Rock Abyss has been completely destroyed since the opening of the Beast Realm Gate, and all kinds of geology have been damaged, the location of the terminal lines is hidden inside the stone walls of the Layered Rock Abyss, which is extremely safe... because telegraph lines are the easiest things to destroy. They can't even appear on the surface. In order to prevent them from being destroyed by enemy agents, to prevent them from being eroded by birds, beasts, insects and fish, and to prevent them from being exposed to the sun and rain, the telegraph lines that Raiden has built over the past ten years have all been constructed in non-open-air structures.

Alice opened her beautiful eyes wide and finally realized who Shen Liang was communicating with.

Beneath the towering abyss of layered rocks, the soldiers of the Floating Shelter!

"Hmm!" she exclaimed in surprise, her voice trembling with a nasal tone. "Liang'er, how come you have a telegraph machine in the Abyss of Layered Rocks? What's going on between you and your son...?"

“No, no, but Mother insisted on arranging communication lines in every inch of land where it might be needed.” Shen Liang stared at the map for comparison and answered Alice, “The telegraph system is a world-class project that my mother has been working on for over ten, even nearly twenty years. What do you think she’s been working on all these years? Telegraph machines? No, telegraph machines only need processing plants. When they’re scrapped, they can be replaced. Even a hub like the relay base station in Jigong can essentially be rebuilt in a few months. The most crucial part of the entire telegraph system is actually the telegraph lines buried underground.”

"line?"

“Yes, communication lines. From my childhood until now, all these years, what my mother has been doing is establishing communication lines between the seven kingdoms. And the most important and the first thing she did was establish bilateral communication between Inazuma and Liyue. The Laminar Stream is Liyue's most important mining base, so it's naturally included here. To be precise, we need to extend communication lines to every village, every town, and every populated area in Liyue, just in case.” Shen Liang paused. “These final-terminal radio stations only require the most basic small telegraph machines, but Inazuma's production capacity isn't enough to produce that many. After all, even we in Inazuma ourselves haven't guaranteed that every populated area has a radio station. But as long as the lines are maintained, in critical moments, we can simply install a telegraph machine and join this vast communication system.”

"You mean when Fushe went down, he took some telegraph machines and telegraph operators with him?" Alice stared at Shen Liang's back, almost going crazy. No wonder Shen Liang said that Fushe's going down was definitely not meaningless! As a marshal, he couldn't have acted for just one possibility. He is a marshal, a brilliant strategist!

What defines a commander? A commander must possess both courage and strategy! Liyue has no shortage of generals, but Fushe is not only a fierce general but also the Grand Marshal of the entire army! How could he possibly act rashly and lead his remaining troops into a deadly situation? There must be a reason behind his actions!

However, no one could have imagined this, and since things happened so suddenly, it was impossible to have informed Shen Liang beforehand.

“No need to tell me. It would be stupid of me not to think of something even a rough guy could think of.” Shen Liang adjusted the angle of his polarized glasses and glanced at Alice, whose face was full of disbelief. “He must have connected to the surface communications underground.”

"Is this the communication you've been guarding all night?"

“I don’t believe that the most elite soldiers of the Qianyan Army can’t find a few radio connection points. But if they do find them and send a message, and I’m sleeping and miss it, then that would be a sin.” Shen Liang rubbed his face. He was a little tired after not sleeping all night, but he still perked up. “Although I am a Daozuma man, I have to do the job I promised. It’s related to my credits.”

Alice watched his busy voice for a while before remembering that she needed to write down the contents of the telegrams. She quickly started writing while her mind wandered.

Is this what trust between men is?

There was absolutely no connection between them, and Fu She and Shen Liang were hardly even acquainted, let alone friends. Yet Fu She absolutely believed that Shen Liang understood what he wanted to do, and rushed into the underground without hesitation. And Shen Liang, a second-generation rich kid from Daoqi, a pampered and spoiled princess, actually understood his meaning and believed that Fu She could do it too, staying up all night because of it.

Is this the tacit understanding between men?

But Alice found that her admiration didn't last long, as Shen Liang's work soon ran into trouble.

The communication is still ongoing.

"Base station, what do we do now?"

"How many people do you have? Where are they?"

"I... I only have three men left. My brothers all split up and ran away to cover us, and I don't know how many of them died. There are only the three of us in this stone chamber. I'm okay, but the other two have a hand injury and a back injury, respectively."

"Didn't Fushe give you any orders?"

"I can't tell you that you're not from Liyue."

“Fushe has entrusted your lives to me. If I am not trustworthy, who is? Your most important secret is your hiding place, and only I know that! If I know even that, what else can’t you tell me?”

"...We have no commands, we are just looking for an interface...What should we do now?"

Shen Liang stopped typing and fell into a slight silence.

Alice was copying down her notes. When Shen Liang stopped dictating, she stopped too, looked at Shen Liang, and noticed that the boy was also slightly bewildered.

--do what?

Fu She didn't have time to give orders to his men, or rather, underground they were all fighting their own battles, scattering and hiding. Fu She didn't even have time to give these soldiers orders; he could only tell them to find the various underground radio interfaces, and that was all he had to say.

He handed over command responsibilities to the ground personnel.

But with the wires separating us, we have absolutely no idea about the other side's situation or the underground conditions. How can we give orders?

"I don't know..." Shen Liang didn't dare keep the other party waiting too long, so she could only reply.

"You do not know?"

It was just text, but it was very telling; one could see the other soldier's confusion, doubt, and even questioning and anger in it.

It's like saying many things at once: "You're the base station, how could you not know?" "You say you don't know what we're supposed to do?" "Our people are dying here and you can't do anything?" "We went through all that trouble to find the telegraph machine just to hear you say this?"

At this moment, several jumper pins started vibrating rapidly, indicating that a new telegram had arrived, with interface numbers 35376, 3542235349, and so on. The clicking sound woke Rosalyn up.

Shen Liang tore off the telegram and threw it to Rosalyn, speaking rapidly: "You decipher it!"

Rosalyn was still groggy when she was hit in the face. She glanced at the scene where almost every needle was working, and instantly became much more alert. She didn't need to ask any more questions. She took out a quill pen from her chest and began translating the text.

"Help……"

"This is base station 35376, what's wrong?"

"I broke my leg, help..."

Where are you? Are you all alone around here?

"It's all me left, everyone else is gone, I'm dying, I need a doctor... I can't just die like this."

"Of course you can't just die like this! You're the only one left at this radio station!" Shen Liang's voice rose noticeably. "The stone chamber where the radio station is located is a safe place, but it's locked once you're in. You can't die in there; you have to live! Otherwise, no one else can get in or take your place!"

"Don't worry, base station... I'll open the door before I die..."

"No! If you open the door, there's a risk that those ferocious beasts will come in. They might be following your bloodstains and patrolling outside the stone wall! If you open the door and they come in and destroy the telegraph machine, your area will be completely ruined!" Shen Liang shouted.

"Liang'er!" Rosalin shouted angrily. She had been helping Shen Liang with typing, but now she couldn't help but put down the telegraph machine. "What are you saying to a soldier! He's about to die, what kind of logic are you spouting!"

Shen Liang pinched the bridge of his nose. He realized that his voice was indeed too loud. Although the other person couldn't hear him, he seemed to have lost his composure a little.

He didn't know why he had become anxious, but he suppressed it and reorganized his thoughts.

"The stone chamber was designed from the outset to be a safe house in preparation for a sudden war. Look around, is there any loose stone brick? There should be food and medicine underneath. Don't worry, it's safe to eat even if it's been stored for less than ten years."

"I saw it...it was wrapped in oilcloth inside the metal box..."

"There are six paper bags inside. One of them, sealed with butter paper, contains wound medicine. Apply it to the wound and bandage it to stop the bleeding. The medicine will only last you three days, but that's okay. There's a flint in another bag. Try to start a fire and eat some dry rations. As for water, the stone chamber isn't completely sealed. There should be a place where you can collect seepage water, but you have to boil it before you can drink it."

"There are actually these things..."

“If there hadn’t been a war, the telegraph machines were originally designed to serve the miners. These stone chambers are located inside the mountain walls, so they are safe even if the mine tunnels collapse. By design, if the miners need to take refuge in the safe rooms, they must have food, water, and medicine.” Shen Liang tried to calm the man down. “Once they have recovered some strength, we must take in more soldiers. We must be careful to avoid being discovered by the Kanriyans in real time. The beasts don’t have brains, so we don’t need to worry about them too much.”

"I can't stand up, my leg is badly injured..."

“Then take two boards and clamp them onto the bandage. They don’t need to be too tight. Once they’re clamped, secure them with a rope. This will allow your leg to relax a little, and you can stand up and barely support yourself with a cane.” Shen Liang tried to be as patient as possible because he saw that several communications were also connecting to the base station.

Finally, 35376 stopped sending messages. Shen Liang didn't know if it had gone to do something or died, and his anxiety only intensified. But he didn't have time to wait for 35376's reply. He glanced at the telegraph machine; all eight pins were vibrating frantically, but none of them were from the radio lines on the surface. Clearly, they were all coming from underground in the Layered Rock Abyss.

The eight jumpers don't mean only eight radios are calling the base station. The code at the end of the telegram indicates that at least twenty radios are calling! If Shen Liang remembers correctly, there are only this many safe rooms in the entire underground of the Layered Rock Abyss!

In other words, the remnants of the floating huts in the entire rocky abyss are all calling for Shen Liang.

Chapter 100: Rest and Reflection are More Important Than Effort

Eight hours later.

Twenty-six hours after the underground radio station in the Stratified Rock Abyss was activated.

"Base station! Base station! Requesting reinforcements! Requesting assistance from other comrades in the area! We still have forty-two men!"

"Please report your battle situation, casualties, and exact location as soon as possible..."

"If we knew the exact location, would we need to ask you?!"

……

"Base station! Base station! Please respond!"

"Received, please provide details."

"A fire has broken out here. The fire will temporarily shield us from the Beast Hounds chasing us. However, the fire has also set the granary ablaze; this should be the only remaining food storage location beneath the Layered Rock Abyss..."

"A grain depot? There's a grain depot downstairs?"

"But it was almost burned out, and we didn't know where to escape to. The fire was almost at our feet..."