The World Ends In 27 Days

Shichen immediately expanded the building plans.

The external lines carried power and exchanged diagnostic information between the tower systems and the protected floors. Jinhai’s shelter possessed independent cooling, but its system could draw from the building while public power remained available.

Destroying the connections wouldn’t disable the shelter immediately, but it could damage the transfer system and make Jinhai more difficult to use during the Flood.

Zeyu studied Gao Mingrui’s posture. "You think we’ll open the doors to protect the property."

"I think you spent too much money on this place to watch us destroy it," Gao replied.

And they were back to money again.

Gao Mingrui believed the shelter had value because it had been expensive. He couldn’t understand that its true value came from the supplies and security that could never be purchased again.

Hanchuan removed his hand from Zhiyi’s shoulder and extended it toward Zeyu.

"Give me the phone."

Zeyu passed the phone to Hanchuan without disconnecting it from the communications wall.

Hanchuan faced Gao Mingrui’s image without raising his voice or moving closer to the camera. "If you touch the cooling system," he stated his voice ice cold, "you will die in that corridor."

Recognition flickered across Gao Mingrui’s face in an instant. "Pei Hanchuan," he acknowledged with an unconscious bow of his head.

"You were warned at the shelter entrance. This is your final warning," said Hanchuan, ignoring the small sign of respect.

Gao Mingrui glanced at the survivors gathered behind him before returning his attention to the camera. "You can’t kill more than 40 people to protect an empty floor."

"I don’t need to kill 40 people," Hanchuan replied evenly. "I only need to kill anyone who threatens what belongs to me and mine."

The declaration drew the attention of Zeyu and the other three men.

They had already heard Hanchuan say that he would kill to protect Zhiyi, but hearing him make that promise directly to someone standing beneath an armed defensive system seemed to give the words a different weight.

Zhiyi continued monitoring Jinhai’s systems without reacting. Hanchuan hadn’t revealed anything she didn’t already know about him.

Gao Mingrui released a short, disbelieving laugh. "You expect me to believe you would murder us over food?"

"I’ve killed people for less when my wife’s life depended on it," assured Hanchuan. For a moment, he wished he was there, in that building with the other man. It would make it so much easier to take care of the mess.

Gao Mingrui’s laughter disappeared in an instant.

He knew Hanchuan as a businessman whose ruthlessness took the form of hostile acquisitions, destroyed careers and contracts designed so carefully that the other party discovered too late that they had lost.

Unfortunately for him, he had never met the man who had survived ten years after that world ended.

Hanchuan returned the phone to Zeyu without taking his attention from the camera. "Jingwei."

Jingwei opened the corridor’s defense controls. "The system can deploy on your order."

Before Gao Mingrui could approach the conduits, the facilities director caught his arm. "Don’t do this," he urged, his voice muffled by the wet fabric covering his mouth.

Gao Mingrui tore himself free of the other man’s grasp. "They won’t kill us," he assured everyone in hearing. "If they could afford to lose these systems, they would have shut them down already."

"He said he would kill us," the facilities director insisted.

"He’s just trying to frighten you." The more he spoke, the more Gao Mingrui started to believe his own words.

The director looked into the camera before glancing at the dispenser concealed above the corridor. "No," he said at last. "He really isn’t."

Gao Mingrui turned away from him and addressed the rest of the group. "There are working rooms behind those walls. They have food, water and air conditioning—enough to last for years, probably, or they wouldn’t be protecting it like this."

The people carrying tools looked toward the sealed junction as Gao Mingrui continued, his voice getting stronger and stronger. "If we damage the cooling system, they’ll have to open the shelter to repair it."

"He can repair it later," the facilities director argued.

"Then we destroy enough that he can’t," countered Gao Mingrui.

Two of the men carrying pry bars exchanged an uncertain look while Shichen enlarged the transfer junction on Xiling’s display.

"If they reach the primary connection, they can damage the external system," Shichen warned.

Hanchuan glanced toward him. "Can you isolate it?"

"Yes, but Jinhai will lose access to the tower’s power and cooling while those systems remain functional."

"Will the internal systems operate without them?"

"They were designed to," Shichen confirmed. "However, once I sever the connection, it can’t be restored remotely. We’ll have to repair it when we reach Jinhai."

"Then do it," Hanchuan replied.

Shichen held Hanchuan’s gaze for a moment before turning back to the controls.

Gao Mingrui had expected them to protect the expensive system because he would have protected it. He believed the threat of damaging it would force them to negotiate, but Hanchuan sacrificed the connection without bargaining.

Shichen initiated the emergency separation. Explosive bolts fired inside the protected wall, disconnecting the conduits at their reinforced junctions, while sealed barriers closed over every line entering the shelter from the public portion of the tower.

Several indicators on the communications wall turned amber as Jinhai switched fully to independent power. The lights in the mechanical corridor flickered, drawing Gao Mingrui’s attention toward the changed status display beside the junction.

"You disconnected it," the facilities director whispered.

Zhiyi reviewed the new readings. "Independent cooling is stable. Protected power consumption remains within predicted limits."

Gao Mingrui adjusted his grip on the axe, and Zeyu recognized the moment he chose not to believe what had happened.

"Damaging that junction won’t open the shelter," Zeyu warned him. "It no longer controls anything inside."

Gao Mingrui raised the axe. "It will matter when your backup systems fail."

"The shelter can remain sealed without it," countered Zeyu.

"You’re lying."

"He isn’t," the facilities director said as he stepped away from Gao Mingrui, like that alone would be enough to separate them.

One of the maintenance workers lowered his pry bar and joined the director. The remaining men hesitated between the warning from Xiling and Gao Mingrui’s promise that violence could still gain them access.

Gao Mingrui swung the axe, driving the blade into the sealed junction.

Jingwei placed his hand over the defense control while Hanchuan continued watching the camera.

"I told him what would happen," Hanchuan repeated, his voice expressionless.

Jingwei activated the system.

This time, the corridor doors remained open while a narrow dispenser opened directly above Gao Mingrui’s head.

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