"Zz... Received... Is the monitoring equipment working?"
"The monitoring equipment has failed, but not much time has passed since the key was taken. Please issue the next orders to continue the operation."
"Zz... Ava, you must locate the whereabouts of the key."
"Zz... Roger!"
Surprisingly, the cave did not affect the radio interference at all, so everyone heard the conversation from a moment ago. Jason turned his head and looked at the door carefully. Then, he focused on the lock where a very special key had to be inserted.
The people on the radio had also mentioned that not much time had passed since the key was taken, and they also talked about a map! Therefore, everything could now be connected, and Jason realized that those people had come directly to the nation where his people were located a few days ago.
Could such a coincidence exist? With a vague idea forming in his mind, he took out the most special key used to open the previous basements.
He knew these keys were special, so ever since they emptied the supply points, they had been using them. Jason knew that in Alabama they had no problem opening the supply points, so to avoid trouble, he decided to carry it with him.
From everything he had heard, Jason understood that these keys were indeed essential everywhere, so now it could be compared with the lock of this door.
Having reached that conclusion, Jason inserted the key into the keyhole to check if the size was indeed correct and consistent.
Crack! Click!
The key actually turned the lock, and Jason confirmed this by rotating it several times. But after five turns, it could no longer be turned again, so he assumed it was already unlocked.
"Wait!" Welles suddenly stopped him, and when Jason looked back, not only Welles but everyone behind him was staring directly at his hand, as if they feared the door might explode.
Swallowing, Welles pointed at the door and said in an uncertain tone, "What if it really explodes after we open it?"
The rest of the soldiers simply stared at the door motionlessly. At that moment, Jason smiled behind his mask, and his tone turned grim: "Gentlemen, then we die together!"
After saying that, without waiting for anyone's reaction, he opened the door directly! People grabbed each other's arms, and many who saw Jason's action closed their eyes.
One second, two seconds…
The expected explosion never happened. Not only that, they also heard Jason's somewhat exaggerated laughter at the front of the group.
Everyone instantly understood—this was not a bomb, it had only been Jason's speculation. After realizing this, everyone let go of each other and looked at Jason, but no one said anything.
Immediately, everyone realized something—there were rumors that Jason sometimes joked with the captains of the other groups. Of course, these were stories told when the base was just being formed.
But not everyone took this joke seriously. They understood that the reason was because everyone had been very tense, and it was not good for their vigilance to be weighed down by such suffocating thoughts.
In fact, Jason was just joking. The apocalypse was too depressing—anyone would want to vent whenever they had the chance. Unfortunately, Daryl did not take jokes very well, and Glenn along with T-dog were not with him this time.
At that moment, a mischievous laugh could be heard coming from Jason's helmet. While everyone felt chills run down their backs, suddenly they all felt more alive than ever.
After opening the door, a long corridor appeared before them. Everyone's night vision allowed them to pass through without turning on any lights, and the IR lasers from their P90s were a great help in identifying any kind of anomaly.
Looking to both sides of the corridor, there were simple rock walls. There were no signs of artificial excavation on them, but there were some lamps on the walls that appeared to be kerosene lamps.
Walking carefully toward the second door, Jason examined it more closely. The silver-white metal door felt cold to the touch. There was no gap anywhere on it, not even a handle.
However, there was a raised metal piece in the center of the door. After testing it, it could be pushed upward. When it opened, a timer appeared in front of everyone.
What made them nervous was that the timer was clearly mechanical, with a 60-second countdown.
The mechanical ticking sound instantly rang in everyone's ears. But Jason remained calm. He looked at the timer and began searching for clues on the door.
The clean panel of the door did not even have a keyhole. Cold sweat ran down Welles' head, and the rest of the people looked at each other in alarm—the timer was truly scaring them.
They had just been talking about a bomb, but they did not expect to encounter one moments later. Even so, everyone remained calm and no one moved without orders.
All eyes were on Jason. Everyone believed that Commander Jason would definitely resolve the current situation.
Thirty seconds remained on the countdown, and so far Jason had not found any clues, so his attention finally returned to the timer.
Jason extended his hand and touched the timer. It seemed to be fixed to the door. He pulled on it, but there was no response. Then he shook it up and down, left and right, but it still did not move at all.
At this point, Jason was starting to feel a bit anxious. Staring around the timer, he seemed to notice some gaps, so he reached out and pressed on it.
Crack!
He pressed hard, and when Jason lifted his finger, the timer was sticking out more than before.
This made Jason repeat the process again and again until the timer opened a small compartment, and beneath it were two keyholes smaller than the one on the first door.
Without hesitation, Jason took out the remaining two keys and inserted them. Just as the two keys—one on the left and one on the right—were inserted into the keyholes, the timer outside, with only three seconds left before reaching zero, immediately stopped.
Welles let out a sigh unconsciously. Just now, his heart had almost jumped out of his throat, and now he could finally breathe in relief.
But he was not the only one—everyone else also exhaled at the same time. Although they had not moved, their bodies had been extremely tense.
Jason turned around and gave everyone a thumbs-up, then turned the keys in the lock. They heard the mechanical unlocking sound from the door again, and then he slowly opened it under everyone's expectant gaze.
Suddenly, another corridor appeared in front of them, and Welles could not help but complain as he looked at the dark passage.
"What if there's another door here?"
After saying that, he pointed his weapon forward, and the laser aimed into the distance—and indeed, another door appeared.
"Oh, shit…"
Everyone looked at him strangely, as if he were implying something.
"Hey, you can't blame me for this, it's really not my fault!"