It was a shame she’d only replaced the front door a few days ago.
Now that Tang Danqing looked at it again, it seemed flimsy. The door was the weakest point. If it gave way, the NPCs outside would flood in and loot the apartment. Little Jelly would have nowhere to run.
That would be terrifying.
For the new door, she chose a military-grade blast door on par with the ones used in bank vaults. The specifications listed AR500 armor steel. Tang Danqing didn’t know much about it, but the description claimed the material could withstand Arctic cold and take the impact of a 500-ton hydraulic press.
The doorframe was reinforced too, welded directly to the rebar in the walls.
In front of her now stood a door even a tractor couldn’t budge. The only downside was that it was much thicker than a normal security door, so it didn’t look quite as good.
The lock used both a password and biometric recognition, with top-of-the-line security technology. Unless Tang Danqing or Shang You unlocked it, nobody else would get in.
The door cost 16,000 Survival Coins, leaving her with 133,900.
Next came the windows and walls. Tang Danqing wasn’t going to overlook those.
People had been breaking through walls for centuries. Clearly, walls could be targets too. If someone attacked that way, they wouldn’t even need to break down the door. The apartment would just be wide open to the elements, and everyone could sing, “My door is always open.”
She replaced every window with multiple layers of composite bulletproof glass, designed to resist both penetration and impact.
But there were so many possible combinations of wall materials, each more complicated than the last. Tang Danqing stared at the options in the Shop until her eyes crossed. Finally, she gave up and bought a book titled How to Build a Vault, then studied it and copied the instructions.
All right…
She reinforced the walls with steel-reinforced concrete to a thickness of 45 centimeters, lined them with Kevlar fabric to keep them from spalling, then coated the outside with a specialized blast-resistant layer. She pressed three Renovation Coupons one on top of the other against the walls. With that, the apartment had its own impenetrable shell.
Reinforcing the windows and walls cost another 75,000 Survival Coins, leaving her with 58,900.
Tang Danqing checked [Info].
[Residence Information]
[Supply Score: 3900 (Rating: If any of your supplies include a combination of steel and gunpowder, your actual Supply Score is much higher than you think. You understand, right?)
Security Score: 50 (Rating: Anyone trying to enter your shelter will have to put some thought into it.)]
Tang Danqing was having to put some thought into it too. She’d made the apartment as solid as a fortress. Even a power drill or a machine gun would have second thoughts about taking it on. So why hadn’t she even reached a passing Security Score?
She’d grown up in a country that had been almost entirely peaceful. When she bought her home, a professional agent had handled everything. Her mind had gone blank, so she picked up How to Build a Vault again and carefully read through the other sections.
She ran out of time in the game that day, and the Health System forced her to log off.
The next day, she topped up her balance with another 200,000 Survival Coins and finished addressing the remaining weak spots.
Since the suite was on the top floor of the hotel, the roof and ventilation system needed to be secured too. She covered the vents and ducts with high-strength steel grilles, leaving gaps too narrow for anyone to slip a tool through.
She also reinforced the walls of the hallway’s water-storage room and electrical room, then installed equally sturdy vault-grade doors. Those two rooms controlled the apartment’s utilities. If she wasn’t careful, someone could cut them off at the source.
Finally, she installed a waste-disposal system that routed trash from the 22nd-floor suite straight to an underground burial site. The disposal hatch was inside the apartment, behind three layers of passwords, a blast-resistant barrier, and a one-way door. The pipes were filled with an oxygen-free environment. Not even a cockroach could crawl inside.
With a way to dispose of waste, and enough supplies at home, the NPC could stay there forever without ever going outside. Whatever chaos the intruders caused beyond the door, Little Jelly would be safe… right?
After all that, the apartment’s Security Score finally reached “60”!
Tang Danqing completed the Main Quest. The reward was a pittance compared with her balance, so she ignored it and kept her attention on the Pocket Shop.
She thought she’d made the apartment practically invulnerable, yet the score had only just reached a passing mark. She wasn’t satisfied. Not at all.
A competitive streak took hold. Tang Danqing thought it over.
She slowly browsed page after page of the Shop. Then, all at once, inspiration struck.
She hesitated before finally making up her mind.
She bought a Basic Firearms Bundle for 188,888 Survival Coins.
It included a Mauser Pistol, an AK rifle, and a pump-action shotgun, along with matching user manuals, cleaning kits, repair tools, a dedicated storage case, and a large supply of magazines and ammunition. It appeared on the floor like a Pandora’s box dropped from the sky. The achievement she unlocked was called “Now That’s What I Call Having a Say.”
When Tang Danqing carefully opened the case, the NPC roommate’s expression froze at the sight of the guns.
These weapons were in a whole different league from the knives, axes, and clubs the NPCs in the military overcoat’s group had carried.
The NPC slowly crouched in front of the case and blinked up at Tang Danqing with wide, watery eyes.
Tang Danqing had handled real guns before, thanks to her acting experience. She immediately told the NPC, “Jelly, do you know how to use a gun? Remember, when you’re holding one, keep the muzzle pointed down. Never point it at anyone. Be careful not to let it go off.”
She checked the safety on all three guns, quickly shut the case, and set a password only she knew.
Then she checked the Security Score.
[Supply Score: 5300 (Rating: If any of your supplies include a combination of steel and gunpowder, your actual Supply Score is much higher than you think. You understand, right?)
Security Score: 80 (Rating: You have acquired an indisputable truth. Even in a crowd, other people should be the ones watching their step around you.)]
So that was it. Tang Danqing had been missing the “truth” in her hands!
Shang You shook her head, looking harmless and sincere. “I don’t.”
Maybe that answer would get her a gun sooner than saying she did. At least, that was what Shang You thought.
Tang Danqing put the firearms case away and set up a shooting range in the living room. She left the manuals and a newly purchased shooting textbook on the coffee table for the NPC to study.
She’d wait until the next day… after topping up her Survival Coins, she bought a professional set of training gear and three realistic training replicas, so the NPC could practice first.
“You can touch the real guns once you’ve mastered these,” Tang Danqing said. “Until then, don’t open the door to anyone outside. It’s dangerous.”
The NPC nodded with earnest resolve. “I’ll practice hard!”
The moment Tang Danqing logged out of the game, several shots rang out.
Bang! Bang!
A bullet hole appeared in the target’s bullseye, surrounded by marks scattered across the fourth and fifth rings.
The shots from all three guns landed with the same precision, like stones dropping into the very center of a ripple.
Behind the safety goggles, her pupils seemed to wake like a lion rousing from sleep. Her brown eyes were calm, knowing.
I can still shoot this accurately.
Shang You murmured, “Oh,” tore the target down, and tossed it into the waste chute.
Then she sat on the sofa, crossed her long legs, and picked up the Light Weapons Marksmanship Textbook. She quickly flipped through the pages again and again, rubbing and creasing the book until it looked well-worn.
