March 7th, 10:37 AM.

"Phew, I almost thought I overslept."

Tomorrow was the day of the auction, and Crimson Desire Shelter was far from here.

If he woke up at this time, he wouldn’t be able to make it for the 1 PM opening.

Although Vikram was only curious about this auction and wanted to go investigate, it didn’t prevent him from making full preparations beforehand.

No matter what, going to this Crimson Desire Shelter was the furthest he had ever traveled in the Wasteland.

He estimated that even driving an off-road vehicle, it would take at least five hours.

And that was just one way, not a round trip.

Vikram stepped out of the room, thinking of having some breakfast before starting to prepare for tomorrow’s trip.

After a light breakfast, he gets out of Territory 1.

After the black fog passed, the Wasteland World finally saw some sunlight.

Inside the wall, the brothers Ron and Percy were doing their daily combat training.

Physical fitness is the basis for suppressing enemies, but being able to utilize the body’s strength well can give one an advantage even when physical fitness is not superior.

Don’t think that Vikram usually kills enemies as easily as slicing melons and dicing vegetables; in reality, he also has a systematic set of martial arts.

It was acquired through skill books from the system.

However, due to his incredibly powerful plant teams, he rarely had the chance to use them.

The brothers immediately greeted Vikram the moment they saw him.

"Brother Vikram, do you have any orders?"

"It’s not about you two, continue your training."

Later, Vikram might consider building a dedicated combat training area, but for now, he had more important things to do.

Vikram waved his hand and went to the car repair room alone.

Yesterday, he rushed out, only briefly using this expensive repair room to repair the van for free again.

Since he was going on a long trip tomorrow, he naturally needed to put more thought into the vehicle.

Stepping inside, Vikram casually summoned the off-road vehicle from his backpack.

[Ding, detected minor scratches on the vehicle. Repair for free?]

"Yes!"

In the blink of an eye, the vehicle’s exterior was completely refreshed, and all the scratches left by flying sand and stones on the road disappeared.

[Repair complete!]

Looking at the vehicle, repaired without any cost, Vikram fell into deep thought.

An idea suddenly appeared in his mind.

"So, if I dismantle the car’s engine, can you still repair it for free?"

If it could truly be repaired for free like that, then he wouldn’t need to go out and collect metal anymore.

With this ability alone, he could acquire an infinite amount of metal resources.

However, the system had clearly anticipated this, almost instantaneously rejecting his idea.

[Ding, free repair is only available when the vehicle is damaged without losing any parts. If the engine is missing, the Host needs to replace it themselves.]

Seeing that there was no loophole to exploit, Vikram immediately lost interest.

He drove the car out of the repair room. Ron and Percy, seeing the completely repaired vehicle, their eyes immediately lit up. They were already amazed by the previous transformation.

Even without Vikram saying anything, they could tell with their naked eyes that the off-road vehicle looked much heavier.

If the original off-road vehicle was just a muscular man, the modified one now looked like a muscular man covered in biological armor.

Looking at the two men outside the car, full of curiosity, Vikram smiled and said, "Come, try shooting at the car body."

Since previously he didn’t check the defence, he wanted to try it.

After eliminating the zombie nests these past few days, there were so many pistols in the Shelter that they were countless.

Vikram had already equipped each of them with a firearm.

Ron, though somewhat surprised, still complied.

"Bang!"

As per Vikram’s instructions, at a distance of less than ten meters, his handgun’s trigger was pulled.

With Harry, a survivor who had previously been a soldier, training Ron to shoot, at such close range and with the vehicle stationary, the bullet accurately hit the rear car door.

"Clang!"

Accompanied by the crisp sound of metal colliding, the bullet head was, not surprisingly, deflected.

Vikram got out to check, and the 9mm bullet from the Glock pistol left only a black dot on the car door; the door itself had almost no other damage.

"How about it, isn’t this car powerful enough?"

He knocked on the car body, and a dull, heavy metallic sound resonated.

"No need to ask, Brother Vikram, what’s there to complain about when bullets can’t even penetrate it? If we modify it further, it could really be driven like a tank."

Ron and Percy walked around the off-road vehicle, exclaiming in wonder.

Vikram nodded in satisfaction, then turned and returned to Territory 1.

—-

Vikram stood with his arms crossed, beside him, Divya was reporting the number of livestock and poultry in the Shelter to Vikram.

"There are three sheep and four wild buffalo in total, both male and female. They are now ready to be paired for breeding."

"As for poultry, the territory currently has one goose, two female ducks, and..."

Divya paused, looked at Vikram, then continued, "And over one hundred and seventy native chickens."

Vikram had been curious about the meaning of her gaze, but upon hearing that number, he couldn’t help but widen his eyes.

"How many?"

"Over one hundred and seventy chickens?"

"Yes, and the latest batch of chickens has already matured. It’s almost time for them to breed again."

"If we don’t manage them, the next batch might produce nearly a thousand chicks."

Vikram was surprised to hear that, he followed Divya to the chicken coop area in the livestock section.

Few women were already taking care of the chicken.

Compared to the crude chicken coop Vikram had made before, the current chicken coop looked much more decent.

It was not only a separate large wooden structure, but also had feed troughs and egg-laying areas laid out inside.

The area it occupied was not small, about fifty square meters.

However, compared to the almost overflowing number of chickens, this space was just barely enough.

Looking at this scene, Vikram hadn’t expected the chicks to grow so fast.

If he can, he can easily sell them. But for selling these chickens?

That was even more impossible.

Currently, the entire Wasteland World was searching everywhere for living livestock, which showed how precious these animals and poultry were.

If he sold them off, and everyone no longer lacked food, how could he use his vast food supply for trade?

He snapped back to reality and looked at other areas.

The livestock section of territory 2 was now quite well-established.

Within the three-hundred-square-meter space, half of it consisted of various wooden structures.

The setup was also similar to the chicken coop, with individual, simple heating.

The remaining buffalo, sheep, geese, and ducks were kept separately. Their numbers were still very small, but the advantage was that, except for the geese, they could all be paired with one male and one female.

According to the growth and breeding speed of livestock in the Wasteland, it wouldn’t be long before they could enjoy fresh meat without restraint.

"Tsk tsk, thanks to the livestock provided by Kashif Ali’s side, otherwise I really wouldn’t know where to find these things."

"It seems I need to exchange more medicines with him."

Since Kashif Ali had needs and could also trade the livestock he required, he could exchange for other types of animals for his territory.

The next morning, Vikram received a message from Lilith.

[Lilith: Big Boss Vikram, the auction will proceed as usual at 1 PM this afternoon.]

[Lilith: I’ve been waiting for you for so long my flowers have withered. Don’t forget to come and support me~]

Vikram scoffed, didn’t reply, but just glanced at it and closed the chat.

Speaking to people in their own language and to ghosts in theirs was common in the Wasteland; he knew the other party was just being polite.

However, he did plan to check out this auction.

His primary purpose for going this time was only one.

That was to find out how the Survivors who, like him, had survived three natural disasters were developing. The auction items were secondary.

He personally went outside and used a biological detector to check the area.

After confirming that no Survivors were lingering nearby, Vikram, as usual, took the Ron’s Team, and also Fire Mage, Space Mage, Assassin and Phantom Treekin. While leaving others to guard his territory.

He drove away from the territory while leaving the remaining members... Even his wives were not exception.

Crimson Desire Shelter.

This was one of the most famous Shelters in Vikram’s area.

Unlike the original three major Shelters, the Crimson Desire Shelter’s fame wasn’t due to its strength.

Instead, it was due to its unique status and its open-door service, which made it widely talked about among male Survivors.

Strangely, Crimson Desire Shelter was unusually lively outside today.

Although there were usually many patrons who came here to relieve the pent-up frustrations of being a Survivor in the Wasteland, it wasn’t to the extent of needing to queue.

But now, even though it was still midday, the open space outside the Shelter was already bustling with people, with laughter and curses echoing continuously.

Most of the Survivors who came here were eager, with excited expressions.

"Hey, little beauty, it’s already half past twelve, aren’t you letting us in yet?"

"We’ve traveled so far and waited so long. Can’t you let us in to see what’s what? Is your Crimson Desire Shelter really so reserved?"

These Survivors, who had rushed from various places, perhaps because they had waited too long, were already a bit impatient.

They immediately complained to a beautiful woman standing outside the Shelter’s main gate.

"Exactly! I can understand the auction hasn’t started, but letting us in to have some fun with your girls wouldn’t hurt. What’s the point of making us sit here idly?"

"If not, how about you come down and keep me company, old man?"

"Hahaha, yeah, come down and keep us company. We guarantee you won’t lack supplies or anything."

Some people in the crowd echoed, and some had already set their sights on this survivor who seemed to be in charge of guarding the gate.

The gatekeeper woman chuckled, covering her mouth, her ample bosom beneath her collarbone trembling, and said, "I’m sorry, gentlemen, the auction hasn’t started yet, so I’ll have to trouble you to wait a little longer."

"As for what you gentlemen mentioned later..."

The gatekeeper woman paused, her eyes shifting, then she winked seductively at the crowd of Survivors in front of her.

"If you have needs after the auction tonight and have requested Seline, Seline will naturally not refuse and will ensure you gentlemen have a good time."