"The wind speed in the air is approximately 35 meters per second."
"Not too strong."
"But it's no longer suitable for ordinary people to venture out alone."
"It also has a certain impact on some mechanical operations."
Using the various data detected.
Su Wu quickly formed a general impression of the place.
The adverse effects brought by the branch cyclones were gradually becoming evident here.
For ordinary people wanting to go out and move around on the surface.
It was no longer sufficient to just have a high-end cold-proof suit. They now needed to be equipped with mechs or vehicles for transportation.
And this was just the beginning.
Once the main body of the branch cyclone moved in.
Only massive entities like merchant convoy trains might be able to traverse it stably.
Moreover, this was just the impact of the storm alone.
If geological activities such as earthquakes and underwater volcanic eruptions were added.
Even merchant convoy trains might not guarantee absolute safety.
"What a hassle."
Su Wu sighed silently.
At this moment.
The display of the Twin-Winged Helicopter showed a message from the Zhenhai City Dispatch Center.
He glanced at it, feeling slightly surprised.
"Even the only exit was buried by an avalanche a few minutes ago?"
This was a minor incident.
With Zhenhai City's construction capabilities, it would take no more than two hours to clear it.
The actual impact was minimal.
However, the key issue.
Was that Zhenhai City could no longer ensure safety even at its doorstep.
This indicated that the environment had deteriorated to a certain extent, gradually slipping out of their control.
This was not a good sign.
With the entrance temporarily blocked.
The landing destination naturally had to be changed.
Su Wu found the new landing coordinates in the information sent by the Dispatch Center.
It was on the rooftop of a 30-story ordinary commercial building, 3.7 kilometers away from the original entrance.
Following the instructions, he adjusted the flight route.
A few minutes later.
The Twin-Winged Helicopter landed on the emergency-cleared open-air platform on the top floor of the building.
Several workers wearing Exoskeleton Armor.
Operated machinery.
Setting up a temporary windproof passage between the helicopter's cabin door and the building's entrance.
Su Wu smoothly entered the building through this passage.
"Welcome to Zhenhai City."
"Please follow me."
The official in charge of welcoming slightly bowed to Su Wu.
The official didn't know that the person controlling the bionic robot in front of him was Su Wu himself.
But as a representative of a force with a population of over a hundred million, equivalent to several super cities combined.
Regardless, he was still entitled to the utmost respect.
Su Wu nodded slightly, saying nothing more.
He followed the official down the stairs.
As they descended.
Su Wu quickly noticed through the various precision detection instruments on his body.
That many places here were filled with traces of human habitation.
Various living supplies were also surprisingly abundant.
It was as if a large supermarket had been entirely moved in here.
Seeing that Su Wu seemed interested in the place.
The accompanying official explained.
"This place was bought by the owner of a large chain supermarket with supplies after the apocalypse."
"So there's quite a lot of various living supplies stored inside."
As Su Wu listened, his gaze lingered for a few seconds on a spot that was once suspected to be a ventilation window but was now sealed with cement.
He asked with some curiosity, "Are you planning to turn this place into a shelter?"
The official nodded.
It was clear that he had done some prior research on the place.
"That's the intention."
"Back then, the external environment wasn't too harsh."
"The commercial building itself was sturdy enough."
"With some proper management, it could actually be a decent place to stay."
"At least in terms of living environment and space, it's much better than underground shelters."
"Unfortunately—"
The official didn't finish his sentence.
After descending a few more floors.
Su Wu paused briefly in front of a fire door.
He looked in a certain direction.
Within his vision, integrated with various detection devices.
He could clearly see.
A man and a woman, frozen into ice sculptures, were lying on a bed in a room, embracing each other.
If nothing unexpected had happened.
One of them was likely the supermarket owner the official had mentioned.
Not far from them.
Was a large section of shattered wall and irregular ice that had spread almost all over the floor.
"The accident occurred 17 hours ago."
"The instantaneous temperature inside the room was below minus 120 degrees Celsius."
These traces, which are not easily noticed by ordinary people.
Were as clear as fireflies in the night under the detector's scan.
Every strand was exceptionally visible.
"You see?"
"The man was the owner of this place after the apocalypse, and the woman was his later-found lover."
"They occasionally entered the shelter through the multi-level underground parking lot below to tour around."
"They were somewhat famous among certain fixed groups here."
"It was said that they had plans to dispose of the supplies in the building and move back into the shelter."
"But unexpectedly, they didn't make it in time."
The official's tone carried a hint of lament.
It wasn't out of pity for the unfortunate couple, but rather concern for his own future fate.
As the official in charge of welcoming Su Wu.
He was already qualified to know some of the latest intelligence.
The current situation in Zhenhai City was actually no different from that of the supermarket owner.
No one could be sure if, in the next moment.
A sudden natural disaster would wipe out their entire shelter.
"Actually, if they had just thickened that wall with two more centimeters of cement."
"They could have escaped this disaster."
Su Wu shook his head slightly, feeling a bit sorry for the two.
But he also knew in his heart.
Although it seemed like they were just a hair's breadth away, no matter how many times they tried again.
The outcome wouldn't be any different.
With only two people and without a personal shelter equipped with Artificial Intelligence like Su Wu's.
Their limited labor force was already stretched thin just maintaining the daily operations of the shelter.
They couldn't possibly invest in such infrastructure.
No matter how hard they tried, their lives were still dependent on the structural strength of the building itself.
Continuing down the stairs.
Passing through a three-level underground garage.
Su Wu and his group finally arrived inside the official shelter of Zhenhai City.
Unlike Su Wu's own shelter or the Super Shelter in Changming City, the layout of the shelter in Zhenhai City resembled a massive shopping mall. There were no distinct streets or buildings, only corridors of varying sizes. At regular intervals, there were large plazas that spanned several floors.
In such an environment, progress was naturally slow. After walking for over an hour, Su Wu finally reached the core area of Zhenhai City. In a bustling office hall, he met Ping Yuhan, the city's council chairman.
"I apologize for not being able to personally welcome you due to an urgent matter that arose recently," Ping Yuhan said with bloodshot eyes and a look of deep exhaustion. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, he invited Su Wu to join a small-scale discussion meeting they were conducting.
"Two hours ago," Ping Yuhan began, "the exploration submarine piloted by Dr. Liu Haoran completely lost contact while sailing south at a distance of 957 kilometers. According to the last data he transmitted before disappearing, the area he was in showed signs of active underwater volcanoes. Initial estimates suggest a 76% probability that this will eventually affect Zhenhai City. The environmental monitoring team recommends that we abandon our current shelter and relocate to an inland area at least 500 kilometers from the coast."
The topic of the meeting was grave. Whether it was the impending danger or the decisions that needed to be made, most of the participants felt an overwhelming sense of difficulty. A 76% probability was almost a certainty, especially when it involved the lives of 38 million residents of Zhenhai City. No one dared to take the risk.
After acknowledging the disaster, the choices before them were equally hard to commit to. Relocating the entire city was not as simple as it sounded. If it were easy, they wouldn't have stayed when Zhenhai City was about to be submerged by a tsunami at the beginning of the apocalypse. But now, facing a threat even more severe than the city sinking into the sea, relocation seemed to be the only option.
"If we relocate, where can we go?" someone asked helplessly. It was a frustrating question. Before the apocalypse, with Zhenhai City's resources, it wouldn't have been impossible to rebuild a city elsewhere. But in the post-apocalyptic world, without protection, it was difficult for ordinary people to even breathe normally on the surface, let alone settle and work. Seeking refuge with other factions was also nearly impossible. Across East Continent, from the capital down to county-level official shelters and even small private shelters, there was a general attitude of exclusion towards outsiders. Not to mention millions of ordinary citizens, even the high-ranking officials of Zhenhai City, who were once prominent figures in East Continent, found it hard to find a safe place for their families.
"Perhaps we could proactively occupy some small or abandoned shelters inland."
"And then renovate them."
"For example, the areas around the wide river basin and Yu'an City."
Someone softly suggested.
This matter involved Jianghe City.
Some people couldn't help but glance subtly towards Su Wu.
But before Su Wu could express his stance.
Ping Yuhan firmly rejected the idea.
"No, those places are all within 500 kilometers of the coastline."
"They are likely to be affected again by geological activities from this area."
"Once we choose to settle there, we won't have the capacity to organize a second relocation."
Ping Yuhan's words essentially ruled out the possibility of Zhenhai City rebuilding inland.
In the entire Eastern Continent.
Only the subsidiary shelters under Su Wu's control, which had been emptied of population and supplies, were most suitable for temporarily accommodating them.
Apart from these.
The remaining places were mostly already claimed.
Not to mention the effort required to seize them by force, and whether the super cities behind them would intervene.
Even if we managed to occupy them at great cost.
Unless we exterminate all the original inhabitants of the shelters, we wouldn't be able to accommodate many people.
In the post-apocalyptic world, every inch of space in the shelters is extremely precious and serves a necessary purpose.
It's impossible to simply change ownership and expect to support more people with the same or even fewer resources.
Moreover.
Ordinary shelters couldn't fully receive the tens of millions of people from Zhenhai City.
In the end, they would inevitably be dispersed into countless shelters of various sizes.
Given the transportation conditions in the post-apocalyptic world.
That situation would essentially mean disintegration, reducing them to ordinary shelter factions.
It would be difficult to maintain sufficient capacity to respond to disasters.
At this point in the meeting.
They found themselves in a dilemma.
Many people realized that they seemed to have very few options left.
At the head of the conference room.
Ping Yuhan turned his gaze to Su Wu, who had been silently listening.
His expression showed obvious struggle and hesitation.
After a long while.
He finally sighed and made a decision.
"Your Jianghe City has been tirelessly collecting population."
"Would you be willing to take over Zhenhai City?"Ping Yuhan's words created a subtle atmosphere in the conference room."
But clearly.
From the moment they invited Su Wu to discuss.
Many people present had already, to some extent, anticipated and mentally prepared for this.
Aligning with Jianghe City, the second-largest power in the Eastern Continent after the capital.
Seemed to be the best, and perhaps the only, choice.
"Of course."
"No matter how many people, we are willing to take them in."
Su Wu said calmly.
He looked around the room, taking in the varied expressions of everyone at the conference table.
These people might feel some reluctance in their hearts.
But.
When Ping Yuhan, who held the highest authority in Zhenhai City, made the decision, and Su Wu, who could almost rival the entire Eastern Continent government, agreed to take them in.
There was no one left who could stop the merger of the two super cities.
Two hours after Su Wu arrived in Zhenhai City.
The artificial intelligence from the farmhouse began taking over all the smart devices in the city.
All 38 million people in the city.
Almost simultaneously.
Received their assigned specific tasks.
Such drastic changes in the power structure inevitably caused unrest in some areas.
Some ambitious individuals, lacking both ability and a clear understanding of the situation,
tried to seize a portion of official resources and authority.
However, under Ping Yuhan's directive,
the armed forces that were first reorganized by Su Wu
easily quelled the disturbances.
This allowed the underground Super Shelter to continue its gradual transformation, still largely guided by Su Wu's will.
--Support me in Patreon for more chapters 35+ chapters in there
patreon.com/LegendaryTL
Thanks!