In the few seconds when the two hovercrafts passed each other, Su Wu could clearly see a group of young boys and girls on the other craft, eagerly pressing their faces against the windows, looking toward him.
For them, Su Wu's hovercraft, stationary in the pouring rain with only him aboard, stood out as an unusual and strange sight.
Su Wu recalled briefly and soon remembered that this was one of the hovercrafts dispatched from a small shelter that had recently encountered a crisis.
Though **Jianghe City** had entered a relatively stable period, accidents still occasionally occurred in some shelters, pushing them to the brink. In such cases, they would always request Su Wu's assistance without him having to initiate contact.
In reality, the official shelters had already completed internal repairs, and if they had reached out for help from them, they wouldn't necessarily have been ignored. However, due to the lack of official announcements and the habitual nature of past events, they had overlooked this possibility and chose to contact Su Wu instead.
"Seems like it's a mutual arrangement," Su Wu thought.
The official shelters were reluctant to accept more survivors, overwhelmed by too many people, while Su Wu, on the other hand, welcomed everyone and hoped for an increase in population. These new arrivals could offer him valuable spirituality and serve as useful laborers.
Once again, Su Wu watched as the hovercraft sailed away, but this time, instead of standing at the hatch, he returned to the cabin. As the hatch closed behind him, the sound of the rain outside muffled, making it feel like he was in a world completely separated from the storm. The sudden sense of safety was almost instinctual.
He found a seat, closed his eyes for a moment, and called up the post-apocalypse system's interface. The daily task, "Face the torrential rain in the heart of the city ruins," had been completed. He clicked to submit it, instantly receiving a reward of 10 survival points, bringing his total to 145 survival points.
"Well, I just earned 10 survival points for free," Su Wu mused, feeling good.
This rare green quest, which had just refreshed, was the only one he had received in recent days. Although, according to the system's reward rules, white quests typically rewarded single-digit survival points and green quests gave two-digit rewards, this particular green quest had granted the bare minimum reward for this category. Still, given how simple the task was—spending half an hour exposed to the elements in the flooded city—it was more than enough.
After completing the quest, Su Wu began to reflect. Perhaps it was time to revisit one of his old projects and finally create the exoskeleton armor. This kind of personal armor was similar to a life vest in many ways. In necessary situations, it wouldn't impede his interaction with the outside world, and if he ever faced another task like this or needed to repair items in hazardous areas, the exoskeleton armor would provide better safety.
With the daily quest complete, Su Wu had no reason to linger any longer in the hovercraft. He stood, removed his life vest, and entered the nearby cockpit of his **micro-mecha**.
Although the hovercraft was theoretically safe and unlikely to encounter accidents, it was made of ordinary steel and reinforced glass, which didn't provide Su Wu with the level of security he desired. Only within the **micro-mecha**—a pinnacle of advanced technology—did Su Wu truly feel at ease.
In fact, it was thanks to the existence of the **micro-mecha** that Su Wu had dared to venture outside the shelter. Without it, even the temptation of a rare quest reward wouldn't have been enough to get him to step out of his secure home.
Now, he realized that the enormous investment he had made in creating the **micro-mecha** was slowly starting to pay off.
---
When Su Wu returned to the **Farmhouse Shelter**, it was already close to midnight. He decided to wait a little longer in the control center until the system's daily settlement process began at the stroke of midnight.
The system's settlement interface appeared:
[Current territory: Powerful Personal Shelter (Max), daily fixed survival points +4.]
[Detected population under your rule: 620,000. Spirituality +62.]
[Current spirituality reserves: 680.]
[Remaining survival points: 149.]
There were no major changes in the **Farmhouse Shelter**, and the newly discovered small iron mine hadn't been categorized as a special event. The settlement report was simple, showing only the daily fixed rewards.
Su Wu wasn't concerned about the daily survival points; his primary focus was on the spirituality income, which had just started being calculated.
With a population of 620,000 under his control, he had received 62 points of spirituality for the day. While this was only one-tenth of the previously awarded one-time bonus, it exceeded Su Wu's expectations.
Given the potential benefits of spirituality, he was content with even a much smaller daily reward ratio. If it dropped to 10,000:1, giving him only 6 points per day, he could still accept it.
Now that the rewards had exceeded expectations by a factor of ten, Su Wu was eager to begin researching many new technologies.
---
"Now, there's no shortage of resources or labor."
"To achieve exponential development beyond the conventional path, the best approach is to break through technological barriers."
Su Wu turned his attention to the technology tree and focused on the **Energy Equation**. While it was a basic theoretical study, it was essential for many subsequent important technologies. Additionally, reverse engineering items enhanced by survival points would require unlocking this tech first, as attempting the research without it would increase the difficulty significantly.
"Let's start with this," Su Wu decided, feeling energized. Since he wasn't sleepy, he decided to jump straight into the **Mechanical Laboratory** and begin researching the **Energy Equation**.
Since this was a foundational theory based on inspiration and calculation rather than hands-on experiments, Su Wu didn't hesitate to invest a full 100 points of spirituality, initiating a **100-minute high-efficiency research mode** that increased his progress by 10 times.