Apocalypse Survival: Starting with a Shelter

July 15th.

Twenty-four hours after the announcement of the incoming radiation storm, and with the second batch of 5,000 radiation detectors being delivered, Arid Stone Village had transformed into the busiest location in all of Jianghe City.

Every moment saw a steady stream of vehicles entering and exiting the area. Trucks delivered supplies, engineering vehicles unloaded and repacked goods, and SUVs transported managers from various large shelters responsible for overseeing transactions and coordinating logistics.

With so much activity, a sense of liveliness naturally emerged.

Even though the intense heat forced most people to remain inside their vehicle cabins, a few, donning heat-resistant suits, stepped out to work. The occasional sight of bustling figures gave the area an air of vitality rarely seen in the post-apocalyptic wasteland.

On the roads near the village, the sheer volume of traffic sometimes led to congestion. Dozens, sometimes hundreds of vehicles lined up in a long queue, a rare sight that brought a splash of color to the otherwise desolate landscape.

Many of the drivers and laborers hired to transport goods couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia as they watched this scene unfold.

What had once been an ordinary, even annoying, sight in the pre-apocalypse world now felt strangely comforting.

While the surface world buzzed with activity due to the influx of goods, many shelter residents deep underground continued their monotonous daily routines. These residents worked tirelessly, earning meager rations to survive, oblivious to the thriving activity above or the imminent radiation storm.

To them, the dim, stifling confines of the shelter seemed eternal, destined to last until the disasters above subsided and they could return to their former homes. The outside world felt distant and irrelevant.

For those in the know, however, the reality was starkly different.

The elite within the shelters—those with access to information—hadn't had a proper rest since learning of the radiation storm. Their red-rimmed eyes betrayed the pressure they faced, as they scrambled to secure disaster-relief supplies and make contingency plans for the worst-case scenario: abandoning everything and fleeing.

Radiation-proof coatings, carbon fiber composites, protective suits, lead plates, tin foil, high-density concrete, activated carbon—anything that could shield against radiation became highly sought-after commodities. Shelter elites were willing to pay exorbitant prices to obtain these items, ensuring the safety of themselves and their families if not their entire shelters.

Compared to the frenzied efforts of small and medium-sized shelters to survive, the large shelters, with their self-contained ecosystems, had the luxury of pursuing profits amid the chaos.

These larger shelters took on surface monitoring tasks assigned by the official shelters. By opening their inventories, manufacturing in-house, or trading with other factions, they acquired enough radiation detectors to establish temporary or semi-permanent observation points in designated zones.

They also recruited workers from their shelter populations, offering brief but intensive safety training. These workers, promised generous pay—three times their usual earnings—were eager to participate. To them, working on the surface in protective gear seemed like an exciting adventure compared to the dull confines of the shelter.

What they didn't know was that a truly radiation-proof suit was far beyond their imagination in cost. The gear provided to them was little more than a placebo, offering minimal protection.

For these workers, the experience they anticipated as thrilling and lucrative would soon reveal itself as a nightmare dragging them into a living hell.

At the same time, in the underground control center of Su Wu's shelter, he connected to the official shelter's inventory management system via satellite network. With the second installment of contribution points credited to his account, Su Wu now had a balance of 2 million points.

He spent these points on just two items.

The first was the blueprint for a new radiation-proof coating, valued at 1.5 million points. The second was a batch of special fluorescent powder, costing 500,000 points. This powder, derived from a plant native to another continent, was a critical ingredient in the production of the coating.

[Purchase Successful.]

[Radiation-Proof Coating Blueprint Delivered. Check your files for details.]

[Special Fluorescent Powder Packed for Shipment. Please pick up at Hongqiao Station Warehouse, Official Shelter #1, in two hours.]

Su Wu opened the radiation-proof coating blueprint immediately and skimmed through its contents.

The blueprint was straightforward: apart from the special fluorescent powder, the other materials required were relatively common. However, the manufacturing process was incredibly complex, demanding various specialized instruments working in tandem.

To produce the coating, Su Wu realized he would need to construct a high-end chemical laboratory dedicated to its production.

"Quite the high bar," Su Wu muttered, his brow furrowing at the realization of the official shelter's ploy.

For shelters lacking comprehensive industrial capabilities, acquiring this blueprint would be just the beginning. They'd still need to spend a fortune purchasing specialized equipment from the official shelter to actually produce the coating.

Curious, Su Wu checked the prices of the required machinery in the official shelter's inventory and found his suspicions confirmed. Each piece of equipment was grossly overpriced, another tactic by the officials to drain contribution points from private shelters.

Still, Su Wu wasn't deterred.

With his shelter's industrial base, he had the capacity to produce much of the required equipment in-house. By leveraging his existing resources, he could bypass the need to buy overpriced machinery, turning the official blueprint into a worthwhile investment.

"First, set up the lab," Su Wu decided, mentally mapping out the necessary steps.

If he could produce the radiation-proof coating in sufficient quantities, it wouldn't just protect his shelter. It would also become a lucrative product in its own right, one that could secure his position as a dominant force in Jianghe City's shelter network.

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