The main body of the shelter is located ten meters underground.
It connects the underground floor to the surface through an inclined passage.
A disinfection room, a garage, and a dressing room can be placed near the shelter exit passage on the underground floor to facilitate future entry and exit.
At the same time, a large lifting platform of about 20 square meters can be installed, which is enough to carry vehicles.
It will be used to transport items from the underground floor to deeper underground levels.
On the laptop, Su Wu planned the space allocation inside the shelter bit by bit.
After first determining several necessary basic functional areas, he faced the challenge of utilizing the remaining 500 square meters of space on the first underground floor. After considering his options for over half an hour, he finally decided to divide it into a 200-square-meter rice planting area and a 300-square-meter vegetable planting area.
In times of material scarcity, aside from electricity, the most crucial resource is undoubtedly food.
With food, the most basic survival needs are secured, allowing focus on other aspects.
Therefore, establishing a self-sufficient food and vegetable production area was the top priority.
The rice and vegetable planting areas inside the shelter would differ significantly from traditional farmland.
They would rely entirely on soilless cultivation, using artificial growth lights instead of sunlight to create a suitable growth environment for the crops.
To maximize the limited space within the shelter, the rice planting area would be divided into four layers on shelves, while the vegetable planting area would have ten layers. This expansion would increase the effective planting area to 800 square meters and 3,000 square meters, respectively.
"More than one acre of rice planting area."
"Under an artificially optimized environment, the growth cycle could be shortened to four months, yielding approximately 1,600 kilograms of rice."
"That would be enough to meet the daily needs of at least ten people."
Su Wu's estimate was actually quite conservative. Some high-yield hybrid rice varieties could produce 1.5 to 2 times that amount.
However, there was no need to prioritize yield over quality.
High-yield hybrid rice often sacrificed taste, and given the choice, Su Wu preferred to maintain a higher quality of life.
As for the 3,000-square-meter vegetable planting area—nearly five acres—Su Wu chose to cultivate fast-growing varieties such as lettuce, Chinese cabbage, spinach, and kale. Additionally, he planned to grow smaller amounts of common vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers.
The first group prioritized efficiency and yield, mainly intended for trade with other shelters. The second group focused on quality, reserved for Su Wu's personal consumption.
The resources currently at Su Wu's disposal were barely sufficient to construct the framework of his personal shelter.
If he wanted to improve his living conditions and expand the shelter, he would have to engage in external trade.
This was another key reason for establishing the vegetable planting area.
After finalizing the vegetable varieties, Su Wu hesitated for a moment.
Then, he decided to add strawberries, grapes, pineapples, and other fruit crops to his plan.
These fruits would be for internal consumption in the shelter. In fact, considering his personal preferences, he might eat more fruit than vegetables on a daily basis. As a result, he allocated a considerable 600 square meters for fruit cultivation—an outright display of luxury and indulgence.
"This should do for now."
After finalizing the plans for the first underground level of the shelter, Su Wu stretched his body.
A rare sense of satisfaction surged through him.
His shelter was finally beginning to take shape.
For now, there was only one underground level.
But in an emergency, it was already sufficient for long-term survival.
With the apocalypse approaching, nothing provided a greater sense of security than that.
With the plans in place, the next phase of construction became straightforward.
The engineering team first built the framework of the large lifting platform. Then, Su Wu upgraded it using survival points, officially putting it into operation.
Afterward, the construction team split into two.
The excavator and transport vehicle continued digging the second underground level.
Meanwhile, the engineering robot and two construction robots worked on building a disinfection room, a dressing room, and a garage near the lifting platform on the first underground level. Occasionally, they also reinforced the newly excavated space on the second level.
Since the second underground level was close to the rock layer, a simple excavator was inefficient.
With ample survival points at his disposal, Su Wu upgraded a professional gravel truck and added it to the construction team.
After 24 hours of continuous labor, the first underground floor of the shelter was fully built. Three robots had completed the interior, laying all necessary pipelines, partitions, and ventilation systems.
Only the soilless cultivation areas remained unfinished.
On May 31, the last day of the month, the first underground level of the shelter was officially completed.
Su Wu spent five survival points to install a semi-automatic unmanned management system for the two cultivation areas.
He named the first underground floor the "Hydroponic Farm" and officially activated it.
He then began planting rice, vegetables, and fruits according to the planned categories.
Speaking of which, one issue arose—he had not initially accounted for fruit cultivation.
As a result, he hadn't prepared enough fruit seeds or seedlings in advance, requiring him to make a last-minute trip to the market.
Fortunately, most of these supplies were available at seed stores.
Using some canned food and grain, he easily traded for everything he needed without much trouble.
The farm's production remained on schedule.
At the same time, on this day, Su Wu discovered an alarming piece of news through his primary artificial intelligence, Luo Tianyi—information that was not yet widely known.
Deep in the African Rift Valley, at around 9:20 AM, a large tribal settlement experienced an unprecedented environmental disaster.
The temperature skyrocketed, shattering global records in an instant.
It reached a staggering 155 degrees Celsius.
Thousands of people in the tribe perished from dehydration under the extreme heat.
There were no survivors.
"The apocalypse has begun."
Looking at the photos taken by the federal rescue team, Su Wu realized this was likely not an isolated incident.
Rather, it was the beginning of a true global catastrophe.
A sudden chill ran down his spine.
His eyes reflected unease and tension about the future.
No matter how well-prepared he was, the fragility of the human body was undeniable.
In the face of world-changing disasters, humans were as insignificant as dust.
June 1.
The disaster spread even faster than expected.
That morning, another extreme high-temperature event occurred—this time in Antarctica.
Massive glaciers melted at an astonishing rate, disappearing into the ocean.
Hurricanes raged, and torrential rains poured down.
A few hours later,
the coastal city closest to Antarctica
was engulfed by the sudden tsunami. There was no news from the city of more than 200,000 people.
And thousands of miles away,
in the coastal cities of Dongzhou, at the same time as the tsunami appeared, a long-lasting alarm was sounded.
All TV stations began to repeatedly broadcast the emergency announcement issued by the federal government.
Residents living in these coastal cities and ports were required to evacuate to inland highlands immediately for refuge.
But an evacuation operation involving millions or even tens of millions of people
was simply impossible to achieve in a short period of time.
Ten hours after the alarm was sounded,
the first evacuation team had just left the coastal plains and headed towards the inland highlands.
More people were still stranded in coastal cities,
racing against death and
waiting for the judgment of fate.