Crossing the wilderness to survive, starting with a broken kitchen knife.

After Xiaomei left, the bedroom became quiet.

The extreme heat disaster had just arrived, and the temperature was hot and uncomfortable even at night. Zhang Shi felt a wave of stuffy air sweeping over him and immediately turned on the air conditioner.

When the cold wind blew, Zhang Shi suddenly felt his mind clear up, and suddenly he remembered that he had not signed in yet.

"Sure enough, people can think better in a comfortable environment."

I opened the system interface and signed in. Today's sign-in items were a bit novel.

System prompts, congratulations on signing in and getting:

[Fortress Blueprint (Pink) x1: A must-have blueprint for upgrading a level shelter. Use this to upgrade a shelter to a fortress.]

Zhang Shi then remembered that as the natural disaster entered the next stage, the conditions for upgrading the shelter should also be unlocked.

When I clicked on the shelter interface, the originally gray icon really lit up.

A level five shelter is similar to a level four shelter. There is no fixed template, and the specific upgrade style depends entirely on the design drawings. However, the demand for materials is astronomical, and Zhang Shi has never even seen some of the materials.

"This fortress is quite good. It suits my current style. I'll close the door and develop steadily first, and then make a big splash when the time is right."

Zhang Shi couldn't help but let his imagination run wild, imagining the shelter developing into a village, a town, or even an empire, and a sense of heroism welled up in his heart.

……

In the early morning, Zhang Shi was awakened by the heat.

Even with the air conditioner on, Zhang Shi's pillows and bedding were still soaked with sweat, and the entire bedroom was baked like a steamer by the high temperature.

Zhang Shi felt his throat was a little red and swollen, and his lips were extremely dry. He quickly lowered the air conditioner temperature and drank a large bottle of purified water before getting out of bed to check the situation.

When I opened the window, a wave of heat hit me in the face. The sun above my head was particularly scorching. A conservative estimate was that the temperature outside should have reached 40 degrees.

Zhang Shi was worried about the impact on his farmland and livestock, so he quickly put on his clothes and went downstairs to check. Lao Bai and Xiao Mei were already waiting, and when they saw Zhang Shi hurried downstairs, they followed him.

After only being exposed to the sun for half a minute, Zhang Shi felt a burning sensation on his skin. Thinking of those delicate crops, Zhang Shi quickly went into the greenhouse to check the situation.

As soon as we entered the greenhouse, the temperature dropped significantly, and the crops inside did not die. They continued to grow well. It seemed that the farmer module was taking effect.

Zhang Shi was initially hesitant, fearing the harsh sunlight would adversely affect the plants, and unsure whether he should remove the greenhouse. But now, seeing that the crops weren't affected by the heat, he made up his mind and put the greenhouse back into his backpack.

The scorching sun instantly shone on Zhang Shi, making him feel a little uncomfortable.

"Hey, I've suffered a lot just to let you enjoy the real sunlight."

Zhang Shi didn't want to stay in the sun for too long, so after instructing Lao Bai and Xiao Mei on some matters, he ran back to the birdhouse.

Upon entering, Zhang Shi was pleasantly surprised. Two chicks, grown without him noticing, were now covered in gray-black feathers and strolling leisurely through the poultry house. Seeing Zhang Shi come in, they quickly walked over to him, waiting to be fed.

Zhang Shi demonstrated his daily work to Lao Bai and Xiao Mei, then took the two robots back to the villa.

Let Xiaomei prepare breakfast, and Zhang Shi ran to the bathroom to take a cold shower to get rid of the heat.

Xiaomei prepared cold noodles for breakfast. Zhang Shi took a bite and gave it a high evaluation. Using the ingredients available in the shelter to create such a delicious dish, Xiaomei's cooking skills were quite impressive, worthy of being a divine robot.

Robots don't need to eat, so Zhang Shi still eats alone. The scorching heat has reduced his appetite, so he eats more slowly.

Opening a chat channel at random, you will find, as expected, all kinds of complaints about the weather. In addition, there are all kinds of recruitment information for forming gangs.

The number of survivors has dropped to less than 4000, and everyone seems to have figured out the game. They know that it is difficult to cope with the various dangers in the wilderness on their own, so they have begun to form teams to keep each other warm.

Chen Beipan: The largest mutual aid organization in this area is recruiting new members, welcoming elite survivors from all walks of life. The number of members has exceeded 200, and the president has twice been ranked second in the rankings. Interested parties can use the attribute panel to privately chat.

Liu Yu: The Bright Alliance is recruiting people with no threshold or requirements. There are no requirements for using [strongholds], and merging shelters is entirely voluntary.

Zhang Shi took a few glances and found some organizations such as "Heaven and Earth Society" and "Brotherhood Alliance", but most of them were trying to take advantage of the situation to steal resources. Only the two organizations of Chen Beipan and Liu Yu had truly established a foothold in this area.

"Buzz!"

It was a video call from Zhao Feng.

Zhang Shi picked up the video, and Zhao Feng's panicked face appeared on the screen, with thick smoke behind him and the faint sound of burning flames.

"Shitou, help me! The forest next to me is on fire and it's about to spread to my shelter."

Zhang Shi was shocked and quickly prepared some useful props from the warehouse, then took out the traveler's notebook and applied for teleportation.

A flash of white light passed, and Zhang Shi reappeared, a cloud of thick smoke wafting into his nose, causing him to cough violently. Looking ahead, he saw the woods ablaze. Zhao Feng was digging a firebreak in front of his shelter, trying to prevent the fire from spreading. Unfortunately, one person's work was too slow, and the fire had already spread through the grass and reached the base of the shelter's walls.

Zhang Shi coughed as he quickly moved forward to pull Zhao Feng out.

"You're really going to die! The fire is coming up! Run!"

Zhao Feng's shelter faced a small river in front and a dense forest in the back. Suddenly, for unknown reasons, a wildfire had broken out deep within the dense forest. The dry, sweltering weather had spread the fire to the vicinity of the shelter in a flash, catching Zhao Feng completely off guard.

Zhang Shi remembered that he still had a resource card, and tried to choose a river to place behind the shelter to form a buffer zone, but found that the available area was insufficient, so he had to give up this idea.

The two stood by the creek and watched the shelter being engulfed in flames.

Zhao Feng's skin was burned red, perhaps because of the smoke. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he stared straight ahead with his fists clenched.

The leopard he raised also looked miserable at this time, with black and white all over its body. It lay beside Zhao Feng without making a sound.

This was only the first day of the extreme heatwave. Zhao Feng watched helplessly as the shelter he had put so much effort into burned to ruins. It was not difficult to imagine the frustration and resentment he felt.

Zhang Shi patted his shoulder and comforted him.

"As long as you're okay, don't lose heart. You have your brothers here, and you can start all over again."

Zhao Feng shook his head and responded somewhat dejectedly.

"Everything is gone, everything is gone, how can I start over?"

Zhang Shi punched him.

"Don't be discouraged. I've already told you I'm here. You can just come over to my place and we can form an alliance. Wouldn't that mean we can still enjoy the good life together?"

Zhao Feng looked up at Zhang Shi, and his tears could no longer be held back. He held Zhang Shi's fist and burst into tears.

Zhang Shi smiled helplessly.

"Stop crying, pack up and come to my house. It's so hot, I'm almost dried out."