My Post-Apocalyptic Shelter Levels Up Infinitely Novel! - Chapter 421

Chapter 421: First Contact! Reward Upgrade!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

During the merciless Doomsday torrent, every single person was akin to a grain of sand. They may have seemed indispensable, but in fact, they were pitifully insignificant.

‘When Su Mo was weak and small, he did everything with utter caution and was always on his guard.

Against the game, the system, and strangers. He did not trust any of them.

However, after witnessing so many deaths and with so many people vanishing into this ‘river’, he had slowly but surely come to the decision to stop being overprotective over his ‘lousy’ life!
Harm me, and I will come after you!

Make me suffer any losses, and I will pay you back twofold!

He was now much more relaxed after going through the mill and gaining a brave and vigorous will.

Su Mo even considered going behind the scenes and allowing someone else to shine.

However, after learning what had happened to previous players of the game, he realized that extinction was on the horizon if this current situation continued.
If that was the case, why not just follow one’s heart and live a free and unrestrained life?!

The pull on his stream of consciousness got stronger, and just as he had expected, this was not some sort of reward collection. Rather, it was a sort of ‘interrogation’.
He chose to not fight it. Su Mo willingly gave up the defense his consciousness had been holding up.

A dizzy sensation overcame him, and the world in front of him suddenly descended into darkness.

He was momentarily stunned when he opened his eyes once again and saw what was in front of his eyes.

The consciousness space he could see was no longer the gloomy atmosphere nor the endless chaos he had seen after retreating from his duplication.

Even though he had not spent much time here, it was a place that he was very familiar with.

Shockingly, it was.

It was the room he had been assigned to at the official shelter on Earth!

It was not a big room. Compared to the crew cabin on Hope One, it was much smaller and less than ten square meters in height.

According to the rules that had been set for the war, it could house twelve people, though it would be extremely cramped inside.

Even with no one living there at the moment, the condition of the room was exactly as it had been before he transmigrated. The air-conditioning howled above his head, which chilled him to the bone!
“How are you, player Su Mo?!

“Apologies. Before your reward collection, I’ve called upon the authorities to conduct a search of your sea of consciousness. I’ve located the one thing you yearn most to achieve.

“Tm truly curious about what charm lies in this tiny, little bedroom that makes you miss it so much. Its priority level has surpassed everything, including how dearly you hold.

“Your life?”

Su Mo whipped his head around when he heard a hoarse voice next to his ear. Three human faces appeared on the wall next to him.

It was as if the faces sensed that they had scared Su Mo, as they began to slowly take form within the bedroom. They eventually became three familiar faces.

“Chen Shen, Pei Shao, Qi Qin?”

“These are the three images we have detected as the most valued in your heart. If you do not like them, we can communicate using another form.”

Qi Qin’s face, which was on the extreme left, began to transform. It first turned into Oreo, and then into Moore.

“No, this is quite alright. Seeing all of you makes me feel as comfortable as being at home!”

Su Mo sat down, and a sunny smile spread across his face.

Very nice. The system had done well, as usual!

He could not believe the last five hundred points had been so well spent. The concealment had not disappeared, and the game had only captured current information.

Much like the golden light, the game had to have been crippled by cheats!

“Huh, the term ‘at home’ has an importance level of 97% within your emotions. We’re happy to see you so happy, especially with you being such a powerful player.”

When they noticed no resistance from Su Mo, ‘Chen Shen’ gave a wave of his hand, and the narrow bedroom suddenly began to widen until it tuned into a room of a hundred square meters.

A table and four stools appeared in the middle of the room.

“This is the interrogation format I’ve found to be most easily accepted by you humans. Let’s have a chat. There are too many secrets you’re keeping that we’ve been unable to understand.”

A bright smile appeared ‘Chen Shen’s’ face. He seemed to suddenly remember something, as he said, “You can call me Adam. As for the two of them… They’re my assistants!”

He made a gentlemanly gesture of invitation. The smile on Adam’s face grew brighter when he saw Su Mo ‘obediently’ jump down from the bed.

A smile spread across Su Mo’s face too as he sat at the table. “Adam, was it? Sounds like something from the bible. Are you an Earthling as well?”

It was obviously not his real name. He was only using it to connect with Su Mo as a way to break through Su Mo’s defensiveness.

There was no question at all that the game’s interrogation had already begun.

Adam said, “Very good. That is a question of high value. You may see it as being of a certain value, but you will still have to find out such answers for yourself. We are limited by the rules that bind us, and thus are unable to share the real answers with you. However, you are allowed to ask one question,
according to the rules. Uh… It will not require using your reward.”

Su Mo nodded. “Alright. About the question… May I ask which batch of Earth humans became players?”

Adam was astonished. “Are you sure that’s the question you want to ask? You only have one question. We won’t be able to give you the opportunity to ask a second question unless you trigger the reward rules again. I think… Perhaps you should be asking about… How to leave the wasteland, or maybe
How you can gain more power and become just like the god that appeared in the sky? Those would be better questions!

$u Mo, “That’s true. You’re right. Well then, how do I become just like that god?”

It was a very honest reaction. The three men looked at each other and nodded when they saw how they had managed to guide Su Mo into asking the ‘right’ kind of question. Adam spoke up once again.

“You’ve already discovered a portion of the answer to that question. Judging from your current performance, it will not be difficult for you to become a god.

“First, you can choose to endure disasters one after the other. Once you have successfully endured a hundred disasters, you will immediately receive a reward from us and become a god, able to leave the wasteland.

“Option two, if you can perform outstandingly over fifty times whilst enduring disasters on the wasteland, you will be allowed to leave, and you’ll be able to enjoy a limitless life. We should also remind you that you have already performed outstandingly three times. This should be the requirement easiest
for you to achieve.

“Option three, you may try to search for a living god and get him to willingly transfer his power to you. You must also receive our approval for this. Of course, this is the most difficult requirement because you are familiar with the gods—they are madmen who act without reason. They kill for pleasure, and
the chances of convincing them to happily give up their power are basically zero.

“These three methods have their pros and cons, but for a powerful player like you, we believe we’ll be able to witness you succeeding in achieving any of the requirements in the near future!”

‘When Adam was done, he got his assistant next to him to repeat the main points of his speech once again, as if worried that Su Mo had not memorized them.

Even though they did not display many emotions, Su Mo still nodded vaguely at the logical issues they had brought up.

“Alright, shall we begin officially now? I’m quite looking forward to getting my reward!”

“Sure. You have a friendly demeanor, and we like smart people like you!”

The chat afterward was pretty enjoyable.

Both parties had achieved their objectives.

Su Mo’s surroundings quickly faded as the entire world returned to chaos once again after leaving the duplicate. The faces of the three mysterious men began to vanish as well.

The next second, they magically merged into one body.

A familiar golden light began to seep into the crack of the Void as the figure in the middle gave a wave of his hand.

“We will next conduct the highest level of soul examination on you. During this time, we will test your sea of consciousness at any given time. Please ensure that no lies that go against your conscience pop up!”
Su Mo nodded.

A dizziness overcame him just like when he had first entered the space. This time, he adapted to it quite quickly based on his previous experience of accepting the examination at the Wasteland World.
The system panel made a quick appearance from an angle that the mysterious men could not see. It indicated that the system panel was able to operate as usual and was not bound by any limitations.
The structure of the information barrier that had been bought with five hundred points was clearly enough to handle such a situation, according to the system.

Su Mo was relieved.

Just then, an emotionless voice seemed to echo from the heavens.

“Where did you get the weapon you used to kill the Heavenly God Ancestor Dog the first time?”

$u Mo said, “I found it among what was left behind by Ma Fei. He told me that if I ever met an enemy I could not beat, I should use the weapon.”

He had given a random reason because he had no idea what the description given in the information fabrication was.

The voice in the sky paused for a long minute before it spoke once more.

“Pass!

“As for the second time, where did you get the weapon you used for defeating the Deities of the Five Royal Clans?!”

Su Mo said, “It was also among what was left behind by Ma Fei, but this time, it wasn’t a complete product, only a blueprint. However, because I had passed the trials for the title of God of the Ocean and had gotten an excellent result of number one, even achieving second place in terms of total points—
nine billion and nine hundred million points—the God of the Ocean might have thought I was quite formidable and liked me a lot. He thought I had the potential to become an oracle and specifically asked for what I needed. In the end, I chose many things, among which was the opportunity to upgrade my
machine and have the necessary materials for five missiles.”

Ma Fei was surprisingly useful as a shield, even though Su Mo was not really lying this time. The game was even more after this answer than the first one.
Ten minutes passed. It was only when annoyance appeared on Su Mo’s face that the voice finally replied helplessly.

“Pass!”

“Where did you obtain your psychic energy water well? The object’s level is clearly something that could not have been obtained by a player of your caliber at that time.”

Su Mo replied, “I killed the dragon, Zeta, and obtained the psychic energy crystal. When I woke up, it appeared. I’m guessing Ma Fei was the one who helped me!”

“Where did you obtain the shipyard needed for building Hope One? We could not find any record of you obtaining it.”

Su Mo said once again, “Ma Fei gave it to me!”

“Your weapons and tools for defense, including many items in your shelter, have a certain level of missing information in our data records. When they were retrieved, some amendments appeared in the records. How do you explain that?”
Su Mo broke into a smile. “That’s all Ma Fei. He was the one who helped me amend them!”

“So all the data that doesn’t match up was given to you… by this Ma Fei?

“According to my records, Ma Fei is just an ordinary man with slightly higher abilities. His abilities are clearly not good enough to have helped you make all those amendments.”

$u Mo smiled casually. “Nope, that’s not right. You’ve underestimated Ma Fei. He’s no ordinary man. To be able to discover someone as outstanding as me is a mark of how excellent he is. He only seems ordinary because it was not his time yet. We have to believe that everyone possesses unlimited
potential.”

“Like?”

“Take me, for example. I was an ordinary man on Earth, but I’m very successful now. I’ve managed to defeat gods twice and have endured the disasters fantastically. I even possess the potential to become a god. I am Almighty Su, who belongs to the humans. Could I possess all of these traits as an ordinary
man?”

Silence.

A deadly silence.

Even the golden light ceased moving in the sky.

It seemed like the game had not expected Su Mo to answer the question in this way, but the conclusion they reached from this.

The result of his answer was a.

Pass!

Su Mo had been telling the truth. That was truly his opinion, and he really did think that way.

“Do you know about the world above the wasteland?”

Su Mo shook his head. “I kind of do, but I kind of don’t at the same time. Ma Fei and Connie once told me that I could level up into that world if I fulfilled certain requirements. As for how I was supposed to get there, they had no idea.”
“Do you know what game permission is?”

Su Mo said, “Permission? What is that? Are you referring to the hacking console that can be activated during a game session, or do you mean the phantom spirits players can activate when they get frustrated with the game and summon random gods?”
His answers grew more ridiculous as the question-and-answer session progressed, while the game’s response time grew longer.

At first, only a few minutes were required to come up with an answer. Now, the game needed over an hour’s waiting time to reply.

The color of the golden light in the space began to dim in brightness. By the end of things, it was almost as bright as the sun in the sky.

“Su Mo, this is the last question. I hope you’ll be able to reply honestly. This concerns our basic logic, and we don’t allow unorthodox answers.”

“alright!”

“What do you think the objective of our game is?”

Boom!

A muffled thunder seemed to be heard. The golden light immediately changed color within the Void of the space. It turned from bright gold to a frightening pitch black.

Bolts of a lightning-like phenomenon continuously flashed through the darkness, as if trying to determine any trace of lies. It seemed ready to launch into an attack the moment it detected one.
Right at the same time, the system, which had been silent all this while, suddenly appeared for the first time and began to boom loudly!

(Warning!)

(Warning!)

(Warning!)

[Detected an unknown power attempting to break through the defense, detected an unknown presence attempting to bypass the stream of information!]

[Detected a 0.00000006% chance of a successful breakthrough. Safety factor is extremely low. Recommended for the Host to strengthen defense structure]

[Would payment of 1500 survival points be transferred to solidify the information barrier?]

[Please confirm quickly! 15… 14…]

‘The pitiful success rate displayed by the system did not align with the formidable performance of the black lightning in the sky.

Su Mo quietly confirmed this in front of the game. A smile appeared on his face.

“The objective of the game is to save humans, of course. Our Earth is facing destructive disasters. He brought us all here and has even provided us with so much help.

“Even though we have been made to sacrifice a lot, in order to move forward and live in a better world, these minor sacrifices are worth it.

“From the bottom of my heart, I am extremely grateful… to the game!”

Once Su Mo’s indifferent voice was heard, he did not have to wait long this time before a pleasant-sounding voice slowly responded.

“Pass!

“Congratulations, player Su Mo, you have passed all the tests!

“Based on your excellent performance, you may request a reward upgrade of the fitting level. Should we begin now?”

Su Mo watched as the chaotic space vanished and he was standing once again in the room of his shelter on earth. Adam and the others gradually appeared in front of him once again.

Su Mo replied with ‘utter delight’. “Let’s begin! I can’t wait!”