CHAPTER 442: CHAPTER 440: A NEW UPGRADE

If anyone could witness the upgrade of the research base, they would see a green beam of light soaring into the sky, almost piercing the heavens.

The entire research base was shrouded in a green glow from the upgrade; while the exterior showed little change, the interior experienced many detailed transformations.

For example, to Chen Xin, the most direct sensation was that the room he was in changed from a square to a fan shape, and the original bunk bed transformed into a double bed, spacious enough for three people.

The room’s decor changed from a cooler, futuristic tone to a warmer, more homely color scheme, adding a touch of comfort.

Additionally, the bathroom in the room evolved from just a shower cubicle into a true bathroom with a dry-wet separation, washbasin, bathtub, and other facilities.

These changes came from the blueprints Chen Xin had already designed, changing the shelter from a two-story square structure to a multi-layer cylindrical one, making the building more stable and enhancing space utilization.

Satisfied with the upgraded room, Chen Xin stood up from the sofa and walked towards the door.

The intelligent door sensed Chen Xin’s presence and automatically opened, revealing a clean, carpeted hallway with bright lighting.

These upgrades bring not only technological improvements but also a sense of living comfort from the details.

Treading on the soft carpet along the hallway to the central elevator, Chen Xin pressed the button, and the elevator soon ascended.

Moving the elevator from the corner of the shelter to the center of the original columns saves space, allowing other necessary installations throughout the shelter to be located centrally, ensuring each layer retains spaciousness despite being underground.

The elevator door opened, and Chen Xin stepped inside, surrounded by dynamic landscape paintings.

This was one of the changes added in this upgrade, proposed by Mo Qingxin.

She thought that people living underground for long periods, enveloped by darkness outside, would become depressed, so when Chen Xin asked her what improvements should be added to the shelter, she expressed the wish to see pre-disaster landscapes.

Thus, Chen Xin added electronic windows to each room in the shelter post-upgrade, capable of continuously displaying landscapes or city scenes before the disaster, with the elevator featuring the same, displaying 360° uninterrupted views.

Indeed, once beautiful landscapes can bring relaxation and joy, with some people overwhelmed by the current disaster environment possibly becoming immersed in such visions.

Of course, for Chen Xin, this had no impact—not because of strong resistance or indifference, but because he prepared a holographic simulation room for himself, capable of fully simulating images, sounds, scents, air flow, lighting, temperature, and other changes.

In there, one can not only admire past landscapes but truly feel immersed as if returned to the past.

Therefore, the dynamic landscape paintings in the elevator do not greatly attract Chen Xin.

Taking the elevator to the top of the shelter, Chen Xin stepped out, passed through the hallway, and arrived at the main door, hesitating slightly before opening the heavy door.

The main door remained structurally unchanged, but its internal materials and defense capabilities significantly improved during the upgrade; now even missiles would struggle to breach it, especially with the energy shield Chen Xin installed.

Regarding the original machine gun defense, Chen Xin retained the 12.7mm rotary machine guns, as they sufficiently serve their defensive purpose.

After all, if one breaches the heavily guarded front lines of the research base and reaches his shelter gate, upgrading the machine gun to a grenade launcher would be futile, unless deploying two Titan Knights from the Warhammer 40K universe, as this level of enemy cannot be stopped by automated defense weapons.

Exiting the door, Chen Xin did not close it behind him as now a sealed corridor connects his shelter gate to the Ecological Dome.

Thus, even if Chen Xin does not shut the door, it won’t affect the shelter, and it saves the hassle of opening the door each time someone comes to find him.

Walking along the path inside the dome, the temperature remains around 20°C, primarily sourced from the central heating hub within the dome.

This heating hub connects via pipes to the Energy Tower of the geothermal power plant, with hot water from the power plant’s primary use piped here for secondary heat dispersion, providing warmth to the entire Ecological Dome.

As there are currently no plants inside the dome, it feels rather spacious, but the water recycling system operates well.

Around the heating hub are several collection tanks, connected to support columns and the metal support structure atop the dome; during upgrades, modifications allow efficient atmospheric water vapor collection, channeling droplets through hollow pipes atop the metal structure.

The collected droplets flow along the tank, finally reaching the ring-shaped reservoir below the heating hub, resembling a park pool, primarily serving for water vapor evaporation, preventing overly dry air resultant from continuous heating.

Around the heating hub lies the reserved ecological zone, with several ring-shaped planting troughs ready for plants.

Regarding plant seeds, Chen Xin need not worry as the related seeds are already gathered and will be delivered soon.

Outside the central ecological area is the office zone and experimental zone, divided according to the previous plan, with the dome’s upgrade focusing on enhancing its ecological cycle capabilities and laboratory tech level without structural changes.

Content with everything, Chen Xin then took the elevator to the underground military equipment testing area, intending to check on Chao Feng.