Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 238 Hidden Door

After making up her mind, she stopped looking in the direction of the 9-square-meter area and started walking back along the main corridor. At the same time, her eyes kept scanning the various signs on the corridor walls. Apart from the eye-catching illuminated arrows that indicated different numbered residential units, her gaze lingered more on the signs with smaller fonts, different colors, or less conspicuous positions.

[Public restrooms 300m →]

【East-3 Supply Transfer Station】

[Pipeline maintenance access →]

【Energy Relay Station BE-7】

……

Just as she was about to retreat to the relatively "lively" area near the entrance to the East District, to a larger intersection, her gaze swept across the top of the wall opposite the intersection.

The four soldiers clearly noticed the uninvited guest as well, and their previously relaxed stance instantly shifted to a state of alert.

Although the two gunmen kept their guns pointing naturally at the ground without making any threatening movements, their grip became more stable, their fingers almost touching the trigger guards, and their center of gravity was subtly adjusted to ensure they could respond to any emergency in the shortest possible time.

The operator next to the control panel also stopped clicking randomly, his gaze fixed on Xu Xiaoyan, especially her backpack, assessing the potential risks.

The air seemed to freeze. Xu Xiaoyan was stunned for a moment, but thinking that things had come to this point, she had to bite the bullet and go for it. If she backed down now, or showed any fear, it would only make the situation more suspicious, and she might even be detained and questioned as someone with unclear intentions.

She forced herself to steady her breathing and walked straight toward the gate.

"Halt!" the leading female soldier said, her voice exceptionally clear and powerful, carrying the crispness and decisiveness characteristic of soldiers. "Please show your identification or passage order."

Her gaze swept quickly down over Xu Xiaoyan's entire body: the dark gray baseball cap pulled low to try and conceal her face, the old work jacket with slight wear on the elbows, the dark sweatpants stained with what could be dust or oil, and the bulging backpack on her back.

Her brow twitched almost imperceptibly. That subtle movement might have indicated doubt, or it might have just been a habitual scrutiny. She didn't immediately show hostility or try to drive her away; instead, she fixed her gaze on Xu Xiaoyan's eyes, waiting for a reasonable explanation.

Xu Xiaoyan stopped about three steps away from the female soldier, her hands hanging naturally at her sides to indicate that she posed no threat.

She raised her eyes, her gaze beneath the brim of her hat meeting the female soldier's sharp eyes without flinching. She tried her best to make her voice sound steady. "Sir, I don't have a pass." She frankly admitted this most basic fact without any attempt to conceal or fabricate anything. This directness might actually increase her credibility.

Then, she explained at a moderate pace, "I am a newly assigned resident of Block B, and I chose the East Block after the lottery."

The female soldier's expression remained largely unchanged, indicating that she should continue.

Xu Xiaoyan took a deep breath, as if recalling an unpleasant experience. "But at the entrance of the residential area... I had just finished the formalities and came out when I encountered some trouble." She carefully chose her words. "I was targeted by several groups of people."

The female soldier's lips remained pursed into a straight line, but her eyes became focused. Since she was in charge of guarding the passage between these areas, especially as the team leader, she would naturally be aware of the situation in Area B, where a large influx of new residents would inevitably lead to a redistribution of resources and potential chaos.

Rumors, reports, or even witnessing similar scenes firsthand could give them a basic understanding of what Xu Xiaoyan meant by "being targeted."

"My room is located... quite in the front, so it's quite conspicuous," Xu Xiaoyan continued, lowering her voice even further. "Going in now might not be safe." She sighed and then said, "I heard that people have started moving into Area C on a large scale." She met the female soldier's gaze frankly. "I want to go there temporarily to avoid the limelight, and come back when things are calmer here and the people watching have dispersed."

A brief silence fell over the passage. The screen on the gate control console continued to flicker with a faint blue and green light, and the data stream rolled silently. The eyes of the other three male soldiers were also focused here, with a cautious assessment. The air seemed to grow heavier.

The female soldier did not answer immediately. Her gaze swept over Xu Xiaoyan again, and the few seconds of silence seemed particularly long in the tense atmosphere.

"Name, specific number in Zone B," the female soldier finally spoke again. This was the verification step, and also the most direct basis for judging the truthfulness of what she said.

Xu Xiaoyan answered in a low voice, "Xu Xiaoyan, East District 000063".

The moment the number "000063" appeared, she keenly noticed that not only did the female soldier in front of her subtly shift her gaze, but the male soldier operating the control panel next to her also seemed to pause for a fleeting moment while typing on the keyboard.

This number confirms that Xu Xiaoyan's claim that the room was in a "prominent location" was not an exaggeration, and it may even be more "prominent" than she described.

The female soldier turned her head and gestured to the male soldier by the control panel. The male soldier immediately understood and began to operate the control panel, which was covered with buttons and a touch screen, quickly and skillfully.

Light and shadow moved rapidly across the screen, and the encrypted data stream and query interface flashed by in an instant; the entire process lasted only a few seconds.

Finally, the male soldier stopped operating, looked up, his gaze first meeting that of the female soldier, then turning to Xu Xiaoyan, before quickly looking away. In a low but clear voice, he reported to the female soldier, "Query confirmed, B Block East District, Xu Xiaoyan, single standard room resident, number 000063, identity chip signal matches, no security warning markings."

After listening to the report, the female soldier nodded almost imperceptibly. She simply turned aside, clearing the way to the inside of the gate, and waved her hand briefly at the slightly dim passage inside the gate, uttering two words, "Go on."

Xu Xiaoyan could hardly believe her eyes, but she reacted quickly and immediately nodded slightly, "Thank you, sir."

She dared not delay for a moment and immediately rushed through the narrow passage formed between the four armed guards.

As she walked past the female soldier, she seemed to hear the soldier say in a very low voice, "Sector C is not as peaceful as here, be careful."

The voice was very soft, but Xu Xiaoyan was sure she heard it. She didn't stop walking, but just nodded very slightly as she walked forward, accepting the kind reminder. Then, her figure completely disappeared into the shadow of the passage leading to Area C behind the gate.

Xu Xiaoyan didn't look back, but subconsciously quickened her pace. Only after walking several dozen meters and confirming that there were no footsteps or unusual movements behind her did she slow down slightly.

She continued along the path that clearly belonged to the "functional passageway," occasionally seeing scattered, dark oil stains or dried water stains, irregularly shaped, as if left by heavy carts passing by or by dripping from maintenance equipment.

The faint smell of lubricant and metallic coolant lingered in the air, mixed with dust and a faint, almost imperceptible ozone odor emanating from the deep workings of machinery.

The passage is not straight and flat; it has a subtle, gentle slope that goes up and down at times, with slight, continuous bends. It was clearly designed to intentionally bypass certain important underground structures, such as massive load-bearing columns, core energy pipelines, or storage compartments.

The residential area signs were gone from the walls, replaced by engineering markings she couldn't understand at all: complicated combinations of letters and numbers, abstract warning symbols, and directional arrows or simple drawings hastily sprayed on in different colors of paint, clearly informal markings used internally by maintenance personnel.

She avoided the obvious stains and moved along the relatively clean areas, her footsteps sounding particularly clear in the empty passageway, with a slight echo.

After walking for about ten minutes, or perhaps longer, the passage ahead seemed to end, and a wall blocked the way.

Xu Xiaoyan stopped about five meters away from the wall, and then cautiously took two steps forward to examine it carefully.

This doesn't make sense. If this were a dead end, the female guards wouldn't have let her through.

Could there be a hidden mechanism? Or had she taken the wrong turn? She looked around; the passage was seamless on both sides, with no other obvious forks in the road.

Hesitation and confusion welled up inside her; she wasn't sure whether she should step forward and touch the smooth wall to look for clues, or turn back.

Just as she paused, her gaze sweeping over the smooth wall repeatedly, trying to find any subtle flaws, the unexpected change occurred without warning.

A soft, pale blue halo silently appeared in the upper center of the smooth, mirror-like silver-gray door panel.

The halo did not burst forth instantly, but rather spread evenly from the inside out, quickly stabilizing to form a rectangular luminous area about the size of a small old-fashioned television screen. The edges of the luminous area were clear, emitting a cold light.

Then, an even more surprising scene unfolded: the center of the pale blue rectangular area of ​​light was slightly concave, as if it were being pressed down by an invisible force.

Then, accompanied by an extremely subtle hydraulic or magnetic levitation sound, a translucent display screen, perhaps only a few millimeters thick and edged with a ring of pale blue indicator lights, smoothly and gracefully slides out from inside the door panel.

The screen displays a simple, clean white palm outline with clean lines. Below the outline is a line of equally simple white text: "Identity Verification".

At the same time, a synthesized electronic female voice came from a speaker inside the door panel, the volume of which was just right, so that Xu Xiaoyan could hear it clearly but would not cause too much echo in the passage: "Approaching life form detected. Please raise your left hand and bring the inside of your wrist close to the verification area."