Chapter Two: The Shelter, Hope for Upgrades!

"Would you like to bind?"

When the unfamiliar mechanical voice sounded for the second time, Su Mo finally reacted and quickly replied, "Yes."

"Binding in progress… Progress 0.1%, Progress 0.2%."

A series of illusory green scanning beams extended from beneath Su Mo's feet, spreading out into the distance. When it reached its limit, the beams returned, and the progress increased by 0.1%.

While the binding was ongoing, Su Mo opened the wooden door and looked inside. Behind the wooden door was a staircase made of dirt. Following the staircase down, he counted silently to fifteen in his heart before suddenly finding himself in a bright and open space.

With the faint sunlight filtering in from the entrance, Su Mo barely managed to make out the structure inside. The entire area was supported by a floor and ceiling made of wooden planks, forming a stable foundation to ensure that this huge pit underground would not collapse.

"I made the right choice!" Su Mo's face lit up with joy.

Choosing to build above ground certainly had its advantages, allowing for some convenience in early development. However, he had never forgotten one thing: with the tools from the crafting page, building a house above ground was not difficult. But constructing a shelter underground required not only tools but also sufficient architectural knowledge to ensure the stability of the underground structure. Otherwise, if he dug recklessly, he might die without even knowing how it happened when the ground collapsed at night.

Seeing that the binding progress bar of the apocalypse survival system was still slowly rising, Su Mo simply sat down on the stairs, conserving his energy while opening the chat panel. Perhaps others also had this so-called apocalypse survival system? After observing the world channel for a while, he then checked the regional channel.

No one mentioned anything about it.

"It seems that I'm the only one with two systems?" Su Mo concluded.

At this moment, most of the lively discussions in the world and regional channels were from those who chose above-ground shelters, with only a few opting for underground ones. However, those who chose underground merely complained about the harsh conditions before starting to communicate and look for supplies.

With no reference and no idea what to do, Su Mo could only continue to wait. Fortunately, the progress bar was steadily increasing. After more than ten minutes, the green light finally stopped scanning. After returning to Su Mo's body one last time, a crisp notification sound rang out:

[Apocalypse Survival System Binding Successful][First Binding Reward: 100 Survival Points][Scanning Host Survival Environment, Survival Point Evaluation in Progress, today you have gained 5 Survival Points.][Final Settlement, today you have gained a total of Survival Points: 105 Points!][Remaining Survival Points: 105 Points!]

With the notification sound, a large segment of fragmented memories rushed in. Originally, the apocalypse survival system was something he could have bound back on Earth, but unfortunately, at that time, his personal power was limited, and Su Mo had to hide in the official shelter. Naturally, he also had no time to excavate a personal shelter, thus missing the opportunity for system binding.

After coming to this world, if the survival game panel was akin to a game interface that everyone had and could use, the apocalypse survival system was like a cheat code that only Su Mo possessed. According to the apocalypse survival system, for each day of survival, he could earn a certain number of survival points.

Survival points were similar to game scores and could not be directly exchanged for items. Their function was akin to an item upgrade feature in games, only the scope for upgrades was much broader.

As he learned more, Su Mo contained his excitement and fixed his gaze on the rudimentary underground survival base:[Personal Shelter]Owner: Su MoSpace: 100㎡ (Height 4.2m)Completeness: 100%Facilities: NoneDescription: An extremely rudimentary shelter with no survival facilities, at most, it can be considered a small grave in the apocalypse.

Looking at the introduction on the panel, Su Mo's heart stirred, and he turned to the only item in the shelter, the wooden door.[Shelter Door]Effect: Slightly anti-theft, slightly radiation-resistantUpgrade Option 1: Increase the thickness of the wooden door, enhance the wood's sturdiness, and slightly improve fire and water resistance (10 points)Upgrade Option 2: Change the material, upgrade the wooden door to a stone door, significantly increase durability and other properties (60 points)Evaluation: You wouldn't want to live in the apocalypse relying on just a wooden door, would you?

After observing for a while, Su Mo managed to clarify his thoughts on using the apocalypse survival system. The system could not only upgrade purely by relying on survival points but also allow users to provide materials, greatly reducing the survival points required for upgrades. For example, if he wanted to upgrade the wooden door to a stone door, he could provide 10 units of stone and 2 units of wood, which would reduce the survival points needed to just 5.

Survival points could be treated as any material, but their conversion efficiency was definitely inferior to the original materials. Therefore, as long as he provided enough similar materials, the survival points could play a role in conversion and assimilation, significantly reducing consumption.

After understanding these situations, the survival pressure that had been weighing on Su Mo's heart was finally alleviated a lot.

"I need to create a sufficiently strong shelter before my parents and sister are dropped here.""Before that, I need to solve the supply issue first."

Clenching his fist secretly, Su Mo walked out of the shelter along the stairs. Water and food were the primary concerns. Fortunately, now that he had the survival system, a general development route had appeared in Su Mo's mind.

First, he approached a small tree, using his body weight to break off branches and adding them to his inventory. A prompt then appeared.[Wood +1]

Next, Su Mo searched the ground for sturdy stones, storing various sizes of stones in his inventory. Not long after, another notification sounded:[Stone +1]

"It really has become game-like, but that's fine; at least my physical strength won't be much weaker than others in the early stages."

No longer entangled by the reality that had converged so much towards gamification, he decided to try the crafting function first!"Open the crafting panel."

The interface changed.[Stone Axe (Normal): Wood 1/1, Stone 1/1]Materials met.Select the stone axe.Confirm crafting![Record]: Wood -1, Stone -1 [Record]: Stone Axe (Normal) successfully crafted.

Su Mo now held a stone axe about the length of his forearm. The axe handle was made of rough wood, providing a decent grip due to its friction. The axe head was a finely polished and sharp wedge shape.[Stone Axe (Normal)]: A brand new, unworn axe, currently 60cm long. With it, your wood collection will be much easier.

"Not bad." Su Mo waved it a few times.

The sharpness of the stone axe was certainly not comparable to that of an iron axe, but it made chopping trees much easier. If you want to be rich, you must first chop trees.

Enduring his thirst under the scorching sun, after chopping 15 units of wood and 4 units of plant fibers, Su Mo finally returned to the underground shelter along the same path. The cool underground slightly eased the heat in his body, but the protests from his throat added a sense of urgency to Su Mo.

A person can survive for seven days without food, but only three days without water. Especially after intense labor, it was likely that he would die of thirst in this wasteland after just two days without water."I need to quickly find a way to create a water extraction tool!""First, let's try to use materials to create a simple water extraction device and see if the system can upgrade."

After resting for a while to regain some stamina, Su Mo went to the well-lit area of the shelter and began using his stone axe to dismantle the floor. Without touching the surrounding floor, after carefully removing a piece, Su Mo took out the wood.

First, he used four units of wood to create a wooden bucket. Then, he used one unit of wood to make a wooden stick, two units of wood to create a wooden shovel, and finally, he used two units of plant fibers to make hemp rope.

With a complete set of tools prepared, Su Mo picked up the wooden shovel and began digging into the hollow he had created in the ground. It was easier than he had imagined. With the tools, each time the wooden shovel fell, it could lift a lot of soil.

Once he dug a deep enough hole to place the wooden bucket, Su Mo stopped his work and began assembling the tools he had crafted earlier. He placed the wooden bucket down, hung the wooden stick between two pieces of floor, and connected the wooden bucket and the stick with the hemp rope.

Then, concentrating his thoughts, the survival system prompt popped up.[Well Water Extractor???]Current Efficiency: 0ml/dayUpgrade Option 1: Upgrade the material of the wooden bucket, increase the bucket's volume, and add a sealing function to greatly extend the freshness of drinking water; upgrade cost: 20 survival points.Upgrade Option 2: Deepen the well pit to enhance water extraction efficiency; upgrade cost: 130 survival points.Evaluation: A pit, a bucket; the well water is whatever you can imagine?