My Post-Apocalyptic Shelter Levels Up Infinitely!

by Stayrr

As disaster was about to strike, a group of survivors transmigrated into a desolated world and were challenged to a game of survival. From terrifying acid rains, to endless natural disasters, the heavens burn while the earth scorches, radiation is rampant, and nobody is spared from the dangers of this hellscape. The only way one survives is by building a shelter and slowly upgradin

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My Post-Apocalyptic Shelter Levels Up Infinitely! #Chapter 261 - Learning Center, The Black Marketeer's "Revelry"! - Read My Post-Apocalyptic Shelter Levels Up Infinitely! Chapter 261 - Learning Center, The Black Marketeer's "Revelry"! Online - All Page - Novel Next

Chapter 261: Learning Center, The Black Marketeer's "Revelry"!

"Mermaid queen!

"Only requires fifty thousand points and one psychic energy crystal to upgrade!

"80% and above favor of aquatic species, 100% favor of the mermaid clan!"

Among the three upgrade options, Su Mo's eyes fell upon the eye-catching third option.

Setting aside any mention of the six new abilities derived from this upgrade option first, this bug level ability alone—favor—was extremely incredible!

Unfortunately…

"If it was just fifty thousand points, that would be fine, but it requires a psychic energy crystal—that's way too expensive!"

Survival points could be earned again, and the upgrade options could also be slowly increased, but once psychic energy crystals ran out, one never knew how long the waiting period would be for the next one.

"I'll try the reversion first. If it doesn't work, then I'll have to think of other ways. I can't just splurge survival points on this."

He had gained only 900 points yesterday, and now he had to spend another 2800 points—that was equivalent to negative growth.

Although Su Mo had twenty thousand survival points now, when he saw 2800 of his survival points vanish, he still felt a trace of regret.

Fortunately, the transformation of the turtle armor on the ground rapidly caught Su Mo's attention.

The mermaid's blessing that initially took up only about 10% expanded all of a sudden like an inflated ball after receiving a boost from the system's green light.

The area was only this large; what should he do if he wanted to make it stronger?

He would take it back, of course!

The way Su Mo saw it, the system's green light was like the mermaids' support. Before the lion people knew it, they had been "stabbed" in the back by the mermaids who held the advantage.

By the time the lion people realized this, the mermaids had already seized 30% of the territory, and the lion people's domination was completely destroyed.

As the old saying went, two tigers could not share the same mountain.

When the lion people's dark green color reacted, both of them "scuffled" together immediately. Both struggled to gain the upper hand; one side would have the advantage for a while, but then the other party would take the upper hand.

After around five minutes, when the mermaids finally took half the territory, the system gave them their final boost.

This boost allowed the mermaids to advance with a small offense maneuver. The initial 10% of the territory was expanded in the end to 65% or so, which turned the tables.

Furthermore, between both these territories, an area taking up about 5% formed.

In this area, the two blessings miraculously integrated. They appeared to be fighting with each other, yet it also seemed as if they were intermingling.

"Good gracious, I just noticed that the mermaid's blessing is more powerful than the wind of the lion tribe!"

It was something new, seeing the magical power of "blessings" fighting with each other.

However, what Su Mo was most concerned about was the outcome of the reversion that had cost him 2800 points.

He gathered his focus. After the scanning that took half a second, a pale blue panel popped up with the new properties of the mermaid's blessings.

[Extraordinary Properties: Ocean affinity (lv 1)—growth potential (two and a half stars)

[Extraordinary Origin: Comes from a real mermaid clan blessing ritual. During the blessing process, hints of a second reversion were triggered to a small degree. The Mermaid Priestess of the mermaid clan personally hosted the reversion ritual.

[Extraordinary Ability 1: Waterproof (when the shelter is completely submerged under the sea, by default no water can come into the shelter. Furthermore, the seawater will not cause water corrosion on the outer layer of the shelter—can be upgraded to increase this waterproof ability)

[Extraordinary Ability 2: Breathing (after receiving the highest blessing that the mermaid clan bestows upon foreign races, oxygen will circulate on its own in the shelter—can be upgraded to increase the rate of circulation)

[Extraordinary Ability 3: Goodwill (the shelter and its respective players naturally gain the favor of marine creatures)

[Comment: According to legend, this is the best blessing the mermaid clan offers to foreign races in the sincere hope that they will be able to live peacefully in the ocean

"Great!"

"This is exactly what I anticipated. The waterproof capacity has increased, and it even added breathing as a special property.

"As for goodwill… could it be the talisman's doing?"

Retrieving the talisman from his storage space, Su Mo looked at it curiously. Currently, it had been recharged to 70% since the last time he had used it.

At this rate, he would be able to use it again after ten days or so.

Furthermore, the flood simulation on the talisman had become waves beating against the reefs. It looked incredibly mysterious.

Su Mo tried placing the talisman near the core. Sadly, this time, the talisman and the mermaid's blessing were inert. There were no "chemical reactions" between them like the last time.

"Looks like its energy has to be fully charged to trigger any special effects…"

Su Mo looked at the breathing frequency for both the talisman and the mermaid's blessing—they were both in sync with each other. He then turned his attention to the one and a half cores that had now grown bigger.

At a thought from Su Mo, both of the items disappeared into the underground shelter simultaneously.

In this apocalyptic world, being able to upgrade was a plain, simple pleasure.

Su Mo opened the iron gate of the first floor again and looked at the scattered refugees who were relocating to Iron Rock Mountain. He stretched long and luxuriously.

Humans were strange.

When a person was alone, the moment they saw members of their own kind, they would be eager to move over and live together.

However, once that person actually moved in, they would keep their guard up, afraid that the others would steal their "benefits". They would mount all kinds of defenses to protect themselves as well.

In particular, when the other party was more powerful, this strange mentality would become even worse.

This was the case for the refugees of the Candlelight village who were currently relocating here

.

Previously, when Su Mo had gone to their village, he could always see lingering respect on the faces of the refugees every time he saw them.

However, now that they had left their "hometown" and relocated to Su Mo's area, he could see a hint of fear in their eyes toward someone higher in rank.

They were afraid—afraid that Su Mo, in his current position, would misappropriate their benefits.

They were afraid Su Mo would use them as human shields and send them to their deaths in this apocalyptic wasteland with just a command.

Rebelling against the management of the Candlelight shelter was easy. If worse came to worst, everyone could mutiny and leave together to establish a new shelter.

However, they had come to Su Mo's territory, not of their own volition but due to circumstances; they were essentially trapped here for now!

"Human beings are always extraordinarily careful before making any decisions—these poor souls as well. It looks like no one has the courage to move everything they possess over here yet.

"However, maintaining a proper distance like this is good for them, and for me too!

"I'll just have to wait until father gets here. Then I can work with him to truly try and win the allegiance of these people!"

Su Mo was confident that he would be able to gain this sort of respect and admiration from the refugees.

He needed to be able to provide them with a sense of security, but not get involved directly, and keep things at this level. He would need to rely on giving Chen Shen instructions to maintain things as they were now.

To win over the hearts and minds of the refugees was far too troublesome and tiring for Su Mo at present…

There was no need for that either!

Su Mo stroked Oreo's head. She was lying down beside him as he sat in front of the shelter entrance. It was as if he had transformed into a statue of a "guardian deity".

By just sitting down like this, he was able to give every refugee who migrated here a complete sense of security.

However, once his days in the wasteland became busy, he would be engrossed in his work.

At the edge of the horizon, Moore was on his way back, driving Earth Tiger. The mission of storing all the food supplies into the warehouse was officially in full swing.

Sacks of sweet-scented wheat were unloaded from the car and transported in the refugees' storage space for storing in the warehouse according to plan.

There were translucent jade-white cabbages and thick red carrots, together with sacks of soybeans that had not yet been dried, all laid out in front of the shelter's entrance.

As the breeze blew, the fragrant scents would waft up!

As the owner of the base, Su Mo naturally did not get involved with such trivial matters. He merely gave occasional, brief instructions about where to place things and lazily rocked in his deck chair.

In the eyes of the refugees, Su Mo behaving in such a manner made his poweful "aura" stand out even more.

However, they had no idea that at present, Su Mo had called up the game panel with his mind and was rapidly looking through the sudden changes in the price of materials now.

By this time it was around four in the afternoon—the most sleepy and anxious hour for all human beings.

The price of materials in the market had reached a critical value. If prices increased again, the market could not hold so many shares, all of which would depreciate and could not be sold again at their original value.

If prices decreased, it would be a bottomless pit, and prices would drop until no one would even bother to inquire about them.

Therefore, a subtle equilibrium had been achieved. The sellers were not in a hurry, and the buyers had stopped buying too. Everyone was waiting for the market's next move.

Just a little nudge and the market could either soar high or plummet drastically.

For instance, if Su Mo began rapidly purchasing items at this time, it would be "good news" in the trading market.

Most people who were still selling at a lower price would cancel their orders immediately and observe Su Mo's next move.

If he continued to purchase, then everyone would increase the prices. The dealers would be like sharks. Once they smelled blood, they would pounce on their prey and embark on a buying spree of materials from these ordinary refugees.

As long as Su Mo still needed all these materials, he would become an easy target, enabling these dealers to take advantage of him.

Of course, if the dealers miscalculated, there was no need for Su Mo to continue purchasing.

If the Almighty Su were not even buying such materials, then they would become useless. Once the first small dealer could not handle the pressure any longer, he would rapidly bring down the whole trading market like an avalanche.

This manner of using information to control the market was exactly the same as Earth's financial trading market. It was the most powerful method that financial predators capitalized on.

Now, what Su Mo was going to do was spread the news and intervene from another angle, forcing these unscrupulous dealers into liquidation!

He greeted the refugees; beside him, he set down some of the wheat that had not yet been stored away. Then, he randomly called up the market panel and sorted the iron prices from high to low.

Currently, the highest price on the market was 1 unit of wheat in exchange for 1.5 units of iron.

The lowest price was a ratio of 1.2. If this could exceed 1, some of the small dealers would definitely get anxious and start dumping, causing the big dealers to have a run of awful luck.

Therefore, on the purchase page, once they saw any price that exceeded 1, the big dealers would buy in quickly to make sure that the market would not crash due to ordinary retailers busy cutting their losses short.

This was the last stubborn stand of the big dealers, which was also the best time for Su Mo to make his move.

"The price is very stable without any supervision. It looks like playing these suckers in the wasteland will be great fun.

"From the looks of it, none of you learned your lesson during the last round of trade in the seed market. It's not even been that long, and you're already up to your old tricks again!

"Let me teach you all some of the wasteland's norms then!"

He shot a cold glance at the several "familiar" names listed first in the trading market and their arrogant, aggressive manner of speech during purchasing.

Su Mo gave a cold chuckle and took action decisively by immediately purchasing iron that was on the list of the top ten highest prices.

Wow! Almost a hundred units of iron appeared in front of the Underground Shelter instantly, and a hundred and fifty units of wheat disappeared at the same time as well.

The top ten listings had all been snapped up. Naturally, this was big news to the people who were anxiously paying attention to the market prices.

There were even people discussing it on the World Channel.

"Oh, sh*t, someone bought iron at a high price. Don't tell me it's the dealers again. Why don't these stupid dealers just die already!"

"Exactly, buying so much iron—can you eat it or drink it?"

"Originally one unit of iron could be exchanged for one unit of grain, it's a price acknowledged by everyone. In the end, these dealers still want to mess around, f*ck!"

"I'm still waiting for the price to drop so I can buy some to build my ship, please don't go up!"

"The price is already so low, and you're still not buying? What are you waiting for? If you're waiting to grab some overlooked bargain, then go do it in hell!"

"People are buying iron in large quantities with a ratio of 3 units, hurry up and put it on the list if you want to sell!"

"Oh sh*t, three units, what the hell is going on???"

"The iron on the market's top ten price list was bought by Su Mo. It's Su Mo who's buying in large quantities!"

"F*ck, the Almighty Su is buying materials???"

When this first piece of news broke, it was as if Su Mo—seated in front of the Underground Shelter's entrance—had fanned into being an invisible price whirlwind.

Hundreds of thousands of orders for the 1.2 ratios of iron were canceled in a second. Even the 1.5 ratio orders were fast vanishing.

It only took less than a minute for the iron panel to become totally empty. Even the other raw materials panels were starting to empty as well.

It was like Su Mo was buying in large quantities and had snapped up all the materials sold in the market.

However, a good thing like this did not last long. After one or two minutes of brewing, the material prices began to appear in the market once again.

The ordinary refugees who were still waiting for the price to tank suddenly realized that…

Iron prices had surged to 3 units of wheat in exchange for 1 unit of iron!

Copper prices had increased significantly from the original 1.8 units to 5 units!

The ordinary retailers who had been reluctantly selling were shocked to realize that the iron originally being sold for a 1 unit ratio was now going for 2.5, 2.8 and all of them would be bought by the dealers.

Was… was it Chinese New Year again?

Su Mo looked at the large quantities of food supplies appearing on the ground, then turned his gaze to the iron that he previously thought would become worthless, watching it swiftly vanish.

In this vast wasteland, every refugee who had labored so hard to mine these materials was utterly shocked.

However, when Su Mo called up the World Channel to watch for a while, everyone was lowering their slightly stooped bodies, just like when the disaster had come.

With the heavens as a witness, any ordinary refugees who had sold their materials at high prices were all kneeling devoutly!

Once again, they chanted Su Mo's name.

At this moment, the Almighty Su was truly a God!

A bona fide "Prosperity God"!

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Chapter 262: 0.19, The Story of The Capital Alliance!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Iron ore price, 4.6 units of grain in exchange for 1 unit.

Copper price, 6.8 units of grain in exchange for 1 unit.

Lead price, 3.5 units…

Wood price, 0.675 units…

At this point, the price of countless base materials began swiftly increasing as if they were mounted on rockets.

Furthermore, after intervals of one to two minutes, Su Mo would purchase an amount of a specific material to stir things up, providing an even greater impetus.

In the private message channels that Su Mo had no access to, numerous black market dealers were madly communicating information at the moment.

"Su Mo is buying lead—hurry up and increase lead prices now, bloody hell!"

"Oh sh*t! Su Mo's buying copper again, what about copper prices—contact the others quickly. Jack up the price fast, come on, hurry up and raise the price!"

"So what if too many people are dumping on the market? Just swallow all of it up! All of it! Buy as much as you can!"

"There's only this much base material. If we can survive this dumping crisis, we'll be able to get back everything we lost in the seed market!"

"..."

Clamor!

Anxiety!

Panic!

After the first wave of rapid price increases, many black marketeers had actually already noticed that something was wrong with the market and wanted to opt out.

However, under these circumstances, no one knew when this spree had started or when it would end.

Everyone had no wish to sell off their supplies in a bearish market. They preferred to wait until things were almost at the point of psychological pricing, then pass the buck to the next sucker.

However…

Human greed was a never-ending affair.

When the price increased up to 4 units, everyone would think that it might increase to 4.5; when it reached 4.5, then they would imagine it could go up to 5.

If an individual did not wish to sell off, and someone else did not want to either, the price would naturally go up instead of falling.

Prices surged from 1.2 to nearly 6. Batch upon batch of base materials were delivered through the market to different areas in the wasteland.

Toward the end, when most of the ordinary refugees' goods had been sold to where they would have to go mining again, the mad rush in the market eventually slowed down.

One had to be aware that this was a worldwide market with billions of people and hundreds upon thousands of units in trade.

If ten thousand people were mining iron ore, twenty thousand units of iron ore could be sold in a minute.

If one hundred thousand people were mining it, twenty hundred thousand units could be sold in a minute!

In farming, however, even if tens of thousands of units were planted and several hundred thousand units were harvested, it was impossible to be able to reap even a first round of harvest after merely a few minutes!

Therefore, despite all the black marketeers worldwide communicating with each other, the market was slowly starting to behave oddly under the increasingly terrifying volume of goods.

No one was buying, but people were selling!

The black marketeers who were buying could not purchase more. Meanwhile, the refugees who were laboriously mining on Iron Rock Mountain had not stopped their labors for even a moment.

No one was buying at 5.5 units?

How about 5!

No one was buying at 5?

The price immediately dropped to 3!

In this massive market with billions of people participating, every black marketeer thought that they would be that one person who could get away. However, when the "avalanche" struck for real, all of them went under.

Prices were dropping rapidly. In addition, for the last five or six minutes, Su Mo had not made a move to continue purchasing.

When the first black marketeer could no longer stand the pressure and began thinking about selling off the materials they had accumulated, the price fell shockingly fast.

In the first minute, the price for iron ore was 3.3 per unit.

By the third minute, it was 1.15 per unit.

By the fifth minute, it was 0.48 per unit.

…

By the tenth minute, iron ore prices were… 0.29 per unit!

In just ten minutes, the iron ore price ratio fell straight from its initially still-stable 1.2 all the way to 0.3 in an extremely exaggerated trend.

Furthermore, this trend showed no signs of stopping yet—there were still large amounts of goods being put up for sale.

They had to get out of the market!

In fact, they had to get out now!

The market in the wasteland was unlike the Huaxian stock market on Earth, which could not fall more than 10% in a day.

In this game where everyone in the whole world was participating, in twenty days when the big version update happened, and everyone was starting to head to the new world, all these base materials would become useless.

When that time came, iron ore would not be able to maintain its current price of 0.29—in fact, even 0.1 would probably be considered a high price.

What a crazy market and what a crazy drop.

The price of iron ore was falling; all the other base material prices were no exception. This business spree happened all of a sudden and ended even more unexpectedly.

Even those who were participating in the market were not sure who was stirring up this storm and who was the "mastermind" controlling it.

As the instigator, Su Mo was delighted as he sat in his deck chair and watched market prices falling drastically as well as the black marketeers going mad.

Although he had anticipated that these people might fall for his scheme, he had not expected that they would be taken in so completely.

"I'll let prices drop a little more and then snap everything up! I'd be letting them off lightly if I do it now!"

"Yes, it'd be an insult to our Almighty Su's style to do it now!"

A soft voice came from beside Su Mo's ear. When he turned around, he abruptly realized he had no idea when Zhong Qingshu had slipped in to lean against the deck chair.

Oreo had been initially lying lazily on the ground. When Su Mo turned around and eyed her, she gave him a sly, devilish smirk and even tilted her head in Zhong Qingshu's direction, signaling to Su Mo, 'Hurry up! What are you hesitating for?'

"Oh, you rascal of a dog, you've defected to the enemy camp, have you now! Your fruits for tonight get reduced!"

Su Mo lightly rapped Oreo's head. After catching Zhong Qingshu's playful gaze, he stood up after giving Oreo's head a rub, walking out as if nothing happened and behaving like he was not taking anything seriously.

"Hey! What's with that expression of yours—stop looking at me! I really wasn't involved, this is just them digging their own graves!

"The one they wanted to undercut was the Almighty Su—that has nothing to do with me, Su Mo!"

This stern, virtuous statement seemed perfectly reasonable at first to the ear. After pondering over it, however, it amused Zhong Qingshu so much she started giggling immediately.

Her silvery bell-like laughter was like a breeze blowing through the forest, resonating sweetly in the empty first floor of the shelter.

Oreo, who was sprawled out on the ground, started barking loudly in amusement, infected by Zhong Qingshu's laughter.

Su Mo had been able to be fully at ease with Zhong Qingshu in the ruins of time because he was fully confident in his abilities and his status as a seer.

However, seeing how timid Su Mo was in the real world, Oreo tugged on Zhong Qingshu's pant leg, indicating she should hurry and catch up with him.

Walking at a brisk pace once both of them were side by side, Su Mo's embarrassment at getting caught had also faded to a great extent.

"Fortunately, they're all black marketeers. Otherwise, if you were trying to undercut ordinary people, your hard-earned reputation would be destroyed!"

Su Mo shrugged his shoulders when he heard that and shook his head.

"It doesn't matter. Human greed never ends. There are definitely a lot of black marketers here, but the truth is, many ordinary people want to get their hands dirty as well and make a fortune. These are clever people."

Changes in a market with millions of people were already startling enough, much less a market with billions of people.

The black marketeers were one factor if such extensive market movement was desired, but the bigger factor was still the participation of ordinary people.

Based on Su Mo's estimation, seeing such extreme price fluctuations in less than half an hour required the involvement of at least millions of ordinary people for such an extreme "manifestation" to be displayed.

As for these ordinary people who did not get out of the market in the end, he could not tell if they would blame him for their misfortune.

"Reputation is indeed a good thing. Actually, you're right—the black marketeers who were controlling the market behind the scenes used reputation to hook up with each other as well. From what I know, it began with a few financial predators on Earth calling for action.

"After that, as more and more corresponding individuals joined, this capital alliance was finally established. Eight people controlled the structure of the upper levels.

"However, when you disrupted the seed market prices previously, one of them suffered too many losses. No one knows if he fled or if he was disposed of, but there's only seven of them left now!"

Zhong Qingshu counted on her fingers while she spoke. This little background story caught Su Mo's interest, and he listened carefully.

Human beings were social animals. Furthermore, at the start of everything, it was not like everyone had been transported here without any form of structure. In fact, they had already been staying in officially set up shelters for almost two months before being transmigrated.

Therefore, in terms of being compliant, things had not been as bad as imagined.

It was also this point that could be considered the initial step for establishing the institution of society—the early official shelters had an Earth-like appeal.

Now that they had a gathering place, after getting through the first disaster and gradually settling down, most people began to form groups through the chat system.

The ones who majored in literature made friends with those who recited poems, and couriers and food delivery riders became buddies.

Those who loved playing badminton and table tennis became partners who would go work out together. The national airdrop and local door-to-door delivery also found common ground.

Besides these groups, the ones that recovered the fastest would naturally be the organizations that could be of benefit in the wasteland.

These ranged from the simplest self-help organizations to wilderness survival groups, and the veterans' combat groups later on.

As the evolution of these groups speeded up, the Wall Street financial group that had been transmigrated from Earth was naturally unwilling to be left behind.

In terms of stamina, they had sat every day in their offices playing number games; even killing a chicken would be hard for them.

As far as their survival abilities went, without toasters, water dispensers, or food delivery, their abilities in looking after themselves were worse than children.

In terms of intelligence, there were only so many occasions when they could demonstrate their brainpower.

Therefore, the only way to come to prominence was by relying upon their skills in their past lives...

Finance!

After contacting each other secretly, eight individuals under 50 years old, known as the "movers and shakers" of the financial oligarchy, put out a call for action and established the capital economic alliance.

With the help of their reputation, the alliance recruited a significant number of endowed members. These endowments, naturally, were also supplies!

Under the guidance of someone who specialized in finance, purchasing and selling off in the market had allowed them to accumulate a significant fortune before the welfare disaster had struck.

After that, as the economic alliance expanded into a bigger group, things kept on snowballing.

From reselling for profit at the very beginning until the third disaster struck eventually, they took control of market prices right away.

Of course, this series of financial stories that started from absolute zero could be written into a magnificent masterpiece of no less than two million words—that is, until they encountered Su Mo.

"So, because they bought hundreds of pounds of fish from you first, you stirred things up later?"

Zhong Qingshu stared at Su Mo's face, which displayed complete candor, and her jaw dropped as if she had discovered an entirely new continent.

"A catty of seeds was selling for ten catties of grain at the time—how could I just sit there and watch!"

Su Mo gave an embarrassed smile. This was a topic he would choose to gloss over light-heartedly, treating it as if it never happened.

God was allowed to have a dark past.

However, for humans… this was unacceptable!

As the beneficiary of both these financial maneuvers, Su Mo stood against all the black marketeers. If he were too high profile, it would definitely cause a string of unnecessary problems.

As long as Su Mo had not yet reunited with his sister, naturally, his mentality was to cut down on expenses whenever possible as far as these sorts of problems went.

While he asked about other related matters, he saw that the market price had come within an acceptable range.

Zhong Qingshu was also very perceptive. She immediately excused herself and headed off somewhere else, allowing Su Mo to have the personal space that he needed.

Su Mo returned to the entrance of the shelter. Standing knee-deep in piles of supplies, he used his mind to call up the market panel.

The current price of iron ore was now…

0.19!

Chapter 263: It's You! Old Devil Su!

A unit of wheat weighed more or less around 0.15 catties. It was not a constant value either.

This was one of the rules of the game panel's calculation system. Some of the wheat had a higher moisture content, so less of it would be weighed. If the moisture content was lower, then more of it would be weighed.

However, in general, based on the ratio after the wheat was ground into flour, nine units of wheat would produce around a catty of flour. This was a sufficient amount of carbohydrates for an adult human's daily activity in the wasteland.

To excavate one unit of iron, a mine was needed. People who were fast enough could excavate 14 units within an hour, whereas the slow ones could only manage 8 to 10 units.

Therefore, as long as one excavated for six hours every day, by calculating based on an average of 10 units, one could obtain 60 units of iron.

With all this iron, based on the current 0.19 ratio, it was enough to obtain just over a day's supply of food.

When calculated like this, it was obvious how outrageous the buying price was when the black marketeers were deliberately purchasing earlier.

"0.19 is enough, if it drops any lower, the ordinary miners won't be able to make ends meet!"

Su Mo did not wait any longer after he looked at the market and noticed that the price of copper had fallen to 0.33. He began to transfer the crops into the trading space in batches, waiting to snap up the goods.

Currently, to build a level three mini destroyer, the maximum number of steel plates had to be maintained around 5000 pieces to be considered secure.

Calculating based on the fact that producing one steel plate would require 13 units of iron, and 65000 steel plates were needed, there were only just over 8000 units now in the base at most, excluding the ones that needed to be stored up. There were still 60000 units of iron that needed to be purchased.

The requirements for copper were much less. A mere 7500 units were needed, excluding the units in the base. Purchasing 6000 units would be enough!

In the currently collapsed market, even counting the purchased iron that needed to be cut into two, 12000 units of iron would still be needed to fulfill the requirements.

A volume of materials like this would naturally be a bulk order if the market were stable. However, given the situation now, even after Su Mo had finished buying all the materials for the mini destroyer and the shipyard, he did not stir up even a ripple in the market.

Across the world channel, there was always someone crazily spreading the good news when Su Mo came onto the market to buy purchase goods.

However, in the end…

It was like the boy who cried wolf—the first few small batches of purchases had completely exhausted the retailers' enthusiasm for ripping others off.

Even though numerous black marketeers paid lip service, no one was willing to buy over these materials anymore.

Su Mo had only spent 26760 units of wheat—the equivalent of 4000 catties—in exchange for the materials needed to build the level three mini destroyer.

As for the materials to upgrade the shipyard, those were even cheaper—it took merely 1200 catties to obtain the necessary amount.

Once he pressed the collect button, it was as if a large hole had torn open in the sky. Iron rained down, piling up all around the shelter.

Fortunately, the game panel seemed to have obtained the positions of the iron and copper from the previous purchase. It still utilized the accumulation approach, piling the remaining iron evenly to one side.

The neat, tidy piles extended in an iron wall of one to two thousand meters long, glittering under the sun with a cold, metallic gleam.

The refugees clucked their tongues in wonder as they watched the scene from far away.

Of course, they were not surprised. After all, previously, the shelter had harvested several million catties of wheat, so this amount of materials purchased was still within believable range.

"Once I've finished with this round of trading for base materials, all that's left is to collect the shipyard module in the world channel, and I'll be done!"

Su Mo strolled along the dirt path left by the massive wall of iron and inspected all the materials with satisfaction before returning to the shelter. He then began making his last big purchase before the disaster.

There were more than a dozen types of shipyard modules, both big and small. Su Mo threw everything together regardless of whether or not they could be used at the moment.

The outcome was good. Not long after he sent his message, as private messages began coming in, the power module for three of the basic modules showed up first.

Once it was paired up with a type of materials card that was already on the market, he could start constructing it right away.

The longer he put it off, the more things could change.

After spending 510 disaster points for the delivery fee, and 860 catties of wheat as trading commodities, Su Mo successfully collected four of the ten types of modules.

These were the power module, test module, import module, and detailed carving module, respectively.

As for the previous materials input module that was for sale, the seller must have seen Su Mo's identity and thus asked for an exorbitant price, obviously taking advantage of the fact that they were the only one who had this item.

Su Mo could not be bothered to reply to such people. Once he had ascertained that he could directly put in the materials manually, he blacklisted the idiot right away without hesitation.

There was a flash of light. Su Mo reluctantly paid the delivery fees and looked at the four large new items that appeared, then used the storage space to move them easily to the first-floor garage.

Clank…

Clang…

The modular technology was very stable; the furnace in the garage was still faithfully producing steel plates.

After examining the diesel generator and making sure that there were no problems with it, Su Mo closed the big iron gate of the shelter and walked out, his mind at ease.

As long as it was a sunny day in the wasteland, even if it was five o'clock in the afternoon, there was still no sign of it getting dark.

The entrance to the warehouse off to one side was also piled full of items.

Under Moore's dutiful guidance, the convoy that was transporting the supplies had made three trips already.

For humans that had lived on the wasteland for only a month, they were frighteningly bold and daring.

Earth Tiger could originally transport only seven persons at a time, but after attaching two little carts behind, it could transport at least 20 people.

It only took them three trips to transport almost 80 cubic meters of goods back very efficiently.

When Su Mo walked out of the gate and locked it, the two militiamen standing at attention off to one side saluted him.

The salute seemed presentable enough, having been taught to them by the four prison guards, but to Su Mo—who was from a military family—it looked rather amusing.

Su Mo patted the militia man's left shoulder. When he saw the flattered, excited look on the man's dark face, Su Mo gave him a friendly smile.

"Ahem… both of you don't need to stand here on guard now. Go help them on the mountain!"

"But…"

"No buts, hurry!"

When it came to Chen Shen's and Su Mo's orders, the militia's reactions were very real.

The first thing they thought of was the consequences of disobeying Chen Shen's order, then the consequences of defying Su Mo's order.

After pondering, both of them immediately shuddered, then saluted again, and jogged off in the direction of Iron Rock Mountain.

Under the setting sun, their shadows grew longer and longer. In this empty low-lying land, it brought Su Mo some solace.

"In the past, my way of thinking was very simple—I always wanted to spend the rest of my life with my family.

"Now that I've become more powerful, the burdens on my shoulder have gotten heavier!"

Human beings were all ambitious at heart.

If they had never experienced the authority and the feeling of being able to decide whether others lived or died, that was all to the good. Only a few could stand on their ground once they had tasted this power.

Su Mo shook his head, sighing at how much his mindset had changed. The corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up in a faint smile, and he followed along behind the shadows.

In the words of a famous Chinese poem, the sunset was beautiful but, alas, dusk was falling.

Iron Rock Mountain was solid and bulky; there was nothing around to obstruct it from view. The light was ideal; Su Mo could enjoy the feeling of being enveloped in sunlight.

During such good weather, in particular, he could appreciate the mountain's magnificent beauty even more.

After around half a day's hard work, a considerable amount of iron ore had been dug up and stacked on the ground at the foot of the mountain.

Even before he went up, Su Mo could hear the faint clanging noises coming from the platform on the mountain top.

The villagers of Candlelight Village were mining.

They were also rebuilding their homes on this unfamiliar "low-lying" land.

The villagers had "money", so in terms of equipment and basic tools, there was nothing to worry about.

They were wielding good quality iron pickaxes, although it still took considerable effort to chip the iron out.

However, compared to the miners on Earth, this was still countless times easier. Even an urban white-collar worker could labor for half an hour without rest.

Along the twisting mountain road, Chen Shen had arranged for the militia to stand guard every two hundred meters or so.

After enjoying salutes one after the other, Su Mo had just arrived at the platform on the mountain top when he encountered his first "old friend'.

It was the lioness!

When he had first met the lioness, even though the lion clan could not be considered wealthy, the lioness had been the leader of the clan. Her fur had a glossy sheen, and there was a faint trace of pride in her eyes, absolutely comparable to the demeanor of any male lion.

Given her magic powers as well, Su Mo had been genuinely shocked during their first encounter.

The second time they met, the lion's people base camp had been destroyed by enraged kobolds. All the lion people had fled and scattered.

On a windy night, the remaining lion people had attacked and set the kobold castle on fire. The lioness was wearing ragged clothes at the time, but when she stood in front of all the lion people and cast her magic spells, her sheer presence was even more powerful than in her first encounter with Su Mo.

Their third encounter occurred after the kobold castle was destroyed. On the way to Candlelight Village, Su Mo had killed off several lion people in a row. The remaining lion people all wore fearful expressions, including the lioness. The lion people's confidence had been completely shattered; they looked as if they were utterly intimidated.

However, when Su Mo looked at the dull-eyed, practically "bald" lioness before him, her body covered with red welts and wounds, he shook his head slightly and approached her.

The lioness's whole body had been securely tied and immobilized with vine-woven hemp rope that was thick as an arm, using the standard military-style tying method. Even though she was in her prime, it was impossible for her to escape.

Furthermore, this method of restraint meant that she was forced to look at the ground. Even if Su Mo came near her, she was still unable to lift her head to see who it was.

One step… another step…

Su Mo kept going until he was in front of the lioness, then stopped.

The lioness was feeling a little dizzy after being under the hot sun all day, so she did not pay attention to the fact that something had suddenly blocked the setting sun's rays. Head down, she continued staring aimlessly at the patterns of light and shadow on the ground.

She knew full well what her end would be as a captive, but she did not abandon her will to live. As an individual with religious beliefs, to meet her death now would result in her going to hell.

Therefore, she still believed that she had a chance to escape.

However, this small flicker of an idea was arrested when a familiar scent wafted to her nostrils.

"Who is it?"

It had been a long time since Su Mo had seen the lioness, and by now she was able to speak human language like the white-robed kobold.

Her tone of voice also betrayed the curiosity she felt.

The scent of the person in front of her was very familiar, yet very unfamiliar as well.

Remembering scents was not the lion people's forte, so she was only able to identify that this might be…

An acquaintance?

Without giving the lioness much time to think, the person in front of her crouched down. He even took off his black mask at the same time, revealing the face that she had been "thinking about day and night"!

"It's you!

"Old Devil Su!"

Chapter 264: Rebuilding The Village, A New Start

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The lioness's reaction was extremely intense. After crying out the name "Old Devil Su", she began struggling hard even though she was tied up very tightly.

She twisted and turned. The expression in her eyes was not one of hatred, nor was it to pounce on Su Mo and attack. Instead, it was…

Dread!

The lioness was afraid, and she wanted to escape from Su Mo's "devil clutches".

Oreo, who was taking stock of her surroundings, displayed an understanding expression when she saw the lioness in such a state and heard her involuntary whimpering.

However, Oreo did not approach her to communicate. Instead, she lay down quietly behind Su Mo and kept a watchful eye on the lioness.

The area fell silent for a while, except for the sounds of the rope chafing against the lioness' body as she struggled. Su Mo stood there like a specter and expressionlessly stared into the lioness' eyes.

Having an aura was very important.

Su Mo had verified this during many previous fights.

Even if the lioness was bold, after locking eyes for over a minute, Su Mo's gaze still unnerved her, and she stopped moving.

"I'm seeing you in a different light now—you actually learned to speak human language in such a short time!"

Su Mo pulled at the knots that bound the lioness and loosened them a little. He did not sound like he was talking to a captive.

As the lioness' former working partner, although he detested what she had done at the time, some of his hatred had dissipated by now.

The lion clan definitely had to die.

However, before this, while there was still time, Su Mo would try his best to wring out every scrap of information about the true purpose of foreign races coming to this world, as well as the offerings, portals, and all their survival secrets. That was the top priority.

"Old Devil Su, stop pretending to be nice. Your heart is blacker than the most wicked sorcerer in the lion clan!

"Don't think that you can tempt a loyal lion priestess, and don't think you're going find out any information!"

Nobody knew where the lioness had managed to have been influenced by the most recent human culture. She spoke in an erudite manner and gave off the sense that she was unafraid of death.

Still, from her evasive eyes, Su Mo was able to see that she did not want to die at all.

"Fine, fine, fine. It's alright if you don't tell me. I won't force the issue, but… there's not much time left for you."

"After the next disaster strikes, if I still can't get the information I want from you, then I guess…

"There's no need for the lion clan to continue to exist!"

Su Mo reached out and stroked the lioness' head with a "friendly" smile on his smile. He behaved nothing like the demon she had accused him of being.

However, it was this very behavior that made the lioness' entire body shiver with fear. She was so terrified, she was bereft of speech.

Killing a pseudo god might be a heroic act in the eyes of Su Mo and the other humans.

However, in the eyes of the foreign races who personally witnessed it…

That was an act no less than that of a god.

In the eyes of the lioness, Su Mo's status was the same as that of the Lion God. How could she not be afraid of such a personage?

"Keep an eye on her. Provide her with her usual quantity of food, there's no need to decrease it.

"I want to make sure she'll survive past the twenty days!"

"Yes, sir!"

When the two militiamen who were guarding the lioness heard Su Mo, they stood to attention immediately and answered, saluting.

Su Mo gestured, signaling for them to take the lioness to someplace cooler, then continued heading toward the center of the platform.

The area of the platform was around five hundred square meters. It could not be considered large, but it was not small either.

Currently, excluding the walkway at the outer edge of the circle, the three hundred square meters in the center now had a pit dug out of it one level deep.

All the Candlelight Village refugees had only used half a day to dig half a meter down into the ground. Their efficiency was astonishing.

Only three to five more days were needed to rapidly build a shelter that was hidden under the platform.

The villagers down there worked even harder when they saw Su Mo observing things as he walked along the path. The clang of pickaxes increased rapidly; the sound was clear and melodious as if they were forging iron.

The ordinary people were working; the management was working as well.

Even Wu Feiguang, the leader of the Candlelight shelter, chief security officer Qi Qin, and Chen Shen were sweating it out in the pit.

Su Mo was satisfied as he watched them.

There were no rules in the doomsday wasteland. What he feared most was the formation of different hierarchies.

Once these hierarchies had consolidated, the most visible result would be the rapid decline in the team's progress. Everyone would slow down and slack off.

Currently, since the management was leading them by example, the villagers' efficiency was completely understandable.

However, there was still one problem with this construction project.

Reality was no game. To hollow out a suitable mountain to live in, it was not just the stability of the structure that had to be taken into consideration. There was still drainage, lighting, distribution, and a whole series of other issues.

Su Mo, a semi entry-level expert, observed for a while, then pointed out a few obvious problem areas. After he had given a little guidance in correcting these issues, Chen Shen, who had been giving instructions below, climbed up onto the small path and approached him happily.

"Brother Su, that lioness is a stubborn one. I heard the other brothers telling me she was cursing all the way back here!"

Unlike everyone else, Chen Shen was the one who initiated contact with Su Mo the most. In fact, Su Mo would sometimes consciously or unconsciously minimize his aloof aura.

The relationship between the two was not tense. Instead, it felt like the interactions between a superior and a junior in the military on Earth.

As he mentioned the lioness, inquisitiveness flared up in Chen Shen's eyes. He was obviously extremely curious about the world here.

"She's right there. If you'd like to know anything, just go over and ask her!"

Su Mo clapped Chen Shen on the shoulder and did not avert his gaze. With a faint smile, he continued guiding the refugees on how to chisel out the drainage grooves.

The refugees below were slightly envious when they saw how close he was with Chen Shen.

After getting his orders, Chen Shen might have verbally said he did not want to do it, but his body language betrayed him. He hastened in the direction of the lioness, very obviously intent on seeking information.

When Su Mo saw this, a slight sense of anticipation stirred in his heart.

Interrogation was a technical skill; it was also something that could try someone's patience.

When faced with Su Mo, the lioness had strenuously resisted.

Perhaps if Chen Shen took over, the results might be a little better.

After this small episode, construction was still proceeding in a hurry. It was hot during the daylight hours in the wasteland; the temperature was around thirty degrees Celsius.

However, when night fell, the temperature would drop drastically until eight or nine degrees Celsius before stopping. The next day, the temperature would go up again.

Therefore, a prototype had to be finished by tonight to make sure everyone had a place to sleep. They could leave carving any details for tomorrow.

After guiding them for a while and realizing that there were too many things being omitted, then coming up with a temporary makeshift solution, Su Mo took the opportunity to sit down off to one side when the refugees were taking a break.

Instructing Oreo to be on the alert, Su Mo opened the system's training ground and used his mind to enter it.

There were no academic tutorials involved in the training ground, but in terms of technical skills, there was always something to learn.

Su Mo spent 100 points and randomly picked a basic tutorial for digging a hole. He then fully immersed himself into the learning of that skill.

This took him from the basics of digging a hole to basic excavation, then from the structure of the drainage system to maintaining the stability of the structure.

This only cost him 400 survival points. After receiving a set of normal-quality tools as a reward for passing the four basic training tutorials, Su Mo exited the training ground with a mere thought.

In the training grounds, he had spent four hours learning the skill, but in the outside world, only a moment had passed.

"That's to be expected from a function that costs 10,000 points to unlock. Unfortunately, I have too few disaster points for that now. The second stage requires 1000 points; I can't afford that at all.

"But I can try taking this naval pilot tutorial that only costs 1500 points when I go back the next round!"

Su Mo seldom used the training ground function. To put it another way, so far, he had only used it a few times in the beginning, just to see what the novelty was about.

The main reason was that it was too expensive.

The time currency could offset a certain amount of survival points spent.

However, once Su Mo realized that the time currency for a day could only offset 100 points, he decided to deduct the survival points in the end.

Currently, a set amount of between 600-1000 survival points could be collected daily, but to obtain any more time currency, he would have to wait until the ruins of time opened again the next time.

Su Mo continued to sit for a while. After the refugees were done resting, he cast his mind back to the things he had mastered in the training ground just now and sorted them out.

Su Mo put away the whiteboard tools that the system had rewarded him with. This time, when he stood up and looked down at the structure of the cave that the refugees were building, he suddenly realized…

There were so many mistakes and potential dangers in their construction of the mountain pit.

Not only that, when he saw these illogical shortcomings, his mind would automatically generate various ways to improve them.

"Not bad at all. Spending those 400 points was worth it!"

Just like everyone said, knowledge was priceless. Su Mo stood up and began guiding the refugees anew to begin a new round of modifications. By doing so, he was also able to more thoroughly master what he had learned earlier.

At the same time, once the mountain pit below had been modified, aesthetically it looked better as well.

From top to bottom, there was a sense of a different kind of architectural beauty.

With an expert to guide the construction, the sunset hours seemed much shorter. Everyone was so involved in their work that before they knew it, night had come, and the torches had been lit.

Moore, who had been transporting goods the entire day, came up the mountain slope like a refugee, rubbing his stomach and complaining of hunger.

The bear washed his face, brushed off the dust on his body, and waited for the shelter's cook to serve him a simple yet "lavish" dinner.

When he saw Moore unabashedly sitting down with the refugees and eating his dinner,?Su Mo sat down as well at the same table with the Candlelight Village's management team.

There were soft, white, yet toothsome steamed buns.

There were savory, refreshing, crunchy pickled radishes.

There was bold-flavored, yet aromatic spicy cabbage.

For the finale, there was soup… Chinese cabbage and tofu soup!

This simple meal with just two dishes and a soup had been an ordinary home-cooked dinner on Earth when people were too lazy to go out to eat.

However, in the wasteland, these were rare delicacies.

No one had dared to pick up their chopsticks since Su Mo had not done so. Everyone turned expectant gazes to him, from the ordinary refugees to Wu Feiguang and the management team.

"Hey, where's Leader Chen? Hurry and ask Leader Chen to come back, it's time for dinner!"

The thought suddenly occurred to Qi Qin when he noticed that Su Mo was looking around. Standing up, he turned and gave the militiamen behind him these instructions.

However, before the militiamen could take any action, Chen Shen's sprinting figure had appeared on the distant path.

Chen Shen was still very far away, so the others could not see his expression clearly, but Su Mo saw the excitement on his face at a glance.

Good heavens!

Had he really managed to get some information out of the lioness?

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Chapter 265: Hope Village, Era 2.0!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Oh my, dear Leader Chen, everyone is waiting for you!"

Qi Qin stood up immediately when he saw Chen Shen running over, making light of the matter and helping to extricate Chen Shen from the situation at the same time.

Under the current circumstances, Chen Shen had committed the cardinal sin of being late. If Su Mo were a bad-tempered person, he could easily kick up a fuss on the spot.

However, once he had come up to them, Chen Shen did not beg pardon for his mistake as expected. Instead, he was shouting with joy.

"Old Qin, you can't blame me today, am I not waiting for the others too!"

As he spoke, Chen Shen strode forward. Ignoring everyone else's reactions, he bent down by Su Mo's ear and began to whisper.

Chen Shen had a deep voice, and he lowered it even further on purpose so that only the two of them could hear. The others had no idea what he had discovered.

However, based on his facial expression as he was whispering to Su Mo, the others barely needed to think to tell that it was good news.

As to how important the matter was, they could only try to guess from Su Mo's calm, unruffled expression.

In the time it took for three to five breaths, Su Mo's furrowed brows relaxed with a trace of delight. Only then did Qi Qin finally relax and sit down.

Good gracious, this fellow Chen Shen had done something meritorious again!

After around 20 or 30 seconds, when Su Mo realized the atmosphere was getting tense, he quickly reached out and patted Chen Shen's back.

"Let's eat dinner. This matter can't be rushed, we need to plan long-term!"

"Alright, Brother Su, I'll give a military order on your behalf. Ten days, no, five days—I'll take her down in five days!"

After Chen Shen received confirmation, he sat right down beside Su Mo in the seat that had been reserved for him.

Everyone else had already seated themselves, and no one did anything untoward. As Su Mo picked up the first white steamed bun and held it up, a round of cheers erupted…

Dinner had begun!

Woohoohoo!

This was the same as when a communal hotpot was served in the countryside. Apart from Su Mo, there were seven other people sharing the same table. The other tables all had the standard fifteen people.

Every person took a steamed bun. Once the basket was empty, the cooks would serve up another round of buns on the table.

After the dishes were finished, a new round of prepared dishes was served. By mixing in the gravy from the previous dishes, the taste was even better.

When sitting together and eating with a group of people, it did not matter if it was just a plain and simple meal—the food tasted even better with company!

Su Mo's appetite had been stimulated. He ate five buns and drank two bowls of Chinese cabbage and tofu soup until his stomach was as round as a ball. Then he finally stopped eating.

As for Moore, who was seated in the crowd, he had consumed an entire pot of soup all by himself from the beginning of dinner until now. His appetite was frightening.

The mountain peak was festive and full of hubbub, with sparks of fire soaring into the heavens.

Sitting on the top of the mountain with militia guarding the road leading up, the refugees had absolutely nothing to worry about. They were not uneasy at night like when they had been living in Candlelight Village.

The one regret was that there was not enough liquor for everyone during this joyous first celebration in their new home. All everyone had was just a sip of sake.

The management team had been waiting until everyone had almost finished eating. After getting Su Mo's glance of approval, Wu Feiguang stood up.

"Ahem, ahem. Please settle down, everyone. Today is our first day here after our move. We ought to throw a housewarming party!

"Think about how much effort was put in for one bowl of porridge and one meal, and how hard it was to weave one piece of fabric!

"It's been a month since we all came to this strange wasteland world, and everyone's life has changed drastically.

"In the very beginning, we lived precariously until we built our own village, and now we've come to this terrace on a natural moat!

"We began by digging for roots and cutting tree bark, then harvesting wheat and bran, and today we have white steamed buns and Chinese cabbage and tofu soup.

"I'm sure everyone here knows who brought us all these things!"

After going through a period of "crash course training", Wu Feiguang had completely absorbed some of Su Mo's skills from his first speech.

All these words must have been brewing for a long time within his heart and now flowed extraordinarily smoothly out of his mouth as he spoke.

The people below were influenced by his speech. One by one, they raised one arm in the air and shouted loudly, "It's the Almighty Su. We're able to live such a good life because we've followed the Almighty Su."

"Without the Almighty Su, we'd probably have starved to death. I'm following the Almighty Su my entire life!"

"Long live the Almighty Su!"

When there were fewer people, everyone felt awkward saying those "embarrassing" words, but when there were many people mingled into one big crowd, every one of them expressed their sentiments vociferously.

Wu Feiguang looked down at the lively crowd, then looked at Su Mo, who nodded slightly. With absolute assurance, Wu Feiguang continued shouting.

"Previously, we were villagers of Candlelight Village. Now, under the leadership of the Almighty Su, we'll pursue a better future.

"I'd like to announce that the inaugural village assembly on Iron Rock Mountain officially begins now!"

Applause! Applause!

Right after he said that, thunderous applause erupted from below. Everyone looked toward Su Mo with shining eyes.

Previously Su Mo was merely external aid, disassociated with Candlelight Village, and kept at arms' length.

However, now that they had relocated here, it seemed as if everyone had acknowledged Su Mo's leadership and decided to follow him for the rest of their lives.

These two things held completely different meanings.

After having honed his skills extensively as far as this sort of scenario went, Su Mo did not experience stage fright at all. He immediately stood up.

Looking around and seeing the respect on every person's face, he nodded and began speaking.

"Chief of security, report the number of people here now!"

Pow!

Qi Qin, who was sitting up straight, stood up instantly and began reporting in a loud voice.

"Yes sir!

"During the present relocation of Candlelight Village, we have had 0 injured and 0 deaths. The total number of people relocated was over 137 individuals.

"Out of this number, we have 1 infant, 12 children, 48 men, 77 women, all healthy with no injuries.

"Report complete!"

Qi Qin gave a proper military salute and sat down after Su Mo nodded in approval.

"Leader in charge of supplies, report on the current amount of supplies!"

The person in charge of the supplies, Hong Kangcheng, followed suit and stood up to report the count of various types of supplies.

The next position was a newly created one—the chief of the intelligence unit—and was headed by Pei Shao. He would be in charge of making a reconnaissance of the terrain surrounding the shelter and reporting on the progress of the construction.

All of them were ex-servicemen. Not only could they carry out orders swiftly and resolutely, but even their reports were guaranteed to be clear and succinct.

The initial applause and cheering of the ordinary folk below had evolved into shock. After everyone had made their reports, it became…

Pride!

They had all been participants in these outcomes. Before the reports, even if they had held out a trace of hope, they had never expected the end results to be so unbelievable.

This time around, everyone in the shelter had amassed sufficient rations to last for at least a year.

Even if there were no harvests the following year, everyone could survive with all those supplies.

"Silence!"

Qi Qin stood up and bellowed when the crowd began to grow noisy once more, and they quieted down again.

"I'm very gratified to hear all your reports. Everyone's effort and hard work all this time hasn't gone unnoticed.

"From modern life… until the present…"

For the last stage of his "ascent to the throne", Su Mo tried his best to give a detailed roadmap for development based on the current shelter plans.

Not only that, in terms of the plans for the upcoming disaster, he provided specific implementation approaches as well.

Everyone had been mentally prepared for a dictatorship due to Su Mo clearly explaining every law and every rule, as well as the fact that all of them were now in this apocalyptic wasteland.

When they realized things were not as strict as they had previously expected, they voted unusually fast. Twelve laws and eighteen decrees were passed.

Of all these laws and decrees, Su Mo only emphasized that there was to be no killing among the various shelters, as well as no fighting and stealing.

As for the other rules, most of them were based on the regulations and restrictions for community development.

For meritorious performances, which was what everyone was most concerned about, Su Mo also made a promise.

The smallest merits would be rewarded with supplies, while the biggest ones would be rewarded by being allowed to stay in the Underground Shelter. As long as all the conditions were fulfilled, the rewards would be released the same day itself!

As the atmosphere reached a high point after he said this, Su Mo stopped talking about the rules and began his final encouragement.

"From the Candlelight Shelter all the way to this terrace on top of a mountain—this is our first relocation, but not our final destination.

"I declare that Candlelight Village 1.0 has officially ended. Hope Village 2.0 is now launched.

"From today onward, everyone here is part of Hope Village and will officially be under my care!"

Su Mo raised his arm high into the air, shouting out the name of Hope Village. For a while, shouts of hope began to swell.

Again and again, victorious shouts rose from the terrace to the heavens and dispersed in the darkness of the low-lying land.

"The credit for the shelter's excellent results is not mine alone. It is everyone's achievement.

"So, right now at this moment, I'm inviting everyone to pick up your wine-drinking bowls in front of you. Let's celebrate and drink to our setting foot into the new 2.0 era!"

What the Huaxians paid particular attention to was talking business over dinner.

The atmosphere rose another notch when watered-down wine was served. When the Hope Village signboard that had been carved earlier was hung up, the revelries officially started.

Of course, after half an hour of celebration, when the night construction crew began working again, everyone hurriedly returned to their positions.

With torches for illumination and their familiarity with the place in the daytime, as well as the cool night breezes and their enthusiasm after a full meal, everyone's work efficiency was much faster compared to the daytime hours.

As an instructor, Su Mo was dedicated as well, rectifying and controlling various major aspects of the construction.

At last, before 11 o'clock, several large caves that could accommodate people for the first night had been hurriedly chiseled out.

As for more detailed work on the caves and the platform, they could slowly carve that in over the next few days.

"I'll go back first. If there's any problems here, just send a message to me at any time.

"Keep in mind, think twice before you do anything."

Regardless of whether it was on the management side or in other aspects, Chen Shen was a surprisingly quick learner.

Standing on the edge of the cliff after giving instructions to Chen Shen, Su Mo felt satisfied as he looked at the bright young man.

After briefing Chen Shen on all the matters that needed attention, Su Mo leisurely wandered back to the shelter with Moore and Oreo.

As expected, it had not been that hard to loosen the lioness' tongue!

After Chen Shen had "interrogated" the lioness using mockery and barbed words, even though she still refused to surrender, she had inadvertently let fall some important information under skillful baiting.

The foreign races had their own chat channel!

It was just like the channels that humans had, except for the market and creation panels. The foreign races could actually see the same game panel, and they could communicate with each other and learn things as well!

This included the lioness being able to speak human language—she had managed to fulfill some sort of requirement to learn that skill.

After Chen Shen told Su Mo of this important discovery, both of them immediately had the same thought.

There was a traitor within their ranks!

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Chapter 266: The Difficulty Of Building A Ship Is Harder Than Trying To Reach The Sky

A human traitor was revealing information about human beings' activities to the foreign races.

After the foreign races received this information, they would disseminate it to others on the chat channel, forming a hunting network.

Currently, on the wasteland, there were no foreseeable threats for the time being because the area was far too vast.

However, once the oceans were accessible, it would truly be like what had been mentioned on the World Channel—most of the humans would band together and head to the new world.

During this voyage, if the human traitor leaked information about the route, the foreign races could gang up and ambush the humans beforehand. That would really spell the end for mankind.

"F*ck, things are getting increasingly complicated.

"What worries me the most now is if the foreign races on both land and sea join hands to conspire against us. We need to contact other official shelters as soon as possible to think of ways to solve this."

Based on his experience, the officials might have more information available and more ideas on how to deal with things.

For example, given a situation like this, perhaps the humans could entice some "traitors" from the foreign races.

Relying on these traitors, humans could also convey false information through the chat channel.

In this way, they could lure out other foreign races and send them to their deaths, using misdirection to the humans' advantage.

"The lioness…

"Might be quite a good way into the enemy's camp!"

Su Mo drummed the fingers of one hand on the table and looked at objectives he had designated for the ocean disaster in his plan. After some thought, he added another one…

Inciting defection on the enemy's side!

If going against this world was the grand, ultimate goal, then the foreign races would be a smaller target in this ultimate goal.

Treasure chests could be obtained by killing foreign races. These treasure chests contained modular technology that humans desperately needed, or there might be any number of unusual supplies.

As long as the foreign races were not as thick in the head as a metal brick, given the history of human wars, it was completely possible to find a "partner" if sufficiently generous incentives were given.

"At present, there are two things that must be ascertained.

"The first is whether or not these foreign races are genuinely dumb as bricks, and if the newly emerged marine foreign races are in the same camp as the land-based ones.

"The second thing is whether or not there truly is a traitor among the humans who has already been in contact with the foreign races."

After jotting down these two points in his diary, Su Mo looked at the clock and saw that the hour hand was already close to one in the morning. Even though his current energy levels could not be compared to anyone else's, he was already feeling a little sleepy.

The more he found out, the more he kept thinking.

Chen Shen was still consciously pondering on how to loosen the lioness' tongue so they could lure other foreign races to their door.

However, Su Mo's thoughts were occupied with the "imminently dangerous" situation that mankind might be facing in twenty days when the ocean disaster hit.

If there was truly communication between the foreign races, they would probably join forces since human beings were as enticing to them as a particularly fine cheese.

It was like closing around prey during a hunt, herding all the relocated humans to a specific location, and eliminating them all in one fell swoop.

If this was not handled properly, not only would mankind suffer heavy losses in this war, but they would also be in an extremely difficult situation when they went to the new world, where the foreign races were more than several times more powerful.

"The new world is such enticing bait!

"For the time being, there's no need to think too much first. I can only hope Chen Shen will be able to get more information from his interrogations."

Su Mo got himself ready to go to bed, returned to his bunk, and stared at the dark ceiling. It did not take him long to fall sound asleep.

Even though the human beings in the wasteland had reached this point in their survival situation, at least Hope Village would still be able to develop steadily.

Time was very pressing; nonetheless, there was no need to be in such a hurry!

Everything could be planned in the long run!

…

The night passed quietly by…

When the sun came up, the village's temporary, yet simple and fulfilling agricultural life resumed once more without disturbance from anyone.

The countdown was 19 days before the ocean disaster. Due to the relocation of Candlelight Village and the establishment of Hope Village, Su Mo managed to collect a few more survival points—a grand total of 1980 points, which covered what he had spent for the reversion of the mermaid's blessing.

Waking up in the morning and taking advantage of the first glimmers of dawn, Su Mo took all the necessary materials and situated the first big factory affiliated with the Underground Shelter. He set it down on the ground 500 meters away…

A miniature shipyard!

This shipyard—large enough to build a spaceship—did not require a massive construction site, given it had only four accessory modules.

Except for a rumbling sound like thunder, there was basically no more noise after the framework had been built.

Before the dust had even settled, a large shipyard had appeared impressively on what had previously been empty land.

When put together with the base materials that were piled up around, it closely resembled the materials prepared before building a big city.

Moore, who had eaten his fill last night, was still sleeping when early morning came. Su Mo immediately went inside the shipyard and began researching how to build the destroyer.

Time slowly ticked on, from six o'clock to seven o'clock, then seven-thirty…

When a handful of villagers who were light sleepers woke up, they abruptly realized that what had been empty land yesterday…

Now sported scaffolding eighty meters long.

"What the f*ck. Come over here quickly and take a look—what's that!"

"This can't be where that warship is going to be built, right. F*ck, how can eighty meters only be that long!"

"You're talking nonsense, 80 meters is as tall as a 25-story building. Think of which floor you live on!"

"Was this here when we came yesterday???"

The early morning hours were still and quiet.

The voices of these few loud individuals were particularly shrill.

Some of the villagers who could not sleep were about to mumble something and try and sleep some more. However, the sounds from outside were increasing in volume.

"We just went to bed around two o'clock last night. Do you want to die suddenly, waking up so early!"

The villagers climbed out of their beds, rubbing their bleary eyes grumpily and cursing. Just as they were getting ready to storm out and vent their annoyance, they were shocked at what they saw from a distance. All traces of drowsiness vanished completely.

In front of the Underground Shelter was a shipyard with sunlight reflecting off it, looking like a crouching dragon on the ground.

The black glossy scaffolding firmly secured the dragon's skeleton, which stretched for miles. It possessed both the intimidating quality of steel and the majesty of a massive living creature.

On the exterior of the scaffolding were dense networks like blood vessels that connected various areas just like a spider web. It looked very intricate.

At the very front was a small workshop that occupied two hundred ping of space. Steel plates were automatically delivered out through the conveyor belt, laying the base.

An area of around twenty meters was already stacked with steel plates, forming a flat surface. Under the sun, it reflected a different kind of light.

Wow!

The spectacular scene of building a destroyer could hardly be witnessed by ordinary people on Earth, much less on the wasteland.

At first, there were only a handful of people discussing the matter. This slowly became a dozen, until at last, everyone was talking about it and coming up with different strange ideas, much like a boiling pot.

A few teenagers had begun to imagine that Su Mo was some sort of magical cultivator with powers that could move mountains and reclaim the sea through just a gesture.

The management team of Chen Shen and the others, who had been in a meeting, were startled into coming out. They had received Su Mo's message earlier, so they were at least mentally prepared.

When Chen Shen saw that the crowd was getting out of control, he waved in the air, took out his speaker, and began energetically giving instructions.

"Stop looking, stop looking already. When the time comes, everyone will be able to board it and head to the new world. Now hurry up, get washed, have your breakfast, and get to work.

"Today is the first day of our village being established. Rules are rules, if you can't get your mission done, you will only get half a portion of dinner.

"Yesterday, every one of you said that you'd be working through the night. Don't complain about not having enough to eat for dinner tonight, then blaming the new rules for being too strict!"

Qi Qin brought out a gong from nowhere and began sounding it.

Under these urgings, the refugees began to scatter, returning to their places so they could start freshening up.

The schedule for building the destroyer was extremely tight.

It was not easy to build a new village either.

They had to derive a warehouse, an event space, supplies space, training space, and a big hall, all from the initial large mountain cave.

Su Mo certainly did not have the time to keep checking on these details. He could only rely on the remaining people to come up with ideas for construction.

Chen Shen, who had been given his marching orders, would naturally not dare to slack off. After the meeting ended in the morning, they had approved the first foreign trade after the establishment of Hope Village.

They had traded 300 catties of grain in exchange for a full set of blueprints personally created by a famous team of architects on the World Channel.

The grain had been collected using 10% of Hope Village's taxes. Su Mo even took 5% out to contribute to the village's operating fund so he could help the village develop.

By eight-thirty in the morning, after everyone had taken their places, the first breakfast of Hope Village was served.

Hele noodles!

It was one of the Shaanxi people's favorite noodles!

With an ordinary noodle press, a handful of thin chewy dough strands became chili-oil seasoned noodles.

These noodles were very filling and were also the "plain meal" that the Shaanxi people would reward everyone with after a relocation.

Su Mo, who was busy at the foot of the mountain, had now done away with the hassle of preparing meals every day, relying on "takeaway food" instead.

A big pot of soup, two bowls of noodles—it was extremely tasty.

Paired with the garlic that several villagers had secretly planted but eventually divided among everyone, breakfast was utterly satisfying.

"Alright, you can go back now. These are all single-operator machines, there's nothing you can help with!"

After Su Mo had sent the meal delivery person away and observed Moore still bringing people to transport supplies, he sat in the shipyard and set to work anxiously.

The shipyard was modular technology that had was supposed to be fully automated. However, when it came to actual positioning and operation, it was actually not as easy as he had imagined.

The shipyard's initial application parameters were to create a spaceship that could navigate through space.

Therefore, after inserting the destroyer's blueprint, there was no response from the shipyard's built-in system. It only showed a schematic diagram of where things were to be positioned.

Fortunately, even though modular technology had made rapid advances, it did not leave out the earliest mechanical devices.

By controlling the rather old-fashioned lever, one could also choose to grasp a steel plate and place it in the proper position diagrammed in the blueprint.

If the shipyard's display flashed red when the steel plate had been positioned, it meant that it had not been laid properly. If not, it was positioned in the correct spot.

In the eyes of everyone else, Su Mo had been working at a fast pace the entire morning. Using all the steel plates that had been manufactured yesterday, he had laid out about twenty meters or so.

However, by the time lunch rolled around, Su Mo, who had a backache from all his hard work, had only corrected half of his mistakes. He had barely completed the positioning and angles of fifteen steel plates.

By controlling the shipyard's specialized welding arm and connecting those fifteen plates together, he finally finished one-fifth of the ship's bow.

On Earth, the process was largely similar for constructing a destroyer that was up to standard.

The first step was cutting. The technical term was "plate cutting"—cutting out steel plates that made the grade to complete the first step.

The second step was plate bending by using industrial presses and rollers to mold the steel plates into the desired shapes. Even the angles could not have the slightest disparity.

This step was what set manufacturing standards apart. Whoever had the better plate-bending skills and the higher degree of accuracy would be the one with the strongest ship.

The third step was what Su Mo was doing now—assembly. This was putting together all the prepared materials and shaping them into a hull.

"Building a ship is even harder than trying to reach the sky!"

People built ships in teams of more than ten individuals, each with specific responsibilities and duties.

Here, other than being the sole mechanical arm operator, Su Mo would have to learn all other knowledge from scratch.

Even with the aid of memory transmission after he went to sleep every night and the Mind Ring to help him concentrate, when it came to putting things into actual practice, controlling the machines took a lot out of him.

Su Mo had been working nonstop until around four o'clock in the afternoon; he felt dizzy, and his body began to show signs of low blood sugar. He stopped what he was doing, took out a bottle of psychic energy water, and drank it in one gulp.

"Upgrade—I've got to upgrade. If I keep hoarding survival points, I might be dead before this ship is finished!

"I still have 20,000 points left! It's enough for a small upgrade. I'd love to see the next development in modular technology after that!"

Su Mo focused his thoughts with the mindset of spending whatever survival points needed when it became necessary. There was a flash of light, and the upgrade plan for the shipyard slowly appeared before his eyes!

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Chapter 267: The Fifth Technology, Synthesis!

When he had analyzed the workbench, furnace, or even the thermal weapon laser manufacturing machine, all products of the mysterious modular technology, the system had not provided an option to upgrade them from a technological standpoint.

However, when it came to the shipyard, as if hearing Su Mo's desire, after two ordinary upgrade options were provided, the system displayed a third upgrade option thoughtfully.

[Miniature Modular Shipyard (Rare)]

[Description: The foundation of the spaceship industry and pioneer of modular technology, it manufactured its first series of ships for Operation Shining Sword.]

[First upgrade option: Aerospace shipyard: Replaces all the missing modules. Strengthens the level of the modular technology's artificial intelligence. Slightly decreases energy consumption when manufacturing spaceships. Slightly increases the level and attributes of the finished product. This upgrade comes with a random set of spaceship production blueprints. Survival points required (137500)]

[Second upgrade option: Ocean shipyard: Restructures the miniature shipyard and transforms it into an exclusive modular ocean shipyard. Forfeits the shipyard's production and access to the spaceship technology chain. When manufacturing ships, there is a certain probability of the ship obtaining additional attributes. Enables the function of importing ship blueprint designs, which can be manufactured with the aid of the shipyard's auxiliary support system. Substantially enhances manufacturing efficiency and accuracy. Survival points required (12800)]

[Third upgrade option: Synthesis ??? shipyard: Comprehensively upgrades the shipyard. Unlocks a new technology chain beyond the current modular technology—synthesis technology. Once the object for synthesis has been specified, the user only needs to input the required energy for the shipyard for production. Production time increases depending on the complexity of the object and the quality of the materials used. As long as sufficient energy is provided, any object may be synthesized over time. Survival points required (35506580), psychic energy crystal (500), complete modular technology chain (1), ?? crystal (50), synthesis core (1)]

[Comment: Theoretically, imagination is the only factor that constrains the development of human technology. Ideas that seem far-fetched to you could possibly have been achieved somewhere else!]

"Synthesis technology?"

"Is synthesis technology actually the fifth technology chain after modular technology?"

"Doesn't this mean that the game is a product of synthesis technology as well?"

Su Mo looked at the few lines of texts displayed by the system, quickly absorbing the information on it like a dry sponge that had been placed in a bucket of water.

The third upgrade option was more like a sneak peek provided by the system into the benefits that could possibly await him in the future.

"In fantasy novels, things can be created with just a wave of the hand, while in science fiction novels, it seems that energy can replace matter."

"The third technology chain for humans was 3D printing, and the fourth one was modular technology. It seems that the fifth one, synthesis technology, is even more fantastical."

"However, modular and synthesis technology are miles apart. What could have possibly taken place to advance technology to such an extent?"

As he obtained more information, Su Mo seemed to be able to draw similarities between this and the mystical and magical miracles that were often depicted in Huaxian mythology.

It was exactly as per the system's comment, in the general view in modern science, there were only two things that constrained humanity's development of technology…

Lifespan and…

Imagination!

Watt saw a boiling kettle, and invented the steam engine.

Archimedes discovered the physical law of buoyancy while having a bath.

Newton discovered the law of gravity when an apple fell on his head.

Edward Jenner realized that milkmaids would not catch smallpox, and invented the smallpox vaccine.

…

Even though Su Mo could not see what had transpired in between the two technological eras, he could make some vague assumptions based on the system's description…

During the era of modular technology, there had to be one, or a group of people, whose boundless imagination proposed such a crazy hypothesis.

Which they somehow eventually managed to achieve!

"Could it be that this game panel was created by these people by utilizing synthesis technology?"

As the thought emerged, there was one possibility that appeared in Su Mo's mind that could not be shaken off—rearing poisonous parasites!

From the perspective of the host, one did not actually want all of the poisonous parasites to die.

On the contrary, he needed all the poisonous parasites to kill each other, and the last surviving one would naturally be the strongest.

"For the people who created this game panel, it's evident that their ideal final outcome would be to have nurtured the strongest survivor in this wasteland world."

"It wasn't hard to figure this part out based on the constant disasters and the design of the game rules that pit each race against each other. However, the problem lies with what comes after."

"What's the significance in all of this? Is there a purpose?"

"What role does the system play? In this war of poisonous parasites, the system is obviously at a higher level than the host!"

Su Mo looked at the control panel, and then at the scaffolding. His mind was filled with various thoughts.

There was no need to talk about the power of synthesis technology. If it could transform energy into matter, there was no need to ever worry about food and supplies in the future as long as there was sufficient energy.

This was also the last frontier of energy development, where energy was all one really needed to possess everything.

However, the power of the system was clearly not just limited to this. Based on the description, it seemed that technology that surpassed synthesis technology could be invented by the system if he just provided it with enough survival points.

"I'll have to figure out the purpose behind this war or poisonous parasites, otherwise, I'll end up always being at the mercy of the game."

"During the ocean disaster this time, after picking up sis, I'm going to test the game's limits."

Su Mo did not choose to record this down in the diary, as it would expose his thoughts. He preferred to keep it in his mind, and not fantasize about it.

As for the three types of upgrade options that the system provided, there was no need to think too much about it.

WIth just a thought, 12800 survival points were deducted, and the second upgrade option was selected; the other two upgrade options began to fade away slowly.

Although the first upgrade option with the spaceship blueprint was tempting to Su Mo, it required too many survival points, which meant that he could not upgrade it within such a short span of time.

Of course, there was no need to hurry. Now that he had the shipyard prototype, he only needed to collect all the materials once again after moving to the new continent, and construct a new shipyard there for the Aerospace shipyard upgrade.

Right now, it was better for him to build a proper level three destroyer; that was the top priority.

After spending the survival points, a blurry green light spread out, as if sensing the presence of outsiders. This time, the upgrade process was a very gentle one.

Under the sunlight at four o'clock in the afternoon, the green light was like a visitor from outer space, gently attaching itself to every piece of scaffolding and the control panel like a dream.

After five minutes, as the green light vibrated, the control panel that was previously simple began to transform slightly; the colors on it changed drastically.

The grey and black rust faded away, replaced by a silver-grey color that exuded a high-tech feel, complete with three matching connecting screens; it was a sight to behold.

The manually-controlled mechanical lever had transformed into something that resembled a glove.

As for the scaffolding, there seemed to be tiny tentacles growing on them, which were to ensure that the system could control every part of the structure in a timely and efficient manner.

The transformation process was a slow one, but Su Mo was not anxious. Halfway through, he even went to Hope VIllage to inspect their progress, and brought back his dinner in passing.

Now that Hope VIllage had been officially established under a complete system of governance, the villagers had high levels of enthusiasm.

Furthermore, with the assistance of various equipment and tools, along the way up the mountain pathway, a few small platforms had been cleared out.

A few of these small platforms were covered with a thin layer of soil, and were planted with garlic, chilli, and other such vegetables that did not require much nutrients to grow.

Some of the platforms were made into a distillation area in preparation to obtain distilled freshwater during the upcoming ocean disaster.

As for the high ground where everyone would be staying at, there had not been much progress. They were still waiting for the consigned architecture drawing plans to be delivered.

"When the drawing plans arrive, let me take a look at them. You can continue construction work after I make sure that there are no problems with them."

Su Mo called for Chen Shen and, after giving him a few instructions, he looked at the flourishing Hope Village and nodded his head in satisfaction. He dawdled on the way down the mountain as he traveled back to the Underground Shelter.

The advantages of clearing out all the enemies in his surroundings back then were clearly shown now.

These twenty days before the ocean disaster arrived, and before heading to the new continent, were precious and peaceful for Hope Village and the Underground Shelter to farm and develop.

They only needed to develop properly within these twenty days to avoid being left in quandary when the time came to head to the new continent.

On the other side, the shipyard's gradual transformation process, which had gone on for about one and half hours, was finally coming to an end.

There was a layer of sky blue protective lacquer that covered the scaffolding, as the blurry green mist spread itself out.

When it had first been constructed, it looked like an off-brand shipyard due to the incomplete modules installed. After the transformation, it began to exude a futuristic aura.

"Tsk, tsk, the protective lacquer doesn't smell. It dries fast, and is waterproof. If I can get my hands on this formula in the future, it would make a great coating for the Underground Shelter!"

Su Mo touched the painted structure as he took a step into the "shabby" control room, and was surprised by what he saw.

The previous control room had an open-air design that provided no sense of security.

After the transformation, large glass panels covered the four walls of the room, which provided him a complete view of the shipyard through the glass.

Moreover, the thoughtful system even attached a 60-inch LCD screen that was attached from the top right corner of the room.

As Su Mo fired up the power supply, an overview image appeared on the LCD screen immediately.

The corresponding camera was attached to the highest part of the scaffolding, facing downward.

Via the overview image, which covered the entire shipyard, Su Mo could fully observe the construction progress within the shipyard, and could also see some of the steel plates that he had partially assembled earlier.

The image was not fixed and could be manually adjusted in terms of zoom and camera angle in order to observe specific details.

As for the previously unresponsive main system, it currently displayed the blueprint of a seafaring ship that was available to be imported for production.

Su Mo tried to tap on the screen and, after importing the blueprint, an interface that detailed the new manufacturing method appeared on the screen.

"It's a new sea ship with a total of six modules. Three manufacturing options are provided."

"First option, leaving the entire construction process to the shipyard. Consumes the most energy and computing power. Based on its level of efficiency, at least fifteen days are required to complete the hull, and twenty-two days to manufacture and install the parts. It's too slow and, most importantly, no special attributes can be obtained when using the shipyard construction process."

"Second option, manual construction, utilizing only the shipyard's mechanical tools and equipment. The shipyard now has more functions and facilities after being upgraded, which makes it easier than before. Still, it will consume a lot of time and effort and, given my lack of skill and expertise, although this option has the highest probability of obtaining special attributes, when all things are considered, it's not cost effective."

"In that case, that leaves me with the third option of human-machine collaboration!"

While modular technology was powerful and advanced, it still required human input and operation to achieve the best results. It was unknown whether this was an intentional design by the inventor of this technology or if it just happened to turn out this way.

WIth the human-machine collaboration, Su Mo would need to manually perform the cutting and welding operations, while the shipyard's system would handle the finer details regarding parts and installation.

Not only would this increase the project's efficiency significantly, it would also increase the probability of obtaining special attributes.

After Su Mo finished his dinner, his energy had recovered to its peak state. He then activated the Mind Ring and focused his efforts, speeding up production efficiency substantially.

He had to rush to complete this before nine o'clock at night. After much effort, the 200 pieces of steel plates he produced on the first day were finally in place according to the ship's blueprint design.

Even if this only comprised one twenty-fifth of the eighty-meter long ship, it was a shocking enough sight to behold.

After Su Mo exhausted all his energy, he was unable to exert himself further to inspect the ship's structure.

After he locked the door of the shipyard, and told Chen Shen some important matters, he went back to the shelter. Su Mo laid down on the bed and immediately fell asleep.

However, despite the fact that Su Mo had instructed everyone not to look for him unless it was something important, it was destined that he would be unable to rest well that night.

Four o'clock at night, the game panel's notification prompt rang rapidly and, after Su Mo opened the game panel, a message from Zhong QIngshu popped out.

"The ruins near the Underground Shelter are about to appear!"

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Chapter 268: Bluish Black Aurora, Exploring The Black Mist Ruins Again

This timing was in line with his previous foray into the ruins of time near the Candlelight Shelter, where Zhong Qingshu had also found the ruins at about the same time.

This time, after everyone had relocated here, it seemed like the black mist ruins near the Underground Shelter had altered its timing as well, beginning to appear at about four o'clock at night.

There were only two short messages.

One that told him that the ruins were beginning to solidify, while the second one spoke of the unusual conditions in the sky.

Unfortunately, messages could not be sent with photos. After Su Mo got out of the bed in a hurry, the drowsiness he felt evaporated after he took two to three deep breaths.

He sat up. He had expended too much mental energy yesterday, coupled with the intense focusing effect of the Mind Ring, which meant that his current mental state had not yet recovered to its optimal state.

However, he drank a glass of psychic energy water to quench his thirst, down to the last drop; at least he was physically recharged.

Hearing the noises of him stirring downstairs, Oreo, who had been sleeping on the second floor, seemed to sense that something was occurring. She began to bark continuously, and Big Spark and Little Spark joined in by clucking along as well.

Ruins were the most mysterious areas in all the wasteland.

Moore, who usually slept like a log, seemed to smell something unusual too. Every strand of his bear hair stood upright as he tumbled and stood up suddenly. He then grabbed some nearby tools, acting as if he was facing some sort of formidable enemy.

Su Mo did not immediately make preparations to leave. He first walked up to the second floor and comforted the four little ones. He then went to the first floor, opened the main gate, and looked outside.

There were no lights at night on the wasteland. Normally, it would be pitch black at five o'clock in the morning, and nocturnal animals would still be roaming about.

However, after the black mist ruins had revealed itself near the Underground Shelter, a mysterious aurora lit up the night sky.

Hues of bluish green, golden red, bluish black, and more, mingled with each other in dynamic patterns, adorning the night sky above the Underground Shelter and creating an unforgettable, awe-inspiring scene.

Under the sky, about two kilometers away from the shipyard, in an open space where no iron blocks had been stacked, the black mist had taken on a different color and was currently accumulating rapidly.

"The color of the black mist turned darker!"

"It was light grey the first time, dark grey the second, and now it is a bluish black color."

"Is it trying to tell me something?"

Su Mo panicked when he saw Oreo and Moore running out, snarling at the black mist ruins.

When Oreo was younger back then, Su Mo had not realized the danger implied by her behavior.

However, the fact that she was still reacting in this manner, even though she had now fused with a trace of divinity, meant that there was definitely something wrong with the ruins.

"Moore, have you encountered this black mist before?"

Su Mo gently patted Moore, who was trembling, and tried his best to speak in a softer tone to soothe Moore's tense emotions.

Still, when his hands touched Moore, it frightened the lightning bear warrior.

However, when Moore realized it was Su Mo, he mustered his courage, gripped the shovel tightly in his hands, and said firmly, "The elders of the lighting bear clan told us that if we ever encountered the black mist, we must run away as soon as possible and not be caught inside it."

"If we failed to do so, we would end up being devoured by it, and would have to live inside the black mist forever, never being able to leave its grasp!"

"So far, the lighting bear warriors that went inside… none of them have come out alive!"

Oreo barked twice after hearing those words, as if she was refuting what Moore had said, but seemingly agreeing to certain parts of his statement."

"None have come out alive?"

"Moore, are you sure the lighting bear warriors who went in have all died? Or did they just not come back?"

Moore was startled momentarily when he heard Su Mo' words, clutching his head and pondering for a while, before answering in an uncertain tone of voice.

"Didn't come back? The lighting bear clan could not find the warriors' bodies inside!"

"Yes, the elders only mentioned that they could never leave alive, but they're probably alive somewhere in there!"

So far, of the location of the two ruins that had been discovered, only the ruins that were near the Underground Shelter frightened the two of them.

As for the ruins near the Candlelight Shelter, the two of them would get excited to explore it instead.

It was obvious that, based on the two very different reactions, there might be something else inside the former that frightened the two of them. It could also be that Su Mo had hit the "jackpot", and there were hidden secrets that were undiscovered in the ruins.

Between these two, there was no doubt that Su Mo would prefer the second one to be true.

"How did the ruins form? And why is the one near the Underground Shelter able to return to Earth on a parallel timeline?"

With all these questions in mind, as the black mist was still forming, Su Mo returned to the third floor of the Underground Shelter and began to suit up.

This would be the third time he would be entering the black mist ruins.

He was certain that this would be his last opportunity for the next six months.

So, this time, he had to clear the ruins right here and now, and discover the hidden secrets within!

All three M-1 rifles were fully-loaded, and he brought with him ten spare magazines, each with a capacity of a thousand rounds.

The three Type-80 machine guns were all fully-loaded as well, and he brought along an additional three thousand rounds of ammunition.

He brought along ten handguns, each with a capacity of 12 rounds, together with an additional two thousand rounds of ammunition…

As well as ten packs of explosives!

Excluding the thermal weapons, Su Mo pondered for a moment before taking out the three-pointed two-edged sword and giving it to Moore as his melee weapon.

For a strong lightning bear warrior, it was only appropriate for him to wield a weapon of similar size and stature. If the Tibetan mastiff dared to attack again, it would surely end up getting beaten up really badly by Moore in no time at all.

After arming himself with weapons, he did not forget about the armor.

He put on his combat uniform, and wore the armor that he had been put aside since his physical strength rating had increased. Su Mo then continued to review the other things that needed to be brought along.

Tactical binoculars, grab!

A large net that he had made not long ago; it would be useful to carry some items back, grab!

A radio communicator with a range of three kilometres, which had not been used since he acquired it, grab!

…

Bits and bobs; Su Mo brought along more than ten miscellaneous items that might come in handy, and then chose to bring along some food and water just in case he was caught in any unforeseen circumstances. When Su Mo returned to the first floor, it was already half past five in the morning.

At this point, there was a faint gleam in the sky, and the sun was beginning to rise over the horizon.

At this moment, the bluish black mist finally stopped expanding, reaching the final stages of its formation.

Su Mo prepared enough food and water for Big Spark and Little Spark, and then he closed the alloy gate on the first floor. Along with Oreo and Moore, Su Mo took large strides forward in the direction of the shipyard.

In front of the shipyard, Hope Village's militia was already in position.

The fully-armed militia, comprising fifteen people, and the valiant Zhong Qingshu were all standing there waiting for Su Mo.

Things were not how they used to be. Now, most of the wasteland refugees had acquired the ability to properly explore their surroundings.

So, to ensure their safety and harvest, they would have to keep an eye out as there might have been refugees who had hurried here when they saw the phenomena unfold in the night sky.

"How is it? Do you need me to accompany you?"

Zhong Qingshu's eyes brightened up when she saw the fully-armed Su Mo walk toward her. It was as if she was recalling the first time they met, and how Su Mo had been kicking the enemy's ass in the kobold castle.

The black and silver armor, matched with the black combat uniform, made Su Mo seem like a terrifying phantom in the dark.

Su Mo's facial expression could not be seen clearly with his black mask on. They could only judge his current temperament based on the vicious dog beside him, and the towering halberd-wielding lightning bear warrior that accompanied him.

"No need, please guard the perimeter and don't let anyone in."

Su Mo shook his head as he rejected Zhong Qingshu's offer decisively.

While there were many hidden secrets within the black mist ruins, there was also the issue of the difference in time flow between the ruins and reality.

He did not have much time currency remaining, so to do something big this time, he would likely have to spend every penny to counteract the time penalty.

He would have to make sure of that because, after he entered the ruins and accomplished what he needed to do, the difference in the two timelines would be frighteningly large and, without sufficient time currency, it was possible that the ocean would have already swallowed up his surroundings by the time he exited the ruins.

Zhong Qingshu understood Su Mo's concern, so she nodded her head and walked toward the end of the ruins alone.

Su Mo had strictly controlled the issuance of firearms, so aside from Zhong Qingshu's two handguns, the others in the militia all carried iron spears.

Su Mo thought for a moment, as he watched the "poorly-armed" militia force that seemed to lack combat strength in his eyes, and opened his storage space again.

"Qi Qin, here is a handgun and two magazines. I hope you can appreciate the trust I'm placing in you."

In front of the envious eyes of the other members of the militia, Su Mo took out the gun that he had seized from Kento Maeda's partner.

There were twelve rounds in the gun, and Su Mo took out another twenty four rounds and passed them to him as well.

In the doomsday wasteland, it did not matter how many inspiring speeches you delivered, or how many long-lasting promises you made…

Such things would be no better than a pile of drivel in front of this gun.

As a decommissioned soldier, Qi Qin knew full well what owning a gun meant and what it signified, as well as how much it would help with his status in the doomsday wasteland.

As a soldier from a military family, Qi Qin could not be considered naive, and neither could he be considered particularly intelligent. However, compared to everyone else, Su Mo could absolutely guarantee that only Qi Qin was not wildly ambitious.

The others, excluding Chen Shen and Wu Feiguang, even the ordinary refugees wanted to reach a higher standing and live a better life.

Qi Qin was the only one who truly wanted to work under a "boss".

He accepted the gun and ammunition with both hands raised. Qi Qin did not say anything, he only nodded his head aggressively. From his eyes…

Su Mo could see a loyal heart!

A level of loyalty that even Chen Shen had never expressed.

"Work hard and patrol the perimeter. Make sure that no one enters the ruins!"

Su Mo patted Qi Qin's shoulders, and he watched as Qi Qin led the remaining militia in the opposite direction of Zhong Qingshu's patrol route. Su Mo then abandoned all his stray thoughts and entered a combat-ready state, preparing himself for what was to come.

With a gun slung over his arm, and equipped with the armor, Su Mo stood at the entrance of the black mist ruins that was about to form. He began to slowly practice the movements of the Su Family Spear Technique.

It was as if his one arm could pierce through the black mist…

As if his legs could pin down the sky.

After going through one round of the motions, Su Mo, who was wearing both the combat uniform and the armor, was already sweating.

Moore, who was behind him, performed his own lighting bear clan's warm-up exercises; he was doing push-ups on the ground for a while, and then started hopping on the spot to stretch himself.

Eventually, Moore wielded the three-pointed two-edged sword, and followed Su Mo in the motions of his "Su Family Spear Technique".

Oreo was lying on the ground motionless. There seemed to be some divine power flowing within her eyes as she stared at the black mist ruins.

Twice…

Thrice…

When Su Mo's whole body was covered in beads of sweat, he took out the water container from his storage space, and downed half the bottle.

He handed the remaining half to Moore and stored it away after Moore had finished drinking. In front of him, the black mist ruins had finally taken shape.

A posh-looking door amidst the black mist…

Suddenly appeared!

Chapter 269: A Shocking Conjecture! The Mystery Of The Ruins!

"The first time I entered, there was only a shapeless black film covering the entrance. The second time, there was an outline of a door. Now that I'm here the third time, there really is an actual door in front of me. Is this supposed to scare me?"

Despite observing the foreboding changes in the black mist ruins, not only did Su Mo feel not a trace of fear, but a strong fighting spirit rose within him instead.

Sticking out his tongue to lick his slightly dry lips, he stared at the excavated dirt wall covered by the mist. Su Mo did not wait a moment longer. He took out and held a steel sword in his right hand, and a handgun in his left hand. Su Mo then dashed into the ruins, bringing Oreo and Moore along with him.

Boom!

The pitch-black door seemed to sense the presence of an invader and started to spew out more frightening black mist.

With every step Su Mo took, the door seemed to shrink back a step.

When he finally arrived at the place he had been previously, the door finally stopped moving and, as Su Mo sliced with his sword, an entrance was revealed.

"Heh, is there something about me that makes you feel scared?"

Each time the black mist ruins appeared, it acted more and more like a living creature.

Chuckling coldly, he gestured for Moore to step forward, and the two of them started madly hacking away.

A few seconds later, the door that was previously still full of dark energy finally scattered into mist, no longer able to defend against the attacks of the two assailants.

"I'm going now. Safety is always the first priority—if the enemy is too strong, remember that protecting your life is the most important thing. We'll discuss the long-term plan when I return."

Before he stepped into the ruins, Su Mo opened the game panel and sent a message to Zhong Qingshu.

Beep beep…

When he heard the prompt that indicated that it was successfully sent, Su Mo stepped into the black mist without further hesitation.

Behind him, the two little ones put aside the fear in their hearts as well and followed after Su Mo, plunging into the mist.

Swoosh!

As Su Mo and the two little ones entered…

The next moment, as the sun continued to rise, the bluish black mist started shrinking and collapsing at a terrifying rate. As Zhong Qingshu and the militia observed the phenomenon, a second later, the two square kilometers of mist had been reduced to less than 300 meters.

Before they could react, the mist shrank to one square meter in size, transforming itself into a black-and-blue turtle shell.

Immediately after, the tortoise shell flew into the sky and vanished from everyone's view without a trace.

The mysterious aurora in the night sky also disappeared alongside it.

If they had not seen it all happen before their very own eyes, all this would have seemed like it had never happened at all.

…

[Record: It has been detected that the player "Su Mo" has entered the ruins.

[Record: In the current ruins, the game panel function is sealed. You can only use the storage space function. Please exit the ruins to reactivate the other functions.

[Record: It has been detected that the player "Su Mo" possesses time currency. Authority level increased to level one, and some of the ruins' authority has been automatically unlocked.

[Record: Number of entries into the current ruins: 3

[Record: Time until the current ruins collapse: 23: 57: 35

[Record: You can choose to exit the ruins. Time left until automatic exit from the ruins: 23: 57: 00

[Record: Please open the game panel to view the current ruins' property classifications.

Hula hula!

Seven consecutive game prompts flooded him like a wave.

However, Su Mo—who had just entered the ruins—currently had no intention of opening the panel to look through the ruins classification.

Because…

In Su Mo's eyes!

He was finally able to see the ruins surroundings this time!

Previously, every time he entered, no matter which direction he traveled to, he always ended up at the village entrance of Liangfang Town.

Moreover, because of the invisible wall blocking him, other than returning via the original path to exit the ruins, he could not enter any other places at all. He could not see just exactly what was outside either, and even the sky was just a white blur.

This time, with the unlocked authority gained from possessing time currency, though the invisible wall remained, Su Mo could see the scenery outside the invisible wall clearly.

Everywhere he laid eyes on was scorched earth.

Moreover, there were raging black-and-red flames burning the ground like a scene from purgatory.

"Could it be that this parallel timeline experienced World War IV? Or was it invaded by a foreign civilization?"

Raising his head to look at the sky, Su Mo was even more shocked.

Amidst the blazing red sky, in the brief three seconds that Su Mo looked up, four meteors passed by and violently crashed to the ground who knew how many kilometers away, causing the ground outside the invisible wall to quake like it was squirming.

As for the things that spilled forth from the quaking ground, those made his scalp tingle even more.

"So many bones! What exactly happened here?"

The dense white and black bones intertwined, forming a frightening shape on the ground.

"Woof! Woof woof!"

"Roar!"

Su Mo was still evaluating the sight before him when the two little ones started roaring behind him, causing Su Mo to abruptly turn around.

Turning around, Su Mo was so startled that he reeled backward.

Behind him, a tide of mutant creatures had assembled at some point.

There were the black dogs he had killed before, mad cows so terrifying that they did not feel pain, and even some other strange creatures he had only seen in films…

Zombies!

Lickers! (T/N: A fictional creature from the Resident Evil series.)

These monsters all lay beyond the invisible wall, frantically attempting to wriggle their way inside. Clearly, they could see Su Mo standing inside too.

Swallowing hard, Su Mo carefully took two steps forward. When he was less than a meter away from a zombie, he halted his footsteps.

Taking out a handgun, he fired a test shot at the zombie outside the invisible wall, but nothing happened. Su Mo noticed that this wall was invincibly sturdy.

Other than the two sides being able to see each other, it was probably not possible for one to travel to the other side, at least for the time being.

With this assurance, Su Mo stored his gun away and grasped his steel sword, rushing forward till he was 50 centimeters away from the zombie.

"This can't be the future of the world, can it? Meteors, zombies, mutant beasts…"

"If it really is like this, then the survival environment on Earth must be countless times worse than even the wasteland!"

On Earth, Su Mo had once seen a movie called 'World War Z'.

In this movie, not only could zombies run lightning-fast, they possessed a basic level of intelligence that allowed them to even form a zombie wall tens of meters high to attack humans.

Compared to other movies, where the zombies had physical capabilities similar to those of senior citizens and were only dangerous in large numbers, the zombies shown in this movie were far more impressive.

However, even the zombies from World War Z were small fry in comparison to the zombies in front of him.

Looking further into the distance, some of the zombies could leap two or three meters high in a single jump, showcasing their abnormal muscular strength. Some of them had thick arms that could casually grab a mutant Black Dog and tear it asunder, bathing in the wonderful taste of black blood that erupted from its corpse.

If zombies like this were thrown into the wasteland, Su Mo had no doubts that even the stronger foreign races would be unable to withstand their assault.

After conducting his investigation, since the other functions of the game panel were sealed, Su Mo could only take out his diary and start recording the characteristics of the creatures before him.

From the most common zombies to the various strange mutant creatures; since he could not touch them, Su Mo could only note down their appearances and movement characteristics, and leave the rest for later.

"There are 19 types of mutant creatures and 7 types of zombies with different attributes."

"At the moment, it seems that as long as the mutant creatures don't block the zombies' path, the two sides can co-exist peacefully."

"And it looks like even if humans turn into zombies, they are still among the stronger ones in this disastrous world!"

The fear he had at the beginning turned into relief. After observing the creatures for over an hour, Su Mo's nervousness subsided, and his mood relaxed.

As long as they were living creatures and not imaginary enemies like ghosts and such, there would be a way to deal with them.

If he could assemble enough firepower to drown his enemies in a torrent of steel, whether it was zombies like this, or even something several times scarier, Su Mo would have the confidence to deal with them.

"These intellectual zombies seem to be cursing me, but that's not a big issue. I can't hear them anyway, noobs!"

After noting down the last zombie's attribute, Su Mo made an internationally-recognized gesture at the large-headed zombies yelling at him, packed up his pen and paper, and started to walk away.

With the time currency he possessed, he could stay a full 23 hours in these ruins, so he was in no rush at all.

Su Mo even opened the game panel and glanced at the ruins' properties panel.

As expected, the description afforded to a level one authority holder was pitifully simple.

However, the prompts that popped out at the top spelled things out, providing an answer to most of the questions in Su Mo's heart.

[Shelter Core: Liangfang Town (Almost destroyed)]

[Description: A Lv 17 shelter developed from the core of the experienced player "Ma Fei". A total of 45 energy nodes are connected to it. Each energy node can provide a regular supply of energy to the main core and keep the core functioning but, as the number of energy node connections lessen, the shelter core has also reached its limits due to the damage sustained. Continuing to provide energy can extend the time till the shelter core's collapse as well as the shelter's protection rule.]

[Core owner: Ma Fei (dead)]

[Shelter's location: Wasteland coordinates (11056, 35875)]

[Energy required for time extension: 10 thousand Disaster Points or energy of equal value]

[Cores needed to rebind: 200 complete shelter cores, 1000 broken shelter cores]

[Time until shelter collapses: 22: 41: 22]

[Time consumed by triggering protection rule: 12H (can be offset)

"All this time, I thought I was entering the ruins. I never thought it was actually someone else's shelter!"

"A Lv 17 shelter—f*ck me, just how many disasters had this Ma Fei experienced? How long had he held on for?"

"Still, this indirectly explains why the time flow doesn't change when entering some ruins, whereas in others it goes a little faster. Some are like mine, where a few days can pass in the blink of an eye."

He stared, shocked at the description of these ruins displayed on the game panel. All the things he could not figure out in the past seemed to reveal themselves—it was as if someone had torn away the veil of mystery.

"It is currently known that, as long as a shelter is continuously upgraded, various rules can be set within the shelter's boundaries via the new functions gained and added on.

"These rules are recognized by the game. As long as the shelter core's level of the person entering the shelter doesn't exceed the level of the owner's shelter, all these low-level rules would still remain active."

"This also explains why all of my game functions can be sealed—it's because these are the rules that Ma Fei set!

"And different shelter levels should allow for different levels of restrictions as well. That's right. Some people don't encounter scary time flow differences after entering the ruins, and Liangfang Town's situation has now given me a suitable answer!"

The moment he thought about how the small town he had been born in, in this small world, was actually someone else's shelter, Su Mo could not help shaking in agitation.

Because, when all the prompts were read together, an unbelievable conclusion began to take shape…

"This isn't earth at all—it's a supernation that humans built on the wasteland."

"The outside world is probably a wasteland that has already experienced countless disasters!"

"Or our Earth… has always been a shelter someone else built and, it's just that the person who owns Planet Earth's core…"

"Is dead!"

Chapter 270: The Tibetan Mastiff Doudou, The Whereabouts of the Computer!

Imagine boldly, but verify carefully.

As a stalwart advocate of materialism, Su Mo had always respected, but kept a distance away, from any talk about gods and ghosts.

There was nothing that could not be explained by science.

If there was something of the sort, that just meant that science had not reached a level where it could explain the phenomenon at that point.

As the only human on Earth who had already seen the fifth level of technology, while only being in the third level, Su Mo had enough of a "foundation" to analyze all the suspicious points from before.

"For now, what I need to find out is the real cause of Ma Fei's death and where exactly the world outside the ruins is."

"This includes whether the level 17 core refers to this town or whether it also encompasses the locations outside the town!"

If the Liangfang Town ruins was really formed by Ma Fei's level 17 shelter core, then all the ramifications that could be speculated from this were things that would undoubtedly be chilling if one thought about it carefully.

Walking toward the small courtyard that he had used to hide from the Tibetan Mastiff earlier, he instructed Moore to destroy the dirt wall. After seeing that the time had indeed increased an hour due to the damage Moore caused, Su Mo sat on the slab of stone in the middle of the courtyard in relief.

Thanks to the time currency, he would have sufficient time to explore the ruins this time around, so Su Mo was not in a rush to search the other rooms. Instead, he took out his pen and paper again and very patiently began to conduct a detailed analysis.

"First of all, if I were to live in such a shelter, why would I move out? Or rather… why would I leave?"

When considering these issues, Su Mo was very good at thinking from other perspectives and putting himself in the position of others in order to infer the ideas and practices of others.

The first question raised had already started to slowly overturn all his previous conclusions.

If he was a refugee who had been transported into the wasteland, there was no reason to leave after joining such a shelter.

Unless…

They had been forced to!

Another more accurate way to say it was: it was mandatory.

"The Tibetan Mastiff had said 'abandoned', 'human', and 'd*mned' earlier, which proved that the human most likely knew that he had to leave before it happened.

"Leave this shelter to go out into the wasteland?"

"No, the most important thing that I need to know now is whether this is planet Earth in a parallel world or if this is another wasteland."

Su Mo clearly remembered seeing some names listed on the bag of flour he had obtained from his previous visit to the Liangfang Town ruins.

Tian Xi province, Xiang Ping city, Hualien county…

Based on this information, if it was on the wasteland, it would mean that a country would have been established long ago.

However, if this was Earth in a parallel world, then there would be a different, more profound, meaning.

"Based on this conclusion, it would make sense if all the cities that humans lived in on Earth were formed by shelter cores."

"Whenever a disaster struck a city formed by a core, as long as it could make it through the disaster, the city would develop by leaps and bounds."

"Then what about Earth? What is Earth's role in all of this?"

"No, if I look at Earth as one large core, then the external attack from space before the transmigration was probably the true disaster!"

…

One after another, outrageous yet well-founded speculations kept popping up in Su Mo's mind.

Following that, Su Mo would completely reject a speculation after considering it from a different angle and turn instead to the next possibility.

The fact that a level 17 shelter could maintain itself for such a long time after having its energy supply cut off meant that Su Mo had every reason to be suspicious.

Magoo was also someone who had entered the ruins before!

However, after factoring Magoo's information into the equation, the more Su Mo tried to analyze it, the more he felt like his brain was going to burst, so he could only put the whole thing aside for the time being.

"There's no need to think too much about it for now. It's just that, no matter what, I need to protect this level 17 shelter core."

"This could be the greatest treasure this shelter holds!"

He put away the small book that had already been filled up with countless possibilities. Su Mo did not feel any sorrow whatsoever in having to pay the amount of "energy" necessary to extend the life of the core.

"It just requires 200 complete cores and 1000 damaged ones to bind. I can probably collect that sum when I go out to sea when the time comes."

"When I bind this level 17 shelter, then I'll be able to see exactly what other secrets are hidden within this wasteland!"

He clenched his fists. After realizing that the ruins had once been someone else's shelter, the road ahead suddenly became brighter.

Su Mo's heart also no longer held any fear toward Liangfang Town, which seemed like a ghost town. Instead, he was filled with anticipation.

"Even if everyone has already evacuated, all I need to find is Ma Fei's main shelter, and I can perhaps still find some good stuff that he left behind."

"He's a level 17 boss! Even if it was just something that randomly slipped out of his hands, it's probably enough for me to make a fortune!"

He thought about how these mysterious ruins, which had once scared him out of his wits, had now become a new sort of "loot-grabbing" feast for him. Su Mo excitedly stood up and strode forward.

However, once he strode out, he immediately stumbled upon his former acquaintance, who had been waiting by the door, taking it by surprise.

The last time he saw this Tibetan Mastiff, it was full of malicious intent, and its signature wreath-like fur was extremely fluffy and remarkably luxurious.

Even when it attacked and chased him back then, the Tibetan Mastiff had given off the impression of a cat leisurely chasing a mouse.

Were it not for the barrier in the courtyard, Su Mo might really have had to risk his life for an opportunity to escape.

This time, the Tibetan Mastiff clearly also harbored some malicious intent.

However, upon seeing Moore—who was large and imposing—holding a humongous weapon in his hands, and Oreo, whose eyes were glimmering with light, it cowered in fear!

The way it cowered was shameful, yet it was also completely understandable.

While it was peeping in, it had not expected Su Mo to suddenly awaken from his deep contemplation and rush straight outside.

Now, after being caught in the act, the Tibetan Mastiff could only keep its distance and bare its teeth; not daring to rush forward and attack like the last time.

"Hello, do you remember me?"

Pulling out an M-1 rifle, Su Mo looked at the threatening Tibetan Mastiff in front of him and smiled knowingly. Without hesitation, he released the safety catch.

The times have changed, sir!

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

The sound of violent gunfire echoed in the air all around the town.

The Tibetan Mastiff thought that its movements were really fast, but when the bullets were fired, it quickly realized how wrong it was.

Su Mo spewed out a spray of bullets in less than four seconds.

A full forty rounds of bullets were discharged, resulting in numerous bullet holes in the Tibetan Mastiff's legs, and the ground below it.

No blood oozed out. Just like the fog that covered this place, the Tibetan Mastiff could only fall on the ground weakly after Su Mo broke all four of its legs.

"Don't… Don't kill me… I'm willing to surrender."

It watched as Moore strode forward with a three-pointed two-edged sword in his hands and a "savage" look on his face. Although the Tibetan Mastiff held some dissatisfaction in its heart, its body was being honest.

"Huh! You old dog, you dare launch a sneak attack on us. I have to teach you a lesson today."

As he reacted one beat slower, Moore realized that the prey had already been dealt with by Su Mo, but he was unwilling to give up and walked over to continue punishing it.

In just two or three swings, the limbs that had been beginning to heal were once again broken by Moore, and they scattered into mist.

This time, the limbs healed at a visibly slower pace, and there was a touch of despair in the Tibetan Mastiff's eyes.

"Speak up. Where did the people here go, and what else do you know?"

"If you have useful information, not only will I not kill you, maybe I'll even take you out of this already dying world!"

Removing his mask, Su Mo revealed a mouth full of white teeth, a friendly smile adorning his face.

Sporting this "elegant and easygoing" look, one could no longer see a trace of the wild appearance he had last time when he was chased by the Tibetan Mastiff on top of the wall.

"I'll talk, I'll talk. Don't kill me!"

It did not continue to wait for further threats and coercions. Watching Oreo walk over gracefully, the Tibetan Mastiff subconsciously swallowed a large gulp of saliva as he hurriedly yelled.

Seeing Su Mo's hand gestures, Moore showed a fierce expression. Holding the three-pointed two-edged sword, he stood to the side, voicing his opinion that the Tibetan Mastiff was dishonest and should be dealt with on the spot.

Hearing that as a threat, the Tibetan Mastiff began to act honestly. Once it opened its mouth, it began to chatter away like an old nagging mother.

The chattering sometimes jumped from one subject to another.

However, with Su Mo's strong logical and analytical abilities, he managed to extract some key points, and unearthed quite a few secrets about this world.

The Tibetan Mastiff also had an extremely cute name that did not fit its size and build at all…

Doudou!

As for whether or not this part of the world was on Earth, poor Doudou did not know, and no humans had ever told him.

Of course, before all the humans had emigrated, his memories were scattered, and he had not yet learned how to speak the human language.

In other words, it was only after Su Mo had entered the ruins last time and accidentally activated something that his language ability suddenly improved by leaps and bounds.

Furthermore, all these mutant creatures were originally ordinary creatures before the humans disappeared.

It was only after the humans left that all these creatures started to mutate. However, in the entire Liangfang Town core area, it was the only one that possessed consciousness.

The other creatures had either turned into irrational creatures like the black dogs and nad cows, or they had inexplicably dashed out of the invisible wall, never to return.

Doudou's nagging was particularly repetitive so, seeing that it was starting to once again recall how it had been abandoned, Su Mo hurriedly interrupted it.

"You're saying that before the humans here left, they knew that they would have to leave?"

"Yes. Before my master—bah, I mean before the man who abandoned me left, he told me that he'd come back to pick me up and told me to wait for him."

"But in actual fact he left without a trace and has never come back again!"

After spending half an hour deciphering Doudou's chattering, the mist had already reconstituted Doudou's four legs but, as if it had accepted its fate, it did not try to run.

On the contrary, it lay on the ground, repeatedly grooming the wreath of fur around its neck with its tongue.

"Are you aware of the internal structure of this town? Have you heard of the name Ma Fei?"

"I've heard of it. Ma Fei was the governor here, the mayor. He even once gave me a large chunk of meat to eat. It was so fragrant."

"As for this town, I've visited every place before, but I didn't enter some of the locations. I was either blocked by a creature that had already gone crazy or, like the last time, blocked by some invisible force from entering."

Tilting his head in thought, Doudou nodded.

After talking about the creatures that had gone insane, its neck shrunk back again, looking exactly as if it bullied the weak and feared the strong.

"Alright then. Have you ever seen this kind of thing?"

Seeing that this silly Tibetan Mastiff actually knew so much, Su Mo did not conceal it any longer, and his two hands started drawing in the air.

If there were modern people here, then this item would definitely not be an unfamiliar sight.

It was a computer!

From the monitor to the processor, and from a laptop to a desktop, Su Mo tried his best to illustrate what they looked like in general in order to achieve the ultimate goal of this trip.

When the silly dog Doudou failed to understand, Su Mo even took out his notebook and drew a complete sketch of a computer.

Looking at the picture, Doudou finally stopped shaking his head and nodded firmly.

"I've seen this thing before, but there are quite a few mutant creatures there, so I couldn't enter and could only peep through the window!"

"Alright! Take me there!"

This was the epitome of finally stumbling across something by pure luck after searching high and low for it!

After getting the exact location of the computer, Su Mo remained calm when he thought of the upcoming leap in technology the shelter was about to experience. However, there was still a quiet feeling of ecstasy that was pumping wildly in his heart!

A level 17 core was still a faraway goal, but a computer…

This was the representative "artifact" of the third level of human technology!

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My Post-Apocalyptic Shelter Levels Up Infinitely! #Chapter 271 - Holding Fire, The Four-Story Above-Ground Shelter - Read My Post-Apocalyptic Shelter Levels Up Infinitely! Chapter 271 - Holding Fire, The Four-Story Above-Ground Shelter Online - All Page - Novel Next

Chapter 271: Holding Fire, The Four-Story Above-Ground Shelter

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After obtaining a guide and being assured that there were no overwhelming dangers outside the town, everything went smoothly.

After walking past several houses in a row, and listening to the slightly angry roars of the mutant creatures inside that were being blocked by some barriers, Su Mo looked like he had realized something.

"It seems this shelter probably took the wrong developmental pathway in terms of technology!

"They didn't choose to continue improving the level of their technology, but instead focused on unknown and mystical side abilities."

"Isn't it sufficient to rely on special abilities to increase their level of technology?"

The level 17 shelter had not even surpassed the third level of technology in terms of development and had only managed to successfully derive a mystical side ability.

This ability was not something that Su Mo envied. In fact, he had nothing to say about it.

From ancient times to the present day, the development of technology has always been a vertical pathway.

If one could not move forward and instead chose to develop things toward the left or right, then they were destined to take a deviated path.

As for whether or not one could reach the destination after deviating from the main path, it all came down to luck.

"They were able to steadily develop the special ability in a single direction and replicate it en masse. Actually, this shelter has also gone on its own path."

"It's a pity that, in the end, some unknown thing happened and all the people left, abandoning this place!"

All the outer houses still maintained the simplest architectural style, without the augmentation of steel or other metallurgical advancements.

After he climbed the wall and entered the most luxurious room, Su Mo could only find items that were similar to the ones he obtained during his previous visit.

The three main items—television, washing machine and air conditioner—not a single one was missing.

However, after a round of careful studying, he noticed that they were the same models as the previous ones, and as such would cost a full six hours of time to bring out, so Su Mo instantly lost the desire to bring them back.

Minimalism. All electrical appliances had to serve the ultimate purpose of improving his survival chances and environment.

As for other small electrical appliances that Su Mo wanted—such as the razor, microwave, video camera, and radio—there were none. He did not know if they had been taken away, or if they had never been made at all.

Regretfully, he climbed out of the house and glanced at the village buildings behind him in passing. As for the surrounding "garbage", Su Mo could only let it go for now.

"No, I have to bind the core of the ruins. No matter what the contents are inside these buildings."

"If I can bring these to the main world, Hope Village can increase its level of development immediately."

No matter how small a mosquito was, it still counted as nourishment. After evaluating four courtyards in one go, he reached the end of this dirt road.

Further ahead was Liangfang Town's entrance, the first place he went that made him turn back in fear.

Oreo took the lead and Moore followed behind Su Mo. After turning the corner, the huge archway finally appeared in front of him along with the eerie ghost town-like interior.

Following the Tibetan Mastiff Doudou into the town, Su Mo held a rifle as he checked out the view near this archway.

The first time he had come here, he had been in a rush and had not examined it in detail.

Now, as he got closer and closer, Su Mo finally noticed this archway's magical effects!

The town was not actually completely dark despite the lack of light—the light coming from within it was being reflected back by this black hole of an archway!

"Amazing. This kind of light-absorbing material isn't bad. If I can paint it on my weapons or ammunition, that would be incredible."

Touching the hard lacquer on the pillar, Su Mo tried using his steel sword to scrape off some of the stuff, which he kept away in his storage space. Once he was satisfied, he walked past the archway and headed inside.

With this one step, it was as if he had arrived at a whole new world.

The outside were dilapidated slums that lacked even a semblance of brightness. All that people had to protect their safety was that worn-out dirt wall.

Inside however, the burning sky's weird red light did not completely penetrate through, but was instead isolated or filtered by some material or technology above, turning into an abnormally bright light.

Aside from this, each house finally had defensive structures installed.

Heavy iron walls, sharp barbs, and three-story progressive steel defense structures could be seen in his surroundings.

If some of the mystical abilities could be paired with these, then it would not be impossible for the residents here to defend themselves against the creatures outside of the invisible wall.

"This is the town's outskirts. Aside from this house and that house, which are not guarded by mutant creatures, I can't enter the other houses."

Pursing his lips, Doudou revealed a human-like expression of fear.

Following Doudou's gaze, Su Mo saw two houses with wide-open gates.

As standard large villas, the houses' appearances here did not differ much from the ones outside. Aside from a slight difference in paint colors, the other details were basically the same.

"This is a little like the run-down town in 7 Days to Die!"

Looking at the scene that seemed to have emerged straight from the game in front of him, Su Mo chuckled. Imitating the investigation method in 7 Days to Die, he walked up and kicked the door open.

Whoosh!

This one kick was very strong, and the iron door was unexpectedly unable to hold up and flew straight into the house, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Huh, even the hinges are weathered!"

While the dust was still floating about, Su Mo squatted down and examined the iron door's iron hinges.

Compared to the common houses outside, although the large villas inside looked bright and beautiful on the surface, the inside looked like it had experienced countless years of wear and tear, and was in a state of absolute disrepair.

Once the dust dissipated, and seeing that Oreo did not sense any danger, Su Mo stepped into the house and started his investigation.

The house flooring was wooden. When he stepped on it, it instantly started making creaking noises like it was bearing too much weight, and there were obvious signs of collapse.

"The first floor was probably the owner's activity room. This stuff on this floor is way more complete than the stuff outside, and was probably prepared for the house owner to bring away at the last minute."

This house did not lack any of the previous big three items.

Moreover, at the corner of the house, Su Mo even saw something extremely valuable placed there…

A vacuum laminating machine!

The kind that was worth 12 days of disaster time!

"There are two rolls of spare laminating plastic bags, but they have traces of prior use. It seems the owner used it to pack things up before leaving."

His heart ached as he touched the light layer of dust on the vacuum laminating machine, after which he carried it over to the couch and covered it with a mat. Only then did Su Mo carefully head to the second floor.

The second floor was where this family gathered. Not only was the bed covered with bedding that looked 80% new, but there was also a brand-new four-piece set in the cabinet.

"Only half an hour of time currency is needed? I'll take it, I'll take it!"

Taking the four-piece set and placing it straight into the storage space, he also found and took a white goose down blanket as well, before heading to the third floor.

This floor was where the owner stored weapons, except that all the weapons had been taken away. All that was left was dust.

"It's a pity. All the humans inside probably left in a hurry and took with them most of the items that could raise their combat strength."

"The leftover stuff is pretty much just daily household items."

Leaping down from the second-floor balcony, Su Mo shook his head and went into a different house. Unsurprisingly, this house also had a similar structure and layout.

The things inside were also pretty much the same.

In a hurried evacuation, whatever was left were either large items that were difficult to bring along or regular household items that were not worth the time to take away.

"Forget it. Bring me straight to the mayor Ma Fei's house. There's not much to see in these regular houses anymore."

After looking through two houses in a row and climbing onto the roof to survey the surroundings, Su Mo had a preliminary understanding of Liangfang Town's layout.

Liangfang Town's outskirts were not large. It seemed that the people who lived here did not have much status either and were considered outsiders.

There were a total of 45 houses on the outskirts, with an estimated ten people living in each house.

This town's population was probably around 700-1200 people.

Compared to Earth, this number might not even be sufficient to qualify it as a village, but in the wasteland, it was plenty enough.

At the very least, the supplies required to take care of more than a thousand people would have been a massive issue in this environment.

"Ma Fei's room is the innermost one. I've never entered it before; the mutant creatures who went crazy and ran inside didn't come out alive."

After following Doudou and walking past more than 10 houses, they finally arrived at a house that was much larger.

Furthermore, Ma Fei's nameplate still hung at the entrance of the house very eye-catchingly.

As for its defensive structure, unlike other houses with steel installations, Ma Fei's house only had simple wooden planks fenced up symbolically. They looked like they could even be blown over by a strong gust of wind.

After going around to the rear of the house, as Doudou pointed out, under a window on the inside of the house was the computer that Su Mo had been dreaming of!

"It has an LCD display and is water-cooled—looking at this main chassis, the specs of this computer shouldn't be too low!"

Taking out his tactical binoculars and examining every part of the computer closely, Su Mo's heart started thumping.

However, Oreo, who had been laying at the side sniffing the ground, suddenly perked her ears up in alarm.

"Oreo, is there danger inside?"

Looking at Oreo's serious expression, Su Mo hurriedly suppressed the excitement in his heart and asked with a lowered voice.

Magoo's expeditionary army that transmigrated from Earth had left their things behind for the next generation.

However, this Ma Fei managed to upgrade his shelter core to level 17. He definitely was not a simple person, and it was very likely that the things he left behind were to prevent greedy thieves.

"Woof! Aroo!"

"There really is!"

Looking at the house in front of them, Oreo was extremely anxious—as if she had smelled something, but wasn't sure what it was.

This was the first time Su Mo saw Oreo like this ever since she was born.

"Since there's danger inside, I'll think of a way to force it out!"

Turning straight ahead earnestly, he avoided the house where the computer was.

He took out four fully-loaded Type-80 machine guns and the corresponding additional ammunition. As he did so, his eyes lit up.

"Bro, death comes for everyone."

"No matter what or who you were before this, as long as you're not a ghost, you'd still have to give way when facing a hail of bullets."

Handing three guns to Moore, Su Mo arrived at the front of a wooden house. After a signal from Su Mo, frantic gunfire sounds filled the air.

Boom boom boom boom boom!

The Type-80 machine guns sounded like firecrackers exploding.

After three seconds of firing, as expected, a group of guardians dashed out of Ma Fei's house.

Su Mo was not unfamiliar with these guardians. These were scarabs that looked like the ones from The Mummy movie that had been lying on the ground outside the invisible wall!

These weird bugs were as big as his fists. They crawled out, and then quickly locked onto their target.

Like a wave, endless bugs laid over the ground like a giant carpet, swiftly heading toward the few uninvited guests at the door.

"Not good. Fire quickly, shoot at will."

The silly dog Doudou had run away the moment the bugs crawled out with its eyes full of fear. Clearly, it had also witnessed the horror of these creatures before.

On the other hand, Moore beside him remained steadfast. Upon hearing Su Mo's order, he got into firing position as well.

Two thick and strong bear arms lifted the guns up. Moore's powerful arms and physical strength enabled him to use two guns simultaneously!

In addition to Su Mo's gunfire, a line of defense was instantly erected!

Although every bullet that collided with these scarabs' bodies would emit the screeching sound of clashing metal, some would also occasionally hit a weak point, resulting in smears of corrosive black blood spurting out.

"Moore, hold?your fire! Wait for my order!"

Eyeing the scarabs that were swarming out more and more, and glancing at his ammunition reserves, Su Mo did not wait any longer.

With a flip of his hand, he produced the gasoline bottle he had prepared long ago from his storage space and tossed it toward the scarab swarm. A spray of bullets from the machine gun ignited the gasoline, and flames exploded forth.

At this moment, these monstrous scarabs that had not been afraid of gunfire finally emitted sounds of pain and suffering as they tried to avoid the flames.

However, how could Su Mo let go of an opportunity to kick these dogs while they were down?

He threw out another four bottles of gasoline and, soon, the sky was full of flames, covered with the acrid smell of burning scarabs. In just five minutes, the ammunition reserves for the Type-80 machine gun were about to be depleted.

Luckily, due to the flames, the number of scarabs had been significantly reduced, and only a few of them were still jumping around.

"Is there still danger?"

Seeing Oreo both nod and shake her head, he took out his rifle and shot the remaining scarabs dead.

Stepping on their corpses, Su Mo tried stepping into the boundary of the wooden fence.

Whoosh!

Before a whole foot and half his body could enter, the scenery before him changed swiftly.

"This… This is…"

"A shelter?"

Seeing the two little ones still waiting behind him, and then glancing at the completely different scene in front of him, goosebumps spread over Su Mo instantly.

When he moved back, it was still the same worn-down yard covered in scarab corpses, and he could even still smell the rotten, charred scent.

However, when he moved forward, the bug corpses in his vision all vanished and transformed little broken robots all over the ground…

Moreover, in his vision, a four-story above-ground shelter that was full of game features appeared!

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Chapter 272: Blazeland! Above the Wasteland!

The clean streets were gone and had been replaced by overgrown weeds. It was like a scene from an abandoned country town.

The three-story villa also lost its disguise and transformed into the above-ground shelter.

Even those three-layered iron fence that Su Mo thought was very sturdy had now turned into ordinary rusted iron, which looked weathered at a glance.

There were dense, white bones on the ground near Ma Fei's shelter. It only took a little investigation to conclude that they were the corpses of the mutant creatures that had broken into the compound.

However, …

Back outside, the town was still clean, the trails were still spotless, and even the streetlights on the roadside had a metallic beauty to them.

The manor inside was still scattered with scarab corpses. If observed closely, it could be seen that the scarabs' remains were being gradually swept away by the wind.

"What kind of technology is this? Is it subverting my perception somehow?"

The difference between the inner and outer world reminded him of the experience of using VR technology, where one could enter a different world simply by putting on a VR headset.

Even someone like Su Mo, who had experienced the wonders of virtual reality before, found this situation mind-blowing. He was filled with a sense of curiosity.

After inspecting a few of the more obvious buildings nearby, Su Mo raised his gun in an uncertain manner and shot twice at a streetlight.

Bang, bang!

There was nothing strange with the sounds of the bullets hitting the streetlight but, as expected, there were no bullet holes in the streetlight, and the bullets seemed to have simply disappeared.

When he retreated back out into the courtyard, he could clearly see that there were two crisp, yet deep, visible bullet holes in the streetlight.

Ma Fei's courtyard seemed to work like a magic mirror that could divide the outside world from the inside world.

Outside was a paradise left for the enlightened.

Inside was the cruel reality left for the realists.

For those who did not possess a firm spirit, living here for a long time would drive them mad in a matter of minutes.

Su Mo could not help but chuckle when he picked up two scarabs that had an intimidating appearance.

"I was wondering why they did not react when hit by bullets, but instead reacted to the fire…"

"It turns out that the fire is blocking my line of sight, which meant that I could not simulate a coherent image of the situation!"

Every tiny robot had been riddled with 7.62 bullets.

Su Mo saw them armed with miniature saws, knives, and even welding torches.

Apart from those, some miniature circuit boards could also be seen falling out of the heads of these robots, just like a CPU. They were probably the core components of these little robots.

This group of robots were perhaps designed more as "tools" that specialized in manufacturing than they were "weapons" designed for combat.

It would be a waste of resources if they were used in a fight.

"Those magical things can't be created by this group of little fellas, right?"

The current ownership of the core was still with Ma Fei. The game panel functions were sealed, and the system seemed to be silent.

This had also been the case when he discovered Magoo's shelter, but it had been inadvertently ignored by Su Mo.

Of course, from beginning to the end, everyone in the world would not have imagined that the ruins they entered were just shelter cores of more powerful people.

Without rushing into the house, Su Mo carefully briefed Moore first, then took out the big burlap sack he had prepared, and placed all the less damaged robots inside.

As for some of the chips in their heads that had been blown to pieces by stray bullets, they piled those aside first.

After realizing that each robot required a hefty price of one day to take out, Su Mo went back and picked out five of the most complete ones, picked out some corresponding spare parts, and placed them into his storage space.

"If these small robots can be repaired and their command protocol can be rewritten, my destroyer will have no shortage of maintenance workers!"

Su Mo stood up and nodded in satisfaction. He checked and saw that his current consumption of time was only seven days' worth of time currency, which was within an acceptable range. Su Mo then walked into the building.

A collapse usually started from the core and would then spread further out.

On normal days, this place might be no different compared to the outside.

Even the manor looked more luxurious from the outside.

Inside, now that the energy supply was insufficient, a slight bump from Moore would easily open a door on the first floor, revealing the darkness that lay within.

"We should bring along a remote-control vehicle the next time we go exploring. It might be a little too dangerous to rely on humans to explore unknown locations like this."

After taking out a flashlight and trying to shed some light on the interior of the building, Su Mo calmed himself down.

He could rely on Oreo's sense of danger to avoid certain types of dangers.

Aside from that, one of the drawbacks of the technology was that operation relied heavily on the supply of energy. Without it, most traps and weapons would be rendered completely useless.

As this was a well-established town, it was unlikely that Ma Fei would turn this place into a military base with the sole purpose of keeping strangers out.

With some light analysis, he could judge the degree of wear and tear in the most severe parts of the furniture inside, and could roughly estimate the number of years the shelter had been empty for.

"More than fifty years, but less than a hundred. They might not be from the same group as Magoo."

The luxurious and splendid-looking carpet was now sawdust, turning into dust at the slightest touch. The dust particles could be seen floating in the air under the light projected by the flashlight.

The grill at the entrance was also rusty, and broke easily upon contact.

Although there was a high probability that there would be no danger inside, after looking around and seeing the Doudou the Tibetan Mastiff secretly looking at the door, Su Mo waved and gestured for it to come over.

"You, yeah you. Come here!"

Humans were afraid of physical attacks, but these mist-born beings weren't. Besides, the worst that could happen when they get injured was to slowly regenerate on the spot.

This characteristic made these creatures ideal for exploring the unknown.

Being called over by Su Mo, this timid Tibetan Mastiff was also taken aback when it received instructions to enter the manor, and it could not help but sigh in fear.

"Wow, this is so strange. Did the mayor always live in such a lousy house?"

However, before the silly dog could continue to think deeply about Ma Fei's situation, Doudou turned its head under Su Mo's guidance and suddenly saw the scene outside.

Bang!

Rrrrrip!

Doudou was stunned senseless and stopped moving.

In Su Mo's vision, Doudou seemed like it had gone crazy as it rushed back and forth, in and out of the door, as if it could not believe what it was seeing.

With all this happening, Su Mo seemed to hear…

The sound of a heart shattering!

If one wanted to destroy a person's worldview, then they would have to prove to the person that his or her understanding of the world was completely warped or fake, just like in The Truman Show!

Under the impact of what it was seeing, Doudou's worldview collapsed!

The two different worlds made it impossible for Doudou to comprehend what was real and what was fake.

However, his heart told him that what Su Mo said was true.

"Could it be that it was not them who abandoned us, but rather this town that abandoned the humans?"

Su Mo was stunned momentarily when he heard Doudou's whispering voice. He instantly thought of a hypothesis that seemed to perfectly explain all the speculations he had previously.

Yes, why would the residents evacuate?

Why would everyone leave in such a hurry, as if they had been taken away by force?

Did Ma Fei die first? Was it because a certain mechanism had been triggered, and everyone in the town knew that they would die if they stayed? Was that why they chose to evacuate?"

"That's not right. Where does the scene I saw outside the invisible wall come from? Could that be virtual as well?"

No written records of what had happened were left in the entire town.

If Su Mo wanted to infer the truth of the matter, he could only examine each small detail individually, which would be an extreme test of his analytical capabilities.

After giving it some thought, and staring into the deep darkness of the room ahead, Su Mo took two steps forward. He dragged the Tibetan Mastiff by its fur toward the door.

"All the secrets you want to know lie inside. You won't die, so head in first and help us check if there's any danger ahead."

Doudou did not object when he heard Su Mo's words. It walked in as if it had lost its soul.

With a flashlight, he instructed Doudou to explore the first floor thoroughly. After discovering that there was no mechanism to trigger, Su Mo followed in confidently.

There were not many things on the first floor, as they had long since been eroded by time. The items that were there had undergone serious weathering, as even the door could no longer be closed tightly.

The soft sofa disintegrated into dust with a light press, and some brittle iron frames would break apart and crash to the floor as soon as they were touched.

However, all of these were not the reason for Su Mo's undivided attention.

On the stone coffee table nearby, there was a book.

It was a book that had lost its luster on the surface, but somehow still looked "healthy".

As if attracted by a deadly poison, Su Mo could not help but walk over to it after seeing the familiar Huaxian characters on the book cover from a distance.

"Blazeland…Tianxi…Liangfang Town… Mayor's Handbook?"

"Doomsday New Calendar Year 4 Month 5 re…revised."

The book cover was severely worn down, but some large characters left on it were still visible and legible.

"So it was not on Earth after all?"

After receiving this information, Su Mo was pleasantly surprised. The pressure that weighed down on his shoulders also lifted significantly.

If the place where the ruins was located was really a parallel world, that would be terrible.

However, if a human community had been established only on this wasteland, it would not be just a piece of exciting, good news, but there also might be some hidden secrets to discover from the "future".

With these secrets, Su Mo could study the real "future" in advance through the experience of his predecessors.

"Oh, man. The Ma Family are indeed all good people. There is Magoo before and Ma Fei after!"

"It's too bad that Ma Fei is gone. He was such a good person!"

Books were more valuable than certain high-tech appliances in times like these…

Especially to a successor like Su Mo. Even getting a tank in exchange would have been a loss!

"Moore, guard the door. Oreo, guard any possible entry points!"

He found a spot where he could keep an eye on the happenings outside.

Su Mo held the flashlight close and squatted on the ground. He carefully took out two plastic bags and put them on his hands as he turned the first page of the thick mayor's handbook.

As the old saying goes, paper lives a thousand years.

Ancient books printed using ancient Huaxia papermaking techniques could be preserved for thousands of years under normal conditions. Even if they were made using modern printing technology, the average lifespan of the paper would be between a hundred to three hundred years.

With that, except for the badly damaged cover, the text inside was as legible as the text in Magoo's diary.

"Let's see…this first line should be the manual's serial number? Or is it some other code that I'm unaware of?"

From top to bottom, Su Mo could not read the letters and numbers in the first line, so he could only start by reading the Huaxian characters. Su Mo's face lit up.

Wow! It really was another fellow countryman!

"The People's Republic of YH, or "Blazeland" for short, was established on Doomsday New Calendar Year 1, Month 6, Day 1. It is located in the eastern part of the New World and on the west coast of the ocean."

"It has a population of 1.1 million people and a landmass of about 1.4 million square kilometers. The country is divided into six provinces."

"The provinces are the Central Province, Northwestern Province, Southeastern Province, Tian Xi Province, Hai Kou Province, and Shan Bei Province. All provinces are independently managed by the central government with a unified leadership structure."

"This manual is only applicable to leaders under the rule of the Tianxi Province. If found, please return this handbook to the nearest government office as soon as possible."

"This handbook was last revised on Doomsday New Calendar Year 4, Month 5."

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Chapter 273: Sky Barrier, Biological Virus

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Blazeland, the land above the wasteland!"

"Their population numbered over one million people, and the country's landmass covered an area of 1.4 million square kilometers!"

"Human beings are indeed awesome! They even established a political power on a wasteland like this, and it was even a huge country!"

It was all written in black and white with the Huaxian characters printed neatly.

There was no need to doubt. These people were the same as Magoo. They belonged to another Earth in a parallel universe.

Every group of people had a different approach. The expeditionary army chose to struggle against the game and search for the secrets hidden behind it all.

This group of people chose to fight in a different manner. It was a fight for survival.

From these familiar words, Su Mo imagined scenes of these fellow citizens from Blazeland banding together to resist the disaster's aftermath.

They did not choose to compromise, nor did they choose to search for those secrets. They only wanted to live tenaciously on this wasteland and rebuild mankind's homeland.

Truthfully, the fact that there was no trace of their survival on the wasteland was evidence of this generation's failure, but that did not affect…

The precious wealth, knowledge and experience that they left behind for future generations.

The wasteland could not store memories, but words could. Humans may not possess memory inheritance techniques similar to that of the wasteland's creatures, but they had paper to keep records…

It's enough!

"Ma Fei's generation has taken a road that's completely different from the one the expeditionary army took."

"They completed the founding of their country by relying on magical and mythical powers and protected millions of Blazelanders!"

"And they even successfully survived the ocean disaster and went to the new world!"

"They traveled even further than Magoo!"

It could be seen from Magoo's diary that the generation of the expeditionary army actually failed. They had gone down the wrong path from the start. At least for Magoo, he was among the top one percent of the population, but did not make it to the new world. It was outrageous.

Of course, finding out the secrets of this world had been the main goal of the expedition army, but the precondition was that…

They needed to survive!

"So far we know that there have already been two groups of Huaxians who made it here. These records are all priceless treasures."

"Digest! We must fully digest their weaknesses and shortcomings, only then I can go further and discover the real secret behind this wasteland."

Su Mo had no fear of death.

What Su Mo was truly afraid of was that, after his death, he would end up like these people who left their wealth behind for future generations, in the hopes of them solving the mystery he couldn't.

This kind of emptiness would simply be the biggest torment for an intelligent human. It was an even more painful feeling than hopelessness.

Especially after discovering and owning such a magical thing as the system, Su Mo's previous apathetic mentality had been eliminated little by little and replaced with curiosity about the world and the desire to explore the unknown.

After browsing through some of the remaining legislative rules of Blazeland, Su Mo flipped to the second page with excitement.

On the second page, the printed text disappeared, and was replaced by Liangfang Town's mayor, Ma Fei's, handwriting.

…

"Liangfang Town was formally established on Doomsday New Calendar Year 4, Month 5. The character "liang" means good, and "fang" means trade. These two words were combined with the hopes of good trades taking place here. This town is governed by Tianxi Province and funded by Xiang Ping City. I hope to communicate with Shan Bei Province and become a bridge between the two provinces. As the first mayor sent by the organization, I am both honored and terrified..."

…

"Doomsday New Calendar Year 4, Month 3, Day 1. The first trade took place with Hanwu City in Shan Bei Province. The trade route passed through three foreign bases. The toll payment at each base amounted to five percent, and a total of fifteen percent was charged. The trader was Wang Chuan…all went well!"

…

"Doomsday New Calendar Year 4, Month 5, Day 5. It was the fourth trade with Jiang Qian City in Shan Bei Province. This time, the trade route passed through five foreign bases. The toll payment at each base amounted to seven percent, and a total of thirty-five percent was charged. The trader was Meng Kai…all went well! (Measures: Negotiate tolls, reduce transportation costs or change routes)"

…

"Doomsday New Calendar Year 4, Month 6, Day 1. It was National Day. Trade was canceled. There are currently 8,600 citizens in Liangfang Town who are celebrating National Day. The total material consumption was: xxx units of rice, xxx units of flour, xxx units of vegetables (Measures: Develop the immigration department, ensure regular maintenance of the sky barrier to prevent any accidents from happening)."

…

"Doomsday New Calendar Year 5, Month 1, Day 1. It was the ninth trade with Hanwu City in Shan Bei Province. This time, the trade route passed through two foreign bases. The toll payment at each base amounted to thirteen percent, and a total of twenty-six percent was charged. The trader was Wang Chuan, and he unexpectedly died during the expedition… (Measures: Investigate the cause of Wang Chuan's death, activate the sky barrier protection around the clock, raise the threat level of the Flower Tiger Tribe and Boar Tribe to Level 1)."

…

"Doomsday New Calendar Year 7, Month 3, Day 5. It was the twenty-second trade with Yang Yue City in Shan Bei Province. This time, the trade route passed through one foreign base. The toll payment at each base amounted to fifty percent. The trader was Li Feiyu… (Measures: The payment was too high. The trader Li Feiyu protested, but failed, and was surrounded by the Smanzhu People for two nights. The Smanzhu People's threat level was raised to Level 1, and the trade route was temporarily sealed off. The unusual event was reported to Hualien County)."

…

"Doomsday New Calendar Year 8, Month 3, Day 7. Encountered a sudden disaster: Volcanic eruption (Disaster threat level: 2; sky barrier at level 1 protection enabled; estimated success rate of disaster resistance was 100%). The current population of Liangfang Town numbers 54,355 residents (Measures: Reduce population to 35,000 people)."

…

"Doomsday New Calendar Year 9, Month 6, Day 1. It was National Day. The thirty-first trade with Yangliu City in Shan Bei Province. The trade expedition was lost. (Measures: Provide feedback to Xiang Ping City and Tian Xi Province. Alert increased to special level. The current population of Liangfang Town numbers thirty-two thousand residents. Disperse all foreign races, disperse all foreign creatures, and all those who are not registered residents of Liangfang Town are not allowed to enter. All buildings outside the sky barrier are to be demolished. The mayor Ma Fei went to Hualien County to report on his job)."

…

"Doomsday New Calendar Year 9, Month 7, Day 1. The team that came to hand over supplies lost contact. Currently, the supplies in Liangfang Town are insufficient to maintain the daily activities of 5,000 people, and the sky barrier's energy reserves are in a critical condition (Measures: Demolish all peripheral buildings. Continue to shrink the effective area. Deport an additional 3,000 people to Hualien County to ensure the daily operations of Liangfang Town)."

…

"Doomsday New Calendar Year 9, Month 9, Day 6. A new disaster emerged. This time, the disaster was a horrible one that humankind had never faced before: a biological virus. Shang Feng could not be reached and Hualien County lost contact. There has been no material support for Liangfang Town in over three months, I must do something (Measures: Deport an additional 1,000 people and maintain the remaining numbers. Reduce the sky barrier's scope of protection again. The mayor Ma Fei went to Xiang Ping City to ask for help)."

…

A total of 36 pages completely recorded Ma Fei's thirty-one trades with Shan Bei Province since he became the mayor of Liangfang Town, as well as the five disasters that could have affected the town's operations. It also included some methods of dealing with them.

The time span covered by these entries was a total of five and a half years, amounting to over two thousand days.

At its peak, Liangfang Town's resident population numbered more than fifty thousand people and had enough supplies for twenty thousand people to do nothing except eat and sleep for a whole year.

Even when the final trade expedition was lost, the town's population was still over thirty thousand people.

"Fifty thousand people, Liangfang Town was developed to such terrifying heights by Ma Fei!"

"A single trade expedition carrying almost twenty million pounds of grain... How did they manage that?"

Most of the records in the mayor's handbook were meant for his superiors, so the wording was also very formal, indicating the quantities of each trade.

The enchantment surrounding Liangfang Town was called the "Sky Barrier" in the manual!

The Sky Barrier was not a patent that belonged to Liangfang Town, but was something issued and set up uniformly throughout Blazeland. Even its maintenance was controlled and conducted by professionals.

As for the barrier's defensive properties, those were awesome. Even in the face of a volcanic eruption, it had a hundred percent certainty of resisting the disasters; that alone was already shocking enough.

Just like Magoo's notes, things written on paper could never lie.

At the end, when he saw how hurried Ma Fei's handwriting looked when he wrote about going to Hualien County, Su Mo could also make some guesses about Liangfang Town's desolate and desperate condition.

Ma Fei was indeed dead, and he died outside the town.

As for how the situation came to be this way, it could be inferred from the ever increasing toll rates and the constant shortage of traded goods.

The disasters got worse every time.

Aside from that, the types and attributes of the disasters also seemed to have changed far beyond humankind's previous estimates.

With such a large variety of disasters, from geological disasters to biological viruses, it was too difficult to build an appropriate response mechanism in time.

It was not merely humans that required materials, but also the foreign races. If this balance was lost, both sides had to fight one another to death for survival.

Blazeland's technology had reached a bottleneck. After the Sky Barrier's development, there had been no progress for a long time. The country remained stagnant and was clueless on how to develop further.

Facing such a predicament, once the level of a disaster exceeded the tolerance level of Liangfang Town's sky barrier, and without the leadership and management of the mayor Ma Fei...

A mass migration was a reasonable outcome.

"I thought the biological viruses would only appear in movies. I did not expect it to also appear in this wasteland."

"The sky barrier can only defend against physical natural disasters, but is hopeless when faced with a transmissible virus like this!"

Su Mo could not help but feel a chill in his heart as he looked carefully at Ma Fei's description of the biological virus.

The mutant creatures outside the sky barrier were not real and were only external images recorded when the barrier last functioned.

The images were not controlled by the mechanism. Besides, the barrier was losing energy over time, and maintaining the white mist camouflage in the weaker areas consumed too much energy, which was why it started displaying images of the actual situation outside that it had recorded.

"Oh boy! Since all creatures migrated to the new world, there was nowhere to run once a biological virus was released."

"It?turns out that this is the ultimate goal behind the migration this time. How ruthless!"

As he closed the mayor's handbook and looked at the dark room, Su Mo could not stop trembling.

He was not trembling in fear.

Instead, he was…

Excited!

Chapter 274: Level 2! The Great Ma's Invitation!

"A single biological virus was all it took to penetrate the sky defense barrier, and demolish humanity's 'indestructible' line of defense."

"Judging from the time when humankind migrated to the new world, it seems that the spread of the biological virus only began in Year 9."

"Now that I have information regarding the virus and so much time at hand, this biological virus…"

"Is nothing to be worried about!"

Su Mo felt a sense of relief when he thought about his previous entries into the ruins and how he had fought against the black dogs and mad cows and gotten away unscathed.

At the same time, Su Mo clenched his fist and thumped the ground as he thought about the other mutant creatures still trapped in the core of the ruins. He felt lucky that he had come directly to Ma Fei's shelter.

These living mutant creatures must not die just like that.

Faced with the threat of biological virus disasters in the future, their bodies were treasure troves that could be dissected and analyzed in advance!

If a complete biological laboratory was set up, the corresponding virus genetic code could be extracted, and a vaccine developed…

How would a biological virus still be a problem then?

Even if the biological virus mutated, Su Mo was confident that, after nine years, he would have already established a complete center for disease prevention and control. It was even possible to escape to the "sky" and leave those silly land-bound creatures to run around like idiots.

"Looking at things this way, within this level 17 core, the items with the highest value are the sky defense barrier and virus genetic code."

"As long as a sky defense barrier can be constructed in the main world, or even an imitation of it, it would easily be enough to withstand ordinary disasters."

"Not to mention that I have a system that can augment and integrate other technologies to completely perfect the design concept of the sky defense barrier."

Su Mo solemnly put away the mayor's handbook that recorded the operations of Liangfang Town and kept it inside his storage space in a discreet spot. Su Mo stood up and began to look carefully around the room in search of any hidden treasures.

The sky defense barrier's control system was in the mayor's room.

Judging from the way the first floor was laid out, this should have been where Ma Fei usually handled government affairs. He would occasionally meet with people here to discuss matters related to the development of Liangfang Town. Hence the mayor's handbook was placed here.

However, Su Mo did not let go of any possible traces of information in the mayor's room. He basically "scraped" every inch of the area starting from the first floor.

Of course, his efforts were not in vain. He managed to find two letters detailing the handover of materials and extracted some important information.

These were the coordinates of the cities that traded with Liangfang Town, which were Hanwu City and Yangliu City.

"The core of Liangfang Town was able to mysteriously manifest the ruins in the basin area."

"However, its actual location should be at the wasteland coordinates indicated by the system."

"If I can locate the actual position of Liangfang Town and find a way to mark it, I might be able to extrapolate the locations of these two cities after arriving in the new world."

Su Mo kept the two letters that recorded the coordinates in his storage space. After he called Moore to the iron gate on the second floor, the first challenge was finally placed before him.

No matter how weak Ma Fei was, he was still the owner of a Level 17 shelter. No matter how much Blazeland's technology deviated from the norm, it had still invented the sky defense barrier, an excellent disaster resistance mechanism.

The first floor was considered to be a reception room, which was probably why it lacked any defensive mechanisms. This heavy iron door on the second floor was, however, a necessary obstacle he had to overcome to obtain the "treasure".

Su Mo felt a little troubled when he tried knocking on it, only hearing muted sounds in response.

By the looks of it, this iron gate was sturdier than the Underground Shelter's stone door. He estimated it to be at least thirty feet thick. It seemed that the owner had piled all sorts of materials into its construction to increase its sturdiness.

Without the requisite equipment or sufficient firepower, this door alone would be able to resist the assault of countless people.

Using such a simple but rough method as the first line of defense in the shelter, Ma Fei was indeed something else.

Perhaps he had to consider blasting open an entrance with explosives.

With that in mind, Su Mo stepped out of the building and began to carefully examine its structure.

It was a four-story building that was about 40 feet in height, having seemingly stacked three shelter cores on top of each other.

However, this building had a huge "bug"…

According to the structural layout of the first floor, the thickness of the outer walls of this small building ranged between thirty-two to fifty feet, which was far beyond the ability of most explosives to blast through.

Even if it was possible, such an explosion would trigger a penalty of a hundred and eighty days, as it was considered to be an action hostile to the mayor. The penalty was not something he could bear with his current reserves of time currency.

"How about planting the explosives inside the house?"

Since there was no way to do so from the outside. Su Mo walked back into the house, looked at the time currency he had left, and quickly eliminated this dangerous idea.

It was impossible.

Yet without bringing home the "treasure", would not this trip go to waste?

The computer was as good as gone. There was no need to take other things or obtain any other information.

Would this not be considered as leaving empty-handed? What a loss!

"Is there a way to get through this iron door directly and enter the second floor?"

"Chemicals?"

"A drill?"

With twenty hours remaining, Su Mo simply sat in front of the window, looked at the burning sky, and closed his eyes. He was thinking of a way to overcome the situation.

It was not impossible to chemically corrode the iron, but the most crucial raw material required for that was not available on hand.

Using a drill was an even more unreliable idea. It was more realistic to strategically place and detonate the explosives.

Facing an iron anti-theft door that had a thickness of over thirty-two feet without its corresponding key was something that left even Su Mo dumbfounded.

Moore, who was standing on the side, also realized Su Mo's dilemma.

Lightning bear warriors were not known for their cunning or intelligence.

Moore spitted on his palms, rubbed his hands together, and started using his three-pointed two-edged sword as a shovel as he tried to dig into the iron door.

Sadly, each time he swung, nothing appeared except for sparks from the friction. The iron door remained undamaged.

"Stop shoveling, Moore. You won't be able to dig through it even if you had over…"

"Damn, I've been blinded by my own way of thinking!"

"I can use magic to deal with magic!"

The heavy iron door did not seem like it would be easily damaged with ordinary tools, but Su Mo suddenly thought of the excellent-quality iron pickaxe. Taking it out of his storage space, everything seemed a lot simpler now.

Ordinary iron was rated at Level 3.

The specialty of the excellent-quality iron pickaxe was that its critical strikes would trigger its disintegration special ability.

Once triggered, the surrounding iron would collapse like blocks of tofu. As long as he kept at it, let alone thirty-two feet…

Su Mo was confident that he would be able to dig through it today even if it was 160 to 200 feet thick!

"Oh, Moore, you're quite the clever one!"

Su Mo patted Moore on the back. He laughed out loud and went over to the wall next to him to give it a try.

Sure enough, the material level of the wall was assessed to be above 5. Even if the iron pickaxe triggered its special ability, the wall did not budge except for some falling dust.

"It seems like we can't manipulate the bug. We can only dig our way through the door step by step!"

Each strike of the pickaxe on the wall resulted in a five-minute time penalty, whereas each strike on the iron door resulted in a twenty-minute time penalty.

A one day's worth of time currency would allow him to strike the iron door 72 times.

In order to reduce consumption, Su Mo took out a unit of iron from his storage space and began to tap lightly on it with the pickaxe.

The light emitted by the iron pickaxe's critical strike was obvious. Besides, a unique power could be sensed from the handle of the pickaxe apart from the burst of light it let out.

Whenever a critical strike was triggered, Su Mo would raise his hand and hit the iron door with the pickaxe, bringing down chunks of iron about the size of a human head.

This was a job that required patience. There was still a lot of time left and Su Mo was not in a hurry. When he got tired, he sat down to rest, drank some water, and ate some dry food.

After resting, it was time for hard work again.

"I thought it was only about thirty feet thick, but now it seems like this iron gate is about sixty feet thick. He really is a kindred spirit!"

After consuming three days of time currency, and knocking out a full thirty-six-feet-long passage in the iron door, he could still not see the end in sight. Su Mo gained some basic understanding about what Level 17 shelters were like while admiring the creator.

It goes without saying how harsh the upgrade conditions would have been to create something like this. However, what was truly worth learning from was the creator's foresight and awareness to safeguard and protect his home and life.

When Su Mo returned from the ruins this time, he would directly upgrade the materials of the Underground Shelter and increase the thickness of the entrance door to over sixty feet!

After working for another two or three hours, he opened the game panel and found that there were twelve hours remaining. Su Mo did not rest, instead using the Mountain and Sea Painting Scroll card to recover his strength, and then continuing to press forward.

In ancient times, Moses parted the Red Sea.

Today, Su Mo tunneled through a door.

Numerous pieces of broken iron were dug out. Oreo then put them on a hand-made trolley and threw them out into the courtyard.

Doudou laid down while talking non-stop when he saw that Oreo was of the same kind as him.

The ruins, a place that was extremely dangerous for other people, had transformed into a simple construction site of sorts when it came to Su Mo.

Su Mo kept digging. Whenever a critical strike was triggered, Su Mo swung the pickaxe against the iron door in front of him.

Ten hours of repetitive actions exhausted him.

Su Mo, who had lived in the wasteland for a month, had honed his persistence and perseverance over time, and remained undaunted in his quest.

Bang!

Buzz…

It was just another critical strike but, this time, Su Mo's dust-covered face finally showed a trace of a smile.

The sound of the pickaxe striking the iron door had changed!

This indicated that the remaining thickness of the door had reduced to around ten to fifteen feet. He would only need another hour or so before he reached his desired destination!

With the goal in mind, Su Mo felt that there was a steady flow of strength coming from all sides of his body and his mind seemed to have been refreshed and rejuvenated.

As he squatted down, the motions of the iron pickaxe in Su Mo's hand suddenly accelerated and sparks even appeared on the deformed iron block.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

One strike after another caused the chunks of iron to continue falling off the iron door, which were collected and carted away by Moore with his two large hands, leaving Su Mo enough space to continue digging.

Su Mo found a specific point, covered his head, and swung wildly.

Finally, when there were still six hours left on the countdown, with a clatter…

The door…

Collapsed!

A cloud of dust scattered accompanied by the sound of falling iron chunks. A dull reverberating sound continued to echo within the room.

Although his heart was bursting with joy, looking at the depths of the dark room, Su Mo cautiously rested for half an hour. After ensuring that his mental and physical conditions had stabilized, he called out to Doudou.

"Be careful when you're inside. If there's any danger, return at once!"

He touched the silly dog's head and looked at its well-behaved appearance. Su Mo bent down slightly and primed himself to run away at any moment.

There had been hundreds of miniature robots on the first floor. If, as expected, there were more aggressive robots on the second floor, then even if Su Mo possessed the courage of a lion, he would still not dare to fight head-on against the magical technology of the future.

Fortunately, the expected attack did not materialize. When Doudou stepped into the second floor, a bright light suddenly shone forth from the ceiling, illuminating the darkness.

As his eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness for a long time, the sudden ray of light made Su Mo involuntarily close his eyes.

However, before Su Mo could even react and retreat, a strong male voice rang out throughout the shelter.

"Welcome, the one from the future."

"Welcome to my shelter!"

"Come on in. Since you managed to pass my first test, you're qualified to learn about some things!"

This man's voice seemed to be filled with endless charm. Su Mo could not help but to stop in his tracks the first moment it sounded.

A human?

No, was this Ma Fei?

Was this Liangfang Town's mayor, Ma Fei?

Out of curiosity, Su Mo tried to stick his head out of the iron door. He then saw the most shocking scene he had ever seen from Earth to the present.

On the second floor, the high-end desktop computers that he dreamed of were piled up in the corner like debris.

There were also transparent tubes, with a diameter of about 3 feet, densely laid out on the ground like blood vessels. They seemed to be transporting blue liquid-like energy.

At the end of his line of sight, there was a whole wall of miniature robots that no one had ever seen before.

Unlike the previous miniature robots, these ones did not hold anything in their hands. They seemed to be in a dormant state, allowing the energy to pass through them while emitting a mysterious phenomenon that looked like water rippling.

However, all of this did not attract Su Mo's attention.

This was because there was a large square the size of at least 13 square feet placed in the middle of the house.

Su Mo was no stranger to this thing, and he even saw it frequently in his dreams recently.

"Nice, a vertical launching system. I have to admit, I'm really tempted this time!"

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Chapter 275: Machinery Soar, False Prosperity!

Ma Fei seemed to be sure that anyone who encountered this scene would stop at the door. He chuckled after Su Mo finally stepped inside.

"You took…erm…thirteen seconds to consider!"

"It gets ugly in the final days, where people can even become cannibals. You should be more cautious in the future to survive!"

Hearing those two sentences, it almost seemed like Ma Fei was still alive in the shelter. However, Su Mo still caught the slight change in intonation when the voice said the word "thirteen".

"Is this a basic A.I. program paired with a pre-recorded message?"

"If there was a picture playing alongside it, wouldn't this be similar to an interactive video on the B Site?"

There was no trace of malice in the words that Ma Fei spoke, so Su Mo let his guard down, took a few strides forward, and stepped completely inside the room.

Moore and Oreo also followed behind curiously, and let out yelps of surprise upon seeing this "cyberpunk" room.

Downstairs, the house was in an absolutely terrible state. It was as if a gust of wind could blow everything into a cloud of dust.

Yet, after digging out a passageway through the iron door, he suddenly found himself upstairs in a high-tech steel room.

Were it not for Doudou leading the way, it would have been impossible for Su Mo to find his way here and discover this room and its secrets.

"I was indeed cautious, however, luck was on my side!"

After Su Mo went inside and confirmed that everything could be placed into the storage space and taken away, he felt completely at ease.

As long as this scene was not some sort of illusion, the things he took away here could be used to develop the shelter, regardless of what Ma Fei would say to him later.

As expected though, whether it was a 13-square foot vertical launching system or a computer, the time currency cost was absurdly high.

Could it all be taken away at once? Su Mo was more inclined to talk to Ma Fei, who was now willing to communicate.

He was even more capable compared to Magoo, and his method of leaving behind his legacy was more "ingenious."

"First of all, I can provide you with an answer to your first question, which is where the core of the sky defense barrier is located."

Regardless of Su Mo's muttering, Ma Fei's recorded voice continued to drone on.

Coincidentally, Su Mo had also been searching for the core throughout his entire exploration.

If he got to the core, there would definitely be a way for him to bring it out to the main world.

As long as it could be installed in the main world, it would remain invincible for at least one to two years.

Since the topic was mentioned, Ma Fei did not keep him guessing and went straight to the heart of the matter.

"That's right. The very place that you're looking at is the core. If you take control of this, you can operate the sky defense barrier as you wish."

When Ma Fei's voice trailed off, the whole place began to visibly change colors, transforming into a white world.

The wall was no longer there, and even the floor lost its metallic luster.

The white space swallowed all the decor and transformed into an empty space with some soft lighting.

"What I'm about to say next is crucial. If you have a recording device, please record it now. Otherwise, please take out a pen and paper to take notes."

Upon hearing the serious tone of Ma Fei's voice, Su Mo quickly sat down on the ground, grabbed a pen and a paper, and got ready to jot the information down.

"First of all, the sky defense barrier was issued and maintained by Blazeland via a centralized system. However, the fact that the barrier is rotten from the inside is no secret to anyone."

"What is the barrier's core, you ask? Yes, you guessed it, it's me, my core. They are bound to each other."

"The fact that you're even here means that there might be some energy left in the barrier. Since my shelter has not collapsed yet, it should be your trophy."

"Once you have successfully bound my core, you'll be able to gain operational authority over the barrier as well as the manufacturing manual."

"Don't get too excited yet though, let me put things straight first. What I just said was not the main point. Rather, it's what I'm about to say that's important."

After speaking four sentences in one breath, Ma Fei sounded a little breathless and his emotions seemed a little agitated. It was as if he had some prejudice toward this solid "sky defense barrier".

Su Mo heard a sharp inhale of breath, and guessed that his mouth might have been next to his headset while he recorded this.

Why was Ma Fei so angry?

What in the world happened?

On his note, Su Mo took note of the two key terms…

Rotten and binding the core!

The former seemed to involve some problems in Blazeland's system, while the latter was the only way to control this small world.

Ma Fei did not speak for a while, and Su Mo was not in a hurry either. He sat quietly on the ground and waited. After the sounds of panting faded, the strong male voice spoke again.

"I don't care which era or place you come from, but please remember that the barrier is a drug. It will get you addicted, make you lose your fighting spirit, and turn you into a wastrel in the doomsday wasteland!"

"I bet you must feel like I'm an alarmist. Come, I should also show you what these d*mn fools are messing with in this d*mn doomsday wasteland!"

"F*ck!"

Crash!

The violent sound of a palm hitting the table echoed through the room as a curtain of light enveloped the room.

The intense vibrations caused by the sound waves felt like they could rupture one's eardrums.

Moore was startled, but before he could even protest, the curtain of light changed gradually. Even the air in the room and the flooring below them seemed to shift slightly.

The change was subtle, but Su Mo sensed it clearly thanks to the physical enhancements from the consumption of psychic energy water.

"Erm…are you trying to deceive my senses again?"

Feeling the constant shifts and dizziness in his brain, Su Mo paused and finally chose to suppress this feeling. He chose to give in to the experience wholeheartedly.

After Su Mo did so, the next second…

The energy flowing within the tubes and vessels on the ground also started to surge. Along with the violent sounds that it created, a foggy light that was stinging to the eye brightened gradually, and even Su Mo could not help but close his eyes eventually.

As his eyes shut, it was as if he had entered a completely different world.

Without the sense of sight, his sense of hearing and touch were amplified.

The floor under him was no longer hard steel, but instead the soft green grass in front of a deep-sea shelter. As Su Mo gently adjusted his body, the fresh scent of grass assailed his senses.

As he breathed in gently, Su Mo smelled the same fragrance in the air.

It was fresh and comfortable, as if he was in a grassy field free of pollution.

The chirping birds, trickling water, and the rustling leaves gently blowing in the wind…

When Su Mo opened his eyes, at that moment, it was…

Real!

The wall had disappeared and had been replaced by a grass field that stretched out endlessly. The field was filled with tall grass and crisp morning dew.

Not very far from him, beside a small river, there was a huge manor.

"Wow! Weren't we in a room? Where is this?"

Moore and Oreo stood up curiously and looked around the astonishing change of environment.

"Is this virtual reality?"

Su Mo was confused when he plucked a blade of grass. It looked identical to the real thing; he could even feel the moisture in the grass.

Su Mo silently counted as he stepped forward. After he had walked for about thirty yards, he did not hit a wall, but instead reached a riverbank.

He reached out to touch it and felt the cool water on his hand. The river was a little over a foot deep. He took a step into the river, and all the fishes and shrimps inside fled.

Although there was an invisible beep inside Su Mo's brain telling him that it was all an illusion, his five senses told his mind that all of this was really happening.

Without resisting, Su Mo chose to cross the river silently and arrived at the entrance of the manor.

Rip…

The door opened. As expected, a butler and a maid walked out to greet him.

"You've worked hard. Welcome home, Master."

"Your pet is really powerful!"

While praising them, they showed impeccable professionalism, and the two kindly brought in Su Mo, the two little ones, and Doudou the Tibetan Mastiff.

Over the next two hours, served by ten beautiful maids, Su Mo first took a bath in a natural hot spring that covered an area of about 10,000 square feet, and even swam back and forth a few times.

After taking a left turn outside of the huge bathhouse, he found himself standing in front of a magnificent palace.

Su Mo tasted 240 different kinds of delicacies here.

From common ingredients on Earth, to the rare plants and animals found only on the wasteland, even an old glutton like Su Mo could not find fault in this luxurious feast.

After the meal, ten beautiful new maids came again. The destination they were heading next was…

The bedroom!

"That's enough, I know what it is, just stop!"

Throughout the experience, Su Mo's mind and body was tense. Even while he was eating the food, he only chewed it before vomiting it out.

When it came to the actual experience, it was not all that beautiful.

Since he was aware that all of this was fake, he could not let himself drown in the experience. Even if the technology was so advanced, he could still sense the unnatural aspects of the experience that made him want to resist and deny the realism of the experience.

Fortunately, as his voice trailed off, the entire thing was brought to an end in an instant, unlike the slow loading period when it had first been launched.

The manor was gone, the blue sky was gone, the river, the grass; it was as if none of them had existed before. They all vanished.

Moore, who had been in the middle of being served by ten female bears, touched his head and looked around blankly.

Even the previous sparkling white walls in the room disappeared and returned to their original state.

"It's fun and ridiculous, right? You can stop now. I'm very pleased, but sad at the same time."

"Even someone like you, who's seeing this for the first time, can figure out how harmful this thing is, but they didn't, or more likely they didn't want to!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha! It's such a shame, seeing these millions of people being kept in the dark. They turned people into wastrels that could only live within their own fantasies, unable to face the real world."

Ma Fei laughed hysterically.

From his laughter, Su Mo could hear the madness and frustration in his voice at the incompetence of their leaders, and his own powerlessness in the face of the overall situation.

However, what Ma Fei said next made Su Mo turn serious, and he quickly took notes.

"Do you want to know why those at the summit promoted this thing so vigorously? Take a guess as to why they wanted to protect us, yet at the same time abandon us at the most critical moment."

"When those d*mned scientists took over, they caused the end of humankind in our era!""

"Blazeland was a giant experiment by scientists who wanted to see the rise of the machines. Just like how the game was forcing the different races to compete, they also did the same."

"They would always say that there would only be one winner. I think I only understood what they really meant before I left!"

Rip…

Without giving Su Mo the chance to continue pondering, Ma Fei seemed like he had made up his mind on something.

A 24-inch LCD screen slowly emerged from the wall. Controlled by a retractable mechanical arm, it was positioned at an empty spot in the center of the room.

"Congratulations, the one from the future. You are today's winner. You may take anything you want with you from the second floor."

"However, I will give you a choice. I have prepared four questions, for which I've even stored a sliver of my remaining consciousness. It will judge your answers."

"Come, make your choice. Whether you choose to take these things and travel far away or sail against the current, make sure that you follow your own path that is meant for you."

"It's your turn!"

Chapter 276: Robbing The Poor! The Sky Is Shaking!

Buzz…

Ma Fei purposely drew out the last syllable, making it sound extremely suggestive.

From his hesitant tone, one could tell that he did not have much confidence in the choice that this Su Mo person from the future would make.

He could not be certain if Su Mo would even answer this question.

"Interesting. Is he giving me the power of choice once more?

"It seems my previous actions and demeanor have managed to trigger the mechanism Ma Fei left behind, and it's actually interacting with me."

Glancing at the camera on the corner of the wall with its blinking red light, Su Mo smiled and walked over to stand in front of this small monitor.

He did not mind violent, yet truthful responses.

He was only wary of being given vague answers that promised an explanation, yet explained nothing at all.

Su Mo admired Ma Fei's work very much and had no intention of mounting any objections.

There was no specific subject on the screen at the moment, merely a simple single-choice question.

[Do you want to understand the meaning of life? Do you want to truly… live?]

[Yes or no!]

After a pause, Su Mo gently tapped the button for 'yes'. The screen was plunged into darkness, and Ma Fei's voice rang out again at the same time.

"Very good. You've made your choice.

"From the looks of it, you're a radical protester as well. This is something I hadn't actually expected. I really want to see what kind of results all of you can achieve this time.

"Honestly speaking, since your compatibility received a good score of 91 points in the evaluation rules I set, I'll just let you have the next three questions."

A simple analysis screen appeared with such a terrible UI design that a mere glance revealed it to be a layman's "masterpiece".

Still, this screen showed how Su Mo had conducted himself since entering the first floor, from his most basic standing posture to the various changes in his body when he selected his options, as well as the several most important big choices.

Apart from the single low score he received in the 13 seconds when he came in earlier, Su Mo had received close to full points for the other scores.

In total, he had managed to achieve a high score of 91 points!

He only needed to accumulate another nine points to gain the authorization for proceeding to the third floor in the top right corner. Then he could obtain the secret that Ma Fei had left behind.

"Every question is awarded three points. If you answer one question correctly, you can take one item from everything here without a penalty.

"If you answer two correctly, you can take two items.

"Correspondingly, if you answer three correctly, you can take everything in here and obtain the authorization for the third floor as well. So now…

"Are you ready!"

Three questions worth three points each. That was exactly nine points.

After looking around and realizing that he could not find the passageway or the iron door to the third floor, Su Mo nodded and chose "yes".

The gains on the second floor were already this incredible. Based on this logic, the third floor probably held even more of Ma Fei's treasures.

All these had been left behind by the people who had worked so hard for close to ten years in this doomsday wasteland. They were unbelievable treasures.

Now that he had reached this point, even if it was because he wanted to take everything from the second floor, he had to choose an answer.

Whir…

Whir whir whir…

The exhaust fan behind the monitor started to hum. At the same time, the first question Ma Fei had set appeared on the screen.

[Question one: After you transmigrate into this wasteland and work hard for a few years, one day, a group of powerful strangers gatecrash your life. They tell you that they have found some mysterious tickets. As long as you have a ticket, you can leave this wasteland and go to a world with no disasters, where all you have to do is enjoy yourself. However, there's a price if you wish to trade for this ticket.

[A. Listen to the price B. Refuse at once C. Agree at once]

"Uh-huh… It really is a very interactive and comprehensive multiple-choice question!"

Seeing the choices that popped up on the screen, Su Mo did not even bother to think and chose option A—listen to the price.

Leaving the wasteland was tempting as usual, but any normal person would choose to continue listening.

[Supplemental Question One: You agree to their first request. You want to leave the wasteland, so you chose to listen to the price, but they do not tell you what it is. Instead, they tell you that they are building a nation—a country in the wasteland. As long as you join them, you will be able to leave with them. As for the price? You do not need to know.

[A. Agree B. Reject C. Persist on listening to the price]

"Oh? We're playing now?"

Studying the three new choices with interest, Su Mo's brain worked rapidly as he started considering the deeper meaning behind these three choices.

If this were a choice Ma Fei had made previously, given his current position, he would still choose to participate in the end no matter which option he picked.

In that case, what was the answer Ma Fei wanted—to participate or to not participate?

"This is really a question that tests one's character, but I choose C!"

Glancing at the moving camera on the top right corner, Su Mo gently tapped the answer—he chose to keep listening to the price.

At this point, Ma Fei was no longer asking a personal question—instead, he was transmitting the secrets of how Blazeland was first formed.

Compared with heading to the third floor, knowing exactly why Blazeland was formed was even more important to Su Mo.

[Supplemental Question One: Because of your insistence, you manage to get them to leak a "portion" of the price, which can be summed up in three points:

If you choose to join this new country, your shelter will be upgraded by ten levels, but consequently, it will always be fixed at this level.There are very few tickets to "heaven", so you will need to cooperate with them regularly to organize and complete some activities that seem "bizarre", such as the "Winner's Battle Royale" game, or the wilderness welfare lottery game…You need to accept their assignments and serve in a certain place for more than ten years, leading the ordinary populace through disasters and accumulating "benefits."

[A. Accept B. Reject]

"Huh, so that's how Ma Fei's level 17 shelter came to be? He accepted the benefit of upgrading ten levels in one go?"

After staring at the words on the screen for a while and ascertaining that this was not a joke, Su Mo's expression became serious.

If things were really as described in Ma Fei's question, then this group of individuals who established Blazeland could actually affect a shelter core to a certain extent.

This kind of ability was not something that could be accomplished through mere technology alone. They must have obtained some sort of secret!

"If a choice like this were laid out in front of me, would I accept… or reject it?"

At this moment, Su Mo really had to put himself into the options to consider exactly what his true desires would be when faced with choices like this.

Would he participate in establishing a country, or would he choose to not believe it and determinedly go down his own path of development?

Seeing that Su Mo was in such deep thought, the question on the screen did not hurry him either. Instead went into screensaver mode, patiently waiting for him to think it through.

If he put himself in Ma Fei's shoes, choosing B for this question was possibly more correct, but what Su Mo wanted to know even more was what exactly he himself would choose.

"I'm a bold person. Under these circumstances, if this group of strangers were put in front of me to negotiate conditions, that's already overstepping the rules.

"How could I still let them talk to me about some bullsh*t price!"

After thinking about it and coming up with the answer in his heart, Su Mo laughed aloud, then chose B without hesitation!

Reject!

[Question Two: Please state your reason for Question One in a single sentence.

After Su Mo chose to reject in Question One, the screen did not indicate whether it was right or wrong but jumped straight to the second question instead.

"Devious man, so he laid the trap here."

It did not matter whether he chose to agree or refuse in the first question; no score would be given.

In the second question that had been set, only the reason given for the answer would become what was evaluated.

If it was wrong, he would lose everything, and there probably would not even be a chance for the third question.

If it was correct, then he could get six points at once and enter the thrilling third stage.

"A reason in a single sentence—what else could it be? Of course it's because I abide by my true desires."

Laughing confidently, once the familiar input method popped up after he chose the input box, Su Mo used his hand as a pen and wrote down his extremely idealistic answer.

[The shelter level is my foundation of life. You want to seal it? 10 levels are far from enough—you'll have to add money to that!]

A single sentence written in Su Mo's fluid strokes—after he tapped the submit button, the screen in front of him started to freeze up.

Static started flashing across the display. Alongside the sound of flowing water from the blood vessel energy network, the temperature in the room seemed to have risen a few degrees as well.

"Ahem…"

A low cough sounded. Compared to the lively AI and recorded voice, this voice sounded as if it had just woken up and had not yet fully come to its senses.

"Person from the future, your answer is very interesting. It's been so long…

"Far too long since I've bumped into someone as interesting as you!"

After a few seconds of lag, the recovered part of Ma Fei checked the answer. His chronic phlegm no longer caught in his throat, and his speech became more fluent as well.

"Not bad, not bad. Your rejection was reasonable. At the same time, you're not outdated either. You know how to adapt.

"You're able to fight to gain the greatest benefits for yourself. I'll let you pass this stage."

Beep!

Beep!

After Ma Fei's voice dissipated, the screen returned to normal as well, and two celebratory beeps sounded as two green ticks appeared.

The score at the top right corner had already reached 97 points. At the same time, the special authorization to take two items was displayed.

"For the third question, you can choose to answer now, or you can choose to answer when you next come here.

"Make your choice!

"Yes or no."

It was another familiar single choice. Without any hesitation, Su Mo chose to keep answering.

If he wanted to enter this ruin another time, it would take at least half a year. It was too great a variable, so it would be best to finish answering everything in one go, then see what happened.

[Question Three: If I tell you that the foreign races withholding our goods every time are doing so because of orders and reports from higher up—if I tell you that the reason Liangfang Town was established was not for trade but to deplete Shan Bei Province's supplies, please share your thoughts!]

???

The line of text that suddenly appeared on the screen shocked Su Mo to the core as he stood in front of the screen still, waiting to answer the question.

At this moment, no matter how lighthearted Su Mo behaved, he could not help being stunned!

What?

The foreign races withholding goods was actually what the Blazeland higher-ups wanted?

The purpose for establishing Liangfang Town was not for mutual exchange of trade, but to deplete Shan Bei Province's food supplies?

What were the higher-ups doing?

Were they… robbing the poor?

"Solicitation, tickets, barriers, foreign races…"

As he read out the keywords he had extracted, at that moment, Zeta the dragon's story suddenly came to mind.

It was the story about Zeta's coming to the wasteland and protecting his clan, only to slaughter the entire clan when all of them were defenseless.

Were not the dragon Zeta's methods the same as what the higher-ups in Blazeland were doing now—the same thing but a different tune?

"What a big picture—this is the big picture!

"Human parasites rely on the sky barrier's protection, and the foreign race parasites rely on being bloodsuckers and leeching off humans to survive.

"When a condition is about to be fulfilled, as long as supplies are cut off and the barrier is removed, everyone has no option but to kill if they want to survive.

"But humans who constantly rely on the barrier and live in a fantasy world, as well as foreign races who keep relying on collecting tolls and never toiling for themselves—what skills would they have to survive in this wilderness when the time comes?

"This is their true goal!"

The fan in the old machine whirred. The room became even hotter, but Su Mo—who was standing in front of the screen—was trembling as if he were in an ice cellar.

The world was not benevolent and treated everything like dogs.

The saints were not benevolent and treated people like dogs!

Looking at the conversation box that was waiting for him to enter information, at this moment, Su Mo's mind was clear. A classic saying suddenly popped into his mind, and he lingered no longer.

His body was like a great spear, his hand like the spear tassel; the screen was like an enemy, and the text was like a presentation of ideas in a composition.

Su Mo's writing strokes were fluid as he began expressing the "shock" in his heart.

"I opened the log; there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it. The phrase "fight to the end" was written in skewed letters on every page.

"I lay down but I couldn't sleep. After looking closely at the log practically all night, only then did I notice that in between the lines, there were three large words written throughout this mayor's log…

"Robbing the poor!"

Whoosh!

After Su Mo typed out the last three words, a boom like a crack of thunder erupted throughout the entire room.

With that, the ruins seemed as if they were shattering.

The earth was shaking, and the sun and moon had been reversed.

Even if direct monitoring had been lost, the sky barrier was immediately stung by the words and began reacting as if it wanted to kill this "heretic", Su Mo.

Compared to a newly awakened individual who became aware later, Su Mo—this individual who had seen through their act from the very beginning—was an even greater danger!

The next moment, however, when an angry lion-like roar erupted, everything became silent, and everything stopped!

"Good! Good! Very good!

"Robbing the poor! These rules, this country, this channel, they're all robbing the poor!"

As a green tick appeared on the screen, a loud roaring noise began. On the ceiling, the door to the third floor…

Now appeared!

Chapter 277: Magical Side? The "Coat" of Class Barriers

The sky barrier not only protected humans, but it also was more of an information cocoon where qualified individuals continued to be nurtured, and the awakened ones were obliterated right away.

If Ma Fei had not been restricted, Su Mo had not the slightest doubt that the underlying mechanism of this barrier would allow him to shoot without any hesitation.

"That's it? Trying to confine thoughts by martial prowess?"

Looking at the barrier of "impotent rage", Su Mo scoffed and started sizing up the new passageways.

Unlike the iron gate passage that connected the first floor to the second, the silvery-white gate that appeared finally displayed some technological elements. At the same time, the materials had undergone an extensive upgrade.

He walked up to it. After he touched the iron door, the noise behind him gradually stopped, and Ma Fei's familiar voice sounded again.

"Hello, being from the future, I'm Ma Fei. I'm honored to meet you under these circumstances.

"Haha, you seem surprised. You didn't expect me to be this handsome, did you?"

A mutable face appeared on the 24-inch screen.

The man's face was dark and glowing. His soft, supple skin had turned coarse long ago from the harsh wind, but his bright, piercing eyes proved that he was a resolute man.

His hair seemed to have been shorn off by the sharp blade of life; it was short and wiry. Taken together with his short, unyielding beard, he appeared to be quite a character no matter how one looked at him!

"That's something alright. This personification of consciousness looks quite human. Ma Fei, do you know someone by the name of Lu Benwei?"

"Oh? Lu Benwei? What the heck, I remember I had a grandpa whose last name might be Lu, but I don't think that's his name, though!"

The figure on the screen was no different from the actual person. It even joked with Su Mo.

The personification of consciousness had no power to hurt or maim. Su Mo started to enjoy this friendly pioneer, and the two of them began a cheerful and courteous interaction.

About a minute later, after quickly confirming that they were from different space-time parallels on Earth, they became much closer.

"I can't believe it. I really can't believe it. In this same place here, I've actually gotten to meet someone from the same country, but from a different time-space parallel.

"Huaxia sounds so much nicer than Blazeland!"

Ma Fei had a breezy, frank personality. If he had not been trapped inside that screen, the two of them would probably have already been having a drink or two while reminiscing about their past.

However, the time shown on the top right corner was almost up.

In the settings, Ma Fei had designated very little time for his personification of consciousness on the second floor—merely a few minutes.

Even if the two of them were fated to meet, once these few minutes were up, Su Mo would have to go up to the third floor if he wished to see him again.

"I'm very satisfied with your answers. You've already been given access to the third floor, but whether you make it up there at all will depend on your abilities."

"If I'm not capable enough, it will be frustrating to go up there and find out all of these secrets. If I'm capable enough, you'll gain my measure once I enter."

"That's right. Just a reminder, though, there's nothing good up there that can increase your martial prowess, so don't think of trying to loot my poor self."

Ma Fei laughed out loud as if he knew what Su Mo had in mind. His expression was knowing, as if to say that they were both from the same race, so he had Su Mo's measure.

"The machine on this wall on the second floor was one of my lifelong projects. Once you pry open the robot that's in the middle, behind it, you'll find a complete manufacturing maintenance manual that I left for you. You'll have to learn this on your own; you can't immediately import it into the game.

"Oh, right. In order to not have problems with the sky barrier and for energy to flow out quickly, don't take everything away at once. Otherwise, you'll have to come here in person to maintain it after some time.

"The vertical missile launcher in the middle is a piece of modular technology. I got it when I traveled around the cores of various ruins in my early years. Sadly, after my grand ambitions were frustrated, it's been collecting dust like me all these years. I hope that it'll have its moment of glory once it comes into your possession.

"You still have a final five minutes. If you ask, I can answer one question that doesn't involve the third and fourth floor."

It was true that anyone would become a chatterbox once they had come to a certain stage.

Even though there was not much time left, Ma Fei still utilized one precious minute to nag this "good buddy" that he had just met.

At the same time, a five-minute countdown on the top right corner of the screen lit up and slowly began ticking down to zero.

"One question?"

"Yes. Before I left, I made sure to retain all my memories except the ones that concerned my family. There are a lot of things sealed in these memories, so you can ask one question about something you really want to know. I'll treat it as a reward for your excellent answer to the third question."

Ma Fei spread his hands and gestured at one side. A chair suddenly came flying over so he could sit down.

"Ah, I'll make myself comfortable then…"

When he saw Ma Fei sitting down, Su Mo ditched the formalities and seated himself on the floor in a frank, unceremonious manner. He then asked a question that had been on his mind ever since he first stepped into the ruins.

"Speaking of which, why does Blazeland want to develop technology into some sort of esoteric art? Why not go down the esoteric path right away and physically become a god?

"At the very least, mankind will know how to cast fire balls, gales, and thunder spells—why wouldn't you want that?"

Huaxian writing and language was extremely elegant. The same sentence spoken in a different tone would change the meaning entirely.

The moment Su Mo uttered those words, the microphone on the screen received all the information and rapidly transcoded them into text before further translating them into a string of binary signals that flowed across the screen.

After Ma Fei understood the meaning of this sentence, one could clearly see his forehead beading with some sweat.

"Erm… Su Mo, why would you think this way? Do you think that Blazeland is developing mystical powers?"

"Isn't that what's happening? Whether it's these mass-produced appliances or what I've seen, aren't they using magical abilities to improve the levels of technology?"

A combative air-conditioner, an old television that could detect anything within a range of 1km, an LCD tv that could rectify proficiency levels, and an old phone that could scan within a range of 50km.

Items that were brought back from the ruins were like opening a blind box. They possessed all kinds of unusual abilities that could surprise one from time to time.

In Su Mo's view, these magical abilities were more prominent and powerful in the early technological stages when compared to modular technology.

"What does 'magical' mean in your vocabulary? Is it an illusory inner force in a martial arts novel or the magical curses found in Western novels, or perhaps even the powers of gods and demons we have here in the East?

"Never forget what technology really is, Su Mo!"

"Technology—isn't it…"

Ma Fei's question was very acute. In comparison with Zhong Qingshu's roundabout way of speaking, communication between the two men was very clear.

Su Mo was on the verge of involuntarily answering Ma Fei's question, but he froze when he was about to blurt out his reply.

At the moment when Ma Fei asked that question in his stentorian voice, an absurd notion suddenly surged into Su Mo's head—one that had never occurred to him before.

Society was accustomed to linking science and technology together by collectively referring to them as science and technology, or just plain tech for short. In fact, the two were closely related, but there were also important differences between them.

Science solved theoretical problems while technology solved practical problems.

Problem-solving in science was by discovering the connection between a certain phenomenon and the scientific laws behind it, then establishing a theory to link the two.

The mission of technology was to apply the concrete results of scientific research in solving practical problems.

"Why do you feel that things like inner force and magical abilities have correct paths or wrong paths?

"If you unleash a fire ball technique, doesn't it mean that you've developed a theory for unleashing it, translated the theory into an outcome, and turned it into a technique you can use repeatedly?

"What's the difference between this process and when we release the safety catch of a gun, pick the gun up, pull the trigger, and shoot?"

As he spoke, Ma Fei was so afraid that Su Mo would not be able to comprehend his explanation that he stood up from the stool anxiously. He gestured liberally with his hands, and the screen changed slightly.

"You feel that those powers are magical only because you haven't studied the principles behind them. It's like how you think deities are powerful, but you don't have enough examples to resolve the matter.

"Mankind's advantage lies in the fact that our technological path is a broad, established one. The breakdown of individual molecules, the attraction between atoms, and collisions between particles…

"In your eyes, these marvelous theories are so ordinary they don't bear mentioning, but have you thought of how they look like to foreign races? What are our powers, our artillery, and our sky barriers to them?"

As Ma Fei's voice subsided, a memory in his mind began to emerge on the screen.

In this scene, Su Mo saw how the sky barrier looked as it ascended for the first time in Liangfang Town. He also saw the shock of the neighboring foreign races when they came to observe the ceremony.

From guns and artillery to long-range ballistic missiles later, every time a human weapon was dispatched, the foreign races began to tremble.

In their eyes, humans had magical powers as well. Even an ordinary person could possess the power to destroy the world.

"Wait, I think I've got it!"

As he watched the constantly-changing scenes, Su Mo suddenly had a hint of enlightenment when three minutes remained on the countdown.

However, Ma Fei did not stop talking; instead, he continued with his interrogative questions.

"Do you know how many of those foreign races died at my hands?

"34,000 of them! A whopping 34,000!

"But do you know what they told me when I first captured them and interrogated them on how they unleashed their magic?"

Rather than answer Su Mo, Ma Fei chose to use questions in place of a reply.

"I don't know?" Su Mo answered tentatively.

"That's right! You nailed it!

"Isn't it ridiculous? What magical powers? What spells? They're just ideological barriers created by the upper-class foreign races to conceal the secrets of the power they possess, and to establish racial classes even more securely."

At this point, Ma Fei snorted twice and gave a more modern explanation.

"For instance, what dominates the world now is not physical chemistry or artillery and firearms, but magic. The air is full of magical powers—magic apprentices, magicians, sorcerers, mages, fighters, fighting masters, champion fighters, and fighter clans…

"Oh, Su Mo, these things aren't called power. They have a name that you've heard many times before… class!"

At this point, before Ma Fei could continue, the sky barrier began continuously vibrating again.

Although this vibration could not compare with the previous one, conversely, in the eyes of the Blazelanders who wielded power, this was another rebellious statement!

After suppressing the vibrations with a wave of his hand, Ma Fei did not stop talking and continued his criticisms.

"Your entire life isn't spent on researching the truth, but on climbing up your class ladder. Even if you become the King of Magic or the most powerful magician in the world, you're merely standing at the peak of the exploiting class.

"Why do most humans who don't understand the truth revere magic and spells? The reason is really very simple.

"Human beings spend their whole life climbing up the ladder of social class. They keep on making their way up from the lowest level to live a better life, to be wealthier, to get more girls. Do you need to know the truth?

"You don't need to!

"People who have done in-depth study to such a degree will have grasped this mentality. They will strengthen it further so that you will spend your entire life thinking about your class-climbing journey. Naturally, the chances for you to research theories will decrease, resulting in fewer chances to overthrow their rule.

"Even if you've mastered control of the Star Destroyer, or you've mastered a Forbidden Curse, essentially they're the same. In a situation where you're not clear how you were able to unleash something, even if you know how to press a button and chant spells that channel magic, you're going to be like a three-year-old kid in the eyes of the creator of those things. What a joke!"

An epiphany!

Listening to the words of a wise man could be superior to ten years of academic learning!

As he sat on the ground listening to all that Ma Fei had to say, Su Mo had a full epiphany at this point, even though he displayed no reaction.

"For humans, the most enticing thing about magic is not what's known as elevation of abilities. That's just for appearances…

"What's really fascinating to everyone is… ascending to a higher class!"

In the real world, knowledge was at an average level. Whatever one's appearance or physique, everybody's outlook and learning capabilities were all similar.

The rich were still unwilling to associate with the poor. They set up various barriers to control and cull their own kind.

In a world where power resided in the hands of individuals, these phenomena would only become more brutal.

If they did not start from the truth and wanted to quickly improve their class by relying on magical powers, it would be walking down a "road to death"!

"Unlike the class barriers of other races, we humans have already opened the gate that enables us to climb even higher."

"With the mentality that we've cultivated for thousands of years, using our scientific concepts, we can analyze any sort of magical power.

"In the presence of science, every mystery is nothing but a floating cloud. From the moment something is conceived, its origins can be traced!

"Blazeland did not take the wrong path; it merely progressed too slowly, or…

"Hahaha! We'll discuss this question again when we meet on the third floor!"

At this point, Ma Fei made light of the matter, his expression indicating that Su Mo could not understand him but could not kick his *ss for it either.

Su Mo felt that Ma Fei seemed to admire him but wanted to spoof him a little. He waved helplessly, bidding Ma Fei a temporary farewell.

"Go on, you're the winner today. These aren't things you should be considering now!

"It's a pity that my physical body is already dead by now. Otherwise, I'd certainly go out and get a drink together with you, and get a good look at this doomsday world as well as this wasteland!"

In the last few seconds of the countdown, Su Mo glanced at the world outside the screen, feeling moved. Onscreen, Ma Fei waved his hand and disappeared.

For the personification of consciousness that was stored on the hard disk, although Ma Fei knew that a long time had passed, any concept of time had vanished the moment he had put his consciousness in storage.

Teasing Su Mo, an outsider who had come here for the first time, might have been his only pleasure after thousands of years.

"You want to have a drink? Maybe someday we'll really be able to go out and have a drink together!"

After brushing his hand over the pitch-black LCD monitor and watching as it retracted within the wall, Su Mo paused with a trace of an ineffable smile.

Ah, Ma Fei, it sounded good when verbalized, but how many people could escape the desire to climb up the class ladder?

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Chapter 278: A Wild Plundering Spree! Return to Reality!

"Leaving behind a memory simulacrum while you went ahead to search for ways to break through—what meticulous planning!

"But don't you worry. If my technology level is high enough someday, this mere hard drive won't be able to keep you trapped!"

Staring at the camera, Su Mo saw the camera shaking inexplicably following his words. He gave a relaxed smile and stood up.

Since the technology for storing one's consciousness was already available, in the future, one could just extract this consciousness and insert it into a suitable body.

By using science and technology, it was not impossible to achieve a certain immortality for one's consciousness.

Right now, it was also the little trick that old Ma Fei had up his sleeve.

He had conducted a filtering process with multiple choice questions, then utilized the weapons on the second floor to support the abilities of the person from the future. Not only that, he had used the information on the third and fourth floors as temptation.

If not for the energy issue, whether or not Su Mo followed up on this matter, Ma Fei could still have waited for the next fated person and gained the possibility of resurrection.

"Agh! I finished asking about the mysteries, but I didn't ask about the core's power increasing each time I enter the ruins. Damn!

Coming across an "old eccentric" like Ma Fei, who had lived in the apocalypse wasteland for ten years, Su Mo—who had only been in the wasteland for a month—was naturally full of curiosity.

Unfortunately, the old boy had run off too fast, leaving Su Mo no chance to cross-examine him properly.

"That won't do, I have to find out how to get to the third floor as soon as possible. When the time comes, I'll have to corner Ma Fei and ask him about these secrets."

He tried pulling out his iron pickaxe. After triggering a critical hit, Su Mo struck at a silvery-white door that had just appeared.

However, as expected, this silver door was so strong it was outrageous.

After the iron pickaxe's critical hit was triggered, it could still produce a cloud of dust if it struck a wall.

However, Su Mo could not make a single dent in this door when he struck it, even when he swung his arms.

Moreover, all the kinetic energy was absorbed as soon as it came into contact with the material.

Even with a satchel of dynamite, the probability of breaking in here by force was infinitely close to 0.

"From the looks of it, if I want to get to the third floor, I should probably wait until there's a dramatic advancement in my technology tree!"

He waved his hand and motioned for Moore to stop—the bear had been eagerly waiting to try his luck with the pickaxe. Su Mo then took out the materials and pots he had stashed in his storage space.

For the time being, thanks to the Tibetan mastiff Doudou's shameless "brown-nosing" behavior, Oreo had temporarily accepted this extremely obedient younger brother.

Leading the three little ones, Su Mo walked all the way down the winding stairs. After going through the dilapidated room on the first floor, they returned to the courtyard that still had a red sky.

Through the top, they could even see fiery red meteors falling continuously, streaking past the burning clouds and into the distance.

When faced with a sight like this recorded in the heavens, he felt a sense of security as if he were stealing a moment of leisure from work!

There were still a full six hours until it was time to return. After realizing that it would be the same regardless of whether he went back earlier or later, Su Mo was simply not anxious in the least. He sat in the courtyard and began making dinner.

He started the fire and poured some cold oil into the hot wok. He stir-fried the cabbage and carrots till they had become soft and broken down, then added the handmade noodles that had been prepared much earlier.

Doudou was immediately stunned by how adept Su Mo was at this.

Lady Luck might not be on one's side even if one took orders, put one's head down, and worked hard a hundred times. However, brown-nose a hundred times, and the sky was one's for the taking.

Bowls of vegetables over noodles were served fresh from the oven to praises from the brown-nosing Doudou.

"F*ck, it smells so good!"

Even though his body was formed from mist, Doudou could not help an exclamation after eating the noodles, causing Moore, seated beside him, to burst into gales of laughter for a while.

Of course, in the entire world, Su Mo was probably the only one who was able to treat living in the ruins like a vacation.

At a time like this, others in the outside world were either busy preparing supplies to cross the sea or rushing to settle their affairs.

A disaster was imminent. Vacations did not exist.

After they had eaten their fill, Su Mo brought out a large bucket of pure water and passed it to Moore for cleaning the wok, then walked back to the small four-story building.

By following the established railroad, he returned to the cyberpunk room. Seeing drawers everywhere and the surroundings that had not yet been explored, Su Mo's eyes brightened!

"After struggling for so long, now…

"It's time to enjoy the fruits of this ruin!"

If he tossed aside the insignificant matters regarding Blazeland and focused solely on the loot from this trip to the ruins, it was sure to be a rich harvest.

"If I install this thing on my boat and some missiles as well, wouldn't it be invincible?!"

Patting the enormous vertical missile launcher taking up space in the center of the ground, Su Mo could not resist letting out an impudent laugh.

Prior to taking this device away, Su Mo had already expected that it would cost him an exorbitant amount of time, possibly a few hundred days.

However, upon seeing that 400 days had really been fully deducted, a sense that he had made a massive profit surged through his entire body.

"Tsk, taking away a vertical launcher used to cost me 400 days, but now… it's free!"

Taking out the large net bag that he had prepared beforehand, he simply placed it on the launcher…

Hey, the property rights were now transferred!

Walking to the door and turning on all the lights in the room, Su Mo once again went to the small corner where the computers were stored.

Unlike the high-end ones that could be retracted to and fro, these two computers in the corner were probably Ma Fei's obsolete ones.

Just by looking at the dust that had gathered on top, they had probably not been used after being obtained and been left idle—a set of dated items.

"These computers are basically like scrap here. No one bothers about them. If they were taken to the outside world though, who knows how many people would break their necks over them!"

Taking out a rag and painstakingly wiping off all the outside dust, Su Mo removed the dust cover on the main unit and took out all its main parts. He wiped off all the dust he could reach and cleaned it all up as best as he could before reinstalling everything.

After trying to connect it to the power outlet on the second level and ensuring that the main unit could power up, Su Mo stored the two computers away, his mind at ease.

Items such as computers could not truly be considered sturdy, as they could not really handle falls or look elegant. However, one also could not say that they were fragile, because if one took appropriate measures, as long they could power up, there would be no loss of performance even if they were stored for over ten years.

"I'll take them away. I'll take them all. All I need is one more, and perhaps I can create some of the good stuff from that epic design blueprint I acquired previously."

Su Mo had been constantly thinking about the Code 01—Storage-type Desktop Computer from the blueprints that he acquired previously in the second trading ruins.

As of now, he only needed one more computer to fulfill the conditions. No matter what anyone said, he had to find it as soon as possible. He had to think of a way to acquire it!

After packing up these two items, the only large item left on the second floor was the wall made of robots.

First, he walked to the middle of the wall and removed the robot right in the center. After fumbling around, Su Mo found the manufacturing and maintenance manual that Ma Fei had mentioned.

The manual was not thick. Based on the feel of it, it was probably just over a hundred pages.

After these records made on the most primitive kraft paper had been turned into a manual, it had even been sealed tightly with a plastic film on the surface to ensure that it would not be affected by the humidity in the air.

After flipping to the first page and reading the overview as well as the table of contents on the second page, Su Mo decided to abandon the idea of learning everything in a short period.

Without Ma Fei, the difficulty was too high.

Ma Fei had been able to survive for ten years after doomsday. Although he was just a small-town mayor, the Blazeland higher-ups had felt he was worth pulling over onto their side. It was enough to prove that Ma Fei was not as simple a person as he seemed on the surface.

From this manual, Su Mo could also see the expertise of future technology.

There were more than sixty drafts of large and small design blueprint breakdowns, from the simplest mechanical transmissions to the connection of a neural axis.

From basic AI programs to complex logical judgments.

Ma Fei's design concept was originally to simulate a group of maintenance combat workers that were like humans, but smaller.

There were too many considerations early on in this project and skills that had not yet fully been developed, resulting in too much engineering that was required. It was never fully perfected, but thanks to the accumulation of work done in the early stage, it could be considered…

Black technology!

"Let me do the math. If 18 machine guns were installed on my big ship, then I would need 18 small robots to control them.

"That, plus another small team of 62 for daily maintenance—that means I'll need to take away at least 30 this time."

At present, the robot wall housed 72 robots. After a round of selection and ensuring that there were at least 30 to maintain the core, Su Mo took 36 of them in one go.

He would use 30 for work and 6 for logistic replacements in case of emergency.

After settling these large items and turning out the remaining boxes and cabinets, Su Mo instantly became a lot more adept.

"Circuit board… microwave… electric toolbox, and an electric saw that needs only one operator. I'll take all of it!

"Four power strips and two USB chargers. Damn, there's even some light-absorbing paint in the corner for painting plaques. Good stuff.

"Two bags of cotton gloves, a set of fishing equipment, and half a bag of random seeds…"

The second floor did not seem very large, but with Ma Fei's design, the storage space was not small either, and everywhere there were cabinets to be searched.

Each cabinet was a new blind box. When he opened the cabinet closest to his seat, Su Mo was instantly delighted and surprised.

"F*ck me… This old fellow Ma Fei even had an electric razor. That's it, I have to confiscate this from you as well!"

Wow!

This small item was worth its weight in gold. From the ruins to the wasteland, it was very hard to find.

For someone like Su Mo, who was slightly OCD, it was even more than merely necessary!

Taking out a small bottle of mineral water, he poured it over the razor blade to clean it.

Taking advantage of the time needed to charge the electric shaver, Su Mo took out a pot of clean water and washed his face on the spot.

He had not shaved for a month.

The stubble on his chin had begun to irritate him. When he felt it every night before he slept, Su Mo always felt an intolerable urge to shave it off with his kitchen knife.

Now, he had an electric razor. After putting cleansing foam on his face, he pressed the switch on the razor, and it started up with a whirring sound.

The blade of the electric shaver was extremely sharp. Quite a lot of black technology was probably used in its construction because even without the use of shaving gel, there was no jerkiness at all.

Stroke after stroke, whenever the blade glided over his skin and took off the stubble beneath, a continuous sense of glee surged over him like an electric shock.

"That's the feeling! It's right, so right!"

Su Mo did not stop shaving until all the stubble was gone from his chin; in fact, in places, he had even broken the skin.

He felt his chin, which was finally smooth and free of any protuberances.

He put away the razor. Once he pasted on the Mountain and Sea Painting Scroll, his skin healed rapidly.

He sucked in his teeth with a hiss… how refreshing!

He was in an excellent mood now, so his speed in collecting the spoils greatly increased as well.

In just a short half-hour, after making sure that anything he could take was placed in the net bag, Su Mo called over his two little ones and sat beside the bag.

"There's still five hours left in this entry to the ruins, but there's no need to delay it any longer. Just a short repair…

"And I can take my babies home!"

Fully restoring the energy of Ma Fei's core would require the use of 10,000 disaster points.

Despite seeing that he only had 9012 points, Su Mo was not worried. He first put 500 points into the game panel to test the waters.

After the input of the points was confirmed, the progress bar that had been almost all the way at the bottom reacted as if it just had met nectar and slowly climbed up a notch, increasing the progress by about 4-6%.

At the same time, the damage time in the shelter rapidly changed from a countdown of 5 hours and returned to 36 days.

"From the looks of it, even if the energy is fully recharged, the shelter core's damage time can only be maintained for about two years.

"Ma Fei probably left quite a bit of energy behind to supplement the consumption. Unfortunately, it's all used up now."

Su Mo calculated the time to his next visit to the ruins and checked his current remaining points before gritting his teeth and putting in 4500 points straight away, bringing the time back to 365 days.

"A full year is definitely enough. When I come in again next time, I need to bind you!"

At spending 5000 points, even Su Mo felt a touch of heartache.

However, after considering that this was a level 17 shelter core, his distress eased slightly.

As the progress bar slowly climbed upward, the time increased as well.

At the same time, an automatic exit button popped up at the bottom of the game panel. All Su Mo needed to do was select the items he wanted to take away, and in an instant, he could return to the wasteland.

He tried circling all the things he wanted to take away with him from the second level. As he expected, Doudou was excluded from this list.

"Doudou, before I bind this place, you can't leave, so just wait for us here."

This silly dog, Doudou, was a very good scout. Due to his brown-nosing personality, Su Mo decided to temporarily include him as outsourced staff.

He would wait until the day he obtained something similar to a pet contract to bind Doudou and let him fully join the team.

Doudou also had no objections to Su Mo's decisions and nodded obediently, shying off to one side to hide.

"Get ready—we're leaving!"

Su Mo signaled for Oreo and Moore to sit by him. As the automatic exit button lit up…

Whoosh!

A beam of light shot through the sky, instantly breaking through the protection of the sky barrier and enveloping Su Mo, as well as all the items in his net bag.

A second later, he and his two little ones—as well as all the goods in the net bag—vanished from Doudou's sight as if they had evaporated, completely disappearing from the ruins.

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Chapter 279: What I Need Is… For Them To Fear Me!

[Record: You have spent a total of 18 hours, 52 minutes, and 44 seconds in Liangfang Town's core this time. Your finalized expense is 11.3 days

[Record: You need to spend an extra 13.9 days this time for the necessary energy support needed for activity in the ruins

[Record: You have used up 25.2 days in total this time; 604 hours in total

[Record: It has been detected that the time currency you currently have is enough for payment (104 days). Will you pay?

Just like the last time when he came out from the ruins of time, after he chose to exit, he returned to that mysterious space once again.

In this space, Moore and Oreo—who had initially been leaping around—were now lying unmoving on the ground as if they were unconscious.

Moreover, this time, there were no celebratory sounds to herald making it through the ruins. Instead, there was the emotionless sound of the game panel, asking if he would pay with the currency.

"Hm, I never thought I'd spend close to twenty-plus days here this time. If I didn't have the currency, the ocean disaster might have already shown up when I came out."

If he did not have time currency, it would have been a gamble every time he entered the ruins.

In his previous discussion with Brother Feng Zi, he had even wanted to use the time flow of the ruins to avoid disasters. However, looking at it now, this would probably remain just a dream.

"I choose to pay…"

Flipping his hand and producing one 30-day coin, Su Mo tossed it lightly into the void.

Before his eyes, the time currency became a ray of light the moment it flew into the air and was sucked into an invisible open mouth.

After a few seconds of swallowing, when the rift opened again, it spat out 4 one-day coins.

[Record: It has been detected that player "Su Mo" has paid 30-day coin x1.

[Record: Your current balance of 0.8 days has been automatically bound to the game panel. You can use directly use it next time you enter.

[Record: Wishing you happy gaming! Do you wish to return?

Just like how change in markets was given in whole numbers whereas the small change was kept on a tab, when the game panel increased by 0.8 days in the bottom right corner, Su Mo's mind stirred slightly, and he chose to return.

Boom!

A bright beam of light descended from the sky again, enveloping the entire void.

Within the beam of light, when Su Mo opened his eyes again, he was surprised to notice that he had already returned to the Underground Shelter.

"How mysterious. Is this the power of a top-up payment?"

Moore and Oreo were still unconscious and had not woken up yet, lying decorously on the floor.

However, the things he brought out in the big net bag were currently all piled on the ground.

From the huge 44 vertical launch system to more than 30 robots, plus various other bits and pieces, the garage space was almost full.

Compared to what he received this time, the last few rounds had merely been drops in the ocean.

"Not bad, not bad. This saves me from having to rearrange items again. It's really convenient this time around!"

Since the two little ones were still unconscious, Su Mo opened the stone door and went down.

When he left previously, it had been just past seven but not yet eight o'clock in the wasteland. Including the time it took for the ruins to form, the time had not gone past eight o'clock.

Now, however, the hands of the clock hanging on the third floor were pointing at 9.40. A rough calculation revealed it had been two whole hours.

"It seems like the time exempted is probably a minimum of two hours. No matter how much I spend, I have to use up this much time."

Nodding, after he silently made note of the key time difference points this time when being transported to and from the core of the ruins, Su Mo made his way back to the first floor to move things.

Aside from the missile device, which was too big and could not be shifted for now, the other items were all brought to the third floor for storage.

Wealth should not be flaunted.

Although it was impossible for these people from the Candlelight Shelter to form evil intentions when they saw all these things, this sort of healthy awareness had to be maintained to become a habit.

Once a habit was formed, it could prevent a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Su Mo kept moving things until ten o'clock. By the time he had categorized all the items and put everything away properly, Moore and Oreo had finally woken up as well.

It was a pity, however, that shuttling through space seemed to use up a lot of energy. The two little ones' legs were numb, and all they could do was to remain lying on the floor.

Su Mo pulled out the winch and slowly raised the door. The pleasant 10 o'clock morning air of the wasteland started gradually flowing in.

"Ahh, home sweet home. It's still a little more welcoming here!"

Having been digging holes for ten hours or more, Su Mo felt his entire being relax when he saw such white clouds and blue sky.

Compared to the stale air in Liangfang Town, the wasteland's freshness was as if one had stepped into fairyland—that is, if one ignored the frequent disasters.

When he walked out, very surprisingly, there were no guards near the Underground Shelter today.

However, when his gaze traveled further to the other end of the shipyard, the smile on Su Mo's face vanished instantly, and his relaxed body began to tense up as well.

"Sure enough, once I let these people eat their fill, they found some way to cause some trouble!

"They know this territory is mine, yet they're still so bold as to come over here. Who gave you that kind of nerve!"

After returning the alloy door to a semi-open state and calling Moore over to keep an eye on it, Su Mo turned and quickly went back to the third floor. He then turned on the old TV that he had not touched in ages.

As his power and fame increased, Su Mo had used less and less of this "old" item that was only good for monitoring things within a range of one kilometer.

Currently, however, not even Su Mo had anticipated that the next individuals to show up on his doorstep would not be the foreign races he had expected, but…

Humans!

Buzz buzz…

Hiss hiss hiss…

After the familiar disorderly static sounded, an image gradually appeared as Su Mo operated the remote control connected to it.

He rapidly set the camera to the furthest distance it could monitor, and the rowdy state of things at the shipyard finally emerged clearly in the picture.

At present, it was not just Hope Village's hundred over refugees standing there, all carrying various weapons.

Opposite Hope Village were also one or two hundred people standing there.

Next to these people, Su Mo even saw a modern contraption—a medium-sized modified truck with a large No2 printed on it.

Pulled along behind the truck were dozens of small skateboards. It was probably these things that had enabled them to arrive so swiftly at the Underground Shelter.

"Oh ho, aren't these familiar faces? They actually dare to come here and run wild!

"I have to say, the wasteland is so vast—there aren't many people who would dare to come stomping in like this."

As he slowly moved the camera and caught sight of a familiar face at the forefront of the opposite crowd, a murderous glint flashed through Su Mo's eyes.

It was none other than the bearded live broadcaster from the Zeus Shelter who had occupied a steady first place in the first live broadcast!

After Big Beard was pushed into second place by Su Mo following the first live broadcast, Zeus Shelter had not been able to get into the top rankings the second time either. It seemed as if they had been relegated to obscurity.

Currently, however, upon seeing these people's physiques, Su Mo could not help being full of praise for the cohesiveness and courage of the Hope Village inhabitants.

The admission requirements for the Zeus Shelter were that men could not be shorter than 175cm, and women could not be shorter than 168cm. This resulted in their people being stronger, whether it was in terms of size or combat effectiveness.

In comparison, the Hope Village villagers might have had a few better meals, but they were still emaciated. Furthermore, because they had an excess of women, if an ambush happened, they would definitely be at a disadvantage.

"Luckily I gave Qi Qin a gun before I left, or this place would have become a scene of devastation long before I returned!"

Although they were unequal in terms of strength, these two parties could still confront each other because of the guns that Qi Qin and Wu Feiguang were wielding on the frontlines of the Candlelight Shelter.

Along with Zhong Qingshu, who was still hiding in the shadows, the Candlelight Shelter had three people with firearms.

The Zeus Shelter opposite them was much poorer. Only two people had handguns, which was why such a tricky situation had occurred.

"It looks like they got a truck from the first airdrop box where I got the excavator. Their luck is a little better than mine.

"But to have the audacity to bully my people—do they have a death wish?"

The old TV could not pick up sound. After discovering he was unable to make out what the opposing party was saying, Su Mo hurried to the safety warehouse without taking off his armor and loaded up some ammunition.

Though friction between humans was bound to happen sooner or later, Su Mo had still not expected this day to come so swiftly.

"Since Blazeland's group ascension path won't work, I don't need everyone to respect me anymore.

"What I need…

"Is for them to fear me!"

After entering the ruins once, Su Mo's attitude had changed a great deal.

Picking up the gun and releasing the safety after tossing a rifle to Moore, the two of them squeezed out from the half-open iron door. With Su Mo in the lead, they took a roundabout direction.

…

"Huaxians, this treasure was something all of us discovered together, yet you want to shamelessly claim it…"

"Your mother's *ss, this clearly belongs to our Almighty Su! It's an item in our Hope Village territory, yet it's become your treasure now?"

"Hurry up and piss off, or when Almighty Su returns, he's surely going to slaughter you."

Big Beard from Zeus Shelter was standing at the head of the confrontation. He had barely uttered one sentence before he was mercilessly slammed by Chen Shen.

Hope Village had three sources of firepower, whereas Zeus Shelter had two.

As decisive as Zhong Qingshu was, she would not have hesitated at all to make a move and dispose of these two individuals with firearms, wiping out the enemy from the very start.

However, what complicated things was…

Their fellow Huaxians!

In the middle of the Zeus Shelter team were around twelve or thirteen Huaxians trapped in the center.

Compared to the well-nourished people next to them, the Huaxians were skinny and scrawny. Furthermore, they also had a few golden-haired foreigners pointing knives at their backs.

"How about this—in the next five minutes, if you don't willingly back off and let us investigate, we'll present a Huaxian to you.

"But this person… will be a corpse!"

Big Beard was not angry at Chen Shen's cursing. He called a member standing behind to pull a Huaxian forward.

"You brute, if you do this, when Almighty Su comes back, he definitely won't let you off!"

Seeing a fellow Huaxian kicked so hard that their legs buckled and they fell straight onto the ground on their knees, even the villagers felt like their eyes would burst from rage, much less the Huaxian management. They were itching to get into formation.

This group of people who had just transmigrated over for only a month had indeed suffered a great deal during the move from Candlelight Village to Hope Village, but they also had the prison guards and Su Mo's protection. Apart from having starved for a while, these people had never encountered the evil that resided in human hearts.

Moreover, even an old dog like Kento Maeda, who sought sanctuary with foreign races, had not taken away food or safety from his own race.

Now, however, seeing these people's shameless faces, everybody was enraged!

"Almighty Su? You're relying on Su Mo alone? Could it be he still has a Dongfeng Missile?

"Don't be na?ve. Su Mo is just a regular person who has a bit more luck.

"You Huaxians just love to randomly deify random people, don't you? Hahahahaha!"

Big Beard laughed with abandon, but before he could open his mouth and continue his mockery…

Bang!

A bullet swiftly entered the throat of the golden-haired foreigner who had kicked the Huaxian aside. Blood blossomed like a poignant red flower.

"Who's that!"

Seeing the person beside him crumple and not knowing where the gunshot came from, Big Beard paused, then shouted as he fled toward the crowd.

However… what answered him…

Was the sound of gunshots that exploded next to the small group of Huaxians!

There was no need for any useless chatter or even any explanations.

The moment these people stepped into his territory, in Su Mo's heart, they had already been put on the death list.

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Chapter 280: Eruption! The Bad News from Zeus

Fear was contagious.

If they fled, they would end up being trapped.

It would only take a moment to bomb the camp.

Warning had already been given that if anyone dared to move, the Huaxians behind would be used as hostages. If anyone stirred, they would be killed off one by one.

Now, however, after Su Mo had accurately shot dead the two most arrogant people, the remaining yellow-haired foreigners panicked!

At this moment, they knew that in the eyes of such a fearless executioner…

Even if they killed these Huaxian hostages, there would be only one end for them.

The only option left to them was to flee!

They could only survive if they managed to reach the trucks or find a blind spot.

The formation went into chaos. The people in Zeus Shelter did not know who had come, but the people in Hope Village were galvanized into high spirits.

"The Almighty Su has returned!"

"Charge! Kill this bunch of lousy sh*ts!"

Passions ran high. Coupled with the rage they had felt earlier, even the villagers of Hope Village displayed unparalleled courage and swarmed toward these tall foreign devils to give them a good beating.

Bang!

Bang!

The moment an opportunity presented itself in the chaos, Zhong Qingshu had already taken action from where she was concealed in the shadows. With two accurate gunshots, she instantly took down two enemy gunmen.

In this wasteland, how many people truly dared to fight for their lives apart from actual mercenaries?

With everyone fleeing, the truck parked at the back of the field was about to drive off until Moore got off a few shots and shattered the glass. The truck driver immediately abandoned the attempt and put on his best behavior.

They were all people from the modern world with no one to boost their morale. They did not possess a fighting spirit like that of ancient battlefields, where soldiers fought to the death.

Now that the Huaxians' morale was soaring, the scene was already under control before Su Mo could resume shooting.

Now that over a dozen of the most arrogant foreigners were dead, the remaining yellow-haired foreigners finally could no longer endure the terror caused by all the gunshots and began running around in a panic with no thought of resisting at all.

"Hands over your head and get on the ground. Anyone who moves will die."

"Get out of the car, truck driver. Move it, or I'll shoot!"

"You lot that's running off, get back here, or you're dead meat!"

It was like harvesting wheat. When the people in the very middle began lying down, a chain reaction started.

The truck driver obediently got out of his vehicle and crouched down beside it, both hands covering his head.

The ones running away obediently turned back and joined the crowd lying on the ground, hands behind their backs.

Compared to the Huaxians, these Westerners who lived every day of their lives happily attacking things with firearms were undoubtedly much more conversant with how vulnerable the physical body was under gunfire.

After seeing that the villagers from Hope Village had the situation completely under control, Su Mo took his time climbing down from where he had been high up on the shipyard, using the scaffolding to make his descent.

All the villagers immediately shifted their gazes in his direction.

After realizing that it was Su Mo, everyone felt even more excited. They could not wait to escort these enemies over and ask for recognition of their services.

This was the first war since the establishment of Hope Village, and it was also the first battle where everyone pitched in. Old or young, no one cried craven—they all joined forces in confronting the enemy.

With sheer numbers on their side, they managed to pull off a solid victory. Collectively, everyone gained more of a sense of belonging.

For someone in power like Su Mo, everyone naturally…

Loved and respected him from the bottom of their hearts!

Underneath the sunlight…

Seeing how the people around him were cheering, Big Beard, who was lying on the ground, cast his gaze to one area and stealthily turned his head.

This allowed him to see a sight that he would never forget.

The figure that had everyone's attention was clad in silver-gray armor. Under that, his clothes were all black, and he wore a mask. He looked very much like a killer from a Hollywood blockbuster.

In his hands was a rifle, model unknown.

His movements between the scaffolding were extremely agile. With still four or five meters to go, he leaped lightly to the ground without the need for any cushioning and stood there, mysterious as a phantom.

"Su Mo? This is Su Mo?"

"Hey! Do you think you can simply call him by name? Call him the Almighty Su, you dumb*ss!"

Su Mo kept sighing inexplicably when he saw Big Beard stealthily turning to look behind.

The villagers next to Big Beard immediately reacted. Not only did they give Big Beard a hard kick, but they also spat lightly at him.

Currently, the Almighty Su was no longer a complimentary title. Instead, it had become a nickname that everyone respected.

No matter where a Huaxian was from, as long as they liked the Almighty Su, they were all family.

Of course, as far as Big Beard's astonishment went, no one saw anything unusual about that.

After all, in everyone's eyes, even if Su Mo did something incredible, it was also normal!

Step by step, Su Mo walked very slowly but steadily.

He took off his mask and looked long and hard at every person in Zeus Shelter. Su Mo was expressionless, but his eyes were murderous.

"Brother Su…you're back!"

Before he could approach further, Chen Shen, who stood in the middle, went up and greeted him immediately, eyes full of surprise and delight.

Previously during the confrontation, everyone had already prepared themselves to fight to the death.

After learning that Su Mo had entered the ruins and might be there for half a day or even a day, everyone had decided… even if it meant death, they would stall the enemy regardless!

As for when these people had arrived, it seemed to be a coincidence—practically as soon as Su Mo had left, they had already come hotfoot on his heels.

Therefore, to prevent these people from entering the ruins and disturbing Su Mo…

At Chen Shen's call, the villagers, who were farmers to begin with, immediately armed themselves for combat. They then rushed to the shipyard for a confrontation.

However, because the ruins had already vanished after Su Mo entered them, the Zeus Shelter inhabitants naturally thought the shipyard was the treasure that had caused the aurora.

Even after those with authority to speak in Zeus Shelter had explained that this was not something that fell from the heavens, but a shipyard built by Su Mo, the people's desires still overcame their reason.

After all, nobody knew why Su Mo was not there.

As long as these people could be dealt with, Su Mo would be on his own when he returned. As if they could fail, under these circumstances!

Therefore, although it had been possible to have a discussion at the very beginning, the Zeus Shelter people became greedy and began causing trouble until things reached an impasse.

Fortunately, the gun of "justice" …

Had spoken!

"Well done. Don't be so reckless next time. We can rebuild things if they're destroyed, but we can't bring a person back to life once they're dead."

After listening to all of Chen Shen's narratives, Su Mo felt very moved and emotional.

At the same time, it assured everyone that the shipyard could be retained.

"This old trick of threatening us by using the Huaxians has been used on Earth for so many years. Who would have thought that once we'd arrived in the wasteland…"

"You could still use the same trick!"

As he glanced at some Huaxians in the Zeus Shelter who were avoiding his gaze, Su Mo patted Chen Shen on the shoulder, and a cold light flashed in his eyes.

"Tie those Huaxians up and don't let them go. We'll see what happens after the interrogation.

"Hope Village will accommodate innocent people, but those who became greedy and have the blood of their own kind on their hands…

"Kill them without mercy!"

The first time Su Mo had encountered them, Zeus Shelter was still located in the mountains.

Currently, it was unclear what had happened, but they had become a team that roamed around the wasteland committing crimes.

Su Mo was able to deduce some of this by looking at the bloodstains on their bodies and the disorganized materials in the truck.

This sort of person could abandon their scruples in just a month and kill members of their own clan without mercy.

If they were to go to the new world in the future, they would be a scourge to all mankind!

Seeing that Su Mo had taken this attitude, Chen Shen, who had received approval, hesitated no longer. With a wave of his hand, he took out the vine-twisted hemp rope and directed that the Zeus Shelter people should be tied up.

There were so many people that things might not be settled for quite a while. After kicking a few of them at the head and making sure that things were on the right track, Su Mo turned and headed for the truck.

The Airdrop Reward Truck No. 2 looked practical, but in terms of actual use, it was a far cry from an excavator.

Given the storage space that all human beings in the wasteland now possessed, the truck's cargo capacity was like chicken ribs…

Tasteless, but a waste to throw away.

If it were not for these people developing a method of pulling a sled with it, this truck would be nothing but a burden.

Su Mo walked around the captives on the ground, making occasional stops.

However, before Su Mo even got to the truck, he saw Zhong Qingshu rushing over from afar with an anxious expression on her face.

"What's wrong? Why are you panicking?"

Seeing Zhong Qingshu in a panic, when she was usually as cool as a cucumber, Su Mo's heart sank, and he hurried over to her.

"Su Mo, I think we're in big trouble this time!"

"Oh?"

This was a shock out of nowhere!

Zhong Qingshu was anxious, yet she signaled for Su Mo to avoid arousing any suspicions. He understood immediately and quickly hurried off with her to a deserted spot.

Now that he had come to know much more about this mysterious land, Su Mo's knowledge of its secrets had also increased.

The various peculiar gods aside, before Su Mo's group even arrived, countless human beings had already been sent into the wasteland.

These secrets slowly brewed over time.

For the time being, Su Mo had no idea what Zhong Qingshu knew, but judging from the grim expression on her face, he had a few vague speculations.

They kept walking until they were about three to five hundred meters away from the crowd and stopped only when they came to a stretch of deserted highland.

"We're in huge trouble, Su Mo.

"All the foreign races in the wasteland have gone mad. They were able to control themselves before this, but now they've started pursuing humans and warring with them.

"Not only that, most importantly, they've begun joining forces!

"Wasn't Zeus Shelter located on the mountains before? The reason they're retreating now is because the foreign races have united."

This was an utterly shocking piece of information!

Even though Su Mo was fully prepared for it, he was still startled to hear about the foreign races uniting.

Ever since the lioness led dozens of the lion people to attack the migrants from Hope Village, even risking their lives to do so, Su Mo had already guessed that they were not far from the day when the foreign races would lose their reason!

However, he had not expected that the day would come like an invasion or that it would happen just as swiftly.

Within the space of a month, except for those who were lucky like Su Mo, most shelters at the assembly point would still be able to ward off the attacks from a single foreign race group, albeit barely.

However, a confrontation with two, or even three or five foreign races that had joined forces would mean only one thing for mankind…

A life-or-death struggle!

"Has it started everywhere, or is this happening only in sporadic areas…"

For someone like Zhong Qingshu, who always followed the news, the meaning of Su Mo's question was immediately apparent. She paused and swallowed hard.

"Everywhere. It began at 6 o'clock today. All the foreign races seemed to have agreed on the time and made their move!

"Eighteen days. Mankind needs to hold out until after the ocean disaster in eighteen days to survive!"

The ocean disaster was originally one that would afflict the entire wasteland, but now it had become the hope for mankind's survival.

Admittedly, this ending was what the game desired to see.

It was what the individual behind the scenes desired to see!

However, for mankind, this was the cruelest of all cruel realities!

"That won't do. I'll let you handle these people. I'm going to personally interrogate the lioness now. I need to know what they're up to.

"Tie up those who should be tied up. As for the others…"

Su Mo drew a finger across his neck in a gesture of slitting his throat and watched as Zhong Qingshu nodded. He did not stop but dashed toward Iron Rock Mountain.

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