"It would be nice if the special transport vehicles were still here."
Su Wu was a little troubled.
Although the previous storm hadn't significantly altered the river's course, the damage to the terrain was substantial. With the micro excavators and transport vehicles in his current engineering team, navigating such rough terrain would be a serious challenge. Their small, toy-like frames made overturning almost inevitable.
But no matter how difficult, the job had to be done. The shelter's construction progress couldn't afford to stall.
After a moment of hesitation, Su Wu came up with a solution.
He would install detection radar on the micro excavators.
Currently, the engineering team's machines relied solely on cameras to assess their surroundings. But image recognition alone was too simplistic—it couldn't detect hidden traps. A detection radar could compensate for this flaw.
If obstacles could be identified in advance, the micro excavators could either fill in pits or take alternative routes. Overturning or getting stuck would no longer be an issue.
However, actually equipping them with detection radar was easier said than done.
Radars were expensive, and high-performance industrial or military-grade models were well beyond Su Wu's budget.
Among the supplies he had previously purchased from the official shelter, there were only ten low-end commercial-grade laser and sonic radars.
The laser radar had a detection range of 25 meters, but it could only identify visible pits and was only slightly more accurate than a camera. The sonic radar, on the other hand, could detect hidden cavities and assess whether the ground was stable enough to support vehicles. However, its detection range was limited to just 3.5 meters, with significant blind spots. Each scan covered only a 60-degree fan-shaped area ahead.
Both models also had several drawbacks: they malfunctioned in temperatures above 50 degrees, their sensors were fragile, and their accuracy was questionable.
After studying the issue for over ten minutes, Su Wu, with the help of artificial intelligence and his database, devised a final solution.
He would install both radars on the micro excavators and reinforce them with waterproof and dustproof casings, a freely rotating base, and a separate cooling system.
This setup wasn't ideal, but it would at least allow the radars to function reliably.
In terms of accuracy, responsiveness, and range, they couldn't compare to the terrain radars installed on his large trucks and special transport vehicles—those had been enhanced with survival points. But in practice, they would get the job done.
More than two hours later, the construction robots that had completed the first phase of the bunker returned to the shelter.
They passed through the disinfection chamber on the first underground floor, cleaning off dust and debris, before heading to the manufacturing center on the second floor for routine maintenance by the engineering robots.
After maintenance, they were split into two groups.
Two robots were armed with rifles and stationed near the shelter's lift platform as guards. The remaining six joined the engineering team on the fourth underground floor to continue excavation and expansion efforts.
Meanwhile, a micro excavator and a micro transport vehicle detached from the main construction team and surfaced.
Their headlights flickered on as they slowly rolled toward the vast darkness ahead.
"I hope nothing happens."
Watching the small convoy disappear into the night through the shelter's monitoring system, Su Wu felt a vague unease. It was as if this would be the last time he'd see them.
After a brief daze, he switched the main control screen to the mini excavator leading the way.
The constant stream of diagnostic data reassured him, indicating everything was functioning normally. The faint outlines of old road signs under the vehicle's lights eased his anxiety further.
The recent storm hadn't been entirely bad.
At the very least, it had swept away much of the ash from global wildfires and volcanic eruptions.
Now, the environment near the highway looked less like an alien wasteland. Instead of an eerie gray, suffocating in lifelessness, it resembled a remote suburb ravaged by drought.
Due to their small size and the debris-strewn roads, the micro excavators and transport vehicles moved at a sluggish pace of less than 10 kilometers per hour.
It took nearly 15 minutes before Su Wu saw them leave the main road, turning onto a barely visible rural path.
This was the shortest route to the river.
In the past, this area had contained two or three self-built houses and some abandoned farmland. Now, all of it had vanished.
"It must have been right in the storm's center."
"Completely destroyed."
Su Wu remotely controlled the mini excavator's camera to scan the location where one of the houses once stood.
All that remained was a deep, sunken pit. Inside, only scattered rubble carried by the storm remained—no trace of human habitation.
He recalled that a family of five had once lived there.
The owner, a middle-aged man named Miao Yijun, had been cheerful and talkative.
Back when Su Wu first arrived, he had bought gasoline and sugar from Miao Yijun, listening to him proudly boast about his spacious, well-built vegetable cellar—he had even claimed it could double as a shelter.
Yet now, both the house and the supposedly sturdy cellar had vanished without a trace.
"I hope they made it to the official shelter in time."
Su Wu sighed silently.
He didn't attempt to investigate further.
Once off the paved road, the mini excavator slowed down considerably.
Whenever it encountered large rocks or deep pits, it had to stop, dig a path forward, or take a detour. By the time it finally reached the river's edge, nearly half an hour had passed.
At that moment, an alert came from the large trucks and special transport vehicles clearing roads near the city.
The wind was picking up.
The high-altitude reconnaissance drones had been forced to land inside one of the large truck cabs—they could no longer continue their surveillance mission.
"Another storm?"
Su Wu's heart tensed.
He immediately checked the official forums but found no disaster warnings.