The Trembling World
chapter-286

TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

After the groups gathered back in the reception hall, they reported their findings. There was unanimous agreement that something strange had happened.

“It doesn’t make sense! If they suddenly decided to leave, no matter how rushed it was. They should’ve taken their weapons along, right? Otherwise did they really just vanish into thin air? Human evaporation? That is just outright scary! Why are we even here? We shouldn’t stay where they vanished from!” Treadmill started throwing out speculations fearfully.

“Stop with the reckless speculations, you are creating a horrible mood!” Han GuangMing urged Treadmill.

“Did I? I was only speaking out about my analysis to help Elder Liu ponder. Do you really feel like I am creating a terrifying atmosphere? If you feel terrified of that, how can you be such cowards?” Treadmill asked everyone in his surrounding. He wasn’t afraid to show his discontent with Han GuangMing.

“Elder Liu, I suggest we head back into the car. Everything is quite strange onboard Serenity. Plus, Treadmill exposed our location, so I don’t think anything good can happen from this,” HuJun suggested to Elder Liu.

Treadmill angrily drilled his gaze into HuJun’s back. Elder Liu had almost forgotten that point already, but it seemed HuJun was willing to throw him under the bus.

“Oh no! Both our vehicles are missing!” shouted Zhao Meng, as he was closest to the window. He had shone his light out of the nearby window to check on the vehicles.

Right as Liu Gan heard the words leave Zhao Meng’s mouth, he dashed forward to the main cabin doorway. Opening up the doorway and exposing himself to the elements, Liu Gan saw that the two vehicles were gone. It wasn't parked at the dock. It was exactly like what had happened to the people onboard the ship, they vanished into thin air!

Others followed Liu Gan into the rain to verify the missing vehicles. They felt uneasy.

With the clouds rumbling, lighting flashes brightened up the sky momentarily. Then a lightning struck at the highest freight container. The concentrated electrical power created sparks that caused an explosion, which toppled over the freight container. The freight container rolled down near Liu Gan’s group.

Quickly, everyone returned back through the main cabin door, then locked it shut from the inside.

“No need to be frightened! According to my previous experiences, a Variant Zombie is behind this! It won’t show itself, which means that it is afraid of us. As long as we don’t panic or go anywhere alone, it won’t have a chance to divide and conquer!” Han GuangMing shouted to everyone nearby. He was doing his best to play his role of squad leader and obtain the trust of Elder Liu.

“The feeling is as if another base had set us up, otherwise why would the vehicles be missing?” a few members countered Han GuangMing’s statement.

“Well then blame Treadmill for exposing our location,” HuJun threw out the words out there.

“Are you done?” snarled Treadmill, getting aggravated with intentions to murder.

“Admit it if you did something wrong, and take responsibility!” HuJun was unsatisfied since Treadmill didn’t get reprimanded by Elder Liu.

“Squad leader Han is right, no matter happens on Serenity. Don’t be afraid. Don’t panic and most importantly, don’t argue! Let’s return back to the reception hall to prepare dinner! Don’t use the food and water onboard, use the supplies we brought ourselves,” Liu Gan ordered, to stop the ongoing arguments and prepare for the nighttime meal.

“Elder Liu is brilliant! We are already hungry. No matter what happens, let’s just eat first,” Treadmill quickly chimed in.

As everyone else got busy to prep food, they obeyed the order to not use the food from onboard. It was not easy to set up a stove in the middle of the reception hall without it catching fire. Using charcoal as fuel to light up the stove, the food was quickly cooked. A bag of corn was poured in the pot to heat up. After cooking, dinner was served.

To avoid carbon monoxide poisoning from charcoal, Han GuangMing opted to turn on the ventilation system. After the charcoal was extinguished, the ventilation system was turned off.

The thunderstorm didn’t show any intentions of stopping. Instead, it was becoming larger by the minute. The rain was like a veil that covered the ship window, preventing others from looking outside clearly. The clap of thunder was loud and in close proximity, almost as if there were bombs blowing up outside.

It was a blessing that Serenity was in pristine condition, and there weren’t any breaks or cracks on the exterior. In addition, the exterior had special lightning protection measures so even if the ship was struck, it won’t cook the people within.

Finishing up dinner, Liu Gan lead Yin He to the control center. The power supply was very limited on the ship, it was only enough to turn on some lights and not enough to activate the control system. So it was impossible to have the system self-check for errors.

Judging from the size of the ship, there must be a minimum of ten team members coordinating the piloting and defense of this airship. Raincoat and his soldiers probably took over Serenity by force and killed all the original crew. This would explain why they hadn’t piloted the airship away and left it docked by the pier.

It was fortunate that the interior structure of Serenity was not destroyed. If a person capable of piloting this was found and it was refueled, this airship could operate once again.

Once again Han GuangMing reorganized the members into groups to search the inside of the ship. As of present, there are two ways to enter Serenity. The first way was through the main cabin door, which was how they got in. The second way was through the cargo bay doors. Now that both sets of doorway were deadbolted from the inside, with the ship’s windows made from extra thick material, the ship was like a iron pimple. The only way for anyone to come in was through brute force, but that wouldn’t be possible.

To rest safely for the night, it was required to check thoroughly in between the metal sheets to see if there were hidden dangers.

The airship wasn’t that huge, and with lights illuminating the area, Han GuangMing had several groups search through specific sections again. Even that was fruitless, as nothing alive or dead could be found. Not even timed explosives or dangerous compounds were discovered.

“Reporting in, Elder Liu. There is nothing peculiar within the interiors of the ship. On a thunderstorm night like this, I don’t think they would be so brazen as to attack us from the outside. I think we should be safe to stay here,” Han GuangMing returned back to the first floor reception hall to report to Liu Gan.

“Ah… in that case, have everyone gather up to sleep in the reception hall, this is for the safety of everyone here. So organize a group of people to gather all the bedsheets and sleeping material onto the reception hall floor. This way no one will be alone in the middle of the night,” Liu Gan replied to Han GuangMing.

“This place is not safe at all. Ever since our vehicles have been stolen, hasn’t anyone suspected anything? Tonight, something definitely will go wrong,” HuJun was deeply disturbed as he pulled aside Zhou JingJing. He was afraid of getting reprimanded by Elder Liu for saying such paranoid words.