10: Chapter 10 Base Upgrade

On the fifth day after Chen Xue arrived, Wang Jie decided to perform a comprehensive upgrade of the base.

He opened the system panel to check the current resource situation:

【Current Funds: 11200】

【Power: 800 / 800】

【Buildings: Base (Level 1), Power Plant × 8, Barracks (Level 2), War Factory, Wall, Machine Gun Bunker × 14, Sentry Tower × 4】

【Troops: Conscript 19, American Soldiers 8, Heavy Soldier 10, Sniper 4, Engineer 2】

【Vehicles: Multi-functional infantry vehicle 1】

【Survivors: 9】

The funds were not much, but enough.

He needed to upgrade the base.

Upgrading the base to level two required 10000 funds and 500 power. After the upgrade, he could unlock more advanced buildings—such as an Ore Refinery, Battle Laboratory, and Air Force Command.

Wang Jie hesitated for a few seconds, then clicked confirm.

【Base upgrading... Remaining time: 1 hour】

One hour.

Wang Jie leaned against the wall, staring at the countdown.

Lin Waner walked over and sat down beside him.

"Upgrading again?"

"Yeah."

"What can you do after upgrading?"

Wang Jie thought for a moment: "I can build more things. Tanks, planes, even aircraft carriers."

Lin Waner was stunned: "Aircraft carriers? We don't have an ocean here."

Wang Jie smiled: "That's true. Then tanks it is."

The two of them just sat there, watching the countdown tick away second by second.

Lin Waner suddenly asked: "Wang Jie, do you think we can live until the day the world is rebuilt?"

Wang Jie was silent for a while.

"I don't know," he said, "but I will try my best."

Lin Waner nodded and didn't say anything more.

An hour later, the base upgrade was complete.

The silver-white building began to glow, then split in the middle and expanded to both sides. New metal structures rose from the ground, and the original parts were reorganized. The whole process lasted about a minute, and then everything returned to calm.

What appeared before Wang Jie was a brand-new base—twice as big as before, taller, more magnificent, and full of a sense of technology.

【Base upgrade complete. Current level: 2】

【Newly buildable buildings:】

【Ore Refinery: Requires 5000 funds, 500 power】

【Battle Laboratory: Requires 10000 funds, 800 power】

【Air Force Command: Requires 8000 funds, 600 power】

【Radar Station: Requires 3000 funds, 300 power】

【Repair Factory: Requires 4000 funds, 400 power】

Wang Jie looked at these new buildings, his eyes shining.

The Ore Refinery could increase fund production, the Battle Laboratory could research advanced technology, and the Air Force Command could build planes—

But he didn't have enough money.

He only had 1200 funds left, not even enough to build the cheapest Radar Station.

He needed money.

A lot, a lot of money.

He looked at the dust-covered cars in the underground garage.

Those were money.

"Build a mining vehicle," he said.

A mining vehicle required 1000 funds and took one and a half minutes to build.

A minute later, a huge yellow mining vehicle drove out of the War Factory. It had six huge wheels, a giant shovel on the front, and a cargo box on the back.

Wang Jie climbed up and said to the driver: "See those cars? Collect them all."

The mining vehicle roared as it charged toward the abandoned vehicles.

The first target was a small car. The mining vehicle extended a mechanical arm, grabbed the car, and then—swallowed it whole into the cargo box.

The system prompt sounded:

【Collected abandoned vehicle × 1, obtained funds + 120】

Wang Jie was stunned.

One car, one hundred and twenty?

He looked at the densely packed cars in the underground garage—at least three hundred of them.

Three hundred cars, an average of one hundred each, that would be thirty thousand.

Thirty thousand funds.

Wang Jie smiled.

That was the first time he had truly smiled since the apocalypse.