CHAPTER 210: CHAPTER 208: LETTUCE SALAD

The original connecting passage between the main part of Chen Xin’s bunker and the entrance was a fifty-meter-long upward-sloping tunnel. It was built for the convenience of vehicles parked inside the bunker to easily enter and exit, but in practice, the tunnel was not as convenient as initially thought.

With a length of only fifty meters and a height difference of nearly twenty meters from the entrance to the interior of the bunker, this slope was quite steep, making it inconvenient for vehicles to go in and out, or even for transporting materials with a cart.

At the time the bunker was built, Chen Xin only considered making the bunker deeper to avoid potential impact from meteor strikes, using the more than two hundred meters of soil above as protection, without paying much attention to the details.

After all, it was just a steep slope, which was inconvenient but not completely unusable.

Now that upgrades are possible with the system, Chen Xin naturally made adjustments here, changing the originally sloping tunnel into two horizontal passages connected by an elevator.

This is one of the reasons why Chen Xin waited for the municipal government’s materials before starting the overall upgrade of the bunker; the elevator materials relied on the city’s help to gather, which Chen Xin originally planned to process himself.

The upgraded elevator can accommodate a standard family car, with a cylindrical cab seven meters in diameter and three and a half meters high. The bottom of the cab can rotate, solving the problem of vehicles being unable to turn around in narrow passages.

Riding the elevator to the upper level, passing through the passage, it’s still the original preparation room, but on the other side of the preparation room, a materials storage warehouse has been added.

This adjustment was made by Chen Xin due to the previous inconvenience of transporting materials, placing the storage warehouse on the upper level where the entrance is located, with only a food storage room retained inside the bunker.

This way, materials can be brought in from the entrance and stored directly without the need to transport them further down.

For Chen Xin, it doesn’t matter much where the materials are stored; he simply needs to open the system interface to use the materials without physically retrieving them.

Passing through the preparation room remains the passage equipped with a heavy crossbow.

Chen Xin did not make major modifications here as it is just a passage; the crossbow already has sufficient attack power.

The only adjustment he made was changing the crossbow’s activation from the original flip switch to infrared sensing automatic firing and setting up a hidden mechanism to conceal the entire crossbow in the ceiling.

Anyone passing through the corridor with the alarm activated will be directly faced with a barrage of ninety crossbow bolts per minute, with power comparable to the heavy machine gun at the entrance.

As for the alarm activation method, Chen Xin set it to be activated from the inside through facial recognition to trigger the attack.

In other words, it can be turned on from the inside when coming out, enabling facial recognition, allowing access to the interior of the bunker when recognition is successful.

If a stranger enters without passing facial recognition, the crossbow concealed in the ceiling will activate, providing a thrilling experience of dodging a crossbow barrage.

Regarding the area past the safety passage, the decontamination room has not been changed, but its equipment has been upgraded.

Outside the decontamination room remains the garage, which can be considered a foyer or entrance hall.

This is an L-shaped space, with the short side connected to the entrance and decontamination room, and the long side extended to accommodate Chen Xin’s modified armored RV.

There’s nothing much to say about the garage and foyer; the garage just added vehicle repair functionality and provided some repair tools, while the foyer is merely an empty space.

The real highlight is the bunker’s door.

It is still the previous lift-type metal armor door, but this time Chen Xin changed it from homogeneous armor to multi-layer composite armor, increasing the thickness from 30cm to 35cm. Although the thickness only increased by 5cm, the defense capability is equivalent to 120cm of homogeneous metal armor.

The original twin Maxim machine guns at the entrance have been replaced with twin 12.7mm triple barrel Gatling guns, the same type as mounted on Chen Xin’s armored RV, still computer-controlled for automatic aiming.

Of course, it can still be manually operated like Chen Xin did yesterday, offering the experience of "3600 rotations per breath, the compassion of saving the world."

After inspecting the entire bunker, Chen Xin felt very satisfied with the overall upgrade. Besides enhancing the overall layout and technology level, even the bunker’s originally gray concrete walls have been covered with paint and added with metal supporting frames, making it look much cleaner, tidier, and brighter.

Even the original light bulb lighting has been replaced with LED tubes, which soften the interior lighting and incorporate Chen Xin’s long-desired lighting control, allowing adjustments to lighting according to time changes so that people inside the bunker can also feel the passage of time.

As for the observation room originally set above the main entrance, it was also adjusted and upgraded this time, transforming from a simple antenna room into a formal bunker with added living facilities inside and double-layer vacuum glass on the observation windows to block cold air.

Of course, in order to retain the observation room’s defensive function, the glass of the observation port can be opened, reverting it back to a shooting aperture.

As for the ventilation ducts connected to the exterior walls, Chen Xin didn’t make major changes; he just added exhaust fans and air filters inside the ducts to improve ventilation efficiency.

Returning inside the shelter, Qin Lan was still sitting on the sofa playing games, seemingly unaffected by Chen Xin’s earlier actions. Even though the living room had completely transformed, her game console upgraded from a PS4 to a PS5, and even the television’s size had significantly increased.

"Done with your work?" Qin Lan glanced at Chen Xin as he picked up another controller placed nearby and joined the game. She then pressed pause and switched the game to dual-player mode.

Chen Xin sat down, nodded, and said, "There wasn’t much work left in the first place; once the materials were ready, it was quick to finish, and now it’s all done."

"Glad it’s done, come play a round with me. You lost last time, so here’s a chance to defeat me!" Qin Lan looked at Chen Xin, purposely provoking him.

Chen Xin chuckled freely, gripping the controller and said, "I let you win!"

"Heh, who’s letting who is still up for debate!" Qin Lan was clearly unconvinced and challenged Chen Xin, "Wanna bet on it?"

"Sure, what are we betting?" Chen Xin accepted the challenge, though he’d not tried the latest model PS5 before the disaster: "No backing out if you lose!"

Qin Lan bit her lip, thought for a moment, and then decided, "The loser has to be on the bottom tonight!"

"On the bottom? Don’t you sleep on the lower bunk? What’s on the bot..." Chen Xin realized, and his expression became suggestive, "Going big on this bet? Then I’ll have to give it my all!"

Qin Lan was already blushing but insisted defiantly, "Hmph! I won’t lose no matter what, let’s see how you perish!"

With that, she threw a challenging glance at Chen Xin and started the game right away.

Chen Xin laughed a little and got serious too; matters of a man’s dignity can’t be lost. Even though, for him, losing wouldn’t be the worst outcome.

——————————————

Win or lose aside, how they ultimately settled the bet is not for outsiders to know. Regardless, the next morning, when Chen Xin woke up, Qin Lan was nestled in his arms.

Cautiously withdrawing his arm, Chen Xin got up from bed, quietly got dressed, and to avoid waking Qin Lan, went to the bathroom in another room to freshen up before heading to the newly upgraded kitchen to start breakfast preparations.

However, Qin Lan wasn’t in a deep sleep, and missing the person beside her soon woke her up.

Wrapped in a blanket, Qin Lan walked into the living room; watching Chen Xin busy in the kitchen, she didn’t disturb him but leaned against the kitchen doorway.

The upgraded heating system provided enough warmth inside the shelter, so even with only a blanket, Qin Lan didn’t feel cold. She was cheerfully watching Chen Xin bustle around.

"Awake already, why not sleep a bit more?" Adding a person at the kitchen door was naturally noticeable to Chen Xin. He glanced at Qin Lan and continued chopping the boiled lettuce.

"I can’t sleep without you." Qin Lan looked at Chen Xin and suddenly spoke in an almost coquettish tone, "What’s for breakfast?"

"Can’t sleep without me?" Chen Xin chuckled, looked at her with a hint of tender affection, and said, "I made some lettuce salad and porridge. Though there’s no salad dressing, I’m not sure if you’ll like it? Go brush your teeth; it’ll be ready soon."

"Lettuce salad? It’s great we can have fresh vegetables now, not many choices available." Qin Lan smiled too, wrapped in the blanket, walking back to the room, "I’ll go brush my teeth then."

As Qin Lan went to brush her teeth, Chen Xin finished chopping the lettuce salad, needing only to season it with salt and other condiments before serving.

When Qin Lan returned from the bathroom, wearing just a shirt and sat down at the dining table, bowls and steaming porridge were already set.

"It’s always nice here with you, Ah Xin, everything’s provided, even breakfast is this comfy!" While eating, Qin Lan asked Chen Xin, "I have to go to the city bureau today, what about you, Ah Xin? Any plans for today?"

"I plan to work on the geothermal heat pump the city needs, the sooner I finish, the earlier I can head out." Chen Xin replied to Qin Lan’s inquiry and asked her in return, "Shall I give you a ride back?"