The heavy thump, thump of the knocking echoed in the stairwell. On the walls surrounding the apartment's security door, white dust trickled down from the vibrations. A sense of dread washed over Chen Yuan.
"Tiedan, what is that thing outside?!"
Tiedan swiveled its offensive mechanical arm, its synthesized voice chiming in.
「Reporting to Master. There is one moving object outside. Thermal imaging detects the object's surface temperature is zero.」
Hearing this, Chen Yuan's heart sank. Fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. Am I being targeted?
His mind involuntarily flashed back to the events of the evening, the woman's scream still seeming to linger in his ears. His grip on his dagger tightened, his face grim. He didn't know what was outside, and now, there was nowhere else to run. If his security door was breached, his only option was to fight for his life.
His eyes darted around the doorframe as his feet shuffled backward. He felt as if his heart was about to leap into his throat, his back already soaked through with a cold sweat.
Time ticked by, second by second, each one more agonizing than the last. After what felt like an eternity, the pounding on the door gradually subsided. The world outside fell silent.
Chen Yuan swallowed hard. "Tiedan, is there anything still out there?"
「Reporting to Master. No moving objects detected.」
Hearing this, he let out a small sigh of relief. Did it give up because it couldn't break down the door? he wondered. He took two steps forward and began to inspect his security door. Touching its surface, he found several uneven dents. It had clearly been battered and deformed.
After a quick inspection, he patted his chest, a wave of lingering fear washing over him. The quality of the security door was decent enough. Though it was slightly bent out of shape, at least the thing outside hadn't managed to break through.
He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and gave an order. "Tiedan, guard the door."
「Roger.」
Chen Yuan turned and hurried into the warehouse. On the production platform, the store's robotic arm was sparking with blue light as it fabricated a new robot dog, one that looked very similar to Tiedan. The only difference was that this one had a small camera mounted on its head. This was a remote image transmission function that Chen Yuan had specifically chosen. With this, he could hide at home and use the robot dog to scout the outside environment.
He lifted the new robot dog from the platform and inserted a handful of combustion pellets. After pressing the startup button on its head, he heard a familiar voice.
「Beep~ Robot dog initial startup. Please assign a name.」
Chen Yuan rubbed his chin. "Tieqiong! (Iron Dome!)"
「Name assignment successful.」
「Voiceprint recorded.」
With a series of mechanical sounds, Tieqiong rose from the ground. Chen Yuan picked up a headset and controller from the platform and returned to the living room sofa. After inserting a combustion pellet, he switched on the headset. He put it on, and through the camera inside, he saw Tiedan's field of vision.
"Tieqiong, come to me."
The moment he spoke, Tieqiong came trotting out. He could control it with his voice at close range, and with the headset and controller from a distance. Although Tieqiong had no offensive capabilities, for now, it was enough.
After confirming there was nothing outside his front door, Chen Yuan sent Tieqiong out. He sat cross-legged on the sofa and began to operate it.
He had to admit, the products from the Apocalypse Store were exceptionally well-made. Observing the surroundings through the headset was no different from being there himself. The controls were also very simple: two joysticks and a few buttons allowed him to control Tieqiong's basic movements like running, jumping, and strafing.
Under Chen Yuan's control, Tieqiong quickly descended the stairs and entered the alley. It was now 6:30 in the evening, and the sky had long since grown dark. Visibility was no more than five meters. Fortunately, Tieqiong had its own built-in spotlight, so it didn't affect Chen Yuan's operation.
He had Tieqiong shuttle back and forth through the alley several times, carefully observing the surroundings. He found nothing out of the ordinary. The street was deathly silent, as if he were in another world entirely.
"Did it leave..." Chen Yuan muttered to himself and had Tieqiong run back.
He lived on the fifth floor, with the rooftop just one floor above. He controlled Tieqiong to the landing between the fifth and sixth floors and aimed its camera directly at his own front door. This way, if anything tried to pound on his door again, he would be able to see it clearly.
After setting this up, he returned to the warehouse. His door was already deformed. The most important thing now was to reinforce it. He scrolled through the blueprints and found a recipe for a super-strong adhesive. The required materials were relatively simple: just rubber.
Looking at the three tires piled in the corner, he took out his Flame Dagger and pressed the button. With a hiss, the dagger glowed with a deep red light. He sliced into a tire, and the smell of burnt rubber filled the air. He cut off a large piece and threw it into the insertion port.
「Ding-a-ling~ Material insertion successful. Product in production. Please wait...」
「Ding-a-ling~ This insertion: one piece of rubber. Output: one tube of super-strong adhesive.」
As the prompt appeared on the screen, the robotic arm began to move. As if it were a 3D printer, a bottle of yellow-packaged adhesive appeared after a short while.
「Super-Strong Adhesive: Suitable for all materials. Impervious to fire and water. Extremely viscous. Can be removed with Flame Dagger.」
Chen Yuan read the instructions and nodded with satisfaction. But this wasn't enough. The adhesive could only strengthen the connection between the doorframe and the wall; the strength of the door panel itself also needed to be reinforced.
He searched the blueprints again and selected a high-strength carbon fiber membrane. The required materials were cloth and charcoal.
For cloth... he threw in his own bedsheets.
Charcoal was simpler. He just took a wooden plank and roasted it over the stove in the living room.
Half an hour later, the store printed out a roll of soft, black, grid-like material. It was light, but when he pulled on it, it was extremely durable.
Chen Yuan nodded with satisfaction and carried the two items to his front door. He first drew a circle around the doorframe with the adhesive. The milky-white, viscous liquid covered the metal frame and the wall, binding them firmly together. Then, he coated the entire door panel with adhesive and pressed the high-strength carbon fiber membrane onto it.
This was equivalent to giving his door a layer of armor plating. The next time something tried to pound on his door with that kind of force, he would be much more secure.
After working for the better part of the day, it was already close to nine at night. But Chen Yuan didn't rest. He brought Tiedan to the side of the Apocalypse Store.
The robot dog had many, many possible upgrades. He prioritized the offensive ones. One offensive arm wasn't enough; he needed two! Tiedan's own durability needed to be strengthened! Its speed needed to be optimized! Its endurance needed to be increased!
In short, Chen Yuan was preparing to transform Tiedan into an apocalypse frenzy-killing robot dog.
Without doing so, he would never feel safe.
He fed the materials from his warehouse into the insertion port one by one, using up almost everything he had accumulated.
Looking at the red button on the Apocalypse Store, Chen Yuan slapped his palm down on it.
「Material insertion successful. Upgrade requires: 12 hours.」