Chapter 119 - 118: Increase Population Capacity

Chapter 119: Chapter 118: Increase Population Capacity

As for any future equipment upgrades, those would have to wait until Zhou Yiming’s stats improved.

After sending the equipment over, Ye Yun immediately thought of another, very serious problem.

He opened the system.

The main shelter’s population had already reached its limit.

The only way to increase the population was to upgrade.

Ye Yun opened the building list and selected the upgrade option for the dormitory.

A long list of upgrade requirements appeared before him.

[Soft Fabric (Blue)]x2[1/2]

[Intact Paulownia Wood (Blue)]x1[0/1]

[Intact Glass (Green)]x5[0/5]

[Rusted Screws (White)]x10[10/10]

...

The upgrade cost wasn’t too high. All the components combined were equivalent to the cost of four blue-rarity components.

Ye Yun hadn’t upgraded before because he was concerned about the operational costs of the construction robots. However, with Zhou Yiming’s arrival, it seemed he had no other choice.

With a healer like him on the exploration team, their survivability would undoubtedly increase significantly.

Ye Yun immediately assigned the upgrade task to the construction robots.

The dormitory upgrade didn’t take long. About two hours later, it was complete.

With the upgrade complete, the main shelter’s recruitment cap for regular humans increased from three to four.

Used Space: 10

Available Space: 0[+]

Food Reserves: 100/100[+]

Freshwater Reserves: 100/100[+]

Power Reserves: 400/400[+]

Medicine: 10/100[+]

Construction Robots: 5/5

Advanced Bioroids: 1/1

Bioroids: 3/3

Regular Humans: 3/4

Shelter Members: 7

Since he was already upgrading the dormitory, Ye Yun went ahead and expanded the robot storage room as well.

After all, an extra construction robot would significantly speed up production within the shelter.

「Two hours later.」

Bena and his team finally returned to the shelter.

Bena and the others entered the shelter, weary and dust-covered from their journey. Despite bearing the marks of battle, they seemed to be in good spirits.

Lanton had sustained a minor injury to his arm, but after some basic treatment from Zhou Mei, it was no longer a major concern.

Ye Yun stepped forward to greet them, nodding at Bena before turning his gaze to Lanton’s arm.

"How’s the injury? Do you need to visit the medical bay?"

Lanton shook his head, indicating he was fine.

"It’s just a scratch. Zhou Mei has already treated it."

Only then did Ye Yun relax. He turned to Bena.

"Good work on the mission. Not only have we taken Shelter 40902, but the other shelter has also been cleared out.

With this, the immediate threats in our vicinity are temporarily neutralized."

Hearing this, a relieved smile spread across Bena’s face. "That’s great. Everyone can finally breathe a little and get some proper rest."

Ye Yun nodded, then turned to Zhou Mei.

"Zhou Mei, take Lanton to rest, and check on his injury while you’re at it.

Bena, you’re with me. Let’s go over the plan for what’s next."

Ye Yun opened the system interface and pulled up the local map.

Of the six stars near the main base, one had turned green, while the other five had changed from red to black.

"The shelters in our immediate vicinity have been cleared out for now, but we can’t rule out the possibility of new factions entering the area.

This is especially true for the location of Sub-base 2. There are still several other shelters around it, watching like vultures, ready to attack at any moment. We can’t afford to be complacent."

After all, Lina was still in Sub-base 2. Hearing Ye Yun say it might not be safe, Bena tensed up.

Bena spoke anxiously:

"Sir, we can’t let anything happen to Sub-base 2.

Lina and Sara are both there. We have to ensure their safety."

Ye Yun nodded. Of course, he understood the importance of Sub-base 2.

After all, he had invested a massive amount of resources into Sub-base 2. If it were to be wiped out, his losses would be immense.

He patted Bena’s shoulder gently.

"Don’t worry too much. Sub-base 2 is in a semi-sealed state right now, so it’s virtually impossible for anyone to find it."

Ye Yun wasn’t lying to Bena about this.

After all, the coordinates for Inoshita Yoshihiko’s shelter had appeared on *his* map.

This meant that he was the only one who knew its precise location.

Even if others had their suspicions about the shelter’s location, sending out a team to find it wouldn’t be easy.

Just scrounging up enough modified motorcycles for rapid travel would likely be an insurmountable obstacle for most other shelter managers.

Besides, he had already upgraded the Shelter Entrance from White-rarity to Green, giving its Defense Power and durability a massive boost.

Even if another manager did manage to find the shelter, as long as they remained sealed inside, Sub-base 2 could theoretically hold out until a support team arrived.

Ye Yun continued,

"Going forward, I’ll be reinforcing Sub-base 2’s defenses."

"Of course, in addition to strengthening its defenses, you’ll need to continue eliminating threats near Sub-base 2 over the next few days, just as you’ve been doing."

Bena nodded.

"As you command, Manager."

Ye Yun said, satisfied,

"Alright, that’s the gist of it. Go get some rest. Don’t let it affect your training tomorrow."

Bena acknowledged and turned, leaving the hall to head for the dormitory.

After the back-to-back battles and missions, he really did need a good rest to be ready for whatever came next.

After Bena left, Ye Yun reviewed the system interface again, checking the shelter’s current status and resource levels.

He knew that in this wasteland, any lapse in vigilance could lead to disastrous consequences.

Therefore, even though the situation seemed stable for now, he had no intention of letting his guard down.

’The third crisis is less than three days away, yet I have absolutely no idea what it will entail.

The first and second crises were obvious. Whether it was the mutant cockroach attack or the assault by the large mutated creature, there were always omens and hints, big or small.

He and the other managers had mostly been able to figure out what was coming.

However, after the second crisis ended, everything had gone quiet.

It was as if the wasteland outside had become a paradise.

Even the panicked wailing in the public chat had died down. Part of the reason was that most managers had become warier of each other.

But a bigger reason was likely that after more than twenty days of struggling to survive, the seventy million-plus shelter managers who were still alive had developed a certain degree of self-sufficiency.

As long as they didn’t do anything stupid or get incredibly unlucky, normal exploration runs rarely ended in a life-or-death situation.

Of course, it could also be that they were simply moving too slowly, unable to get very far on foot.

So, what exactly *is* the third crisis?’