Rise Of The Wasteland Chapter 90 - Back From Hell

Chapter 90        Back from h.e.l.l

Katrina’s words served as a huge reminder for Zhou Qingfeng: He finally realized that he could choose to go underground to occupy the NYPD headquarters.

In the last century, during the hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union, every major city built themselves special air-raid shelters. Therefore, it was a given that they would have a large number of facilities for the air-defence underground.

The underground area of Manhattan had long been dug up by the people of the United States and there was a variety of intricate tunnels. Therefore, it was also a given that as one of the most important munic.i.p.al facilities in the city, the NYPD headquarters would have a special underground tunnel.

Zhou Qingfeng searched in his armband computer for information about the underground pipelines in Manhattan and found out that the land beneath the island had been dug numerous times since the 1920s. He might be able to find himself a way to access the NYPD headquarters.

However, he would first need to rescue Katrina and the others. Zhou Qingfeng re-armed himself with a variety of firearms and ammunition. He even brought a SCAR rifle and USP pistol along, but he changed his previous shotgun to a grenade launcher and loaded it with tear-gas bombs.

As for Jenny, leaving her alone would be too dangerous. Zhou Qingfeng could only equip her with a shotgun and brought her with him. After they finished eating breakfast, the two of them carried their backpacks as they began their journey to save their companions.

Over the past few days, Zhou Qingfeng felt that he was still able to live on in the current world. The world appeared peaceful from a distance, but, it did not take too long for him to realize that the world was deteriorating at an unbelievable rate.

Many people were running around in the streets. When they saw Zhou Qingfeng and Jenny carrying big backpacks, they stared at them greedily.

Zhou Qingfeng did not try to leave to avoid getting into trouble when he saw these troublesome people. In order to save the world from deterioration, he shot anyone who dared to stare at him. He treated it like one of his firearms practice sessions.

They reached the subway station near Town Hall by foot. Zhou Qingfeng wondered what kind of people Tony Parker had actually provoked after he saw the collapsed entrance. The entire entrance was blown up and without dedicated construction machinery and professional workers, there was no way they could clear the obstacles blocking the entrance.

Therefore, Zhou Qingfeng could only look for other entrances, for example, the other entrance of the subway that was located just beside them. However, before walking into the subway, a strong smell was coming from the inside. A wave of nausea engulfed Zhou Qingfeng and Jenny even vomited on the spot.

How many people actually died in the subway?

Zhou Qingfeng took out two gas masks. After wearing his own gas mask, he gave the other one to Jenny. He then began to walk into the subway with a flashlight in his hand.

New York’s subway was built more than a hundred years ago, hence, its underground network was extremely complicated and old-fashioned. You heard it right, it was old-fashioned! There was no elevator, only escalators; there were no electronic signs, only radio. There were also no convenience stores and WIFI signal in the subway.

It was seventy to eighty years ago when the Americans engaged vigorously in the construction of their infrastructure. They were already running out of money when they wanted to renovate their infrastructure. Thus, one should not be too surprised when he or she traveled to New York and saw their subway!

Zhou Qingfeng felt lucky that he had Jenny Braun by his side when he was planning his rescue operation. The long-time reporter who lived in New York had told him about the route to Town Hall Station clearly. If he were to operate alone in the complex subway, Zhou Qingfeng would be lost for sure.

“This is Cilantro Station, which is just north of the Town Hall Station,” Jenny stood in the dark tunnel in the subway. She illuminated the area in front of her with the flashlight and saw corpses and vehicle parts scattered on the ground.

“A train derailed in this area,” Zhou Qingfeng shone the flashlight on the ground too and discovered that most of the corpses were crushed by the derailment of the vehicle. He walked along the rails and almost vomited when he saw the scene.

Jenny was frightened. She decided to just close her eyes and follow Zhou Qingfeng by grasping his hand. However, they saw an eight-segment train that was tipped blocking their path when they walked to the end of the subway tunnel. The carriages were in a complete mess and a large number of corpses were mixed within the metal pieces.

Zhou Qingfeng simply turned away when he saw such a large obstacle blocking their way, “We have to gather some powerful tools before we carry on. There’s no way I can remove that pile of rubble with just both my hands.”

When Zhou Qingfeng and Jenny left the subway and saw the rays of sunlight that reflected on their faces, they felt like they just got back from h.e.l.l. However, they had to hurry up as their companions were stilling waiting for them in h.e.l.l.

“I need a chainsaw, where can I get one of those?” asked Zhou Qingfeng.

“We’ll have to head to the fire station. I know the nearest one.”

As a New Yorker, Jenny was indeed helping Zhou Qingfeng out a lot.

There were over tens of thousands of firefighters in New York. Half of them had disappeared as they were officials of the government. However, their equipment was left behind in a perfect state. Zhou Qingfeng cheered joyfully when he reached a fire station and saw a fire pump and a large number of life-saving types of equipment.

“These things are perfect. They’re even more useful than firearms when it comes to crucial moments.”

Zhou Qingfeng even found some oxygen cylinders and masks for firefighting. There were also many hydraulic pumps, winches, axes, and ropes in the fire station. He had spent a tremendous effort to move these pieces of equipment back to Cilantro Station.

Zhou Qingfeng waited until the 8th of August before he officially began to remove the obstacles blocking the tunnel. At that moment, although Katrina and the others were still able to endure the situation, Angie, who was the weakest among them, had already fainted several times. As for the rest who got trapped - it was just like what Butcher had described, “There are people dying every minute.”

Zhou Qingfeng dismantled the obstacles with his chainsaw and hydraulic pump. He used a small diesel generator as the main driving force and with the winch, he sent all the dismantled parts away from the tunnel, one by one.

During the entire process, Zhou Qingfeng took the responsibility of the demolition in the front, while Jenny took the responsibility of controlling the machine from behind. Jenny got used to the horror scene after vomiting several times. She also stopped crying. She was gradually transforming from a weakling into a strong lady.

The eight-segment train that blocked the tunnel was actually too ma.s.sive and proved to be too much work for the both of them. Zhou Qingfeng did not even have time to eat and drink due to the workload. After spending days from the eighth to the tenth of August, he finally heard percussion noises from the front.

“Hi, hi, hi! Victor… Victor, is that you? Is that you?” Butcher's voice pa.s.sed through the crevices of the tunnel. It had been four days. Even the bear-like man had begun to lose his pride. He shouted loudly, full of joy and excitement.

“It’s me! It’s me! Stop shouting. I’ll save you in no time.”

They were in the last segment of the eight-segment train. Zhou Qingfeng was exhausted these past four days. Two of the chainsaws he used were broken, four of the hydraulic tongs were sc.r.a.pped, and the winch had malfunctioned once. It almost cost Jenny's life.

The sizzling sound of the chainsaw remained, but Zhou Qingfeng could clearly hear more and more noise from the other side. It seemed like countless of people were coming together.

Katrina seemed to be yelling loudly to maintain order. She even fired a shot as a sign of warning. The ferocious lady obviously suffered these few days. Her voice seemed hoa.r.s.e and depressed.

After removing the last piece of the obstacle, he switched off his flashlight. He snapped on a few glow sticks to use as a source of light. He then saw a crowd standing right in front of him. People were standing like they have lost their souls and they looked like sluggish ghosts.

As he watched the people who finally got rescued after being trapped for seven days, Zhou Qingfeng, who almost collapsed as well, laughed bitterly and said, “Ladies and gentlemen! You have now been given a new lease for life. Congratulations on coming back from h.e.l.l!”