Cave Refuge

Although Dong Tianyu only visits the subway line refuge once every month or two, virtually no one, save for Dong Tianyu, enters through the entrance. As a result, the two young gatekeepers assigned by the street community have become familiar with him.

There's a warmth in their demeanor as Dong Tianyu approaches, and they greet him without replicating the initial precautions of summoning others to inspect his backpack.

Dong Tianyu takes out half a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and hands out two to each of them.

The gatekeepers accept the cigarettes from him naturally. They lift their ear protectors, tuck one cigarette behind their ears, and put the other one in their mouths.

Dong Tianyu doesn't offer them a lighter, but they don't seem to mind.

Although the old saying suggests, "providing cigarettes without a lighter equals mockery", at this time, even though fire is not a rarity, ordinary people rarely have access to matches or lighters.

Some people might not understand. Without matches or lighters, would ordinary people start a fire with a flint or a fire drill?

That's not the case. Everyone in the shelter takes their meals at the Grand Dining Hall; ordinary people don't need to cook. If they need fire for something, they can get it from the large furnace that's used to heat the underground shelter.

Compared to the scattered living conditions when they first moved in, the shelter has greatly improved. Many partitions have been erected in the originally vacant areas using sandwich panels made of iron sheets, acquired from unfathomable sources.

With these partitions, people in the communal sleeping area now have a bit of personal privacy, and the environment in the shelter no longer seems so messy and disorganized.

Walking through the narrow corridor, Dong Tianyu arrives at the L-shaped area where his family lives. Perhaps since everyone else in the shelter now has their own rooms, the space that Dong's family occupies doesn't draw itself unwanted attention anymore, hence no gatekeepers were appointed.

However, the outermost gate is still closed as usual, segregating the L-shaped area from the rest of the shelter.

Dong Tianyu shouts to get the door opened. After a short while, the grille on the door is opened, revealing a small face. Recognizing Dong Tianyu, the young boy exclaims excitedly, "Uncle!", hastily opening the door.

After Dong Tianyu enters, the young boy cautiously shuts the door. Watching the boy's serious actions, Dong Tianyu ruffles his hair affectionately, takes out a hard candy from his pocket and gives it to him, "Little Ming has grown up, capable of opening the door for his uncle now."

Seeing the candy that Dong Tianyu has pulled out from his pocket, Ming's eyes immediately light up. Although Dong's family warehouse does have candies, they're rarely taken out for consumption. The small ones in the Dong family can only have these candies when Dong Tianyu returns from the outside with them.

Tianyu greets a few relatives sitting by the door, and then heads straight into his parents' room.

Mr. Thompson is not there, probably working on the street. Ever since Dong Tianyu's first visit, Mr. Thompson was promoted from a temporary worker to a full-time employee not long after, needless to say, this had nothing to do with the cans of fruit and dried meat that Dong Tianyu brought along.

His mother is not in the room either, likely next door caring for his ailing grandfather. After placing the things properly, Dong Tianyu walks into his grandfather's room.

His grandfather is already sleeping, as is his mother, in the recliner beside the bed.

Those who have experience in long-term care giving understand that real life is different from how it's portrayed in movies and dramas. Mostly, people do their own things and hope that the ones lying on the bed don't call for them.

Seeing that both his grandfather and mother are sleeping, Dong Tianyu doesn't disturb them. He quietly places the apples he brought on the cabinet beside the bed and leaves the room.

Dong Tianyu decides to take the opportunity to tour the shelter while he has some free time.

Only after Little Ming closes the gate does Tianyu turn around to leave.

This shelter was transformed from the People's Square station. The design and planning of the People's Square station initially took into account the convergence of two subway lines, resulting in its vast underground space.

Even though it now only consists of two floors, the ground floor occupies almost 10,000 square feet. The second underground floor might be a little smaller, but since it needs to connect to the subway network, the difference isn't significant.

The L-shaped area occupied by the Dong family is located at a corner on the first underground floor. It's rather far from the main entrances, so even after heating, the temperature here can only reach a few degrees above zero.

In the initial stages, a ventilation duct was installed on the ceiling above this area, which was planned to serve as a passage to another subway line. Therefore, many people were envious of the area occupied by the Dong family in the beginning.

Not far from the L-shaped area there's a staircase leading to the second underground floor. Dong Tianyu takes the staircase to reach the second floor.

The structure on the second floor is quite simple with two subway lines sealed by tempered glass on both sides. Aside from the space occupied by the elevator and staircase in the middle, the rest of the space is unoccupied.

However, many partitions have been erected in the originally vacant areas. Most of the tempered glass doors on both sides are tightly shut, with only one large door on each side left open. Judging from the traces of damage around the frames, it seems these doors were forcefully destroyed.

Well, it makes sense. The doors on both sides were initially controlled by a computer. After the electromagnetic destruction, they certainly would have ceased to function.

Considering this, Dong Tianyu suddenly wonders about the condition of the trains that were in operation at that time. The sudden malfunctioning of electronic devices should have caused problems for the running trains. Although it wouldn't result in derailment and traffic accidents, the trains must have become trapped in the subway network.

Dong Tianyu shakes his thoughts out of his head. After all, it doesn't concern him and he doesn't need to know.

Looking at the soldiers patrolling back and forth below, Dong Tianyu makes a rough sweep from the staircase, feels nothing noteworthy, then heads directly back to the first floor.

He originally thought of going to the surveillance room to find his father. However, after considering it, in the end, he decided not to go.

After wandering around the underground shelter, he realizes that unlike the old community shelter where many people had nothing to do, most of the people living here have to work.

Groups of folks sit around, chatting and crafting. One look at the similarity of the things in their hands, it's easy to guess it's a task assigned by the street community.

Meanwhile, most of the young people are gone, hence the shelter seems rather vacant and quiet.

After making a round and finding it a bit monotonous, Dong Tianyu heads straight back to the L-shaped area.

Once Little Ming opens the door, he sees a bunch of eager faces looking at him. Dong Tianyu immediately understands what they are after. But he doesn't mind, after all, they are all children of his family. He hands out a piece of hard candy to each one.

The young masters and princesses are overjoyed to get the candies. They immediately tear the wrappers and stuff the candies into their mouths.