Chapter 54 - 53: Arriving at the Han City Shelter Base

Chapter 54: Chapter 53: Arriving at the Han City Shelter Base

Hearing the broadcast, Chen Momo immediately said to Xu Xiaoka and Chen Xiaobao, "Gather everything you need to bring. We’re getting ready to leave!"

"Mommy, Xiao Bao has already packed everything!" Wrapped in a small scarf and carrying his little leather suitcase, Chen Xiaobao appeared handsomely before Chen Momo.

Soon, Xu Xiaoka came running out of the room panting, dragging a suitcase behind her. "Sister Momo, I’m ready too!"

Chen Momo nodded. "Alright, let’s head out!"

Chen Momo was pulling two suitcases in total. Most of her belongings had been stored inside her pocket dimension, while the rest were packed into these two bags. The RV was already parked at the door, fully prepped and ready to go.

The family of three loaded their respective luggage into the RV. With Xu Xiaoka and Chen Xiaobao seated in the back and Chen Momo at the wheel, the trio set off toward the location of the base. A pristine white RV drove a lonely path across the endless expanse of gleaming white snow.

Chen Xiaobao tilted his little head and curiously asked, "Xiaoka, what does the base look like?" He had also heard the broadcast and was incredibly curious about their destination.

Xu Xiaoka didn’t know what the shelter base looked like either. Relying on her rich imagination, she said, "It probably looks like a UFO!"

"Is it round?" Chen Xiaobao’s big, bright eyes sparkled.

"It should be... round, I guess," Xu Xiaoka replied.

"Then how big is the base? Is it bigger than our house? Is it bigger than Disneyland?" In Chen Xiaobao’s mind, Disneyland was considered massive.

"It’s probably about as big as a football field," Xu Xiaoka said.

Driving, Chen Momo listened to the two of them fantasize about the shelter base and couldn’t help but chuckle. These two really had quite the imagination. The so-called shelter base was nothing more than a retrofitted university. How could it possibly look like a UFO?

Although the base was only five kilometers away, they were forced to take several detours due to roads blocked by the blizzard. They didn’t arrive until the afternoon.

Upon arriving at the shelter base, Chen Momo was greatly taken aback. The original Guan Shan Kou University had been completely transformed beyond recognition. From the outside, it no longer resembled a university at all!

The large row of characters at the entrance that once read "Guan Shan Kou Men’s Vocational Technical College" had been replaced by a sign with six massive green characters: "Han City Shelter Base." Each character was two meters tall, standing out starkly against the vast, white expanse. Green represented "vitality," symbolizing a good omen.

At the gate, a guard dressed in a thermal suit made of special materials and wearing a cold-proof thermal hood stopped Chen Momo’s RV. "Currently, the shelter base has limited spots. Priority is given to local residents of Han City and their families. Non-locals are not being accepted at this time. Please show your relevant identification."

Chen Momo immediately remembered the residence permit she had processed and passed it over through a crack in the glass window. Her ID card was from out of town. Fortunately, before the apocalypse struck, she had sought out Gu Rongjin in advance to get a residence permit. And now, it was coming in handy!

The guard looked at the residence permit, verified Chen Momo’s ID information, nodded, and let their vehicle through.

The first thing that caught her eye was the teaching buildings of Guan Shan Kou Men’s Vocational Technical College. All twelve of the school’s teaching buildings had been connected and integrated. A circular thermal dome had been added over the roofs, making them truly look like a giant UFO from the outside.

Occasionally, two or three staff members in cold-proof suits and thermal hoods could be seen walking around the base, whispering among themselves. The thermal hoods were not only cold-proof but also soundproof. As a result, everyone held a walkie-talkie. Even if they were walking shoulder to shoulder, they still needed to communicate via radio.

Through the car window, Chen Xiaobao and Xu Xiaoka stared at the strange attire of these men, thoroughly amazed.

"Mommy, those men’s clothes are so weird," Chen Xiaobao said. His little chubby hands clung to the car window as he watched the base staff members walk away.

Xu Xiaoka explained to Xiao Bao, "That’s probably for keeping warm. When we get settled, we should be issued a set too."

In fact, Xu Xiaoka was eagerly hoping to put on the base’s special cold-proof suit as soon as possible. After all, the cold-proof suit looked quite similar to a normal down jacket, except that wearing the thermal hood on one’s head made communication somewhat inconvenient. Their current attire, on the other hand, was entirely different. They were wearing thermal underwear over thermal underwear, topped with padded cotton jackets under down jackets, and even more down jackets over those. Swaddled in endless layers, they looked like giant pandas and found it incredibly difficult to move around. In contrast, the base’s specially made cold-proof suits looked much more practical.

Chen Momo drove on, searching for a parking spot. The base was much larger than she had imagined. In addition to the interconnected teaching buildings, several libraries had also been joined together and converted into cafeterias. Their roofs were similarly covered with a circular thermal dome. This circular design was adopted to prevent heavy snow from accumulating on the roofs during blizzards.

A rounded roof wouldn’t trap snow. Even during a snowstorm, the snow would slide down the roof into snow-guide channels at the eaves. As long as the covers of these channels were opened, the snow would automatically fall to the ground without affecting the roof’s lighting.

Chen Momo drove the RV around the base for half an hour but still couldn’t find a place to park. Finally, when a few staff members walked by, she had no choice but to stop the vehicle and ask loudly, "Excuse me, where is the parking lot?"

The staff members exchanged glances, looking utterly bewildered. They had no idea what Chen Momo was saying. Chen Momo suddenly realized that they were all wearing thermal hoods and needed walkie-talkies to communicate. So, she grabbed a walkie-talkie from her luggage and repeated her question.

This time, the staff members finally understood. They pointed toward a large black sphere up ahead. The large black sphere had a diameter of about two to three meters and led directly to a tall building behind it. At first glance, one might assume it was an entrance to some office building. Chen Momo looked closer and sure enough, several eye-catching large characters were written on the red door: "Parking Lot Entrance."

Chen Momo drove the RV straight to the entrance. The black sphere suddenly flashed a red light and let out a warning sound, "BEEP BEEP BEEP."

Nearby, from a small structure resembling a security booth, a staff member in a base thermal suit poked his head out. Holding a walkie-talkie, he said to Chen Momo, "Insufficient funds! Go to the base’s living center to pay the parking fee first!"

Chen Momo frowned. "They want money the moment I arrive?" she thought. Well, she had mentally prepared herself for this anyway. Therefore, Chen Momo turned the RV around and drove back toward the twelve interconnected teaching buildings. According to her judgment, that area had the largest footprint, so it had to be the living center!