At this moment, the members of the Xishu Divine Teaching on the elevator couldn't hide their pride and smugness. They occasionally glanced around, feeling extremely pleased with themselves.
"I heard that three hours ago, an officer gave an order for every level's third, fourth, and even fifth facilities to brew alcohol with all their might!"
"I heard that too, the Bunker is going to celebrate for three days!"
"I definitely want to drink to my heart's content!"
"Yes, drink to our heart's content. When I wake up, I'm going to climb Deceit Tower!"
"Count me in! I'll go too!"
The atmosphere in the Bunker was unprecedentedly festive.
Countless lower-level people had preserved their lives, countless lower-level people had preserved their homes. The people on the third level, the people on the fifth level, they no longer had to face incoming refugees.
For every level of people, this was good news.
Of course, there were some who were not happy.
Those who were counting on making a war fortune through the great devouring and inflating prices, at this moment hated the Bunker's legend—Wen Xishu.
In fact, long before, their interests had been affected. Because Wen Xishu consecutively achieved "entire level resources" rewards, the Bunker unexpectedly had a bountiful harvest year unseen in decades.
Hungry people tend to spend recklessly. But now, with fewer hungry people, naturally, some people made less money.
These people always harbored resentment towards Wen Xishu.
Of course, these were just a minority.
The entire Bunker was now in a state of collective celebration.
...
...
Bunker, Level Sixteen.
Level Seven Facility·Meeting Room.
In fact, less than two months ago, the directors of the Bunker Security Bureau and the Civil Affairs Bureau had also gathered in this meeting room.
At that time, the issue they discussed was how to handle the Level Six Facility hospital and how to deal with the pandemic.
At that time, Wen Xishu was still a prisoner.
These two months, for them, though the experiences weren't many, quite a few things happened. If Wen Xishu was considered a variable...
Then the changes could be described as earth-shattering.
Two months ago, they were still the central figures of the meetings, and now—they've become marginal figures of the meetings.
Like lackeys sitting at the outermost edge, listening to the bosses discussing significant matters.
The only ones who could make the directors of various bureaus this humble were naturally those five people, and the first legend of the Bunker—
Albert Napolitano.
The old headmaster at this moment scratched his foot, extremely happy:
"That concludes my proposal. What do you think?"
Except for Evelyn and William Gordon, the faces of the other three elders were all unsightly.
Liu Zhizai's face was even more livid.
This was the final hour before the great devouring's end—the moment just before the vortex descended.
Luo Feng said:
"Albert, are you that confident that the kid will come back alive?"
Albert laughed:
"Nonsense. But if he dies, then his part will be voided, but the changes to the Bunker Security Bureau will still stand."
"Besides, he won't die. He will be like me. He might even stand shoulder to shoulder with me one day."
"Hahahahahahaha..."
Hearty laughter rang out.
Albert looked extremely pleased.
In fact, many directors of the Bunker Security Bureau and the Civil Affairs Bureau only knew Albert was very arrogant, but they didn't know this old legend could be this conceited.
This meeting, though called a meeting, actually had virtually no parts for discussion. It was more like Albert issuing orders, conveying instructions to his subordinates.
Only the deputy director of the Security Bureau felt immense relief, knowing he had backed the right horse. The worth of this old legend was perhaps immeasurably higher than anyone thought.
"Albert! You're meddling with politics! How can you be so capricious!" Liu Zhizai roared.
"Having the official recognition of the Xishu Divine Teaching's status and granting them subsidies... Do you know what you're doing? Treating a civilian organization at the same level as the Bunker Security Bureau?"
"Don't you know how difficult it will be to eradicate a religion once it rises?"
Liu Zhizai's hands were clenched tightly.
The smile on Albert's face slightly diminished:
"Alright, alright. Hahahahahaha, let me explain then."
"I don't like religion, I hate frauds. But I used to pour almost all my energy into climbing the tower because I wasn't sure if my old friend still had the same ambition as he did before."
"If he chickened out... then I also had to prepare to break through a hundred floors alone."
"I want to go to that battlefield, I want to bring humanity back to the world it should return to."
"But precisely because I focused on my personal growth, the Bunker became a mess. Although this time, the great devouring was the fastest resolved in history..."
"But we all know one thing. This time, the number of vortices and mutants in the great devouring was the highest in history."
"In other words, this time, within the great devouring, there were the most unhappy people within the Bunker. Interestingly, over the years, the upper echelons in the Bunker have become increasingly happy..."
"While the lower echelons have become increasingly unfortunate."
"It's not that I haven't noticed these things, but I didn't have the time to deal with them because I couldn't see comrades."
The room fell silent.
The word "comrades" even surprised Evelyn.
Luo Feng found it somewhat unbelievable, though he had guessed that the "comrades" referred to Mr. Jin, it seemed that now, the term had changed again.
It had become... Wen Xishu.
Could Albert, this old rascal, really recognize a kid as a comrade?