Outside the shelter, the snow is thick and white.
The snowfall hasn't lasted long, but it has turned everything into a blanket of white, dressed in silver, making the entire Third Satellite City look barren at a glance!
Having already experienced the aftermath of meteorite fragments falling, now covered with heavy snow, the Third Satellite City has almost become a dead city, utterly silent!
Of course, this is only because everyone is hiding in the shelter.
"So cold!"
Sam steps out of the shelter, somewhat startled.
He has already used a cell enhancement serum, making his body strong and significantly increasing his tolerance to extreme temperatures, Previously, holding boiling water, he would find it unbearably hot.
But now, he can safely immerse his hands in boiling water.
Naturally, his tolerance to cold has also greatly surpassed the ordinary!
Yet, the chill from outside still brings a bone-chilling sensation to Sam.
"The fire radiation suit is not effective enough, it needs an upgrade!"
With a click of his tongue, Sam glances at his clothes, too lazy to go back, he directly picks up a military shovel, and heads to the location of his air purifier.
There, covered by the heavy snow, it has become a "small mound."
Sam forcefully drives the shovel into the mound with a surge of strength, and then pulls hard!
Bang——!
The snow pile is torn open, scattering large flakes of snow around.
"Up!" "Heave!" "Up!"
With each low shout, Sam destroys the small mound with brute force, revealing the white complex machinery inside.
At this moment, the machine's various ducts are already stuffed with snow, Sam goes over to check, takes out a file, and begins cleaning!
He has great strength, tearing through the snow layer with ease, but worried about damaging the machine, he still took care to carefully clear away the snow bit by bit.
The machine's blades, the air purifier's inner bags, the ducts...
After a while, busy for some time, Sam's body heats up, starting to sweat, and the heavy snow outside doesn't seem so cold anymore.
After all, his body is strong, with just a bit of exercise, his blood boils, the heat generated dispels the surrounding bone-chilling cold, making it no longer uncomfortable.
"Done!"
Sam stands up, looks at the air purifier that has been restored to like-new condition, and reveals a slight smile.
However, looking up at the sky, the heavy snow continues to fall, with large flakes of snow sprinkling from the sky, each snowflake turning the sea of clouds into a blanket of white.
With the snow falling like this, it won't be long before the air purifier gets clogged again!
"Upgrade with points?"
Sam's first thought was of high technology.
After thinking for a bit, he opens the attribute panel.
...
[Air Purifier]
Function: Air purification, air guidance.
Upgradeable!
Upgrade direction: [Swinging Air Purifier]
Branches: Integral fine steel (300), automatic sensing system (150), enhanced air purification capability (100), increased input and output (100), swinging (200).
Introduction: Automatically senses accumulation of snow. Swings automatically in certain dangerous situations to shake off the snow accumulated on it. ...
"It can swing, that's something interesting!"
Sam chuckles, indeed forgoing the upgrade.
For the time being, it's possible to clear the snow around the shelter every two to three days, spending those points seems a bit wasteful.
He has many other areas to upgrade, and the gap in points is just too large!
Coming back to his senses, Sam goes to the garage, takes out a large steel plate, and fixes it on top of the air purifier.
Then, he began to clear the snow piles around the shelter's passageways.
Sam's shelter is an underground construction, with only a small structure above ground for the outer door, so there wasn't a large area to clear!
After a while, he had finished everything and casually returned to the shelter.
"Bang——!"
The door closed, a gust of cold air sprayed forth, neutralized by the shelter's heating.
Sam took off the fire radiation suit and casually opened the clothing panel.
...
[Fire Radiation Suit]
Upgradable!
Upgrade direction: Safety Suit.
Branches: Cold Protection (100), Cut Resistance (200), Blunt Resistance (200).
Description: You want to become safer!
...
"Not bad, The InfiniteShelter Upgrade System, is this the normal golden finger, showing me goals that can be achieved in the short term!"
Sam smiled and chose to upgrade "Cold Protection."
"Points -100!"
Instantly, some blue patterns appeared on the fire radiation suit, the overall look didn't change much.
Sam couldn't be bothered to test it and turned towards the living room.
It was almost noon, time for a perfect lunch!
This time, Sam didn't call Han Xiaowu, and started preparing by himself.
The shelter still has food, but it's nearing depletion, with almost all the fresh meat used up, leaving only a little bit of pork.
Chicken, duck, fish, and the like were gone long ago, and fruits don't last very long. These days, Sam and the two women have been eating so much they're almost sick of it, having gone through two hundred pounds of fruit.
Seeing the dwindling food supplies, Sam feels somewhat helpless.
He can foresee a future where vegetables and meats are scarce!
Although there's a lot of food in storage, it's just not the same as fresh ingredients!
"Forget it, it's a major disaster, why be so greedy?"
Coming to his senses, Sam shakes his head and puts the vegetables back.
With so little vegetables and meat, it would be shameful for a newbie like him to waste them. Better to let Han Xiaowu handle it, As for today's lunch...
Sam strokes his chin, goes to the storage, and takes out three boxes of self-heating hot pot...
In the dining room, the two women are somewhat bewildered by the self-heating hot pots on the table.
"Eat up, it tastes pretty good!"
Sam eats and gives a thumbs up.
After a moment of thought, Han Xiaowu asks with confusion, "Are we running out of ingredients?"
"Yeah!"
Sam nods and explains, "When I was preparing food initially, most of it was the kind that's easy to preserve, like a lot of rice, oil, and salt. But we had relatively less vegetables and meat."
"First, all the shelters were collecting supplies, and fresh vegetables and meats were snapped up very early. The government monopolized the major meat supply channels, leaving only a few small and medium channels, which were then controlled by corporations and other powerful entities!"
"Second, there was the issue of pricing. Daily prices were rising, and the money in hand was becoming less and less valuable. Towards the end, money was really just a number and couldn't buy anything!"
Speaking of this, Sam recalls the previous scenes and laughs, "The meat in this shelter was also pieced together by me, hardly managed to snatch it up."
The approach of the meteor and the solar flares.
This was observed by humanity, so as soon as the information broke out, the market was immediately destroyed, and even the nations were helpless against it.
However, the nation wasn't inactive, for example, with basic supplies like rice, oil, and salt, the nation had an extremely terrifying reserve, it is said that they opened up war-time storages, releasing a large amount of supplies, stabilizing the domestic situation!
During that time, the potential riots that were about to erupt were crushed by the state machinery.
In comparison, foreign countries were more chaotic, the great disaster hadn't even arrived yet, but there were riots, looting, and even frequent shootings everywhere, even law enforcers were in danger themselves.
"Unfortunately, now the officials probably only take care of the official shelters."
Sam comes back to reality and sighs.
Han Xiaowu ponders for a moment and says, "That's normal, the state is not a nanny, nor is it your slave. It's already good that it can help the civilians within its capabilities!"
"It's said that the official shelters are open to the citizens unconditionally, as long as one is not committing crimes, anyone can go."
Hearing this, Sam smiles and says, "Then do you want to go?"
"No!"
Han Xiaowu didn't answer, but Liuli spoke up, her delicate face full of determination.
Sam affectionately strokes her head and laughs, "My Liuli certainly wouldn't go, our own shelter is so much better."
"Tsk! Eating your dog food every day, even my meals have lost their flavor!"
Han Xiaowu makes a face of disgust but then returns to normal, answering, "Official shelters and personal shelters each have their advantages and disadvantages. Personal shelters may not have the backing of a large tree, but they are not as strict as official shelters!"
"Facing a major disaster, official shelters manage supplies uniformly. Living arrangements, travel, and even what you eat must be reported! Even going to the bathroom requires a report."
"That kind of life..."
She thinks of those scenarios and sighs with a complex expression, "Who would choose that if they had the option?"
Modern people, especially those who have enjoyed a comfortable life, Who would willingly live like a puppet or a robot in an official shelter?
Thus, In the early stages of the disaster, Many residents of official shelters chose to leave, And the authorities didn't mind, Come if you love, leave if you wish, as long as you follow the rules.
"To be honest..."
Han Xiaowu hesitates for a moment, then speaks somewhat sheepishly, "Now, even if you asked me to leave, I wouldn't want to."
In Sam's shelter, Han Xiaowu needs to do some chores, watch over the nursery, and stay busy.
Tiring?
Definitely a bit!
But it's essentially just a job, nothing outrageous.
Here, there's a warm room, a comfortable environment, new clothes, ample water and electricity, the ability to play on the computer, exercise, listen to music, and watch movies.
Five hundred... oh, no, it's now six hundred square meters of shelter, Enough for three people to play to their heart's content.
Unconsciously, Han Xiaowu has become immersed in this comfortable environment, without any resentment about being forced to come here, And even subtly accepting Sam's proposal.
His woman...
Actually, isn't too bad either.