Unlimited Money Shelter of the Apocalypse - Chapter 16

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: DereKimchi

◈ Unlimited Money Shelter of the Apocalypse ◈

Chapter 16: An Investment in a Better Future

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I intended to spare no expense on the research complex.

Of course, I hadn't exactly been stingy while building the other facilities either. But that had only been within the maximum range I considered necessary.

Like when I decided to produce only ammunition, not shells, at the munitions factory.

As I'd explained before, producing shells was incomparably more demanding than producing ammunition, and the consumables involved, such as explosives, were used in unimaginable quantities.

That didn't mean the shelter had no shells at all.

I'd trained alongside artillery while serving in an armored unit, so I had some sense of how dangerous one-sided bombardment could be. I'd secured mortars at least, enough to provide a minimum degree of self-defense.

I planned to handle that properly later when I built systems related to self-defense, but for now, I would invest only as far as I deemed necessary.

The research complex was different. I intended to prepare for every possible situation and spare no expense from the start.

More specifically, I planned to build facilities capable of researching every field, including biotechnology, IT, chemistry, physics, and materials engineering.

The reason became obvious as soon as I checked the [Research] tab.

__________________________

[ Research Information ]

「Research is generally conducted in research laboratories. Specialized personnel and advanced equipment are required for greater efficiency.」

▶ High-Efficiency Closed-Loop Vaccine and Antibiotic Self-Sufficiency Process

(Closed-Loop Vaccine & Antibiotic Synthesis)

[Research Difficulty]

★★☆☆☆

[Estimated Research Time]

• Base: 1,840 hours

• Optimal environment: 620 hours

• Can be further reduced by assigning additional specialized research personnel

[Required Research Personnel]

• Life sciences: At least 3 personnel

• Chemistry: At least 2 personnel

• Medicine and pharmacy: At least 2 personnel

[Research Facility Requirements]

• BSL-3 biosafety laboratory and negative-pressure isolation system

• Organic synthesis and analytical chemistry laboratory

• Immunology and biosafety verification laboratory

[Equipment Requirements]

• Ultra-low-temperature freezers and liquid nitrogen storage facilities

• Automated ampoule fillers and autoclaves

• Precision centrifuges and refrigerated incubators

[Research Efficiency]

• Fully equipped facilities: 100%

• Some facilities lacking: 65%

• Minimum requirements met: 35%

• Non-specialized facilities: 10% or lower

[Unlocks upon Research Completion]

└ Immune system enhancement research

└ Broad-spectrum antibiotic development

└ Emerging infectious disease analysis

└ High-efficiency pharmaceutical synthesis

└ Long-term storage pharmaceutical development

[Notes]

※ Poorer research environments increase research time and the chance of failure.

※ If the laboratory's biosafety level falls below the requirement, research efficiency will decrease significantly.

※ Contamination or equipment malfunctions may occur during research.

※ Additional safety equipment may be required depending on the material being studied.

__________________________

I needed every type of facility to run things properly anyway.

‘Why is this so long?’

Every time I looked at lines of text that seemed to go on forever, my mind went blank.

Building a single shelter was already enough of a headache. How many people could properly establish research facilities like those?

Of course, research itself was possible as long as you had researchers, even without proper facilities.

But that was all it was. Possible.

Productivity dropped below half, the chance of success plummeted below thirty percent, the likelihood of accidents was maximized, and research time could increase more than tenfold.

And I didn't want to take that risk. After confirming that much, I glanced at Anne.

As though waiting for it, Anne gave me the answer I wanted.

“Then I should prepare data dividing traditional pure sciences and interdisciplinary applied fields into areas currently considered promising, and areas likely to be promising in specific disaster situations.”

“How long will that take?”

“If I simply recite it, I can do so immediately.”

“Then could you recite it? I'll take notes.”

“Certainly.”

To summarize Anne's explanation, the most promising basic science fields in a functioning society were quantum physics, genetics, molecular biology, organic and inorganic chemistry, and applied mathematics and statistics.

The interdisciplinary applied fields combining them included synthetic biology, new drug and new material development, quantum computing, next-generation energy and materials engineering, brain-computer interfaces, and more.

“However, fields in that category lose their significance when social infrastructure collapses.”

That was only obvious. What would you do with newly developed materials after a country had fallen apart? You couldn't even make plastic without oil.

Top-tier technologies like quantum computing, which were difficult to commercialize right away and required looking years or decades ahead, went without saying.

But the fields Anne mentioned next were much more practical.

The basic fields were microbiology and virology, botany, soil science, and organic and analytical chemistry.

Put simply, these were the fields needed to examine contaminated drinking water and food, respond to new mutant epidemics, and produce basic necessities like disinfectant, soap, and medicine.

The interdisciplinary applied fields were resource-cycling agriculture, disaster and clinical medicine, water treatment and environmental sanitation engineering, standalone energy engineering, and materials recycling and metallurgical engineering.

Every one of them was a field whose value would explode after civilization collapsed rather than while it remained intact.

They might receive relatively little attention in a world like the current one, but it was different if you had to live in a shelter cut off from outside society, like me.

They were all necessary, from securing water and food to treating illness, processing waste, recycling scarce resources, and generating power ourselves.

Amazingly, one of them even involved technology that pyrolyzed plastic and turned it back into oil!

The problem was people.

How many would it take to activate all those research wings?

“Assuming that each research wing's main core equipment is fully automated, a minimum operational staff of 200 will suffice, including the lead principal investigators (PIs) for each field.”

“...That's fewer than I expected?”

There would be more than one or two research wings. It was almost strange that a few hundred people could operate all of them.

“The system we are establishing will use high-performance AI and central servers to preprocess eighty percent of experimental data. It will automate much of the work, from reagent management to basic culturing using robotic arms. Furthermore, many fields are organically interconnected, allowing personnel to be cross-utilized.”

“High-performance AI?”

Instead of answering aloud, Anne tapped their head.

Ah. I got it.

According to Anne, a biotechnology major could also handle basic analysis in pharmaceutical and epidemic prevention fields, while someone specializing in analytical chemistry could handle new materials or soil component analysis as well.

That was an approach impossible in the overly specialized world of modern science, but in the extreme environment of a shelter, efficiency had to be pushed to the limit that way.

“Of course, independent research needed to overcome a critical limitation in a given field will fall entirely to the relevant specialist. But personnel can adequately substitute for one another in maintaining the basic system and producing test data.”

“And if that doesn't work, we can have them study other fields?”

“That is one reason as well.”

They were people who had earned doctoral degrees. With their foundation of basic knowledge, wouldn't they be ready for practical work far faster than ordinary people if they used specialized textbooks and papers?

What if they refused because they didn't want to study another field?

Well, what else could I do then?

I'd have to ‘persuade’ them.

* * *

When most people think of a laboratory, they picture researchers in protective suits peering through microscopes or inspecting culture dishes in a sterile white room.

But if you had to name the single most important piece of equipment in an actual laboratory, the answer would surprisingly be a computer.

Much of research depended on computers, whether analyzing experimental data, comparing countless papers and existing research results, or running simulations.

With research fields as broad as mine, the volume of data to process increased exponentially, making high-performance computers practically essential.

In that sense, the server room I'd built in advance was extremely useful.

I could conduct research on personal workstations normally, then use the computing servers installed in the server room when heavy calculations or large-scale data processing was necessary.

Not to mention the vast database of useful papers and research materials already stored inside.

“I don't believe you anticipated all this when you built it, Administrator.”

“Can't hurt to have it.”

In the end, seven basic sciences were selected, including virology and analytical chemistry.

Eight fields directly applicable to production and survival were selected, including agricultural engineering and food engineering.

Lastly, eight fields responsible for the shelter's development and future were selected, including materials engineering and aerospace engineering.

That excluded fields like mathematics, physics, and chemistry, which did not need independent research laboratories, as well as fields such as medicine and pharmacy that required their own separate facilities and operating systems.

That made a total of twenty-three types of research wings to build.

Of course, a research wing did not consist of just one laboratory.

Even a single virology research wing needed separate auxiliary spaces for different purposes, such as a cell culture room, analysis room, and biosafety room. Fields that used large equipment, such as materials engineering and aerospace engineering, also required testing facilities separate from the research wings.

If I stuffed them full of the latest equipment without holding back, their scale would not lose out even compared to the research facilities of top universities in the Republic of Korea or the world.

And if I added large shared equipment, various analysis facilities, biosafety facilities, and pilot plants...

“At that scale, it would be closer to an international research complex than a university.”

Anne added that.

“For reference, major national research complexes in the Republic of Korea are operated by an average of roughly 200 core researchers and support personnel.”

Including their families, that would easily put us over eight hundred people. Anne was telling me to think carefully.

Still, what choice did I have? If I wanted a future, I had to take them in.

But there was one problem.

The research facilities were going to become far larger than I'd originally imagined.

Take just the virology research wing.

The individual laboratories were surprisingly small, and sixty pyeong would be enough. But to actually operate a research facility, it also needed changing rooms, showers, sterilization rooms, waste processing rooms, mechanical rooms, shared equipment rooms, and more. The required area immediately grew to eight hundred pyeong.

Soil science could be handled with around two hundred pyeong, at least, but water treatment engineering and agricultural engineering started at several thousand pyeong.

As for aerospace engineering... there was no need to even say it.

“For aerospace engineering alone, you will need at least 5,000 pyeong, including a large testing building and assembly workshop.”

“O, 5,000 pyeong!”

At a ceiling height of ten meters, construction costs alone would come to $8.2644 billion!

“And mechanical engineering and manufacturing engineering will also need a generous 3,000 pyeong for smooth prototype fabrication.”

I felt dizzy every time Anne listed the minimum area required for each research wing.

I hadn't even installed expensive research equipment yet, but it was already in the billions of dollars.

“Th, then how much will all of it cost?”

“The estimated total is...”

Anne paused briefly before replying.

“Based on a minimum research wing area of 15,000 pyeong, $12.4 billion. Based on a maximum area of 80,000 pyeong, $76.116 billion.”

“S, seventy-six...!”

And once I considered interior installations and research equipment, I'd need to budget a full $100 billion.

That was an enormous sum equal to one-tenth of my total funds. Considering that my total spending so far was $83 billion, it was an absolutely staggering price.

Then Anne added something.

“$100 billion is an incorrect calculation.”

Could that mean I could buy it more cheaply? I looked at Anne with a sliver of hope.

But Anne shattered that hope completely.

“If you intend to stockpile all consumables, reagents, parts, and spare equipment in advance so the research facilities can operate for decades while completely cut off from the outside world... you should budget at least $170 billion.”

“O, $170 billion?!”

This time, I was genuinely speechless.

That was comparable to the Republic of Korea's defense spending over several years. Was it really right to pour that much money into a single research complex?

“In the Republic of Korea's case, that budget is for the defense of fifty million citizens. In your case, Administrator, there will be only a few thousand people at most. Per capita, you are making an investment hundreds of times greater.”

“...”

I knew that too.

B, but was there any other way?

No matter how hard I thought about it, there didn't seem to be.

And no matter how I considered it, money spent on research facilities was closer to an investment than waste. Even in an apocalypse, I had to think about the future.

Ordinary people would struggle just to survive day to day, but I had a trillion dollars. I could look beyond that.

No, I had to.

Once I thought of it that way, I regained my senses faster than expected.

“...Then if we're investing anyway, let's do it right.”

“What do you mean by properly?”

“Let's do everything we can.”

First, an emergency isolation system that allowed the central system to immediately seal off a research wing in the event of a fire, hazardous material leak, or other emergency.

Second, a multilayered security system separating ordinary research zones from high-risk research zones, controlling access authorization and travel routes by stage.

Third, a management system that automatically handled research materials and reagents stored in warehouses, recording inventory and usage histories.

Fourth, an ultra-low-temperature storage center combining ultra-low-temperature freezers and other cold-storage facilities.

Fifth, animal testing facilities, clean rooms, sterilization facilities, and waste processing facilities, along with shared analytical equipment and testing facilities required by each research field.

Sixth, advanced automation systems and robotic equipment to efficiently operate that enormous complex with minimal personnel.

And finally, enough spare parts that we could use them freely and still have plenty left over.

I would cram in every auxiliary facility that belonged in a top-tier modern research complex.

At the very least, I had to ensure that researchers who came to the shelter would never say something like, “We can't do it because this place doesn't have such-and-such equipment.”

“How many people will we need with all that?”

“With 400 core researchers and support personnel, the minimum resident population will be around 700. Assuming four-person households, a community of roughly 2,800 people will form.”

A massive workforce and survival community comparable to a national research complex.

...It felt like the tail was wagging the dog, but after investing this much, there was no answer if I couldn't bring in researchers.

There was no longer any room to retreat.

Thud!

With a familiar set of footsteps, the Juggernaut emerged through the fog.

The Juggernaut handed me a map marked with key defensive positions and surveillance zones within a three-kilometer radius of the shelter's center.

“Thanks.”

It gave a short nod.

I didn't know what kind of hell would unfold in this world.

But I would survive until the very end.

And I would seize the future itself.

Footnotes: