Chapter 168: A New Calamity, A Difficult Problem!
The communication channel was lively.
At first, everyone was discussing why the system hadn’t initiated a new round of survival dungeons after such a long time.
But soon, a piece of news caught everyone’s attention.
[I have two pieces of news, one good and one bad—want to hear them?]
[Don’t be vague. Spit it out already—I’m busy sprouting beans at home. It’s hard enough to eat fresh veggies in this freezing cold.]
[Alright, here it is. The good news: the extreme cold calamity is about to end. The bad news: a new disaster may be coming.]
[What!!! The extreme cold is ending? That’s amazing! I can’t stand this icy hell anymore!]
[Did you not see the part about another disaster coming? How is that good news?]
[A disaster is a disaster. No matter what kind it is, life will only get harder. I’m more worried that the survival dungeon won’t start again. How will I gather resources without it?]
[Where is this information coming from? What’s the next calamity after the extreme cold?]
[It’s a rumor—supposedly, the ‘Prophet’ from the First Shelter foresaw it. The next calamity isn’t confirmed yet, but it might have something to do with rain or flooding. One thing is for sure: the temperature won’t be the extreme issue anymore.]
[Finally, the cold days are coming to an end. Someone in our shelter completed a kill mission before the last dungeon collapse and got “Deep Sea Mud.” It can purify polluted land! Soon, we might be able to grow food in the shelter. I really believe things will start getting better.]
[Really? Better days ahead? I doubt it. I live near the Twelfth Shelter. We didn’t join it because it’s become a lawless city of sin. Unimaginable things happen there—they’re even selling slaves! You still think life’s improving?]
Many people chimed in, discussing the situation.
Su Ning read through the messages.
At first, she had felt a bit of joy at the idea that the extreme cold was ending. She hadn’t suffered much during it, but still—better weather meant a better life.
But when she saw someone mention the Twelfth Shelter, her heart grew heavy.
“Slavery? I didn’t think the appearance of the survival dungeons would fuel people’s ambitions like this. What are they trying to do—crown themselves kings?”
Su Ning sneered.
Power is intoxicating—especially to those who were once mediocre or powerless. Once they gain strength they never imagined, their values and humanity shift.
“The survival dungeons may help combat real-world disasters, but they also create even bigger problems.”
If life improves, what’s next? Will the strong start trying to dominate the world?
Su Ning had never considered this before—but now, she realized she had to be cautious. She didn’t like causing trouble, but she also didn’t want to become someone else’s target.
And the Twelfth Shelter wasn’t unique—other places had also begun to deteriorate. Some nations had even revived slavery as civilization regressed under apocalyptic pressure.
Su Ning sighed.
“What’s the point of worrying about all this? I can’t change the world. I’ll just focus on taking care of myself.”
She didn’t have big ambitions—she just wanted to live peacefully, day by day.
“A flood disaster might come after the extreme cold? I’d better prepare.”
Su Ning looked around her apartment. During the cold, snow constantly fell. If all that ice melted suddenly, it would definitely cause major issues.
But that alone wouldn’t constitute a full-blown calamity.
“It must be prolonged rainfall that causes the flooding—that would be far worse.”
Her face darkened with worry. She lived in a region that had already been wet and rainy before the disasters began. If floods truly broke out here…
It would be devastating.
“The Sixth Shelter mostly exists underground—if floods come, it’ll be a death trap.”
Not just the Sixth Shelter—even Su Ning’s own neighborhood could be swallowed by water.
“I can escape on my own… but what about the people in the Sixth Shelter?”
She fell into thought, then dropped onto her soft couch and muttered,
“Why should I care? This isn’t my responsibility.”
Let someone else worry about it.
Meanwhile, Liu Jianjun stared at a message from the First Shelter.
His face was frozen in disbelief, hands trembling as he held the report.
“So you’re saying… the next calamity really will be a flood, and the Prophet foresaw that the Sixth Shelter will suffer the worst impact? If we don’t evacuate, the entire shelter will be submerged?”
When he first read this, Liu Jianjun was stunned—his mind blank.
When he recovered, he immediately began thinking of solutions.
“Unbelievable. Just when I solved the parasite monster problem in the shelter, now I get hit with this? Am I cursed?”
He nearly cried.
The First Shelter had suggested two options:
Reinforce the Sixth Shelter and rebuild it as a flood-resistant, aquatic city. That way, even if floods came, people could survive underwater.
Liu Jianjun dismissed that immediately.
He didn’t have the ability to build such a thing—and even if he did, floods weren’t the only threat. In this world, mutated beasts and creatures were real dangers. The devastation caused by the Rat King was still fresh in everyone’s memory.
Evacuate all residents of the Sixth Shelter to the nearest shelter—which happened to be the Fifth Shelter, already expanding for more capacity.
Now, Liu Jianjun faced a tough choice.
“I worked so hard to build this shelter, and now I have to abandon it? I really don’t want to.”
With the appearance of the survival dungeons, Liu Jianjun’s own ambitions had started to grow.
After seeing how the Twelfth Shelter became independent and self-ruled, many leaders of other shelters—including Liu Jianjun—began dreaming of ruling their own territories.
If the Sixth Shelter was evacuated to the Fifth, would Liu Jianjun still remain its leader?
Obviously not.
So now, he was torn—struggling between his conscience and his desire for power.
He hadn’t completely lost his humanity yet. He still wanted to protect his people.
But at the same time, he didn’t want to lose everything he had built.
