Chapter 271: Holding Fire, The Four-Story Above-Ground Shelter
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After obtaining a guide and being assured that there were no overwhelming dangers outside the town, everything went smoothly.
After walking past several houses in a row, and listening to the slightly angry roars of the mutant creatures inside that were being blocked by some barriers, Su Mo looked like he had realized something.
“It seems this shelter probably took the wrong developmental pathway in terms of technology!
“They didn’t choose to continue improving the level of their technology, but instead focused on unknown and mystical side abilities.”
“Isn’t it sufficient to rely on special abilities to increase their level of technology?”
The level 17 shelter had not even surpassed the third level of technology in terms of development and had only managed to successfully derive a mystical side ability.
This ability was not something that Su Mo envied. In fact, he had nothing to say about it.
From ancient times to the present day, the development of technology has always been a vertical pathway.
If one could not move forward and instead chose to develop things toward the left or right, then they were destined to take a deviated path.
As for whether or not one could reach the destination after deviating from the main path, it all came down to luck.
“They were able to steadily develop the special ability in a single direction and replicate it en masse. Actually, this shelter has also gone on its own path.”
“It’s a pity that, in the end, some unknown thing happened and all the people left, abandoning this place!”
All the outer houses still maintained the simplest architectural style, without the augmentation of steel or other metallurgical advancements.
After he climbed the wall and entered the most luxurious room, Su Mo could only find items that were similar to the ones he obtained during his previous visit.
The three main items—television, washing machine and air conditioner—not a single one was missing.
However, after a round of careful studying, he noticed that they were the same models as the previous ones, and as such would cost a full six hours of time to bring out, so Su Mo instantly lost the desire to bring them back.
Minimalism. All electrical appliances had to serve the ultimate purpose of improving his survival chances and environment.
As for other small electrical appliances that Su Mo wanted—such as the razor, microwave, video camera, and radio—there were none. He did not know if they had been taken away, or if they had never been made at all.
Regretfully, he climbed out of the house and glanced at the village buildings behind him in passing. As for the surrounding “garbage”, Su Mo could only let it go for now.
“No, I have to bind the core of the ruins. No matter what the contents are inside these buildings.”
“If I can bring these to the main world, Hope Village can increase its level of development immediately.”
No matter how small a mosquito was, it still counted as nourishment. After evaluating four courtyards in one go, he reached the end of this dirt road.
Further ahead was Liangfang Town’s entrance, the first place he went that made him turn back in fear.
Oreo took the lead and Moore followed behind Su Mo. After turning the corner, the huge archway finally appeared in front of him along with the eerie ghost town-like interior.
Following the Tibetan Mastiff Doudou into the town, Su Mo held a rifle as he checked out the view near this archway.
The first time he had come here, he had been in a rush and had not examined it in detail.
Now, as he got closer and closer, Su Mo finally noticed this archway’s magical effects!
The town was not actually completely dark despite the lack of light—the light coming from within it was being reflected back by this black hole of an archway!
“Amazing. This kind of light-absorbing material isn’t bad. If I can paint it on my weapons or ammunition, that would be incredible.”
Touching the hard lacquer on the pillar, Su Mo tried using his steel sword to scrape off some of the stuff, which he kept away in his storage space. Once he was satisfied, he walked past the archway and headed inside.
With this one step, it was as if he had arrived at a whole new world.
The outside were dilapidated slums that lacked even a semblance of brightness. All that people had to protect their safety was that worn-out dirt wall.
Inside however, the burning sky’s weird red light did not completely penetrate through, but was instead isolated or filtered by some material or technology above, turning into an abnormally bright light.
Aside from this, each house finally had defensive structures installed.
Heavy iron walls, sharp barbs, and three-story progressive steel defense structures could be seen in his surroundings.
If some of the mystical abilities could be paired with these, then it would not be impossible for the residents here to defend themselves against the creatures outside of the invisible wall.
“This is the town’s outskirts. Aside from this house and that house, which are not guarded by mutant creatures, I can’t enter the other houses.”
Pursing his lips, Doudou revealed a human-like expression of fear.
Following Doudou’s gaze, Su Mo saw two houses with wide-open gates.
As standard large villas, the houses’ appearances here did not differ much from the ones outside. Aside from a slight difference in paint colors, the other details were basically the same.
“This is a little like the run-down town in 7 Days to Die!”
Looking at the scene that seemed to have emerged straight from the game in front of him, Su Mo chuckled. Imitating the investigation method in 7 Days to Die, he walked up and kicked the door open.
Whoosh!
This one kick was very strong, and the iron door was unexpectedly unable to hold up and flew straight into the house, kicking up a cloud of dust.
“Huh, even the hinges are weathered!”
While the dust was still floating about, Su Mo squatted down and examined the iron door’s iron hinges.
Compared to the common houses outside, although the large villas inside looked bright and beautiful on the surface, the inside looked like it had experienced countless years of wear and tear, and was in a state of absolute disrepair.
Once the dust dissipated, and seeing that Oreo did not sense any danger, Su Mo stepped into the house and started his investigation.
The house flooring was wooden. When he stepped on it, it instantly started making creaking noises like it was bearing too much weight, and there were obvious signs of collapse.
“The first floor was probably the owner’s activity room. This stuff on this floor is way more complete than the stuff outside, and was probably prepared for the house owner to bring away at the last minute.”
This house did not lack any of the previous big three items.
Moreover, at the corner of the house, Su Mo even saw something extremely valuable placed there…
A vacuum laminating machine!
The kind that was worth 12 days of disaster time!
“There are two rolls of spare laminating plastic bags, but they have traces of prior use. It seems the owner used it to pack things up before leaving.”
His heart ached as he touched the light layer of dust on the vacuum laminating machine, after which he carried it over to the couch and covered it with a mat. Only then did Su Mo carefully head to the second floor.
The second floor was where this family gathered. Not only was the bed covered with bedding that looked 80% new, but there was also a brand-new four-piece set in the cabinet.
“Only half an hour of time currency is needed? I’ll take it, I’ll take it!”
Taking the four-piece set and placing it straight into the storage space, he also found and took a white goose down blanket as well, before heading to the third floor.
This floor was where the owner stored weapons, except that all the weapons had been taken away. All that was left was dust.
“It’s a pity. All the humans inside probably left in a hurry and took with them most of the items that could raise their combat strength.”
“The leftover stuff is pretty much just daily household items.”
Leaping down from the second-floor balcony, Su Mo shook his head and went into a different house. Unsurprisingly, this house also had a similar structure and layout.
The things inside were also pretty much the same.
In a hurried evacuation, whatever was left were either large items that were difficult to bring along or regular household items that were not worth the time to take away.
“Forget it. Bring me straight to the mayor Ma Fei’s house. There’s not much to see in these regular houses anymore.”
After looking through two houses in a row and climbing onto the roof to survey the surroundings, Su Mo had a preliminary understanding of Liangfang Town’s layout.
Liangfang Town’s outskirts were not large. It seemed that the people who lived here did not have much status either and were considered outsiders.
There were a total of 45 houses on the outskirts, with an estimated ten people living in each house.
This town’s population was probably around 700-1200 people.
Compared to Earth, this number might not even be sufficient to qualify it as a village, but in the wasteland, it was plenty enough.
At the very least, the supplies required to take care of more than a thousand people would have been a massive issue in this environment.
“Ma Fei’s room is the innermost one. I’ve never entered it before; the mutant creatures who went crazy and ran inside didn’t come out alive.”
After following Doudou and walking past more than 10 houses, they finally arrived at a house that was much larger.
Furthermore, Ma Fei’s nameplate still hung at the entrance of the house very eye-catchingly.
As for its defensive structure, unlike other houses with steel installations, Ma Fei’s house only had simple wooden planks fenced up symbolically. They looked like they could even be blown over by a strong gust of wind.
After going around to the rear of the house, as Doudou pointed out, under a window on the inside of the house was the computer that Su Mo had been dreaming of!
“It has an LCD display and is water-cooled—looking at this main chassis, the specs of this computer shouldn’t be too low!”
Taking out his tactical binoculars and examining every part of the computer closely, Su Mo’s heart started thumping.
However, Oreo, who had been laying at the side sniffing the ground, suddenly perked her ears up in alarm.
“Oreo, is there danger inside?”
Looking at Oreo’s serious expression, Su Mo hurriedly suppressed the excitement in his heart and asked with a lowered voice.
Magoo’s expeditionary army that transmigrated from Earth had left their things behind for the next generation.
However, this Ma Fei managed to upgrade his shelter core to level 17. He definitely was not a simple person, and it was very likely that the things he left behind were to prevent greedy thieves.
“Woof! Aroo!”
“There really is!”
Looking at the house in front of them, Oreo was extremely anxious—as if she had smelled something, but wasn’t sure what it was.
This was the first time Su Mo saw Oreo like this ever since she was born.
“Since there’s danger inside, I’ll think of a way to force it out!”
Turning straight ahead earnestly, he avoided the house where the computer was.
He took out four fully-loaded Type-80 machine guns and the corresponding additional ammunition. As he did so, his eyes lit up.
“Bro, death comes for everyone.”
“No matter what or who you were before this, as long as you’re not a ghost, you’d still have to give way when facing a hail of bullets.”
Handing three guns to Moore, Su Mo arrived at the front of a wooden house. After a signal from Su Mo, frantic gunfire sounds filled the air.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
The Type-80 machine guns sounded like firecrackers exploding.
After three seconds of firing, as expected, a group of guardians dashed out of Ma Fei’s house.
Su Mo was not unfamiliar with these guardians. These were scarabs that looked like the ones from The Mummy movie that had been lying on the ground outside the invisible wall!
These weird bugs were as big as his fists. They crawled out, and then quickly locked onto their target.
Like a wave, endless bugs laid over the ground like a giant carpet, swiftly heading toward the few uninvited guests at the door.
“Not good. Fire quickly, shoot at will.”
The silly dog Doudou had run away the moment the bugs crawled out with its eyes full of fear. Clearly, it had also witnessed the horror of these creatures before.
On the other hand, Moore beside him remained steadfast. Upon hearing Su Mo’s order, he got into firing position as well.
Two thick and strong bear arms lifted the guns up. Moore’s powerful arms and physical strength enabled him to use two guns simultaneously!
In addition to Su Mo’s gunfire, a line of defense was instantly erected!
Although every bullet that collided with these scarabs’ bodies would emit the screeching sound of clashing metal, some would also occasionally hit a weak point, resulting in smears of corrosive black blood spurting out.
“Moore, hold your fire! Wait for my order!”
Eyeing the scarabs that were swarming out more and more, and glancing at his ammunition reserves, Su Mo did not wait any longer.
With a flip of his hand, he produced the gasoline bottle he had prepared long ago from his storage space and tossed it toward the scarab swarm. A spray of bullets from the machine gun ignited the gasoline, and flames exploded forth.
At this moment, these monstrous scarabs that had not been afraid of gunfire finally emitted sounds of pain and suffering as they tried to avoid the flames.
However, how could Su Mo let go of an opportunity to kick these dogs while they were down?
He threw out another four bottles of gasoline and, soon, the sky was full of flames, covered with the acrid smell of burning scarabs. In just five minutes, the ammunition reserves for the Type-80 machine gun were about to be depleted.
Luckily, due to the flames, the number of scarabs had been significantly reduced, and only a few of them were still jumping around.
“Is there still danger?”
Seeing Oreo both nod and shake her head, he took out his rifle and shot the remaining scarabs dead.
Stepping on their corpses, Su Mo tried stepping into the boundary of the wooden fence.
Whoosh!
Before a whole foot and half his body could enter, the scenery before him changed swiftly.
“This… This is…”
“A shelter?”
Seeing the two little ones still waiting behind him, and then glancing at the completely different scene in front of him, goosebumps spread over Su Mo instantly.
When he moved back, it was still the same worn-down yard covered in scarab corpses, and he could even still smell the rotten, charred scent.
However, when he moved forward, the bug corpses in his vision all vanished and transformed little broken robots all over the ground…
Moreover, in his vision, a four-story above-ground shelter that was full of game features appeared!
