Apocalypse Survival: Starting with a Shelter

After adjusting the manufacturing plans, Su Wu shifted his attention to other areas of the shelter.

On the fourth underground floor, the recycling center had been nearly restored, thanks to the combined efforts of engineering and construction robots. Only the adjacent chemical laboratory was still under repair.

On the fifth underground floor, the already excavated area had reached over 1,300 square meters and was expected to expand to 1,500 square meters by the end of the day. This space was larger than the combined total of the shelter's first four floors, effectively doubling the size of Su Wu's base.

"Nothing pressing needs my attention for now," Su Wu thought, finally feeling a sense of relief after addressing so many critical issues.

After weeks of relentless effort, the shelter was once again running smoothly under his management. As long as no major external disasters or upheavals occurred, the shelter could continue advancing rapidly along its planned trajectory.

Su Wu glanced at the engineering team at work. Even after assigning one Mineral Type-1 Transport Vehicle to form the mining cluster, the engineering team still consisted of 18 various vehicles. All of these had been enhanced using survival points, meaning each could potentially serve as the core of its own cluster in the near future.

If Su Wu kept all of them within a single team, even the entirety of the fifth underground floor wouldn't provide enough room for them to operate effectively.

Beyond the engineering vehicles, Su Wu's attention turned to the construction robots. After experiencing the benefits of clustering for engineering vehicles, he was tempted to try clustering construction robots as well.

However, this idea was destined to fail. Unlike the relatively simple tasks of engineering vehicles, construction robots faced far more complex scenarios. The intelligent chips in their cores were already operating at 80% capacity just managing their own functions.

Under these conditions, they couldn't even handle commanding another robot of the same type, let alone an entire cluster.

"If commanding similar units isn't possible, what about simpler support units?"

Unwilling to give up, Su Wu considered the idea of robotic dogs. These versatile units could traverse complex terrain, carry tools and supplies, and required minimal computational resources, making them ideal companions for construction robots.

Equipping each construction robot with two or three robotic dogs could essentially form a small cluster.

Unfortunately, despite their simplicity in design, robotic dogs were not something Su Wu could replicate. In this world, robotic dogs were standard-issue auxiliary equipment for certain elite federal military units but were still beyond Su Wu's reach.

"Guess I'll have to wait until I have spare survival points. Then I can enhance one and reverse-engineer it," Su Wu thought with some regret.

Without blueprints or even a single model for reference, he could only put this idea on hold. Jianghe City, despite its modern infrastructure and population of millions, was still a relatively remote city within the Federation. Even if Su Wu scoured every corner, he doubted he'd find a robotic dog, making it more practical to create one himself using survival points.

Another area with potential for clustering was drones. Unlike construction robots or engineering vehicles, clustering drones was far less challenging. They didn't require a survival-point-enhanced unit to serve as a command center; the shelter's AI could coordinate them remotely.

However, Su Wu's most advanced drones were currently limited to delivery-grade models capable of carrying only 10 kilograms of cargo. Their flight speed was also suboptimal. Even if clustered, they had limited utility for now.

For transporting materials, large trucks were far more efficient. As for combat, a drone cluster could be terrifying when armed, but Su Wu didn't currently need to bolster his military capabilities.

With his micro-mech, equipped with eight original missiles equivalent to tactical nukes, an electromagnetic sniper rifle, and a heat blade, Su Wu could easily take on a regular army or infiltrate any medium-sized shelter to eliminate a target. The mech's exceptional mobility and stealth made it a one-man army.

Moreover, the destruction of a thousand-strong armed force had left a lasting impression. Few would dare provoke him again.

While military upgrades weren't a priority now, Su Wu knew the situation could change in the future. The air superiority of a drone cluster was unmatched by any other mechanical unit. Once the manufacturing center had the capacity, producing a drone cluster would become a priority.

Returning to present concerns, Su Wu turned his attention to the Lime Shelter.

Compared to the rapid development of his primary base at the farmhouse ruins, the Lime Shelter, housing over 2,000 survivors, was like a bloated giant. Just maintaining basic survival capabilities required enormous effort.

Most of the survivors' energy was spent repairing shelter equipment and attempting to cultivate or breed underground food sources, such as mushrooms, earthworms, and field mice, to reduce the depletion of stored food supplies.

Despite their limited capacity for progress, they still managed to create plenty of trouble. Conflicts and disputes among the survivors frequently erupted over trivial matters. While the shelter's AI could handle most of these incidents, some required human judgment and were left to Chen Xin.

These sporadic incidents occurred unpredictably. Su Wu noticed one particularly complicated group conflict that had erupted during the morning while Chen Xin was preparing his breakfast.

Yet, she had resolved the issue in just a few minutes, so smoothly that it hadn't even interrupted her cooking.

Watching this unfold, Su Wu couldn't help but admire Chen Xin's competence. While the Lime Shelter still had many challenges ahead, her ability to manage such a volatile environment gave him confidence in its future.

--Support me in Patreon for more chapters 35+ chapters in there 

patreon.com/LegendaryTL

Thanks!