Doomsday disaster: Start by building a shelter.

Chapter 337 Industrial Mechs
Although the Icelake-class transport ships are slow, their 10,000-ton-class cargo capacity makes up for it all.

It became the most powerful means of transportation besides the traction channel.

I briefly imagined the future.

Su Wu then switched the projection in front of him to the map of the Eastern Continent.

From here on, everything else is just a matter of following the established procedures.

All he needs to do is make sure that the overall direction is correct.

in the afternoon.

A farmhouse courtyard, five stories underground.

Akiyama Middle School.

As the bell rang to signal the end of get out of class.

An Jun packed his textbooks into his desk and slowly walked out of the school gate alone.

It's said to be the school gate.

It's actually just the iron railing at the entrance of the first-floor staircase.

In this refuge, almost all the schools lack traditional campuses.

The activity space is all crammed into classrooms that are not very spacious.

Although the conditions are not ideal.

The spots available for studying there remain extremely valuable.

Especially An Jun's current high school level.

Basically, out of every few thousand junior high school students, only the top ten are eligible to continue their studies.

Furthermore, even if you are enrolled, it doesn't mean you can focus on your studies.

In addition to completing the necessary coursework at school every day.

After school, students must also participate in a certain amount of labor.

Only by working an average of four hours per day, after deducting holidays and weekends, can one meet the working hours requirement for three consecutive years.

Alternatively, one can earn equivalent work credits.

Only then can one be eligible to take the university entrance exam.

Otherwise, they can only get a high school diploma, and they will still have to make up for the missing working hours through voluntary labor.

It's essentially equivalent to paying for learning.

I met up with my friends at the community canteen.

I received my dinner for today.

An Jun found a seat and sat down to eat slowly.

He received an E-level package today.

It is only one level higher than the lowest grade.

It contained some vegetables, diced radishes, bean sprouts, and a small portion of sauce made with an unidentified meat.

The taste was neither good nor bad, roughly the same as a fast food meal that cost a dozen yuan before the apocalypse.

However, An Jun is already quite satisfied with this.

Hailing from Shanghe City, after experiencing the disintegration of the shelter and the life of a disaster victim where even food and clothing were not guaranteed during the apocalypse.

He was well aware that everything he had achieved was hard-won.

It is also a paradise in the eyes of many outsiders.

“An Jun, you’ve fallen to seventh from the bottom in this monthly exam.”

Are you still planning to continue?

While eating, his friend Zheng Mingzhe, who was sitting next to him, started talking about his studies.

"Let's hold on for a while longer and see."

Mentioning this made An Jun, who was in a good mood, become somewhat depressed.

In the post-apocalyptic world, those who can enter high school are all elites selected from thousands.

In the past, they would have been considered top students.

The pressure of competing with this group of people is considerable.

That goes beyond the realm of effort and rises to the point of competing in talent.

Unfortunately, An Jun's talent is clearly not outstanding among a large number of top students.

What's even more upsetting is...

It means persevering even under immense pressure.

If they ultimately fail to get into university.

All they could get was a high school diploma.

Before the apocalypse, almost everyone had that thing.

It's basically no different from a piece of waste paper.

But if An Jun were to give up now, he would be unwilling.

Because this is the only visible way to ascend within the shelter.

If he misses this opportunity, he will only be one of hundreds of millions of ordinary workers like everyone else.

"Come on."

Zheng Mingzhe could sense his friend's inner turmoil, but he was powerless to help.

He was actually doing even worse off.

He didn't even pass the high school entrance exam, so he was forced to start working full-time early.

However, it's not entirely without its advantages.

At least recently, he has accumulated a considerable amount of Vault Points and in-game currency.

They live a much more comfortable life than An Jun, who has no time to play games.

After dinner.

The two of them boarded the shelter's aerial rail transit train together and headed to their workplace, the construction site in Zone C, which was eight stories above ground.

The entire structure is oval-shaped, with tempered glass inlaid on all sides, and it is a single-section aerial rail transit train that can accommodate up to 8 people sitting face to face.

It is a new type of transportation that has only recently begun to become popular in shelters.

It runs on a track erected above the streets of the shelter.

It can reach a top speed of 70 kilometers per hour.

In addition, its small and agile size allows it to easily move through most of the shelter's spaces.

Basically, you can board the train at any station.

They can all reach their destination within 15 minutes.

I sat on the sky train that had begun to move steadily.

An Jun turned his head and looked out the huge glass window.

Those neat four-story buildings, and the low saplings and other greenery planted in the narrow streets.

They flashed before his eyes one by one.

"Speak of it."

"Even now, it still seems a bit unbelievable."

"In just fifteen minutes, we can traverse the homes of hundreds of millions of people and reach any one of them."

"If this were before the apocalypse, it would probably only happen in science fiction novels."

At this moment, there were only the two of them in the huge carriage.

With nothing else to do, Zheng Mingzhe imitated An Jun's actions and looked out the window with some emotion.

The Earth's surface before the apocalypse.

Even crossing a megacity in fifteen minutes is highly improbable.

Even a megacity only has tens of millions of people.

Let's compare them like this.

They can then more deeply appreciate just how magnificent and incredible the shelter they are in is.

It would be entirely fitting to call it an epic project of human civilization.

"This is probably our good fortune."

"I am fortunate to be able to live in such a refuge."

An Jun smiled faintly, his gaze falling on the street outside the window.

Their purpose can be discerned by the various details printed on those unchanging building facades.

Residential areas, leisure and entertainment areas, agricultural buildings, light industrial production plants, etc.

He saw things more clearly than his companions.

It is truly remarkable that such a large and well-equipped shelter could be built.

However, if the entire Eastern Continent were to gather its resources before the apocalypse, it might not be impossible to replicate several shelters of the same scale.

However, having the capability to build is one thing.

Whether resources can be allocated reasonably is another matter entirely.

Without universal fairness, limited resources are used to near-maximum extents.

It's simply impossible to achieve what we're seeing now. To feed over 100 million people.

Ten minutes later.

Passing through the street on the 5th underground level.

Then, it ascends to the 8th floor above ground via a dedicated vertical shaft for the tracks.

An Jun and his companion arrived at their assigned work location: a temporary transit warehouse.

"We were lucky this time."

"The industrial mechs assigned to us are all brand new products that have just entered service."

Zheng Mingzhe raised his wrist and checked the mission log through the bracelet.

Then, using the clues above, I found two Hercules-type industrial mechs that had just entered standby mode.

Hercules-type industrial mech.

It is a new type of equipment that has only recently begun to be gradually popularized in shelters.

Its creation is said to be related to a newly discovered wear-resistant material.

The mecha is 3.8 meters tall.

The driving mode is similar to wearing an exoskeleton armor.

The entire person is embedded inside the mecha and then operates it through their limbs.

However, it is a mass-produced indoor industrial mech.

There was no specific protective design.

About half of the driver's body is exposed.

They can only work inside shelters and cannot be used outside.

With the help of a lifting platform.

After entering the industrial mech.

An Jun's field of vision immediately saw a row of fluctuating data.

Those are the various real-time attribute parameters of the industrial mechs.

An Jun quickly glanced at it.

Note that the energy reserve shown above is 100%, and it is also within the range of wireless charging.

This means that this industrial mech possesses virtually unlimited power within the current scenario.

You can use it freely without any worries.

I lifted my leg slightly.

The massive industrial mechs then moved.

With a thud, he took a step on the ground.

"I'm going to work now."

He greeted Zheng Mingzhe, who was still getting used to things.

An Jun piloted the industrial mecha towards the warehouse.

It's not that he's unwilling to wait for his friend.

Industrial mechs, on the other hand, are controlled items.

Once he gets on top, it's like entering a timer mode.

During this period.

His efficiency in completing all his labor tasks will be given a rating.

If the rating is too low.

Next time I'm on a job, I won't be able to pilot an industrial mech.

Instead, they will be downgraded and assigned a lower-performance exoskeleton armor.

Conversely, if the rating is excellent.

The next mission he'll be assigned will most likely be a remotely controllable industrial mech.

Not only is it safer.

It also makes it easier to earn more work credits.

As soon as I entered the warehouse.

An industrial mech with an ice-blue paint job came into An Jun's view.

With nimble movements, she carried two standard shipping containers and ran towards the outside.

An Jun was startled and instinctively tried to step aside.

However, the Hercules-type industrial mech he was piloting had just made a gesture to adjust its direction.

They haven't even had a chance to take a step yet.

The blue mech that was coming towards him had already nimbly bypassed the spot where he was standing.

They continued their sprint without slowing down.

Both are industrial mechs.

The difference in reaction speed between the two sides was strikingly evident at this moment.

A few seconds later.

An Jun heard his friend's shouts coming from outside on his communication channel.

"Holy crap, a really fast mech just came out."

"Is it a special model directly under artificial intelligence?"

His words were full of amazement at having learned something new.

"You're overthinking it. That person is Jiang Yunxia from our school."

An Jun shook his head, recognizing the other person's identity.

I didn't have a particularly intuitive feeling about it before.

All they knew was that the other person was the top student in their school and very beautiful.

Doing the same job now, you can immediately feel the despairing gap between the two of you.

He was also piloting a Hercules-type industrial mech that could only be driven by himself.

Jiang Yunxia, ​​however, already possesses a custom-made industrial mecha that can be remotely operated and is exclusively hers.

With extremely high work efficiency and remuneration, students can almost complete three years' worth of work credits in just two or three months after enrollment.

The outstanding specimens are almost unbelievable as to be of a different species.

"Is that the school beauty you mentioned before?"

Why don't you try to pursue her?

When the topic turned to girls of similar age, Zheng Mingzhe became interested.

"That's too late."

"She already has a fiancé."

An Jun sighed, looking somewhat regretful.

"fiancé?"

"Was it arranged for her by her family?"

Zheng Mingzhe became even more curious.

In the post-apocalyptic world, de facto equality for all has been achieved.

For people their age, engagement seems like something that only exists in legends.

"If that's the case, then it's better."

"But the problem is that those are objects designated by managers and artificial intelligence."

"It is said that Jiang Yunxia herself has never even seen what her fiancé looks like."

An Jun seemed rather uninterested.

"Can artificial intelligence also perform this kind of forced allocation?"

Zheng Mingzhe was shocked upon hearing this, feeling as if his understanding had been refreshed.

He always thought it was just a fair management machine.

It shouldn't involve such personal matters that carry strong personal stances.

"Perhaps it's because she's too outstanding."

The more we realize the reality of equality for all in the shelters today, the more we understand.

An Junyue was able to understand.

This is something they cannot resist or change.

If it is a case of a member of the management team in the shelter abusing their power for personal gain.

He might still be able to find a way to get help from others to struggle.

But what if it comes from the will of the supreme ruler who controls the fate of hundreds of millions of people?

Then, the option of not accepting or refusing simply doesn't exist.

"I just hope for the future."

"Could that person be a little nicer to her—"

(End of this chapter)