Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 941 "Safe House"
"How long will it take them to reach our current location? We haven't completely cleared the surrounding area yet, and we're not sure if there are any enemies. Also, there's no terrain suitable for building defensive positions. Without our safety guaranteed, we dare not stay here for long," Simon said.
He did not tell the other party the specific coordinates of his team because if the other party was really a big shot with extremely high authority, he could easily determine their location through the code of the public communication terminal, and Simon did not need to waste his breath. In addition, he had another idea - if the man who called himself "Zeus" was actually an enemy who invaded the Ark's communication network, then the other party's authority might not be able to find the specific coordinates of the public communication terminal. Once the other party tried to inquire about the location of the team, Simon could basically determine that the other end of the communication was definitely not the "big shot" that the general wanted them to contact.
"Got it. The closest residential area to you is the West 12th District, at the intersection of the fourth cross street and the main road. There is a three-story building. This is a safe house set up by DAS in West 12th District. The walls, floors, and ceilings have been reinforced. There are emergency supplies and weapons in the basement. You can go there first... As for my people, they will be there soon."
"Okay..." Simon quickly memorized this place. The other party knew the DAS safe house very well. It seemed that his authority level was indeed not low. Just this sentence dispelled most of Simon's doubts. "Those monsters..."
Simon wanted to ask how humans could become such monsters, but the other party interrupted him directly: "As long as you stay in the safe house, you are safe. This method of communication is not absolutely safe. The call may be eavesdropped, and the enemy may also trace your current coordinates through the communication network... The longer the communication time, the greater the risk. Do you understand?"
"I...I understand." Simon had just finished speaking when the lights in the compartment lit up, and the screen and operating panel returned to normal. He was slightly startled and realized that the other party had cut off the communication.
"It's possible that it might be eavesdropped on... then wouldn't the location of the safe house be exposed?" Simon felt a little uneasy, but he vaguely felt that this uneasiness did not come from the risk that the safe house might be exposed.
But no matter what, it is better to have a safe house left by DAS to stay in than to stand on the street with a gun.
Simon turned off the communication equipment. In order to cut off the possibility of being tracked, he even pried open the inspection cover under the operating table and unplugged all the cables he could touch. Only after doing all this did he leave the compartment.
The other two scouts had already come out and were crouching with their guns pointed at them, guarding the communication terminal.
"Simon, you were the first one to go in, so why are you the last one to come out? Did that 'big shot' give you some extra information?" A scout saw Simon coming out, stood up, leaned next to Simon, and asked in a low voice.
"No, that man just told us to hold our ground until he sent troops to join us ." Simon replied, "What about you?"
"Same." The scout nodded. "Let's go back and report to the captain first."
The three scouts ran back to the roadblock and repeated the content of the communication in detail to the team leader. The other two scouts also got through to the man named "Zeus", but Zeus just asked them to stay where they were and then hung up the communication. He did not mention anything about the safe house.
"That Zeus... communicated with the three of you at the same time?" The captain fell into thought, "Could it be that he is not a real person, but an AI, or a response program?"
"I don't think the person I was communicating with was AI, but I can't say for the other two," Simon said. "Whether it's the logic of the conversation or the tone, I think it was a real person."
"You were the first one to get through. I guess the person you were talking to was a real person. The other two were a step behind, and Zeus was too busy to respond, so he just used the answering program to reply." Soap said, "That's what I think anyway."
"But don't you find one thing strange?" The transport plane pilot suddenly said, "The Ark was attacked by unknown creatures, and all communications with the outside world were cut off. The garrison corps was forced to abandon the external blocks and shrink its forces... Logically speaking, we should be completely suppressed by the enemy... But the other side said that it seemed very relaxed when they said they would send a troop to join us. Since his troops can move freely inside the Ark, why don't they recapture the lost blocks? Without even the strength to counterattack, how can the troops of 'Zeus' break through the enemy's encirclement and reach us?"
"I think you might be overthinking it." Soap said, "It's possible that the enemy's encirclement is not complete and there are many loopholes. It's also possible that the battlefield between the enemy and the survivors only exists in a local area and has not surrounded the core area of the Ark... Don't be fooled by the disgusting fleshy fungal blanket that wraps up the entire Ark. We found that the interior of the Ark is actually quite clean... If other areas are like West District 12, it shouldn't be difficult to travel freely."
The team leader was silent for a few seconds before he looked up and said, "We don't have any better choice. Let's go to the safe house first and wait for them to come over and meet up before making a decision."
"By the way," the transport plane pilot suddenly looked at Simon and asked, "Did that 'Zeus' say how long it would take for his men to get here?"
"No." Simon shook his head. "I asked, and he just said it would be soon. I wanted to ask more questions, but he cut off the communication on the grounds that the communication terminal might be monitored."
"It feels a little weird, but I can't tell what's wrong." The transport pilot frowned and said, "If the communication terminal could be monitored by the enemy, wouldn't it be dangerous if he directly told the location of the safe house?"
"But I always feel that it would be more dangerous to stay where we are." Soap looked around and said, "This place is completely defenseless. I think the most urgent thing is to find a place where we can hide... Who knows if the 'soon' mentioned by that big shot means a few hours or a few days?"
"My suggestion is to abandon the safe house," the transport plane pilot still insisted on his opinion. "We can go to the power plant. The security force's barracks there also have a lot of weapons and equipment, as well as a set of modular movable barricades. As for the safe house, we just need to leave a team nearby to keep an eye on it, and then come over to notify the others after the friendly forces arrive."
"No." The transport pilot's opinion was rejected by the team leader. "In this situation, splitting up the forces is a big taboo. The safe house is several kilometers away from the security force stationed in the power plant. It takes at least ten minutes to go back and forth. It is difficult for people in the two locations to support each other, and communication is not convenient. Once one side gets into trouble, the other side may not know about it at all."
After the squad entered the Ark, the scout team obtained several lithium battery-powered walkie-talkies from the power plant to replace the potentially dangerous military communication devices powered by energy crystals. However, they soon discovered that the radio interference inside the Ark was very serious. The power of these civilian walkie-talkies was simply not comparable to the military version. Beyond ten meters, the sound was all electric current noise, and it was impossible to hear what the person on the other end was saying.
"DAS's safe house is very reliable. It looks like it's made of the same concrete and polymer structure as other nearby buildings, but in fact, all of its walls are embedded with explosion-proof armor that can withstand a direct hit from a 160mm caliber cannon. There's also a secret passage underground leading to a secret exit... Even if we're attacked by the enemy in the safe house, we can hold out for a long time. If that doesn't work, we can even move through the secret passage," said the team leader.
"How do you know so much about DAS safe houses?" Soap glanced at him and said sarcastically, "Are you a spy planted by the Security Bureau in the army?"
"No, I just participated in the siege of a DAS safe house." The team leader explained, "A special agent team all defected and joined the heretical sect. Our Spear Squad was still serving in the Garrison Corps at the time, and was ordered to clean up these traitors with three other special agent teams. In order to attack that safe house, we lost several brothers... This is also experienced by other people in the team, you will know if you ask."
The other members of the Spear Squad, including Simon, nodded.
"That safe house was just like a bunker," a soldier recalled. "At that time, due to the restrictions of the security treaty, we could not use those high-powered weapons. Small-caliber mortars and explosives for attacking the safe house could not even blow open the door. In the end, we had to parachute from the roof and blow up the ventilation duct to get into the safe house."
"Then doesn't this safe house still have a weakness, that ventilation duct?" said the giraffe.
"No, the other SSA agents who participated in the operation wrote a report after returning. In addition to the content of the operation, the report also included a detailed assessment of the safe house's defensive capabilities. After that, the SSA renovated all the strongholds and safe houses on the Ark, and this weakness completely disappeared." said the soldier.
"It seems that this safe house is really safe..." the giraffe nodded.
"Without further delay, Group A and Group B should rejoin the team immediately. Everyone, move towards the safe house." the team leader gave the order.
Twenty minutes later, everyone arrived at the location of the safe house that "Zeus" told them about - the intersection of the fourth side street and the main road. Apart from the three-story building that served as the safe house, the other three directions were two-story buildings or bungalows. With the safe house as the center, there were no buildings taller than it within a radius of 300 meters... Although this design would make the three-story building stand out among the bungalows, at least there was no risk of being spied on or even sniped from high places.
The other three shops on this intersection are street-facing shops, two of which sell food and one is a grocery store specializing in selling various second-hand items. Only the street-facing shop of this safe house is sealed with a brick wall with a big word "demolish" painted on it in white paint.
"My goodness, is this still an illegal building?" Looking at the word "demolition", Zheng Yao couldn't help but say.
"When these safe houses are not in use, no one lives there. Long-term vacant shops facing the street are likely to arouse suspicion. It would be easier to just classify them as illegal buildings," Simon said. "As for when to demolish them, just let the local management department know. There are countless reasons for delaying. If we find one every month, it will be enough for several years."
"Then how do we get in?" Soap turned around and asked, "This kind of safe house usually has traps, right? If we just break in, I'm afraid we won't even know how we died, right?"
"When not activated, there are no lethal devices in the safe house, otherwise the bodies of a few thieves who died inexplicably would be enough to give the local management department a headache." Simon said, "The anti-theft performance of the safe house itself is enough to keep ordinary thieves out. As for those who break in by force, the hidden alarm device will be triggered, notifying the nearby special agent team to come and deal with it."
"Well, I understand. There's no one else around now anyway, so we can just break in and be done with it, right?" said Soap.
"That's the truth." Simon walked to the rusty side door, raised his gun, shot at the door lock, smashing it into pieces, and then reached out and pushed the door open.
Suddenly, a peculiar smell of a long-unused room mixed with flying dust blew in my face.
"That's it? Is this the door that even mortars and siege explosives can't blow open?" Soap looked at the broken door lock with some surprise. Compared with other locks in this residential area, it was indeed a good lock, but it was still a civilian product that could be bought on the market and it didn't even have bulletproof function.
"That's the safe house after the defense mode is activated. In addition to this door, a palm-thick armored door will be lowered at the back. At the same time, all the windows will be sealed, turning the entire house into an airtight iron barrel." Simon said as he walked inside.
There were a lot of old furniture in the house, all covered with a thick layer of dust. There was a lot of garbage piled up in the corners. Several tattered cardboard boxes were scattered around the living room, containing some canned foods and daily chemicals that had long expired.
If a thief or curious person really broke in, they would just think it was an abandoned house, not a secret agent's safe house.
Simon fumbled on the wall for a while and soon found the mechanism - he stopped in front of the photo frame that had no photos inside, the plastic shell was severely aged, and the glass cover was shattered and fell to the ground. He picked up the glass fragments on the ground and put them back together piece by piece like a puzzle.
When the last piece was put into the frame, a friction sound came from the corner, and a hidden door leading to the underground appeared in front of everyone.
"Down here should be the control center and weapons depot of the safe house." Simon turned around and said, "As long as the defense mode is activated, this safe house will immediately become a fortress."
