Satellite Signal

Su Wu followed Ye Luoshuanghua's instructions and spent more than ten minutes in the control center.

He successfully connected to a new network with the help of the console and the signal receiver installed outside the shelter.

It was a wireless network established via satellite.

The signal wasn't great, but it was sufficient for transmitting text and simple images.

There was barely any content in the entire network—just an official forum and a chat channel based on that forum.

Su Wu entered the account and password given to him by Ye Luoshuanghua and successfully joined a sub-channel called "Jianghe City" in the chat.

As expected, he saw many familiar names there.

Almost all of them were shelter owners he had interacted with in the previous chat group.

"Communication resources are limited now."

"Only certified senior personnel from the shelters are qualified to connect to this network."

"It's mainly for publishing official announcements and facilitating resource and information exchanges between shelters."

Ye Luoshuanghua explained the purpose of the network to Su Wu via private chat.

Even in peacetime, satellite networking was considered a luxury.

Now, in the apocalypse, where launching rockets had become increasingly difficult, this kind of communication was even more valuable.

The fact that they had managed to establish this satellite network overnight after the collapse of the ground-based Internet, and even opened it to smaller shelters like his for free, showed how much importance the authorities placed on it.

Su Wu browsed the forum for a while.

He wasn't sure if it was due to time constraints or deliberate restrictions, but the content was incredibly sparse.

There were only a few brief official reports on recent major events and public speeches by senior federal officials.

The most valuable information was often just a few words in the titles.

Aside from official administrators, no one had permission to post or reply. Even browsing was heavily restricted—Su Wu's account could only access the federal announcement section and the local section for his area. He couldn't even view the official news from neighboring cities.

The only place where communication was unrestricted was the "Jianghe City" chat sub-channel.

"The control is so strict."

"Are they trying to hide something?"

Su Wu was puzzled, but he knew this was a question he wouldn't get an answer to anytime soon.

His current position was too low—just another citizen under federal rule. At best, he was a rural tycoon of sorts.

Whatever the federation was planning, he could only passively accept it.

By the afternoon, the storm on the surface had mostly subsided.

Su Wu opened the shelter door for the first time in a long while.

Amid the rolling dust and scattered debris, all the vehicles, construction robots, and the engineering team's mechanical equipment were pulled back to the surface.

As expected, the ground was a mess.

The walls and two-story buildings that had once made up the farmyard were completely gone.

Only a few scattered remains hinted at their former existence.

Several piles of steel raw materials that had been tightly secured with iron nets had been violently torn open on one side. About a third of the steel had scattered from the gap—some lay within a few hundred meters, while the rest had vanished entirely.

And that was still a relatively good outcome.

The cement, which had been protected by iron nets and steel plates, had essentially turned into dust.

Two thousand bags—hundreds of tons of cement—had been swept away before they could even be used.

"Take your time cleaning up."

Even though Su Wu had mentally prepared for the losses, he couldn't help feeling frustrated when he saw the aftermath.

After a long silence, he instructed the robots to begin clearing the wreckage.

The first step was to clear an open space.

The scattered valuable materials—mostly steel and scrap metal—were gathered and restacked.

Then, the ruins of the two-story buildings were flattened, and any salvageable building materials and daily necessities were picked out and temporarily placed next to the scrap metal.

Both tasks were relatively simple.

With seven construction robots, two micro-excavators, two micro-transport vehicles, and the multi-functional special transport vehicle working together, progress was swift.

During this time, Su Wu received a detailed damage report from the artificial intelligence.

The actual losses were lighter than they initially appeared.

The main reason was the emergency transfer that had taken place during the brief lull in the storm.

Most of the lighter, high-value materials had been moved into the shelter in time—including a significant portion of the cement.

Additionally, much of the wind-scattered material had only traveled a few kilometers and could still be recovered.

Even the cement, which he had assumed was completely lost, could still be found in some areas.

In the end, the total loss amounted to 53 tons of steel, 78 tons of cement, and a few other materials.

In terms of value, it was less than one-tenth of the supplies he had traded with the government.

Looking at the report, Su Wu's expression eased slightly.

No matter what, his current resources were still sufficient, and the losses wouldn't affect the shelter's construction plans.

"Next step…"

"Maybe I should consider building a bunker."

As the cleanup neared completion, a new issue arose—what to do with the remaining materials on the surface.

Storing them inside the shelter wasn't an option.

Not only would it take up too much space, but even the emergency supplies that had been temporarily moved into the shelter couldn't remain there for long.

Keeping them inside would disrupt daily operations and slow down construction progress.

If the materials couldn't be stored underground, then the only choice was to secure them on the surface.

The storm had already flattened the farmyard.

Now, Su Wu had an opportunity to rebuild it—this time, with a more fortified design.

A properly constructed bunker could serve multiple purposes:

It could function as a warehouse for supplies, retain the original drone landing platform and rocket silo, and even double as a military outpost.

A fortified bunker would become the shelter's first line of defense.

There was another advantage—building on the surface was far easier than digging underground.

Even if built to the highest military standards, a small bunker could be completed in just a few days.

The time investment was well within acceptable limits.

With high benefits and low costs, Su Wu didn't need to think long.

He made up his mind.

The bunker would be built first.