Chapter 4 Modification Start
July 26, 5:00 AM.
Before dawn, Cuiping Mountain was shrouded in a thin, bluish-gray mist. Wen Yu drove a rented black SUV, its trunk crammed with blueprints, measuring tools, several cases of bottled water, and compressed biscuits, slowly onto the overgrown cement road.
The villa stood quietly in the morning light halfway up the mountain, like a sleeping giant. Wen Yu stopped the car but didn't go in immediately. He stood at the edge of the courtyard and lit a cigarette—a habit he had developed over ten years in the apocalypse. He would subconsciously light one when he was nervous or deep in thought. Although his body no longer relied on nicotine after his rebirth, the action itself brought a strange sense of calm.
A thin mist swirls around my fingertips, and the chirping of early birds drifts from afar.
Today marks the first day that the blueprint is being implemented. The cold lines and numbers on paper will begin to devour huge sums of money and gradually transform into tangible assets—his survival barrier for the next ten years, and even longer.
There can be no mistakes. Not even a single step.
After finishing his cigarette, Wen Yu crushed the butt with the sole of his shoe, picked it up, and put it into a sealed bag he carried with him. Then, he opened the heavy door of the villa (the one with the newly replaced temporary lock) and went inside.
His footsteps echoed in the empty lobby. Dust swirled in the beams of light streaming in through the broken windows. He walked straight to the door next to the kitchen that led to the basement.
He pushed open the wooden door and went down the stairs. The beam of his cell phone flashlight cut through the darkness, illuminating the rough cement walls and the clutter piled on the floor. He walked to the suspicious wall at the very back.
Last night, he stayed here alone until late, repeatedly scanning the space behind the wall with a rented small concrete detector and thermal imager. He confirmed the dimensions of the space: approximately four meters deep, three meters wide, and the same height as the basement. There were no obvious entrances or exits, but near the bottom, the thermal imaging showed an area with slightly different temperature conduction—it could be a hidden door, or a passage that was later sealed off.
Wen Yu crouched down and carefully felt the brick seams at the bottom of the wall. Near the corner, his fingertips touched an extremely fine, horizontal crack, about half a meter long, perpendicular to the surrounding vertical seams. Shining a strong flashlight at the side, he could see very slight wear marks on the edge of the crack, as if it had been rubbed frequently.
He took out a thin steel needle and carefully inserted it into the crevice. After penetrating about five centimeters, he encountered a hard barrier—not brick or stone, but something like metal. He tapped it gently, producing a dull "knock-knock" sound.
Sure enough, there was something there.
Wen Yu stood up, not attempting to open it immediately. He lacked the necessary tools and was worried about triggering some unintended mechanism (though the possibility was slim). More importantly, this hidden space was the ideal location for the "ultimate safe house" in his design. He needed a construction team to open it and reinforce it, but this had to be done under strict secrecy.
How to operate it requires careful design.
At seven o'clock in the morning, three pickup trucks and a small van bumped along the mountain road and stopped outside the villa. A dozen or so dark-skinned men in work clothes jumped out of the vehicles. The leader was a man in his forties who wore glasses and looked somewhat scholarly.
"Mr. Wen, right? I'm Engineer Liu, introduced by General Manager Wang." The leading man stepped forward and handed over his business card. "'Solid Civil Engineering,' specializing in structural reinforcement and special projects."
Wen Yu took the business card and glanced at it: Liu Mingda, Project Manager. He nodded: "Engineer Liu, thank you for coming so early. Have you reviewed the drawings and specific requirements?"
"I've looked at it!" Liu Mingda said hurriedly, a hint of excitement and barely perceptible doubt flashing in his eyes. "General Manager Wang instructed that this job has high requirements and a tight deadline, but money is not a problem. Our company loves taking on this kind of challenging project! But Mr. Wen... aren't the requirements on these drawings a bit..." He carefully chose his words, "...too much? Adding steel plates to the walls and then sandwiching carbon fiber cloth? And driving such deep anchor bolts in the foundation? This cost is more expensive than building a new building!"
Wen Yu said calmly, "I'm someone who lacks a sense of security. I've been watching too many disaster movies lately, so I want a sturdier house to make me feel at ease. Money isn't an issue, but quality can't be compromised. I want the best materials, and I want to supervise the construction process from start to finish. Can you take the job?"
Liu Mingda looked at his overly young yet composed employer, then glanced at the thick stack of blueprints in his hand, marked with various military standards, and swallowed hard. "Yes! Of course! As long as the money's right, we'll build according to the blueprints, quality guaranteed! But Mr. Wen, some materials… like the military-grade explosion-proof steel plates and lead plates you requested, are hard to find on the market. We'll have to go through special channels, and the prices will be…"
"I'll handle the distribution channels; you're in charge of the installation," Wen Yu interrupted him. "The lead plate needs to be sandwiched between the walls for radiation shielding, and the steel plate needs to be welded in two layers, inside and out. All welds must undergo flaw detection, and I will have a third-party organization inspect them."
Liu Mingda's forehead was slightly sweaty. This employer was savvy and not easily fooled. "Understood, understood! So...where should we begin?"
"First, we'll conduct a comprehensive structural inspection and survey," Wen Yu said, pointing to the villa. "I need to know the exact load-bearing capacity and current condition of every beam and every wall in this house. Then, according to the blueprints, we'll start with foundation reinforcement and basement renovation. Especially that basement wall—"
He led Liu Mingda down to the basement, pointing to the suspicious wall: "There might be an old wine cellar or storage room behind this. I want to open it up and transform it into a separate, sturdy room. The door must be concealed, and the walls must be reinforced to the highest level according to the blueprints. This process can only be carried out by you and your two most trusted workers; no one else is allowed near it. Can you do it?"
Liu Mingda shone his flashlight on the wall, then looked at the exaggerated reinforcement requirements marked "Safe House - Core Area" on the blueprints (1.2-meter-thick reinforced concrete, double-layered steel plates, and lead lining). His heart pounded. This wasn't a wine cellar; it was clearly a bank vault!
But he remembered Mr. Wang's (the introducer and also his old client) advice: "This Mr. Wen is no ordinary person. Do whatever he asks, no matter how strange. He pays promptly and doesn't ask any questions."
"Yes!" Liu Mingda gritted his teeth. "I'll bring two experienced craftsmen to do it personally! I guarantee it will be exactly as you requested, without any deviation!"
"Okay." Wen Yu took out a thick envelope from his bag. "This is the 30% advance payment for the project, in cash. Subsequent payments will be made according to the progress. There's only one requirement: speed, quality, and quantity. Workers will work in three shifts. If we don't have enough equipment, we'll rent it; if we don't have enough materials, we'll buy them. I'll reimburse you."
Liu Mingda took the heavy envelope, weighed it in his hand, estimated it to be worth over ten thousand yuan, and immediately beamed with joy: "Don't worry, Mr. Wen! We'll get started right away! We'll make sure it's impregnable for you!"
Soon, the villa was filled with the roar of machinery and the shouts of workers. Liu Mingda's team began setting up measuring instruments, inspecting the structure, and clearing the site.
Wen Yu didn't leave. He moved a chair and sat under the makeshift sunshade in the yard, spread out the master plan, and while supervising the construction, he began contacting other construction teams.
The civil engineering reinforcement team was just the first step. He planned to assign the subsequent water and electricity, security, interior decoration, and special equipment installation to at least four different teams, each responsible for only their own part and knowing nothing about the overall plan.
He first contacted a reputable professional water and electricity company in the province, whose manager was surnamed Zhao. Wen Yu's requirements were equally demanding: an independent dual-circuit power supply system (mains power + self-generated power), all electrical conduits must be galvanized steel pipes, and there must be strict standards for burial depth, spacing, and joint processes; the water system must have independent hot and cold water systems, all using food-grade stainless steel pipes, and each outlet must have an independent valve and filter; the drainage system must separate rainwater and sewage, and be connected to the sewage treatment device he specified.
Engineer Zhao was astonished over the phone: "Boss Wen, your standards... are even higher than a five-star hotel! And the cost..."
"Do it to the highest standards, money is not a problem. Bring a quote and detailed plan to the site tomorrow for a site visit." Wen Yu hung up the phone.
Next came the security company. He found one with foreign investment background that specialized in providing security solutions for high-end villas and museums. The sales manager they sent was a capable young man surnamed Sun.
Wen Yu didn't show him the overall design drawings, only a list and requirements: a perimeter vibration fiber optic alarm system, a whole-house infrared thermal imaging dual-technology detector, door and window reed sensors, glass breakage sensors, an emergency button, and a complete high-definition network monitoring system with facial recognition and motion detection (requiring support for offline storage and solar-powered backup). He emphasized that all devices must primarily use wired connections, with wireless only as backup; the signals must be encrypted; and the main unit must be placed in a "designated location" (i.e., the future safe house).
Manager Sun frowned as he took notes: "Mr. Wen, this configuration... is usually only used by important warehouses or confidential units. Moreover, it's all wired deployment, which involves a large amount of construction and a long construction period."
"I can pay extra to speed up the project. I need top-brand equipment, preferably original imports. The construction must follow my drawings for pipeline pre-laying, with no exposed wires." Wen Yu's tone left no room for argument. "In addition, I need a separate, simple radio-based alarm system as redundancy, and five industrial-grade drones with night vision and high-definition image transmission capabilities, capable of being programmed for automatic patrols."
Manager Sun wiped his sweat: "Drones... these require special registration."
"You handle the registration issue, I'll cover the costs." Wen Yu looked at him. "Can you do that? If not, I'll find another company."
"Yes! Yes!" Manager Sun nodded quickly. "We have cooperation with relevant departments and can go through special project approval. It's just... the cost will be relatively high."
"Send me the quote once you've got it ready." Wen Yu handed over a slip of paper with an email address on it. "I need to see the preliminary plan tomorrow."
At noon, Wen Yu used his portable gas stove to boil water, made two bowls of noodles, and ate a simple meal with Liu Mingda and a few foremen in the workers' shed. The workers, on the other hand, ate the boxed lunches ordered by the company.
During the meal, Liu Mingda leaned over and whispered, "Boss Wen, when we were tearing down that wall, we did find something. There was indeed a room in the back, not very big, only about ten square meters, completely empty. But the wall was quite thick, and we found a hidden compartment in the corner of the floor. We pried it open, and guess what?"
Wen Yu looked up: "What?"
"It's a small iron box, quite rusty, and locked. We didn't dare touch it, so we put it over there for you." Liu Mingda pointed to something covered with a plastic sheet in the corner.
Wen Yu walked over and lifted the plastic sheet. It was an old-fashioned tin box, about forty centimeters long, thirty centimeters wide, and twenty centimeters high, its surface covered in rust, with a similarly rusted padlock hanging on it. The box was heavy.
He gestured for Liu Mingda to continue with his work, then found a toolbox and carefully cut the latch with an angle grinder.
The moment the lid was opened, a musty smell of rust and dust hit the whiff.
There was no gold or silver treasure in the box, only a few things: several notebooks wrapped in oiled paper with yellowed pages; several similarly rusted metal parts, the purpose of which was unclear; and a small, heavy velvet bag.
Wen Yu first picked up the velvet bag, opened it, and inside was a pile of gleaming gold bars. There were about ten bars, each weighing around 100 grams, with blurry foreign writing and numbers printed on them. Before the apocalypse, they were a valuable form of hard currency, but in the later stages of the apocalypse, they were worth less than a packet of antibiotics. However, now, they could be exchanged for much more supplies.
He put the gold bars aside and picked up the notebooks. He opened the first one, and on the title page, written in neat penmanship, was the following: "Observation Record, 1937-1939, Lin Jingzhi".
Wen Yu's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly flipped through the pages. The pages were densely covered with writing, along with some hand-drawn charts and star maps. The recorder appeared to be an astronomer or physicist, and the content included astronomical observations, meteorological data, and some obscure formulas and speculations. The time span was from 1937 to 1939, a period of intense war.
On one of the pages, a passage was written heavily in red ink:
"...Radiation readings are abnormal and inconsistent with stellar activity cycles. An unknown source is suspected, or there may be unusual minerals in the local crust. Long-term exposure could be harmful; shielding is necessary. Shelter design drawings are attached..."
Sure enough, there were several pages of hand-drawn sketches, structural diagrams of an underground bunker, with the locations of the lead shielding layers marked. Judging from the outline and proportions, they were remarkably similar to the basement and hidden space behind this villa!
Wen Yu's heart skipped a beat.
Did the previous owner of this villa, or even earlier builder, discover the anomaly? What are the so-called "unknown source" and "special minerals"? Why is lead shielding necessary? Does "potentially harmful" mean it is harmful to human health?
He recalled that his design included adding lead plates to the wall cavities of all residential areas, originally intended to protect against potential nuclear contamination or solar storm radiation in the apocalypse. Had he inadvertently addressed some inherent risk here?
This discovery sent a chill down Wen Yu's spine. He quickly closed his notebook and put it away along with the gold bars. He also put away the other metal parts, whose purpose was currently unclear.
"Engineer Liu!" He called over Liu Mingda, pointing solemnly to the hidden room that had been opened. "The walls and ceiling of this room have been reinforced to the highest standard shown on the blueprints. In addition, the lead plate layer in all newly built or reinforced walls has been thickened to 20 millimeters. I will pay for this extra."
Although Liu Mingda was puzzled as to why the standards were suddenly raised and the lead plates were thicker (those things are expensive and heavy), he agreed repeatedly for the sake of the money.
In the afternoon, Engineer Zhao from the water and electricity company arrived with two other people. Wen Yu showed them the site and explained the requirements. After taking measurements and making calculations, Engineer Zhao quoted a price that would leave ordinary homeowners speechless. Wen Yu didn't even blink, immediately paid 50% in advance, and demanded that they immediately begin the design and preparation of materials for pipeline pre-laying, with construction commencing three days later.
Manager Sun from the security company also sent a preliminary plan and quote, which was equally outrageously expensive. Wen Yu approved: "Okay, but I need to personally confirm all the equipment models, and the construction must be seamlessly integrated with the water, electricity, and civil engineering."
In the evening, the construction team completed the initial clearing and surveying, and began erecting scaffolding in preparation for reinforcing the main structure of the house. A construction entrance had been carefully opened in the wall of the hidden room, and Liu Mingda personally led two veteran workers inside to begin construction according to new and higher standards.
Wen Yu stayed until after 8 p.m., when all the workers had gone home, before locking the door and driving down the mountain.
Instead of returning to his apartment, he went to a warehousing and logistics park on the other side of the city. During the day, he had already rented a medium-sized warehouse of 500 square meters online for one month, paying double the rent and demanding absolute confidentiality and independent access.
At this moment, the warehouse's roller shutter door was tightly closed, but the inside was brightly lit.
Wen Yu stood in the center of the empty warehouse, facing the first batch of "special supplies" procured that day:
Fifty tons of the highest grade cement;
Twenty tons of coarse and fine aggregates;
Five tons of rust-proof steel bars;
Ten rolls of carbon fiber cloth (for structural reinforcement);
Three tons of lead plates (first batch, more to follow);
And various specifications of explosion-proof steel plates, I-beams, channel steel, etc.
These materials were all purchased through Liu Mingda's channels under the guise of a "villa reinforcement project" and delivered directly to this warehouse. Tomorrow, a dedicated transport fleet will deliver them up the mountain in batches, overnight. Wen Yu wants to ensure that no one can deduce what he is actually building from the material procurement list.
He carefully counted the quantities, checked the material reports, and updated the supplies list on his tablet. This was just the tip of the iceberg. There were still generators, solar panels, water tanks, water purification equipment, weapons, medicines, food… a massive amount of supplies needed to be categorized, stored, and transferred.
He needs a system, an efficient, discreet, and traceable logistics management system.
Wen Yu turned on his computer and began writing a simple database program. He needed to create a file for each type of material: name, specifications, quantity, source of purchase, batch number, quality inspection status, storage location (specific coordinates within the future fortress), expected shelf life...
The project was massive, but he enjoyed it. The feeling of having everything under control gave him peace of mind.
It was 11 p.m. when Wen Yu finally dragged his tired body back to his apartment.
He took a shower, forced himself to eat something, and then sat down in front of the computer.
In his stock market account, funds continued to circulate. Using his memory, he caught two more short-term fluctuations and made a small profit. But his main focus was no longer on that. Zhou Lin's second "intelligence" deal was under negotiation, involving unusual price movements in the futures markets of a batch of important minerals; if successful, it would bring in tens of millions more.
He checked his encrypted email inbox and found several messages. One was a draft of the interior design renderings from the designer; he quickly skimmed it and replied with suggestions for improvement (emphasizing practicality and sturdiness as the top priority, aesthetics secondary). Another was a quote from a high-end solar energy equipment supplier; he replied requesting more detailed technical parameters and a list of spare parts. The last message was from his mother, Wang Xiujuan, asking anxiously about the progress of the mortgage on the house.
Wen Yu replied simply, "It's being processed, I need it urgently, don't rush me." Then he blocked the number.
He doesn't need unnecessary interference.
21 days to go.
Time flew by amidst the roar of machines, the revision of blueprints, the inventory of materials, and the flow of funds.
July 27th to July 31st was a crazy construction week.
The mountainside of Cuiping Mountain resembled a bustling construction site, yet it possessed an eerie order. Different colored hard hats represented different construction teams, each performing their duties with little communication.
The civil engineering team (Liu Mingda's men) was busy reinforcing the foundation, pouring new load-bearing columns, embedding steel bars and carbon fiber cloth into the walls, and building a new roof structure. The noise from the electric hammer and concrete mixer was deafening from morning till night.
The plumbing team (Zhao's men) was digging trenches, laying pipes, and installing cables. They were strictly following the blueprints provided by Wen Yu. Although they were secretly wondering about the strange routing and specifications of the pipes (for example, why were such thick steel pipes buried in the bedroom walls? Why were independent inlet and outlet ports and spare interfaces reserved for each room?), no one asked any questions. The boss was generous with the pay; what did a few strange requests matter?
The security company's construction workers also arrived, wearing uniforms with the company logo, making them look even more professional. They laid fiber optic cables, installed sensors, and pre-buried various conduits. Wenyu required that all security cables run in independent, concealed conduits, with inspection ports and redundancy provided at each section.
Wen Yu is like a gray shadow, moving between various construction areas. He always carries blueprints and a tablet computer, constantly recording, measuring, and comparing. His eyes are as sharp as an eagle's, able to instantly spot details such as corners not being perfectly vertical, welds not being full enough, or pipe depths being off by a centimeter.
"Here, the drawings specify that the lap length of the rebar should be 40 times the diameter. Measure it yourself, is that enough?"
"The concrete mix is wrong. Too much water was added, so the strength won't reach C50. We need to tear it down and redo it."
"The inner wall of the pre-buried steel pipe has burrs that will scratch the wires, so we will replace it all."
"The sensor installation angle is off by five degrees. Readjust it."
His tone was calm, but his authority was unquestionable. The workers went from initial complaints to later awe, and finally to numbness—this young boss was frighteningly knowledgeable and his demands were abnormally stringent. However, he was also quick to pay, never late, and provided excellent meals and late-night snacks. So, everyone could only grit their teeth and comply with his demands.
The most crucial "safe house" project was secretly carried out by Liu Mingda and two veteran workers who had signed confidentiality agreements. The walls were thickened to an astonishing degree, with steel bars as dense as a cage, and layers of concrete were poured. Lead plates were cut and embedded in the middle of the walls. The heavy, round blast door was also transported through special channels and hoisted into place by crane in the dead of night.
Wen Yu spent almost every day on the construction site, reducing his sleep time to four or five hours a day. His face showed exhaustion, but his eyes always shone brightly, as if a fire was burning within them.
The money was spent like water.
The civil engineering reinforcement was budgeted at eight million, but the actual expenditure quickly exceeded ten million because Wen Yu kept putting forward new reinforcement requirements (such as installing dampers at key load-bearing nodes).
The water and electricity renovation was budgeted at five million, but the actual cost was expected to be seven million, because Wenyu required all pipes and valves to be imported brands, and all electrical wires to be flame-retardant and high-temperature resistant military-grade specifications.
The security system has a budget of ten million, and the equipment list is still growing. The five drones with various accessories alone cost more than one million.
This doesn't even include the major expenses that haven't even started yet—solar systems, diesel generators, water storage and purification equipment, interior decoration, and most importantly: massive procurement of supplies.
Wen Yu's cash reserves were being depleted at a rate of millions per day. Yet, his expression remained unchanged, and he signed payment slips with lightning speed. In the stock and foreign exchange markets, his funds continued to keenly seize short-term opportunities, like a precise hunting dog, constantly bringing back prey to fill the gaps in his expenditures. The second intelligence deal with Zhou Lin had also been completed, injecting another huge sum of money.
He was like an accountant dancing on the edge of a knife, meticulously calculating every penny in and out, ensuring that at the moment the fortress was completed and supplies were in place, there would still be at least several hundred million in working capital to cover any unexpected events and ongoing expenses that might occur in the early stages of the apocalypse.
August 1st, evening.
The main structure reinforcement and pipeline pre-laying of the villa are basically completed. The rough concrete walls and crisscrossing pipes are exposed, like a giant whose skin has been peeled off, revealing its bones and veins. The setting sun gilded everything with a blood-red hue.
The workers gradually left work, and the machines stopped running. Wen Yu stood alone at the entrance of the newly completed safety house.
The circular explosion-proof door was tightly closed, its thick metal surface gleaming coldly. He entered the password, swiped his magnetic card, and then turned the mechanical lock. A low, hydraulic creak sounded, and the door slowly opened inward.
Inside, it was still a bare, unfinished space, about twelve square meters, completely empty except for the rough concrete walls and a few temporary lights overhead. But Wen Yu knew that the walls here were 1.2 meters thick, reinforced with steel and lead plates, capable of withstanding most known attacks. The ventilation ducts were independent and concealed, with both manual and electric systems in place. Power, data, and water connections were all available.
This is his final barrier, his "throne room".
He went inside and closed the heavy door. All external sounds were instantly shut out, leaving only the echoes of his own breathing and heartbeat. The air smelled of fresh concrete and metal.
Wen Yu leaned against the cold wall and slowly slid down to sit on the ground.
He was enveloped in utter silence.
The fatigue, tension, and scheming of the past few days seemed to ease slightly at this moment. He closed his eyes, and the last scene of his past life flashed through his mind—the coldness of the ice cave and Lu Jin's resolute back.
When I opened my eyes again, all that remained was a frozen calm.
That's not enough. It's just an outer shell.
Next comes the replenishment of flesh and blood—energy, water, food, weapons, medicine… and the final reckoning with the traitors.
He took out his phone, the screen's dim light illuminating his pale face. His schedule was filled with a dense list of to-do items:
August 2: Solar panels and power generation equipment were installed on site.
August 3: Installation of water storage tank and water purification system.
August 4: The interior design team arrived (light steel keel structure, which facilitates quick installation).
August 5: The first batch of bulk supplies (food and water) began to be stored in the transit warehouse.
August 6: Security system debugging.
August 7: Delivery of weapons and special equipment.
August 8: Procurement of medical supplies.
August 9-August 12: Comprehensive testing and troubleshooting.
August 18: The end of the world has come.
Additionally, there is one item marked in red:
[Final phase of the revenge plan begins: August 5th - August 15th]
Wen Yu's gaze lingered on the red text for a moment before he turned off the screen.
The safe house was plunged into darkness once again.
He sat there, in absolute silence and darkness, like a cold statue.
After a long while, he stood up, dusted himself off, walked to the door, and entered the password again.
The hydraulic door slid open silently, letting in the cacophony of the construction site outside, along with the glow of the setting sun.
Wen Yu walked out and closed the door behind him.
The modified framework has been built.
Next, it's time to inject blood and... clean house.