Looking at the two upgrade options provided by the system, Chen Xin attempted to analyze based on the upgrade details displayed above.
The first option wasn't difficult to understand. Upgrading the shelter's protection level was clearly meant to enhance the structural integrity of the shelter and strengthen its defenses.
Among other upgrade details, the enhancement of the shelter's disaster resistance made Chen Xin feel that if he adopted this upgrade option, small earthquakes, fires, landslides, and the like would probably not cause any damage to the shelter.
As for the latter two points of improving living comfort and overall technology +1, it was obvious that these were meant to improve various conditions of the shelter, enhancing Chen Xin's quality of life.
This meant that this upgrade plan considered that the shelter was only for Chen Xin to live in alone, maximizing the improvement of his living conditions.
For Chen Xin, this plan was quite appealing to him and very much aligned with his current situation.
Because Chen Xin was alone, expanding the shelter was entirely unnecessary, and there was no such demand.
However, the second upgrade plan to increase the shelter's capacity could also be useful for Chen Xin, especially if he found a girlfriend or wife in the future. Surely, more people would need to be added into the shelter, right? One can't live alone forever?
Moreover, more people would mean being able to accomplish more things, such as expanding the shelter's greenhouse to turn it into a plantation, growing vegetables, grains, or even fruits.
This could not only enhance Chen Xin's living conditions but also allow exchanging surplus produce for more resources.
Chen Xin had realized by now that if the system was upgraded solely using survival points, it would be too expensive.
So he planned to use the second upgrade method as much as possible in the future, collecting all sorts of materials for upgrades to save a significant amount of survival points.
Take upgrading the shelter as an example, consuming 12,000 survival points. If Chen Xin could provide a ton of high-quality steel and twenty bags of cement, it would lower the survival point consumption by ten percent.
If the upgrade required only a few dozen or a hundred points, ten percent might not mean much, but for such a major project like the shelter, a ten percent saving could mean at least over a thousand points, enough for Chen Xin to upgrade a room!
Removing the major project of upgrading the entire shelter, which Chen Xin couldn't afford at the moment, the list outlined on his form was the upgrades of various rooms.
"Container-Style Modular House - Bedroom Module, Upgrade Required 3000/4500"
"Container-Style Modular House - Living Room Module, Upgrade Required 3500/4200"
"Container-Style Modular House - Bathroom Module, Upgrade Required 800/1200"
"Container-Style Modular House - Power Distribution Room Module, Upgrade Required 2000/3200"
These were the four container houses in Chen Xin's shelter, which were also his main activity spaces.
The bedroom and living room had the most expensive upgrade fees, while the bathroom was the cheapest.
The bathroom being cheap was expected by Chen Xin, as it was just a small compartment of less than one square meter next to the bedroom, equipped with a complete bathroom suite. In terms of conditions, it was comparable to the bathroom level of some budget hotels, not poor but also not great.
For the current Chen Xin, this complete bathroom was sufficient, so despite the low upgrade cost, Chen Xin didn't consider upgrading the bathroom.
As for the living room and bedroom, being Chen Xin's main activity spaces, although expensive to upgrade, they were prioritized in the upgrade list.
After ensuring basic survival conditions, Chen Xin needed to improve his living conditions.
He hadn't forgotten that the system's increase in daily survival points was contingent upon him enhancing his living conditions. Improving living conditions to live better certainly counted as enhancing his survival conditions.
As for the power distribution room, Chen Xin didn't plan to upgrade it separately since the current power distribution room more than met the shelter's electrical demands. Even if Chen Xin upgraded the entire electrical system, this power distribution room could handle it, so it was not in Chen Xin's first batch of upgrade projects.
So in Chen Xin's plan, if he had enough survival points, the living room and bedroom were the priorities for Chen Yu's upgrade considerations.
"However, the living room could be divided into other rooms."
For instance, already planned in Chen Xin's previous plans were the kitchen and medical room, as well as an entertainment room and a communications room after the unsealing of electronic products, and a study he intended to carve out from the bedroom.
Currently, kitchen utensils, medical supplies, and various electronic products were stored in the living room. Although this arrangement worked, without the system, Chen Xin would continue like this. However, with the system demanding that Chen Xin improve his living conditions, he needed to separate these rooms to better his living conditions.
Even though he wasn't sure if separating these rooms would increase the system's daily survival point acquisition, separating a kitchen and communications room undoubtedly belonged to improving one's survival conditions, a necessity for Chen Xin.
Although he was eating self-heating food now and a simple kitchen was acceptable, as vegetables were harvested from the greenhouse, cooking or stewing would be needed, thus naturally increasing the demands for a proper kitchen, making it possible for him to eat better.
The communications room was even more necessary.
Being underground and lacking internet and mobile signals meant that shortwave radio became Chen Xin's only channel to communicate with the outside world. The separated communications room, enhanced by system upgrades, would greatly strengthen the shelter's ability and effectiveness in external communication, allowing Chen Xin to contact the outside world in a timely manner while better acquiring outside information.
This was extremely important for Chen Xin, currently unable to go outside while living in the shelter.
After all, Chen Xin wasn't socially reticent. Although he previously lived alone and preferred not to be in crowded places, that was during the era when societal civilization was complete, allowing him to communicate with people online.
But now was the apocalypse; staying alone again without being able to contact the outside world could easily cause problems.
And even if the external environment stabilizes and Chen Xin can go out, he can't expect to rely solely on shouting for all communication, right?