Extra Modifications

[Current territory: Livable Personal Shelter (55%), Daily Fixed Survival Points +3.]

[Current Remaining Survival Points: 45.]

A new day.

Looking at the experience bar behind the shelter level, which had advanced halfway, Su Wu felt in a great mood.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before the shelter could be upgraded to the next level.

By then, aside from unlocking new system functions, the daily fixed survival point income would definitely increase.

Life would visibly get better and better.

After washing up, Su Wu grabbed a piece of soft, toasted bread and, as usual, headed to the control center's operating table to conduct a routine inspection of the shelter and its surroundings.

The entire night had passed uneventfully inside the shelter.

Only the engineering team remained on the fourth underground floor, tirelessly excavating and expanding the shelter's space.

However, outside the shelter, there was some unexpected movement.

Aside from the occasional large trucks transporting goods, a flock of unknown birds had passed by in the sky, and one or two small animals had appeared on the rocky terrain in the distance.

"Even in such high temperatures, animals on the surface still haven't completely died out," Su Wu mused.

"Truly resilient."

Perhaps this was the so-called survival instinct of life. Not only humans but other creatures were also struggling to persist in extreme environments.

After checking the log and confirming that the area around the shelter was temporarily safe, Su Wu turned his attention to the shelter's material consumption report.

He noticed that the most frequently used construction materials—stone and concrete debris—were almost depleted.

"It looks like I'll need to establish a dedicated team for mining operations," Su Wu thought.

While stones were scattered all around the farmyard, most were irregularly shaped, oversized, or buried deep underground, making excavation difficult.

As for construction waste, the situation was even trickier.

Based on Su Wu's knowledge, he would need to travel at least two kilometers to an abandoned village and dismantle buildings to gather enough usable debris.

With such a long distance involved, the risk would be significantly higher than construction work within the farmyard.

It was not a job suitable for his valuable engineering team.

Opening his design software skillfully, Su Wu began contemplating how to create a specialized unit dedicated to excavation and material transport.

First, in keeping with standard practice, the unit's scale needed to remain small.

The engineering team responsible for expanding the shelter only had a few micro-vehicles and construction tools. As a support unit tasked with providing them raw materials, it made even less sense to make it large.

Given this limitation, he realized there was no need to create separate units for excavation, electric pickaxes for demolishing structures, or equipment for handling oversized stones.

Instead, these could be integrated into a single transport vehicle, minimizing manufacturing costs.

The only drawback would be a slight reduction in efficiency.

However, this shortcoming was negligible considering the mechanical units could work 24 hours a day.

With long operational hours, even the lowest efficiency would eventually yield substantial results.

Su Wu sketched out a design.

Soon, his idea materialized into a streamlined yet complete excavation and transport team, centered around a single specialized transport vehicle.

Its appearance resembled a mini transport truck.

It had no driver's cab—only a tracked chassis akin to a tank and an open cargo bed. A compact metal compartment, about one-fifth the size of the truck bed, was positioned at the rear, housing electric picks, mechanical arm buckets, and other tools.

Once at the worksite, the vehicle could operate independently.

Since long-distance travel was necessary, increasing its load capacity would significantly boost efficiency without greatly raising costs.

Thus, the vehicle was designed larger than a micro transport vehicle, with a total length close to five meters—similar to a standard family car.

Despite this, it had the load capacity of a large truck, reaching 20 tons.

"One vehicle, a complete mining and transport team," Su Wu remarked with satisfaction.

"This truly earns the 'special' designation."

As soon as the design was complete, the artificial intelligence system automatically generated a manufacturing plan and a list of required materials.

Thanks to engineering robots and the raw materials obtained from the official shelter, 97% of the vehicle's components could be produced in-house, with a total assembly time of less than ten hours.

Such a high completion rate meant that Su Wu would only need to spend about five to six survival points to obtain a finished special transport vehicle.

Compared to the initial manufacturing costs of micro transport vehicles and micro excavators, this was a significant reduction.

Without hesitation, Su Wu added the blueprint to the manufacturing center's production queue.

Once this essential task was handled, he remained in the control center.

He switched the large screen on the console to another interface and pressed the start button.

Eight or nine seconds later, the screen displayed a concrete floor and a gray sky.

It was the perspective of a drone.

During the supply transport period from the official shelter, Su Wu had been busy.

Using the surplus resources he had acquired, he made several modifications to both the interior and exterior of the shelter.

One of the most crucial upgrades was the construction of a vertical passageway linking the shelter's interior to the roof of the two-story residential building in the farmyard.

This passage, about one meter in diameter, featured a lift platform and multiple explosion-proof isolation doors that could close automatically.

While ensuring the absolute security of the shelter, it also allowed for the rapid deployment of all drone models, including the K2 agricultural drone.

In an emergency, the passage could even be converted into a makeshift missile silo, enabling direct rocket launches from within the shelter.

[Reconnaissance drone formation is ready.]

[Environmental monitoring shows normal conditions.]

[Current real-time temperature: 67.5°C.]

[Commencing takeoff.]

In the dim, silent wasteland, three palm-sized drones, their lights faintly flickering, slowly ascended from the farmyard's rooftop.

After circling a few times, they gradually flew toward the distant mountains.

Su Wu had long been curious about those mountains, which had endured an unprecedented fire.

Now that he had some free time, he intended to investigate them.