Suppressing his excitement, Logan proceeded with his original plan to upgrade the storage space first.
As soon as he placed his hand on the gold bars, the interface of the Cornucopia began to change.
In just a blink of an eye, the space in his mind expanded, doubling in width, length, and height, effectively increasing its volume eightfold!
[Cornucopia]
[Function: Storage Space 12*12*12]
[Upgrade cost: 4000 wealth points]
*[Function: Item Duplication 1]
[Upgrade cost: 10000 wealth points]
The next upgrade required double the wealth points.
Logan didn't stop there. He picked up four more gold bars and continued upgrading the storage space.
Then, he used eight more.
Finally, he used sixteen.
After consuming a total of thirty 1000g gold bars, he upgraded the storage space four times, resulting in:
[Cornucopia]
[Storage Space: 969696]
[Upgrade cost: 32000 wealth points]
*[Function: Item Duplication 1]
[Upgrade cost: 10000 wealth points]
The storage space now measured 96x96x96 cubic meters, roughly equivalent to the size of a large museum, with a volume approaching 90,000 cubic meters. That's the equivalent of stacking about 29,000 standard shipping containers together.
This amount of space would suffice for now.
He still had 90 1000g gold bars and three 500g bars left.
Logan then picked up ten of the 1000g bars, anticipation building.
"Upgrade item duplication."
As soon as he spoke, the gold bars vanished from his hands, and the interface numbers flickered rapidly before settling.
[Cornucopia]
[Storage Space: 96*96*96]
[Upgrade cost: 32000 wealth points]
*[Function: Item Duplication 4]
[Upgrade cost: 20000 wealth points]
The number of duplication attempts had indeed increased—by three!
This meant that each upgrade would grant more duplication attempts.
Logan's eyes gleamed with excitement. If he could keep repeating this bank gold bar purchase and resale routine, he could potentially upgrade the Cornucopia indefinitely.
But then he regained his composure.
Buying gold bars from the bank and selling them back only worked once. Doing it again would surely arouse suspicion.
Additionally, the duplicated gold bars couldn't be used for upgrades, nor could they be easily sold off. Every citizen's bank account in the country was closely monitored, and any large, unexplained influx of funds would trigger an investigation by the authorities.
Beyond the original 25 million, any additional money would be untraceable, and he certainly couldn't spend it openly.
The purpose of upgrading the Cornucopia was to prepare for the impending ice apocalypse, not to squander valuable time hoarding gold.
Besides, after the apocalypse, the best time to collect gold would be when society collapsed.
In the first month after the apocalypse, most of the world's flora and fauna would die off, leading to severe food shortages. At that time, a loaf of bread could be exchanged for a kilogram of gold. No one would care about luxury items like gold and jewels when they couldn't even feed themselves.
With this realization, Logan placed his hands on all the remaining gold bars and continued upgrading the item duplication function.
As the gold bars rapidly disappeared, the numbers on the Cornucopia's interface kept climbing.
When all the gold bars were gone, the interface displayed:
[Cornucopia]
[Storage Space: 96*96*96]
[Upgrade cost: 32000 wealth points]
*[Function: Item Duplication 22]
[Upgrade cost: 58500 wealth points]
Logan was overjoyed, a wide smile spreading across his face.
Each upgrade had doubled the number of duplication attempts granted, resulting in 22 duplication attempts in total—1 + 3 + 6 + 12.
If the pattern continued, the next upgrade would grant 24 duplication attempts!
But that would be a task for after the apocalypse.
For now, the priority was stockpiling supplies.
Logan still had $320,000 left in cash. He needed to sell the duplicated gold bars he had taken from the bank to recoup his funds.
Given that the gold had only just been withdrawn, Logan decided to wait two days before returning to the bank to sell it back, just to be safe.
In the meantime, he would deal with the other batch of gold bars that couldn't see the light of day.
Logan found an idle recluse online, the type of person who spent all day lounging around with nothing better to do. He offered them $20,000 to go to an out-of-the-way manufacturer in the outskirts of the city and buy a small gold-melting machine.
He then found another person to buy some crucibles from a different factory.
Finally, he enlisted a third person to purchase molds.
He had them leave the items in three separate, secluded locations with minimal surveillance before going in disguise to collect them himself.
Logan knew that the authorities were likely still keeping an eye on him, but what of it? Even if they traced these purchases back to him, there would be no evidence linking him to the bank robbers.
Besides, Sophia's situation was probably already starting to unravel, and he believed the authorities would eventually trace the robbers' origins and motives back to her.
With how cautious he was being, it would be a long time before they suspected him.
After bringing everything back to the warehouse, Logan got to work.
He spent hours melting, molding, and forming the gold bars.
By the time he finished, it was three in the morning, and he had successfully processed all 60 of the 1000g gold bars into 180 smaller bars of varying sizes.
Logan had already decided how to handle these gold bars.
In the eastern outskirts of the city, there was a pawnshop.
On the surface, it appeared to be an ordinary pawnshop, but in reality, it was run by a gang that dealt in all sorts of contraband. They bought and sold anything.
Logan knew about it because the pawnshop still existed after the apocalypse.
It was said that someone once traded several hundred pounds of rice for a Type 54 handgun there.
Logan planned to bring five kilograms of gold bars to test the waters the next day. If the rumors were true, he could use the gold to get cash.
After packing everything away, Logan finally ended his long day and fell into a deep sleep.
...
Logan's breathing was steady as he practiced a slow, deliberate series of movements. Suddenly, he snapped his hand out, delivering a powerful strike before gently retracting it.
His movements were fluid, resembling tai chi but with some key differences.
This was a training method developed by Xia Country's scientists in Logan's past life to help humans better survive in extreme cold.
The technique required a certain level of physical fitness to begin practicing.
After a few days of basic training, Logan could already feel his body becoming more agile, his strength and endurance increasing. So, he started practicing this method, known as "Resonance."
Scientists in Logan's previous life had theorized that a mysterious substance appeared in the air after the geomagnetic storm, altering Earth's magnetic field. When absorbed by living organisms, it greatly enhanced their physical abilities.
Evidence of this was seen in the animals and plants that survived the first three years of the apocalypse—they began to mutate. The surviving animals grew to enormous sizes, and a small number of plants could grow in snow at sub-zero temperatures.
However, this substance had little effect on humans. Besides making them more resistant to cold, there were no other noticeable changes.
But in the sixth year of the apocalypse, scientists and martial artists collaborated to develop this training method.
By the seventh year, it was widely adopted among survivors.
This set of movements allowed humans to absorb the mysterious substance more quickly.
After practicing for over a year in his previous life, Logan could withstand the cold for two to three hours outdoors without wearing a down jacket.
It was even rumored that some soldiers in the military had unlocked their genetic potential, although Logan wasn't sure if that was true.
As he completed the final movement, Logan felt a warmth spreading through his body.
After taking a shower and enjoying a hearty breakfast, Logan got into his car and drove toward the eastern outskirts of the city.