Clunk, clunk…

On the way home, even though he heard the constant sound of the gravel scratchin against the chassis, Su Mo was not annoyed at all. On the contrary, he was enjoying it.

Especially when Earth Tiger swerved unsteadily and he heard Oreo's joyful barks, Su Mo became even happier.

This time, after driving Earth Tiger back, he really did not plan to go out again in the short term.

Without the enemies who had been prancing around behind his back these past few days, the area within a radius of a few tens of kilometers had been completely cleared and was very safe. There weren't any urgent matters to deal with either.

This kind of hard-won time for development was precisely the best time to strengthen his foundation and nourish his strength!

He would not be busy going out for a long time. As for the Earth Tiger he was driving, Su Mo had his own ideas to modify it.

The level of comfort definitely had to be improved. The ride was too bumpy and the car was empty too; the front passenger seat was still an iron plate.

As for raising the chassis, installing collision-resistant beams and putting strobe lights, and even adding a few weapon options... These modifications could slowly be done over time.

Still, these upgrades would have to be implemented in the future only after the planning and development of the base had been done properly.

"Oreo, this owner of yours is in a good mood right now, so I can agree to a small request and help you upgrade something you want!"

"What do you want?"

As he drove, Su Mo had fun despite the surroundings by talking to Oreo, who sat quietly beside him.

Unfortunately, although Oreo could understand human language, could interact with hundreds of beasts and was a natural translator, there was no helping it… she could not speak human words!

"Woof, woof, woof!"

Hearing Oreo's excited barks, Su Mo was helplessly at a loss for words. With one hand holding the steering wheel, he patted Oreo's doggy head with the other.

As he did not understand animal language, Su Mo could only guess.

"Upgrade your food bowl?"

"Woof!" Oreo shook her head!

"Then give you a feast or something delicious?"

"Woof?" Oreo continued shaking her head.

"Okay, I got it. I'll go back and arrange a small bed for you to sleep in at night?"

"Woof!!!"

This time, Oreo was finally pleased. Her big dog head nodded so rapidly it looked like a rattle drum, and her face was full of joy.

"Heh, so you, you little tyke, want your own little safety kennel too. Seems that I was negligent!"

Having guessed Oreo's thoughts, Su Mo was a little happy and also very emotional at the same time.

Day after day, Oreo laid on the freezing stone floor at night and, over time, Su Mo forgot to arrange a kennel for her.

As more time passed and the weather got colder, the stone floor naturally was not as comfortable to lie on anymore.

"Alright! I'll make one for you, Big Spark and Little Spark when we get home!"

Everyone said that a youth's first performance car was a Lian Dong Yun… (T/N: a rental car)

Now, however, seeing that the Deep-sea Shelter was getting closer and closer, Su Mo wanted to stand up and stomp on Earth Tiger's gas pedal!

As the sense of security and feeling of reaching home set in, the joyful sensations even made Su Mo want to scream and shout.

Pressing the horn along the way and listening to its harsh buzzing sound, Su Mo actually felt it was incomparably dear.

Just like how a conductor would give a long ring to express their regards upon seeing ordinary people waving next to the train tracks!

"Deep-sea! I'm back!"

Driving the car to the entrance of the basement on the first floor, Su Mo quickly rushed up to the second floor, pulled out the winch, and started to turn the mechanism.

The heavy door began to open. When it was all pulled up, he gave it a slight tug, and the winch fell into place with a click.

The motor-pumped oil well was still working diligently, emitting rumbling noises.

Even if nobody was around to monitor it, it was still steadily producing the two items Su Mo chose.

As it had not been collected for two days, the diesel and toluene reserves in the pumping well had been refilled again!

The diesel had reached 135L with the additional 23L that had not been brought back the last time.

The toluene had also filled up from nothing; to around 6kg, a sizable amount.

He touched the outer shell of the motor-pumped oil well that looked like it was from a science fiction setting, and glanced at the diesel in the storage space. Su Mo was temporarily not too worried about the energy problems that might arise.

Coal and oil—these two things were the most accessible and convenient energy sources on Earth.

This was even more so for the humans in the wasteland!

With the super sci-fi motor-pumped oil well equipped with modular technology, as long as it was set up, various petroleum derivatives could be continuously produced without requiring other corresponding technological trees.

With an excellent machine like this, any shelter that obtained it could develop explosively in a short period of time no matter what shelter it was.

However, Su Mo still used diesel and toluene the most when it came to the current Underground Shelter.

The former provided energy and power, and the latter created explosives.

"The diesel engine is definitely the best choice at the moment, but seeing as the shelter has the ability to control wind, if there really are no restrictions and limits, I can consider making a simple wind generator!"

He did not know exactly where Huang Biao and his party procured a 300kw power generator either.

It was fortunate that the storage space at the time had not been reduced too greatly yet. Otherwise, large items like that would definitely not have been carried around with them, and they most probably would have found a place to hide it.

"Based on the efficiency of the current diesel engine, it's enough to supply the base. Even if another air conditioner came along, there would still be energy to spare."

It was not that Su Mo did not want to upgrade the generator so that it became more convenient and usable, but there was no such need at the moment.

Even if the oil well produced other products, without shelters trading and exchanging resources, it would not be used efficiently enough.

The diesel was good stuff though. Based on Su Mo's rough calculations, it had a fuel rating of at least 35. As for something that had a fuel rating higher than 50, as there were no labs in which they could be tested for now, he did not know exactly what the limits of the oil well were.

"After I go home this time and upgrade the Underground Shelter, I'll move you there at once!"

After caressing the oil well, Su Mo went down the stairs and arrived at the basement door on the first floor. He pulled the garage door open.

Starting the Earth Tiger, he skillfully reversed into the garage. When it stopped in the center, Su Mo pulled down the garage door and went back to the second floor.

No matter how good the Deep-sea Shelter was, it was still Magoo's shelter.

After closing the second floor's door and turning the winch back in place to lock it, Su Mo slid down the snowy slope in a flash.

Turning on the electric booster on his boots and taking large strides, Su Mo excitedly ran toward the Underground Shelter.

When Oreo, who had been standing behind him on the hill, saw Su Mo run off secretly, she barked twice and hastily chased after him.

A man and a dog ran through the plains without a care in the world.

Thanks to the gradual increase of his power, along with humans' great ability to adapt to foreign environments, before a new disaster hit the wasteland, Su Mo had already become the overlord at the top of this little "marsh's" food chain! 

As Su Mo sprinted along, he ran out of breath and simply pulled down his mask, deeply breathing in the slightly icy air.

Even with the armor covering his body and pearls of sweat soaking his clothes, Su Mo was not aware of it.

At first, Oreo had been chasing him from behind but, after running half the distance to the shelter, it had become Su Mo who was chasing from behind.

With a rousing chase, the few-kilometer journey back home became short and cheerful.

In less than ten minutes, Su Mo had returned to the familiar entrance of the Underground Shelter.

"Nice!"

After patrolling the surroundings once to make sure there were no traces of any creature activities nearby, he opened the main door and moved Oreo in. Shaking off the snow, Su Mo swaggered inside.

The door was then closed. The light disappeared, and the hallway became pitch black again.

However, with the darkness also came…

The green safety +1 number that kept floating over Su Mo's head!

Then Oreo pushed open the entrance and turned on the lights. Brightness shone from the inside.

Su Mo started taking off the bloodied armor he had on him as well as the combat uniform, which had been smeared with blood to the point it was unrecognizable.

If he wanted to use these two items again, he had to scrub them well with water first.

He tossed the armor into the storage space and put the combat uniform at the door. Without the restraint and weight of the two outer layers, Su Mo felt like he was floating in decreased gravity as he walked around.

Taking off his hoodie and pants, Su Mo teasingly spoke to the air. "Wind, come give your Master Su Mo a massage!"

…

"Ahem, if the wind here could be a little quicker, that'd be good!"

After he said this, the wind speed began picking up and quickly dried off the moisture on the clothes. Not too long later, not a trace of dampness was left.

Putting his clothes on, Su Mo—who was so hungry that his stomach rumbled—hurriedly raced to the supplies storage and grabbed some food, starting to get tonight's meal ready.

Most of the food in the base was raw. Very few were half-finished products.

Taking out a carton of milk, Su Mo gulped it down as he lamented, "Sigh, I should've left myself a couple of unleavened pancakes. I didn't think my brains would've been so overwhelmed that I left every piece behind!"

Smacking his head, though Su Mo was complaining, he could not stop a blissful smile from stretching over his face.

With the supplies in the base, he only needed to spend a little bit of time to produce a few woks full of those pancakes.

It was the saltpeter ores and treasure chests obtained from the kobolds that were the biggest gains of this trip!

With more than fifty kobolds dead, he had gotten a pleasing harvest of about 4 bronze treasure chests, 6 iron treasure chests, and 11 wooden treasure chests.

Since there were already enough cores to expand the size of the Underground Shelter, Su Mo did not plan to keep these treasure chests any longer.

These dead objects would not become more valuable if he left them alone. Opening them and turning them into "productive" and "combat" power was their best usage.

With a thought, the pitch-black storage space automatically opened.

Su Mo's thoughts turned into a large invisible hand that fished out all the treasure chests he obtained through battle earlier, and he began the exciting process of opening treasure chests!