CH 55.1

Chapter 55.1 – The Top of the Tower

Above the 54th floor of the communication tower, visitors were not allowed.

Shi Yuan and Edward went around for a long time before they found the upward stairs. The heavy security door was destroyed, and the stairs shattered into blocks, exposing a mesh of steel bars, which were crumbling when stepped on. The two lifted the supermarket shopping cart together and moved forward carefully.

Between the 54th and 55th floors, an accident still happened.

Edward walked in front, and stepped on a flight of stairs, only to hear a “boom!” sound, the gravel brought him down!

He did not fall.

The thick and long tail curled around his waist.

This tail could not only knock a person out but also save a life. Edward had guns and ammunition hanging on his body, which was very heavy. Shi Yuan tried to reach out and grab him, with the help of his tail, he gritted his teeth and lifted Edward up.

After Edward came up, he leaned against the stairwell to catch his breath, and gave him a thumbs up: “Your interesting tail! Very good!”

“Thank you,” Shi Yuan hugged his tail and sorted out the scales, “I also think it’s very good.”

A large part of the stairs had collapsed, and the shopping cart could not get through. Edward took a break for a while, and suddenly said, “Edward doesn’t want a cart anymore, Edward only takes his family up.”

Shi Yuan said, “Your cans and weapons are in the cart.”

Edward: “Edward said it’s okay, there is not enough time, Edward’s family just wants to see the sunset.”

They set off early in the morning, trekked to the communication tower, and then climbed more than 50 floors with the shopping cart. Before they knew it, it was dusk. The sun could not be seen indoors, but Shi Yuan speculated that it was accelerating its fall.

“Okay,” Shi Yuan said, “Then let’s go up first then.”

Edward picked and picked in the shopping cart, took a few of the most convenient guns, and brought bullets, biscuits, water bottles, and a music player.

Lastly, he carried Joanna and Mike on his back.

Only then did Shi Yuan notice that Edward was quite tall, almost as tall as Lu Tinghan. He carried guns and two cardboard people, but his steps were still quite relaxed.

“Let’s go, Edward is ready,” he said.

Shi Yuan stood in front of the broken stairs, measured the distance, and jumped over first, moving very lightly. He stepped on the ground, and after confirming that it was strong, he said to Edward, “Jump over.”

Edward took a few steps back, ran, and then jumped up—

“Boom!” He landed heavily, and several pieces of gravel fell from his feet and fell dozens of floors below.

They reached the 55th floor.

The corridor further up was completely blocked, and they had to find another way.

Pushing open the door to the 55th floor was a shock to the eyes. The wind was so loud that it was piercing, and there were bodies of soldiers everywhere, some of them had mutated and wandered out as monsters, but the rest were still spread all over the floor. The whole floor was covered with blood, air-dried black and red splashes from the ground to the ceiling, and the light of the setting sun seemed to be burning silently.

Shi Yuan walked for a while and found that Edward hadn’t followed.

He looked back, Edward squatted in front of a corpse, looking at its “dog tag” fixedly.

“What are you looking at?” Shi Yuan asked him.

Edward still stared at the body: “…Edward’s friend.”

“Ah, this is your friend?” Shi Yuan walked to him.

The name on the “dog tag” was smudged, he didn’t know how Edward recognized it.

“These are all Edward’s friends.” The tip of Edward’s nose was sweating, his pupils dilated, and his face paled. “They are all Edward’s friends. Edward… Edward was supposed to be here too, but Edward ran away.”

“Ran away?” Shi Yuan’s tail bent out a question mark, “What ran away?”

Edward explained: “Edward was supposed to be with them, but, but, but Edward wanted to find Joanna and Mike, so Edward ran away.” His fingers clasped into the palm of his hand, and blood flowed out. “Edward ran away, Edward ran away.”

He looked around in horror, the corpses were like a mountain, the sea of blood was heavy, and there was obviously no one with a complete face. At this moment, it seemed that there were countless lines of sight that crossed time and space, life and death, and fell on him.

They were all looking at him.

Shi Yuan suddenly understood.

When Iron City fell, Edward was supposed to guard the communication tower with these soldiers, but he became a deserter and went to find his family.

Drops of blood flowed from Edward’s palm and splashed on the ground. He murmured: “Colonel Lu asked everyone to come here. Edward is sorry for them. If Edward were there, they might still be alive.” He was in a daze for a while, shook his head abruptly, and hugged the two cardboard people tightly. “But it’s okay, fortunately, Edward found Joanna! Also found Mike! Edward protected his family!”

He hugged too tightly and refused to let go.

The sketched faces of the two dummies smiled at Shi Yuan.

Shi Yuan knew that with this tragic battle situation, the individual was too small, and whether Edward stayed or not would not change the result.

Edward must also understand this.

But the sense of guilt overwhelmed him. Perhaps in countless late nights, he thought back and forth, if…if he hadn’t been a deserter, if he had stayed, would it be a little bit different? Or if he could have arrived home a little earlier, would the story have been different?

He abandoned his comrades-in-arms for his family, but in the end, he could protect no one. His family went ahead of him, and his comrades-in-arms died gloriously, leaving him alone on earth.

What crushed him were guilt, cowardice, and grief.

He was telling self-deceiving lies.

The sun was about to set, the vast horizon drowning its brilliance.

Shi Yuan said softly: “We have to go.”

Edward knelt and sat still, not moving.

Shi Yuan said, “You still have a dance to dance.”

This time, Edward moved his eyelids.

He stood up slowly, carried the cardboard people on his back, and stepped through the mess step by step. There was a bloody and hideous reality at his feet, but fortunately, he was crazy enough to take the beautiful dream on his shoulders as reality.

They found the way to the top floor.

There was a hole in the floor of the 56th floor, and they climbed up by stepping on large pieces of gravel.

In addition to the corpses on the 56th floor, there were a large number of servers, communication instruments, monitors, giant screens, wires, and antennas, and together with the collapsed wall, they formed a steel ruin. Some rooms were particularly large, and Shi Yuan could imagine that in the past, they must have had people coming and going, and countless people sat in front of rows of screens, sending data to every corner of the Alliance.

Edward went straight in one direction.

Shi Yuan followed him and found the main control room.

Half of the floor of the main control room collapsed. Standing on the edge, if you are not careful, you will fall down. Most of the ceiling was gone, and the sky could be seen directly. Rows of precision instruments had been beaten by wind and rain, rusted beyond recognition. Standing here, when the wind blew, the whole tower was swaying slightly.

Edward stood frozen, looking at the horizon.

Shi Yuan wandered around and was frustrated to find that he didn’t understand these instruments at all, and didn’t know how to find the data of the ‘Overlook’ project.

He said to Edward: “Mr. Edward, before you start dancing, can you help me find ‘Overlook’?”

Edward turned his eyes and looked at him: “…Edward doesn’t know where the ‘Overlook’ is, Edward can only help you find a backup power supply.”

A little progress was also a good thing.

Shi Yuan followed Edward around on the top floor, scaring away a few little monsters with his tail.

There was a total of 3 backup power supplies on the 56th floor, and 2 of them were destroyed. Fortunately, the last one could still be used. Edward used brute force to pry open the electric box, and pulled down the switch, a crackling fire exploded in the distance, and several screens lit up with snowflake screens.

“Edward can only do this.” Edward’s hands were full of dust and oil, and he wiped his overalls. “Edward doesn’t know much about computers. Those are too complicated – now, Edward is going to accompany his family.”

“Okay, thank you,” Shi Yuan said, “I will find a way.” He thought for a while, “If you encounter a monster, just shoot, and I will come to you.”