Game: Civilization Paradise

However, Long Ming didn’t answer her. He just raised his water cup and swirled it without offering any further explanation.

He left Luoxue standing coolly on the rock.

Just then, Cloud Fish shouted from beside the fire.

"Everyone, come on over! The soup’s ready."

"I’ll have some."

Long Ming quickly went over to ask for a serving.

Cloud Fish ladled a cupful into a plastic cup and handed it to Long Ming.

"Here!"

"Thanks."

Long Ming took it and glanced inside. It was soup made from canned meat, as expected.

He took a sip. It tasted pretty good, and it chased away much of the chill from his body as his Physical Strength rapidly recovered.

’To be honest,’ he thought, ’the environment in this world is just too uncomfortable.’

Not long after Long Ming and the others finished their meal, An Qing and her group shouted.

"It’s fixed!"

"Let’s go. We need to take advantage of the good weather and get to the shelter as quickly as possible."

Luoxue glanced at the sky and said to everyone.

The weather was fine for now, but in a world like this, it was so extreme that a sudden blizzard wouldn’t be surprising at all.

If that happened, they could very well freeze to death in the open. After all, there were no buildings here to block the wind.

"Understood!"

Long Ming and the others climbed onto the metal plate.

Luoxue and Jing Chuan once again mounted the snowmobiles, pulling the group toward the shelter.

...

「Late that night, snowflakes began to fall.」

Luoxue and Jing Chuan rode the snowmobiles, pulling everyone to a stretch of rolling, snowy plains.

They slowed the snowmobiles to a gradual stop.

"This should be the place."

Luoxue said, glancing at the map Long Ming had shared.

"But I don’t see anything,"

Jing Chuan said, gazing into the distance.

"Then spread out and search."

Luoxue gave the order to the group.

"Understood!"

Hearing this, Long Ming and the others climbed off the steel plate.

The snow here was incredibly deep. With just a little pressure, your whole foot would sink in.

But no one from the Rat Group complained. Some of them got down on their stomachs, increasing their surface area to crawl across the snow.

Others simply took out their snowboards and started showing off.

Long Ming, however, was more conventional, just walking forward step by step.

「More than ten minutes later.」

Just as Long Ming and the others were coming up empty, An Qing, standing on a distant snowdrift, shouted excitedly.

"It’s over here!"

"Everyone, move to her position."

Luoxue ordered upon hearing her.

Long Ming and the others struggled over to the snowdrift where An Qing was and looked ahead.

A ring-shaped structure made of black metal, a kilometer in diameter, came into view, along with an unfinished mechanical building.

"What is this thing? The shelter zone?"

Zhihan asked, bewildered.

"No idea. I’ve never seen anything like it."

"But this thing looks a bit like a weather instrument, though it’s clearly unfinished."

...

An Qing and the others buzzed with discussion.

Luoxue’s eyes flickered, and she calmly raised her hand with a wave.

"Search!"

"Yes!"

An Qing and the others immediately ran over and began searching around the structure.

Long Ming followed, walking up to the mechanical building.

He looked at the metal walls protruding from the snow, reached out to touch the exposed conduits, and fell into deep thought.

「Over half an hour later.」

An Qing and the others finished their search and regrouped with Luoxue’s party.

"President Luoxue, we’ve searched everywhere. There’s no sign of a shelter. This is just an unfinished mechanical building,"

An Qing reported, her face full of disappointment.

"I also looked around. There’s nothing here. Could we be in the wrong place?"

Zhihan looked at Luoxue, uncertain.

"The location is correct. This is it."

Luoxue replied with absolute certainty.

"If that’s the case, then the shelter from the promotional poster probably wasn’t finished before the original inhabitants died out."

Jing Chuan sighed, voicing his thoughts.

"Ah, so we did all this for nothing?"

An Qing and the others were dumbfounded.

Hearing this, Long Ming remained silent.

"Everyone, stay calm. First, let’s check how far the nearest city and extraction point are."

Zhihan said calmly to the group.

After hearing her, An Qing and the others raised their wristbands to check the map. They quickly gave a specific answer.

"The closest extraction point is 82 kilometers away. On the revealed map, the nearest city is the City of Mo’ans, 122 kilometers away."

After hearing this, Jing Chuan spoke with a troubled expression.

"This is a problem. Just getting to the extraction point from here will take at least four hours. Getting to another city will take over six, and that’s if everything goes smoothly."

"So what do we do now? Extract directly or head to another city?"

Zhihan was also unsure of what to do.

If they extracted now, this whole run would be a huge loss. But if they went to another city to search, the risk would definitely skyrocket. If anything else went wrong along the way, it would be a total wash.

Jing Chuan and the others all turned to look at Luoxue.

Just then, Luoxue turned her head to Long Ming and asked calmly.

"Long Ming, what do you think?"

Zhihan and the others showed looks of surprise. Luoxue was actually asking for the opinion of a mere Rat Group member.

Long Ming thought for a moment and said.

"We could go search another city, but considering the travel time there and back, we probably wouldn’t have much time to search. Even if we found something, the payoff wouldn’t be great."

"Then what are you thinking?"

"I think the shelter is right here. It’s just buried under the snow."

"That’s what I was thinking, too."

Luoxue replied with great certainty.

"Uh, Luoxue, you mean...?"

Zhihan looked at Luoxue, stunned.

"Everyone, start digging. I want that entrance found, even if you have to dig three feet deep!"

Luoxue commanded without hesitation.

"Yes!"

An Qing and the others immediately spread out, taking out folding shovels and other tools, and started looking for places to dig.

Long Ming, in contrast, stood where he was, a little unsure where to start.

Just then, Long Ming felt a strange gaze on him and turned his head to look.

He found that both Zhihan and Jing Chuan were staring at him.

Feeling a bit uncomfortable under their watch, Long Ming ran over and started helping dig the snow with his bare hands.

「In the blink of an eye, more than two hours passed.」

Everyone’s hands were nearly frozen from digging, but unfortunately, they hadn’t found anything.

However, An Qing and the others didn’t complain. They just kept on digging relentlessly.

Zhihan stood beside Luoxue and asked with some concern.

"Sister Luoxue, is this really going to work?"

"It’s a gamble."

Luoxue replied calmly.

Zhihan was inwardly surprised. Although Luoxue called it a gamble, her eyes and tone were firm. ’It means she’s completely certain that Long Ming’s suggestion is correct.’

Just then, Tang Yue’s joyful shout came from the distance.

"I found it!"

Hearing this, Luoxue and the others immediately rushed over.

Soon, everyone had gathered around Tang Yue. In front of her was a snow pit, dug more than three meters deep.

Inside the pit, a thick metal blast door was exposed.

"Whoa, we really dug it up!"

"I can’t believe the shelter was actually buried under the snow."

"We’re rich this time!"

...

Cloud Fish and the other members of the Rat Group chattered excitedly.