Chapter 339: Ice Harvesting Site and Power Activation (Patreon)

Chapter 339: Ice Harvesting Site and Power Activation

Shifting his gaze back from future prospects,

Su Wu noticed

in the latest transmitted reports

a specially marked individual appearing at an ice harvesting site on the surface.

He clicked to view the details.

Immediately, a video of an Industrial Mecha cutting through ice blocks appeared.

In the footage,

the mecha's fluid movements approached an almost artistic level.

Its overall work efficiency remained roughly ten times that of an average laborer.

Su Wu skimmed the data,

estimating it to be 2.25 times the efficiency of an Artificial Intelligence-operated Industrial Mecha under normal conditions.

Though this multiplier might seem modest,

the fact that a biological entity could surpass the labor efficiency of AI—calculated through countless precise algorithms—

was nothing short of a genuine miracle.

And if this miracle were applied not to excavation but to mecha combat,

the advantage it would bring on the battlefield would be overwhelmingly dominant.

"The Shelter's current conventional military forces are already sufficient,"

he mused.

"The only gap lies in a specialized elite unit capable of decapitation strikes."

"With her leading such a team, we could perfectly fill that gap."

In many scenarios,

the returns from special forces far outweighed those of direct assaults.

Previously, there had been no viable candidates.

But now that a suitable individual had emerged before Su Wu,

there was no reason to overlook her.

However, given the importance of special forces,

further observation and a more comprehensive evaluation were necessary

before formal recruitment could begin.

By then,

barring unforeseen circumstances,

Su Wu intended to implant the fifth Bio-Chip in his possession

into the girl named Jiang Yunxia.

This would ensure absolute loyalty

while further enhancing her overall combat capabilities.

"As for the mechas for the special forces..."

Su Wu pondered briefly

before creating a new research task on the console.

With the Spider Robot and Industrial Mecha frameworks as references,

combined with the now highly advanced laser and electromagnetic weapon systems,

designing a combat-specialized mecha wouldn’t be overly difficult.

In fact, since mass production wasn’t required,

they could spare no expense in material allocation.

The final product

would likely become the most powerful individual killing weapon

in the entire human world of this era.

"Estimated research time: 7 hours."

"Spirituality cost: 120 points."

"Model designation: Fallen Star—"

Su Wu decided to assign this project to Wei Manman.

Though it wasn’t her exact field of expertise—

Wei Manman specialized in new material development—

the Bio-Chip’s assistance would allow her to cross into this domain if necessary.

At most, the lack of innate talent would incur some additional Spirituality expenditure.

But such costs

were negligible to Su Wu, who now commanded a population of 200 million.

Closing the work log,

Su Wu took another glance at the ice harvesting site’s status.

Currently, the Shelter’s water resources were already at a more than sufficient level.

Excluding the underground aquarium on Level 13 as a backup water source,

the remaining freshwater reserves totaled 20 million tons.

Even by pre-apocalypse standards,

This amount of water resources is sufficient to supply 200 million people for an entire day.

The Shelter's massive and highly efficient water recycling and filtration system can purify wastewater back into drinkable water within just 4 hours at its fastest.

Under extreme conditions, even if half the population of the Eastern Continent were gathered in the Shelter, there would still be enough water for short-term use.

"Considering the future population surge," Su Wu thought, "the scale of the ice mining fields can be expanded slightly to maintain the current per capita water allocation and leave enough margin for error."

Su Wu's short-term goal was to gather 1 billion people within the Shelter. Based on the current situation, without altering the water distribution ratio, an additional 80 million tons of freshwater would need to be stored—equivalent to nearly six times the volume of West Lake.

Such a staggering demand meant the ice mining fields would have to extend from the Shelter's vicinity to areas over a hundred kilometers away, increasing both extraction costs and risks.

Beyond water, the Shelter generated vast amounts of industrial waste, including exhaust gases, as well as daily garbage.

Given that obtaining external resources would become increasingly difficult—possibly even impossible in the future—Su Wu had no intention of wasting these byproducts. Instead, he planned to establish large-scale industrial zones dedicated to recycling.

With his current technology, he could barely achieve near-total recycling, though the labor and energy consumption involved would inevitably be enormous.

"For now, the cost of recycling industrial waste remains quite high," Su Wu mused. "We'll need to find ways to continuously upgrade recycling technology. Every breakthrough in this area could save at least tens of billions of kilowatt-hours of electricity annually."

His gaze swept over the garbage stations and recycling plants scattered throughout the Shelter's residential zones, each isolated in its own designated area. In his mind, he naturally mapped out their future development paths.

Then, reviewing the electricity consumption report, Su Wu noted that the Shelter's current annual power usage had reached 550 billion kilowatt-hours. The majority was consumed by agricultural production in the Plantations and industrial operations in the Super Factory, while the transportation network spanning the Eastern Continent was another major power drain.

In contrast, the combined daily electricity usage of the Shelter's 200 million residents amounted to less than 50 billion kilowatt-hours—just a fraction of the total consumption.

"Perhaps we can afford to relax some of the electricity restrictions on ordinary residents," Su Wu considered.

The Shelter had grown to its current scale thanks to the collective labor of tens of millions—even hundreds of millions—of its inhabitants. Now that it had reached a certain level of development, though still facing overall energy shortages, maintaining the same strict policies no longer seemed entirely appropriate given its sheer size.

After some deliberation, Su Wu adjusted the control list, applying a 30% discount to residential electricity prices and lifting all usage restrictions for family suites and single apartments, allowing residents to freely use any household appliances indoors.

As for the Standard Dormitories, it wasn't that Su Wu didn't want to relax the rules—they simply hadn't been designed with such considerations in mind from the start.

The installed wiring inside can only support lighting, phone charging, and other light usage scenarios.

Without the hardware meeting the required standards,

lifting restrictions would be meaningless.

"Let's take it step by step."

"After all, the Standard Dormitory is just a transitional building."

"It'll be upgraded sooner or later."

Ps: sorry for the delay. It because we caught to the raws. So when the author update a new chapter, that's when i update also