Tang Ye stood in the corridor for a moment. Knowing the upgrade would not be completed anytime soon, she turned and returned to her room.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yufeng was already standing under the sunlight. His modified body no longer feared the toxic air outside, and he no longer needed a gas mask.
The moment he stepped beyond the shelter’s outer gate, his speed increased. If anyone had been there, they would have noticed that his movements were far beyond normal human capability, almost impossible to track with the naked eye.
He crossed half the city in just half an hour.
Jiang Yufeng came to a stop and looked at his body. His hand slowly clenched into a fist, then loosened again as he felt the surging power within him.
Relying on memory, he returned to the underground laboratory where he had once been held. It was now empty. The experimental pods that had confined them were all shattered. Bloodstains were everywhere, along with several charred corpses.
All the research data had either been taken away or destroyed. In any case, this nightmare-like place was left with only its final traces.
He did not know whether the other test subjects had died or escaped. He remembered the one in the adjacent pod, someone with a violent temper and eyes filled with hatred for the researchers, who had once shouted about killing all humans.
At the thought, Jiang Yufeng did not even frown. It had nothing to do with him.
Before the apocalypse, he had been a gloomy, despised illegitimate child, skilled at feigning obedience to lower others’ guard. After being brought into the lab, he had used that same tactic to deceive a female researcher and escape.
He had once been described by the Jiang family as a cold-blooded monster devoid of emotion.
Jiang Yufeng raised his hand, and the entire laboratory was engulfed in flames.
Monster or not, in this world where strength ruled above all, he quite liked it.
After leaving the underground lab, he went to his former shelter. He wondered whether the Jiang family was still there, and what methods he should use to torment them.
Before he even entered the gate, he heard a deliberately soft and affected female voice.
“Are you a survivor from this shelter? I haven’t seen you before. Why aren’t you wearing a gas mask? Do you not have one? I have an extra, I can give it to you.”
Jiang Yufeng turned expressionlessly and saw a woman standing beside him, her eyes beneath the mask filled with interest in his face.
He sneered inwardly and ignored her, continuing toward the shelter.
The woman did not leave, following behind him and chattering as if out of concern.
Jiang Yufeng felt deeply annoyed. A voice in his head urged him to kill her, the violent blood in his body boiling. Yet his face remained expressionless. For those with no value, he did not even bother pretending.
“Zou Yu! What are you doing?” an angry male voice suddenly rang out behind them.
If Tang Ye had been there, she would have immediately recognized the voice of the man she hated most.
“W-Wang Qiang, you’re back,” Zou Yu said, her tone slightly guilty.
Jiang Yufeng was already irritated and had no interest in getting involved, but the other party clearly had no intention of letting him go.
Wang Qiang grabbed his collar. “So you’re the pretty boy trying to seduce my girlfriend?”
Before Zou Yu could stop him, there was a loud thud. Wang Qiang was slammed face-first into the ground, his limbs flailing helplessly, unable to move an inch. Cold sweat broke out across his back.
The hand pressing his head grew hotter. He could even smell his hair scorching. Then a voice sounded by his ear.
“You and that ugly thing, if you don’t want to die, get lost.”
By the time Wang Qiang could breathe again, Jiang Yufeng was already gone, leaving behind two terrified figures.
Jiang Yufeng returned to the shelter at dusk. Unfortunately, he learned that the Jiang family had found new backing and left their previous shelter half a year ago.
After a brief moment of regret, he noticed something wrong with his body. Heat spread from within, similar to the state when his power had previously gone out of control.
It seemed he still could not fully control this strength.
He forced himself back to the shelter, went through disinfection, and entered the elevator. In his dazed state, his body finally gave out, and he collapsed forward.
Before losing consciousness, he felt himself fall into a warm embrace, accompanied by a slightly helpless voice.
“You’ve got a fever again. Why is your body so weak?”
When he woke again, he found himself lying on his bed. Beside him was a bowl of porridge still faintly steaming, along with a note:
Gave you a fever reducer. Deducted from your mutated crystals.
Jiang Yufeng sat up, staring at the bowl of porridge. For the first time, a complicated expression appeared in his dark eyes.
As night fell, the survivors returned to their rooms. Tang Ye went to check the laboratory and found that the upgrade was complete. Its area had more than doubled, the machines had increased from one to three, and the storage and refrigeration space had expanded.
Now, multiple items could be produced simultaneously.
Tang Ye added materials for fifty gas masks and twenty doses of radiation-cleansing agents into the newly available machines.
The next morning, just as dawn broke, the System’s voice sounded.
“Host, a large number of survivors are approaching.”
Tang Ye immediately woke up. After quickly washing up and getting dressed, she took the elevator to the surface.
Outside, Su Rui and his group had just entered through the outer gate. Returning here, they felt an unexpected sense of familiarity. This would soon be their home.
“So this is the shelter you mentioned? It looks quite new. I’ve never heard of it before. Was it just built?” Ge Shu asked.
Su Rui nodded. “Yes, it’s newly built. All the facilities are new.”
At that moment, he thought of the rooms inside and wondered whether there would be enough space. Tang Ye had mentioned that construction was ongoing.
If there was not enough room, they could sleep in the common areas or lay bedding on the floor. Even that would be more comfortable than other places.
Before they could knock, the entrance door opened on its own, and Tang Ye stepped out.
“Administrator, we’re back!” Su Wan waved enthusiastically from the crowd.
Seeing familiar faces, Tang Ye paused briefly, then smiled. “It’s you. Why are you bringing so many people this time?”
“Administrator, these are survivors from our shelter. I’ve brought them here to join you,” Su Rui explained what had happened. “Because of that, we don’t want to stay there anymore. We have a total of 152 survivors. Please help arrange accommodations.”
“Alright. We’ve just built new rooms, so there’s enough space,” Tang Ye said.
The shelter now had sixteen eighteen-person dormitories, totaling 288 beds. Currently, 41 people were living there. Jiang Yufeng occupied six beds alone, making it 46 in use. That left 242 available beds, more than enough.
Hearing that new rooms had been built, Su Rui finally relaxed and smiled.
“But your shelter only has this many people?” Tang Ye asked curiously. Her previous shelter had housed thousands, while even smaller ones had several hundred.
“There are more. Ours is a small shelter with over four hundred people. Some are part of Tang Ming’s faction, and others chose not to leave,” Su Rui explained.
“Come in. You should already know the process, but this time I’ll need to register your information,” Tang Ye said.
Su Rui nodded, a relieved smile on his face. This time, they were not just passing through, they were here to settle down.
However, those who had never been to Sunrise Shelter still felt uneasy. No matter how impressive it sounded, they needed to see it for themselves.
But as soon as Tang Ye led them into the corridor and they saw the disinfection chambers, they reacted just like the previous survivors, shocked.
Before they could recover, they heard the price, one Level 2 mutated crystal per month.
At that moment, they finally understood why Su Rui and the others, who had lived in their shelter for years, had found the courage to leave after visiting this place.
Gas masks for one Level 1 crystal, radiation suits for one Level 2 crystal.
The prices made it feel like an entirely different world.
Room 03 still had ten empty beds, while Rooms 04 to 08 and 201 to 208 downstairs were all vacant.
Tang Ye arranged everyone accordingly, filling Basement Level 1 first before assigning rooms below.
Exactly one hundred survivors filled Basement Level 1. The remaining fifty-two were assigned to four rooms on Basement Level 2, with Room 204 housing only two people, a married couple.
With so many people, arranging accommodations and registering information left Tang Ye drenched in sweat.
Before moving in, everyone paid their mutated crystals. Tang Ye received 152 Level 2 crystals, equivalent to 15,200 energy points. In return, the survivors received their daily food.
Having already heard from Su Rui about the quality of the meals, they looked at their white meal boxes with eager anticipation.
After settling them in, Tang Ye hurried to the cafeteria. It was the first official day of work as agreed.