Chapter 32: Time Bomb

【System Notification: Day 3 of the apocalypse. Current conditions: Blizzard persists, outdoor temperature -26°C, abnormal biological signals intensifying, city communications completely severed.】

At ten in the morning, Lin Chen wanted to test the pickup truck's snow performance again and see if Su Qing or Zhang Hao had left any other traces.

He told Xia Nuan to stay by the monitors while he grabbed a steel pipe, holstered his pistol, and headed for the garage.

Just as the elevator reached the second basement level, Xia Nuan's voice suddenly came over the monitor: "Lin Chen, something is moving at the garage ventilation shaft!"

Lin Chen immediately hit the pause button; the elevator doors had barely cracked open when he saw the ventilation grille lying on the floor, with black wires dangling from inside.

Gripping the steel pipe tightly, he slowly entered the garage—the other end of the wires connected to a black box displaying flashing red digits: 05:23.

"It's a time bomb!" Lin Chen shouted. On the other end of the monitor, Xia Nuan panicked: "What do we do? Are we going to be blown up?"

"Don't panic; let me see if I can disarm it." Lin Chen crouched down to examine the bomb's wiring—red, blue, and green wires, no manual, just a gamble.

Remembering that the bombs Zhang Hao used in his previous life usually required cutting the blue wire, he took a deep breath, drew his dagger, and severed the blue line.

The red digits froze at 03:17; no explosion occurred.

【System Notification: Time bomb disarmed. Danger level temporarily reduced to 30%. Traces of human activity detected outside the ventilation shaft.】

Lin Chen tossed the bomb into a corner of the garage, covered it with a steel plate, quickly drove the pickup back to its spot, locked the garage door, and sprinted toward the 45th floor.

The moment he stepped out of the elevator, he heard Xia Nuan shout: "There are people outside!"

Lin Chen rushed to the window and looked up—three modified helicopters hovered outside the 45th-floor windows, their cabin doors open, with men inside aiming AKs at the bulletproof glass.

The rapid "da-da-da" of gunfire erupted instantly. Bullets struck the glass, leaving dense clusters of white marks; they didn't penetrate, but the glass vibrated as if about to shatter.

"Damn it!" Lin Chen cursed, pulling Xia Nuan behind the sofa. "It's people Su Qing brought! They have helicopters!"

Xia Nuan hugged her head, her voice trembling: "Can our glass hold up? Will they use rocket launchers?"

"It can hold for now; helicopters can't carry heavy weapons." Lin Chen peeked outside; the helicopters were still hovering, the AKs still spraying bullets. "We need to find a way to shoot them down!"

He rummaged through the storage room for the crossbow he'd bought earlier, loaded it with a tranquilizer bolt—while it wouldn't kill, it could pierce the helicopter glass and force them to leave.

Lin Chen walked to the balcony, cracked the door open, aimed at the pilot of one helicopter, and pulled the trigger.

The bolt pierced the glass; it missed the pilot but smashed the instrument panel. The helicopter wobbled and drifted sideways.

"It works!" Lin Chen loaded another bolt, aiming at the rotor of a second helicopter.

Before he could fire, AK bullets slammed into the balcony's metal supports, sending sparks flying. He immediately ducked back, his arm sliced by shrapnel and bleeding.

Xia Nuan quickly brought the first-aid kit to bandage him: "Don't go out there; it's too dangerous!"

Lin Chen said nothing, staring out the window—the three helicopters were still strafing, the marks on the bulletproof glass multiplying; if this continued, it might truly shatter.

He pulled out his shattered phone; although the screen was cracked, it still powered on. The moment it started, an unknown number called in.

Lin Chen answered but said nothing.

"Lin Chen, don't struggle in vain; you will die sooner or later." The voice on the phone was hoarse; it wasn't Su Qing, nor was it Ah Kai.

"Who are you? What's your relationship with Su Qing?" Lin Chen asked.

"Who we are doesn't matter; what matters is that we are determined to take the supplies in your hands and the safehouse on the 45th floor." The other party chuckled. "The AK fire just now was a warning. If you don't open the door, we'll blow up your balcony with grenades."

"Screw you! If you have the guts, come and blow it up!" Lin Chen roared.

The person on the other end said nothing more and hung up. Just as Lin Chen was about to speak, he heard a "whoosh"—a grenade dropped from a helicopter, landing in the snow on the balcony without exploding.

"It's a smoke grenade!" Lin Chen realized, quickly covering his mouth and nose. Smoke drifted in from the balcony, making them both cough.

The sound of the helicopters faded into the distance; Lin Chen peeked out to see the three machines had already flown away, leaving only a sky full of smoke and grenade casings on the snow.

【System Notification: Helicopters have withdrawn. Smoke grenade residue detected; no explosion risk. Current danger level reduced to 25%. Recommendation: Clear the smoke and inspect glass damage.】

Lin Chen opened the balcony door, swept the smoke out with a broom, and inspected the bulletproof glass—though covered in marks, it hadn't cracked, and the metal supports remained intact.

He let out a sigh of relief, leaning against the wall, the wound on his arm still throbbing.

Xia Nuan walked over and handed him a glass of water: "They're gone, but will they come back?"

"Definitely." Lin Chen took a sip of water. "They have helicopters and can come anytime. We need to reinforce the balcony and find counter-weapons."

After clearing the smoke, the two began reinforcing the balcony. Lin Chen brought solid steel pipes and welded them to the outside of the glass to form a protective grid, while Xia Nuan placed several fire extinguishers in the balcony corners to counter future smoke grenades or grenades.

Lin Chen also installed infrared-triggered landmines on the balcony—anyone approaching within five meters would trigger an explosion.

At noon, the two ate freeze-dried rice with canned fish. While eating, Lin Chen said: "The person on the phone earlier must belong to some mysterious organization; Su Qing is just their pawn. What they really want is the 45th-floor safehouse and our supplies."

"A mysterious organization? Was there one in the previous life?" Xia Nuan asked.

Lin Chen shook his head: "I didn't see one in the previous life. Maybe they're new to this timeline, or perhaps I didn't survive long enough last time to encounter them."

He recalled that the apocalypse in his previous life was even more chaotic, with many unknown factions; the organization they encountered this time might be just one of them.

At one in the afternoon, Lin Chen went to the garage to inspect and found the ventilation grille damaged. He welded a steel plate over the vent and installed vibration sensors around it.

Just as he finished, he heard movement at the garage entrance—it was Zhang Hao, prying the lock on the garage door with a crowbar.

"Zhang Hao, you bastard, looking for death!" Lin Chen gripped his steel pipe and charged.

Zhang Hao hadn't expected Lin Chen to be in the garage; startled, he quickly retreated. Lin Chen chased him down and struck his arm with the steel pipe. Zhang Hao cried out in pain, dropping the crowbar.

"Lin Chen, stop hitting me! Su Qing sent me!" Zhang Hao begged for mercy.

"Where is Su Qing? Who is that mysterious organization?" Lin Chen demanded.

Zhang Hao remained silent, then suddenly pulled a knife from his pocket and stabbed at Lin Chen. Lin Chen dodged, kicked him in the stomach, and sent him sprawling. Pressing the steel pipe against Zhang Hao's throat, he asked: "Will you talk or not?"

"I'll talk! I'll talk!" Zhang Hao gasped. "Su Qing is on the 10th floor of the building opposite. The organization is called 'Shadow.' They gave Su Qing weapons and helicopters to help them seize your supplies; in return, they promised her six months' worth of food."

"Where is 'Shadow's' headquarters? How many members do they have?" Lin Chen asked again.

Zhang Hao shook his head: "I don't know. I've only seen their leader, who is very mysterious. He never mentioned the headquarters' location or their numbers; I only know they have many guns and helicopters."

Lin Chen stared at Zhang Hao; seeing he wasn't lying, he removed the steel pipe. "Get out. Tell Su Qing and the people of 'Shadow' that if they dare come again, I'll kill you all."

Zhang Hao quickly scrambled up, grabbed his crowbar, and ran out. Lin Chen locked the garage door, his heart heavy—the 'Shadow' organization possessed helicopters and numerous guns, making them far harder to deal with than Su Qing and Zhang Hao. Next time, they might not just use AKs and smoke grenades.

At three in the afternoon, Lin Chen turned on the monitors to check the building opposite—a dark figure flickered past the window on the 10th floor; it was likely Su Qing.

He pulled up the surveillance footage from the community entrance; he didn't see any helicopters, but he spotted several black SUVs parked outside the compound, bearing the 'Shadow' organization's emblem—a black skull.

"'Shadow's' people are still outside the community; they haven't left," Lin Chen told Xia Nuan. "We need to move the supplies from the garage to the 45th floor; if they blow up the garage, we'll lose everything."

The two began moving supplies to the 45th floor: compressed biscuits, freeze-dried meat, drinking water, plus gasoline and diesel.

After hauling all afternoon, they had only finished half; both were drenched in sweat. Xia Nuan sat on the floor, rubbing her lower back. "It's too exhausting. Shall we continue tomorrow?"

"No. They might come tonight." Lin Chen took a sip of water, then lifted another crate. "A few more boxes, then we rest."

By six in the evening, as darkness fell and snow continued to drift, they finally finished moving the supplies, packing the 45th-floor storage room to capacity.

Lin Chen inspected every door and window to ensure they were securely locked, placed two fire axes by the entrance, and only then sat on the sofa to rest.

Xia Nuan cooked two packs of instant noodles, added an egg, and handed them to Lin Chen. "Eat something. You haven't had a proper meal all day."

Lin Chen took the noodles, but after just one bite, he heard the sound of helicopters outside—closer and louder than at noon.

He rushed to the window and looked up. This time there were not three, but five helicopters, each bearing the emblem of the Shadow Organization. Their cabin doors stood open, and men inside aimed rocket launchers at the 45th floor.

"Danger! Rocket launchers!" Lin Chen shouted, dragging Xia Nuan behind a load-bearing wall.

A thunderous boom echoed as the rocket struck the balcony's protective netting, snapping several steel pipes and cracking the bulletproof glass.

Smoke billowed everywhere. Lin Chen peeked out; the helicopters still hovered, and another rocket was about to be fired.

Lin Chen pulled out his phone to call the unknown number from earlier, but found no signal. Clenching his fists, panic surged within him—the Shadow Organization had deployed rocket launchers, and the 45th floor's defenses might not hold.

Just then, Xia Nuan's voice came over the monitor: "Lin Chen, there are zombies outside the compound! Many zombies!"

Lin Chen immediately checked the surveillance feed. In the snow beyond the compound gates, over a hundred zombies shuffled toward them, covered in snow, moving slowly but numerous.

The Shadow Organization's off-road vehicles were surrounded by the undead. The men inside fired their weapons, but the zombies were too many to eliminate.

The people aboard the helicopters spotted the zombies as well and quickly flew farther away, ceasing their rocket attacks. Lin Chen exhaled in relief, leaning against the wall. The zombies' appearance had temporarily saved them, but the Shadow Organization would certainly not give up; once they dealt with the zombies, they would return.

At ten o'clock that night, Lin Chen and Xia Nuan took turns keeping watch. Lin Chen leaned behind the load-bearing wall, gun in hand, staring out the window. The zombies still wandered outside the compound, while the Shadow Organization's vehicles were completely encircled and silent.

He recalled the words from the earlier phone call: "Stop making futile struggles. Sooner or later, you will die."

Lin Chen gripped his gun tighter, silently vowing: I will not die, and you will not take the 45th floor.

What he failed to notice, however, was a dark figure climbing up the elevator shaft in the corner of the surveillance feed—Zhang Hao, clutching a knife, his eyes fierce and ruthless.

Tomorrow, they would face not only the Shadow Organization and the zombies but also Zhang Hao's sneak attack. Lin Chen took a deep breath and prepared for battle.