We Have to Make It Back to Earth Alive!

Watching Shen Ke's determined eyes and her concise, straightforward military manner, Su Mo nodded, tacitly accepting her terms.

The next second.

The seriousness on Shen Ke's face collapsed at once, and a radiant smile bloomed across her pretty features.

"Su God, now that the shelter's trade is finished, can I make another private deal with you?"

A mischievous smile appeared on her sweet, delicate face.

No one could bring themselves to refuse to hear her request.

"By all means," Su Mo replied with a faint smile, his expression utterly calm and carefree.

"I want to trade you one liter of Psionic Water. In exchange, I'll give you electrical wires and a Mechanical Controller for writing control programs. Oh, and I can add some information too."

"Hmm?"

Only after hearing Shen Ke's words did Su Mo turn around and realize that his video call had exposed the generator behind him.

Su Mo shook his head with a laugh.

No wonder Shen Ke had proposed a trade. She had him figured out—she knew exactly what he needed to develop.

"Don't worry. I'll tell my uncle. When he draws up the designs, I'll have him plan out the wiring and everything for you as well."

Seeing Su Mo's expression, Shen Ke immediately continued nervously, afraid he would refuse in the next moment.

One liter of Psionic Water might already be an incredibly precious resource in other people's eyes, but they would never know that the shelter could produce seven liters of it in a single day!

The information gap gave him an overwhelming advantage in the trade.

Su Mo smiled faintly. "Fine, I'll make the trade. That's no problem. As for the information—how much do you know about the ruins?"

After thinking it over, Su Mo was intensely curious about Liangfang Town.

His ruins were different from everyone else's known ruins. They were full of good things. As long as he assembled a weapon and cleared a room, he could reap unimaginable rewards.

Seeing that Su Mo had agreed, Shen Ke brushed the hair hanging in front of her face behind her ear. After thinking for a moment, she said calmly, "We organized people to investigate these ruins too. We do know quite a bit of information for now, but this stuff isn't worth much. Everyone will find out sooner or later."

"According to what we've discovered so far, ruins fall into three categories."

"The first kind is the Mist Ruins that everyone has mentioned in the chat channel. The places players enter in these ruins are bizarre and varied, but based on the information we've gathered, most of them lead into the prehistoric civilizations of our Earth. We haven't investigated enough to determine which super-ancient civilization they belong to."

"The second kind of ruin is—well, you know those treasures from novels? We humans might not be the first species exiled here to participate in this survival trial. Other species may have come before us. Some of them failed to survive the disasters, leaving their shelters behind. Those shelters then became fixed ruins."

"For the third kind, we suspect that another civilization is merging with the wasteland world we currently occupy. We don't yet know which civilization it is or what its purpose might be. There's not enough evidence or information. We can only wait for technology to recover and investigate it slowly."

Shen Ke explained everything in great detail, clearly laying out the three types of ruins discovered so far.

Su Mo silently recorded all the information once more using his private-message method for remembering things, then nodded to indicate that the trade was complete.

"Yay! I'll go get the wires and controller for you in a bit!"

Delighted, Shen Ke sprang to her feet, bouncing with excitement. After the two said goodbye, the video call ended.

Not long afterward, Shen Ke sent over a trade request. After confirming that everything was correct, Su Mo uploaded 1,100 milliliters of Psionic Water.

He also left a message:

"Thank you for the information and your powers of observation. This 100 milliliters is a personal gift from me. Stay alive! For everyone's sake!"

A flash of light passed, and the trade was complete.

Inside the enormous China Shelter.

In an inconspicuous little room, Shen Ke threw her arms up and grunted as she dumped all the electrical wires into the trade goods.

"Hehehe, let's see you say I'm just a girl who can only do clerical work now!"

With a silly, honest grin, Shen Ke confirmed the trade and received the Psionic Water.

But when she saw the quantity of the trade goods and Su Mo's message, a wave of inexplicable sorrow suddenly surged through her.

Tears of emotion burst from her eyes, soaking her face, already yellowed and blackened from dehydration.

Realizing that she was crying, the girl did not wipe away her tears. Instead, she greedily licked them with her dry lips, cracked in several places and bleeding.

Soon afterward, the radiant girl stopped crying, grabbed an umbrella, rushed out of the room, and shouted, "Anyone who's sick tonight, don't worry! We've traded for Psionic Water! Everyone will get a share before bed!"

Splash!

Psionic Water!

For minor illnesses, even medicine could not compare to the legendary healing effects of Psionic Water.

Throughout the camp, the people still working hard late into the night all looked up, their eyes filled with gratitude and relief.

They did not shout!

They did not cheer!

Because from the first day they entered the shelter, the rule they had been given was: Conserve your strength. Don't shout. Don't cry out. We don't have enough food or water, but we have to make it back to Earth alive!

"Ah, it looks like I really have become a bit of a shut-in. No one talks to me. I only have one stupid dog."

"Humans really are social animals!"

Looking at the huge pile of electrical wires meant for setting up circuits, Su Mo, who only wanted to laze around, lay back down on the little bed.

The silly dog Oreo came running over, leaped onto the bed with a thump, then bounded right back off.

Its black-and-white face was full of provocation.

"You little mutt. I called you a stupid dog, and you're actually offended? Take this!"

Su Mo leaped off the bed, and man and dog began chasing each other around the shelter.

Su Mo's hearty laughter echoed throughout the shelter.

After chasing Oreo for a while, Su Mo saw that it was still running full of energy ahead of him. Panting heavily, he had no choice but to sit down on a stool.

Oreo continued fooling around in the distance. When it saw that Su Mo had stopped chasing it, it let out a panting, laughing sound.

"Don't worry. For your sake, for mine, and for Mom, Dad, and my little sister, I'll stay alive!"

Su Mo spoke with a firm gaze.

But when he looked at Oreo, a rare trace of tenderness appeared in his eyes.

After resting for a while, he spread the map he had seized across the table.

Su Mo carefully identified the location of the ruins.

"Based on what Shen Ke said, this place marked on the map should be where Huang Biao and the others discovered the ruins."

Huang Biao's group had probably set out from a point about twenty kilometers from the ruins.

"If Three Row Comb is my base, then the ruins should be to my west."

"Three and a half kilometers away!"

The markings on the map used the most primitive form of pictographic notation.

It was already lucky that they had found paper to record things on and had drawn everything so clearly. Otherwise, ordinary people really would not have been able to understand such an "abstract" map.

"The X marks on this map should be the bases they attacked. Tsk, what a bunch of vicious beasts."

After counting them, Su Mo discovered that the five men had robbed every place they passed through.

The red crosses on the map had formed a straight line—sixteen of them in all.

"They might not know that destroying a safe house after its owner dies will cause the Shelter Core to drop. But even if they did know, it wouldn't matter. Only an established safe house can absorb these cores."

"Once I'm properly equipped, perhaps I can head west and see whether those cores are still there."

After a day and a night of acid rain disasters, Su Mo had plenty of time to think.

As an ordinary person with no advantage in any particular field of knowledge, he could only rely on sheer determination in this apocalyptic world.

He not only had to actively gather information, but also take the initiative to strike and strengthen himself.

Looking at the treasure symbols on the map, Su Mo raised the corners of his mouth, stood up, and gazed westward.

"Two more days. Then let me see just what kind of sacred being you are."

Loser's Diary: I've seen many readers asking about updates. Since this is still the new-book period, the editor requires two updates a day so the book can receive recommendations. Otherwise, with the word count getting too high, it would have to go on sale. So my first update usually comes between noon and 1 p.m., and the second between 6 and 7 p.m. Other authors usually write 2,000 words during the new-book period, while I often write around 2,500, and sometimes even 3,000. I'll definitely maintain both quality and quantity. Thank you all, dear readers, for your support.