Chapter 246: Warning

Zeyu drove onto the platform slowly, following Shichen’s directions through the open window.

The tires crossed the narrow gap with a bump he felt beneath his feet, and he checked both mirrors before bringing the trailer forward.

He had parked in tighter spaces, but the knowledge that the floor beneath him would soon be moving made him pay attention to every inch.

Shichen raised his hand when the rear wheels cleared the entrance.

"That’s far enough," Shichen told him over the radio. "Shut it down and come out. We’ll send it up without anyone inside."

Zeyu switched off the engine and sat for a moment in the sudden quiet.

Through the windshield, he could see the marks they had painted on the platform before the Heat.

Back then, the mobile base had been something he was still building, and the possibility of bringing it here had seemed so unlikely that he hadn’t paid that much attention to the smaller details.

Like how to get it upstairs so that it doesn’t become a living coral for what comes next.

Now he was happy that the paint beneath its wheels was still the same color as the line on Shichen’s old drawings.

He climbed down and helped secure the vehicle before joining the others behind the barrier.

Zhiyi stood near the controls, her hair tied back with a band he recognized from the drawer beside their games at Xiling. She caught him looking and held out his gloves.

"You left these on the step," Zhiyi said. "You’ll want them when we get upstairs."

Zeyu took them, brushing his fingers over hers before putting them in his pocket. "I’d rather leave the gloves behind than the vehicle. I’ll feel better once it’s parked."

She moved beside him as Shichen started the lift.

The machinery’s low hum filled the garage, followed by a faint vibration through the floor.

Zeyu watched the platform rise until the tires disappeared above the doorway, then followed his friends toward the private elevator.

The upper storage bay smelled of concrete and packing material. Lights came on above broad lanes left clear between covered equipment, and Zeyu paused beside a familiar stack of spare tires.

He had chosen where those would go, but seeing them still there made the room feel less like somewhere they had fled to.

By the time the vehicle platform arrived, Shichen was waiting at the controls.

Zeyu checked that it had settled before climbing back into the cab and driving the mobile base into its marked space.

He left enough room to open every outside compartment, then turned off the engine with considerably more pleasure than he had downstairs.

Zhiyi met him at the steps. This time, he held out his hand before she could offer to take anything, and she smiled as she put hers in it.

"There," Zeyu said, looking back along the vehicle. "Now I can unpack without wondering whether I’ll have to put everything straight back."

"You still have to help me with the boats," Zhiyi reminded him. She gave his hand a small tug toward the covered shapes along the opposite wall. "I’ve been waiting to open those."

Zeyu went with her while Hanchuan and Jingwei checked the doors around the bay.

Qinghe carried the medical cases toward the connecting corridor, and Shichen stayed behind to close the lift.

The heavy doors met with a deep click, shutting away the shaft that reached all the way down to the street.

Together, Zeyu and Zhiyi loosened the first boat’s cover. Dust came away on his gloves, but beneath it the hull was clean.

He folded the fabric back while she climbed the short steps beside the cradle and leaned over the side.

The seats were exactly where he remembered, with their cushions wrapped separately beneath them.

He passed those up to her, then climbed aboard to open the storage compartments. Coiled ropes, life jackets, and emergency bags filled the spaces they had packed years earlier.

Zhiyi lifted one of the jackets and held it against herself.

"I want us to try these on again," Zhiyi said, loosening a strap. "We should find out what needs adjusting while we’re standing on a dry floor."

Zeyu helped her slip it over her shoulders, then straightened a twisted strap at her side. She watched his hands while he worked, standing close enough that he could smell the soap in her hair.

"You’ll have to let me check yours afterward," Zhiyi told him. "You’ve made mine tight enough that I can’t bend to reach the lower buckle."

"That’s because I haven’t finished," Zeyu replied, smiling as he eased the strap. "Give me a moment before you decide I’ve trapped you."

Her laugh made him look up. He kept his hands where they were for another second, enjoying her face so close to his, before finishing the adjustment and reaching for his own jacket.

They worked through the boats together, taking out equipment and leaving it where they could inspect it.

One handheld light wouldn’t charge, and Zeyu set it aside for a replacement rather than wasting the morning trying to persuade it.

The motors and launch equipment still needed their proper checks, but by the time Shichen joined them, the covers were folded and the walkways were clear.

In the next room, Jingwei had opened the diving cases.

Masks and regulators lay across a clean bench, with the suits hanging nearby. Zeyu stopped beside him and picked up a mask, turning it toward the light.

"I remember thinking we’d bought too much of this," Shichen admitted. Beyond the bench, spare equipment filled an entire cabinet. "I’m glad nobody listened."

"You complained while you were ordering the second set," Jingwei reminded him, checking a hose before placing it beside the others. "Then you bought another."

Shichen smiled and put the mask down. "I didn’t want to be the one who ran out."

By late afternoon, the shelter was beginning to look like they had been living there for years instead of two days.

Open cases lined the workroom, fresh towels hung beside the basin, and Qinghe had claimed a cupboard for the supplies they used most often.

Hanchuan and Zhiyi moved through the food stores together while Zeyu helped Shichen check the backup power.

When the lights returned after the changeover, he heard Zhiyi call from the corridor that the water was still running.

He was wiping his hands before dinner when Jingwei appeared at the workroom door.

"Come and look at this," Jingwei said, holding out the tablet. "They’ve found the lower garage."

On the screen, three men stood outside the shutter they had closed that morning.

One bent over the lock while another held a lamp beneath his coat. Behind them, water carried scraps of paper across the loading yard.

Zeyu laid the cloth on the bench and reached for the radio beside it.

"Get the entrance speaker ready," Zeyu told Jingwei as he headed for the security room. "They can hear the warning from me."