18 Floors Above the Apocalypse novel Chapter 517

Mark glanced at the soldier standing before him, searching his memory for any recognition. "Do we know each other?"

"I'm from the Porras family," Bran Porras replied, scanning the crowd hurriedly. He found no trace of his relatives, a profound sense of loss washing over him.

Mark's eyes widened slightly as the memory clicked. "Aren't you Hunter, the third son of the Porras family?"

Bran's hopeful expression dimmed, but he couldn't help but ask, "Deputy Mayor, have you seen my family in Goldbridge?"

Mark shook his head. "I haven't, but Goldbridge is a massive base. It housed over 300,000 people before the land sank. It's not unusual that you haven't run into them. We survived the Arctic; I'm sure your family is out there, too. You'll reunite one day."

Life is unpredictable, but hope keeps us going.

When Christian realized who the soldier was, his eyes lit up. He pushed through the crowd urgently. "It's an honor, sir. I'm Samuel's father. He used to work security in the new town's villa district. Have you seen him at Hope Point?"

Bran, somewhat comforted by Mark's words, chose his own carefully. "I haven't seen him, but Hope Point is huge, divided into more than a dozen residential areas. He could be in any one of them."

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Bran steadied himself and got to work, verifying identities one by one.

Finding no issues, he directed them to queue for the boats and then transferred them onto the naval ships.

Next up were the 219 survivors on the ship. Despite Arthur's assurances, due process had to be followed.

Those with ID or some proof of identity were asked to present it for quicker processing.

The scene was chaotic. Many survivors were desperate. "The disaster was ten years ago! Who still has their papers? They were lost ages ago."

Arthur tried to calm the crowd. "Everyone, please, no need to panic. Just line up orderly. Even without documents, we can identify our fellow Australians."

Only a few had identification; the rest were grouped ten to a line, back to back.

The evacuation routine kicked in—singing the national anthem.

Soldiers watched their lips closely while Deputy Captain Liao had Arthur and the ship's crew keep an eye out for unfamiliar faces.

Indeed, some couldn't finish the song.

They were asked about their nationality and region, and survivors who had already been cleared were called over for a local dialect check.

Most of those from the official Sichuan base were survivors from the same province, and even those from other provinces should have picked up some of the dialect after being confined together for so long.

The survivors on the ship had always moved in groups; it was rare for an imposter to slip in.

The real challenge came next. Deputy Captain Liao had learned from Peter that there were over 300 Australian survivors in the Arctic.

This number, provided by Russia, might not be exact.

The coastline was in turmoil, with daily casualties, and even Arthur couldn't provide an accurate count, estimating no more than 300 at best.

In other words, among the throng of three to four hundred people before them, only a few dozen were actual Australians. The rest were impostors.

Yet they pushed forward, clamoring that they were Australian and demanding to board the ship.

Not only did they need to pick out their own nationals, but they also had to prevent ill-intentioned individuals from causing trouble amidst the chaos—a daunting task!

A slip-up could be exploited by those with malicious intent.

Arthur selected a group of survivors to stay and assist, while the rest were moved to the naval ship.

The crowd was noisy and frantic, pushing against the human wall formed by the soldiers, trying to break through.

Those with ulterior motives blended into the crowd, inciting the masses to surge forward and clash with the Australian soldiers, hoping to profit from the confusion.

Bran, nearly trampled in the commotion, let his temper flare.

He stepped back, shed his military coat, revealing the detonator and explosives strapped to his waist. "You really want to crowd yourselves to death? Come on then, today we'll all go down together!"

Arthur, eyes nearly popping out, stammered to Deputy Captain Liao, "Captain, this—this—"

Deputy Captain Liao cleared his throat. "Ahem, you'll get used to it."

It wasn't just Bran; several other soldiers stepped forward, explosives and detonators clearly visible on their belts.

Every ten meters, the tight crowd was forced to back away.

Bran barked, "Those who think they're Australian, group up in twenties and come forward."

Some came forward without hesitation, quickly forming groups of twenty.

Bran led them away from the crowd, a good fifty meters apart, still in rows of ten, back to back.

Many were confident, silently reciting the national anthem in their heads...