Apocalypse Survival: Starting with a Shelter

The next day, while the base vehicle was recharging to full capacity, the sky above the Microlight Plains was quietly gathering thick, dark clouds.

These weren't the polluted smog clouds made of ash and dust from burning forests or oil fields. Instead, they were genuine clouds formed from condensed water vapor.

From the ground, Su Wu could faintly see streaks of purple lightning flashing within the heavy overcast.

"It's going to rain," Su Wu muttered, sitting in the cockpit and gazing at the low-hanging clouds through the panoramic glass.

Finally, the long-anticipated first raindrop fell from the sky, only to evaporate instantly upon hitting the ground.

Soon, more raindrops followed, colliding with the ground, evaporating, and creating a loud hissing sound.

A thick mist began to form, veiling the landscape.

The temperature outside the base vehicle began to plummet—from 62 degrees to below 40 in an instant, and then slowly edging toward 30 degrees.

The oppressive heat that had gripped the Microlight Plains was finally broken.

On August 14th, the rain that began in the Microlight Plains followed the base vehicle's path, stretching all the way to where Chongzhou City lay.

As a result, when Su Wu returned to Jianghe City, its temperature had dropped to around 60 degrees and was still steadily decreasing.

"Welcome back."

In the underground second level of the farmhouse courtyard, the Chen Xin sisters prepared a warm lunch to celebrate Su Wu's return.

Later, Chen Xin accompanied Su Wu to the control center to brief him on the recent state of Jianghe City.

"You're saying that the officials issued a rectification notice yesterday, demanding we shut down all the online forums?"

The first piece of news Su Wu heard wasn't a pleasant one.

The officials, who had long eyed Su Wu's online networks, seemed eager to bare their teeth now that the external environment was beginning to improve.

They were clearly ready to pounce and seize control of everything Su Wu had built.

After scanning the rectification notice that Chen Xin forwarded to him on the control panel, Su Wu deleted it without hesitation, sending it straight to the recycle bin.

The rectification demand was meaningless.

Whether he complied or not wouldn't change the officials' next move.

Su Wu suspected that they had already assembled a supervisory team, waiting for the surface environment to improve further before storming the farmhouse courtyard and taking over all his resources.

"On top of that," Chen Xin continued, "Zhou Xiwu's large-scale shelter has begun bypassing us entirely, engaging directly with other shelters for trade and contact despite warnings.

"They've also strengthened control over their outposts, prohibiting residents from interacting with our representatives.

"Jingyuan Shelter has taken similar measures.

"Our outpost there is now completely sealed off by their security forces, unable to step outside."

Chen Xin's tone remained calm and gentle, showing no trace of panic.

She had contingency plans to manage these crises, ensuring that the situation wouldn't escalate quickly.

Now that Su Wu was back, she was happy to defer to his direction.

"Opportunists," Su Wu remarked with a faint sneer, "acting perfectly in character."

He wasn't particularly concerned about these developments.

From the beginning, he had known the kind of people he was dealing with.

Zhou Xiwu was a short-sighted, greed-driven second-generation official.

Yang Chaopeng, meanwhile, was a notorious double-dealer who had overthrown his former leader with Su Wu's backing to claim his position.

It was no surprise that the shelters these two led would take advantage of Su Wu's precarious situation to stir up trouble.

But eliminating these obstacles was a trivial matter for Su Wu.

The real challenge lay with the official shelter.

"Let's wait and see," Su Wu decided. "Even if the officials want to act, they won't move immediately.

"In the meantime, let's focus on utilizing the resources we've acquired."

This recent journey had brought Su Wu substantial gains—not just the Golden Scales from his completed mission, but also the machine dog design blueprints he'd found at the military base and a hefty 220 survival points.

The Federation's light weapons he acquired were also highly valuable.

By leveraging these resources, Su Wu could make significant upgrades.

For instance, he could replace the base's current tracked vehicles in the ground combat unit with machine dog models.

He could also equip these units with Federation-standard assault rifles, which were lighter, more powerful, more accurate, and better suited to harsh environments than their current weapons.

These enhancements would dramatically boost the base's combat capabilities.

In addition to upgrading existing units, Su Wu could expand the scale of the combat force using the rare resources he had hauled back from the Microlight Plains.

With these materials, Su Wu could increase the size of his combat units several times over in a short period.

At that point, his forces would not only dominate among Jianghe City's private shelters but might even rival an official regiment.

Factoring in his micro-mechs and large-scale rockets, Su Wu's power might still fall short of toppling Jianghe City's official shelter outright.

However, he could easily challenge their dominance, forcing them to step down from their lofty position.

This, in essence, was Su Wu's strategy: to demonstrate his ability to pose a significant threat, then gauge whether the city's officials had the resolve to risk everything for mutual destruction.

"Patience. Let's wait a bit longer."

After reviewing the external challenges his shelter faced, Su Wu turned to more positive updates.

In his absence, the farmhouse courtyard's manufacturing hub, construction team, and small limestone mine had all continued to operate smoothly.

Not only had the construction team completed the excavation of the underground 6th level, which had just begun when Su Wu departed, but they had also nearly finished the 7th level.

Su Wu's timely return prevented the project from stalling due to the lack of survival-point-enhanced structural reinforcements.

"The 6th and 7th levels—impressive."

Su Wu felt a sense of satisfaction.

Although only two levels had

been added, each spanned 3,000 square meters, effectively doubling the shelter's size since Su Wu had last been home.

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