Chapter 126: Border Exploration

The last day of July. Surface temperatures stabilized around 92°C.

The prolonged high temperatures in the atmosphere radiated fiercely into every corner of Jianghe City, creating a relentless furnace of heat.

For underground shelters, this heat brought challenges beyond the growing power consumption of central air conditioning. A far more pressing issue loomed—signs of groundwater depletion were becoming evident. Wells that once reliably tapped into water sources now required deeper drilling to access diminishing reserves.

Su Wu's shelter was no exception. However, thanks to the recently built reservoir with a 6,000-ton storage capacity, the immediate impact was minimal. Still, Su Wu couldn't shake the sense of impending crisis. What if another massive earthquake struck and destroyed the reservoir?

"Maybe it's time to think about long-distance water transportation," Su Wu thought.

Water couldn't simply vanish from the planet; it had to accumulate somewhere else. If sources were drying up here, it meant there would be surplus water elsewhere. He didn't need vast amounts, either—just a few dozen tons transported back would suffice to meet the shelter's daily needs. Even with industrial and experimental use accounted for, a few trips would suffice.

"If I'm going that far for water, I should make the trip worthwhile and collect additional resources along the way."

An idea Su Wu had previously shelved due to its cost resurfaced.

As he pondered, a warning from the shelter's AI interrupted his thoughts. One of the last operational surface cameras had detected an anomaly: the gray clouds above had suddenly brightened.

"Another atmospheric anomaly?" Su Wu frowned. The last aurora event, not long ago, had unleashed radiation that still haunted the surface. Another disaster so soon?

Su Wu quickly connected to the surface monitoring system to observe the event in real-time.

Within moments, a brilliant meteor pierced the clouds, lighting up the camera feed. The meteor's luminosity intensified, painting the sky and ground in fiery hues.

"A meteor of this scale... it must be over a kilometer in diameter," Su Wu calculated, feeling his chest tighten.

He had never witnessed such a massive celestial event. In a post-apocalyptic world, such occurrences often heralded catastrophic consequences.

The meteor streaked across the sky, leaving a blazing trail before vanishing beyond the horizon. Nothing unusual seemed to follow.

Just as Su Wu began to relax, his daily mission log lit up. A new task appeared, written in dazzling golden font.

"A gold-tier mission," Su Wu murmured, momentarily stunned.

According to the system, gold-tier missions were Level 4, with a probability of less than one in ten thousand. For many, such a task might never appear in their lifetime. It was a rare opportunity, akin to a miracle.

After taking a few calming breaths, Su Wu opened the task details:

[Border Exploration (Gold Tier): Travel 2,700 kilometers to the asteroid impact site to collect data and fragments. During the mission, natural disaster multiplier will increase by 50%. Mission duration: 15 days. Reward: Matter Transmuter—Golden Scale.]

[Golden Scale: A stellar artifact created by a civilization that once ruled the stars. Allows conversion of gold and silver into any metallic element at a set ratio.]

The rewards were jaw-dropping. A 50% bonus to disaster multipliers meant Su Wu's current multiplier of 0.03 would yield an additional 1.5 survival points daily. Over 15 days, this amounted to at least 22 survival points guaranteed.

But the true prize was the Golden Scale. With it, gold or silver could be transmuted into any desired metal. This had staggering implications.

For instance, uranium—a critical component for nuclear weapons and reactors—could be synthesized. Su Wu could potentially build and fuel a nuclear power plant. While not unlimited, even a modest supply of uranium would increase energy resources by hundreds or thousands of times.

"This mission is non-negotiable," Su Wu decided. The Golden Scale was too valuable. It was worth risking everything, even starting over from scratch.

But determination alone wasn't enough. Completing the mission posed monumental challenges.

A distance of 2,700 kilometers was daunting even in the pre-apocalypse era. In the current world, where crossing city boundaries was an ordeal, it seemed almost insurmountable. It was clear that a simple journey in a mechanized suit wouldn't suffice.

At this moment, an idea began to crystallize—a concept he had considered fleetingly but now seemed essential.

Perhaps it was time to construct a massive mobile base vehicle capable of traversing such extreme distances.

---

This idea wasn't just ambitious; it was transformative. A mobile base could serve as both transport and shelter, equipped with advanced systems for survival, exploration, and resource collection.

For Su Wu, this wasn't merely a mission. It was the beginning of a new era of possibilities.

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