Zhong Qingshu’s accent was easily recognizable, especially when she was relaxed; exuding the unique temperament of a Jiangnan woman.
As Su Mo walked over, she got up and gradually straightened her body, before saying teasingly,
“Stop, stop. Is there any progress on the search for the ruins or on the whereabouts of the time currency?”
When it came down to business, Zhong Qingshu immediately became alert. She gestured for Su Mo to come with her further away, leaving the noisy crowd behind.
Once they had traveled far enough, the two stopped.
“It’s hard to say with certainty. The appearance of the ruins is too unpredictable. Even up till now, I haven’t managed to source any news about the appearance and disappearance of the ruins. I feel that it’s not that everyone is being secretive about this, but rather that no one has the time or ideal conditions to observe the phenomenon.”
“Of course, it cannot be ruled out that there is someone in the know hiding the information and not sharing it.”
As she was shaking her head, Zhong Qingshu glanced around with an alert expression, then gestured with her hand. A small compass appeared in her hand.
“I obtained this compass from the previous ruins. According to my preliminary judgment, it has a certain reference value. Take a look!”
After finishing speaking, Zhong Qingshu stretched out her hand that was holding the compass, and a magical scene appeared.
After Zhong Qingshu shook a little harder, the initially stable compass arrow suddenly started turning frantically, seemingly inspired by a certain something.
A compass would only react like this when it encountered strong magnetic fields.
“This is?” Su Mo took the compass into his hand in doubt.
When he did, without Zhong Qingshu’s explanation, Su Mo felt a strange power that seemed to be gradually increasing, as if it was beckoning for something to come.
“It won’t take long. It may be tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. Before the disaster, the ruins will appear again. This will be our last chance to enter it before the next disaster!”
“Last chance?”
As Su Mo was alone in his shelter, even with the aid of the World Channel and regional channels, his information gathering and network paled in comparison to these large-scale shelters.
The existence of the game panel’s automatic filtering system meant that a large amount of possibly vital information would never reach him, having been screened out based on the game panel’s judgment of his preferences.
This was a common major problem faced by all the lone wolf shelters in the doomsday wasteland!
“Let me be frank with you. According to the information I received, every time we survive a disaster, or are about to encounter the next disaster, the gateway to the entrance to the ruins will become weaker. When the time is ripe, that gateway can be opened, revealing the entrance to the ruins that we see.”
“Each disaster corresponds to a chance to enter the ruins. Among these, welfare disasters do not count toward the number of disasters survived required to upgrade the shelters, and will not have the other collateral effects of normal disasters.”
“Weirdly enough, this welfare disaster doesn’t seem to be included in the disaster cycle of the entire world, as if it had been…manually added. It’s a semi-finished product, and it doesn’t match perfectly with the current game system.”
Although he knew that coming into contact with more people meant that he would likely receive more useful information, hearing Zhong Qingshu’s words at this time, Su Mo still felt that he had benefited substantially.
For a long time, Su Mo had countless doubts regarding the strange ruins that would appear near the Underground Shelter.
However, during his explorations there, he had never met or communicated with anyone in the ruins!
While his dominion over the basin region certainly increased his sense of security, the effects of living and operating in seclusion would gradually take its toll.
“So, the disaster this time is a bug and we are benefiting from it?”
As the “humanoid bug creator” himself, Su Mo rubbed his forehead at the implied conclusion, a stunned expression on his face.
“Yes, this opportunity to enter the ruins has been obtained from this unexpected disaster. It seems that the interval between the appearance of the ruins has indeed shortened. However, if we miss this round and wait until the next time the ruins reappear…”
“It would be too late. I have a hunch that, if the next disaster is a flood, the duration of this disaster would probably be calculated in months!”
It takes time to communicate with fools, but it takes brains to communicate with smart people.
Time passed as they were speaking, and the rate at which the arrow was turning on the compass had already increased at a speed visible to the naked eye.
After exchanging more information about the ruins and the wasteland world with Zhong Qingshu, Su Mo ended the day’s pleasant intelligence-gathering session when he felt that his brain capacity was beginning to reach its tipping point.
“Okay, this won’t be a big problem. If the ruins open, I will come over immediately!”
Seeing Su Mo’s “tired” expression, Zhong Qingshu covered her mouth and snickered. Retracing their steps, the two of them returned to the field.
The drivers, who had many years of experience operating excavators, surpassed Su Mo’s half-baked level easily.
Five acres of land had been completely leveled and turned over after a few rounds; the same acreage that hundreds of people had not been able to successfully excavate in a day. Now the plains were covered with fertile soil everywhere.
Hundreds of people were leaning over in the soil at this time, using shovels to dig out the weeds as much as possible to prevent those weeds from competing with the crops for nutrients and space, which would cause the harvest to reduce.
The men were working hard with the shovels, while the women stood on the hillside, crushing melting ice and snow into balls, and placing them into the dug out holes to provide moisture.
Everyone was working in full swing, including the four prison guards who also took off their clothes and joined the group.
Sweat dripped from their foreheads.
Dust and dirt was smeared on their bodies.
No one complained about the hard work or of tiredness. Even the 17-year-olds followed the adults’ example and worked diligently.
“This is a heartwarming scene. Seeing everyone working hard together on physical tasks like this is something you would only glimpse during our parents’ generation. I didn’t expect to witness it in the doomsday wasteland.”
Speaking these words, Zhong Qingshu’s eyes were full of emotion.
“Su Mo, you are not a member of a big family? I have never heard of any super-soldier families in Huaxia?”
“I am not, and it’s not true, so don’t talk nonsense!” Su Mo took off his mask and denied her words repeatedly after hearing Zhong Qingshu’s curious question.
“There are too many possibilities in the wasteland. What we can see and observe is only the tip of the iceberg. It is very possible that, unbeknownst to us, somewhere out there, countless powerful individuals are accumulating strength. Every new change resets the board, and the ones who can adapt and survive will be the eventual winners.”
“This includes me. I might just be someone with better luck than others in the wasteland. Of course, there are probably many ruthless characters who haven’t shown up yet, lurking in the shadows.”
Given the size of the population in the wasteland, coupled with factors such as treasure chests, ruins, special items and other variables, there were far too many uncertain elements present to reach a conclusion based on their limited knowledge.
It was entirely possible that someone could receive a sudden burst of luck, and obtain heaven-defying items from ordinary treasure chests, forever changing their destiny.
It would also be possible that someone in the ruins, like Zhong Qingshu, would find something that others couldn’t and develop and strengthen themselves at an unimaginable rate.
In the early stages of the doomsday wasteland, the main theme of survival would always play out.
However, in the later stages, there would be those who moved beyond that initial goal and progressed toward the ultimate goals…
To figure out what this world was!
What was hidden behind the game panel that each of them possessed?
And… how to return to Earth?
“It’s true, but it’s also useless to think so much about things. We won’t necessarily survive the next disaster. If we don’t prepare accordingly, more than half the people here will probably die.”
Shrugging her shoulders, Zhong Qingshu put out her tongue mischievously. She changed the topic and instead delved into the difficulties they were facing at present.
Judging by the current situation, barring any surprises, the next disaster would be a flood of epic proportions.
Su Mo’s earlier speech could inspire the morale of ordinary people, but for intelligent people like Zhong Qingshu, who also happened to have excellent combat capabilities, it was lacking in substance.
“I’ll have to assess the severity of the flood disaster. If the inundation depth is 20 to 30 meters, then no one will be able to escape it. If it is 5 to 10 meters, there might still be a chance to turn things around.”
“There is a hill near my shelter, which is about 20 meters high. If things become difficult at that time, the Candlelight Shelter can move over there.”
The hardness of the iron ore hill was considerable, and it was unlikely to be affected or damaged by the flood.
In addition, the iron reserves in the shelter were still sufficient. For the time being, Su Mo had no plans to mine this resource point.
However, Zhong Qingshu discovered another meaning from his words.
“Then what about you? You’re leaving soon to find your younger sister?”
“When the time comes. If it is confirmed to be a flood, it will just make things easier for me to travel and save me a lot of effort.”
A round trip of over twenty thousand miles…
Relying on Earth Tiger, god knows how long it would take to reach the Tundra Shelter, but if there was a flood, things would turn out differently!
A boat could travel in one direction indefinitely after the installation of an unmanned driving system. Even if Su Mo was asleep, the boat would continue forward unswervingly.
It would likely take less than a month for Su Mo to complete this extremely long journey to the vicinity of the Tundra Shelter.
This disaster could possibly destroy all the creatures in the wasteland, but it would also be the best opportunity to pick up his sister.
Seeing Su Mo’s mood dampening, Zhong Qingshu stood beside him for a while, before joining the hardworking refugee group in the field.
The weather was hot.
The sky was cloudless.
They worked tirelessly until noon. By that time, Su Mo generously handed ten pancakes to the cook to add to everyone’s meal.
These simple workers only needed an extremely simple meal to be convinced.
By the time it was evening and the sun was about to set, over 50 acres of arable land had been cleared by the group.
At a glance, it was an extremely grand sight!
