Upgrade to Level 5 Shelter! The Arrival of the Pioneers!

"It seems everyone has very few survival points, but there's an abundance of upgrade materials and mechanical items," Mike pondered, analyzing the situation in his mind. Newchang had a population of over 100,000, and with over 700,000 mechanical items, each person had an average of five or six.

This meant that most people had plenty of mechanical items, and the 350,000 electronic components suggested that upgrade materials weren't in short supply either. Given the scale of upgrade materials, it should be no problem for the entire city to have shelters at level 2 or 3.

However, the reality was different. Most of Newchang's shelters were still level 1, with no more than a third at level 2, and level 3 shelters were rare, with none above that level. Jinling wasn't much better, though slightly ahead, as most of its people had level 2 shelters, and there were more level 3 shelters compared to Newchang. But, Mike was still the only one with a level 4 shelter.

"It seems that the majority of people are facing the opposite problem compared to me," Mike mused. "I lack upgrade materials, while everyone else is missing survival points."

He remembered that once a shelter reached level 2, upgrading to level 3 required a whopping 10,000 survival points. At this stage, it was impossible for people to gather 10,000 points just from sending exploration missions. The Puzzle Gate and the Ghost Fog Dilemma mostly produced materials, with only a few survival points as rewards, making it a rare occurrence.

To upgrade to a level 3 shelter, most people would need luck, completing mechanical achievements to earn large rewards, or repeatedly destroying other shelters to earn points.

"It's already the third month, and the biggest way to earn survival points remains destroying other people's shelters," Mike thought, frowning. "The system's core hasn't changed; it still wants to see humanity tear itself apart."

If people didn't raise a knife to their fellow survivors, they'd have to endure the difficulty of upgrading their shelters, falling behind and being surpassed by others, eventually descending into a brutal survival of the fittest.

If no one steps up to guide the collective, the best way for most people to survive the apocalypse would likely be: kill the others around them and take everything.

It was an almost unsolvable situation. To survive, one must defy order, create chaos, and become a powerful slaughterer within it. To ensure the survival of humanity, one must lead the collective, unify the masses, and harness the strength of unity.

This was the conflict between personal and collective interests, an ongoing serious test for everyone. Given humanity's instinctive response to disasters, and based on the guidance system of military commanders, China's apocalyptic situation had long shifted toward collective unity to resist the apocalypse.

This directly led to the fact that the shelters' levels across the nation were low. Only a few, who received abundant resources, had higher-level shelters.

Mike quietly calculated in his mind. Not just Newchang and Jinling, but even Dantu seemed to have no shelters above level 3.

The higher-level shelters in places like Jinling and Newchang were mostly due to early accumulation of survival points during the chaotic early days of the apocalypse or those cultivated as talents by city authorities.

For someone like Mike, who was far ahead, the survival points accumulated during subsequent upgrades were mainly due to his access to collective resources.

The Talent Substitution plan solved Mike's shortage of survival points, and the appearance of the Puzzle Gate and the Ghost Fog Dilemma conveniently filled in the gap for upgrade materials.

It was clear that in other areas of the country, places like Jinling, which had early unity, likely also had one or two high-level shelters. These city leaders gathered abundant resources, cultivating strong individuals and advanced shelters.

"But no one has taken the achievement of upgrading the shelter first. Maybe it's because of the talent unit factor among the three major upgrade requirements," Mike murmured.

Among the three major conditions for upgrading a shelter, each one was harsh. If calculated seriously, survival points and upgrade materials could be obtained by plundering other humans, but talent units couldn't be.

Before the Puzzle Gate appeared, there were almost no stable ways to obtain talent units—everything was left to luck, depending on the system's mood.

After the Puzzle Gate appeared, in non-unified cities, the competition for Puzzle Gates was fierce, making it hard to obtain a large number of recruitment items for talent units. In unified cities, the resources generated by the Puzzle Gate could meet the low-level talent requirements for upgrading lower-level shelters, but could not satisfy the needs for higher-level shelter upgrades.

Starting from level 3, upgrading to a level 4 shelter required B-level talent units. To upgrade to a level 5 shelter, it required 100,000 upgrade materials, 1 million survival points, and 1,000 talent units, including at least 8 S-level talent units and 300 A-level talent units.

This alone had stumped countless people. After all, the higher the level of the Puzzle Gate, the harder it became to solve. And, the appearance probability of high-level Puzzle Gates was extremely low.

Take S-level Puzzle Gates, for instance. So far, only one S-level Puzzle Gate had been discovered in Jinling, and it hadn't been completed yet. Only Mike and a few others had the power to attempt it. Considering Mike didn't lack S-level talent units, he wasn't in a rush to have Wang Shi venture out.

The best solution was to let the old man attempt it, but he was rather independent and didn't like using force.

Mike hadn't asked the old man for help because the command center had calculated that even if Mike ventured into the S-level Puzzle Gate, he would only get a handful of S-level talents, not exceeding ten.

Moreover, Mike's talent effect had allowed him to consistently obtain large numbers of high-level talent units. His shelter talent could summon talent units continuously, and the higher the shelter level, the higher the talent quality he could summon each day.

In this mutual effect, the talent unit factor, which was supposed to be the biggest obstacle to upgrading the shelter, became the least of Mike's worries.

Mike could even confidently say that when it came to acquiring large numbers of high-level talent units, no one with a similar talent could have an easier time than him!

"Ordinary people lack points to upgrade shelters, while the strong lack high-level talent units to upgrade shelters... Tsk, the system really has each step locked in place," Mike shook his head.

He'd already figured out that, in order to rapidly upgrade his shelter, he had to meet several necessary conditions:

The right talent to meet the need for talent units.A large tilt of basic resources, or plundering others.

"As of now, I'm pretty much meeting this standard, but others... it's hard to say."

Mike squinted, almost able to foresee humanity's collective future path in this apocalyptic world. Concentrating resources, cultivating the few, and using them as the core resistance to guide the majority through the apocalypse might be the way humanity survives under the system.

"Then the final question remains. In other regions, has anyone upgraded to a level 5 shelter? Or higher?" Mike murmured to himself.

From level 2 to level 4, Mike had always taken the achievement rewards for being the first to upgrade. He had been leading the country's survivors, but China was vast, and Mike knew he couldn't maintain his lead forever.

Moreover, he had been stuck at level 5 for a while now, during which he kept investing resources to benefit the collective and support the weaker survivors.

If there was another strong player at Mike's level, colder and more ruthless, they would have long since surpassed Mike in upgrading speed.

If other cities simultaneously discovered two S-level Puzzle Gates and a strong player managed to clear them, they would have the qualifications to upgrade to a level 5 shelter.

"Looks like I might not get the first upgrade reward this time," Mike sighed, though it didn't bother him.

"These things—if I can grab them, I will. If not, oh well."

After all, Mike's ultimate goal was to help as many people as possible survive and thrive.

After a few moments of contemplation, the Resource Department sent a new message: "Sir, the resources have been placed in warehouses 11, 12, and 13, and have been assigned to dedicated personnel for management. You can access them at any time."

The resources were in place! Time to upgrade the shelter!

Mike stopped waiting, straightened up, and led his guard team to the warehouse area.

Two hours later, Mike returned from the warehouse. He had placed all the required upgrade items back into the shelter's storage space. This kind of massive load could only be achieved by a higher-level shelter.

On his way back, Mike counted all the upgrade resources he currently had.

Survival points: 2.15 million.Electronic components: 440,000 units.As for talent units, Mike was well above the required number, with nearly 100,000 of various grades, including countless high-level talents.

"All resources are in place. Let's start the upgrade."

"For me, the most important thing about this level 5 shelter upgrade is the talent improvement, which should raise my daily rewards," Mike murmured to himself.

He had a feeling that upgrading to level 5 would be a turning point, one that would dramatically improve his strength.

As he returned to his room and carefully checked his resources one last time, Mike solemnly selected the upgrade option.

A golden light flashed, covering the shelter, and shortly after, an upgrade success message appeared before Mike.

"Congratulations! You've completed the shelter upgrade! Your shelter talent has been improved!"

"Your shelter talent 'Homebody Haven' has been enhanced!"

"Congratulations! You are the first survivor in the country to upgrade to a level 5 shelter! You have received a special reward: The Arrival of the Pioneer!"

"Eh? Huh?!" Mike blinked, scanning the message in surprise, then frowned. "What's going on? How did I get the first upgrade achievement again?"

"But wait, I stopped upgrading a while ago. With so many strong players, no one managed to catch up with me?"

"Hold on, what about that behind-the-scenes mastermind? Didn't they suck up all of Guangling's resources?"

Mike was baffled. "Could it be that everyone else is stuck on the talent unit upgrade condition? They all have great talents, but can't summon enough S-level talent units?"

Mike didn't understand why this was happening. He had prepared himself mentally for being overtaken by other fast-leveling survivors across the country.

Yet, reality told him he was still number one!

The only possibility he could think of was the talent unit limitation.

His methods for obtaining talent units were numerous and stable, but others might not have that same advantage.

"Looks like my homebody talent has even more potential than I thought! It might even be better than most SSS-level talents!" Mike thought.

Considering all the SSS-level talent users across the country, many of them might be stuck due to talent unit acquisition efficiency, while Mike was free from that worry.

When compared like this, he realized that he had underestimated the value of his "Homebody Haven" talent.

"Forget it, I'll figure that out later. Let's focus on the current situation."

"Let me check this new achievement reward... Hmm, the prefix isn't [Bloodline] anymore?"

"The Arrival of the Pioneer, effect is... huh! What the hell?! Is this something a human can get? Am I going to shorten my lifespan for this?!"