The day after Dragon Boat Festival, there were 170 days left until the end of days.
The national economy began to enter a period of stabilization, with the economies of most places around the country effectively controlled and returning to normal work and life.
In the south, in Xin City, within the forests of a surrounding village.
A construction site was busily underway...
Li Hongyuan came to Li Yu with professionally designed construction plans.
Father Li said, "I've roughly calculated the construction budget, for the perimeter wall, it's red brick combined with reinforced concrete.
Five villas, two houses, plus some of the pathways and ground stabilization you mentioned..."
"All these together will cost about 5 million. If the houses are to be decorated, it depends on how you want to decorate them," Father Li said.
-------------------------------------
Li Yu thought about the house decoration and worried about his father's taste, so he made a phone call to a classmate who was engaged in villa design in M City. He asked her to help with the design, pricing it according to the market rate.
Since there was no construction included, the design fee should technically be cheaper. But since this was effectively a private job for her, Li Yu did not want to take advantage of that fact, and ultimately offered her a normal market rate.
Li Yu opened the electronic notebook on his phone, looking over the records of the past few days.
He had been browsing various materials online in recent days, summarizing a list of essential survival supplies:
1. Food: Priority is given to foods with a long shelf life, high energy, and portability.
Includes: military cans, compressed biscuits, rice, noodles, oil, salt, sugar, water, nuts, instant noodles, white liquor, and so on.
Items like milk, meat, and vegetables are to be replenished at any time.
Some can be produced at home, such as bean sprouts, so some seeds should be prepared.
2. Daily necessities:
Clothes, hats, gloves, shoes, socks, soap, toothbrush/toothpaste, towels, paper, family planning supplies, hammock/sleeping bag, blankets, umbrellas/raincoats, sewing kits, plastic bags/cling film, and so on.
Water purification equipment (like direct drinking filters) and purification tablets should also be on the list.
3. Tool category:
(1) Storage: cars/bicycles, backpacks, boxes, tents, kayaks, hammocks/sleeping bags, disassembly/repair toolkits, water bottles/tableware/lunchboxes/cups (metal), and so on;
(2) Protection: knives, multi-tools, saws, military shovels, axes, sticks, nylon ropes, fishing lines/hooks/nets/spearfish, maps, slingshots...
Scissors, pliers, rain boots, lifebuoys, fire blankets, helmets, breathing masks, inflators, and so on;
(3) Energy: lighters, magnifying glasses, batteries, power banks, solar panels, hand-cranked generators, candles, fire extinguishers, and so on;
(4) Communication: computers, USB drives/hard drives, tablets, mobile phones, walkie-talkies, radios, watches, compasses, location equipment, whistles, flashlights, drones, and so on;
(5) Other: tape measure, mirrors, sunglasses/diving goggles, telescopes, maps, stationery (pens/paper), and so on.
4. Medicine:
Thermometers, masks, cold medicine, anti-inflammatory drugs, painkillers, anti-diarrheal medicine, bandages/gauze, Band-Aids, Yunnan Baiyao, alcohol, Wind Oil Essence, cooling oil, vitamins, antibiotics, Vaseline, tweezers, mosquito repellent/floral dew, and so on.
5. Skills category: Outdoor survival knowledge.
Such as: "Friend of Military and Civilian Dual-use Talents," "Wiseman's Survival Manual," "Wilderness Survival Manual," "Barefoot Doctor Manual," and so on.
(PS: The above excerpts from Zhihu are deleted due to copyright infringement)
Not only that, but Li Yu also stockpiled some things that might be useful in the future, such as various seeds, fabrics......
Having summarized the above, for Li Yu, owning several essential books was a must, especially "Friend of Military and Civilian Dual-use Talents" published by the Political Department of the Shenyang Military Region, which was essential for the apocalypse.
It teaches you how to milk cows, how to build houses, even how to make braised pork, how to cut hair.....
Even bolder, there was a sequel, teaching you tailoring, vegetable processing, making traditional Chinese medicine...
According to this book, if survival in the apocalyptic world gets to the point discussed in the sequel, it wouldn't really count as an apocalypse anymore.
By that progress, it's practically post-disaster reconstruction. It might even be getting close to an industrial revolution.
Li Yu scratched his head, sighing: The task is heavy and the road is long.
The revolution has not yet been successful and comrades still need to work hard.
For this base construction, to be stronger, more suitable for survival.
So Li Yu thought about increasing the budget. Once the idea came to him, he thought of taking out a loan. After all, once the apocalypse arrives, with the collapse of social order, money would just be a piece of paper currency.
Get the money any way you can and just do it.
He went straight to the bank with his bank statements, land use rights certificate, and construction site plans.
He approached the bank to apply for a rural entrepreneurship loan.
As the figures were quite substantial, it directly drew out the manager of the County's business branch.
Fortunately, Li Yu's project is aimed at promoting the economic development of Xin City, and it concerns the tourism industry; additionally, he has both capital and land certificates. The loan process went relatively smoothly.
But it was not that simple, after all, the amount involved was 20 million.
So Li Yu took the bank staff to the construction site for an on-site survey.
Since it was a mortgage loan, the process was expected to be a bit complicated, and the funds were anticipated to arrive two weeks later.
After completing the loan procedures in the County, Li Yu returned to the construction site.
There he met Lai Dongsheng, a worker from Li Hongyuan's small workshop. At over 40 years old, Lai had been with Li Hongyuan for more than ten years.
From the initial contract work to the subsequent manufacturing of culvert pipes, Lai Dongsheng had always worked with Li Hongyuan.
He had been diligent and devoted for many years, showcasing the honest and simple character of a typical rural man.
"Uncle Dong, are you also helping out here?" Li Yu said.
Lai Dongsheng looked up to see it was Li Yu and replied, "Oh, it's young Li Yu. Your dad stopped the work on the culverts and asked me to come over and help."
"You've really made something of yourself, Li Yu. As soon as you come back, you're undertaking such a big enterprise."
Li Yu looked at this man whose skin had become dark due to years of working in the sun, and a smile appeared on his face. Uncle Dong had always been good to him.
Lai was also reliable and honest. For all these years working for their family, he might not have earned much in the village, but at least he had a stable income.
Li Yu said, "Uncle Dong, there's a lot going on at the construction site. Please keep an eye on things."
After a brief conversation, Li Yu walked towards the construction site.
Seeing that the foundation for the perimeter wall was already laid, and the construction was moving upward, a rough outline of the wall, stretching a hundred meters, was starting to take shape.
He felt a little relieved. But observing that there weren't many people on the site, only about ten or so, he suspected the progress might be at risk.
Therefore, he sought his father's advice to hire more workers. The goal was to quickly complete the perimeter wall and to start construction on the buildings inside once that was done.
Due to the scale of the activity this time, many villagers came to watch. Li Yu didn't want outsiders to see the series of constructions inside.
During the construction, there was even gossip among some villagers. Those of poorer character even called Li Yu a fool for spending so much money on this project.
Li Yu, of course, ignored them all. He just watched these idle people, knowing they would cry when the doomsday truly broke out.
Thus, he planned to begin the internal construction only after the perimeter wall was completed, so that outsiders could not see inside due to the high wall.
Although Li Hongyuan was somewhat puzzled, he still followed Li Yu's instructions, hiring more workers to expedite the construction of the wall.
Ten days later, with the around-the-clock efforts of several dozen workers, they finally enclosed the two mountains and the mountain pond along with the plain.
The perimeter wall, thousands of meters long and six meters high, looked from atop the mountain like a prehistoric giant beast.
Luckily, since the land was a hilly basin and surrounded by many mountains, and the woods, thanks to government policies over the years, had remained untouched by illegal logging.
So, with the two mountains acting as barriers, it was quite difficult for outsiders to get a clear view of the premises unless they stood at a very high vantage point.
Li Yu mentally gave himself a thumbs up for his cleverness. It seemed that although the location was vast, it was sufficiently hidden.
After the wall was completed, Li Yu made a phone call to his younger brother, Li Hang.
Li Hang was two years younger than him. He was mischievous as a child, but he managed to get an associate degree, mainly in household appliance repair.
He had just graduated not too long ago and was looking for a job in the city.
Li Hongyuan and Liu Fanghua had three children in total: the eldest, Li Yu; the second, Li Hang; and the youngest, Li Yuan.
That's right, Li Hongyuan was quite casual with naming. After the country went into a space craze following Yang Liwei's ascension into space last century.
Li Hongyuan followed the trend and named his three children these names, to express his boundless hope for the motherland's conquest of the stars and seas.
Li Hang was recently having difficulty finding a job, and the kid was always hyperactive. His personality was exuberantly active.
Li Yu called: "Xiao Hang, what are you busy with? I heard from dad that you had a conflict with the boss just less than a month into your internship."
Li Hang's response was noisy, probably because he was on a busy street.
Li Hang replied irritably, "Bro! It's not my fault. It's all because the manager is an idiot. It's not my fault, but I get blamed. Then they docked my internship pay; I didn't even beat him up, and that's already letting him off easy."
Hearing his brother's impolite response, Li Yu said, "Then come back. I've started some projects at home, and you can help me with them."
Li Hang perked up upon hearing this. Being mischievous since childhood, but since Li Yu was two years older, he had often been on the receiving end of Li Yu's beatings.
Despite being roughed up, the brothers had always had a good relationship. As they grew, Li Yu became more stable, but Li Hang remained impulsive, often getting into brawls outside.
"Alright, big bro, lead the way. I'll buy a ticket right now," Li Hang responded without hesitation, not even asking what he'd be doing. In his mind, his older brother would never have ill intentions toward him.
After hanging up, Li Yu thought about inviting Li Yuan back as well. But since the base was not yet completed, he decided to simply check in on her.
Li Yuan was currently studying medicine at the Traditional Chinese Medicine University in the neighboring Provincial City, and she was in her sophomore year. Li Yu reminded her to come back for the National Day holiday without fail.
Li Yuan replied okay. From childhood to adulthood, she always listened to her older brother. Unlike the second brother, she had never been beaten by him.
Her courage was also completely different from Li Hang's. Li Hang was bold and brash while Li Yuan was timid and gentle, with a soft temperament like water.
Having briefed them on the situation, Li Yu began to prioritize purchasing supplies.