Chen Yuan stood his ground and watched the woman leave. Only when her dark figure had completely vanished did he turn his head toward the neighboring residential building.
"Tiedan, time to work!"
「Roger, roger.」
Hearing his voice, Tiedan immediately scampered out, its four mechanical legs moving in a rapid, alternating gait until it stood before Chen Yuan.
Looking at the highly intelligent robot dog, Chen Yuan rubbed his chin and smiled. "Whoever invented this thing was really something else." If it had a mechanical arm, his life would be even easier. But for now, he still had to rely on himself.
He attached the tow rope to the hook on Tiedan's back, tied the other end securely around the tree trunk, and patted the dog's head with a grin. "Let's go home."
「Roger.」
Tiedan emitted a mechanical whir, then turned and headed for home. The tree trunk weighed well over a hundred pounds, but Tiedan towed it with little effort. Its mechanical legs, no thicker than his forearm, erupted with immense power. The surface of its body glowed, shifting from a light red to a deep crimson, and the snowflakes that landed on it were quickly melted and evaporated. The large tree trunk carved a clear path as it was dragged through the snow.
Man and dog began their work right below their building. With Tiedan handling the transport, all Chen Yuan had to do was chop the trunk into suitably sized logs.
After a flurry of activity, it was only noon.
After resting on the sofa for a while, Chen Yuan packed a bottle of Mineral Life Water, two compressed biscuits, and two large handfuls of combustion pellets, and headed out again. This time, he wasn't after wood. To get more tools, he needed to feed the Apocalypse Store more metal.
Walking through the swept alley, his steps were much lighter. The main street was still deserted. Snow fell sporadically, but the temperature had dropped even further. He looked up at the hazy gray sky, and a sense of oppression made it hard to breathe. He couldn't imagine how a person could survive in this kind of environment for long without being driven mad.
He found the car he had broken into the day before. This time, he was going to take the four wheels. His strength wasn't great enough, otherwise, he would have tried to take the entire engine back. Who knew what kind of amazing things the Apocalypse Store could produce from a piece of machinery that large?
Chen Yuan first cleared the surrounding snow, then retrieved a set of tools from the trunk. He decided to take them with him after he was done; they might come in handy.
Removing the four tires wasn't too difficult. While he was at it, he also stripped the car's wiring harness.
Back home, Tiedan stood guard at the door while he went to the supply room to take inventory. He had thirty-two compressed biscuits, twenty bottles of Mineral Life Water, and three bags of combustion pellets.
"I'm set for food and water for a month," Chen Yuan nodded with satisfaction, then went into the warehouse.
He looked at the supplies he had scavenged today and rubbed his chin. The tires were rubber and aluminum alloy. The wiring harness was mostly copper, rubber, and plastic. Since they were all primarily metal and rubber, he decided to just toss them all in and see what happened.
He lifted a tire and threw it directly at the insertion port. The tire's diameter was larger than the port, but as it touched the edge, it miraculously shrank and was sucked inside.
"Huh? It can do that?" A look of surprise crossed Chen Yuan's face. He hadn't noticed this function before. If that was the case, couldn't he insert much larger items in the future? Good news. This was definitely good news.
「Ding-a-ling~ Material insertion successful. Exchanging product automatically. Please wait...」
「This insertion: four tires, various wiring harnesses.」
Chen Yuan stood before the screen, staring at the scrolling text, slightly stunned. What's going on? Is it broken? What's the output? Why isn't it showing?
A sense of anxiety crept into his heart. He was terrified that his Apocalypse Store might suddenly break. If that happened, his life would be forfeit.
Fortunately, after a short while, another line of small text appeared on the screen.
「Store upgrading...」
Phew... Chen Yuan let out a long breath and patted his chest. "Thank god, it's just an upgrade, not a crash." But still, it didn't say how long the upgrade would take. What if it was more than a month? He shook his head. The store was great, but it wasn't very user-friendly.
He walked out of the warehouse and glanced at the wall clock. It was already 4:30 in the afternoon. Standing at the window, he looked up at the sky. He didn't know if it was his imagination, but it seemed like the sky was getting dark earlier each day.
His gaze flickered. In a window of the residential building opposite his, did a light just flash? His heart tightened. He immediately pulled the curtains shut. Then, he called Tiedan over.
"Scan the building opposite. See if there's anyone inside."
「Roger. Commencing thermal imaging scan...」
「Master, three active objects detected on the fifth floor, two active objects on the third floor.」
Chen Yuan was slightly taken aback. The Fenghuo Squad had swept the area, yet these people hadn't joined them. In this extreme environment with no water or electricity, even with enough stored supplies, they wouldn't be able to last long. Humans are social animals; few can endure such solitude. He himself was busy every day, but who knew, maybe one day he wouldn't be able to resist seeking out his own kind for a chat.
"Forget it. As long as they don't come looking for trouble."
He straightened the curtains and lay back on the sofa, looking at his phone, which had long since become a useless brick. He shook his head. The service providers had all gone under. What was the use of a phone now? Oh, right, he could play offline games.
Chen Yuan rubbed his chin and muttered to himself, "After the store upgrades, I'm definitely getting a generator..."
As someone from the information age, suddenly losing his phone was a very painful experience. Staring at the red glow of the stove, Chen Yuan groggily drifted off to sleep.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but he was woken up by a series of loud, clattering noises.
What's going on?
His first instinct was to look at the front door. The faint red glow from Tiedan indicated that its fuel hadn't run out. In other words, the noise wasn't coming from outside the door, otherwise Tiedan would have alerted him.
If not the door, then it must be the window.
He quickly got up, went to the window, and parted the curtain with his finger, peering across at the opposite building.
Sure enough, the sound was coming from over there. He could see the curtains on the fifth floor swinging wildly. He could hear a woman's hysterical screams and a man's roaring. The distance was too great, and with both windows closed, he couldn't hear clearly.
But after a short while, the window opposite shattered.
To Chen Yuan's utter shock, a man wrapped in a down jacket fell backwards out of the window.
THUD!!!
A human-shaped crater appeared in the snow below. Blood instantly stained the white, and the man went still.
Hiss...
Seeing this, Chen Yuan couldn't help but suck in a sharp, cold breath.
Quickly, his gaze shifted back up to the broken window. A woman with disheveled hair was leaning out, her hands gripping the frame, letting out a scream of pure agony. After a long moment, she slowly pulled herself back inside.
Chen Yuan slapped his own face, trying to clear his head. This was the first time he had seen someone fall from a building from such a close distance. Most importantly, the person had died right below his own building. Even if he hadn't died from the fall, without immediate medical attention, death was certain. He didn't know what had just happened over there, but he judged it was likely a domestic dispute that ended with someone being accidentally pushed.
Before he could even think about how to deal with the body, he was horrified to see the woman reappear at the window, now holding a child in her arms.
"FUCK!!!"