Most people had not thought to use more absorbent scraps of cloth while gathering supplies, so for now, they could only substitute inferior plant fibers.
After fishing a handful of cloth scraps out of a corner of the cabinet and counting them, Su Mo felt greatly reassured.
They should be enough!
Lighting a torch, Su Mo cautiously went to the stone door to investigate exactly where the water was seeping in.
After lying down and watching for a while, Su Mo relaxed.
The water was seeping in along the lower right edge of the stone door.
It was probably because the terrain was uneven. The shelter was slightly higher on the left and lower on the right.
As a result, the acid rain could seep through the lower gap on the right.
Fortunately, the unevenness meant that the left side was not leaking as well. Otherwise, having water seep in from both sides would have been troublesome.
"If that's all it is, then it isn't too serious."
Staring at the leak as it slowly seeped inward, a bold idea appeared in Su Mo's mind.
"If this acid rain can be collected, wouldn't it be a kind of poison? And a potent one at that."
While everyone else was thinking of ways to survive the disaster, Su Mo, who was living in a luxurious shelter, was getting more and more creative.
The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. Excited, he said:
"Since this acid rain won't corrode anything except human bodies, I'll just make a guide rail and use a water tank to collect the acid rain that seeps in!"
Once he decided to do it, he spread out the cloth scraps and carefully placed them over the puddled areas.
Watching the water on the ground being rapidly absorbed by the dry cloth, Su Mo's anxious heart finally settled.
Oreo, who had been anxiously waiting nearby, seemed to sense that the danger was disappearing as well, and its bared-teeth expression gradually relaxed.
While the cloth absorbed the water, Su Mo began checking how many Survival Points he had earned yesterday.
Doomsday Calendar: January 5 You safely survived the first night after the disaster arrived without suffering any harm from it (Survival Points +5) Through your unremitting training, your combat power increased slightly (Survival Points +2) You developed the first small architectural facility belonging to your shelter—the water supply and drainage channel (Survival Points +30) Your base underwent earth-shaking changes, crossing from the wooden age into the Stone Age (Survival Points +50) You obtained your first ranged weapon, causing your combat power to leap substantially (Survival Points +10) Your ranged shooting ability improved (Survival Points +2) Scanning the host's living environment. Evaluating Survival Points. You obtained 52 Survival Points today. Final settlement: Survival Points +151 Remaining Survival Points: 153
"153 Survival Points!" Seeing the final figure, Su Mo was pleasantly surprised.
Yesterday, he had spent nearly all his Survival Points upgrading the shelter, leaving only 2 points. His sense of security had plummeted.
He had not expected the Survival Points to recover to 153 thanks to the drainage facility and the Stone Shelter.
"Now I won't have to worry about the disaster suddenly escalating!"
Compared to the shelter itself, the recovery of Survival Points undoubtedly gave him an even greater sense of security.
Sitting on the stone chair and looking at the peaceful shelter, Su Mo felt a surge of security. Then his stomach began growling in protest.
"You must be starving too~"
Rubbing his stomach, Su Mo laughed. Oreo understood that mealtime was about to begin as well, and even its movements as it paced back and forth seemed so happy it might take flight.
Su Mo brought out the Psionic Water that had been stored overnight. After using the Survival System to confirm that its quality was fine, he poured all of it into the wooden barrel for storage.
Using a wooden basin, he scooped roughly one liter of Psionic Water from the barrel and poured it into the Earthen Pot. Then Su Mo began lighting the fire to cook.
It was the same bread soup as before. The broth was rich, its color faintly white, and its taste lingered wonderfully.
While everyone else was struggling to avoid disaster from one moment to the next, being able to drink a bowl of hot soup in an underground shelter was truly comfortable.
After eating his fill and washing the pot, Su Mo found that the cloth scraps had absorbed nearly all the acid rain on the ground.
He carefully used a wooden stick to poke the cloth scraps aside, then picked up the torch and dried and evaporated the final traces of moisture.
"It looks like it's only a slight leak. This much was all that accumulated over an entire night."
After examining the gap in the door, Su Mo gained a clearer understanding of the shelter's current resistance to disaster.
Acid rain was certainly terrifying, but in the Survival Game's classification of disasters, it was considered a beginner disaster.
That meant that as long as everyone used their heads and remained cautious, surviving the first disaster would not be difficult.
The facts also proved that for those who managed to survive, getting through a single day using their own methods was basically not a problem.
After using the Storage Space to conveniently move the water tank to the bottom of the steps,
Su Mo began making a guide rail to collect the acid rain.
Using two units of iron to forge an iron plate with raised edges, Su Mo then took out two units of plant fiber and made Hemp Rope, using it together with wooden boxes to secure the rail.
All the rainwater seeping through the crack in the door would slide down the stone steps, eventually fall onto the iron plate, and then slide all the way into the water tank.
At its current efficiency, collecting around one liter of rainwater before the disaster ended should not be a problem.
After finishing all this disaster-preparation work and scooping water to irrigate the vegetable patch, Su Mo sat down in a chair and continued gathering information.
Unable to go outside, nearly everyone had gathered in the chat channels.
Skipping past the World Channel, whose screen-filling messages made his eyes blur, Su Mo entered the Area Channel, which had suffered heavy casualties.
The Area Channel, which had usually been somewhat lively, was now sparse, and most of the messages were exchanges about trivial matters.
"Sigh, when will these bitter days finally end?"
"My situation is pretty good. I chose a high ground, and it's worked out fairly well. It looks like I shouldn't have any trouble surviving this disaster, but the next one..."
"Xiao Liu, who had a base near mine, lost contact sometime yesterday. I have no idea what happened."
"I heard that some people on the wasteland have abandoned their shelters and are running around committing crimes, relying entirely on robbing others. Everyone, be sharp while resisting the disaster. Don't let yourselves get attacked by these beasts who have lost all humanity."
"Yeah. In this lawless troubled world, who knows how many lives will be lost."
"If they dare come, I'm not helpless either. I'll definitely make them pay a price. Besides, these people must have robbed plenty of things. Maybe I'll get rich in one haul."
"Don't joke around. They'll come with several people, while you're alone. Two fists can't beat four hands!"
After lurking and reading for a while, Su Mo silently left the Area Channel.
He had long since guessed that some people would abandon their shelters, choose to wander, and gather supplies by attacking their fellow survivors.
He just had not expected humanity's collapse to come so quickly.
"Looks like from now on, I'll have to watch out not only for mutated monsters, but also for these Wasteland Wanderers."
After silently adding another rule to his personal code of conduct, Su Mo began studying the newly appeared function.
At that moment, besides the World Channel and Area Channel, there was indeed another Disaster Resistance Channel.
He entered the Disaster Resistance Channel.
It looked somewhat like a livestream room from the civilized era. Ten video livestream windows were evenly arranged on one page, numbered from one to ten.
Even the livestream titles were all different.
"Universe's Number One Shelter. No need to send gifts—if you come in, you're my bro."
"Livestreaming how to survive acid rain today. The host will personally explain shelter design standards."
"China Shelter recruiting strong members! Anyone with professional skills is welcome! Recruiting nearby disaster victims, with food and lodging provided."
"Top-tier ideas: Looking ahead at future disaster-resistance trends from an offensive and defensive perspective."
"Lone Wolf Survival Guide."
"Zeus Shelter recruiting strong teammates. Requirements..."
Among the top ten shelters that currently possessed livestreaming privileges, only four were domestic shelters, ranking third, fifth, sixth, and ninth.
The remaining six were foreign shelters.
Seeing this figure, Su Mo was slightly surprised.
By his estimation, it would have been quite impressive if two domestic shelters had made it into the top ten. He had not expected there to be four.
After all, in terms of hands-on ability and combat ability, foreign countries had vast, sparsely populated territories and more opportunities for training.
China was relatively stable, so naturally, many people had never had the chance to truly practice in the wilderness.
Author's note: During yesterday's discussion with the experts in the group, I discovered that some details in the earlier chapters were a little problematic. I've made slight changes. Readers who have made it this far don't need to worry—the plot hasn't changed; only some wording has been adjusted.
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