Apocalypse Survival: Starting with a Shelter

A few minutes later, the reconnaissance drones entered the mountainous region.

The once-lush forests of the mountains had vanished, replaced by a charred wasteland. Blackened ground stretched in every direction, interrupted only by the occasional scorched tree stubbornly standing upright.

Wisps of gray-black smoke still rose sporadically from the ashes—remnants of wildfires that refused to completely die out, smoldering beneath the surface.

A powerful gust of wind suddenly swept through, tossing the drones midair, forcing them into a chaotic tumble.

The shelter's AI, detecting the danger, immediately took over control, guiding the drones to rapidly descend in altitude to avoid the turbulent air currents above.

After several seconds, the drones regained stability.

By then, they were hovering just ten meters above the ground, making everything below far clearer.

"Is that… a shelter?"

Su Wu, who had been observing from the control center's screen, narrowed his eyes at the unusual sight in the footage.

Curiosity piqued, he directed the drones toward the location.

A few hundred meters passed in a flash.

Soon, a shelter door, warped and blackened by fire, appeared on the screen.

Su Wu scrutinized it for a moment and noticed a narrow crack, roughly ten centimeters wide, at the edge of the door—a gap just large enough for the drone to enter.

"Let's check it out."

Without hesitation, Su Wu made his decision.

If it were him physically present, he might have been more cautious. But with an expendable drone doing the scouting, there was no reason to hold back.

Switching the drone to autopilot, the AI guided it through the narrow entrance.

The first thing that filled the screen was the charred remains of a human body, magnified abruptly by the drone's camera.

Su Wu's breath hitched at the sudden, eerie sight, his heart skipping a beat. But as the drone adjusted its height and moved further into the shelter, his initial tension gradually eased.

It was just a victim's body, nothing more—tragically close to the entrance when disaster struck.

Choosing not to dwell on the corpse, Su Wu activated the drone's floodlights and began inspecting the interior.

The shelter appeared to have been built within a natural cave.

Beyond the irregular passage at the entrance was a spacious cavern, roughly 200 square meters in size. Inside, everything had been reduced to blackened ruins. Only a few large pieces of furniture retained their metal frames amidst the destruction.

"That fire must've been brutal," Su Wu murmured, his brow furrowing as he envisioned the inferno that must have engulfed this place, turning it into a hellscape.

Clearly, the metal door and several meters of mountain rock had been no match for the devastating wildfire.

After lingering in the cavern for a while and finding nothing of value, Su Wu directed the drone to leave and continue exploring the mountain range.

---

For the rest of the day, save for occasional returns to recharge, the drones tirelessly scanned the mountains, meticulously combing through an area within 30 kilometers of Su Wu's shelter.

The results, while not abundant, were far from insignificant.

He discovered two more abandoned shelters and four operational ones that appeared to still house survivors.

Additionally, there was a cave filled with a substantial stockpile of steel.

"The number of survivors is much higher than I expected. I underestimated humanity's resilience," Su Wu mused.

"As for that cave with the steel…"

"Who knows if its owner is still around?"

Marking the operational shelters and the steel-filled cave on his map, Su Wu felt a growing itch to act.

But after a moment of thought, he shook his head.

He wasn't in desperate need of steel at the moment. There was no need to resort to theft. Instead, he could afford to take his time identifying the rightful owner. When the time came, he could either negotiate a trade or acquire the materials through legitimate means, ensuring peace of mind.

---

July 1st.

The seemingly endless haze began to show signs of clearing.

Around noon, occasional beams of sunlight pierced through the sky to reach the ground.

However, this wasn't a sign of improvement. On the contrary, it marked the planet's continued descent into a nightmarish state.

By mid-afternoon, at precisely 2:27 PM, the temperature in Jianghe City officially reached 70°C.

Workers still remaining outdoors found it nearly impossible to function, even with specialized cooling equipment, and were forced to retreat into shelters.

Above ground, the world had become eerily silent, as if all life had been erased.

---

Two hours later, an apocalyptic storm swept across the land.

Fierce winds tore through the city, toppling streetlights, signs, and even some poorly constructed buildings and warehouses.

Countless grains of sand and stones fell from the sky, pelting the ground like a torrential downpour, covering every inch of the landscape.

---

Farmhouse Courtyard.

Underground Shelter, Level Two.

Alerted by the AI's warnings, Su Wu hurried to the control center, his expression tense as he observed the sudden, terrifying storm through external cameras.

Under the howling winds, the distant mountains were already swallowed by a murky yellow haze.

Closer to home, the rocky terrain showed signs of upheaval. Fist-sized rocks began to break free from the soil, rolling along the ground. Occasionally, stones were swept into the air by powerful gusts, crashing into the farmhouse's walls like bullets, leaving shallow dents.

Crack!

A sharp sound rang out.

One of the cameras mounted on the farmhouse roof was struck by a falling rock. The impact shattered its lens, rendering it inoperable. Only its audio module survived, continuing to relay the storm's deafening roar to the control center.

"The wind speed is approaching 11 on the Beaufort scale," Su Wu muttered, shifting his gaze to another intact camera feed.

His worry deepened.

After some thought, he sealed all external passages and doors to the shelter, halting the excavation team's efforts to transport soil from the fourth floor.

With their flimsy construction, the miniature transport vehicles would undoubtedly be overturned—or worse, swept into the air—if they ventured outside.

As for the steel, cement, and old appliances stored in the courtyard, as well as the supplies temporarily housed in the two-story farmhouse, Su Wu could only hope for the best.

The storm had a

rrived too abruptly for him to secure or relocate anything in time.

"Let's hope they can withstand it," Su Wu murmured to himself.