Chapter 342: One Billion Population (Patreon)

Chapter 342: One Billion Population

Chu Hu City Shelter, Level 17.

A few seemingly damaged street lamps cast dim light over the sparse crowd on the road.

Su Wu, operating a humanoid robot through his holographic projection helmet, stood in the shadows untouched by the light, curiously observing his surroundings.

The crude environment and piles of scattered garbage made it clear—this was a typical residential area for the common people.

According to the data Su Wu had, his current location should be the topmost level of Chu Hu City Shelter.

Unlike before the apocalypse, where higher floors symbolized status and power, in the post-apocalyptic era—especially in a unique shelter like Chu Hu City, built within a canyon—the upper levels represented danger.

Thus, the shelter’s important figures and essential supplies were naturally housed deep underground.

Next came industrial facilities like factories.

The outermost layer, the very top, was reserved for the tens of millions of lower-class residents.

"Industrial development is lacking."

"Unemployment is high."

"Cost of living—"

After casually skimming through a few sets of data, Su Wu frowned, giving the environment an extremely poor evaluation.

Setting aside industry, although Chu Hu City was a supercity, its lack of conventional nuclear power technology meant most electricity came from coal-fired plants.

The resulting power shortages made it difficult to sustain large-scale factory operations, leaving very few job opportunities.

But beyond these objective factors, Chu Hu City had also failed to provide even a basic number of welfare jobs.

This was pure mismanagement.

Even more absurd was the fact that most of the shelter’s population—at least in the tens of millions—had survived this long in the apocalypse largely thanks to the game Su Wu had previously released.

And yet, even this meager lifeline from the game was heavily taxed by Chu Hu City, cutting the already subsistence-level income in half.

Many had no choice but to rely on pre-apocalypse savings to make ends meet.

For those who exhausted their savings, the options were grim: join a local gang and become a hired thug, or starve to death.

"Fundamentally, beyond sheer greed, the main reason for this situation is likely that Chu Hu City’s leadership deliberately wants to control the shelter’s population size."

In the post-apocalyptic world, with severely limited living space and no way to replenish basic resources from the outside, an excessive population was nothing but a burden.

Thus, culling the surplus population aligned with the shelter’s leadership’s interests—no matter how cruel it was on an individual level.

"Given the current state of things, there’s no need to seek out a spokesperson among the higher-ups."

"Time to act directly."

His gaze shifted to the right, where a few gang members armed with makeshift firearms barged into a residence.

A few muffled gunshots followed.

Su Wu’s eyes remained calm, almost indifferent.

Scenes like this played out in Chu Hu City every single moment.

Nothing unusual about it.

Similarly, with their cover.

When Su Wu initiated the operation.

In the initial phase, it was highly unlikely to draw the attention of the shelter's higher-ups.

A few seconds later.

A group of agents clad in Exoskeleton Armor, who had infiltrated in advance.

Began, with the assistance of Combat Drones and Machine Dogs.

To gradually infiltrate key departments on the 19th floor, the highest level of the shelter.

Ten minutes later.

Top District C-30 Grand Plaza.

Amidst deafening roars.

Massive chunks of concrete debris, along with icicles and bone-chilling gusts of cold air.

Came crashing down from the ceiling.

Then, a steel tide composed of Spider Robots and Combat Drones.

Poured in endlessly from above.

Seventeen minutes later.

In the Chuhu City Shelter, the top 18th and 19th floors.

All critical passageways were completely occupied.

With a forward base secured, the Mechanical Legion.

Divided into small squads, advancing along the lift platform cables.

Began synchronously invading other levels of the shelter.

Thanks to the chaotic order and strict network communication controls here.

The most precious first three minutes of the full-scale invasion.

Went unnoticed by the shelter's leadership.

Twentieth minute.

An explosion.

Erupted near the robots controlled by Su Wu.

Followed by piercing alarm sirens and intense gunfire.

This meant the main forces stationed on the 17th floor of Chuhu City had finally realized something was wrong.

And began engaging Su Wu's Mechanical Legion.

"My turn now."

Su Wu exited strategic command mode.

The shelter's entire map and vast troop movement data displayed in his vision.

Vanished in an instant.

Leaving only the pristine exterior streets.

And simple data indicating ammunition count, weapon types, and unit status.

For Su Wu now.

Conquering a supercity.

Was no longer a particularly significant event.

The reason for personally overseeing the operation.

Wasn't for gains, but simply to experience the thrill of battle.

After all, no matter how realistic a simulation.

Nothing compares to the immersion of a real battlefield.

"1,200 rounds."

"10 Third-Generation Grenades."

"Five 2kg-class Rocket Propelled Grenades."

"Should be enough for a good while."

May 20th.

Chuhu City Shelter falls.

Over 97% of Chuhu Province's administrative regions.

Now fall under Su Wu's control.

Meanwhile.

Su Wu's conquests in other provinces continued unabated.

On the Eastern Continent's central region map, centered on Jianghe City with a 1,000km radius.

More and more territories.

Were being dyed in Jianghe City's signature green.

To accommodate the daily influx of migrants.

Two new aerial ports were added to both sides of the Farmhouse Shelter's above-ground tenth floor.

Specifically for docking Morning Light-Class Transport Ships.

June 5th.

After half a month of rapid expansion and absorption.

The Farmhouse Compound's population officially reached one billion this day.

[Current Main Mission: Build a Super Shelter housing one billion people (Completed)]

[Reward: Cosmic Relic, Berenville (Dormant)]

[Berenville: Legendary Hall of Sanctity and Garden of Miracles, possesses incredible power to unite hearts.]

[Next Phase Main Mission Activated.]

[Planetary End: Complete the experience and witness the disintegration of the homeworld. Mission Objective: The main Shelter must not leave the planetary surface before the homeworld is completely destroyed.]

[Mission Note: In the endless void, material resources surpass all else. Seize every opportunity to gather as many supplies as possible.]

There was no earth-shattering phenomenon.

During one of the routine arrivals of a Morning Light-Class Transport Ship, as the incoming population stepped into the Shelter through its spaceport—

Su Wu’s long-dormant main mission quietly updated to "Completed."

He didn’t rush to check the mission rewards.

Instead, his gaze first shifted to the next phase of the main mission.

Compared to previous main missions, this one was described in unprecedented detail—even including an additional mission note.

"The next main mission involves planetary disintegration."

"It seems I don’t have much time left."

Su Wu had already prepared for Earth’s destruction through scattered hints in the system’s daily missions.

The only thing he hadn’t anticipated was how soon it would happen.

However, since the mission didn’t specify a timeframe—

And considering the duration of the last main mission—

With luck, Su Wu might still have over half a year, or even several years, to prepare.

It wasn’t entirely unexpected.

"Then again."

"The mission’s completion condition shifted from an individual requirement to the main Shelter."

"And the mission note doesn’t seem directly related to the objective."

After some thought, Su Wu began forming a few theories.

Perhaps the mission’s directive—

Not to leave the planet’s surface before its destruction—

Wasn’t a restriction, but a special kind of prompt.

Its purpose? To keep him on the planet as long as possible—

So he could gather more resources.

"I’ll need to prioritize resource collection from now on."

Adjusting his future plans silently, he finally turned his attention to the reward for the 1 billion population milestone.

A Cosmic Relic could be understood as a technological marvel beyond conventional creation.

Currently, Su Wu possessed only two such relics:

The Golden Balance, capable of converting gold and silver into any other material in equal measure—

And the Ball Lightning Control Chamber, capable of storing near-infinite electrical energy.

Compared to these two practical relics, the newly acquired Berenville seemed far more abstract—its purpose vague and hard to decipher.

"Unite the hearts of the people."

What degree of unity would qualify as success?

Moreover, even among relics, there were clear tiers of power.

Su Wu noticed that when the system mentioned the Golden Balance and Ball Lightning Control Chamber, the text appeared in plain white.

But for Berenville, it was displayed in purple.

Based on past observations—where the system color-coded daily missions by difficulty—

If the Golden Balance and Ball Lightning Control Chamber were Tier 1 relics—

Then Berenville was likely a Tier 4 relic.

The actual gap between them might be unimaginably vast.

Opening the system’s temporary storage, where Berenville (Dormant) was held, Su Wu attempted to retrieve it.

The process went smoothly.

The true Berenville is merely a golden sphere with a diameter of 10 meters.

It doesn't take up much space.

Su Wu could easily find a spot in the core area to place it.

Once successfully installed,

as the Artificial Intelligence established a data exchange channel with it,

a wealth of detailed information

began to unfold before Su Wu.

The golden spherical Berenville

was in an unawakened state.

Its sole function was to convert electrical power into light sources more conducive to plant growth.

Only after investing a considerable amount of materials into it

could it transition from its unawakened state to an awakened one.

At that point,

the fully realized Berenville

would be capable of expanding into a temple and garden complex.

The size of this complex would correspond to the scale of materials invested.

However, even at the minimum, it would cover an area of 10 square kilometers—

roughly equivalent to a quarter of the current Farmhouse Compound's first-floor space.

Ordinary people entering the temple

would receive an opportunity for physical and mental purification.

All non-critical illnesses would be completely cured, and their natural lifespan would extend to 300 years.

At the same time, negative emotions would be cleansed from their minds.

Theoretically, a single purification would suffice to keep an ordinary person's mental state peaceful and positive for the next two decades.

The garden, an auxiliary structure to the temple,

could produce various high-quality plants

and had a higher probability of randomly generating seeds for more productive food crops.

"Functionally speaking, this is practically a farming artifact."

"Plus, it comes with a limited-capacity large storage warehouse."

After studying it for a while,

though he hadn’t yet figured out where the so-called "unifying hearts" effect manifested,

Su Wu had already developed a deep appreciation for Berenville’s value.

The light that promoted plant growth and the potential for higher-yield crops

meant that plantations of the same scale in the future

would produce far more food.

The pressure of sustaining a population would be significantly reduced.

Meanwhile, investing specified materials to awaken and grow Berenville

was equivalent to gaining a warehouse with expanded space—

albeit one that could only store certain types of raw materials.

Withdrawing stored items

would also be slightly more cumbersome, possibly even incurring significant losses.

But compared to the additional storage space gained,

these drawbacks were negligible.

"From now on,"

"the Shelter’s development focus will shift to gathering resources and awakening Berenville."

"Population absorption can be temporarily slowed down."

The 1 billion population count

had already absorbed nearly all the easily assimilated people across the Eastern Continent.

Continuing to take in more wasn’t impossible,

but the cost-benefit ratio was far worse than before.

Moreover, the required armed forces and other resources would increase dramatically.

Thus, slowing down

and shifting focus to internal Shelter construction offered higher returns.

Having made his decision,

Su Wu turned his attention to the materials required for Berenville’s awakening.

Pure water, oxygen-rich air, ideal soil, healthy and robust plants, marble, Basic Titanium Alloy—

The lengthy material list

contained at least thousands of different items.

Some were simple, like pure water and oxygen-rich air.

There were also rare materials with higher difficulty levels.

There was even a completely new material never heard of before.

Basic Titanium Alloy.

Fortunately.

The list didn't just provide a name.

All the required processes and raw materials for manufacturing Basic Titanium Alloy.

Were clearly listed as well.

Su Wu only needed to systematically manufacture a batch of corresponding equipment.

To produce this never-before-seen material.