The Missing Walkie-Talkie

The word “temporarily” in Lin Sanjiu sentence did little to dampen Chen Jinfeng’s enthusiasm. He gave a loud clap and spoke zealously, “That’s the way! Everyone in Oasis will become part of human history in the future and will be remembered throughout the ages.”

Watching them, the members who have been loitering outside the entrance of the factory realized that they have decided to join; they all cheered and rushed toward Lin Sanjiu and the others. They all started clapping. Not even one of them did this half-heartedly; all of them clapped very enthusiastically and quickly attracted even more people with more applauses.

“Welcome! New members!”

Lin Sanjiu felt a little at a loss facing such a hearty crowd. She turned to look at Luther and Marcie, only to find that both her fair-skinned companions were blushing to the tip of their ears. When Luther spotted her gaze, he sheepishly whispered, “They’re so enthusiastic… I have never received such a warm welcome.”

Lin Sanjiu held back her laughter, having the same sentiments.

Chen Jinfeng only managed to get the crowd to stop after he had gestured a few times for the crowd to calm down.

“Dear comrades, the most important thing for our new members right now is that they familiarize themselves with this new environment. The sun is out now, so everyone, please go back to your beds and sleep. We can celebrate their arrival later, at night!”

His words stirred up another round of applauses.

“Xiao Yu, please inform the canteen staff that we have three new members today. Tell them not to forget to prepare their share!” Sister Li requested with a bright smile, and a girl with a ponytail quickly ran back into the factory. The rest of the people also left after some persuasion from Chen Jinfeng, smiling at Lin Sanjiu and the others.

Apparently, the people here in Oasis also discovered that it was risky to do anything when the sun was out, and the best course of action was to hide and sleep during the day.

Following which, Sister Li said to them, “The dormitories are too warm during the day, so we have partitioned two levels of the basement and brought the beds downstairs… Follow me now, I will show you to your beds.”

“So where should we park our vehicles?” Unquestionably, this was asked by Lin Sanjiu who had already made her mind up not to be afraid of being offensive.

“Drive it into our compound, there is an empty space suitable for parking,” Sister Li answered warmly, she did not seem displeased this time.

The three of them agreed. They drove into the compound and parked their vehicles in a corner. Lin Sanjiu only realized how huge the compound was when she was inside. The boundary walls between four or five factories have been demolished, creating a vast open area. There was a total of over ten buildings in Oasis. Each of these buildings had two-floored basements and were converted into sleeping quarters for the members. Reflective sheets covered the top of each of these buildings, and under the dangerous sun, white light was reflected everywhere. So, as they walked around, they could hardly open their eyes.

Through squinted eyes, Sister Li looked at all of them and said in a rather embarrassed manner, “We are reaching soon. Can you see that building with the ‘42’ sign? The other buildings are fully occupied, that’s the only building with available space.”

“If there is no one living upstairs, what is the purpose of those reflective sheets?” Lin Sanjiu asked out of curiosity.

“Professor Bai is doing an experiment on heat-insulation. He hopes to lower the interior temperature to within 50°C. If the temperature can be lowered, we will be able to live upstairs and even cultivate crops there with aeroponics…” while she explained this, she suddenly exclaimed, “In the past, 50°C would sound so intimidating! Thanks to the medicine that Professor Bai developed, everyone can resist the heat much better.”

“What?” The three of them turned to look at Sister Li what they heard this.

[Medicine? What is she talking about?]

Lin Sanjiu hesitated for a moment, but when she wanted to ask another question, they were already in front of Building 42, and the girl called Xiao Yu, who had a low ponytail, was now standing at the entrance. She smiled and waved at them enthusiastically, “Sister Li! I’ve made the arrangements for their beds. We took some pillows and bed sheet from the warehouse. Why don’t you come look, Sister Li?”

“It’s not necessary. I trust you,” Sister Li replied and turned to the three of them, “You can follow Xiao Yu. She is in-charge of the accommodation matters in this building. Go ahead first, I have something to discuss with Xiao Yu.” The three of them nodded, smiling. It felt like they were entering a boarding school—they pushed out the door and entered the hallway.

When they entered the building, they sensed that the surrounding temperature was much lower. Their pores, which were tortured by the extreme heat, could finally start breathing again. Even though they could tell that it was not 50°C, it was close. Compared to the murderous heat outside, this Professor Bai’s heat-insulation experiment had produced quite an astounding result even at this point.

Lin Sanjiu was the last to enter. She had just fully stepped in when Xiao Yu opened the door. Seeing their rather astonished reaction, Xiao Yu quickly smiled and gestured for them to wait inside. Lin Sanjiu nodded and turned to walk away but stopped after she had thought of something. A white light flashed over the hands she hid behind her, and a walkie-talkie appeared. It was the one left behind by Voley.

She did not know why, but she was curious to hear what Oasis’ members would say in private when there were no outsiders with them. When Xiao Yu turned to walk away, she stealthily placed the walkie-talkie at the gap of the door before walking hastily into the main hall on the first floor. There weren’t any people around in the main hall, most likely because everyone went to sleep, so only Luther and Marcie noticed what she did.

Since they have been through a few life and death situations with her, they both didn’t say a word even though they were a little appalled. They quickly adjusted their expression to look natural while Lin Sanjiu took the walkie-talkie that hung on Marcie’s waist and switched it on secretively.

Amidst the crackling sounds, they heard Sister Li’s voice.

“Even though Executive Chen appeared… I was the first one who spotted them… I even brought them around…” a walkie-talkie was not a tapping device after all; furthermore, the sound came from behind a door so the sound quality was really bad. Just when the three of them were about to plastered their ears to the speaker, they heard a clear sentence: “These three people should be counted as mine, no matter what, right?”

The three of them were stunned. They looked at each other and gathered around the walkie-talkie again.

Xiao Yu seemed to be avoiding a straight answer as she said, “Normally, it should be counted as yours… but since Executive Chen stepped in... why don’t you ask…”

“Look for him...he is an executive…” Sister Li complained but quickly laughed and said cautiously to Xiao Yu, “Don’t say anything to the others. You know that I…”

Xiao Yu seemed to nod in agreement.

“Quick! Keep it!” Luther, who had been keeping a lookout for them, urged. “Their conversation is ending.”

Lin Sanjiu quickly switched off the walkie-talkie, and Marcie hung it at her waist again. The three of them quickly stood apart from each other. At the same time, Xiao Yu already bade farewell to Sister Li and opened the door. Lin Sanjiu looked cautiously in the direction of the location where she had hidden the walkie-talkie. Unfortunately, it was too late to retrieve it because Xiao Yu had already greeted them, “All of you, come with me. You can look around your living quarters. We spent a lot of time trying to make it comfortable!”

She had no choice but to find another opportunity to retrieve it. Lin Sanjiu dragged her feet so that she was at the back of the group. With a flash of white light, a card flew above the walkie-talkie, and a black cloth covered it.

Luckily, Xiao Yu was totally unaware. She was a round-faced girl who was not very tall, and the first impression she gave was that she was a friendly and direct person. But after conversing with her, one could sense an obsequiousness about her that came from her stepping into society too early. However, it was hidden behind her smile and was not irksome. Xiao Yu led them to basement one and smiled a little apologetically, “The lower level is cooler, so it had been fully occupied. You’ll have to compromise and sleep here.”

After that, she opened the metal door in front of them. They could no longer recognize what the basement was used for in the past. The vast area that basement one covered was filled with small little cubicles partitioned by white building planks. There was a rectangular opening for each cubicle and curtains with all sort of designs were hung as replacements for doors.

The rooms segmented the space into a few large divisions, and the corridors were all very narrow. Even though there were fluorescent lights in the basement, the electricity was turned off, so the cramped corridors were extremely dark. The soft snoring sounds from some of the rooms and the presence of other humans created an oddly sleep-inducing atmosphere.

“Come. Miss Lin, you can stay here.” She opened a door and walked about seven to eight minutes. Xiao Yu finally stopped at a cubicle and pulled open the curtain. Lin Sanjiu looked up and saw her cubicle number: 1629. She looked inside. The metal bedframe was not big, and there was only a thin mattress. There were a flat pillow and a bed sheet that probably acted as a blanket. If this was before the apocalypse, it could have been considered a slum, but to Lin Sanjiu, it was really not bad since she had slept on the floor for almost a month.

Luther’s and Marcie’s cubicles were very far from hers. One of them was staying in 1734, and the other was in 1736. They were about one hundred over cubicles between them. Xiao Yu had explained that this was due to the increasing population in Oasis, so rooms were running out. “Once Professor Bai’s heat insulation experiment is successful, we will be able to move upstairs. I will arrange for the three of you to be together then,” she said smiling.

“You can go ahead, I will just make myself comfortable here,” Lin Sanjiu said to Xiao Yu quickly—she wanted to retrieve that walkie-talkie as soon as possible, and this was a good opportunity.

Xiao Yu agreed and gave her some advice before walking away with Luther and Marcie. They had barely left when Lin Sanjiu immediately rushed back to the main hall on the first floor. She pushed open the door and looked around. Just as before, there was nobody around. She rushed to the door at the entrance. Unexpectedly, she found no trace of the walkie-talkie.

She was shocked. “Huh?” she could not help exclaiming softly as she scanned the area around her. Just then, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“What are you looking for?”