CH 54.2

Chapter 54.2 – Waltz and Communication Tower

Shi Yuan sat cross-legged on the short robot, holding his tail, and carried out a human observation plan.

Edward sat at the workbench, muttering words that no one could understand, polishing his firearm. His hands were fast and steady, looking like a veteran at first glance. If he didn’t simultaneously let out a ‘hee-hee-hee’ giggle and pick up screws to play with every now and then, the scene would be quite professional.

Shi Yuan asked, “How do you usually take a bath?”

Edward: “When it’s raining!”

Shi Yuan: “Where did your canned food come from?”

Edward: “Edward went to the supermarket several times and brought all the canned food back! Corn, peas, tomatoes, pineapples, there are many!”

“What about the electricity?”

“Edward has solar panels, and Edward also found a lot of car batteries!”

“What about the guns?”

Edward pushed the magazine into the gun with a ‘click’: “The army is dead, Edward found their convoy! Edward can still do manual work, and can do that kind of bang bang! Swish-boom-wow! It’s all blown up to the sky, hey, hey, hey, hey, swoosh, swoosh!”

Shi Yuan felt that Edward’s dexterity was indeed commendable.

Edward handed the things to Shi Yuan again: “Good friend, try it.”

“What is this?” Shi Yuan asked.

“Headphones, listen to music so that you won’t be discovered by monsters.” Edward gestured, “You put it on like this.”

This was a headset, it looked like it would fall apart at any time, the wires were exposed, and there was an object similar to a radio at the end.

Shi Yuan had never seen anything like this before. Putting it on, Edward pressed the radio switch.

An ear-splitting electrical sound exploded!

Shi Yuan’s tail exploded in an instant, and he took off his headphones: “Ah, what is this?”

“Hush, hush, keep listening,” Edward said mysteriously, turning the knob slowly.

The sound of the current turned down, and music came from the headphones.

Shi Yuan put on the headphones again.

There were still the sounds of electric currents and bean bursts, squeaking and crackling… Others listen to music without loss, but for him, it’s a battle damage. At least the melody came out, the 3-beat music, the relaxed and easy-going slow tempo, gave a sense of lightness.

Edward explained: “This is called waltz. It is Joanna’s favorite waltz and can be danced. Have you ever danced?”

Shi Yuan shook his head.

Lu Tinghan didn’t seem to be able to dance with people, although he wanted to try.

“It’s a pity, it’s a pity, my friend, it’s a pity,” Edward muttered, “Edward and Joanna often dance.”

Shi Yuan asked, “Where do you dance?”

“Dance everywhere, at home, in the bell tower, in the square, on the side of the road… Anywhere.”

Shi Yuan: “Oh!”

When the broken clock on the desktop pointed to 9 o’clock, the fog in Iron City rose again, and the white color paved over the sky. The watchtower was considered high, but it was still submerged by it.

Edward only turned on a small light, dim and faint. After assembling the gun, he pulled Joanna from her seat, and let the iron frame with the cardboard body fall limply into his arms – Edward obviously went to the supermarket to take away more than canned food, but also brought back a lot of plastic bags and gauze. Now, the colorful plastic bags were the cuffs of his lover’s clothes, and the layers of gauze were the hem of her skirt. She was as elegant as in the past.

Edward put on his headphones, and a waltz with electric current came. He put his arms around Joanna’s waist with one hand, held the iron frame of her hand in the other, and began to swing around in the dance steps.

Circle after circle, jumping and swirling, the shadow floated freely in the narrow hut. The woman leaned softly in his arms, her blond hair spread out, plated with a circle of soft light.

Shi Yuan sat next to him, holding his tail to watch them dance, and asked, “…Mr. Edward, I think you must know what love is, right?”

Edward did not hear.

On this foggy night, in this dead city, they hugged each other silently for the countless times.

They danced.

Early the next morning, Shi Yuan and Edward set off.

Edward had a supermarket shopping cart. He put both Joanna and Mike in, and piled up six or seven guns and bullets. Then, he put on a bullet vest and a helmet, hung a flashlight and a pollution detector around his neck, held his head high, and said, “Edward is leaving!”

He pushed the shopping cart down the stairs, making a ‘thud thud thud’ sound.

When he got to the street, he took a stroller in one hand and a rifle in the other, opened his eyes wide, and looked left and right.

Normally, the monsters would have pounced on him long ago.

Shi Yuan was by his side this time, the monsters were afraid of him and only observed silently from a distance. After Shi Yuan saw the ruins of the city, he saw the heads of several white bone wolves poking out behind the ruins.

Shi Yuan raised his tail high, rubbing his scales and rattling all the way.

The architectural style of Iron City was much colder and harder, and the houses that had not yet collapsed had straight up and down lines. The monsters did not dare to approach, they swaggered through the streets, and Edward couldn’t help but whistle.

The effect of Rattle Tail Abyss was particularly good. They walked 7 blocks safely and came under the communication tower.

The communication tower was located in the center of Iron City, plunging straight into the clouds, and had countless floors.

Shi Yuan looked up, the floating clouds drifted, and the tower seemed to fall towards him.

There was also a promotional poster under the tower that read [The 56-story super-high sunset is waiting for you, tickets are only 90 yuan, half price for children] The picture was a golden-red burning sunset. Sure enough, it was the same as Edward said. This was a scenic spot in Iron City.

Shi Yuan asked, “Do we have to climb the stairs?”

“Of course!” Edward replied, pushing his shopping cart in with clunking sound.

They slowly climbed the stairs.

Shi Yuan was okay, while Edward panted with the shopping cart.

Shi Yuan said, “Let me help you.”

He helped pull the shopping cart in front, and soon, the two of them panted together.

There were still monsters in the communication tower, and they looked at them when they heard their voices. Some monsters followed them, some monsters hung on the roof and watched them silently, while some monsters couldn’t get through the wall, roared, and slapped the fire exit door until it deformed with sharp claws.

Fortunately, they were not really close.

The firearms and the cardboard people were too heavy, and the building still had fractures. They could only find a way to detour or risk climbing up – moving up and down was another major project. Edward’s guns and flamethrower were too heavy.

At noon, they sat together in the stairwell and ate compressed biscuits and canned eggplant juice.

As before, Edward divided canned food for his wife and child. When he was not full, he took theirs and continued to eat.

In the afternoon, the two continued to climb up, and after an unknown amount of time, the stairs came to an end.

This was the 54th floor. If you want to go up, you have to go to another stairwell.

Pushing open the fire exit door, a floor riddled with holes appeared in front of them.

The corridor was wide and high. Regular visitors watched the scenery here, overlooking the city through huge floor-to-ceiling windows and enjoying the sunset.

The floor-to-ceiling windows were now all shattered, and the wind was whipping in so hard that one could barely stand. The walls were full of bullet holes, as well as large tracts of black blood that had been dried up for 8 years, and more than a dozen corpses were lying side by side, all wearing Alliance uniforms. Not far away, in the sky, there were several translucent jellyfish.

There was a fierce battle here.

The monsters pressed in layer by layer, and the Alliance troops fought and retreated, and kept going to higher ground. Judging from the communication records, starting from the 40th floor, small teams stayed behind on every two floors to protect their comrades-in-arms and let them go up.

Go up.

To the top of the high tower of this city, to the place where the wind and flowing clouds were, you might be able to touch the vitality in the blue sky.

It was a hopeless climb.

The soldiers who stayed behind to defend died, and those who reached the top of the tower also died.

Fortunately, the last data took advantage of the radio waves and flew to the city full of wind and scorching sun.

“Edward wants to keep going up.” Edward pushed the shopping cart and stared straight ahead. “Edward and Joanna are going to dance, and Edward’s family is going to watch the sunset.”

He turned his head and said to Shi Yuan again: “Mike is a good boy, you can dance with Mike.”

“No,” Shi Yuan said, “I have someone I want to dance with. He’s waiting for me to come home.”