The World Ends In 27 Days

Jingwei resumed the lead when the convoy left the main road and made it back onto the highway.

Their second choice, Xiling, lay 46 kilometers west of the burning mountain, and hopefully far enough away that the fire shouldn’t reach it before the storm ended.

The route crossed mostly industrial land before narrowing between two rocky hills. There were no residential communities nearby and no businesses operating late enough for anyone to notice three unusual vehicles passing through the storm.

But Jingwei kept a look out anyway.

The SUV’s cameras gave him a complete view of the road behind them, ahead of him, and both sides of the vehicles.

Hanchuan followed at the rear of the convoy now, with Zeyu’s mobile base protected between the armored vehicles, just how it was planned.

There were no other headlights behind them, and not a single vehicle had been on the road for the last three turns.

Qinghe studied the fire reports on his phone. "They’ve closed the road to Luming."

"How far has it spread?" Jingwei asked, keeping his eyes on the dark pavement.

"Emergency services don’t know yet. The lightning started several fires across the mountain, and the wind is joining them faster than crews can reach them." Qinghe enlarged the map before adding, "Leaving when we did prevented us from being trapped at Hanchuan’s house, but this still isn’t the Heat that Hanchuan and Zhiyi have described."

Jingwei had reached the same conclusion.

The storm was unprecedented, and the fire had nearly killed them, but neither event proved that the temperature would rise in two days or remain lethal for four years.

He had spent enough money on the shelters to fund a private army for a decade. He didn’t regret it. If Hanchuan believed Zhiyi, Jingwei would prepare as though every word she spoke were true. T

But trust didn’t require him to abandon reason.

And reason said that the world wouldn’t end.

Lost in his thoughts, he watched as lightning spread across the sky as they reached Xiling.

For several seconds, the entire property emerged from the darkness.

It was a low concrete building that stood against the hillside, its flat roof broken by lightning masts and shielded ventilation towers. The windowless walls had been darkened to match the surrounding stone, and the wet concrete reflected none of the white light tearing through the clouds.

The property didn’t resemble a home.

It resembled exactly what its records claimed it was: a decommissioned data archive built to protect government information from fire, theft and electrical failure.

The visible gate guarded the abandoned administrative entrance while faded signs warned that they were about to enter a restricted access and unstable electrical systems.

Weeds had been deliberately left around the front parking lot so that anyone approaching from the public road would find locked doors, empty offices and several cameras that appeared too old to function.

But the real security began before the building came into view.

Pressure sensors beneath the access road had identified all three vehicles.

Thermal cameras concealed along the rocky slope searched the surrounding forest for human movement, while short-range radar monitored anything approaching through the storm. None of the systems transmitted through an outside network. Every cable ran beneath the ground to Xiling’s internal control room.

Jingwei checked the security display mounted beside the dashboard.

Six authorized occupants had been recognized. Three approved vehicles were present. No additional heat signatures had entered the outer perimeter.

He opened the convoy channel. "No one followed us. Keep your spacing and turn off the navigation displays."

"Mine is already disconnected," Hanchuan stated. His voice remained calm, but Jingwei heard Zhiyi speaking quietly beside him.

Zeyu responded a moment later. "The truck isn’t broadcasting anything. Shichen checked twice and then stared at me until I checked a third time."

From the passenger seat of the mobile base, Shichen leaned toward the transmitter. "Zeyu nearly left the diagnostic connection active," he informed the others, giving the driver a pointed look.

"I disconnected it before we left the main road," Zeyu protested. His brows rose when Shichen continued staring at him. "Nothing was broadcasting."

"Because I noticed the connection," Shichen reminded him.

Zeyu released a long breath and tightened his hands around the wheel. "This is why no one enjoys being trapped in a vehicle with an architect."

Shichen’s expression remained perfectly composed. "You asked me to come."

"I was young and optimistic when I made that decision."

Hanchuan’s voice interrupted them through the convoy channel. "Both of you, focus."

Jingwei’s mouth almost moved.

He turned off the paved road and followed a narrower service lane behind the hillside.

Concrete retaining walls rose on both sides until the convoy disappeared from every surrounding property. From above, the lane looked like drainage access leading toward a bank of electrical transformers.

At the end stood a blank section of reinforced concrete.

Jingwei stopped several meters away and lowered his window. Wind pushed cold rain into the SUV while he raised his hand toward a scanner embedded inside an ordinary utility box.

The scanner read the veins beneath his skin, then requested the rotating code from the encrypted device attached to his wrist.

Using the control remotely would have been faster, but remote systems could be intercepted. The western entrance required someone physically present.

A green indicator appeared.

"Opening the outer barrier," Jingwei announced as he closed the window.

The concrete wall divided silently down the center.

Two panels withdrew into the hillside, revealing a steel tunnel door behind them. Retractable barriers sank into the pavement only after the opening reached its full width.

Jingwei drove into the short inspection chamber and stopped beneath white security lights.

The outer panels closed behind his SUV.

Qinghe looked through the rear window, his expression tightening as the concrete panels sealed them inside. "The mobile base is going to have trouble fitting through here."

"The chamber was built to receive commercial transport trucks," Jingwei assured him. He checked the dimensions on the security display before adding, "Zeyu will have 40 centimeters of clearance on either side."

Qinghe winced as he imagined Zeyu maneuvering the armored vehicle through the narrow opening. "He isn’t going to find that reassuring."

"His comfort wasn’t part of the security design," Jingwei stated, his attention already returning to the vehicle scan.

A scanner passed beneath the SUV, checking the frame for explosives or tracking devices. Additional cameras examined the roof and wheel wells before the inner steel door opened.

Jingwei drove through and waited inside the descending tunnel.

The system repeated the process for the mobile base. Zeyu aligned the enormous truck with the entrance while Shichen monitored the side cameras. Its mirrors folded against the cab, and the armored body passed between the concrete panels with little room to spare.

"Forty centimeters," Zeyu muttered over the channel. His hands were visible through the windshield, locked around the steering wheel. "You could’ve given me 50."

Jingwei watched the exterior cameras until the mobile base cleared the inspection chamber. "You fit."

Zeyu narrowed his eyes toward the nearest camera. "That isn’t the point."

Hanchuan’s SUV entered last.

Before Jingwei allowed the western barrier to close, he searched every camera angle again. Rain crossed the empty service lane. Lightning illuminated the retaining walls, the false utility equipment and the road beyond them.

No one was there.

He sealed the entrance.

The concrete panels returned to position first. Steel locking bolts entered the hillside behind them, followed by the inner blast door. Signal-blocking systems activated automatically, severing every unauthorized connection between the underground tunnel and the outside world.

Jingwei led the convoy down the gradual slope.

The tunnel opened into a vehicle level carved beneath the original archive. Reinforced columns divided the space into wide parking bays, while floor markings guided the mobile base toward a longer section near the workshop. The SUVs occupied protected bays on either side, leaving the central route clear.

Zeyu backed the mobile base into position using the truck’s cameras. Shichen stood behind the windshield with narrowed eyes, monitoring every centimeter until the rear wheels reached the painted line.

When the engine finally shut off, silence filled the underground level.

Jingwei stepped from the SUV and looked toward the security monitor beside the elevator. The exterior cameras showed lightning tearing across an empty hillside.

The public entrance remained dark. The western service road ended at an unbroken concrete wall.

Three vehicles and six people had disappeared beneath Xiling.

No one outside knew they were there.

Their place was safe.

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