Chapter 211: The Horrifying Truth Behind the Lost Shelter
After the eting adjourned, Martha leaned quietly against the corridor wall, seemingly lost in thought.
When she saw soone approaching, she was montarily stunned, then surprise flickered in her eyes.
“I didn’t expect you to stand on my side this ti,” she said softly. “You used to be the one most strongly opposed to .”
The newcor was Hyde.
Hyde slowly walked up beside Martha and leaned against the wall with her.
He pulled out a cigarette case and lighter from his pocket, lighting a cigarette for himself.
“You were right,” he said gently. “Compared to communication and surface exploration, the Overseer’s first duty is to ensure the shelter survives.”
All along, there had always been a tense relationship between the Overseer and the Council.
The forr stood for conservatism, the latter for openness.
Since a certain generation, Overseers had always taken a conservative stance, and successors were mostly chosen from among the conservatives.
Martha raised her hand slightly toward Hyde, who understood and lit a cigarette for her.
In that mont, the two long-ti adversaries reached a brief reconciliation.
After taking a drag, Martha spoke in a pensive tone.
“When I was just a little girl, I, too, yearned for the world above.”
“But my father told , weakness and humility are never the reasons for destruction—curiosity without power is.”
“It hasn’t been easy for Shelter B9 to survive this long. We must treat the unknown with utmost caution.”
Hyde shrugged.
Martha’s father had been the previous Overseer—an even more stubborn conservative than she was.
Just as Hyde was about to respond, the shelter’s announcent system ca on.
The announcent stated that the subway from Shelter L8 would be arriving in 15 minutes, and residents should prepare to welco it.
Upon hearing the news, joy and excitent erupted throughout the shelter.
Martha and Hyde exchanged a glance.
“Let’s go,” Martha said. “Let’s see what this subway is really about.”
Inside a room, Wendy and her best friend exchanged looks as they heard the broadcast.
“Huh? The subway from Shelter L8?” her best friend’s eyes lit up. “Maybe they’re here for more than just an exchange—maybe for a marriage alliance! Wendy, you might finally be getting married!”
Wendy hesitantly nodded—though in truth, she held little expectation for marriage.
For so reason, unease crept into her heart.
Martha and Hyde arrived at the underground station at the shelter’s lowest level.
Due to years of disuse, the station was in utter disrepair.
Rows of flickering fluorescent tubes hung from the arched ceiling, casting a bluish-grey cold light through the damp air. The yellow warning line along the platform’s edge had long faded, and moss had crept through the cracks in the concrete floor like veins.
Rusty ventilation pipes twisted through the corners, humming intermittently as they circulated air thick with the sll of oil and mold.
The tracks extended into the dark tunnel, and now and then, a cold wind swept by with gravel in its wake, stirring hollow echoes in the silence.
At this mont, the station was packed.
The council mbers who had voted in favor and more than half of the shelter’s residents had arrived.
Everyone looked visibly excited.
Hyde and Martha exchanged glances and quietly stood at the edge of the platform.
As ti passed, the subway neared.
A low rumble echoed from the tunnel depths—at first just a faint vibration, then rhythmic clanging of tal grew louder, reverberating through the moist air.
The ergency lights along the walls began to flash. Pale light cast flickering shadows beneath the tracks, and a gust of wind reeking of oil and static rushed out of the darkness, scattering the dust from the platform.
Suddenly, two blinding headlights pierced the gloom, followed by the sharp screech of brakes. A massive steel train slowly pulled into the station.
This subway, too, was clearly ancient—its surface scratched and rusted, welded repairs glead dully under the lights.
People could no longer contain themselves and rushed toward the doors.
But as soon as they saw what was inside, everyone froze.
The train was indeed filled with people—packed tightly, shoulder to shoulder.
Yet none of them had any facial features.
They just stood silently within the cars.
From their uniforms and badges, it was clear—they were residents of Shelter L8.
The first few residents to reach the doors slowly backed away, fear spreading across their faces.
“This…”
Even the previously elated crowd fell silent. Council mbers nearby also froze in disbelief.
Hyde and Martha exchanged shocked glances.
Under everyone’s terrified gaze, the indicator light above the train doors changed from red to green, letting out a long beep.
With a hiss, the pressure valve released, and the heavy doors trembled as they slid open.
The crowd snapped out of their daze, stumbling back in panic—so even turned to flee.
The Faceless People surged out of the train like a tide, lunging toward the residents, reaching out for their faces.
Hyde saw clearly: when one of the Faceless touched a resident’s eye, it was as if performing a magic trick—the eye was plucked right off.
The Faceless then casually placed the eye on its own face.
But not in any orderly fashion—one eye landed where the mouth should be, the other on the forehead.
Still, once affixed, the eyes blinked—animated and fully functional.
“This…” Hyde’s heart jolted.
He looked again and saw the Faceless were frantically snatching facial features—so took ears, others noses, still others mouths.
These features were then crookedly attached to their blank faces.
With features restored, the Faceless began to show signs of life.
An awful realization dawned upon Hyde.
This was a ga of body-swapping death.
The Faceless stole features to beco human again, and those robbed beca new Faceless—identities swapped entirely.
But sothing felt off.
So of the Faceless had hoarded multiple eyes, or mouths.
These features were plastered across their faces in grotesque disarray, making one’s scalp crawl.
“What are you standing there for?!” a sharp yell snapped him out of it.
It was Martha.
The Overseer was throwing her full strength into closing the station’s main doors.
Hyde snapped to action and rushed to her side, shouting for surviving council mbers and residents to co through.
The Faceless noticed and surged toward the doors like a flood.
Many of them already had features.
But not a single one had them arranged correctly.
The station doors were heavy and slow—requiring dozens of seconds to close completely—and the Faceless were already breaking through.
Before Hyde could react, a few figures rushed forward to block the advance.
He looked closely—it was the council mbers.
Among them were the Elderly Female Council mber and the Young Council mber.
“We were wrong! Now we must answer for our actions!” the young councilman shouted, turning his head.
The mont he finished, several Faceless hands clamped onto his face.
In an instant, all his features were stripped away.
Not just the council mbers—over a dozen residents spontaneously ford a human wall, taking the front lines.
Thanks to their sacrifice, the heavy doors finally slid shut.
Those who survived collapsed to the ground, their bodies going limp.
The scene monts ago had simply been too horrifying.
“What happened to Shelter L8?” Hyde asked instinctively. “Could this be how the other seven shelters lost contact too?”
“I don’t know,” Martha shook her head.
At that mont, the Overseer’s forehead was soaked with sweat.
“We need to tally the casualties from this attack,” she said slowly.
As Hyde nodded, another thought occurred to him.
With all the council mbers now dead, no one remained to oppose Martha in future etings.
A grim irony indeed.
After resting for a while, the survivors gradually rose and began to head back.
Hyde and Martha stood side by side once more.
“From the Faceless’ behavior, it looks like their ability is limited to removing facial features,” Hyde said slowly. “Breaking through the station’s main doors would be nearly impossible.”
Martha, however, remained cautious.
“Even so, the doors still need reinforcent,” she replied. “This task will be given top priority.”
Thinking of the fallen station, the two fell silent.
Whether they liked it or not, all remaining contact with other shelters was now completely severed.
Along with a few residents, they took the elevator and slowly ascended back to the previous level.
There were still many surviving residents—now waiting in line at the elevator.
So people didn’t want to wait and chose to take the shelter’s stairwell.
Just as the elevator doors were closing, Hyde caught sight of this.
A vague sense of unease stirred in his heart, though he couldn’t pinpoint why.
The elevator slowly ascended, soft music playing and easing the tension in everyone’s mood.
It was at this mont that Hyde’s pupils suddenly widened.
“We’re dood. We’re dood…” he murmured in a daze.
Seeing his expression, Martha seed to realize sothing as well—her heart sank.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“The ergency stairwell!” Hyde said urgently. “The station has an ergency stairwell! It’s connected directly to the shelter!”
At those words, the elevator fell into absolute silence.
Everyone’s face turned deathly pale.
Martha was the first to recover.
“Gather the security officers imdiately! We must hold the shelter!”
She ordered the elevator to stop at the nearest floor and rushed out as soon as the doors opened.
Hyde and the residents followed closely behind.
“What do I… What should I be doing right now?”
He ran while urgently trying to think.
Then, mid-run, a realization struck him.
“Wendy!”
Inside the room, Wendy and her best friend were chatting when they suddenly heard panicked screams from outside.
When they opened the door in confusion, they were greeted by a horrifying scene.
A horde of Faceless People, origin unknown, were reaching out and hunting down the facial features of the shelter’s residents.
So of them had faces full of ears, others full of mouths, and so entirely covered in eyes.
Her best friend let out a terrified scream.
“Ah!”
Wendy tried to grab her hand and flee, but the other girl’s legs gave out and she collapsed to her knees. The Faceless surged forward.
Wendy had no choice but to turn and run, while her friend’s face was pinned down by countless hands.
The entire shelter had already fallen.
Security officers opened fire with firearms, only to discover the Faceless couldn’t be killed at all.
Martha stood in the surveillance room, watching scenes unfold across the shelter, sweat pouring from her forehead.
As Wendy fled in a daze, a voice suddenly called out from ahead.
“Wendy!”
She looked up and saw her father—Hyde.
At that mont, Hyde held a backpack in one hand and a gun in the other, his face full of urgency.
Father and daughter reunited and fled together.
“Where are we going, Dad?” Wendy asked anxiously.
Hyde hesitated briefly before speaking in a low voice.
“Wherever you want to go.”
Wendy was slightly taken aback.
To the surface?
The two of them finally made it safely to the first floor of the shelter.
There was no equipnt here—only a massive gate.
Hyde imdiately entered the access code.
But the gate required several minutes to open.
The two of them waited anxiously beside it.
Screams and gunfire echoed in the distance.
Just then, footsteps sounded on the stairs.
They turned and saw a middle-aged man in a Shelter L8 uniform walking toward them.
Upon seeing his face, Hyde’s expression changed.
The man’s body was that of a middle-aged man—but his facial features belonged to a young woman.
He had clearly once been a Faceless.
However, unlike the others, his features were neatly arranged—this was likely why Hyde and Wendy hadn’t noticed at first.
Under their gaze, the middle-aged man slowly spoke.
“Good evening, sir. I am Jackson, Overseer of Shelter L8.”
Hyde raised his gun and aid coldly.
“What is going on here?”
“This is a ga Lord Miwei asked us to play,” Jackson said calmly.
Hyde’s face paled at the words.
“Wasn’t Lord Miwei the one who always protected all shelters under the Steel Covenant? We’ve worshipped Them devoutly for years,” he muttered. “Why would They do this?”
They were referring to the Wasteland God—Miwei.
Jackson shrugged, the features of the young woman on his face displaying a hint of helplessness.
“Who knows? Maybe we were all just Their playthings from the start.”
Seeing Hyde first freeze, then grit his teeth in fury, Jackson shrugged again.
“You can’t bla us. We had no choice. Shelter A2 took our features the sa way. If we wanted to return to normal, we had to take from others.”
The mont he finished speaking, bullets tore into his body.
Yet Jackson appeared unfazed.
“After becoming Faceless, we gained bodies that neither age nor die,” he explained. “In a way, it’s not so bad. But deep inside, you develop an endless hunger for facial features. You start wanting more—more eyes, more noses, more ears.”
He paused for a mont.
“Actually, I’m finding it harder and harder to resist.”
Under their horrified gaze, Jackson suddenly lunged at them.
With a minute still remaining before the gate opened, Hyde had no choice but to rush forward and grapple with him.
He made sure to restrain Jackson’s hands, keeping them from touching his face.
Wendy snapped out of her daze and rushed forward to help. Together, father and daughter managed to subdue Jackson.
Sixty seconds… forty… twenty…
As the ti ticked by, the gate slowly opened, and hope began to stir in their hearts.
Then ca the sound of a flurry of footsteps from the stairs.
Wendy turned to look—and her heart turned cold.
Though they were residents of Shelter B9, their faces were missing parts.
A one-eyed resident stared at them with greedy eyes.
With his mouth taken, he couldn’t speak—so he simply pointed at them, signaling the others to charge.
Hyde imdiately understood. He signaled Wendy to take the backpack while he grabbed Jackson and hurled him toward the stairwell, knocking down the advancing residents.
“Go!” he roared with all his strength.
Wendy snapped to her senses, grabbed the backpack, and sprinted toward the gate.
As she ran, tears welled in her eyes.
“Dad!”
The young girl finally stepped onto the surface she had longed for—
—through farewell.
The sky, the sun, the clouds, the earth, the trees and plants…
Everything looked so unfamiliar and new to her.
But Wendy couldn’t afford to care. She just kept running.
She didn’t know how far she’d run before she finally stopped.
She now stood at the edge of a small town. Sothing stirred inside.
She looked closely—and saw them.
Giants.
Wendy froze.
“Has the outside world beco like this now?”
She quickly found a house to hide in.
Learning how to survive would be her first lesson on the surface.
Wendy opened the backpack and found it filled with ergency rations and bottled water.
Enough to last her quite so ti.
anwhile, back in Shelter B9—
Hyde had beco one of the Faceless.
A burning hunger for features had taken root in his mind.
And a single sentence echoed within him.
“This ga is really fun. I hope you’ll all co and play.”
The words repeated endlessly in his head, enough to make one’s skin crawl.
And worse, Hyde realized he was gradually losing his sanity.
He knew he would eventually beco a creature consud solely by the hunger for facial features.
Before that could happen, he shut the shelter’s gate, sealing all the monsters inside.
Slumping down against the wall, Hyde was overwheld by a crushing sense of helplessness.
“Lord Miwei… have You abandoned us?”
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