Chapter 33: Major Upgrade

Tiedan and Tieniu had both completed their upgrades. The one that satisfied Chen Yuan the most was Tieniu. This mount was not only incredibly strong, but it now also possessed offensive capabilities. If he could just make it a little bigger, it could truly steamroll through anything.

Now, only Tieqiong was left to be upgraded. However, an anti-gravity propulsion system was out of the question for now. The authorities had only implemented a minimal-loss shelter policy; they hadn't completely shut down. Even with the materials in hand, Chen Yuan didn't want to be that high-profile. For the moment, it was better to upgrade its power supply system.

After inserting a pile of materials, he received batteries and fuel. Then, Chen Yuan tossed Tieqiong into the insertion port. He pressed the red button, and a pop-up window appeared on the screen.

「Materials inserted successfully. Robot dog upgrade: Fuel-based power supply system, industrial mechanical arm, armor reinforcement.」 「Upgrade time: One hour and thirty minutes.」

Chen Yuan had selected three upgrade projects. The industrial mechanical arm was incredibly useful, so having another was a good idea. Armor reinforcement was a must, giving it some defensive capability against the zombies.

While waiting for the upgrade, he began to take stock of his inventory.

Compressed biscuits... forget it, the shelves were packed full. He couldn't possibly eat them all.

He also had plenty of Mineral Life Water. He could drink it every day without needing to conserve it. After all, with the world outside covered in ice and snow, water was hardly a scarce resource.

His primary raw material, wood, was also piled up like a small mountain. There were table legs and tree trunks he had chopped down. Chen Yuan was very mindful of this material. In this environment, every single person needed a way to stay warm. Coal and natural gas were not easy to obtain; the most convenient fuel was wood. He had even considered making a trip to the forest park next to Jiangcheng to ravage the trees there.

"It would be nice if there was some kind of renewable, cyclical material to replace wood," Chen Yuan mused, rubbing his chin. He felt he needed to raise his technological level. He had a divine artifact like the Apocalypse Store in his hands; competing with others for wood felt a bit beneath him.

He turned his head to look at his pile of miscellaneous items. The variety there was much greater. All sorts of wiring harnesses, metals, broken glass, shattered ceramic tiles... The items themselves were unremarkable, but they were useful basic materials. Chen Yuan had made a simple classification system for his resources. Things that could be used to directly produce items were called "basic materials." Those materials that were the product of a previous production cycle were called "composite materials."

After he finished his inventory, the brand-new Tieqiong appeared on the production platform. After inserting the battery and fuel, its agility had also improved. This was an added bonus of changing the power system.

With the three robot dogs upgraded, all that was left was the production of his high-explosive arrows. But this time, Chen Yuan didn't wait. He spread out his thermostatic sleeping bag on the spot and had a wonderful nap.

The next morning, he woke up to the sight of the production platform neatly stacked with high-explosive arrows, and his heart filled with satisfaction. He moved the arrows to a nearby rack, stuffed a bundle into the quiver on his back, and walked out of the tent.

As he collected more and more things, it was time to upgrade the tent itself. He called over Tieqiong and Tieniu, and they easily moved the Apocalypse Store outside. Then, he packed up the tent, tossed it and various other materials in, and began the upgrade.

「Materials inserted successfully. Hyperspace Portable Tent upgrading internal space to 60 square meters, adding four-sided observation windows, adding external defense, reinforcing frame and structure.」 「Upgrade time: 2 hours.」

Since he was going to upgrade it, he might as well go all out and add more materials. While he was still a "local tyrant," he could afford to be a little extravagant.

"You three, guard the entrance. I'm going to take another nap."

「Roger...」

Tiedan moved to the side of the store, its two offensive mechanical arms extended, remaining on high alert. Tieniu stood behind the entrance, its head lowered slightly, its two nearly half-meter-long attack horns aimed at the doorway. Tieqiong, meanwhile, activated its scanning function, constantly observing the situation outside.

Chen Yuan nodded slightly. Their teamwork was quite good. Now that all three robot dogs were upgraded, he no longer had to fear any number of zombies. As long as they guarded the entrance, they could kill them as they came.

He crawled into his thermostatic sleeping bag and dozed off lightly. It was less sleeping and more planning for the future. His mind continuously designed upgrade paths for the three dogs and considered how he should deal with these disgusting zombies.

This was something he didn't have to do. He could just stay in his safe house and wait for the Ice Age to end. But he was afraid that when he finally stepped outside, he would be the only living person left on the entire planet. That would be too tragic.

His zombie-hunting was less about protecting others and more about ensuring his own future life.

But he still had a few unanswered questions.

First, where did the very first zombie come from? Was there a corresponding antidote?

Second, could these things evolve? Did they have a leader or a king?

Third, what should he do with the disabled zombies? Just leaving them on the ground seemed impolite, didn't it?

"Annoying... so damn annoying... I'm not a savior..." Chen Yuan grumbled, expressing his frustration with this damn world.

Two hours passed quietly amidst his scattered thoughts. When he heard the notification sound from the production platform, he sat up in his sleeping bag. At the same time, he had made a decision. Even if he wasn't a savior, he had to do what he could.

He didn't want to live alone. The loneliness would be enough to drive a person mad.

He got up, walked to the Apocalypse Store, and eagerly picked up the Hyperspace Portable Tent that was now lying quietly on the production platform. He glanced at the space behind him. Yep, plenty of room.

He tossed the portable tent out. The small object bounced once on the ground, then expanded with a dull thump. In an instant, a two-meter-by-two-meter, silvery-gray tent appeared before him.

It was different from before. The fabric of the tent seemed to shimmer with a faint starlight, and the support poles at the four corners had become much thicker. Chen Yuan didn't know how strong its defenses were, but if he was ever forced to hide inside the tent to survive, the world was probably beyond saving.

He stepped inside. As expected, the interior was now unbelievably spacious. It had ballooned from twenty square meters to sixty—a threefold increase, and best of all, with no shared living space! Most importantly, on all four sides, a large glass-like window had appeared. Looking through it, he could see the scene outside the tent. This function was extremely practical for him. Before, once he was inside, he had no idea what was happening outside. But now, he could see everything clearly.

He walked out of the tent and had the robot dogs move the Apocalypse Store inside. Then, he redesigned the layout. The things he had taken from the research institute were placed neatly on storage shelves. Living supplies were on one side, and basic materials like wood and glass were on the other. He looked at his masterpiece, a product of someone with zero storage experience, and shook his head. Why does it still feel so messy?

He covered his face in frustration and left the tent. He went to the office area. He certainly couldn't leave these computer mainframes behind. He even threw the plastic trash cans into the tent. With this much space, he could be willful.

On a whim, he also moved the large leather sofa from the lounge inside. He didn't know when it had started, but he had grown accustomed to sleeping on sofas rather than beds.

After a thorough top-to-bottom scavenging run, it was already afternoon. Before leaving the research institute, he thoughtfully dismantled all the cars in the courtyard. This time, not even the engines and transmissions escaped his demonic claws.

He satisfyingly patted the Hyperspace Portable Tent hanging on his chest, feeling that he was walking on the grand road to a comfortable life.

He placed a hand on one of Tieniu's raised horns, stepped up with his right foot, and pushed off with his left, seating himself on Tieniu's broad back. His eyes scanned back and forth, and using the map in his goggles, he found his home. He set the navigation, and Tieniu began to move with powerful strides.

Crunch, crunch, crunch... Deep tracks were left in the snow. The man and his three dogs were on their way home.

The upgraded Tieniu was like a bulldozer; a little snow was nothing to it.

As the sky gradually darkened, Chen Yuan's vigilance increased. According to his previous hypothesis, these zombies should be more active at night.

He took the compound bow off his back, drew a high-explosive arrow from his quiver, and nocked it. The crunching of snow echoed on both sides of the street. Large snowflakes began to fall from the sky. The hexagonal white crystals were as large as a thumbnail. After landing on Tieniu's warm body, they quickly melted into glistening droplets of liquid that dripped to the ground.

Fortunately, from the research institute all the way to the frozen river, he didn't encounter a single zombie.

He rubbed his chin in confusion and muttered, "That's not right, that's not right. How can there not be a single one..."

Just as he was wondering this...