CHAPTER 426: CHAPTER 424 YU CITY

The helicopter landed on a specially cleared helipad. Chen Xin disembarked and looked around. It seemed like the rooftop of a building, yet other high rises towered nearby, making him feel as if he were at the foot of a building.

This could be considered a characteristic of Yu City. This mountain city always encountered such seemingly magical phenomena, and given the limited terrain, buildings could only be constructed along the mountains.

However, this also brought many benefits to Yu City. Before the disaster, this unique scenery became one of Yu City’s distinctive features, attracting many tourists annually, and even featuring in games.

In the past, Yu City under the neon lights was truly filled with cyberpunk style.

Even now, this special terrain continued to offer benefits to Yu City.

Many mountains mean many barriers, and coupled with the fact that Yu City had dug numerous air raid shelters since wartime, Yu City was not severely affected in the previous disaster.

Although many buildings did suffer damage, overall, Yu City should be considered the least affected large city within the Flame Country, otherwise, the high authorities wouldn’t have chosen the capital of the neighboring city to be here.

And a lighter disaster impact means faster post-disaster reconstruction and recovery.

From the aerial perspective just now, the star-like lights Chen Xin saw were the results of Yu City’s post-disaster reconstruction.

While it couldn’t compare with the neon glimmer of the city before the disaster, at least it wasn’t entirely engulfed in darkness, restoring some vitality.

But Chen Xin had no time to carefully observe these views. Following the staff who came to receive him, along with Lieutenant Deng, they crossed several streets cleared of snow, entered a building, climbed a few flights of stairs, and then emerged onto another street.

After crossing a few more flights of stairs and wandering around a bit, they didn’t climb anymore but entered an air raid shelter.

Upon entering the shelter, Chen Xin glanced at the sides, vaguely noticing the sign for "Dongzi Hotpot," though it was covered with dust, appearing quite dilapidated.

However, Chen Xin had no time for sentiment, following the staff through the unoccupied air raid shelter, his view suddenly brightened, markedly more spacious.

It was then that the staff responsible for leading introduced to Chen Xin, "Yu City originally had many air raid shelters and civil defense facilities. After the state decided to move the temporary capital to Yu City, the city government decided to vigorously construct underground spaces, allowing more people to take refuge and survive in them.

So they connected most of the existing air raid shelters, further hollowed out several mountains, building large underground refuge spaces and underground highways. We are on one of the main roads, from which one can take a vehicle to the meeting location."

Normally, Chen Xin might have marveled at this underground space, at least a few dozen meters high, but the threat of a supervolcano eruption left him no room for such thoughts.

On the staff’s arrangement, he and Lieutenant Deng boarded a prepared vehicle and headed to the destination.

Yu City used to be a city with almost no flat roads, and there was even a joke that nobody rode bicycles in Yu City because there were too many ups and downs, making the time spent pushing the bike far exceed riding it.

But the underground highways excavated within the mountains were considerably flat, without much variation in slopes. After taking a few turns, the vehicle brought Chen Xin to the destination, a clearly different underground refuge.

Here, soldiers in military exoskeletons, similar to Lieutenant Deng’s, stood guard to check people entering and exiting. Even the heavy mecha Chen Xin previously provided for the military blocked the entrances. Only after passing the check would they move aside to let people enter.

This caused Chen Xin to take a few more glances. It had been less than a month since he handed the heavy mecha to the state, and seeing them in use left him slightly surprised.

Perhaps greetings had been given earlier; after the staff presented the identification, they quickly passed the check, gaining access to the refuge interior.

After entering the refuge, the car quickly came to a stop. Chen Xin followed the staff out of the vehicle, glancing around. He should be in a parking lot, with other cars arriving and disembarking similarly invited experts and scholars.

Some noticed Chen Xin, but everyone bore a heavy expression, merely nodding before hastily leaving, without any greetings exchanged.

If it were other experts and scholars, they might recognize others due to their long academic tenure, but for Chen Xin, these experts and scholars were unfamiliar. Apart from perhaps having seen some individuals on television or in textbooks, he recognized no one.

Therefore, he didn’t linger and followed the staff out of the parking lot.

This refuge seemed specially designated for hosting these experts and scholars, and the conditions appeared favorable, at least cleaner and tidier than others Chen Xin had seen, with bright lighting.

The staff led Chen Xin to a room, with a nameplate bearing Chen Xin’s name on the door.

"Academician Chen, this is the room arranged for you. Since not all participants have arrived yet, please rest here for a bit. We will notify you when the meeting begins." The staff opened the door and guided Chen Xin into the room. "There’s a canteen upstairs. If you feel hungry and need a meal, you can call for room service using the internal phone, or go to the canteen yourself. Meals here don’t require payment; just show your identification.

Additionally, these are the relevant materials we’ve gathered so far. You can review them before the meeting."

Saying this, the staff handed Chen Xin an identification and a set of materials.

Chen Xin glanced at the identification, which merely had the words "Meeting Pass" written on it, resembling leftovers from meetings before the disaster.

For such an impromptu meeting, having an identification was already commendable. Making new ones within a few hours wasn’t realistic, nor resourceful.

Apart from the identification, the staff also gave Chen Xin a magnetic card, used for internal passage within the refuge. Each attendee received one, for accessing doors with security measures.

After handing over these items to Chen Xin, the staff left the room, leaving he and Lieutenant Deng alone.

"Academician Chen, would you like to rest for a bit?" Lieutenant Deng asked Chen Xin.

After a three-hour helicopter flight, he was sure to be somewhat tired.

However, Chen Xin shook his head, raising the materials to Lieutenant Deng and saying, "I want to review the materials. Go get me something to eat."