Great Wealth! Core Eruption!

"This time, my refuge will likely experience explosive growth!"

A familiar location.

He lay down skillfully.

Oreo cooperated by offering his body to cushion Su Mo's head.

The Big and Little Spark, also found a comfortable spot and darted over to lie down next to Su Mo.

With the glow of the Treasure Chest Wall in front of him, Su Mo surveyed the Shelter Core within the Storage Space, his face beaming with joy.

For lone wolf players looking to grow in Vault of Despair, the difficulty is evident from the example of Ma Gu.

After more than 400 days of development, the walls of the Deep Sea Shelter were not even a meter thick.

Although Reinforced Concrete structures have evolved, they are still far inferior to modern Stone Shelter in terms of overall safety and reliability.

As for other facilities, apart from a few large items, Su Mo couldn't even find a decent bed.

Not to mention the entertainment facilities for enjoyment.

In comparison, modern Underground Shelter boast seven or eight meters thick stone walls, two televisions, a cozy bed, and even air conditioning!

"If it weren't for people like Maeda Kento coming to my door looking for trouble, my development speed might have been slower, but now..."

With a thought, Su Mo took out all the Shelter Core and piled them all on the ground.

The core, with its ancient shape and shimmering with various lights, immediately captivates the eye.

[Log]: Player has been detected to possess a complete Shelter Core, meeting the absorption conditions. Absorb? The Game Panel's prompt, though belated, slowly popped up.

Rejecting the prompt, Su Mo sat up and began to examine the Shelter Core before him.

The 16 people discovered a total of 3 complete Shelter Core and 13 damaged Shelter Core.

"Hmm, that's strange. Why can some Shelter Core be directly absorbed, while others are still sealed off?"

Dividing the intact and broken pieces into two, Su Mo first picked up the largest and most luxurious-looking core.

Compared to the others' Tortoise Shell, this Tortoise Shell, though damaged, was more than twice the size and was engraved with more mysterious and complex patterns.

Holding this Tortoise Shell, Su Mo even had a faint feeling that all the other Tortoise Shell were connected to this Tortoise Shell by an invisible thread.

It's a strange feeling. They're all the same thing, but this one is clearly of a higher status. "It's like this Tortoise Shell is in charge of the other Tortoise Shell?"

The strange feeling gave Su Mo a headache.

Without any hints from the Game Panel, this kind of thing, which doesn't fall under the realm of science, can only be explored by oneself.

Stroking the cracks on the Tortoise Shell shell, Su Mo tried to bring up the Game Panel and select Absorb.

However, the next second, a notification appeared: [Record]: The shelter currently connected to the damaged core has not been destroyed and cannot be fused and absorbed. [Record]: You can first view the items in the core. After destroying the corresponding shelter, fusing and absorbing it will grant you ownership of the corresponding items.

"As expected, although we obtained the Shelter Core by killing these people, we cannot absorb it for the time being because their shelters are still intact."

"It seems we still need to go to the Saltpeter Camp and find a way to destroy Maeda Kento's shelter."

"I should go find Ying Xiong. How could someone who plotted against me not pay the price!"

Thinking of Maeda Kento's accomplices before his death, and recalling Ying Tianlong, the Self-Help Association leader in the Tundra Shelter.

A vague chain of logic began to form in Su Mo's mind.

When Shen Yitian first commissioned the design drawings for the China Shelter, someone from Ying Tianlong's Self-Help Association should have been a participant in the design process.

What happened next was that Ying Xiong discovered something around his shelter, and then Ying Tianlong relayed this information during a conversation.

Unfortunately, Ying Xiong was a fool who, for some reason, believed Maeda Kento's nonsense and leaked the information.

Su Mo didn't know how many people participated in this process, and because of the difference in location, he couldn't investigate further.

If Shen Yitian was also involved, then the information revealed behind it is enough to make people think deeply.

"Don't panic. It's getting late. In this weather, there's always the risk of accidents during a long journey. Let's go to the Saltpeter Camp to look for them first thing tomorrow morning!"

"I don't believe it. Their refuge is there; they couldn't possibly have run away."

Suppressing his murderous intent towards these "bastards," Su Mo took a large gulp of water to calm himself down.

After a while, putting aside these distracting thoughts, Su Mo began to examine the items inside Maeda Kento's core.

It was fine if he hadn't looked, but as his gaze fell upon the luxurious treasures inside, Su Mo's eyes widened in astonishment.

It's not because the core Storage Space is large, nor because the items inside are valuable.

Instead, the white, Shelter Core were piled up into a small mountain in the storage space of this core! There were no fewer than thirty damaged cores, which were simply stuffed into the corner like a pile of garbage.

There are also seven complete Shelter Core, placed separately in another location.

These core elements, when combined, can instantly create a terrifying small base.

"Good heavens, this old dog must have harmed countless people to get so many cores. But it's not surprising. Judging from his behavior today, he's probably planning to steal my 'treasure' and then start his own business with these cores?"

"What a pity, what a pity, they've all fallen into my hands, Su Mo!"

Gently stroking the head of the Tortoise Shell, Su Mo, who was in a bad mood because of being schemed against, had his cold expression lessen considerably.

All we need to do is head to the Saltpeter Camp tomorrow and set it on fire!

Previously, we were worried about not having enough cores to move the wells in the Deep Sea Shelter and to build a garage, but now it seems that we have more than enough!

"Let me see, Maeda Kento's Storage Space is about 1.5 cubic meters, and there are quite a few other supplies inside."

"There's a bottle of mineral water, five kilograms of compressed biscuits, two kilograms of beef, a bottle of liquor, two boxes of cold medicine, a bottle of Anti-inflammatory Medicine, and a bag of rice."

Compared to the size of his Storage Space, Maeda Kento is far inferior, but he has made the most of the space inside.

The emergency supplies placed in the core area were mostly still in their packaging, perfectly sealed in a corner.

Moreover, Maeda Kento's thinking was very clear. The things stored in his core space were mostly small in size but urgently needed.

Especially items like compressed biscuits and some medicine are more than enough for a single person to handle most emergencies in the apocalypse!

"Compared to Maeda Kento's extreme survival-oriented storage methods, thankfully I can grow vegetables in my shelter, ensuring a continuous supply of fresh vegetables!"

"Furthermore, there are natural anti-inflammatory items like Psionic Water, so there's no need to trade large sums of resources for medicine for minor ailments."

"These are the reasons why I've grown so quickly!"

Su Mo has always excelled at analyzing his own strengths and weaknesses by examining the resource reserves of others and the practices and styles of the post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Once the main shelter is determined, it means that it is "temporarily" immobile, so you should try to make the most of your strengths to make up for the disadvantage of not being able to go out and explore.

"However, once I have enough strength, I will still need to find a way to expand my exploration range and excavate more underground treasures to expand my strength. This is one of the reasons."

"The main focus is on finding out how people who traveled to this place before dealt with disasters, and uncovering more details to discover the true reason for their travels."

With this in mind, Su Mo decisively opened the Game Panel and noted down the future development trend of the shelter in the private message of the diary.

Every battle brings different gains and different insights.

Recording these insights and reflections, and reviewing them repeatedly in your spare time, is an essential skill for a lone wolf to survive in the apocalypse.

However, Maeda Kento's reserves also served as a reminder to Su Mo.

"Even if Shelter Core can't be listed for sale on the trading channel, other large forces will probably have such reserves. If I encounter them, I can choose to exchange resources for them, which will greatly accelerate the development of my shelter."

"Food and other supplies are not in short supply for the time being, but I still need to stockpile a lot of them and prepare some food that can be stored for a long time as soon as possible in case of an unbearable natural disaster."

After closing the diary interface, Su Mo continued to examine the remaining items.

Aside from the core items and supplies, most of what remained were Maeda Kento's personal belongings.

A hardcover notebook with a ballpoint pen stuck in it and a colorful feather that I don't know where it came from.

A dagger that looked very sharp still had bloodstains in its blood groove.

A shovel, two unused "game" torches, and a badly worn iron axe.

The ammunition box had been opened, but only half of it was used. Su Mo roughly counted that there were about 14 bullets left inside.

There were two maps, one large and one small, with unknown contents. Since they couldn't be taken out, Su Mo couldn't make out what was drawn on them.