Chapter 1: Refuge from Scratch
"Hello, please sign for the express delivery."
The suburbs.
Outside a shabby farmyard.
A courier stood by his electric tricycle, unloading several heavy cardboard boxes.
Su Wu took the pen, glanced at the boxes to confirm they were undamaged, and signed the delivery form.
"Are you building a shelter here?" the courier asked, curiosity piqued by the sheer volume of tools.
"You've heard the doomsday rumors too?" Su Wu raised an eyebrow, surprised.
"Of course. It's all anyone's talking about in our work group today."
The courier's tone grew uneasy. "Prices are skyrocketing, and some things are impossible to find. Something's going on—something big. Maybe the end really is near."
A flicker of worry crossed his face. The end of the world wasn't a joke. For ordinary people, it wasn't a fight they could win.
"That's one way to look at it," Su Wu replied, nodding thoughtfully. "But if something does happen, the government will step in. They'll make sure we have what we need to survive."
"Let's hope so," the courier sighed, though his expression remained grim. Government intervention might keep people alive, but the quality of life was another matter entirely.
---
This was a parallel Earth, where all continents were united under a single federal government. Technology here was far more advanced than in Su Wu's original world—even controlled nuclear fusion was on the verge of a breakthrough. Humanity stood on the brink of an interstellar age, poised to colonize the stars.
But none of that mattered now.
No matter how bright the future had seemed, the looming apocalypse cast a shadow over everything. Whether human civilization would survive was now a question mark.
---
Su Wu carried the boxes into the yard one by one, then carefully locked the gate and surveyed his surroundings.
The farmyard was large. Aside from an old two-story house in the eastern corner, the space was cluttered with cement, sand, steel bars, corner iron, cans, plastic bottles, and an assortment of used appliances and tires. To an outsider, it might look like a junkyard—a place for collecting scrap.
And in a way, it was.
Most of the items in the yard had been bought wholesale from recycling stations over the past two weeks. Su Wu had spent 6 million in cash on it all.
It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't a waste either. Take the scrap metal alone: over 3,000 tons of it, ranging from iron at 60 cents per pound to steel bars at over a dollar per pound. Six million was a bargain, considering the effort he'd put into sourcing it.
"A house," Su Wu muttered to himself, surveying the haul. "And all this."
He felt a pang of something—not regret, exactly, but a quiet resignation.
He'd arrived in this world just over two weeks ago. Back then, he'd been living in a coastal city, in a modest apartment left to him by his parents—this world's version of them, anyway. They'd died in a car accident, leaving him the apartment and 2 million yuan in compensation.
If not for the apocalypse, he could have lived comfortably for the rest of his life without lifting a finger.
But there were no "ifs" anymore.
When the apocalyptic survival system he'd brought with him activated, revealing the impending doom, Su Wu had sold the apartment immediately. With the money and his parents' compensation, he'd moved to Jianghe City, a modest inland town with higher elevation. There, he'd rented this farmyard in the suburbs, planning to build a shelter from scratch.
"It's still too late," he thought bitterly. "If I'd arrived earlier, I could've secured an abandoned underground bunker or a mountain cave. That would've been ideal—more space, less cost."
But by the time he'd started looking, all the good locations had been snapped up by the government or private buyers. After hours of fruitless searching online, he'd settled for this yard. It wasn't perfect, but it was safe, affordable, and far better than staying in the coastal city.
---
His phone rang, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Mr. Su, your basement construction permit has been approved," the voice on the other end said, brimming with excitement. "I've sent the documents to your WeChat."
"Thanks," Su Wu replied calmly. "I'll review them and transfer the final payment shortly."
Even in the remote suburbs, you couldn't just dig a hole and call it a shelter. Government approval was mandatory. To secure the permit, Su Wu had signed a 20-year lease for the farmyard and paid an agent 50,000 yuan to expedite the process. Fortunately, everything had gone smoothly.
---
After hanging up, Su Wu carried the remaining boxes into the house. In the living room, he carefully unpacked one of the cartons, revealing a pair of robotic arms, each about 70 centimeters long, wrapped in layers of protective foam.
"The materials are solid, and the joints are flexible," he noted, inspecting them closely.
At 16,000 yuan apiece, they were high-end products, and their craftsmanship showed. Still, Su Wu couldn't help feeling a twinge of frustration. A month ago, these same arms would've cost half as much. Now, not only were prices inflated, but purchasing restrictions meant he couldn't buy more after this.
But now wasn't the time to dwell on that.
Focusing, Su Wu turned his attention to one of the robotic arms. A translucent screen, visible only to him, appeared in his field of vision:
[Nequivalent Mechanical Arm]
Condition: 90%
Evaluation: A qualified robotic arm capable of basic production tasks.
Upgrade Options:
1. Industrial Robot Arm I: Universal Skillful Hand (1 survival point)
2. Industrial Robot Arm II: High-Frequency Oscillation Cutting Tool (1 survival point)
3. Industrial Robot Arm III: High-Energy Smelting Laser Emitter (2 survival points)
Su Wu's gaze lingered on the third option.
"Upgrade to Industrial Robot Arm III: High-Energy Smelting Laser Emitter," he commanded.
A faint glow enveloped the robotic arm as it transformed. Its surface became sleeker, its frame sturdier. The human-like fingers at the end were replaced by a transparent crystal the size of a fist—the laser emitter.
Su Wu checked his system panel. After the upgrade, he still had 14 survival points left. Without hesitation, he opened another box and upgraded the remaining two robotic arms in the other available directions.
"Now I have a complete set," he murmured, running his fingers over the cool metal. "Enough to build a universal engineering robot."
A surge of excitement and anticipation welled up inside him, mingled with a sense of unreality. After two weeks of relentless effort, he finally had his first piece of advanced technology—something far beyond the capabilities of this world.
From this moment on, his fate would diverge from that of ordinary people. He had the tools to turn his vision of a refuge into reality, piece by piece.
---
(End of Chapter)