The World Ends In 27 Days

Zeyu reached the equipment level before the countdown lost its first minute.

The loader occupied the service bay nearest the northern exit. It had been intended for moving supplies and repairing the shelter approaches, not excavating an armored vehicle beneath a collapsing tunnel, but it was the only machine capable of reaching the command unit from outside.

He connected the auxiliary cooling system while Jingwei transferred the recovery route to the loader’s navigation display. Across the bay, Shichen reviewed the structural readings from the western corridor.

The damaged supports hadn’t shifted since the vehicle entered preservation mode, but that didn’t make them safe.

Shichen enlarged the fractured section on the wall display. "The interior route is too unstable for excavation. Moving equipment any closer could bring down the remaining ceiling, so we have to approach the vehicle entirely from outside."

Zeyu studied the debris covering the command unit before opening the loader’s controls and calculating the number of passes required.

If the material remained loose, he could uncover the front axle within 40 minutes. Another ten would allow him to connect the external control line and determine whether the vehicle could move under its own power.

The loader’s auxiliary cooling reserve provided 68 minutes. Zeyu entered 50 as his mandatory return point, only for Qinghe to change it to 45.

"I need the other five," Zeyu protested.

"You need enough reserve to return if the loader stops moving." Qinghe removed a cooling suit from the storage cabinet and placed it on the preparation table. "At 45 minutes, you come back. I don’t care whether you’ve uncovered one wheel or all of them."

He connected the suit to the medical system before turning it toward Zeyu. "Heart rate, core temperature and suit performance remain linked to the shelter. If any alarm activates, you return immediately."

Zeyu unfastened his shirt and reached for the cooling layer before quickly putting it on. "You’ve managed to make rescuing my own vehicle feel unnecessarily restrictive."

"I’m trying to prevent the rest of us from having to recover you as well," Qinghe snapped, clearly getting stressed at the idea of Zeyu being outside by himself.

Much less stressed than his friend, Zeyu pulled the cooling layer over his shoulders.

The command unit belonged to him, and he understood its systems better than anyone else. He knew how the loader would respond and which sections of the vehicle could tolerate pressure. He had assumed those facts made the recovery his responsibility.

Then another cabinet opened beside him.

Zhiyi removed a second suit and placed it on the table as though it had always been part of the plan.

Zeyu stopped fastening his cooling layer. Hanchuan crossed the bay before she could open the suit.

"You’re staying inside," he announced.

Zhiyi blinked at him. "I’m going."

The room became still as everyone waited for Hanchuan to reinforce the decision. Instead, he held her gaze for a moment before opening the cabinet and removing a third suit.

"If your cooling alarm activates, you return immediately," he instructed as he placed it beside hers.

Zhiyi began fastening her cooling layer. "So do you."

Hanchuan accepted the condition without argument.

Jingwei watched them for less than a second before taking the fourth suit. "I can operate the winch and recovery cables outside."

Shichen transferred the structural monitoring program to his tablet before removing another suit. "I need to monitor the collapse while Zeyu clears the vehicle."

Qinghe looked between the medical station and the final suit in the cabinet. Someone needed to monitor the team from safety, but Zhiyi solved the problem before he could object.

"The medical system can track us automatically," she said while checking her connection to the shelter network. "The airlock will open if anyone reaches the return threshold."

"It can identify a problem," Qinghe replied. "It cannot treat one."

"Then you remain nearest the airlock," Hanchuan decided. "You rotate outside when someone else returns."

Qinghe removed the final suit. "I’ll prepare the emergency cooling station first."

The solitary operation Zeyu had planned had disappeared without anyone asking whether he wanted help.

Zhiyi tested the seals at her wrists, apparently unaware that taking one suit had changed the entire recovery. She hadn’t asked if he needed assistance or offered to accompany him. She had simply seen work that needed to be done and prepared to do it.

"Do you know how to operate excavation equipment?" Zeyu asked.

"No." Zhiyi picked up a reinforced shovel from the equipment rack.

Her immediate admission startled a laugh out of him. "That might become a problem."

"You know how to operate it," she replied. "I know how to move debris."

Hanchuan removed the shovel from her hands and replaced it with a lighter one. Zhiyi tested its weight before accepting the substitution.

While Jingwei attached the recovery cables to the loader, Hanchuan filled its rear compartment with additional cooling packs. Shichen loaded the structural readings onto his tablet, and Zhiyi helped Qinghe confirm that every suit remained connected to the medical system.

Zeyu received the longest exposure limit because he would remain inside the loader’s cooled cabin. Zhiyi received the shortest.

Hanchuan objected to her limit being long enough to exist. Zhiyi ignored him, and he didn’t attempt to shorten it.

Once the preparations were complete, Zeyu climbed into the loader while Hanchuan took his position beside Zhiyi at the northern barrier.

Jingwei stood on her other side with a recovery cable secured across his shoulder. Shichen waited behind them with his attention divided between the tablet and the damaged approach. And finally, Qinghe remained closest to the airlock, prepared to follow when the first rotation ended.

The exterior temperature had already climbed to 76 degrees.

With a nod to everyone else, Zeyu activated the loader’s auxiliary cooling system. Five medical readings appeared across his display where he had expected to see only his own.

The outer barrier began to rise, and heat entered beneath it before the opening became wide enough for the loader to pass. Zhiyi lowered her visor, and Hanchuan lowered his beside her.

Zeyu drove into the burning air, and neither of them allowed him to go alone.