The original surface buildings of the Refuge had long been damaged, but the control console for the manhole cover could still be activated via mechanical devices.
Following Gu Yunyun's instructions, Feng Jun opened a metal cover plate beside the manhole cover, entered a series of passwords in sequence on the control panel, and activated the mechanical control device, causing the metal manhole cover to slowly slide open along its track.
Beneath the manhole cover was the elevator leading to the Refuge, which was different from the Doomsday environment outside.
It was filled with a sense of futuristic technology; the dim blue lights illuminated the control console, and everything looked like something out of a science fiction movie.
"Can you contact the people inside the Refuge to open the door?" Feng Jun took Gu Yunyun into the underground elevator, expressing his concern that the people in the Refuge might simply lock the Refuge's door and re-enter their hibernation pods to sleep.
Gu Yunyun shook her head and said, "That's impossible. The Refuge was designed for a hibernation period until 2263, and it only opened a year early due to the energy supply system. Even if the people inside the Refuge restore the energy system, they can only hibernate for one more year.
The director of the Refuge is still alive, and he won't let the survivors inside go back into the hibernation pods.
However, the Refuge is equipped with a small farm and has some food stored, so staying inside for half a year or a year is not an issue, especially since there are less than a hundred people left inside."
"That's good then." Feng Jun felt much more relieved after hearing Gu Yunyun's explanation.
The Refuge was built a thousand meters underground, and the elevator leading down was surprisingly a maglev, not relying on traditional mechanical structures for transport.
It had twenty seats and was equipped with safety devices; it only took two minutes to descend to a thousand meters deep into the underground rock layer.
At this moment, in the control room of the Refuge, the director of the Refuge was discussing the next direction for the Refuge with several survivors.
The director of the QD10096 Shelter was named Han Chong, and his personnel number in the Refuge was 10096-01.
He also held the highest authority in this Refuge, and it was he who, two weeks ago, made the decision to end the hibernation of all Refuge residents a year early and open the Refuge door to the outside world.
Within the Ming Empire's territory, the directors and military officers of every official Refuge were appointed by the Government, regardless of the nature of the Refuge.
Upon entering the Refuge, the director of the Refuge gained absolute authority over it.
However, Han Chong did not enjoy much of the power that the Refuge brought him.
Firstly, QD10096 was a hibernation Refuge, and most of the time spent inside was in hibernation.
The director's tri-annual wake-up checks were merely a formality, as the Refuge's Quantum Computer also contained a primary intelligent AI responsible for its operation.
In fact, Han Chong was not the original director of this Refuge.
The QD10096 Shelter was designed for research and civilian purposes, with a maximum capacity of 200 people.
This Refuge was activated in 2192, during America's airstrike on Shangqing City.
However, the initial plan at the outbreak of the war was to prioritize scientists and technical personnel for Refuge, with only a handful of slots allocated to civilians.
But the war spread much faster than planned, and civilian scientists and technical personnel were scattered throughout cities or various research facilities, making them difficult to gather.
Thus, after the war broke out, only a little over sixty scientists and technical personnel were hastily collected, and the remaining empty slots could only be allocated to ordinary civilians nearby.
Han Chong's position as Refuge director was also a stroke of luck; the original director unluckily died in the airstrike, which allowed Han Chong to become the director of this Refuge.
Han Chong was just an ordinary low-ranking officer responsible for the Refuge's periphery at the time.
After assisting with the settlement tasks of the QD10096 Shelter, he was supposed to go to a public Refuge for safety.
But the original director died on the way, and under temporary arrangements from above, he became the director of this Refuge.
To be honest, before entering the Refuge, he knew nothing about its design purpose, hibernation period, or method of Refuge.
Although Han Chong was a bit nervous about not having received training as a Refuge director, he soon realized his worries were unnecessary.
The intelligent AI configured within the Refuge could handle any matter within the Refuge, and maintenance robots could perform maintenance on all facilities in the Refuge.
He, as the director, and a few maintenance personnel only woke up every three years to walk around the Refuge and get some exercise.
During each routine inspection, Han Chong simply walked around the Refuge.
All machines were running well under the AI's maintenance, and even the ventilation ducts and air conditioning rooms were spotless.
The self-maintaining robots handled everything, and he only needed to wake up a few times from his sleep.
According to the Refuge's settings, the Refuge would open naturally by 2263, and then he could return to the surface, perhaps even receiving commendation from the Government and a promotion.
However, something unfortunate happened.
Soon after 2262 began, the AI woke him up because a component in the Refuge's fusion reactor core had fractured, causing the reactor's output power to drop by 60%, unable to support the consumption of all hibernation pods.
Although the broken component only needed to be replaced, the Refuge happened to not have this replacement component.
Therefore, after consulting the AI and reviewing the Refuge Director's command manual, Han Chong decided to open the Refuge a year early.
Although it did not comply with regulations, in special circumstances affecting the safety of Refuge residents, the director of the Refuge had the right to end or extend the Refuge's isolation period early.
Thus, Han Chong woke up all the residents of the Refuge and announced the news of opening the Refuge a year early.
The residents of the Refuge did not have many objections to this matter.
After all, they had been hibernating for so many years, so leaving the Refuge a year early was not an issue, and most residents had slept straight through until now, so they didn't feel much about the passage of time.
So, after all Refuge residents unanimously approved, Han Chong led the residents out of the Refuge and onto the surface.
Although they had prepared themselves mentally, the sight of the Doomsday wasteland still shocked them.
However, they had also prepared for the worst before coming out; looking at the surroundings, it was clear that the Imperial Government could not be relied upon.
These residents became survivors on the wasteland, beginning to set up a camp near the Refuge entrance and attempting experimental cultivation of crops.
Han Chong was considered a minor local official before the war and knew that survival in such an environment required extreme caution in all actions.
He did not let all survivors go to the surface, but kept half of them in the Refuge, as the Refuge's current material reserves were sufficient to last a year or a year and a half.
He also did not rashly set up radios and communication devices to try and contact the outside world, but rather tried to minimize the Refuge's presence and sent out small teams to explore the surrounding area.
The first exploration brought him bad news: Zhang Zhen, the Refuge's military officer, and five others walked less than ten miles before encountering a group of zombies.
Fortunately, there were not many of them, and they all carried guns.
Learning of the existence of zombies poured even more cold water on Han Chong; he increasingly doubted whether this world had already been destroyed, and if so, how he could lead the Refuge residents to survive.
He concealed the fact of discovering zombies from the residents, instead instructing Zhang Zhen to lead the security team to strengthen patrols.
However, his worst fear still came true: one night, a group of strangely deformed people directly raided the base established on the Refuge's surface.
Although he and Zhang Zhen tried to fight back, the enemy's numbers were too great, and they simply couldn't win.
So, Han Chong led some survivors back into the Refuge, while Zhang Zhen sacrificed himself outside.
The survivors who returned to the Refuge were naturally terrified, demanding to completely close the Refuge's door and re-enter hibernation pods or try to contact the Imperial Government.
However, Han Chong knew that neither of these methods was possible.
Firstly, the current reactor, due to component damage, could not support the operation of all hibernation pods; even the output of food from the underground farm was an issue.
Secondly, he did not know what the surface world was truly like now; he didn't even know if the Government existed.
If he rashly shouted on the channel, it might attract even more dangerous enemies.
Han Chong's concerns were also correct.
If he had used communication equipment to publicly shout on the channel on the first day he ascended to the surface, then he wouldn't have been ambushed by a group of deformed people a few nights later; it was likely that the wasteland's slave traders and bandit gangs would have driven their vehicles and wiped them out the very next day.
At that time, everyone in the Refuge would have been unable to escape death, and all the equipment inside would have been plundered.
Slave traders and bandit gangs on the wasteland had extensive experience dealing with newly opened Refuges.
Those who entered Refuges before or just after the war's end often had little caution towards Doomsday, and among them were often some overly benevolent people with a Madonna complex.
Slave traders would typically first send out women and children disguised as wounded individuals to approach the survivors in the Refuge, or they would pose as Government Army coming to take over the Refuge.
Unsuspecting Refuge residents would easily trust these people, and when the time was right, they would cooperate from inside and out to open the Refuge's door.
And the soldiers and armed forces within the Refuge naturally could not withstand the bandit gangs and slave traders on the wasteland, and the survivors among them would inevitably end up as slaves.
Han Chong had originally considered that the current world Government had likely collapsed; otherwise, Zhang Zhen wouldn't have encountered zombies after walking only ten miles with his people.
Therefore, he consciously lowered the probability of being discovered by the outside world and did not actively contact them, but he was still discovered by a group of deformed people wandering nearby.
However, Han Chong now had an even more vexing matter: the residents in the Refuge were divided into two factions.
One faction demanded to activate communication devices and find a way to contact the outside Government, while the other faction demanded to return to their hibernation pods.