Chapter 969: Cold Air

Chapter 969: Cold Air

Lin Sanjiu was tightly squeezed into the innermost part of the elevator, her mask pressed against the back of a woman in front of her. Because of this, she had already received several glares from the woman. The elevator continued its descent in the long shaft, unaffected by anyone's discomfort.
At Lyanna's insistence, Lin Sanjiu, Tan Zhang, and a whole group of people were crowded into the same elevator. There were about a dozen people, shoulder to shoulder, breath mingling, all looking up and waiting for the elevator doors to open. Unlike her, this group didn't seem to be going down for the same task. Everyone had a tense expression, and she could even hear their low, nervous murmurs.
"Could you move aside a bit more?"
Finally, the woman in front couldn't bear it any longer and turned to scold Lin Sanjiu. It was understandable that no woman would want an uncouth-looking man pressing against her, rubbing his flabby belly against her back. "Don't you have any evolved abilities?" she said with annoyance, using the corner of her eye to scrutinize Lin Sanjiu. "How could a posthuman have such a fat belly?"
Lin Sanjiu had always been very accommodating in such situations.
"I'm sorry," she nodded and sucked in her belly, pressing it against the wall. However, the fake belly created by the mask didn't decrease in size much. After all, her abdominal muscles were already tight, leaving little space to shrink further. "I'm completely against the wall..."
Tan Zhang furrowed his brow again, looking at her with suspicion. It seemed that the woman's words had raised some doubts in his mind. The woman with short hair twisted back around and shifted forward. Her group members glanced at her, and the chubby man snorted, "Two levels? Is that enough?"
"But we've never had such high-density sealing and lockdown," the woman with short hair forgot about the annoying middle-aged man behind her for a moment and analyzed with skepticism, "and we've never connected with so many people with different lockdown abilities... If there is any backlash during the process..."
A tall man standing at the entrance suddenly spoke in a deep voice. He seemed to be the leader of the group, and his tone brooked no doubt, "Everyone keep your distance, divide into zones, and then test the connections."
Lin Sanjiu silently listened to every word they exchanged. Regardless of the cause of the hull breach in Zone F, the subsequent handling seemed to be extremely complicated and challenging. From the sound of it, it seemed that everyone in this entire group was a posthuman with lockdown abilities... It was unknown how many layers they would need to seal Zone F.
While she was lost in thought, the elevator silently came to a stop.
"Let's go, we're all squished here," Lyanna, who was squeezed in like Lin Sanjiu, stuck her neck out and urged them.
The leader of the group glanced at the three people in the corner, his gaze shifting around, his expression somewhat confused. He probably thought that it had nothing to do with him what these people would do next, so he quickly looked away.
The three of them were the last to exit the elevator. Tan Zhang greeted the group members and disappeared with them. This meant that the docking bay and the heavily sealed Zone F happened to be in the same direction, which was not good news.
"It's right ahead. Walk about two hundred meters and then go down the next set of stairs. E-14 is on Corridor E," Lyanna pointed in the opposite direction, "I won't go there. They originally wanted me to go... But isn't this your job? I really don't want to see it again. It's disgusting... It's everywhere."
Unlike the bright lights in Zone F, there were only emergency lights illuminating that direction. In the vast expanse of the ship's belly, covered in a pale mist of iron gray, it gradually descended into a dimness. Apart from the faint traces of steel skeleton lines, it was impossible to see what lay in the dark depths from here.
"Oh, I didn't mean the dead people were disgusting. I... I just..." Lyanna suddenly realized and lowered her voice, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Maybe there are still their friends or something on the ship, and it would be more upsetting for them to hear. Since I don't know the dead people, I still feel sorry for them."
In this post-apocalyptic world, such a reaction could be considered having a conscience, right?
Lin Sanjiu raised the symbolic towel and nodded. Lyanna held onto her and gave several more instructions, as if she was not completely confident in handing the task over to her. This young girl was good in every aspect, except for being a bit too talkative.
Finally bidding farewell to Lyanna, Lin Sanjiu followed her directions and quickly found the long flight of stairs. Below the stairs was an open area woven with a fine iron mesh, and through the small gaps, she could only see darkness below. In the dim emergency lights, there were several entrances on both sides, one of which was labeled "E-14."
She looked around and headed towards E-14.
Every step stirred a low echo, spreading in concentric circles in the silent and quiet space. The Ocean Voyager was too big, and although this area was on the same level as the bustling Zone F, it felt like it had been abandoned for years, as if no one had been here for a long time.
I wonder how long Tan Zhang will be stationed at the docking bay?
The hull was damaged, and pilots were needed to fly maintenance ships into space to remedy the situation from the outside. Even if the night raiders had more than one pilot, there should be other tasks assigned to them...
As for Bohemia, Lin Sanjiu wasn't too worried. That girl was like a dog, and if she opened a package of food, she might be able to find her way to her just by following the smell. Once they met up, it would be time to quietly sneak back to the docking bay.
The corridor was cooler than the outside. Every time Lin Sanjiu passed through the entrance of a corridor, a rush of cold air would hit her skin. As she approached the entrance of E-14, she felt a familiar chill. Without any reason, she instinctively furrowed her brows slightly, glanced at the door frame, and took a step into E-14.
In that instant, even she herself didn't understand why—just as her weight hadn't shifted forward yet, her body suddenly leaned backward, forcefully retracting her left foot. Almost at the same time she withdrew, the corridor door "clang" shut, the steel fitting seamlessly and tightly, stirring up a cloud of dust.
Lin Sanjiu's heart pounded a few times. She enveloped her fingers with the [Defense Forcefield] and gently tried to push the door.
It wouldn't budge.