Chapter Thirty-Nine: You're Quite the Codebreaker

“Bang… bang… bang…”
The pounding echoed incessantly as I struck the manhole cover from below with my fists. To be cautious, I’d wrapped my hands in bandages.
Though my strength was frightening, the pain in my hands was still sharp. Gritting my teeth, I hammered the cover with all my might.
Huo Bing stood below, covering her mouth in disbelief. Anyone would probably think I was a freak—using my bare fists to pound a manhole cover was sheer madness.
This lid couldn’t be opened from underneath; aside from brute force, there was no other way out. Often, when people do things that others can’t comprehend, it’s because they’ve been left no choice.
Finally, perseverance paid off. My bandaged fists had started bleeding, but the several-centimeter-thick cover gave way under my blows.
I took a quick look at my surroundings. Nothing seemed to have been attracted by the noise. By rights, this commotion should have drawn the attention of either the living or the dead.
After all, the exit of this tunnel was right in the middle of the depot.
Once I’d helped Huo Bing and Fourth Master up, I strode boldly along the main avenue of the depot.
There was nowhere to hide—the wide road was meant for armored vehicles, and there wasn’t a single cover in sight. All we could do was walk openly in the open.
Fortunately, the lights inside were still on. Though only a few glimmered and their glow was faint, our vision was not impaired.
“We’ll head to the control room first. If there’s anyone left alive, that’s where they’ll be, and we’ll need to open the main gate to get our vehicle inside,” I said to Huo Bing with a smile as we walked. Then I added, “If we’re lucky, we might even find an armored vehicle in here. Military-grade beats your custom noise-reduced cars by a mile—though it’ll be a lot louder, too.”
“I do know a thing or two about driving. If we do get ahold of one, I could try my hand at modifying it—though I’m sure I’m no match for your team’s noise-reduction experts.”
My mind raced with fantasies about what valuables might be left inside.
At the dawn of the Ruined Epoch, the military must have mobilized, and a lot of the arsenal would have been taken out. I could only hope there was still enough left to satisfy us.
“It’s been more than a year since the Ruined Epoch began—do you really think anything’s left in here? And, Brother Cao, you haven’t been here in ages, have you?” Huo Bing asked quietly, following behind me.

“That’s right. The last time I passed through here on a mission was three years ago.”
“…”
In three years, anything could have happened; who knew what remained in this place.
It took us only two or three minutes to reach the control room from the middle of the depot. This was no large arsenal—the inside was smaller even than a gathering zone that could hold a thousand or two thousand people.
Surprisingly, we encountered no obstacles at all—no resistance, no commotion—nothing like what I’d expected.
Judging by the corpses in the reservoir, I’d assumed everyone in the depot had turned, but inside was only silence. Our footsteps echoed down the road.
Thinking about it, if there had been anything lurking, it would’ve come out when I was pounding the manhole cover.
“We’re here.”
Huo Bing and I stared at the hydraulic revolving door before us. I tried turning it, but it didn’t budge.
It had been locked from the inside; without electronic unlocking, it was impossible to open, and it was much thicker than the manhole cover.
I glanced at Huo Bing and saw her eyeing my bloodied fist, as if reminding me not to get any ideas.
“Forget it—this thing could withstand shells. I’d break my arm before I broke down a hydraulic door like this,” I said, rubbing my forehead helplessly. This arsenal seemed determined to block us with every door.
“Isn’t there any other way to open it?” Huo Bing eyed the electronic hydraulic door curiously.
The door was heavy, powered by hydraulics, but the lock was electronic. In other words, if you could unlock it electronically, you could turn the hydraulic valve and open it.
But that wasn’t my area of expertise. I knew a lot, but I wasn’t a jack-of-all-trades—if I could do everything, I’d be a superhuman.
“Let’s go check out the weapons and equipment in the depot first,” I said, turning to leave. But a sound behind me caught my attention. Huo Bing had pulled a palm-sized device from her pocket and was working it at the exposed electronic lock.
I was surprised—was she an electronics whiz?

“What are you doing?”
She turned her head and smiled. “Just showing you that I’m not dead weight. I’ve always liked tinkering with things, especially electronics. Maybe I can crack this lock—since the sensor is exposed, I can try to access its terminal through the sensor’s circuits.”
I was genuinely shocked. I hadn’t expected this from her. “You taught yourself? In the old world, could I call you a hacker?”
Huo Bing’s eyes were fixed on her device as she answered softly, “That’s right. My family always had everything, so I had plenty of time to fool around with gadgets. I’ve always been interested in this stuff. I guess you could call me a hacker—I taught myself, never competed with anyone, so I don’t know how good I actually am.”
“There, I’m in the terminal. Now I just have to break the password!”
She called out excitedly, and a string of electronic tones followed. I watched as lines of code flickered across the green screen in her hand, completely indecipherable to me.
“Ding!”
Suddenly, a chime sounded from the door in front of us. Huo Bing gave me a nod and started turning the hydraulic valve with force.
After several dozen seconds, I finished turning the valve, and the heavy control room door swung open.
“In the Ruined Epoch, nothing gets a signal anymore; most things are just relics now. But I’m curious—doesn’t your gadget need a signal?” I waved away the dust and covered my mouth and nose as I spoke.
Huo Bing followed closely behind. “Nope, as long as there’s power and a port to connect to. If the sensor hadn’t been outside, I wouldn’t have been able to hack in. It’s not like the main entrance, but the control room door must have been designed for the staff’s convenience, which is why the sensor’s accessible from here.”
“Brother Cao…! There’s someone…”
I didn’t need Huo Bing’s warning—I’d already seen him. There was a man in uniform slumped in the chair ahead of us. He hadn’t moved since we entered; he seemed as lifeless as a corpse.
I tightened my grip on the bone blade in my hand and strode silently to his side.