I can upgrade the shelter

Beneath the snow, Bao Zhen was trying to dig an upward tunnel with the hoe in his hand.

Beside him, a German Shepherd was also vigorously helping to dig the snow. However, a dog’s ability is limited. While Bao Zhen was strenuously digging the tunnel upwards, the dog only managed to scrape out a pit.

"Alright, Jackal, I know you want to help. Go rest to the side, I can handle it myself." Seeing his beloved dog dig for half a day without much progress and shivering with cold, Bao Zhen tenderly told the dog to go back and rest.

The German Shepherd named Jackal was quite obedient. Although it indeed went to lie down and rest a little way off, it kept watching its owner and did not wander far.

This was the 37th day that Bao Zhen was trapped underground. Because his shelter was at a low elevation and due to structural issues, the entrance of his shelter was completely buried in snow during the ravaging blizzard, and it was deeply buried.

If it weren’t for the fact that he had initially connected the shelter’s ventilation duct to the roof through the building he was in, and the duct hadn’t been buried, Bao Zhen might have perished by now.

Though the ventilation duct was still usable and the indoor planting boxes provided enough oxygen to prevent suffocation, the four-story building he was in was already buried by snow up to three and a half stories. If Bao Zhen didn’t dig his way out, he would remain buried underground.

Although Bao Zhen had prepared adequately enough before the disaster, with a complete set of self-constructed living facilities that were sufficient for him and his dog to eat and drink, his fuel reserves were nearly exhausted. He had to find a way to replenish them. Otherwise, stuck underground without fuel, he wouldn’t last a few days.

Moreover, no one would want to be buried in snow underground; even if you wouldn’t die, such a life was akin to being in prison – a life nobody wants to live, particularly when you’re alone.

While Bao Zhen was arduously digging a path for survival, the drone controlled by Chen Xin also reached his location, pinpointing Bao Zhen through the heat emanating from the rooftop ventilation outlet.

Yet, through the drone, Chen Xin saw the building almost entirely covered by snow and, after searching for a while, could not find an entrance to the building.

Even though some parts of the building’s top were not completely buried in snow, entering through broken windows in the top floor revealed that the interior had already been filled with snow during the previous blizzard. While there were some gaps, it was impossible to enter the building’s interior from the top floor.

However, although he couldn’t enter the building, Chen Xin discovered Bao Zhen, who was diligently digging upwards underground, through the drone’s life detection equipment.

Yet, perhaps because Bao Zhen’s communication equipment was damaged, Chen Xin tried contacting him via radio but got no response.

Faced with this situation, Chen Xin, after some thought, decided to go for the rescue.

Although his Power Armor had been taken by Mo Qingyan, Chen Xin himself still had an Exoskeleton Protective Suit, which was sufficient for his needs outdoors.

Chen Xin instructed Han Ping to continue monitoring the radar from the vehicle, while he called two workers from Lin City to accompany him towards the location where he discovered Bao Zhen.

After the blizzard subsided, Lin City also received a batch of Protective Suits and Exoskeletons. Although they were few, the two workers accompanying Chen Xin, possibly due to work requirements, were both equipped with Protective Suits. One worker, carrying a shovel, even had an Exoskeleton.

The exoskeletons produced by the state differed from the versions provided by Chen Xin, clearly incorporating some of Flame Country’s own technology instead of merely copying Chen Xin’s blueprints.

Moreover, the state-produced exoskeletons were categorized into civilian, police, and a military version that Chen Xin knew existed but had never seen.

The worker’s set was evidently civilian, possessing only some basic assistant functions, having less output than Chen Xin’s original version, and appearing simpler, lacking the protective armor plates found on police exoskeletons used by rescue teams.

Nonetheless, even so, a civilian exoskeleton like this was already more than sufficient for ordinary workers.

At least, accompanied by Chen Xin heading to the location of Bao Zhen, the worker without an exoskeleton had difficulty walking through the snow, whereas the worker with an exoskeleton moved with ease and could even assist his companion.

The three didn’t travel long before reaching Bao Zhen’s location. After all, Lin City was just a prefecture-level city, with a narrow urban spread, and Bao Zhen’s location wasn’t far from the rescue station.

"Mr. Chen, is the survivor you mentioned really under this building?" The worker, observing the building, mostly buried in snow with only a little of the top left exposed, seemed uncertain about what to do.

"That’s right. The life signal detected by the drone earlier is right beneath here. He should also be actively self-rescuing, digging a tunnel upwards. We simply need to dig downwards." Chen Xin explained the situation to the two workers and used the communicator on his Exoskeleton to contact Han Ping, asking him to relay the footage captured by the drone to him.

Although the two workers thought that the three of them alone might not manage to dig out the person buried below, they didn’t decline and each picked up a shovel, ready to help.

Relying on the footage projected inside his helmet visor, Chen Xin identified the spot, then took his first shovel to dig downwards.

Though there were only three people, and the only tools were three shovels, with the help of two sets of Exoskeletons, the trio quickly dug a large pit in the ground.

"Don’t dig straight down like this; let’s dig downwards in a spiral, otherwise we’ll have to figure out how to get back up later." Seeing the pit getting a bit deep, Chen Xin said to the nearby workers, adjusting the direction of excavation.

Although digging a spiral tunnel meant a significantly larger workload, both workers understood its necessity and resignedly cooperated with Chen Xin, continuing to dig downwards.

While those above were digging downwards, the man below wasn’t idle either. Bao Zhen was equally diligently digging upwards, and he had been digging in a spiral from the start. After all, he couldn’t possibly dig himself out of the ground with a vertical tunnel.

The only thing Bao Zhen, still diligently digging his path to survival upwards, didn’t know was that someone was already on their way to rescue him from above.

Read full story at Nov3lFɪre.ɴet

Now, the problem is, with snow approximately over ten meters deep and dual excavation efforts, the ground excavation speed is five times that of the underground. If the ground crew can dig one meter down in half an hour, how long will it take to excavate through this stretch of snow?