The World Ends In 27 Days

Shichen reached Xiling Data Archive shortly before seven in the morning.

The main shelter systems had already passed their final tests. Supplies filled the protected storage vaults, the medical room was operational and Jingwei’s security teams had occupied the control level overnight.

The only unfinished work remained in the residential section.

Under ordinary conditions, completing it would have taken another week.

But Hanchuan had given him three days to get everything done.

If nothing else, this was the best stress test for Shichen’s company that he could ever think of. The things that they were able to pull off were absolutely amazing.

Shichen crossed the eastern tunnel while workers carried prefabricated wall panels toward the buried living areas. He had reassigned finishing crews from Luming and the Reservoir Safe House, but no critical work had stopped. Both properties already contained habitable rooms, functioning kitchens and complete environmental systems.

They were finishing three homes.

Not building three shelters.

And that distinction mattered more than anything else.

However, for Hanchuan, it mattered less than the size of his bedroom.

Shichen entered the residential level and found the revised master suite behind temporary dust barriers. The wall between the original bedrooms had been removed, the electrical lines relocated and the private sitting area framed.

The bathroom fixtures would arrive before noon. Built-in storage units waited in sealed packaging along the corridor, while the adjoining workroom already contained the reinforced surfaces and protected electrical connections Zhiyi required.

Shichen reviewed the room dimensions against Hanchuan’s instructions.

The bed would occupy the center of the largest wall. Zhiyi’s side would remain closest to the workroom and farthest from the main entrance. The closet provided equal storage for two people, although the purchasing records suggested Hanchuan had ordered considerably more clothing for his wife than for himself.

Everything else had been positioned to match Luming as closely as the archive allowed.

If Zhiyi entered one suite and later moved to another, the furniture would appear where she expected it.

That requirement had created more work than enlarging the rooms themsleves.

Shichen understood it anyway.

A supervisor approached with a list of incoming deliveries. "Mr. Pei’s residential shipment reached the western warehouse. They’re requesting permission to bring it inside."

"Which shipment?"

The supervisor turned the screen toward him.

The manifest identified furniture, books, office supplies and personal effects. It provided weights and dimensions but no detailed inventory.

However, it was from Hanchuan’s private account.

"Use the western loading tunnel," Shichen instructed. "Everything goes directly to the residential level. None of it enters the shared inventory."

The supervisor hesitated. "Mrs. Pei is reviewing the transfers remotely."

"Then make certain she doesn’t see this one."

The man looked uncomfortable with the instruction but accepted it.

Shichen didn’t enjoy concealing construction from Zhiyi. She noticed inconsistencies too easily, and explanations tended to create additional questions.

Hanchuan had made the secrecy his problem.

Shichen was only building the walls around it.

The first trucks arrived at 8:20 am.

Their cargo looked ordinary compared with the generators, filtration systems and years of food already stored inside Xiling. Workers unloaded boxes of books, furniture wrapped in protective fabric and sealed containers marked only with destination codes.

The quantities didn’t look ordinary.

One pallet contained notebooks.

Not several packages of notebooks or enough stationery to operate the shelter. An entire pallet had been divided among different sizes, paper weights and binding styles.

Another held pens, mechanical pencils, replacement lead, labels, markers and enough archival paper to supply a government office.

Hanchuan had apparently considered the possibility that his wife might survive the apocalypse and run out of preferred stationery unacceptable.

Shichen directed the supplies into concealed storage behind the workroom. The books went into sealed shelving with independent humidity control, while digital archives were copied onto the shelter’s protected servers.

Music and films required less physical space. Hanchuan had purchased enormous collections in every available format and stored redundant copies throughout the Heat network.

The second group of trucks carried personal supplies.

Shichen didn’t open those cases. The detailed manifest identified clothing, toiletries, sanitary products and items selected by Hanchuan’s private staff after reviewing everything Zhiyi currently used.

A separate refrigerated vehicle arrived with food that didn’t appear on the survival inventory.

Desserts.

Shichen examined the manifest twice before calling Hanchuan.

"You do know that Xiling has just received 300 frozen chocolate pastries," he started, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"They’ll fit in the secondary freezer," Hanchuan replied like this was just standard operating procedure.

"That freezer was intended for medical overflow."

"Qinghe has enough space in the medical unit."

Shichen checked the revised allocation. Qinghe had already approved it.

Apparently, Hanchuan had secured the doctor’s cooperation before ordering the pastries.

"There are also fruit tarts," Shichen said.

"My wife likes both."

That explained the products but not the quantities.

Shichen decided he didn’t need the explanation.

"The residential deliveries will be inside before she arrives."

"She isn’t coming today," Hanchuan told him. "She’s reviewing the Heat warehouses from the house."

That reduced the likelihood of discovery, but it didn’t eliminate it.

At 10:03 am, Zhiyi contacted him through the shelter network.

"The western tunnel recorded three unassigned vehicles," she started, bypassing all pleasantries.

Shichen looked toward the final truck disappearing behind the loading doors. "They’re carrying residential materials."

"The cargo weights aren’t included in Xiling’s inventory."

"They aren’t operational supplies."

A pause followed and Shichen couldn’t hold back the smile that was trying to appear on his face. Zhiyi was almost certainly checking whether that distinction satisfied the inventory rules.

"Do they affect the shelter’s storage capacity?" she asked.

"No. They’re being placed inside the residential section."

"Will they interfere with the finishing crews?"

"No."

"Then they don’t require inclusion in the operational inventory."

The connection ended.

Shichen looked at the closed loading doors.

Hanchuan had answered every question before Zhiyi asked it. The shipments had been assigned to rooms rather than storage, their weights had been included in the structural calculations and none of the cases contained anything required for the shelter to function.

Every answer Shichen gave had been true.

None told her what waited inside.

The last of Hanchuan’s private cargo entered Xiling shortly before noon.

Zeyu’s vehicles followed it with ordinary supplies. Food filled the remaining shelves. Replacement components entered the mechanical vaults, while fuel and batteries were distributed between protected storage areas according to Zhiyi’s redundancy plan.

Nothing remained in the nearby Heat warehouse except items scheduled for later rotation.

The Reservoir Safe House reported the same status that afternoon.

Luming received its final primary shipment before sunset.

By evening, all three Heat shelters contained everything required to support six people for four years. Additional supplies remained distributed through secondary warehouses, but losing access to them wouldn’t threaten survival.

Shichen returned to the residential level after the final truck departed.

The master suite walls were closed. Bathroom fixtures had been installed, the shared closet was nearly finished and workers were positioning shelves inside Zhiyi’s adjoining workroom.

The bedroom still lacked furniture.

That would arrive overnight.

A framed wedding photograph waited against the wall outside the suite, wrapped in protective paper and labeled for placement beside the bed.

Shichen read the destination tag before covering it again.

Hanchuan hadn’t filled the room with gifts, he had filled it with evidence that Zhiyi belonged there.

When she eventually entered Xiling, she would find her clothes inside Hanchuan’s closet, her supplies inside their bathroom and her work waiting beside their bedroom.

Shichen instructed the night supervisor to finish the suite before morning.

And six days remained before the Heat began.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!