Zombie Queen transmigration into a book-Chapter 166: The moment of truth
People were sent out to investigate, and they brought back news that it was one of the Harlow family who rang the bell.
"What’s going on with that fellow?’’ An old man with a slightly hunched back asked aloud as he left his room with a steady tap of his cane.
As he reached the stairs, he saw a figure leaning against the railing, blending with the shadows, but his blue eyes glowed ominously, like those of a predatory beast, not a human.
"Tch." The old man clicked his tongue, not wanting to face this son of his—he wondered how his grandson was doing on the surface.
"Old man, do you want me to follow you? Though I’ll care less if the town gets destroyed... yawn... I have to protect you." The man muttered his last words in a gruff, emotionless tone.
The hunched back older man, angrily slammed his cane, and looked at the face, which bore about 80% resemblance to Ethan’s, causing his anger to soften slightly.
"Leave my sight. Go crawl into a hole and die, for all I care. Get out." The old man snapped venomously, as if speaking to an enemy rather than his son.
"That’s harsh... at least I made an effort," the man said in a dull tone, stretching as he walked back toward his room without hesitation.
"Tsk, look at someone trying to protect me. Instead, I might die even faster in his hands. Beast." The old man cursed, veins bulging in his neck from anger. He snorted, then descended the stairs, heading toward the Harlow’s.
Ten older men approached the mansion, and the butler led them into the living room.
"Randall, what’s so urgent that you couldn’t just send us a normal message but had to ring the town’s bell?" asked a brown-haired man. His vigorous voice echoed through the room, showing his age hadn’t taken a toll on him.
"In law, are you going through menopause? Why do you have to disturb everyone’s rest with that stunt you pulled?" Ethan’s grandfather asked with a hint of concern in his tone, wondering if he was going senile.
"It’s you who is going through menopause! All your family is...except that Ethan boy." Randall snapped, then took deep breaths to calm his anger.
"Everyone, sit down. We have news about the surface. One of my grandchildren brought back some news." At his words, their expressions shifted, becoming serious.
Randall motioned for Grace to repeat what she said in his study, and she did, feeling like she had become a broken record. Maybe Adrian foresaw this and escaped early.
"So, you need all our keys to activate the ship, right?" one of them asked after a while passed. No one showed signs of refusal; they were also curious about the surface world described in history books.
"But are we really sure it’s still functioning? That ship is almost like a myth we’ve inherited. If I hadn’t seen it myself, I might have thought our ancestors were giving us false hope about ever reaching the surface again." Ethan’s grandfather’s words dampened everyone’s enthusiasm.
"We can only turn it on and know," Randall broke the silence. Worst case, he and other high-level space users could take everyone through the dungeon.
"Have you forgotten there’s another way to go up—the lift at the edge of the city? But it would take days to reach, and the lift would definitely be in disrepair." The man’s frown deepened the more he talked, already feeling it wouldn’t succeed.
Ethan’s grandfather suggested, "Let’s turn on the ship first; if it doesn’t work, then we’ll check the lift."
Randall hummed in agreement, and they promptly got to work.
The men went back home to retrieve the key, which was hidden in locations they considered safe.
Grace’s hands shook with anxiety, and a small hope started to grow in her heart.
....
Thirty minutes passed, and the men all gathered at the edge of the down, stopping in front of a cave wall.
Randall searched the wall for a hidden mechanism, while the others searched the other areas as well.
"I found something!" one of them called out, and everyone rushed toward him.
Seeing everyone gathered, he pulled a rock, and the wall hummed before sliding open—debris of rock sliding over, and a cloud of dust burst out from within.
Grace and Leo followed behind as they entered, and the wall slid back into place.
Inside, a sudden burst of light illuminated the walls, and Grace’s eyes widened in surprise.
"How is it possible there’s still electricity here?" she asked aloud in surprise. Randall chuckled mockingly in response, making her feel like a country pumpkin new to the city.
"It’s not electricity, per se, but the core of top-tier unranked monsters... not something ten of us could easily kill. According to records, it took the lives of five hundred dungeon raiders to get one of those monster cores, and fifteen cores are powering this place... incredible, right? Sigh, I wish I were born in that era," Randall muttered to himself, his voice filled with so much regret.
Grace’s heart was deeply shaken by his words, and the brightly lit hallway grew more somber, like a tomb of fallen heroes who did everything they could to ensure the next generation had a way out.
She followed behind them. They reached the iron sliding door, and one of them pulled out a chip to slot into the panel near the door, causing it to slide open with a hum.
The door opened to reveal a spacious elevator, capable of carrying a hundred people without feeling crowded. They stepped inside, and one of the men slid another chip into a slot beneath a silver panel. A green light flickered on before he pressed the button that would take them upward.
No one spoke the entire time, each lost in their own thoughts, but one hope was shared—they hoped the ship was still working.
Thirty minutes went by before the elevator stopped and the door slid open. Grace’s eyes widened, and a gasp of awe escaped her lips at the sight before her.
Leo was no better; his gaze was fixed on the massive spaceship, its sleek silver body glinting in the center, and beside it was a control room filled with many buttons and open hologram screens.
"How technologically advanced were the people before us?" Leo asked, genuinely curious, because with their current level of technology, they couldn’t build something so exquisite and complex.
One of the men explained, "From what I read, we were supposed to hide in space when the apocalypse arrived, but the magnetic field caused by the dungeon’s appearance interfered with the spaceship’s power source... so we were forced to go underground." This explanation helped Leo understand just how advanced humans once were.
Grace moved closer to the spaceship, shaped like a jet, its massive size dwarfing her. She ran her fingers along its sleek surface in wonder, fully understanding Randall’s regret at not being born in that era.
"The moment of truth... It’s time to turn it on." Randall’s words instantly shifted everyone’s expressions to a mix of seriousness and nervous anticipation.
Two keys have been used so far, with eight more still remaining.
Four people went to the control station. Remembering their ancestors’ instructions, they each inserted their chips into the four slots simultaneously and pressed the button beside the keys.
As soon as they turned on the control room, it lit up, with hologram screens flashing codes in a language known only to a few.
"These buttons are to open the pathways to let the spaceship fly through. Turning the spaceship would be left for you four." One of them explained, and Grace and Leo nodded in daze.
Randall, Ethan’s grandfather, and two others approached the spaceship entrance.
One of the notices: the pattern on the door matched his chip, and he quickly pressed the chip against the sleek door—complex lines began forming on it, glowing blue as the door slid up with a crisp chime.
Everyone’s hearts pounded in their chests as they entered.
