Chapter 274: Level 2! The Great Ma’s Invitation!

“A single biological virus was all it took to penetrate the sky defense barrier, and demolish humanity’s ‘indestructible’ line of defense.”

“Judging from the time when humankind migrated to the new world, it seems that the spread of the biological virus only began in Year 9.”

“Now that I have information regarding the virus and so much time at hand, this biological virus…”

“Is nothing to be worried about!”

Su Mo felt a sense of relief when he thought about his previous entries into the ruins and how he had fought against the black dogs and mad cows and gotten away unscathed.

At the same time, Su Mo clenched his fist and thumped the ground as he thought about the other mutant creatures still trapped in the core of the ruins. He felt lucky that he had come directly to Ma Fei’s shelter.

These living mutant creatures must not die just like that.

Faced with the threat of biological virus disasters in the future, their bodies were treasure troves that could be dissected and a.n.a.lyzed in advance!

If a complete biological laboratory was set up, the corresponding virus genetic code could be extracted, and a vaccine developed…

How would a biological virus still be a problem then?

Even if the biological virus mutated, Su Mo was confident that, after nine years, he would have already established a complete center for disease prevention and control. It was even possible to escape to the “sky” and leave those silly land-bound creatures to run around like idiots.

“Looking at things this way, within this level 17 core, the items with the highest value are the sky defense barrier and virus genetic code.”

“As long as a sky defense barrier can be constructed in the main world, or even an imitation of it, it would easily be enough to withstand ordinary disasters.”

“Not to mention that I have a system that can augment and integrate other technologies to completely perfect the design concept of the sky defense barrier.”

Su Mo solemnly put away the mayor’s handbook that recorded the operations of Liangfang Town and kept it inside his storage s.p.a.ce in a discreet spot. Su Mo stood up and began to look carefully around the room in search of any hidden treasures.

The sky defense barrier’s control system was in the mayor’s room.

Judging from the way the first floor was laid out, this should have been where Ma Fei usually handled government affairs. He would occasionally meet with people here to discuss matters related to the development of Liangfang Town. Hence the mayor’s handbook was placed here.

However, Su Mo did not let go of any possible traces of information in the mayor’s room. He basically “sc.r.a.ped” every inch of the area starting from the first floor.

Of course, his efforts were not in vain. He managed to find two letters detailing the handover of materials and extracted some important information.

These were the coordinates of the cities that traded with Liangfang Town, which were Hanwu City and Yangliu City.

“The core of Liangfang Town was able to mysteriously manifest the ruins in the basin area.”

“However, its actual location should be at the wasteland coordinates indicated by the system.”

“If I can locate the actual position of Liangfang Town and find a way to mark it, I might be able to extrapolate the locations of these two cities after arriving in the new world.”

Su Mo kept the two letters that recorded the coordinates in his storage s.p.a.ce. After he called Moore to the iron gate on the second floor, the first challenge was finally placed before him.

No matter how weak Ma Fei was, he was still the owner of a Level 17 shelter. No matter how much Blazeland’s technology deviated from the norm, it had still invented the sky defense barrier, an excellent disaster resistance mechanism.

The first floor was considered to be a reception room, which was probably why it lacked any defensive mechanisms. This heavy iron door on the second floor was, however, a necessary obstacle he had to overcome to obtain the “treasure”.

Su Mo felt a little troubled when he tried knocking on it, only hearing muted sounds in response.

By the looks of it, this iron gate was st.u.r.dier than the Underground Shelter’s stone door. He estimated it to be at least thirty feet thick. It seemed that the owner had piled all sorts of materials into its construction to increase its st.u.r.diness.

Without the requisite equipment or sufficient firepower, this door alone would be able to resist the a.s.sault of countless people.

Using such a simple but rough method as the first line of defense in the shelter, Ma Fei was indeed something else.

Perhaps he had to consider blasting open an entrance with explosives.

With that in mind, Su Mo stepped out of the building and began to carefully examine its structure.

It was a four-story building that was about 40 feet in height, having seemingly stacked three shelter cores on top of each other.

However, this building had a huge “bug”…

According to the structural layout of the first floor, the thickness of the outer walls of this small building ranged between thirty-two to fifty feet, which was far beyond the ability of most explosives to blast through.

Even if it was possible, such an explosion would trigger a penalty of a hundred and eighty days, as it was considered to be an action hostile to the mayor. The penalty was not something he could bear with his current reserves of time currency.

“How about planting the explosives inside the house?”

Since there was no way to do so from the outside. Su Mo walked back into the house, looked at the time currency he had left, and quickly eliminated this dangerous idea.

It was impossible.

Yet without bringing home the “treasure”, would not this trip go to waste?

The computer was as good as gone. There was no need to take other things or obtain any other information.

Would this not be considered as leaving empty-handed? What a loss!

“Is there a way to get through this iron door directly and enter the second floor?”

“Chemicals?”

“A drill?”

With twenty hours remaining, Su Mo simply sat in front of the window, looked at the burning sky, and closed his eyes. He was thinking of a way to overcome the situation.

It was not impossible to chemically corrode the iron, but the most crucial raw material required for that was not available on hand.

Using a drill was an even more unreliable idea. It was more realistic to strategically place and detonate the explosives.

Facing an iron anti-theft door that had a thickness of over thirty-two feet without its corresponding key was something that left even Su Mo dumbfounded.

Moore, who was standing on the side, also realized Su Mo’s dilemma.

Lightning bear warriors were not known for their cunning or intelligence.

Moore spitted on his palms, rubbed his hands together, and started using his three-pointed two-edged sword as a shovel as he tried to dig into the iron door.

Sadly, each time he swung, nothing appeared except for sparks from the friction. The iron door remained undamaged.

“Stop shoveling, Moore. You won’t be able to dig through it even if you had over…”

“d.a.m.n, I’ve been blinded by my own way of thinking!”

“I can use magic to deal with magic!”

The heavy iron door did not seem like it would be easily damaged with ordinary tools, but Su Mo suddenly thought of the excellent-quality iron pickaxe. Taking it out of his storage s.p.a.ce, everything seemed a lot simpler now.

Ordinary iron was rated at Level 3.

The specialty of the excellent-quality iron pickaxe was that its critical strikes would trigger its disintegration special ability.

Once triggered, the surrounding iron would collapse like blocks of tofu. As long as he kept at it, let alone thirty-two feet…

Su Mo was confident that he would be able to dig through it today even if it was 160 to 200 feet thick!

“Oh, Moore, you’re quite the clever one!”

Su Mo patted Moore on the back. He laughed out loud and went over to the wall next to him to give it a try.

Sure enough, the material level of the wall was a.s.sessed to be above 5. Even if the iron pickaxe triggered its special ability, the wall did not budge except for some falling dust.

“It seems like we can’t manipulate the bug. We can only dig our way through the door step by step!”

Each strike of the pickaxe on the wall resulted in a five-minute time penalty, whereas each strike on the iron door resulted in a twenty-minute time penalty.

A one day’s worth of time currency would allow him to strike the iron door 72 times.

In order to reduce consumption, Su Mo took out a unit of iron from his storage s.p.a.ce and began to tap lightly on it with the pickaxe.

The light emitted by the iron pickaxe’s critical strike was obvious. Besides, a unique power could be sensed from the handle of the pickaxe apart from the burst of light it let out.

Whenever a critical strike was triggered, Su Mo would raise his hand and hit the iron door with the pickaxe, bringing down chunks of iron about the size of a human head.

This was a job that required patience. There was still a lot of time left and Su Mo was not in a hurry. When he got tired, he sat down to rest, drank some water, and ate some dry food.

After resting, it was time for hard work again.

“I thought it was only about thirty feet thick, but now it seems like this iron gate is about sixty feet thick. He really is a kindred spirit!”

After consuming three days of time currency, and knocking out a full thirty-six-feet-long pa.s.sage in the iron door, he could still not see the end in sight. Su Mo gained some basic understanding about what Level 17 shelters were like while admiring the creator.

It goes without saying how harsh the upgrade conditions would have been to create something like this. However, what was truly worth learning from was the creator’s foresight and awareness to safeguard and protect his home and life.

When Su Mo returned from the ruins this time, he would directly upgrade the materials of the Underground Shelter and increase the thickness of the entrance door to over sixty feet!

After working for another two or three hours, he opened the game panel and found that there were twelve hours remaining. Su Mo did not rest, instead using the Mountain and Sea Painting Scroll card to recover his strength, and then continuing to press forward.

In ancient times, Moses parted the Red Sea.

Today, Su Mo tunneled through a door.

Numerous pieces of broken iron were dug out. Oreo then put them on a hand-made trolley and threw them out into the courtyard.

Doudou laid down while talking non-stop when he saw that Oreo was of the same kind as him.

The ruins, a place that was extremely dangerous for other people, had transformed into a simple construction site of sorts when it came to Su Mo.

Su Mo kept digging. Whenever a critical strike was triggered, Su Mo swung the pickaxe against the iron door in front of him.

Ten hours of repet.i.tive actions exhausted him.

Su Mo, who had lived in the wasteland for a month, had honed his persistence and perseverance over time, and remained undaunted in his quest.

Bang!

Buzz…

It was just another critical strike but, this time, Su Mo’s dust-covered face finally showed a trace of a smile.

The sound of the pickaxe striking the iron door had changed!

This indicated that the remaining thickness of the door had reduced to around ten to fifteen feet. He would only need another hour or so before he reached his desired destination!

With the goal in mind, Su Mo felt that there was a steady flow of strength coming from all sides of his body and his mind seemed to have been refreshed and rejuvenated.

As he squatted down, the motions of the iron pickaxe in Su Mo’s hand suddenly accelerated and sparks even appeared on the deformed iron block.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

One strike after another caused the chunks of iron to continue falling off the iron door, which were collected and carted away by Moore with his two large hands, leaving Su Mo enough s.p.a.ce to continue digging.

Su Mo found a specific point, covered his head, and swung wildly.

Finally, when there were still six hours left on the countdown, with a clatter…

The door…

Collapsed!

A cloud of dust scattered accompanied by the sound of falling iron chunks. A dull reverberating sound continued to echo within the room.

Although his heart was bursting with joy, looking at the depths of the dark room, Su Mo cautiously rested for half an hour. After ensuring that his mental and physical conditions had stabilized, he called out to Doudou.

“Be careful when you’re inside. If there’s any danger, return at once!”

He touched the silly dog’s head and looked at its well-behaved appearance. Su Mo bent down slightly and primed himself to run away at any moment.

There had been hundreds of miniature robots on the first floor. If, as expected, there were more aggressive robots on the second floor, then even if Su Mo possessed the courage of a lion, he would still not dare to fight head-on against the magical technology of the future.

Fortunately, the expected attack did not materialize. When Doudou stepped into the second floor, a bright light suddenly shone forth from the ceiling, illuminating the darkness.

As his eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness for a long time, the sudden ray of light made Su Mo involuntarily close his eyes.

However, before Su Mo could even react and retreat, a strong male voice rang out throughout the shelter.

“Welcome, the one from the future.”

“Welcome to my shelter!”

“Come on in. Since you managed to pa.s.s my first test, you’re qualified to learn about some things!”

This man’s voice seemed to be filled with endless charm. Su Mo could not help but to stop in his tracks the first moment it sounded.

A human?

No, was this Ma Fei?

Was this Liangfang Town’s mayor, Ma Fei?

Out of curiosity, Su Mo tried to stick his head out of the iron door. He then saw the most shocking scene he had ever seen from Earth to the present.

On the second floor, the high-end desktop computers that he dreamed of were piled up in the corner like debris.

There were also transparent tubes, with a diameter of about 3 feet, densely laid out on the ground like blood vessels. They seemed to be transporting blue liquid-like energy.

At the end of his line of sight, there was a whole wall of miniature robots that no one had ever seen before.

Unlike the previous miniature robots, these ones did not hold anything in their hands. They seemed to be in a dormant state, allowing the energy to pa.s.s through them while emitting a mysterious phenomenon that looked like water rippling.

However, all of this did not attract Su Mo’s attention.

This was because there was a large square the size of at least 13 square feet placed in the middle of the house.

Su Mo was no stranger to this thing, and he even saw it frequently in his dreams recently.

“Nice, a vertical launching system. I have to admit, I’m really tempted this time!”