Cave Refuge

Upon hearing Dong Tianyu's words, the middle-aged man on the ship hesitated slightly, before taking out a blue flag from the ship and waving it thrice high in the air.

Observing the commotion on the small boat, a man on the deck of the massive ship unfurled a green flag and waved it thrice on the deck as well.

Receiving the reply from the large ship, the middle-aged man turned to Dong Tianyu and said, "You probably guessed our identities even without me telling you. At this time, the only ones who have a large ship are the officials."

"Let me be frank with you. We are members from the West District Command Headquarters of Pengcheng. We are turning the skyscraper into the Command Center of the officials in the West District."

"Hence, when you came over, the higher-ups decided to send us three here. And you surely can guess why."

"While choosing this skyscraper, we scrutinized the outside of the building carefully, and only chose this place as our Command Center after being confident that there are no entrances formed by external destruction."

"But based on what you've said, if your parents indeed live inside the skyscraper, they must have moved there when the torrential rain just started, and before the water levels rose. Am I correct in my speculation?"

"Exactly, my parents moved to the skyscraper when it started raining."

They didn't believe Dong Tianyu's claim because their scouts had thoroughly investigated up to the fifth floor above the water level of the skyscraper when creating entrances, without finding any traces of human habitation.

So, after hearing Dong Tianyu say his parents live in the skyscraper, they concluded that Dong Tianyu was lying, with his actual intent being to enter the skyscraper to scavenge for survival supplies.

This presumption was based on the sight of the pedal boat Dong Tianyu was standing on and the large backpack he was carrying.

There's nothing to comment on regarding the pedal boat. If he is an individual survivor rather than an employee of the department, having such an advantageous water transport means he might regularly seek out supplies.

Moreover, according to his many years of experience, judging by Dong Tianyu's demeanor, even though Dong Tianyu's backpack was large, it likely contained nothing and was merely empty.

It was due to these two factors that he determined Dong Tianyu's words were false. However, despite the suspicion, he still followed Dong Tianyu's lead and continued questioning:

"You say you came here to find your parents. So where in the skyscraper do your parents live?"

Without any hesitation, Dong Tianyu replied, "The thirtieth floor."

Although their investigators only explored up to the fifth floor, he was firmly convinced in his judgment. So out of kindness, he tried to dissuade Dong Tianyu, "This skyscraper has been appropriated by the officials. There are other skyscrapers nearby as well. Your pedal boat is convenient for traveling on water. It's better you look for supplies somewhere else."

Dong Tianyu appeared indifferent to his 'kind' advice, "I came here strictly to find my parents, not to gather resources. My parents are upstairs in this skyscraper, why would I go to other ones?"

Hearing Dong Tianyu still insisting his parents were in the skyscraper, the man was now somewhat angry, "Fine, you keep saying your parents are in the skyscraper, right? Come in with me, then. I want to see if you're lying."

"I want to warn you in advance, if your parents indeed live here, I'll apologize to you. It would be regretful for wrongly accusing you."

"But if they are not here, don't blame me for enforcing the law accordingly."

Having heard his somewhat angry 'reminder', Dong Tianyu did not care much, for all he had said was truth.

Noticing Dong Tianyu's indifferent demeanor, he again waved his flag a few times. After getting a reply from the large ship, the trio boarded the boat, heading towards the supposed entrance hole.

Seeing the small boat steering towards the entrance of the skyscraper, Dong Tianyu quickly followed in his pedal boat.

Upon reaching the entrance of the skyscraper, a transfer boat that was docked to unload goods left the scene. The two men from the small boat exited and went into the skyscraper from the entrance.

Stepping foot on the skyscraper's ground, the young man said to Dong Tianyu, "You can't dock the boat here. They'll unload goods here soon. Why don't you come up first? My colleague will take your pedal boat away, and we will return it to you when you come out."

Even though the pedal boat was not essential for Dong Tianyu, he did not want to hand it over to them after hearing what the young man had said.

It wasn't because Dong Tianyu didn't trust the officials, but because some people among the officials were untrustworthy. After all, judging from the encounter so far, the middle-aged man and the young man who had been speaking to Dong Tianyu seemed to have a higher rank.

And the man who had been silent until now and stayed behind to row the boat seemed to have a lower status. If Dong Tianyu left the pedal boat with him, it could be easily requisitioned by just about anyone from the large ship, for Dong Tianyu hadn't forgotten about the baton incident.

Without directly responding to the young man's question, Dong Tianyu took out a rope from his backpack (from within his shadow space) and securely tied the pedal boat.

Upon entering the skyscraper, he tugged his pedal boat and hoisted it directly from the entrance into the skyscraper.

Watching Dong Tianyu's actions, the young man was speechless.

After the pedal boat was dragged in, Dong Tianyu firstly untied the rope, then took out the tools to disassemble the gear and chain of the pedal boat, tied the disassembled gear and chain assembly securely with the rope, fashioned a handle, and held it in his hand.

The structure of the pedal boat was very simple; even an average person could make one easily if they wished to mimic its design. However, if it was missing the sprocket system and chain, finding suitable replacements would be very troublesome.

Although Dong Tianyu didn't really care about the loss of the pedal boat, he didn't want to make it easier for others either, so he simply removed and carries the boat's critical components with himself. So even if the outer casing gets stolen later, reconstructing a new boat would be relatively simpler.

Seeing the things Dong Tianyu was carrying in his hand, the two men intended to say something but found themselves at a loss for words. Finally, the middle-aged man broke the awkward silence and said, "Let's go and check whether your parents really live on the thirtieth floor of the skyscraper."

As the flooding had already submerged the bottom ten floors, even though they aimed for the thirtieth floor of the skyscraper, they only needed to climb twenty floors.

The middle-aged man gave a nod to the person left behind to look after the supplies in the skyscraper, and, accompanied by the young man and Dong Tianyu, they entered the fire escape to ascend.