488 The Not-so-heartwarming Reunion (2/2)
After debating for a while, Jiang Chen took out a signal stick, pulled the cord, and threw it in.
The bright red light luminated the space. Other than rows of hibernation chambers, the basketball court-sized room didn't have any weapons. With his rifle raised, Jiang Chen took Lin Lin into the fallout shelter.
”Lin Lin.”
”Mhmm?” Lin Lin hid behind Jiang Chen looked at his helmet anxiously.
”If they're planning to close the door, shoot that engine at the door.” Jiang Chen used a voice that Lin Chaoen could heart.
”Oh…Okay!” Because she was too nervous, she almost bit her tongue.
There wasn't too much light in the room other than the signal rod Jiang Chen threw out. The air in the room was filled with concentrated ozone. Because of this, the signal burned brightly.
A tower-shaped computer sat in the middle of the room with the flashing signal lights indicating it was running. The middle of the computer, a vial with a brain inside and the bottom, was connected with a complex series of wiring to the different machines in the room.
The room was filled with computers, hibernation chambers and nothing else with a sign of life.
Other than saying it was a fallout shelter, the place was more of a mechanical city hidden underground. The central computer was its brain, and its heart and the complex wiring was its vein.
Lin Chaoen walked beneath the computer and stopped.
”Father, they are here.”
The screen suddenly lit up and a middle-aged face appeared in the center. The hairstyle looked sleek, the two eyebrows were thick but tidy, the blank pupils looked collected but possessed a degree of sharpness, and the glasses gave him a more educated vibe.
Lin Lin looked at the man with pupils suddenly contracted as she took two steps forward.
”Fa, father…”
”Don't go.” Jiang Chen put his hand on her shoulder.
”No! That's my father! Let me go—” Lin Lin fought in an attempt to break free from Jiang Chen to run.
Jiang Chen was stunned by the situation.
He didn't expect this could happen. His right hand was still holding the rifle with the left hand tightly grasping Lin Lin's shoulder.
”Lin Lin! Your father already went to—, went to the space colonization ship. This is only a video!”
He almost said ”went to heaven” but he changed halfway in the sentence.
”Father, father! You're back to pick up your daughter, right?” Mist began to cover Lin Lin's eyes as she was about to cry,
Jiang Chen stared at the middle-aged man and aimed at the screen.
”If you continue to pretend to be Lin Lin's father, I'll shoot your brain!”
”No—” Lin Lin screamed out.
”I didn't pretend to be anyone.” The middle-aged man on the screen closed his eyes and pointed down there, ”I'm here. You should be able to see my brain.”
The room quieted down.
Lin Lin blankly looked at him with disbelief in her eyes. ”Brain? Dad, you…”
Shock also appeared in Jiang Chen's eyes as he adjusted the aim to the vial.
Seeing Jiang Chen's small adjustment, the middle-aged man laughed.
”Is this how you treat your father-in-law?”
[Father-in-law?]
Jiang Chen took a moment to process.
Lin Lin's face blushed as she waved her hands to cover up. ”No, no, dad you're mistaken, he is not…”
It was just that when she said that, she didn't sound like she meant it.
”Ahem.” The middle-aged man interrupted his daughter and looked seriously at Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen stared at him without a word. The rifle in hand still pointed at him – the brain.
”If you feel like this will bring you a sense of security, you can point at it. But I have to let you know that the vial's glass could withstand the bullets of the anti-armor sniper rifle.”
[The Old man who smells like ozone, can I shoot him?] Tingting didn't disguise her disgust to mechanical parts.
Lin Lin restrained Tingting who was eager to move.
Jiang Chen smiled and lowered his rifle.
”By letting me in, you're preparing to surrender?”
”I just want to see my daughter.” The middle-aged man had a genuine smile on his face.
Jiang Chen's eyes lit up. He didn't think the situation would evolve into the reunion of a father and a daughter.
”Dad, where-where are you, the colonization ship—”
”I didn't board the colonization ship,” the middle-aged man told Lin Lin.
Lin Lin's eyes widened as she didn't realize what he said. She didn't know how she felt - shocked? Happy? Sad? Perhaps similar to no one, but close to all of the emotions combined.
After a while, she squeezed out a few words.
”Why?”
”Because there's no need to leave. Space is dark and it's the same going in any direction.” The man slowly said.
He then looked at Jiang Chen.
”I'm confused. You seem to have a remarkable ability. Instincts tell me it's the primary reason why I'm lost.”
”I don't disagree with your perspective,” Jiang Chen said.
[No sh*t. Without my interdimensional travel and storage dimension, I would've died many times already.]
The man gazed into Jiang Chen's eyes then he sighed.
”Is that so? Although I hoped I would've lost because of a deeper reason.”
He then looked at Lin Lin, his daughter.
”I'm not a qualified father. On the path to Supreme, if there is anything I regretted, it would be you.”
Lin Lin eyes teared up, ”No, dad, you gave me life, you gave the opportunity to—”
The middle-aged man interrupted her.
”Do you know why you had muscular dystrophy?”
Lin Lin stopped, ”Is it that because it is congenital—”
”No.” The man shook his head. ”I did it.”
Lin Lin became idle with tears freezing on her face then she murmured in a quiet voice, ”Why?”
”It's a long story, if you have patience, watch this.”
His face looked reminiscent and slowly faded on the screen.
The picture in the screen changed just like the old film tape rolling. It unfolded the history belonging here.