Record: A complete Shelter Core has been detected in the player's possession. Absorption conditions met. Absorb?
Watching the words pop up, Su Mo didn't hesitate. He focused his mind, manipulated his thoughts, and clicked Confirm.
In an instant.
The Tortoise Shell in his hand began to shake violently—or, more precisely, it began to resonate!
The entire shelter seemed to start beating, trembling with waves of tiny vibrations.
One second, two seconds—the shelter's vibrations gradually drew closer to the frequency of the Tortoise Shell trembling in his hand.
Visible to the naked eye, the Tortoise Shell began to crack and melt piece by piece, transforming into blue liquid that flowed from Su Mo's hand and slid all the way down onto the stone floor.
Boom! The earth began to tremble. The entire shelter shook rapidly, as if struck by an earthquake.
In the next moment, Su Mo stared at the magical scene before him, dumbfounded.
Record: You have successfully absorbed the damaged Shelter Core. Record: Your shelter's area has increased. Record: Current shelter area: 110 square meters.
The shelter that had once been so familiar had suddenly transformed, as if it had put on weight, inexplicably gaining ten square meters.
And in the newly added area, a pile of items had been neatly arranged.
"Woof, woof, woof!"
Oreo, who had been lying on the ground resting, now barked incessantly at the added space and its unfamiliar smells as if he had seen a ghost.
Su Mo quickly walked over to the newly added area and began examining the things on the ground.
There were more than a dozen items in total.
First were three bloodstained articles of clothing. They were colorful, and he even spotted a pink bra.
Beside the clothes were two tools: a Stone Axe and a Stone Shovel.
Compared with the wealthy Su Mo, this person's equipment was pitifully sparse. He had no idea where they had gotten the confidence to launch a surprise attack on a shelter.
Afraid that there might be some hidden poison or other trap, Su Mo didn't touch the clothes directly. Instead, he carefully used his Stone Spear to lift them aside, revealing the supplies underneath.
There were more than a dozen items in total.
There was the dried beef bought from the Trading Market on the first day. It looked like quite a lot—at least 300 grams.
There were also four cartons of pure milk, a whole loaf of bread, two corn sausages, a cup of old-style yogurt, and an unopened bottle of Pepsi.
Two bottles of mineral water had already been opened but were not yet empty.
"We're rich! We're rich!"
After confirming one by one with the Game Panel that there was nothing wrong with the supplies' properties, Su Mo's face lit up.
No wonder these people hadn't chosen to develop their own shelters properly and had instead gone out robbing others.
There was no way working for a living could earn as much as stealing batteries.
Just these supplies alone, if put up for sale on the Trading Market, would be enough to exchange for at least several liters of water—and that was assuming anyone was willing to sell!
The food currently being sold on the market consisted mostly of bread, which made people drink huge amounts of water after eating it, and dry, tough Mutated Beast meat that was difficult to swallow.
Despite sweeping up goods for days, Su Mo had still been unable to obtain this kind of "luxury" food from the market.
He hadn't expected these freely delivered supply chests to simply fall from the sky.
"If fusing one damaged core can increase the area by ten square meters, then I'll fuse them all!"
Taking out the remaining three damaged cores, he selected them one by one. The shelter began to tremble again.
Record: You have successfully absorbed 3 damaged Shelter Cores. Record: Your shelter's area has increased. Record: Current shelter area: 140 square meters. Record: Shelter level has increased. Please enter the Game Panel to view it.
After a series of tremors, the shelter gained another forty square meters of space in the same area. The already spacious shelter now seemed even deeper and more secluded.
A huge pile of things lay scattered across the floor. At a glance, Su Mo felt so happy he nearly became dizzy.
At the very back squatted a device about the size of an old big-screen television.
Su Mo was not unfamiliar with this device at all. It was precisely what he had longed for day and night, even dreaming about at night—
A generator!
Su Mo could no longer suppress his excitement. Like a man who had just spotted his sweetheart, he hurried over to the machine.
It was coated entirely in sky-blue paint.
Three thick black iron pipes surrounded the generator's main body, while a skirt-like panel along one side protected it from dust.
When he lowered his head and saw the generator's main body, Su Mo's burning excitement instantly cooled by half.
This was a Diesel Generator labeled Wuxi Siemens. It had probably been obtained by these people after killing Mutated Beasts or robbing others.
The problem was that the generator's fuel tank had been pierced by a spear. A large piece of its metal casing had been knocked away, exposing the inside of the tank.
Squatting before the generator, Su Mo began carefully recalling the principles of generators he had read about in miscellaneous books at the university library.
Generating electricity was simple: inside the Diesel Engine's cylinders, clean air filtered through the air filter mixed thoroughly with high-pressure atomized diesel sprayed from the fuel injector. Under the compression of the rising piston, the mixture's volume shrank and its temperature rapidly rose until it reached diesel's ignition point.
The diesel ignited. The mixture burned violently, rapidly expanding and forcing the piston downward. This was called "doing work."
Each cylinder performed work in sequence according to a set order. The thrust acting on the pistons was converted through the connecting rods into force that drove the crankshaft, causing it to rotate.
By installing a brushless synchronous AC generator coaxially with the Diesel Engine's crankshaft, the engine's rotation could drive the generator's rotor. Using the principle of electromagnetic induction, the generator would produce an induced electromotive force, and a closed load circuit could then generate current.
After recalling all this, Su Mo breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, it wasn't the most important current-control equipment that had died. If that spear had struck there, the generator would definitely have been ruined beyond repair.
Now, only the fuel tank had been damaged. It could be repaired completely by spending a small number of points!
Focusing his gaze and concentrating his attention, Su Mo called out to the system in his mind and looked at the Diesel Engine.
Diesel Generator (Damaged) Efficiency: 300 kW (300 kWh/h at full load) Fuel consumption: 230 grams per kilowatt-hour (82 L/h at full load) Description: A Diesel Generator produced by the Wuxi Siemens Group in Jiangsu. It has not yet been put into use. Its electrical circuitry is functioning properly, but its fuel tank is damaged. Upgrade direction one: Replace and repair the generator's core components, increasing its power-generation efficiency and reducing its power consumption. Requires Survival Points (1680). Upgrade direction two: Change the generator's operating method to Biomass Power Generation. Requires Survival Points (6500). Introduction: What am I to you? You're my Yolemei! No, no, no—I want to be your generator!
"Damn, it costs that much? 1680 points—that'll take me ten days or half a month to save up!"
Su Mo shook his head and abandoned the crazy idea of saving up Survival Points to upgrade the generator.
He began calling out in his mind, asking to change the method.
Changing to a method with separate minor function upgrades would slightly increase the total cost and would not be as cost-effective as a comprehensive upgrade. However, with Survival Points in such short supply, it was a good way to solve the urgent problem at hand.
"Even if it's expensive, so be it. As long as I can repair it, the base's development speed will double directly."
A flash of light passed, and the original upgrade method began to change.
Diesel Generator (Damaged) Efficiency: 300 kW (300 kWh/h at full load) Fuel consumption: 230 grams per kilowatt-hour (82 L/h at full load) Upgrades: Repair (130), Expand Capacity (50), Increase Conversion Efficiency (300), Change Material (420), Change Power Source—Biomass (4450).
"Repair costs 130?"
The price was reasonable and not particularly high, but Su Mo couldn't afford that much right now.
After today's gains, he had 153 points. After spending 20 points to upgrade the raincoat and 65 points to upgrade the Safety Passage, he had only 68 points left.
"I can only wait until tomorrow to repair it."
Suppressing the excitement and restlessness in his heart, Su Mo began gathering the supplies and tallying the spoils from this battle.
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