Armor-Piercing Munition: Face Me, Carbon-Based Monster!
Chapter 52 Year 330

Chapter 52: Chapter 52 Year 330

Chen Jian finally understood why the world had become such an abstract form.

It wasn’t that they were too weak; it was because the enemy they faced was indeed far beyond their comprehension and completely insurmountable.

Death occurred within two hours, so it is highly likely that the maximum reaction time left to them would not exceed five hours.

And within these five hours, the team had already quickly assessed the situation.

After enduring relentless, overwhelming losses, they made an almost insane decision.

They gave up on saving themselves.

Clearly, even medical means had been abandoned.

They didn’t want to save the present; they wanted to pour all their efforts into supporting the future.

In the last moments of their lives, these people burned out everything they had, burying hope in the bunkers tens of meters underground.

As written on that slip of paper, they didn’t know if anyone would survive, nor what the survivors would face.

But they knew that every box of supplies they moved in would be a precious spark for those who came later.

Very fortunate.

Chen Jian received this spark.

He let out a long breath and saluted towards a dark passage.

A moment later, he lowered his hand and said softly:

"Salute complete!"

The martyrs must not be forgotten, but he must focus on the future.

After briefly calming his emotions, Chen Jian issued an order:

"Shen Yue, He Shuo, bring people in."

"Received."

"Understood."

Their voices were a bit hoarse, and soon, a line of text appeared on Chen Jian’s smart goggles.

"Bring in the Holy Blood as well?"

"Bring them in."

Chen Jian typed his reply without hesitation, then, with Lei Jie, began to inspect the facilities and supplies within the bunker without stopping.

The scale of the bunker wasn’t very large, consisting of only three floors, each with about 1200 cubic meters of space.

The lowest floor housed the engine room and maintenance facilities, where Chen Jian found the generator. He had thought it would have long rusted away, but after testing it, he found that in the semi-vacuum environment, the aging rate of the equipment was quite slow. After refueling with the diesel stored in a fully sealed compartment nearby, it surprisingly started up.

With the rumbling of the generator, the lights within the bunker gradually lit up.

The two took off their night vision goggles. Lei Jie exclaimed:

"Weichai engines are something else; after all these years, it still works."

"Isn’t this just a live advertisement? If it weren’t the end of the world, it would be nice..."

"If it weren’t the end of the world, you wouldn’t see this thing either."

Chen Jian shook his head slightly and, after glancing around, realized that there were quite a few pieces of equipment in the basement engine room.

In addition to the diesel generator, there were several large sealed boxes where, judging by the symbols on the outside of the boxes, spare parts for various mechanical devices were likely stored inside.

Besides these, Chen Jian also saw similarly sealed assortments of cables, various electronic devices, and portable energy equipment.

Basically, all the equipment for the self-sustenance of the bunker was placed on this floor, filling it to capacity. The two, while wearing exoskeletons, found it quite challenging to navigate through.

"Lei Jie, try setting up the computers in the bunker and start up the intelligent terminal."

"The string of passwords we found isn’t for opening doors; it must be for activating the intelligent terminal."

"The server and storage on the terminal are temporarily sealed; there should be something inside."

"Perhaps through this terminal, we can obtain more information about the cataclysm."

"Got it."

Lei Jie immediately began to remove his exoskeleton, while Chen Jian turned to head to the second floor.

This floor’s items were mostly stored in sealed boxes as well, but the most eye-catching thing was a CNC machine.

This was a medium-sized CNC machine, about 8 meters long. It seemed to have been brought in a modular state and partially assembled, but due to time constraints, it wasn’t fully completed.

This was a valuable asset.

In theory, as long as there is an industrial machine tool and the corresponding knowledge, humans can completely recreate all industrial products in due time.

---But the problem lies here; knowledge is the scarcest resource.

The four-member team, including Chen Jian, is not enough. But without relying on them, even if the bunker’s intelligent terminal stores this knowledge, teaching the locals would be a lengthy process.

Perhaps, it would have to be temporarily shelved.

When the team expands and there are more hands available, they can then consider the issue of "civilization restoration."

Chen Jian moved towards the depths of the second-floor space, and at that moment, Shen Yue’s voice came from the entrance.

"Captain!"

"Over here, come in."

Chen Jian responded casually, and Shen Yue followed the sound. Upon seeing Chen Jian amidst the piled-up equipment, he reported:

"He Shuo is on the first floor with three of the Holy Blood on guard; their behavior is normal and there are no signs of rebellion currently."

"I gave my gun to He Shuo; if there’s a problem, he should be able to handle it."

"Good, no issues."

Chen Jian nodded lightly.

He wasn’t actually worried that the Holy Blood would rebel at such a time; after all, even if they had bad intentions, they would first have to understand the purpose of everything.

Shen Yue’s arrangements were fine, as he indeed needed more people to identify various pieces of equipment on the second floor of the bunker.

The two men split up to inspect, and a few minutes later, Shen Yue spoke up:

"The equipment in here mainly consists of various tools and machinery, with a small number of sealed seeds."

"There are quite a few valuable things—Captain, there are two disassembled ’Cat’ vehicles here."

"Cat vehicles?"

Chen Jian hurried towards where Shen Yue stood, unable to contain his joy at the sight of the boxes piled alone.

"They really are Cat vehicles! And they’re tracked!"

"Great, mobility is solved—the only issue is with fuel."

"There’s quite a bit of fuel on the third floor, but most of it is needed for the bunker’s sustainability. Unless we abandon this underground bunker, it’s best not to touch those fuel reserves."

Shen Yue shook his head, thought for a moment, and said:

"Actually, abandoning the underground bunker is possible; our main activity area is still above ground."

"And clearly, in the short term, we can’t start farming and development; securing control and eliminating monsters remain priorities."

"Items we can’t use can be re-sealed and retrieved when necessary."

"Agreed, the plan makes sense."

Chen Jian nodded lightly, then pointed to two laminated maps on a nearby box:

"What’s this?"

Looking in the direction he pointed, Shen Yue thought for a moment and tentatively spoke:

"The first one clearly is a 3D terrain map of this place, but I don’t understand what’s marked on it."

"So many coordinates... there must be dozens of them... what do the numbers in parentheses mean?"

"It’s unlikely to be other hidden equipment points, is it? Or is it some underground power or water distribution system map?"

"I don’t know."

Chen Jian looked at the second map, which was a star chart, also marked with parameters, but since Chen Jian himself wasn’t versed in this, he took a photo with his smart goggles and sent it to He Shuo.

"He Shuo, don’t you know astronomy? Check out what this is?"

A moment later, He Shuo’s voice came through his earphones.

"I’m an amateur at best... this is just a star chart, with annotations for the celestial coordinates of October 2045."

"Since it’s so well-preserved in laminate, it must have a special purpose."

"Were they suspecting the cataclysm had to do with celestial events? But that doesn’t make sense; there’s no abnormality in the celestial aspects depicted on this map."

"The ecliptic coordinates also seem correct... wait a minute."

As soon as the term "ecliptic" was mentioned, not only He Shuo but even Chen Jian immediately realized the purpose of this map.

That’s right, it was a star chart, but its purpose wasn’t to "determine position," but to "determine time"!

"Do we have the capability to observe today’s celestial conditions? Can we backtrack the time from the ecliptic coordinates?"

Chen Jian asked eagerly.

"No, we lack a high-precision astronomical telescope, and I don’t have the capability to perform such calculations."

He Shuo’s tone carried a hint of disappointment, but Chen Jian picked up another map nearby, his eyes brightening.

"Biological timing method."

"I know what these coordinates are."

"This is indeed a 3D terrain map, but the coordinates marked are not human-made."

"The coordinates mark trees! The numbers following them indicate the age of each tree!"

"Both maps are timers."

"They intend for us to know what time it is now!"

"He Shuo, get Li Shi and Zeng Yi to cut trees at designated locations outside and bring back the stumps!"

"We need to count the rings. However many rings there are, that’s how many years have passed since the cataclysm!"

"Understood!"

.....

A few minutes later, after roughly inspecting the second-floor devices, Chen Jian and Shen Yue returned to the first floor.

At this point, Li Shi and Zeng Yi had already carried several stumps inside.

They placed the logs neatly at the entrance of the first-floor hall, seemingly afraid of disrupting the neat environment inside.

Chen Jian stepped forward and asked:

"Did you cut according to the locations He Shuo told you?"

"Yes, the chosen one He Shuo verified; there are no mistakes."

"That’s good."

Chen Jian squatted down, carefully counting the rings on the stumps.

A few minutes later, he looked up and said:

"330 years."

"330 years have passed since the cataclysm."