Perhaps because she had been exhausted from the journey, Everly couldn’t remember when she had fallen asleep.
She slept deeply. By the time Everly finally had her fill of sleep and opened her eyes groggily, the sun was already high in the sky.
Mike and Sharon still had their assignment and had left early that morning. After getting up, Old John first tidied up the house, clearing away the layer of dust. When he finished cleaning and returned to the bedroom, he saw Everly sitting on the bed, clutching her crocodile plush toy and craning her neck to peer out the window.
“Good morning, little Everly.”
Old John scooped up his granddaughter and greeted her in a booming voice. Everly answered with a burst of sweet giggles. She melted softly into her grandfather’s arms, cooperatively wrapping her arms around his neck as he carried her downstairs and set her into a slightly worn baby chair.
“I found this in the storage room. I really didn’t expect that something Rachel used back then would still be around…” Old John gazed at the little baby nestled in the chair, and for a moment his vision blurred, as though he were seeing his daughter Rachel as a child.
With a sigh of emotion, he rubbed his granddaughter’s head, then took some formula and a small bowl from the side and began feeding Everly.
Everly stretched her neck and glanced into the bowl, seeing a yellow-and-white lump. When Old John brought the spoon to her mouth, she took a small taste and immediately recognized it—it was the same baby food the policewoman had made the night before.
Hooray, a brand-new menu had officially begun!
Everly didn’t hesitate anymore, eagerly chasing Old John’s spoon and digging in with gusto. And really, how could leaving Shelly not have been the right choice? That guy had absolutely no idea how to raise a child. Just look at her grandpa—he’d only learned this menu yesterday, and today he was already making it for her. If she were still with Shelly, her useless dad probably wouldn’t even realize that babies were supposed to eat solid food until her teeth had fully grown in!
After finishing the fragrant late breakfast, Old John patted his granddaughter’s fluffy little head. With a sense of ceremony, he picked Everly up and began introducing the “new member” to her new home.
This private gas station had been built after Old John’s retirement, funded by the savings he’d accumulated over half a lifetime. The two highways beside the station didn’t see much traffic on ordinary days. Aside from nearby residents, only the occasional hiker with a fondness for natural scenery would drive past.
With so few customers, the gas station itself had been built without much fuss.
The entire station was only about the size of a basketball court. Closest to the road was the fueling area, where four rust-speckled steel pillars supported a rectangular canopy. The canopy was painted red overall, with the station’s sign hanging from the side. Beneath it was a long, narrow concrete platform, on which a total of four fuel pumps were arranged back-to-back in pairs. Three dispensed gasoline, and one sold diesel—more than enough to meet the needs of passing travelers.
That was all there was to the fueling area.
Behind it stood two buildings, one on the left and one on the right, along with a garage fitted with a roll-up door.
The building on the right was a single-story structure, about forty square meters in size. Inside was a small convenience store—the canned food Old John had eaten the night before came from here.
Old John first took Everly for a walk around the store.
Because there were few passersby, the merchandise was rather meager. Only two shelves stood in the middle of the shop, mainly selling repair supplies such as glue, tires, and jacks, along with consumables needed for long trips—things like toothpaste and toothbrushes, shampoo, body wash, razors, and the like. There were also drinking water, canned meat, and instant foods.
All in all, there wasn’t much to see.
Still, from today on, Everly was one of those kids she’d once envied in childhood—someone whose family ran a “little shop.” Hehe…
Behind the checkout counter of the store was a door that led directly into the two-story building on the left. That was where Old John lived—and now, it was Everly’s home too.
After finishing the tour of the store, Old John turned through a small door into the residence and began introducing each room to Everly one by one.
In America, wooden houses are very common. This type of home is inexpensive to build, quick to construct, and because its assessed value is lower, the annual property tax is less than half that of reinforced concrete buildings—making it the top choice for many families.
Everly hadn’t expected that although Old John’s house was small, it was actually one of the rarer reinforced concrete structures. On the first floor, aside from the living room, there was a bathroom, a storage room, and a kitchen arranged around it. Going upstairs, the second floor held two bedrooms, an open-air balcony for drying clothes, and a bathroom with a shower.
Because his wife had died young and his daughter had left home early to drift about elsewhere, Old John had lived alone ever since retiring. Of the two upstairs bedrooms, one had been deliberately kept for his daughter Rachel. Inside were cassette tapes, CDs, and celebrity posters she’d loved during her teenage years—everything steeped in the feel of another era. Sadly, until the news of Rachel’s death arrived, she had never come back to stay even once.
The last room was his late wife’s bedroom. After finishing the tour, Everly thought the day’s “getting familiar with the place” segment was over.
Unexpectedly, Old John suddenly closed the door in a mysterious manner. He walked over to the wardrobe, opened it, reached inside, grabbed a hook hidden within, and pushed it upward—
Click. The sound of gears turning came from inside the wall. Right before Everly’s eyes, the panel on the inner side of the wardrobe split down the middle, slid apart to either side, and revealed a rectangular “wooden box” hidden behind it.
The box was just over a meter tall and about the width of two shoulders. Its shape looked very much like a small coffin standing upright. Given Old John’s build, he would have to lower his head, bend at the waist, and half-crouch to fit himself inside.
Holding Everly securely, he stepped into the box with practiced ease, then reached up and gave a firm tug on a pull cord at the top.
Click, click. The familiar sound of gears turning rang out again as the wardrobe panels closed neatly in front of them. Before darkness fully settled, a small lamp installed at the top of the box flickered to life, casting a dim yellow light downward—just enough to make out the interior of the wooden box.
Old John’s expression was calm as he grabbed the pull cord and tugged it once more.
Rumble. From far below, a low hum of an engine echoed. The wooden box shivered slightly and began to descend. It moved faster than a normal elevator, but still within a speed that humans could comfortably handle. Everly, cradled in Old John’s arms, watched as the thick concrete floor and the red-and-white brick walls passed in sequence before her eyes. She wasn’t scared at all—just amazed. This house looked so ordinary from the outside, yet it secretly hid a passageway!
Honestly… this was so cool!
After about ten seconds of descent, the space in front of them opened up, and the box elevator landed in a narrow, basement-like room.
The room’s lights were voice-activated and had already turned on automatically as the elevator descended. Old John carried Everly out of the box, and she craned her neck, eyes wide, curiously taking in her surroundings.
The basement was small and rectangular. Along three of its walls were vertical shafts—two on one side, one on another, and two more—making five in total, all extending upward. The box elevator Everly had just used was positioned along one of the longer walls. It seemed likely that this secret elevator embedded in the walls wasn’t limited to her bedroom—there were at least five hidden elevators throughout the house that led down to this space.
“Ta-da~ What I’m showing you now, little Everly, is your grandfather’s underground refuge. Only you and I know about this place—it’s our secret,” Old John said.
For someone who rarely smiled, Old John’s lips curved slightly, and his eyes shone. Like a child, a rare excitement flickered across his usually stern face.
He pointed around the small room and explained to Everly: “This is the elevator chamber. In case of danger, you can reach this place through any of the hidden elevators scattered throughout the house. Then, by entering a password, you can unlock the doors to the refuge—”
As he spoke, he carried Everly to the remaining short side of the rectangular room. In front of her appeared a large steel door painted white, with a keypad mounted on it. Its square, rigid structure reminded Everly a little of the laboratory doors she’d seen in some movies from her previous life.
The main part of the underground refuge was hidden behind this door.
“This door was arranged for me by a friend in the military. It weighs 1.5 tons. The outer layer is steel, and the interior is filled with […]. It’s explosion-proof, shockwave-resistant, and […], able to withstand direct hits of […]… You know, just this single door cost me a full ten thousand dollars!”
Saying this, Old John punched in a four-digit code, pressed the handle, and swung the door open. He proudly showed Everly the massive panel, nearly forty centimeters thick.
Whoa… that’s impressive!
Although she didn’t understand many of the technical terms, Everly still showed a look of amazement—she had never seen a door so thick and heavy before!
Her little startled reactions amused the old man. Having lived alone for so long, aside from the occasional passerby stopping for gas, he rarely had anyone to talk to. This underground refuge embodied half a lifetime of his effort; it was his proudest creation. Old John had always wanted someone to share his joy and sense of accomplishment with, but had never had the right person—until now.
Everly’s arrival filled that missing piece in his life. She was his blood relative and, in the future, would inherit this underground refuge from him. He could share this deeply buried secret with her without reservation. Even if little Everly didn’t understand a word yet, it didn’t matter—after living alone for so long, even he couldn’t help feeling lonely…
Matching the heavy steel door, the room’s walls were also extremely thick, estimated at nearly half a meter. Old John explained that the entire wall, including the ceiling and floor, was made of high-pressure concrete. On the outermost layer of the walls, he had also poured a layer of […]—this was the second time Everly had heard this word. She remembered that the steel door’s inner layer also contained it. Although she couldn’t guess exactly what this […] was, she remembered how it sounded, thinking that she could look it up later when she had the ability.
The two of them stepped into the room, and Everly’s eyes darted around in excitement.
Then she felt disappointed.
It was clear that Old John’s underground refuge was still only a half-finished project. In the under-40-square-meter space, half of it was cramped with beds, tables, chairs, cabinets, and other living essentials. To save space, the furniture was stacked one on top of the other, reaching the ceiling, coated with a thick layer of dust, and completely unusable at the moment.
In the corner hidden behind the furniture, a small separate compartment could be seen, with a door covered in frosted glass—likely a bathroom.
Moving her gaze to the right, the culprit for the room’s cramped state came into view: rows upon rows of steel industrial shelves, like those used in factory warehouses, occupying a massive portion of the space. It was clear that Old John intended this area to serve as a storage space, but most of the shelves were empty. Only the ones near the door held a few scattered items: compressed biscuits, some boxes of emergency canned drinking water, and a handful of firearms she didn’t recognize.
“I had ordered some military rations and common medicines—they were supposed to arrive this month. But that unreliable Shelly somehow lost you, and to scrape together enough money to hire the exorcist, I had no choice but to cancel the shipment…” Old John said awkwardly, patting his forehead as he noticed the baby’s gaze fixed on the empty shelves.
Only then did Everly realize that it was her grandfather who had paid for exorcist Wester.
Her fondness for Old John shot up even more. Looking at the modest underground refuge now, she didn’t mind it one bit.
—Who cares if it’s simple? In an underground building like this, the most important thing is the framework! Once the structure is in place, you can always add things later when you have the money!