The road to another doomsday fortress was not as difficult as Lucas had imagined.

The exterior of the bus was incredibly sturdy, and although the mountain road was narrow, there were several obstacles such as burning trees blocking the way.

With occasional banging sounds, the bus plowed through any obstacles without hindrance.

Lucas distributed some food to everyone for dinner.

After having dinner with Lucas, the Cobras became less reserved, and they dared to speak to each other in hushed voices.

Lucas was pleased to witness this scene. As long as these people didn't cause trouble, it was nice to have some less lonely days in the apocalypse.

There were no zombies or insects; shortly after dinner, they arrived at another doomsday fortress.

Guided by several soldiers on guard duty, Lucas entered this doomsday fortress. The bus and the Cobras stayed outside, with the mute woman never leaving his side.

Indeed, this doomsday fortress turned out to be a comprehensive large-scale laboratory.

The officer from before had already come over from the resort through an underground passage.

It was unclear what he had told the people at this doomsday fortress, but everyone displayed great respect towards Lucas.

Lucas appeared to carefully explore the doomsday fortress, but he was actually waiting for instructions from the system.

Lucas had little idea about what he was supposed to do here. He didn't know if he was searching for something or completing a certain task.

The officer accompanied Lucas throughout, introducing the laboratory and revealing some information about the apocalypse.

Surprisingly, some of Lucas' questions were directly answered.

The human upper echelons had indeed come into contact with something almost a year ago and had been preparing for something ever since.

However, due to their limited understanding, there were still many issues when the actual apocalypse arrived after a year of preparation.

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As for what the human upper echelons had come into contact with, the officer didn't know.

According to the officer, even the Major General probably didn't know much about these matters.

Lucas only had a partial understanding of what the officer said. Even when combined with his experiences from his previous life of eleven years, he couldn't find any connections.

In essence, this was because Lucas had always been an insignificant figure during those eleven years, a person in the lower ranks.

How could someone at his level be informed about major events that determined the fate of humanity?

After visiting the weapons laboratory, the medical laboratory, and even seeing some artificial food that he had eaten for eleven years in his previous life in the food laboratory, Lucas finally heard the voice of the system in front of a closed, heavy metal door.

["X" mission triggered. Completion of the entire mission required.]

Lucas knew that this mission, which had taken so much time to prepare, had reached its crucial moment.

"What's inside this metal door?"

Lucas stopped in his tracks and looked at the officer beside him.

"Sir, nobody in the entire shelter has the authority to open this metal door."

Seeing Lucas stop in front of the metal door and appearing interested in what was inside, the officer immediately gave a serious response.

"No authority?"

"But I want to go in and take a look."

Lucas's previously indifferent expression turned even colder, and his tone of speech brooked no opposition.

"Well..."

"Sir, if you insist on going in, you'll have to communicate with the higher-ups."

The officer seemed troubled; it seemed as though he genuinely had no way to open the door.

Lucas glanced at the officer without saying a word, then took out the unnamed knife and rubbed it against the metal door a few times.

This action immediately made the soldiers from the doomsday fortress tense up, and it seemed like their guns could be aimed at Lucas at any moment.

Lucas naturally noticed these subtle movements from the soldiers, which made him even more curious about what was inside.

It must be something important to humans, and the system also seemed to attach great importance to it.

"Could there be another mysterious fragment inside?"

Lucas suddenly thought of the strange fragment that was stored in the system and opened from the capsule.

"What exactly is that fragment?"

Lucas had asked the system about it before, but the system didn't answer.

Suddenly, Lucas put the knife away and casually found a chair, sitting in front of the metal door.

Should he forcefully open the metal door?

This question began to trouble Lucas.

There was another issue: once the raging fire outside subsided, the zombie horde and insect swarm might reappear, and other military forces could be on their way.

After all, the current officer, who was of a low rank, was in charge of these two doomsday fortresses. The military would definitely send someone of higher rank to take over.

"To be honest, there might be something I need inside."

"You go and communicate with the higher-ups. I want a response within half an hour."

After contemplating for a few minutes, Lucas suddenly said to the officer.

At this point, Lucas had no other options. If he couldn't get in within half an hour, he would have to resort to forcibly opening the door.

When he tried the knife earlier, Lucas felt that his new blade could cut through the metal door.

Moreover, there wouldn't be enough space for heavy weapons inside the doomsday fortress.

In this situation, Lucas had no fear of using force.

The soldiers in the doomsday fortress were no match for Lucas in front of the mute woman.

Lucas squinted his eyes and sat on the chair as time passed by.

After twenty minutes, the officer appeared in front of Lucas.

"Sir, good news! The leaders have agreed to let you in for a visit!"

The officer's voice carried a hint of joy, and Lucas could even sense a feeling of relief.

"Did they not make any demands?"

Lucas was slightly surprised by this result.

"No, there were no demands from above. The leaders said they appreciate your escorting the people of the seaside city to the shelter."

"And the leaders also said that within the entire shelter, anything that you find valuable, you can take it."

The officer said this and nodded to the person who had come with him, who seemed to be involved in experiments.

That person immediately began to open the metal door.

At this moment, Lucas was also contemplating the true purpose of the military.

Was their sudden goodwill and allowing him to freely take things from the shelter really just to thank him?

This reason didn't make Lucas believe it.