Chapter Twenty-Six: Persona

Fan Bei watched as Da Bai swaggered into the generator room ahead of him, his mind turning over new thoughts. That cunning, unknown entity really was useful—it had just made him realize that, if he ever made another system, he absolutely must not give the host any increase in intelligence!

Yes, next time he had the funds for maintenance, he would make this change. Intelligent people were never docile—they would always question the system’s origins. How much easier it was to handle fools; they wouldn’t care about such things, only enjoy the system’s conveniences…

Though this line of thinking seemed a little unfair to Da Bai, the dog’s current intelligence was certainly sufficient. Too clever, and it would no longer be pet Da Bai, but Monster Da Bai… He believed Da Bai wouldn’t want that change, either. After all, clever dogs were seldom happy.

He immediately jotted down this insight in his private diary, lest he forget later.

"July 11th. As the creator of the system, I have made an important decision. The intelligence attribute must be revised: increasing it will now enhance the hosts’ perseverance and resolve, so they’ll tolerate the system’s difficulties, rather than simply making them smarter…”

"Most people have little patience, and this system isn’t a monster-slaying game, nor is it for entertainment. System-aided cultivation, though it has upgrade templates, is still tedious—even more so than before. Ordinary people would slack off or rest, but with the system, laziness and rest are punished."

"As for how to explain this, I’ve thought of a brilliant remark: truly smart people are the ones who persist to the end. Ah, I’ve just realized I really do have a talent for making systems, hahaha!"

As he walked, Fan Bei kept recording, and when he hit upon a particularly clever idea, he couldn’t help but smile to himself.

“Look at your master, grinning like a fool again. Clearly, he’s feeling smug about having a dog to do all his chores for him,” the wooden carving tied to Da Bai’s tail took the opportunity to sow more discord.

A little whispering every day, and eventually its master might be blown clear to the heavens.

“Master isn’t you—always thinking about exploiting me,” Da Bai retorted firmly. “He’s just happy that we can reclaim our lost home. Tomorrow we’ll have a feast again! I hope when we go back to the old place, Master finds some new toys for me.”

“Ugh, you’re hopeless. I don’t want to talk to a sycophant.”

“I’m happy being a sycophant—mind your own business!”

Inside the silvery generator room, three azure diesel generators stood in a row, one of them running as usual.

As soon as Da Bai entered, he started sniffing, his nose twitching as he checked every corner.

After only a few seconds, he stretched out a front paw toward Fan Bei, signalling “all clear.”

Fan Bei nodded in satisfaction. That was smart enough—shouting was risky in a place with this much noise.

He made a brief inspection and found nothing amiss, then had a sudden thought. Now that Da Bai was well-trained, he couldn’t come inspect the machines himself every day—he needed to devote much more time to cultivation.

“Da Bai, do you think, once we’ve cleaned out the shelter, we should recruit some reliable people from outside?” Fan Bei asked offhandedly.

Da Bai nodded eagerly. It would be best if they could bring in some new dogs… No males, nothing wooden—had to be alive and, ideally, as handsome as himself.

“So you’ll have to work even harder,” Fan Bei encouraged him.

Da Bai, full of energy, marched ahead to the opposite door.

Fan Bei stepped forward to open it, and together, man and dog entered the corridor beyond. Finding everything in order, they proceeded east toward the control room.

As before, Da Bai took care of scouting while Fan Bei checked the equipment.

He went to the control panel, surveying the crude shelter management system—still running on the old W2000 platform.

Outside, people were already using the latest “Flash Spirit” system, said to boot up in the blink of an eye.

He navigated the monitor map and saw the “food storage area” marker had shifted from deep red to bright red; evidently, after killing a demon spirit, the threat had dropped considerably.

Da Bai returned again, giving him the “all clear” signal with his leg. Fan Bei nodded, telling him to wait.

He continued checking each system module: the agricultural sector, duty room, generator room—all operating smoothly.

But when he saw a persistent pop-up bubble, he frowned.

“Fuel reserves are low; please replenish promptly. Current monthly requirement: 500 tons of diesel to maintain adequate reserves. Spare parts stock also needs replenishing.”

In truth, living in this shelter, only consuming and never replenishing, was extremely costly. Diesel, agricultural nutrient solutions, precious metals, replacement parts—every item was money.

He’d been relying on stored reserves to survive. Judging by the shelter’s balance sheet, assets were steadily dwindling.

The cost of keeping just himself alive was enormous—roughly ten thousand yuan worth of supplies a day. That was an astronomical sum, but when the shelter was first built, no expense was spared, nor were survivors ever charged.

In five years alone, living here by himself, he’d gone through nearly twenty million in supplies—a fortune that, in peacetime, would have kept him comfortable for life.

Given the shelter’s current state, he could support another hundred people easily, just by activating more agricultural vats. That would reduce the per capita cost to about one hundred yuan a day—an acceptable figure.

With more people, they could try venturing out and gradually turn a profit. Otherwise, this situation would last, at best, another five to ten years.

But Fan Bei knew well how treacherous wastelanders could be. Even as he considered recruiting new hands, he’d have to plan carefully—how to prevent being overthrown, or shot in the back... If he didn’t think these things through, bringing in outsiders would only invite disaster.

Should he make another “good person system”—something actually useful this time?

No, having two systems in one place was risky enough. Thankfully, the other system had been diluted and sent out in time.

Fan Bei shook his head, abandoning the idea. After checking the shelter management system, he and Da Bai continued east, ready to explore a new sealed area.

East of the control room lay a cross-shaped corridor, connecting the shelter’s other critical zones.

To the north, the corridor led to the medical wing; to the east, the residential area; to the south, the complex for education, recreation, and training…

The shelter was small but fully equipped.

One thing it lacked was an industrial section. When the shelter was built, they had opted for large reserves of daily necessities and spare parts instead. Factories generated too much pollution—hardly suitable for a sealed environment.

Even if they wanted to build one, a settlement of a few hundred people couldn’t sustain factory operations. There was, however, a small machine shop in the residential area—enough for simple repairs and basic parts manufacturing.

With a hint of anxiety, Fan Bei opened the door to the cross corridor.

This time, Da Bai didn’t rush in, but held his breath, poked his head inside for a long look, then carefully sniffed around.

Suddenly, he lunged straight ahead and began furiously clawing at what appeared to be empty space.

Once again, flashes of white light appeared, and a grayish-white core fell to the floor before vanishing.

“Hey, Da Bai, you just got a treasure from beating a monster—where’d it go?” Fan Bei called out.

Da Bai immediately whirled around and began barking furiously at his own tail.

“Xiao Bai, how could you steal your master’s loot?”

“Nonsense, I’m collecting on your debt. I just healed your injuries—did you forget already?”

“Oh, is that so?” Da Bai quieted down at once. “Then is this one enough?”

“It’s sufficient.”

“Huh, I thought you’d definitely say it wasn’t enough. You’re more straightforward than I expected—not bad! You really are a partner worthy of Da Bai’s approval.”

“Naturally. Don’t lump a noble, higher spiritual being like me in with those greedy mortals,” the wooden dog said loftily.

If it weren’t for your greedy master behind you, I’d have tricked you out of everything by now. But as it is, I’ll just have to keep building my persona as a noble and honest higher spirit, little by little.

After all, if you’re hung up on a few low-grade spiritual cores, what kind of nobility is that?