WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Unlimited Money Shelter of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 7: A Game Where Survival Isn't Enough
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I didn't want to stick something strange into my brain, so I decided to look for the robots I wanted myself.
Robots could broadly be divided into two categories.
Industrial models deployed for simple labor, manufacturing, research, construction, and so on, and combat models specialized in defending settlements, raids, and sabotage.
Some were machines already deployed by modern militaries, like these...
[ ■ Reconnaissance Units ]
⦁Specter Robotics Vision 70
⦁Description: A quadrupedal robot that patrols harsh terrain such as mountains, gravel, snow, and stairs.
⦁Unit Price: $220,000
⦁Status: [Available for Purchase]
⦁Rheinmetall Mission Master
⦁Description: An 8x8 amphibious unmanned ground platform. Supports main battle tanks and infantry units with 70mm rocket pods or guided missiles.
⦁Unit Price: $6 million
⦁Status: [Available for Purchase]
.
.
.
...But mixed among them were clearly unrealistic models packed with future technology.
[ ■ Industrial/Civilian Androids ]
⦁I-3 Maestro Series
⦁Description: A high-end model that reproduces the finesse of a human artisan. Possessing limited self-awareness and artistic sensibility, it can optimize blueprints and produce results beyond imagination.
⦁Unit Price: $270 million (Requirement Penalty Applied)
⦁Status: [Can be purchased without penalty once facility and technology requirements are met]
Just in case, I searched every other category for similarly “futuristic” products, but I couldn't find a single one.
‘What the hell?’
If it had only allowed things developed in reality until now, why were robots the sole exception?
One thing was certain. Shelter Builder wasn't the kind of game to make exceptions just for convenience. There had to be a reason, but I had no idea what it was.
‘Tch.’
I didn't know about anything else, but I figured out what the “penalty” at the top meant. Overpowered machines that modern technology couldn't produce came with a technology penalty, apparently forcing me to pay dozens of times their original price.
To buy them at list price, I needed a nanofabrication laboratory and some other thingamajig. Since I'd never even heard of them in my life, they really did seem to be future technology.
Besides the insane price, there were no refunds and no self-repairs. Still, it seemed to be saying I could buy them if I was prepared to accept every risk.
If I didn't like it, I was supposed to raise my tech level in the [Research] tab and pay the proper price.
‘Research?’
Right. This was here too.
On the off chance that I could brute-force research with money, I went straight to the Research tab.
The answer was no.
___________________
[ Research ]
“Research is fundamentally conducted in laboratories and requires specialized personnel and advanced equipment.”
▶ Nationality: Republic of Korea
▶ Technology Tier: Advanced Information Society (Advanced Era)
[ National Traits and Modifiers ]
◈ Technology Gap Penalty Exemption
+ Based on its developed R&D infrastructure, the Republic of Korea is exempt from the “Uncharted Territory Penalty” incurred when researching modern and advanced-era technologies.
◈ Advanced Sector Specialization (Bonus)
+ Research speed is slightly increased in select advanced fields, including IT, electronic engineering, telecommunications, and semiconductors.
◈ Weak Foundation in Basic Science (Penalty)
- Compared to applied technology, pure academic fields are underdeveloped, consuming additional funds when developing foundational technologies.
◈ Medical Field Imbalance (Penalty)
- The difficulty and cost of recruiting advanced science and engineering researchers increase, but advanced medical personnel can be secured relatively easily.
___________________
Ah, right. This was a game for obsessive nerds.
Looking at that densely packed status screen, every country probably had different traits.
Technologically weaker African countries would research technology very slowly. Manufacturing powerhouses like Germany would make higher-quality products. China would manufacture things quickly, but with more defects. Something like that.
To summarize, Korea received bonuses in semiconductor-related fields thanks to its advanced technology, while pure science was penalized instead.
And perhaps reflecting the reality that medical fields were valued more highly than science and engineering, doctors were designed to be comparatively easy to recruit.
‘Korea: life on hard mode. They really nailed that part.’
Anyway, it seemed that conducting [Research] absolutely required researchers who had majored in the relevant field.
Would I have to loot prestigious universities after the apocalypse began?
I didn't know about anything else, but it looked like content I could only attempt after combing through graduate labs, abducting every master's and doctoral student I could find, and handing them perfect research facilities.
Unless the player happened to be an expert in the field.
‘This is clearly mid-to-late-game content. Am I supposed to start raising my tech level once the shelter is somewhat established?’
It seemed to combine the tech elements of Frostpunk or RimWorld with a construction simulator.
At the very least, it was clear that the system strongly encouraged group survival rather than solo play.
The fact that I needed to bring in researchers to raise my tech level practically forced me to form a group.
But how easy would it be to extract just one researcher? They were people, so they would take care of their families. Assuming an ordinary family of four, bringing in just ten researchers meant forty dependents already. I would be alone, while they would become a group of forty.
Could I really control them? I didn't think so.
Let's do some calculations.
I had spent exactly $38.985 billion establishing the entrance and power facilities.
Even the power facilities, which would obviously take up the largest share of the budget, had cost less than $40 billion. Large hydroponic farms, laboratories, server rooms, and central control rooms would clearly cost far less.
Originally, I had planned to spend around $500 billion, half my total budget, on shelter construction alone. I could make the shelter bigger by investing more, but I thought it was more important to equip its interior with top-tier facilities.
Anyway, if I invested around $150 billion in interior facilities and left around $100 billion in reserve for unforeseen issues, I would have roughly $250 billion remaining.
I'd originally planned to invest that money in security facilities.
What if I invested all those enormous funds into military power?
Wouldn't it be okay to bring in a few scientists then?
‘Hmm.’
First, I should see whether the shop had anything useful.
Besides, those “futuristic” products suddenly appearing still bothered me.
* * *
With the emergence of AI, humanity's already rapid scientific progress accelerated even further.
People became able to process enormous amounts of data that humans could never have handled on their own, and create plausible-looking pictures with a single click.
Most astonishingly, even ordinary people could enjoy all of this with ease.
Then how incredible must the technological prowess of companies providing AI services to the public be? If such a company cooperated fully with a nation to analyze a single piece of software, how long would it take? A month? A week? Three days? Or...
One day?
But no one could have expected to face the miserable result of [Analysis Impossible].
“...”
As a semiconductor powerhouse, South Korea's AI technology ranked among the world's top five at present. Even by conservative estimates, its technological gap with the United States was only 3.2 years.
Of course, considering this was an advanced technological field, three years was practically an eternity. Still, that was enough to make it fully competitive by global standards.
Yet the researchers and engineers of such a country had devoted themselves to analyzing one piece of software, only to fail.
The government official in charge of the incident approached the laboratory and asked,
“Have you made any progress?”
The lead researcher, who had been glaring at the vast amounts of data on the monitor, shook their head.
“First, we cross-verified structures ‘constructed’ by the software using multiple devices. Everything matched perfectly, from the crystal structure of existing concrete to isotope ratios. We've also finished verifying materials such as lumber, stone, and glass.”
“Is that important information?”
“It is. At least we've learned that this isn't a hologram or a simple illusion.”
“Then is that good?”
The researcher glanced at the samples in the glass bottles, then shook their head.
“Actually, if a mass of concrete that large appeared from thin air without any warning, it should leave considerable physical traces in the area. At least according to modern physics.”
“Pardon?”
“Since matter suddenly appeared, we need to know where the atoms composing it came from. If it took nearby matter and rearranged it, the composition of the soil or atmosphere should change. Conversely, if it truly appeared where there was nothing, we should observe a corresponding amount of energy or some other physical phenomenon...”
The researcher paused.
“...But so far, we haven't observed anything.”
The government official's expression stiffened slightly.
“So for a while, we even considered the hypothesis that ultra-precise nanomachines, invisible to the naked eye, gathered atoms from the surrounding air and soil to reassemble matter, but...”
As the technical jargon poured out, the official furrowed their brow and waved a hand.
“Could you explain it in simpler terms?”
“...Then let's set scientific laws aside for a moment.”
The young researcher chose their words for a moment, then brought over a nearby chair.
“Let's say there's a chair here.”
The researcher pointed at the chair.
“But this chair suddenly appeared in a space where there had been nothing a moment ago. What do you think happened to the air that originally filled this space?”
“...It would have been pushed aside.”
“That's right. Since the chair appeared in an instant, the air would have to be pushed away at the same speed. Let's assume, simply speaking, that speed exceeded the speed of sound. It would actually be far faster than that. Anyway, there would be a sonic boom, right?”
When the official nodded, the researcher played a video file.
On the screen, a slender man sat stiffly in front of a laptop. He was a voluntary self-reporter.
A researcher appeared behind reinforced glass at one side of the screen.
“Mr. Kim Young-cheol? You said you could purchase furniture as well as buildings, correct? What do you have?”
“Uh... an IKEA desk?”
“Let's go with that this time.”
The voluntary self-reporter clicked the mouse, and a desk appeared in midair. There wasn't even a tiny sound, much less a sonic boom. The special camera set up to detect changes in entropy showed nothing, either. They ran further experiments several times using over a dozen precision observation devices, but made no progress.
The expressions of the scientists, filled with despair, were enough to convey the situation at the time.
“This has spread across the entire world? To civilians, too?”
“Fuck.”
“If it ignores physical laws to this extent, couldn't someone use ‘construction’ inside a person's body? Hell, just moving a bolt or a nut into a vital organ...”
“Hey, don't say something so cruel. You're making me feel worse.”
“Still, we need to test it.”
The voluntary self-reporter carefully raised a hand toward the reinforced glass.
“Excuse me? You'll pay me cash equal to what I spent in the game after this, right?”
The researchers answered yes. The video ended there.
The video's conclusion was singular.
That software caused phenomena modern physics could not explain.
“We need more samp... no, voluntary self-reporters. And more personnel.”
The government official noticed that the researcher had been about to call people samples, but did not show it.
“Why do you need personnel?”
“At first, we had voluntary self-reporters demolish the buildings themselves, but it cost more than we expected. So we've decided to use outside labor for demolition. Also, the types of goods each voluntary self-reporter can purchase differ, and we need to verify that separately.”
“The types of goods differ?”
This time, an engineer nodded.
“In Mr. Kim Young-cheol's case from the video, his starting funds were $2.3 million, correct? The first reporter had a little over $200,000. Our sample size is still extremely small, so this is only speculation, but perhaps the types of purchasable products unlock in stages as starting funds increase. And also...”
* * *
In 2026, China commercialized household robots made to look exactly like humans. Of course, they couldn't walk around like ordinary humanoid robots, but they were equipped with AI models capable of light conversation.
Their skin texture was convincing enough that, from around five meters away, it was difficult to distinguish them from humans.
That might have been enough to fool children, but it wasn't enough for me.
Even if I brought researchers in from outside, I needed to show them that I had this many “people” on my side, so they wouldn't get any funny ideas.
That meant either machines that looked so perfectly human that even intelligent people like researchers couldn't realize they were machines, or something that made people believe there was someone inside, like a Space Marine.
Naturally, both were impossible with modern technology...
Yet incredibly, the shop had items satisfying both conditions!
Their only downside was the eye-popping price. They probably hadn't been cheap in the first place, but the real reason for their absurd price tags seemed to be the “technology requirement penalty” I'd seen earlier.
[ ■ Military/Security Autonomous Mobile Weapons ]
⦁H-9 Juggernaut
⦁Description: A bipedal autonomous mobile weapon in the form of heavy power armor. Its 2.3-meter frame and heavy-armored exterior project an intense sense of intimidation, proving highly effective in base defense and forceful suppression.
⦁Unit Price: $1.2 billion (Requirement Penalty Applied)
⦁Status: [Can be purchased without penalty once facility and technology requirements are met]
[ ■ Special/Espionage Multipurpose Androids ]
⦁P-7 Enigma Prototype
⦁Description: A top-tier high-performance multipurpose android that perfectly reproduces a human appearance, as well as subtle body heat, skin texture, and breathing patterns. Its advanced processing capability allows flawless emotional acting and psychological warfare suited to each situation. Even experts observing it with the naked eye from extremely close range would have difficulty noticing it was a machine.
⦁Unit Price: $1.8 billion (Requirement Penalty Applied)
⦁Status: [Can be purchased without penalty once facility and technology requirements are met]
$1.2 billion? $1.8 billion?!
Wasn't over $1 billion for a single robot way over the line? This was practically a protest telling me not to buy one.
‘Should I shut my eyes and splurge on ten?’
No, even then, they would only be useful if I operated at least a company-sized unit properly.
Anyway, if I used those things appropriately, couldn't I make people think the shelter had a reasonable division of combat personnel and research personnel?
And I could control the people inside while I was at it.
One machine cost as much as a small reactor, but considering that other players might buy robots like these, it was worth the investment.
There was a saying that if you wanted peace, you should prepare for war.
No matter how diligently I built the shelter, it would all be for nothing if I had no means to defend myself.
‘Hmm.’
If I bought the maximum amount within my budget, I could get 100 combat models and 70 noncombat models, for roughly $246 billion.
‘Is it really right to spend this much money here?’
On top of that, since the combat models were fundamentally made for killing, I had to stick some bioengineering thing I'd seen earlier into my brain in preparation for “any emergency.” That was apparently how they were controlled.
I didn't know where other expenses might come from. Investing $246 billion in robots already was ridiculous. Just because $1 trillion was a lot didn't mean I could spend it mindlessly, only to find myself unable to build the facilities I truly needed for survival.
...So I should only buy one of each as a test.
It absolutely wasn't because I was curious what the power armor looked like.
If the world really ended in twenty-eight days, there was no option except using this game's functions to the fullest.
Of course, the system was untrustworthy. Implanting an unknown machine in my brain was even more so.
But by that logic, this game itself had been dangerous from beginning to end.
I didn't know whether I would become the idiot who first ate poisonous pufferfish and died, or the pioneer who figured out how to cook it. Either way, you had to accept risks to gain equally great returns.
“Would you like to purchase the Neural Hive?”
⦁Purchasing it consumes $170 million, and picomachines will immediately enter the user's brain. There is a high probability of dizziness. There is a low probability of nonfatal bleeding.
I was ready.
“Whew.”
“You have purchased the Neural Hive.”
A sharp sensation pricked the bridge of my nose. It stung even more than seawater flowing up my nose! It hurt!
I'd swum quite a lot since childhood, so I was relatively used to pain inside my nose, but it still hurt. It was hard to stay conscious.
I rolled across the floor like a madman for around five minutes before I was finally freed from the pain.
“Wow.”
Fortunately, I no longer felt a headache. I'd been worried it would feel like ants crawling around inside my head, but thankfully, it didn't.
“...I thought I was going to die.”
Had anything changed in my body? My vision hadn't changed, at least. My sense of smell and hearing were the same. My sense of touch didn't seem any better either. All five senses were normal. It didn't feel like my brain was suddenly working faster.
Would I only know after buying a robot?
After thinking for a moment, I purchased one combat robot.
“You have purchased the H-9 Juggernaut.”
Honestly, I couldn't wait.
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