A swift and decisive victory in the early stages, a post-apocalyptic survival story in America!

Arriving at the shelf displaying US dollars and gold, Li Qi observed carefully and quickly noticed something unusual.

Three more Claymore mines were embedded in the wall deep inside the shelf...

The landmines were painted white, the same color as the walls, and were concealed by US dollars and wooden crates filled with gold, making them virtually invisible unless you looked closely.

What's even more frustrating is that these Claymore mines have different triggering methods.

The top one is for tripping, the middle one is for pulling, and the bottom one is for reducing pressure.

That's not even the most awesome thing.

At the bottom of the shelf, a wire connects to a pressure sensor, extends outwards, splits into three at the corner, and disappears from view.

Three conduits painted the same color as the wall were laid along the corner of the wall, and were barely noticeable unless you looked closely.

One of them went through the basement and went straight to the ground.

The other two, one on the left and one on the right, followed the corner of the wall to the diagonal corners on both sides of the room, and then disappeared into the ground.

Li Qi didn't dare to act rashly. He had Lola wait at the door and went back to the ground to check the whereabouts of the conduit. He couldn't help but gasp.

The cable outlet is behind the bookshelf in the study, directly connected to a mobile phone that is plugged in with a charging cable.

"That's damn underhanded!" Li Qi exclaimed, and while the drug was still in effect, he carefully removed the phone's trigger wire.

Back in the basement, after completely removing the pressure sensor, Li Qi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Those two wires buried underground, if I'm not mistaken, are probably connecting explosives...

"Why didn't I see the surveillance footage here before?" When searching for the hidden cameras, Li Qi discovered two concealed cameras, but it was obvious that he hadn't seen their footage at Nick's house.

Laura frowned and pondered for a moment, then speculated, "Could it be on his office computer?"

Li Qi nodded, agreeing with Lola's speculation: "He spends a lot of time in the office, right? In that case, it's more likely."

Nick is a very busy man and rarely goes home. This place is so important that he can't possibly ignore it for long.

After confirming that there were no more traps or ambushes, Li Qi called to Lola to begin searching the items.

The room was full of valuable items, but the most valuable gold and US dollars were the things the beautiful detective cared about the least.

She didn't care, but Li Qi did.

Li Qi found two bags and started filling them with money.

The four-tiered shelf, about one meter wide, held three tiers of US dollars. Li Qi filled two bags with nearly two million US dollars, but it only filled less than two tiers.

The gold bars are all small, weighing 10 or 20 grams each. When you add them up, they weigh about five kilograms.

"How should we spend so much money..." Li Qi was a bit Versailles-like. He turned his head and saw Lola frowning, staring at the laptop on the table, deep in thought.

Li Qi felt somewhat embarrassed, as it seemed that compared to his own market sense, Lola was more concerned with Nick's main business.

"Did you find anything, darling?" Li Qi leaned closer and hugged Lola from behind.

Lola knew he wasn't really concerned, so she just shook her head and continued flipping through the documents on the table.

Li Qi, feeling rebuffed, glanced at the table and was suddenly drawn to a design drawing at the very bottom.

After removing some of the messy documents, Li Qi pulled out the design drawing.

It was a huge architectural blueprint that looked somewhat familiar.

The picture clearly doesn't depict this place, nor the gray and white mansion that Nick previously designed and renovated, nor the house in the Hancock Park community, yet it feels strangely familiar…

Li Qi pondered for a long time, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

"Is this the design plan for the basement of the Thomson mansion?" Richie muttered.

Before he could finish speaking, a flash of golden light appeared before his eyes.

[System main quest released!]

[Task Name: Collect Building Materials!]

[Mission Summary: While searching for resources, you stumbled upon a blueprint! Based on this blueprint, your bunker can be upgraded. After upgrading, it will accommodate more survivors and significantly improve their living standards and happiness index! However, to upgrade the bunker, you need the most basic building materials: steel bars, cement, gravel, welding rods… These resources are extremely scarce in this chaotic post-apocalyptic world, making them incredibly difficult to collect! Good luck, survivor!]

【任务内容：三年内，完成庇护所升级所需材料的收集工作：钢筋*500延长米；中沙*50立方米；水泥*200袋；添加剂*30袋，焊条*300根……】

[Mission Rewards: Inspiration Capsule*1, Life Capsule*1, Health Capsule*1, Combat Capsule*1, Free Attribute Points*6.]

[Perfect Mission: Complete the collection mission independently within one year without attracting hostile forces or being besieged by zombies, and without troubling female companions.]

[Perfect Reward: *Architect.]

*Architect: The sturdiness and self-sufficiency of your civil engineering projects are paramount for your survival in the apocalypse. Mastering basic construction skills will provide a strong guarantee for your survival. You possess construction capabilities beyond those of ordinary people; brick by brick, you will build a towering skyscraper!*

Looking at this main quest, Li Qi was somewhat confused.

The previous task wasn't completed yet, so why was this triggered again?

The previous task was to provide psychological counseling to the companions; this task is to collect building materials to reinforce the shelter.

Comparing the two task interfaces, Li Qi noticed something was wrong.

The main quests offer richer rewards, take longer, and are more difficult; the characters in the previous psychotherapy quests did not have a "main quest" label, so they were considered side quests with much fewer rewards.

To be honest, this main quest would be hellishly difficult in a real post-apocalyptic world, but at this point in time, it seems to be effortless.

No, that's not right. This matter can't be alerted to outsiders; it's purely physical labor, so it's quite difficult...

Instead of focusing on the mission rewards, Li Qi pondered over the design drawing.

The design drawings were clearly done by professionals, providing a comprehensive plan for the underground secret room of that house in the Hancock Park community, making fuller and more efficient use of the existing space.

Compared to the current design that only utilizes the ground floor, this design is significantly more three-dimensional, dividing the entire space into four floors connected by internal staircases. It offers more functional areas and can accommodate more people.

After carefully examining the design drawing and combining it with the mansion Nick had renovated, Li Qi made a rough guess.

Nick, that old bastard, probably wants to expand the underground secret chamber, so he plans to move Sophia and the other six girls to the mansion before starting construction.

Otherwise, there's no reason for it to be so complicated.

However, after seeing Nick's other ways of making money, Li Qi was quite dismissive of the erotic live streaming business.

In terms of making money quickly, even a year of live streaming can't compare to selling an organ, right?

Not understanding Nick's considerations, Li Qi put away the design drawings and asked Lola, "Honey, shall we pack up and leave? There's so much here; we can't look through it all in a short time. I'm hungry, aren't you?"

Laura reluctantly looked up from the documents, shook her head, and said, "I'm not hungry, I'm in a hurry. If there really is a ship carrying children, I need to find it as soon as possible. These are more than a dozen young lives; we can't wait!"

Li Qi shrugged: "Alright then, you stay here and continue reading the documents. I'll go out and buy you something to eat."

Lola smiled sweetly: "Thank you, Big Daddy!"

Li Qi chuckled, patted her shapely buttocks, and left the basement humming a little tune.

Just as Li Qi was about to lower the stowed ladder down from the roof, he suddenly heard a crisp sound.

The crisp sound wasn't actually abrupt; it was mixed in with the noise of cars, people, and dogs, and most people couldn't hear it at all.

But after days of bloodshed and life-or-death experiences, Li Qi was most familiar with this crisp sound.

That was the sound of a pistol being chambered.