Chapter 121: A Race Against Time

Receiving the inspection report, Su Wu controlled a construction robot and asked Zhou Xiwu, who had rushed to the scene wearing a heat-resistant suit:

"Do you still have the original design blueprints for the generators? Also, how many spare parts for the generators are left?"

"The blueprints are here," Zhou Xiwu replied through gritted teeth, gesturing toward a pile of opened supply boxes in the distance. "We originally had plenty of spare parts stored in the generator room's side chamber. But those who sabotaged the place were too thorough. They didn't leave us a single useful piece."

Su Wu took the blueprints and instructed the construction robots to inventory the remaining spare parts. Within moments, with the help of the AI's calculations, it was clear that building a new generator capable of powering the central air system would take 1 hour and 40 minutes.

That was far too long. By the time the generator was finished, the shelter might already be devoid of life.

After tweaking a few parameters, Su Wu managed to cut the time down to 50 minutes, but no further. Sighing, he turned to Zhou Xiwu.

"We'll need to clear some space here and start building a new generator from scratch."

"What?!" Zhou Xiwu's face turned pale, unsure if he'd heard correctly.

"Both existing generators are beyond repair. We'll need to create a new one. Have your people cooperate fully so we can try to finish it within 50 minutes."

Su Wu began directing the engineering robot to prepare for the task while simultaneously instructing the manufacturing center at his own base to halt all other operations and prioritize producing the core components for the generator.

"It'll be tight, but if we move fast, we can make it work," Su Wu said as the robots began their initial preparations.

"I'll make sure everyone cooperates fully," Zhou Xiwu responded, his earlier panic giving way to a fragile sense of hope. While 50 minutes felt like an eternity, it was better than no hope at all.

AI-assisted efficiency quickly mobilized hundreds of individuals within Zhou Xiwu's shelter.

They cleared out a clean working area and extinguished the still-burning remains of the old generator. Scavenging from the wreckage, they carefully extracted any usable components.

Ten minutes later, a heat-resistant transport vehicle left Su Wu's base, carrying an engineering robot and the first batch of critical components.

Five minutes after that, the Qingniao-class transport drone launched from a small fortress rooftop, carrying the final batch of repair materials to the same destination.

These were the only reinforcements Su Wu could send in time. Any further production or shipments would arrive too late.

This limitation also explained why Su Wu hadn't sent one of Qingning Shelter's coal-fired generators as a stopgap solution.

Dismantling, loading, transporting, and reinstalling such a large generator would have taken as much time as building a new one on-site—if not longer.

Time continued to slip away, and as the temperature within the shelter climbed, more and more workers were forced to abandon the repair effort.

Only a few skilled technicians, equipped with heat-resistant suits, remained alongside the robots to push forward with the task.

For the others, who lacked protection, the extreme heat induced hallucinations. Their vision blurred and distorted, but many chose to remain, unwilling to retreat to certain death elsewhere in the shelter.

Outside the generator room, the situation in the rest of the shelter was grim. Weak individuals succumbed to the heat one after another, their labored breaths finally ceasing.

Yet those who still clung to life were too focused on their own survival to mourn.

Covering their faces with damp towels to shield against the oppressive heat, the survivors minimized their movements, conserving energy in the hopes of lasting just a bit longer.

A few, unable to accept their fate quietly, vented their frustration in violent outbursts. But these acts of defiance only hastened their end, whether through exhaustion or a swift response from the shelter's security forces.

The security personnel, equipped with rudimentary cooling devices, retained enough energy to maintain patrols and enforce order.

They clung to the knowledge that reinforcements continued to arrive. Su Wu's robots were racing against time, leading the shelter's workers in a desperate bid to revive the generators.

Hope was still alive.

A deep hum reverberated through the air, accompanied by a wave of scorching heat.

Near the shelter's outer perimeter, some residents noticed a strange sound. Looking up, they spotted a drone carrying a supply box, flying toward the shelter's interior.

"That must be more aid from outside," a young security guard said, his eyes following the drone until it disappeared around a corner.

"That's the third batch, isn't it?"

"Yeah, and if they're still sending supplies, it means the repairs must be close to completion. Otherwise, they wouldn't still be pushing this hard," his colleague replied, relief evident in his voice.

The guard straightened up slightly, his fatigue momentarily forgotten. "Let's

get back to our patrol. Looks like we might survive this after all."

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