Su Mo circled the lion people’s campsite and kept driving until the sun set on the horizon before pulling over the car.
Observing his surroundings, Su Mo was not sure how far he had driven out.
The sky was already getting dark, so Su Mo tentatively turned on the car’s headlights. Oreo, who had been sitting quietly in the passenger seat, was suddenly energized when she saw two beams of light that lit up abruptly at the front.
It was the case of a little dog’s head having big doubts.
“Ah-woo!”
Without the restraint of a seatbelt on the passenger seat, Oreo’s head had almost glued itself to the windscreen. She was barking as she stared at the beams of light that dispersed into the distance.
“Hahaha, it’s your first time riding a luxury car, so you’re not used to it yet!”
Before this, Oreo would always sit upright in the buggy, maintaining her self-satisfied posture against the howling winds.
After entering the new car, Oreo had sat quietly on the passenger seat, seemingly unable to understand why the wild winds that used to match her self-satisfied posture had disappeared.
“In the future, I’ll modify a special seat for you on the sunroof. Then you can stick your head out and face the winds head-on.”
After figuring out the directions, Su Mo shifted his car into gear and hit the road again.
The small stones on the gravel-filled ground knocked against the car doors, making a rattling sound.
The more intense the sound was, the more refreshed Su Mo felt.
When he used to drive the buggy previously, just one long-distance trip would leave his body full of grey marks that were caused by the tiny rocks that had struck him. There would sometimes even be bruises.
It was all better now. Even the dirt would not be blown into the car at all as long as the car windows were shut, much less the tiny rocks.
Adjusting his directions along the way, Su Mo drove until the moon crept over the horizon. It was not until the moon had risen to the middle of the sky that Su Mo finally sensed a trace of familiarity in the area.
He had not taken this road from the north back before because he had always been traveling back and forth between east and west.
Oreo was the first to call out from the passenger seat when the distant lights hit the almost dried up acid rain lake.
Su Mo was also excited when he saw that small but familiar hill.
He rolled down the car window and breathed in the scent of “safety” and the feeling of coming home suddenly welled up in him.
“Indeed, I’m not the kind of person who can constantly dance on a knife’s edge. I’m better off guarding and developing my shelter. Planning things slowly is the way to go!”
Su Mo was already starving by the time he had circled the hill to patrol the surroundings for any dangers.
The Earth Tiger could not fit into the small basement from before at all.
Su Mo parked directly in front of the main entrance and took the two bowls of oil-splattered noodles from the trunk into the storage space. He then got out of the car and started turning the combination lock to open the main door.
Thump!
The sound of the heavy bolt retracting was melodious to his ears. After pushing the door open and letting Oreo in, Su Mo glanced at the Earth Tiger and closed the door.
“I’ll park the Earth Tiger in the Deep-sea Shelter tomorrow, otherwise it’ll be troublesome when the kobolds or lion people find me.”
Without the safehouse cores required to build a new shelter module, it would be a bit difficult to build a complete basement near the shelter at the moment, so it had to be done slowly.
Oreo had already jumped up to turn on the lights in the shelter as they walked down the corridor and entered the inner section of the shelter.
Big Spark and Little Spark also came out, clucking and circling around the shelter.
“Hey, come have your meal, Oreo!” Su Mo was too lazy to make dinner this late at night, so he just took out the warm, oily noodles and poured them into Oreo’s food bowl.
He took out a handful of rice and placed it into Big Spark and Little Spark’s bowls. After pouring in psychic energy water for all three pets, Su Mo took out his own share and began to eat.
The storage space’s ability to maintain freshness was not omnipotent. It could not guarantee the same level of freshness between when the items were first put in and when they were taken out.
However, it still took a much longer time for them to go bad compared to when the food had been left outside.
Although the oily noodles were a little cold now, the noodles still had a refreshing taste and were not clumped together.
Su Mo finished his dinner with loud slurps. Seeing that his pets were still eating, he stood up and continued working.
First, he moved all the treasure chests from the storage space into the shelter. Su Mo then opened the main door and began to play the role of a porter.
Seeing the storage space in the trunk gradually emptying out, and the number of treasure chests in the base gradually increasing, Su Mo’s pace became faster and faster.
After he moved out the last treasure chest and shut the main door, Su Mo then turned off the lights in the shelter.
The light within the shelter did not turn into darkness…
Instead, the shelter shone brighter under the glow of hundreds of treasure chests.
The piled-up treasure chests were enough to cover a wall and were currently emitting all sorts of different colored lights. Under Su Mo’s gaze. the lights brightened and dimmed continuously, as if they were breathing.
The bright blue light from the bronze chests, the thick and heavy black light from the iron chests, and the faint yellow light from the wooden chests all complemented one another.
Lying on the ground and resting his head on Oreo’s soft belly, Su Mo emptied his thoughts.
At this moment, as he was looking at the wall of treasure chests, a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction surged over him like rising tides.
Lying in front of this wall, Su Mo could only think about how the happiness of the rich was actually just so simple and unadorned!
“All these treasure chests and their contents would have been enough to provide for shelters that can house hundreds of people completely. Now though, these all belong to me!”
Picking up the cup of psychic energy water next to him, Su Mo savored it slowly and gradually became “intoxicated”.
Big Spark and Little Spark, who had finished eating, returned to the crop culture room to lie down, before clucking and fluttering about curiously.
The two chickens could not calm down either after seeing the whole wall shining!
They curiously came to Oreo’s side and imitated Su Mo, laying down and resting on either side of him.
One human and three pets laid down just like that, staring fixedly at the wall in a daze.
Su Mo’s snoring could gradually be heard after a while.
Oreo cooperated and did not move her body. She looked at Su Mo, who was lying on her, with a tender gaze.
Big Spark and Little Spark tucked their feathers in and stayed quietly by Su Mo’s side.
The wall of treasure chests twinkled, slowly emitting their own light that gradually matched the rhythm of Su Mo’s breathing.
The atmosphere was sleepy and drowsy in the peaceful shelter.
Without any disturbances, Su Mo could forget all the worries he had on his mind and sleep soundly, despite lying on the hard stone floor.
It was as if he was back on Earth, back in his house eating his mother’s home-cooked feast and drinking his father’s wine at the dining table.
He listened to his younger sister’s constant chatter over the dining table, and his parents were laughing while reprimanding them from time to time.
In this apocalyptic wasteland…
Su Mo felt at ease.
Even the taut tension of his body, and the mental fatigue and strain that had accumulated over the past few days, was slowly dissipating as he slept.
By the time Su Mo opened his eyes again, it was already six or seven o’clock the next morning.
A little cold wind was blowing in gently from the crop culture room. The wall of treasure chests, along with the sunlight that was shining down upon it, made the shelter seem unusually bright.
Su Mo lowered his head and was surprised to see Big Spark and Little Spark spreading their wings, covering his body tightly like eagles.
Little Spark was covering his chest and stomach, while Big Spark was covering his thighs and calves.
The two chickens, who usually clucked in the cold at night, were motionless today. They laid on his body obediently, basking securely in the heat from Su Mo’s body.
“Bark~ bark~ Awooo~”
After sensing that Su Mo was awake, Oreo, who was underneath him, lifted her head and licked Su Mo’s face affectionately.
Su Mo slowly stood up and placed the chickens aside. He caressed Oreo’s head gently.
At this moment, Su Mo silently raised Oreo, Big Spark and Little Spark’s importance to the level of his family.
It was also at this moment that Su Mo suddenly realized that he no longer felt as lonely anymore.
“I’m such a lucky man. There are people who love and care for me even in such an apocalyptic wasteland. Oh no, it’s a dog and two chickens!”
He chuckled and stretched himself out. Su Mo went to the micro-operations command center and switched on the TV to check the surrounding situation.
Without needing to even step foot out of the shelter, he could observe everything within a kilometer of it. It was really too convenient and safe.
After a single vibration, the image began to emerge.
“Good God, wasn’t the blizzard only supposed to come in a few days? Why is it already snowing?”
Looking at the hoarfrost that had surfaced on the ground and the snowflakes that were falling gradually from the sky, Su Mo felt his heart pulsate abnormally.
At the same time, a previously overlooked message suddenly appeared within Su Mo’s mind.
“Could it be that…the disaster is actually just the blizzard, and the temperature mentioned at the end of the message refers to the temperature when the blizzard approaches. As for the cold temperatures and snowfall preceding the blizzard, would they actually show up this early and keep increasing in intensity until the disaster strikes?”
After connecting to the mechanical controller, Su Mo moved the camera angle up and down. Indeed, the ground was covered with hoarfrost and the acid rain lake that was almost dried up had also started to freeze.
There were no signs of life within a kilometer.
“With the weather the way it is, the survival challenge has already begun from this moment on. It’s not just the three days of blizzard that everyone has to face!”
“In eight days, those who have not accumulated sufficient survival supplies will face death. This is an indirect method of forcing the different races to fight each other to the death!”
Shaking his head, Su Mo turned off the TV immediately and put on his combat uniform. He went to the end of the passageway to open the main door.
Hiss~
The whirring north wind blew, carrying in the snowflakes that were flitting around. Fortunately, the combat uniform had a slight wind breaking effect, so Su Mo, who was wearing a sweater, was able to withstand the cold.
He walked over to the Earth Tiger. The car’s windows were currently covered in a layer of frost. Su Mo reached out to knock off the frost, before taking out the key and sitting down in the driver’s seat.
Even without air conditioning, the temperature in the car was already colder than it was outside. Su Mo was already cold and trembling before the engine could warm up.
“It’s no longer suitable to go out for combat expeditions in this kind of weather. Luckily, I’ve managed to find myself harvest before the big drop in temperature. Otherwise, even with my encouragement, the lion people may not have gone out to raid the kobold’s mining camp.”
Su Mo did not know how much power the car battery possessed after the upgrade, so he waited for the engine to warm up before charging it. After making sure that the battery was not empty, Su Mo turned off the engine and quickly got out of the car. He closed the door and returned to the “warmth” of the shelter.
“I’ll hide the car in the Deep-sea Shelter after I’m done eating. I won’t be heading out these days. It’s far too cold!”
