Cave Refuge

Actually, now that I think about it, it makes sense. After all, even though the Cold Catastrophe had been devastating for a while, the Imperial Court still maintained strong control over China.

Although there were periods when the Imperial Court lost contact with various regions, these disruptions didn't last long, as the Court soon found new ways to restore communication with the rest of China.

Before the Catastrophe, there might have been people hiding in the deep forests beyond the Court's reach, but as disasters continued to strike, the wilderness became a forbidden zone for humans. Even someone like Dong Tianyu, who had prepared early to face the Cold Catastrophe, eventually moved to live in the city for a while.

Because of this, don't be fooled by the Imperial Court's unassuming presence. Once you enter the city, it's inevitable to leave traces. Though the Court might not manage to gather detailed intelligence on every single person, they have a general understanding of everyone.

Dong Tianyu did not notice the drone observing him in the sky. Unlike the noisy rotor drones before the Catastrophe, the drones made by the Imperial Court now seemed like creations of advanced technology.

The drones resembled alien spacecraft from pre-Catastrophe movies, flying not by traditional rotor propulsion or jet propulsion like those on fighter aircraft.

The current drones could soar in the sky, seemingly relying on a magnetic flight capability only seen in movies. Moreover, this magnetic flight capability was applied not only to drones but also to the high-end metal armor produced by the Imperial Court, which possessed the ability to fly for short durations.

However, perhaps because the technology reserves are still insufficient, the bearing capacity of magnetic flight isn't high. It was already a stretch to lift a drone, so the duration of human flight was not long. Rather than flying with a person, it might be better described as giving a person the Qinggong ability to freely move through the air, as seen in novels.

When the drone saw Dong Tianyu enter his Companion Spiritual Treasure and the Treasure began to submerge, it waited. After the Treasure did not resurface for a while, the drone left the sky.

At that moment, Dong Tianyu was lying on a lounge chair in the cabin, organizing his Storage space and removing the packaging of the weapons and Ammunition.

After all, even though Dong Tianyu had upgraded his Cave several times, the Storage space had only increased in volume and range to collect and release items—it had not gained any other functionality.

To retrieve something from the Storage space, if the target was a whole entity, Dong Tianyu had to retrieve it as a whole from the space; he couldn't just take the part he wanted.

For instance, if there was an entire roast chicken in the Storage space and Dong Tianyu wanted to eat the chicken, he had to take out the whole chicken—he couldn't just take out a drumstick or the internal organs from the chicken's belly.

So, to make future use easier, Dong Tianyu had to remove the external packaging of the weapons beforehand, to avoid having to take out a complete box later and rummage through it for the items he needed.

Dong Tianyu didn't randomly dispose of the removed packaging since his own Storage space was now large, allowing him to keep these materials just in case they might be useful in the future.

Actually, this hoarder mentality is common among all Chinese people. The older generation exhibits it by not throwing away items that are almost never used, like clothes not worn for three to five years.

While the younger generation might sometimes display a penchant for the novel and disdain for the old in reality, they wouldn't let any achievement in the game's achievement column pass them by, nor would they miss an opportunity to collect every entry in the game's compendium.

It's because of the unsatisfied, hoarder-like mentality of the Chinese people that specific professions like decluttering and game boosting have emerged.

Although Dong Tianyu needed to remove everything from the boxes, he didn't have to do it one box at a time; he just had to place the items into the Cave, and then use telekinesis to simultaneously open the lids of those boxes. Then, he would send the contents back into the Cave.

After handling these chores, Dong Tianyu returned to the Magic City Base, where the paid intelligence he had obtained from the inspector upon arrival was now confirmed to be valid and effective.

The base had issued a rare all-base announcement—and Dong Tianyu's tablet received the message too.

The message was simple: the Imperial Court was preparing to lead an expedition to explore abroad.

According to the information released by the Imperial Court, the performances of the courts outside China were suboptimal. Many regions suffered terrible losses at the very onset of the Cold Catastrophe.

Some small countries, with scarce resources and incomplete industrial chains, collapsed instantaneously when the Catastrophe struck.

Even the bigger countries with industrial foundations did not have tight control from their own courts, and some nations disintegrated as soon as the Catastrophe began.

This led to the appearance of various types of Catastrophes in succession, and large swathes of land were occupied by otherworldly creatures—giant ancient beasts, Undead, the Bug Race, and mechanical creatures settled in those regions.

When the flood arrived later, it was thought that it would eliminate all the otherworldly creatures. However, unexpectedly, as the flood worsened, those creatures adapted to the changes.