The next few days, Song Wuli behaved himself and focused on recovering first.
He even deliberately assumed Yao Ruoning’s identity to continue working part-time at the milk tea shop.
The workload was light—only four hours a day was enough.
For Song Wuli, this was practically a health retreat.
He normally worked more than ten hours every day, so four hours felt ridiculously easy on the body.
Outside of work hours, he deliberately stayed in his magical girl form to speed up the healing of his injuries.
After a few days, his body had recovered more than half.
While his company’s sick leave was still active, Old Song decided it was time to take action.
After fully replenishing his mana, he skillfully applied makeup to disguise himself as Yao Ruoning, making himself look plain as usual.
He wore ordinary casual clothes—loose long pants and a short-sleeved top—to hide his figure.
Today he had also learned to use colored contact lenses, turning his golden eyes black.
He wore the black wig properly and even put on a cap.
He carried a long, rectangular bag that looked like it was for a musical instrument, but it actually contained his wand and some self-defense props.
Yao Ruoning’s appearance was gradually becoming flawless; Song Wuli had carefully covered up every small detail.
The only unsolvable issue was her height.
This time he could not wear high heels, so he wore flat shoes instead.
Sigh.
Being this short had its downsides—someone on the metro had even given up their seat for him.
From Yao Ruoning’s low perspective, everyone else looked like giants.
It felt like standing in a forest of towering trees, which was quite oppressive.
From Song Wuli’s own viewpoint, he saw only a sea of crowded heads and could even glimpse the distant scenery inside the metro car.
Yao Ruoning’s view could not reach those things.
Looking down meant staring at people’s crotches; looking up meant facing their shoulders or necks.
It was very uncomfortable.
After what felt like forever, he finally reached the transfer station, hurriedly got off the train, and did not want to stay a second longer.
It was a familiar place—he had once chased a thief here.
He walked around the station for a while, following the signs, and the number of people around him gradually decreased.
In the end, only one elderly man remained nearby, who looked to be around seventy years old.
Both of them seemed to be heading to Underground Level 2, so they arrived at the entrance together.
They stared at each other with mutual curiosity.
Yao Ruoning quickly showed the spirit of respecting the elderly and loving the young, letting the old man go through the gate first.
The elder did not refuse.
He gave a kind smile, scanned his ID card, waited for the verification process, and then the turnstile opened to let him through.
Yin Lin followed suit and scanned her own ID card.
Nothing unexpected happened, and she entered smoothly.
This should be the second time she was using Yao Ruoning’s identity—the milk tea shop had been the first.
It was also her first time officially using this ID card.
She walked into the passage, passed through several machines that seemed to be for fast unmanned security checks.
Today, however, there were people here—staff in uniforms watching the security checkpoint.
Even the old man found it a bit surprising; they were usually not visible.
After passing through, there was a very long downward escalator—so long it was almost frightening.
The elderly man ahead seemed used to it and could even take out his phone to look at it on the extremely long escalator.
A few minutes later, they reached the waiting platform.
It was not large—probably only enough for three train cars.
This was Yao Ruoning’s first time here, so she curiously looked around in every direction.
The platform design was very plain, even somewhat primitive.
There were no bright, flashy lights or neatly arranged polished tiles.
It was a bit better than a bare concrete shell but worse than a simply decorated space.
“Hello, young lady. First time here?”
The old man noticed her behavior and greeted her.
“Yes,” Yao Ruoning replied, not daring to say more for fear of slipping up.
“It’s rare to see someone your age coming here alone,” the old man said, searching through his vast memories.
“Usually only school spring outings organize students to visit these places together.”
Yao Ruoning knew about that.
Schools would organize group activities for students.
Some schools would visit zoos, some would watch collective movies, and some would go to outdoor barbecue spots.
Of course, certain special schools would also organize visits to Underground Level 2 and Underground Level 3.
Among those students, some were future workers who would come here for jobs, while others were simply curious.
From that time onward, teachers would explain on-site how important these underground facilities were to humanity.
At that moment, the train arrived, and lights appeared in the tunnel.
The old man was clearly a regular; he was very familiar with the metro schedule and had only waited a short while before the train came.
The train cars had quite a few stains and dust, showing a lack of maintenance.
The two of them boarded.
There were only a handful of passengers inside.
There was also a uniformed enforcement officer riding along.
All three cars were far from full.
Once inside, the lighting was quite dim, reminding him of many years ago when energy was still scarce and even the wattage of lights was restricted, making everything just as dim as now.
It only provided basic illumination for seeing, not enjoyment-level lighting.
The train waited two minutes before starting.
The speed was similar to the civilian metro above ground.
He could feel that they were still going downhill, heading toward even deeper underground.
Outside the windows was complete darkness; nothing could be seen.
The old man sat directly opposite Yao Ruoning.
He spoke again: “Because the city is so close to the sea, this metro line still has quite a distance to travel. The journey is long, so don’t be impatient. Right now there’s nothing to see anyway.”
Yao Ruoning also chatted with the friendly old man: “Sir, have you been working here for a long time?”
He almost called the man “old geezer” out of habit.
His usual foul mouth was hard to change.
“I’ve been working here for forty years,” the old man said.
Noticing her surprised expression, he smiled.
“I was supposed to retire, but I couldn’t sit still and couldn’t forget this place, so I kept working.”
Yao Ruoning: “Do you really like this place?”
The old man said meaningfully, “It’s not exactly that I like it. I’ve just gotten used to it.”
With that, the conversation box opened, and the two began chatting casually.
Yiri City had been one of the last few cities deliberately preserved when the demonic creature incident occurred back then.
Afterward, the city actively developed its underground vertical space, using soil as a natural protective barrier.
Industry and agriculture in this city had already been moved underground.
The technology tree had also invested heavily in underground technology.
Things that used to be grown on the surface could now be produced automatically underground.
Half an hour later, Yao Ruoning finally saw the scene the old man had mentioned.
Huge spaces had been excavated underground.
Load-bearing work was the top priority and had been done exceptionally well.
The ventilation system had also reached a level that felt straight out of a movie.
Vast stretches of farmland appeared in view, stacked layer upon layer within the giant spaces, fully utilizing the underground area.
The golden rice ears signaled a bountiful harvest and gave a pleasing sight.
At this station, the old man got off.
It seemed he worked in this agricultural zone.
Yao Ruoning also got off.
If she were one of those evil beings that wanted to destroy humanity, and assuming they could not defeat the Human Alliance and the magical girls on the surface, what would she do?
She figured she would also try every means to destroy these underground facilities.
Looking at this massive agricultural zone, she shook her head and felt it was not the enemy’s primary target.
It consumed too much electricity.
If she were the enemy, she would definitely aim for Yiri City’s lifeline—the power system.
Before heading there, she wanted to make contact with this old man first and ask about the underground situation.