Chapter 209 - Make Up For Regrets, The Core Finally Appeared!
"I've returned to the time when I first arrived in the doomsday wasteland!"
Looking at the task prompts issued by the game panel, and the nearby unclaimed basin, Su Mo was overjoyed and quickly explored the other functions.
At this time, not only were there no fees for the manufacturing items on the manufacturing function panel, but the items that could be called bugs were still there. Even the transaction panel did not require any disgusting "courier fees"!
Compared to the real world that was currently preparing for the welfare disaster, this world in the ruins of time was simply "paradise"!
"Oreo and Moore are stuck in an eternal space but, as long as I can leave, it is equivalent to one second of time to them..."
The game panel was very user-friendly and indicated this information on the other side of the task prompt, relieving Su Mo of his inner worries.
Entering the ruins of time, it seemed that as long as he could complete the task, everything would be easily resolved, so there was no need to worry about the rewards and safety in that case.
However, if the task could not be completed, everything would come to an end, and he would naturally not have to worry about that outcome either.
Su Mo glanced at the task request again. After memorizing it, he summoned the prize draw panel.
Different from the previous prize draws, the award items this time around had been slightly adjusted.
As the roulette wheel spun around, Su Mo not only saw the various time currency rewards, but also incidentally saw an almost insignificantly tiny red slice on the roulette wheel.
It was so small that the label for that prize had to be hung on the side. It was apparent how small the chance of winning it was.
"Ss... the red reward is 100 years of time currency. Doesn't this mean that as long as I can obtain it, I can directly increase my lifespan by 100 years?"
The red reward was the best. Compared to the 100-year reward, all other reward items became inconspicuous.
After looking at it for a while, Su Mo felt his heartbeat getting faster, and his blood pressure rose rapidly. He simply covered his eyes, selected his three draw chances, and clicked on the "draw" button.
Whirl, whirl.
The roulette wheel began to spin rapidly. Su Mo resisted looking at what was being drawn, waiting until all three draw chances were used up. After the sound disappeared, Su Mo slowly opened his eyes and looked at the reward items he had drawn.
The first item he received was from the yellow section that occupied half of the roulette wheel.
As the largest section of prizes, the items in the yellow reward were very ordinary, and it was not an exaggeration to say that they resembled items from a garage sale.
Su Mo tried to open the reward module, and found a cross-country motorcycle filled with gas; a pretty decent reward.
The oil barrel that refueled King Kong before he left was still inside Su Mo's storage space at this time. It had a full 100L capacity, which would be enough for this motorcycle to run thousands of kilometers.
The second item still failed to break out of character and had landed on the yellow section of the roulette wheel again. After Su Mo opened it slightly disappointedly, two coin-like items popped out.
"F*ck, is this time currency?"
After looking at the attributes, Su Mo, who did not care about it at first, was shocked.
[Time currency (One day)]
[Description: Mysterious currency that contains the secrets of time. Has an unknown appearance, powerful functions and high resale value.]
[First function: After usage, the player's lifespan increases in tandem with the number of currency days. This function ignores the physical condition of the player, forcibly increasing his/her lifespan.]
[Second function: Carrying it with you will offset the equivalent time penalty listed on the currency.]
[Third function: Using it on other objects or items will automatically assign different time-related bonuses based on the properties of the item or object it is being applied on.]
[Fourth function: Insufficient currency level. Function currently locked…]
...
[Resale value: 20 survival points/piece (One day)]
The appearance of the time currency was unremarkable. Its appearance was almost the same as that of a rusty coin picked off the side of the road, with the only tell-tale sign of its uniqueness being the mysterious pattern that occasionally revealed itself on the coin.
As for functions, the time currency only had three functions at the moment, and the remaining dozens of functions were currently locked.
"One piece is one day, and two pieces are two days. If I want to cultivate seeds, this amount of time currency is insufficient!"
Su Mo shook his head and kept it in the storage space. He turned his gaze to look at the final item he had drawn.
It was a purple item that occupied about one-tenth of the roulette wheel. Not bad!
Seeing that he wasn't lucky enough to draw a reward from the most important red section, Su Mo was not too annoyed either. He chose to open the purple reward item.
In the next second, a card flew down from the crack in space and fell into Su Mo's hand lightly.
The attributes of the card were also displayed simultaneously.
[Item Realization Card (80% completion rate)]
[Description: When the main task completion rate exceeds 80%, you can choose any item to bring out of the ruins with you.]
"If I achieve an 80% rate of completion, I'll be able to bring out an item. Can I bring this turtle armor I'm holding with me?"
"I still have many turtle armors back in the shelter though, so this is basically..."
"F*ck, how did I forget about Magoo's turtle armor. In this world, it may still be around somewhere!"
Looking at the attributes of the card, and the turtle armor in front of him. Su Mo, who originally thought that the card was useless, suddenly remembered an important thing.
In the real world, the turtle armor from Magoo's shelter had been missing since he found the shelter.
Even after the kobold castle was destroyed, Su Mo could not locate Magoo's shelter core there either.
Currently, since he had time-traveled back to the past, it was completely possible to take advantage of the undiscovered Deep-sea Shelter now and open it ahead of schedule to take away the core inside.
"If I can find Magoo's shelter core, this 80% completion rate must be achieved!"
"I'm afraid that Magoo's shelter core represents the greatest known wealth that I have missed out on."
Thinking of Magoo's level five shelter core, and the possibility of recovering the secrets behind his hundreds of days of survival in the wasteland, Su Mo's heart beat rapidly.
Su Mo put away the card and spent some time orienting himself. Shortly after, he got onto the cross-country motorcycle, and revved the engine!
Twisting the throttle, the cross-country motorcycle sprang forward like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, leaving a cloud of yellow sand and smoke in its wake.
A familiar path, and a familiar location.
The journey from the basin to the Deep-sea Shelter was a short one. Su Mo could have simply walked there with his eyes closed, instead of riding a motorcycle.
Three to five minutes later, the two-story Deep-sea Shelter appeared in front of him, and an unspeakable sense of comfort suddenly poured out.
Humankind would always experience countless regrets in their lifetime.
It could be a small fault, a sudden impulse, or even a regret caused by not having enough courage.
Su Mo spent many nights pondering on the location of Magoo's shelter core.
However, at this time, looking at the intact Deep-sea Shelter, Su Mo still overestimated his level of calmness.
"I hope...the core is still inside!"
Su Mo took out a pack of explosives. Just as he was about to detonate it, he noticed another unexpected benefit of being in the ruins of time.
As long as he could complete the mission and return to the real world, all the items he used in the ruin would be replenished.
Which meant that even if he used this pack of explosives in the ruins, as long as he completed the task, it would automatically be recompensed to him upon exiting; an extremely convenient arrangement.
If it was anyone else entering the ruins, this might not be a major factor...
However, for Su Mo...
Glancing at the few terrifying objects and items lying in his storage space, Su Mo suddenly felt 100% confident in accomplishing this task!
"Big Brother Magoo, your friend Su Mo is here to disturb you again. Forgive me. If I can return to the parallel universe, I will help you deliver the letter."
Su Mo respectfully bowed to the door twice, before placing the pack of explosives against the corner, but away from the load bearing pillar. He then slowly lit the fuze.
Crackle... crackle...
The sound of the fuze burning broke the quiet atmosphere. After taking another quick glance to confirm that there were no problems, Su Mo withdrew to a distance of 50 meters and lay down on the ground to watch and wait.
Although a pound of explosives was quite powerful, it was insufficient to cause significant structural damage to the Deep-sea Shelter unless it was placed close to the load-bearing pillar.
By now, Su Mo had extensive experience in using explosives, plus he was very familiar with the structure of the Deep-sea Shelter. He had 100% confidence regarding this matter!
Boom!
The one-minute countdown ended, and a thick plume of yellow smoke rose into the sky. The smoke was slowly blown away by the wind near the Deep-sea Shelter and drifted away into the distance.
Where the dense smoke had dissipated, a big hole that a person could crawl through had appeared!
Although it was not the first time that the Deep-sea Shelter had been damaged, this time, it felt different.
With his body in peak condition, Su Mo spotted a small tree nearby and quickly grabbed some branches and the materials required to make the fire torch.
The fire torch was still on the list.
Manufacturing did not cost anything, so he could be as wayward as he wanted.
With a pinch of his hands, the wood and plant fibers disappeared, and a torch that he had not seen for weeks in reality appeared in his hands again.
Su Mo took out the lighter and ignited it, before carrying it into the shelter with a swagger.
As soon as he entered, the first thing that caught his eye was Magoo's corpse.
This time though, the corpse was whole and the bones had not been damaged at all, as it was propped up against the wall. It seemed like Magoo had died of dehydration.
In addition, beside Magoo's skeletal hand, Su Mo saw...
A core!
The core was huge, to the extent it covered half of his body. Above the turtle armor core, the mermaid clan's water ability was flowing continuously, releasing its magic power.
"I gambled correctly! Magoo's core is really here!"
Every cloud has a silver lining.
He had somewhat given up the hope of ever finding Magoo's shelter core. Who knew that fate would allow him to find the core in this way. The process was simply tortuous and bizarre.
Su Mo tried to open the shelter core. When he received the notification prompt that required him to possess a complete shelter core and to destroy the Deep-sea Shelter to merge with his own, Su Mo did not rush things and placed Magoo's shelter core into the storage space.
Of course, with so many things inside, there was not enough storage space left for such a large shelter core. Su Mo was still in a good mood, so he waved his hand and spent 800 disaster points to increase the capacity of his storage space by another four cubic meters.
The crowded storage space suddenly became a lot more spacious as the upgrade light flashed.
Su Mo had now fulfilled a wish that had been kept inside his heart for the longest time. After looking at the remaining items and thinking for a while, Su Mo simply exited the Deep-sea Shelter after temporarily filling in the gap with soil.
"After being transported here, I remember that the first acid rain disaster claimed the lives of approximately 150 million people."
"Most of these people died of thirst and starvation, and very few of them were attacked and killed by mutant creatures."
"So all I have to do is to provide enough water for everyone and gain sufficient standing and influence to ensure that this group of people listens to me obediently and survives as much as possible."
"Of course, the current drinking water crisis has yet to erupt, so it's not yet time for me to provide them with water."
Figuring out a few subtle points mentally, he noted that the hour was still early as he looked up at the bright sky. Su Mo burst out laughing, and rode the cross-country motorcycle into the distance.
If others were to enter the ruins of time, it would probably be considered a test of their survival capabilities.
However, for Su Mo, who was decked out with formidable equipment and items, the ruins of time was simply an opportunity to make up for lost regrets!