After dinner, Su Lin leaned back against the couch, feeling as if his whole body was about to fall apart.
The bowl of porridge he just ate barely filled his stomach, but it deepened his mental exhaustion and stirred up feelings of nostalgia for his past life.
Bitter!
So bitter!
Su Lin scratched his head, turning it into a bird's nest, and sighed.
His gaze swept over the bulging snakeskin bags on the table and finally fixed on the two pieces of glowing blueprints haphazardly stuffed inside.
"Tsk, tonight's survival depends on whether the 'King of the Garbage Can' entry comes through or not."
Su Lin mumbled to himself, struggling to reclaim his spine from the couch's hold, and grabbed the blueprints.
The blueprints felt cool in his hand, neither paper nor leather, with an extraordinary texture.
Frowning, Su Lin examined them. They depicted the appearance of various mechanisms, with information on each and their construction materials, and complex geometric designs and incomprehensible scribbles along the edges.
Spiked floorboards.
Impact walls.
"How do I use this stuff?"
Su Lin gestured, racking his brain to dredge up relevant memories from his predecessor.
Constructing mechanisms required the homeowner to use... a house title deed?
House Title Deed! Where did my predecessor hide this crucial item?
Su Lin cursed silently, wondering why he couldn't instantly merge all memories like other transmigrators. Instead, he had to search frame by frame, like rewinding an old videotape.
"Brother Kirin, did you buy the mechanism blueprints?"
After tidying up the dishes, Su Tongxi came over and sat close to him.
As she sat down, she hugged a couple of heavy concepts with her slender arms like white lotus roots, covering them with a touch of bashful modesty.
Su Lin's nose twitched, catching a warm, faint milky scent.
Su Tongxi didn't notice his subtle move, gazing excitedly at the blueprints in his hand before looking up at him, her heart overwhelmed with dreamlike peace and happiness.
Not only did Brother Kirin pull himself together to gather resources, bring back food, and treat her well, but now he even had life-saving mechanism blueprints!
The Su Family ancestors must be watching over them; Brother Kirin had truly changed!
Mr. and Mrs. Su, in their grave, must also feel greatly comforted.
Su Tongxi's eyes welled up.
After rubbing her eye with a small fist, she looked up at Su Lin with a radiant and gentle smile.
With red-rimmed eyes and a smiling face, she looked so sweet and endearing, making people feel affectionate.
"Is Brother Kirin going to build the mechanisms for the house now? If so, I'll go break down the things you brought back into materials."
"Yes, go ahead."
Su Lin pushed aside stray thoughts, wearing a facade of understanding everything.
He watched Su Tongxi struggle to lift the two big snakeskin bags on the table and move them to the two metal stations in the corner.
Build station.
Decompose station.
These were products of the post-apocalyptic rules' descent.
Fortunately, as someone native to this shattered world, his predecessor wasn't naive to everything.
Simultaneously, fragments of memory about the house title deed finally surfaced.
Su Lin looked at the memory, his face full of surprise.
Half-believing, he tried to follow the memory's instructions, concentrating his mind and attempting to summon the house title deed with his thoughts.
As the thought emerged.
There was a sudden buzz!
A thin book emitting a faint silvery-gray glow, neither metal nor stone, abruptly appeared in front of him!
This booklet floated in the air, its cover devoid of any text, marked only by ancient and profound patterns constantly shifting, exuding an unyielding and solemn aura like a protective talisman.
Looking at this obviously supernatural item, Su Lin gaped, unable to close his mouth for a long time.
"Truly... what a bizarre and eerie world this apocalyptic era is," Su Lin clicked his tongue.
One might think it was the Greed Island from Hunter x Hunter.
Looking up, he saw Su Tongxi chirp happily as she sat on the high stool in front of the decompose station.
A pair of delicate little feet were dangling timidly, while only her toes tried to touch the ground.
Su Tongxi put an item from the bag onto the decompose station.
The next moment, both her hands glowed white, enveloping the item on the station.
Minutes later.
With a snap, the item on the station had turned into two lumps resembling iron ingots.
Snap! Su Lin slapped his face with both hands, rubbing vigorously as he felt he had taken a serious hit from the cognitive shock of this otherworldly experience.
SAN value -1.
Had he mistakenly clicked into an apocalypse game ad while shaking his phone during a thunderstorm, when playing on TFT?
What kind of madness is this!
He shook his head, suppressing the absurdity.
A few hours later, Su Tongxi had decomposed most of the trash, obtaining several small piles of materials.
She wiped the fine sweat off her snowy neck, bringing over the materials with a tired yet joyful smile to Su Lin.
"Brother Kirin, these materials should be enough for you to construct three mechanisms."
Su Lin looked at them:
Metal, resin, regular wood, plastic.
Just these four kinds, all basic materials.
Each piece was about palm-sized, neatly stacked like bricks.
Then looking at the requirements for the spiked floorboard blueprint: Metal x50, regular wood x10.
Su Tongxi sighed gently, her emotions a bit complex:
"Although the apocalyptic rules destroyed our world, one can't deny that the rules are quite magical. Not only can they replenish resources out of thin air, the small blocks of materials obtained from decomposition seem small but are imbued with mystical rule power. They can construct large mechanisms after all."
As she spoke, her eyes dimmed, and she lowered her small head:
"I just wonder what purpose those who created the rules had by orchestrating such a great catastrophe? While giving us safe havens and various rules to survive, they also designed monster attacks every night and a terrifying survival night with a blood moon every month. I hope that someday, we can return to the peace and stability we once had."
Su Tongxi's face was mournful, as if remembering Mr. and Mrs. Su, along with her family who were no longer around, and her eyes clouded with sorrow, her lips pouting like a delicate begonia beaten down by rain.
Su Lin pressed his lips together, his heart softened, as he smiled and wrapped his arm around her slender waist:
"That day will come. Until then, you have to help me survive."
For perhaps the first time in her life, Su Tongxi heard such intimate words from Su Lin, filling her heart with sweetness and warmth, her petite figure nestled softly in his embrace.
"Yes, Brother Kirin must live well. I'm willing to do anything for you, to always help and support you..." Su Tongxi murmured.
Unintentionally, she leaned forward slightly, pressing against Su Lin's rib cage, which set his mind wandering and his throat dry.
"Uh-hem!" Su Lin hurriedly changed the subject to suppress the restless feeling, "Let's quickly build the mechanisms, it's nearly dark!"
"Mm-hmm!" Su Tongxi responded softly, reluctantly slipping out of his embrace and standing aside, "Then Brother Kirin should put the blueprints into the house title deed first."
Su Lin took a deep breath, suppressing his turbulent heart, and used his hand to support the floating house title deed.
According to the meager knowledge of his predecessor, he slid the two blueprints into the floating house title deed.