In Linghu Wetland Park, outside an abandoned sanatorium, stood a row of wooden stakes of varying thickness and size.
"I heard that if the newly chopped wood is not treated, it will crack and deform." Looking at the logs piled randomly by the wall, Lao Bai, who was holding an axe, frowned and said.
Fang Chang asked.
"How do you usually deal with it?"
Lao Bai said.
"Dry out the moisture in the wood, or paint both ends and wait for the wood to dry naturally. You can also soak it in water, but it will be more difficult to handle it... I hope it won't rain in the next few days."
Lao Bai made a rough estimate. Counting the results of yesterday's work, all these woods were cut into 3-4 meter long logs, sharpened at both ends and stuck in the soil, which was more than enough to repair the north and west walls of the sanatorium.
However, these woods were untreated logs, and it was difficult to guarantee their strength. They might rot after a few rains.
So he discussed with Fang Chang and decided to change his mindset and use cement as a building material.
There are a lot of concrete waste on the wasteland, and there are even a lot of them in the sanatorium.
After weathering, thermal expansion and contraction, wind and rain, most of the concrete blocks peeled off from the steel bars have turned into slag.
Don't expect these materials to be reliable.
But it's no problem to mix these materials with cement, and then fix them with some steel bars removed from the ruins to build simple concrete fortifications.
Although it's a shoddy project, it's much better than wood.
Anyway, there's no plan to build a skyscraper.
However, if you want to use these concrete wastes, you must first have cement.
And to make cement, they first need enough coal and a furnace that can withstand a high temperature of 1450 degrees.
Just at this time, Kuangfeng and Ye Shi came back.
Fang Chang noticed that the plastic bucket in Kuangfeng's hand was filled with a bucket of uniform mud.
"There is a river to the east of Linghu Lake, which is not on the map. It should have been formed in the last two hundred years. We have explored the entire lakeshore from the east to the south. The areas where the aliens are active and the locations of suspected nests are all marked on the map."
As he said this, Kuangfeng asked Ye Shi to take out the map, on which some marks were drawn with charcoal.
With this map, it would be much safer for them to go to the lake to get water.
However, Fang Chang's attention was on the bucket in his hand.
"What's in this bucket..."
"I found it by the river," Kuangfeng continued, putting the bucket on the ground, "I suddenly thought that I could use this thing as a building material, so I brought it back."
"This thing can't be used as a building material. It will disappear once it is washed away by water," squatting on the ground, Lao Bai reached out and picked up some mud, rubbed it with his thumb and index finger, and suddenly an excited expression appeared on his face, "But this thing is a good thing, our kiln has been settled."
"Kiln?" Ye Shi was stunned.
"I discussed with Lao Bai and planned to make cement." Fang Chang said.
Kuang Feng looked at him in surprise.
"Is this... possible?"
"Why not? Isn't this a sandbox game?" Lao Bai stood up and said excitedly, "Just pour the mud here, you guys go get a few more buckets, Fang Chang, help me pick up some branches, hurry up."
"Okay." Fang Chang went there with great enthusiasm.
Kuang Feng and Ye Shi looked at each other and also went there in confusion.
...
The stream was not deep, but there was a lot of silt beside it, and it was not far from the sanatorium, so it didn't take much effort to get a pile of it back.
Lao Bai used the silt to make a circle, dug two holes next to it as air inlets, and then put charcoal and dead leaves left over from cooking in the mud circle, and ignited it with matches left by the manager.
The fire started quickly.
The surrounding mud was slowly dried.
Lao Bai dug new mud with his hands, baking it and building it on the furnace wall. He didn't start to put thumb-thick sticks into the furnace until the furnace was as high as his thigh.
"What is this for?" Fang Chang was curious. Although he had played survival games, he had never done such a detailed job in the game.
"Burning charcoal! Without coal, we can only use carbon instead. If we want to make cement, burning wood won't work. We have to start from the most basic."
"How do you know this?"
"I played it when I was a child in my hometown."
"..."
It's okay to play it.
Who has nothing to do to play this.
Standing up, Lao Bai clapped his hands and began to cap the furnace before the fire in the furnace ignited the firewood.
This step is critical.
Before the firewood is ignited, he needs to leave a hole at the top, wait until the temperature in the furnace is high enough, and then seal all the holes with mud, let the wood inside simmer for a day, and you can harvest a full furnace of charcoal tomorrow.
"If you fill all the holes, the fire inside will go out."
"It won't go out immediately, and this is the effect we want."
Lao Bai wiped his sweat and patted Fang Chang on the shoulder.
"Don't be idle, let's build a few more kilns and make cement for tomorrow."
"Okay..."
Not only Fang Chang joined Lao Bai's "construction team", but even Kuangfeng and Ye Shi were recruited after moving enough mud.
The four players worked together to build four earthen kilns for charcoal making, and built a slightly larger one with aluminum silicate clay dug from the river.
According to Lao Bai, they can try to make some cement tomorrow.
He plans to make plant ash cement.
The cement made by this folk method has no high-tech content and is not very reliable, but it is definitely better than wood.
And with wood ash cement, he can try to build a cement kiln that can withstand higher temperatures.
Lao Bai has made up his mind and will go online to check the information after logging off.
"Fuck... I now understand why the manager asked us to find a way to build a bathhouse." Smelling the sweat odor, Ye Shi, who was a bit of a germaphobe, felt that he was about to die of the odor.
This game is too fucking hardcore.
"How about we go to the lake to take a bath before logging off?" Lao Bai suggested.
"I agree... But, speaking of it, where is the manager? It's almost time to log off, why hasn't he come back yet?" Kuangfeng asked.
"Maybe something happened."
"Then how should we let him know the results of our work this afternoon?" Ye Shi asked hurriedly.
Fang Chang glanced at the sanatorium behind him.
"Don't worry about that. I've already talked to the robot named Xiaoqi. It said it has counted our results and will report the situation to the manager truthfully."
Hearing this, Ye Shi finally felt relieved.
...
Just as the players were logging off, taking off their helmets and getting up to start a new day, Chu Guang, who was still on Bette Street, was carefully removing the plastic bucket under the water purifier.
There are public wells on Bette Street, and every household has its own water collector, and Chu Guang is no exception.
Except for the "luminous rain" with radioactive dust, or the situation where the clouds obviously look abnormal, the rain level in the wasteland is generally safe, even safer than before the war.
After all, this is two hundred years after the decline of civilization. Specialties of industrial society such as acid rain and smog are rarely seen here.
Of course, even so, drinking rainwater directly is not a wise thing to do.
By cutting the plastic water bottle in the middle, Chu Guang put a layer of dried pine needles and moss under the bottle mouth, and then added crushed charcoal ash on it.
In this way, a simple water filter was completed.
Chu Guang didn't know whether graphite could absorb radiation, but in the suburbs far away from the nuclear bomb crater, radiation was not the main threat to survival, but diarrhea and dehydration were.
He still remembered that in the first month he lived here, he had to defecate almost every other day. He didn't die at the hands of the aliens, but he almost died from his own intestines.
"Less than 10L... a drop in the bucket."
Looking at the bottles and jars in the house, Chu Guang sighed.
The supplies that had been accumulated for many days were almost used up by this player after only a few days.
We have to think of some way.
At this time, there was a knock at the door.
Chu Guang got up and walked up, pulled out the bolt, and opened the door.
Xiaoyu was standing at the door, with her hands behind her back, staring at him intently with her big black eyes, without saying a word.
Chu Guang, who was about to say hello, suddenly remembered the second son of the Yu family and the marriage he had talked about before, and couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
Even if there was no shelter No. 404, no system, no players, he would be isolated and helpless and could only try to integrate into the society here... He couldn't do it!
Too thin.
At least keep it for another two years.
"What's the matter?" Chu Guang said calmly.
Yu Xiaoyu stretched out her arm hidden behind her back.
Only then did Chu Guang see that she had a small piece of black cake in her hand, which should be made of green wheat paste.
"My second brother asked me to give it to you, and he told me to say that I made it for you." The words were pronounced word by word.
Chu Guang was confused by the subject-predicate relationship of "you, you, me, me", and it took him a long time to figure it out. It was Yu Hu who asked her to give him the cake.
"Thank you?"
"No need."
After putting the cake into Chu Guang's hand, Xiaoyu turned around and ran away, leaving Chu Guang alone in the wind.
...
Present world.
Jinling.
After taking off his helmet, Yan Feng rubbed his nose, reached out to fumble on the bedside table, found his glasses and put them on.
After sitting on the bed for a while, he got up and went to the bathroom. After washing and putting on his coat, he went downstairs, got on his bicycle, and walked slowly to the cafeteria.
The time now is half past five.
Except for students taking the postgraduate entrance examination, few people come to the cafeteria at this time. The whole hall is empty, and only a few windows near the door are open.
The cafeteria aunt who was busy behind the window recognized this regular customer at a glance and said with a smile.
"Professor Yan, you're here so early today."
"Well, I went to bed early yesterday... give me two buns."
"The buns have just been steamed, you have to wait a while."
"Don't worry."
Yan Feng took out his meal card and swiped it on the card reader.
The mist from the steamer was very fragrant.
Yan Feng liked the smell very much, it made people feel very comfortable, but unfortunately, it was not friendly to him who wore glasses.
Taking off his glasses and wiping the mist on them, Yan Feng couldn't help but think of his role in Wasteland OL.
Although the initial strength of the self in the virtual world was slightly inferior, it was still much stronger than the real self.
And the most important thing is that the self in the virtual world is not nearsighted.
At this time, someone patted his shoulder.
Yan Feng put on his glasses and turned around, and saw that it was Professor Wang Haiyang.
"Do you have classes in the morning?"
"No, I got up because I couldn't sleep."
"I thought you physics students would work until late."
"That's an illusion. I rarely bring work home." Yan Feng pushed his glasses and suddenly thought of something. He looked at him and said, "By the way, there is something I want to consult you about."
Professor Wang Haiyang raised his eyebrows.
"Is it the topic from yesterday?"
Yan Feng nodded.
"Yeah."
"Wait a minute, let me ask you a question first. The novel you mentioned, could it be that you wrote it yourself?" Professor Wang Haiyang said with a smile, "Novels are good if they are not true. If they are exactly the same as in reality, it will be bad."
"Actually, it's not a novel. To be honest, it's... a game."
"Game?"
"Yeah," Yan Feng took the bun from the cafeteria aunt, peeled off the plastic bag, took a bite, "a game with a doomsday theme."
Professor Wang Haiyang became interested and asked.
"What about the details?"
"I don't know the details either. The game is currently in the closed beta stage, and I don't know much." Yan Feng paused for a moment, "How developed a society do you think it is to make cars without power supply?"
"No power supply?" Professor Wang Haiyang was stunned and said with a smile, "Do you mean to use remote power supply technology to replace fixed power supply?"
"Is it difficult?" Yan Feng asked.
"I don't know whether it is difficult or not. From my professional perspective... wireless power supply technology is not difficult. The difficulty lies in how we can obtain clean and cheap energy, so that even if the energy loss reaches 90% or more, the cost is still within an acceptable range."
At this point, Professor Wang Haiyang paused and continued in a joking tone.
"Except for the controlled nuclear fusion described in science fiction novels, I can't think of a better solution.
Nuclear fusion?
Yan Feng looked thoughtful.
"Is that so..."
It seems that the story background set in "Wasteland OL" is more grand than he imagined.
There should be many places worth exploring in depth.
"When do you plan to publish your novel? Can you show it to me?" Professor Wang Haiyang joked, "Maybe I can give you some advice."
Yan Feng glanced at him.
"I said it's not a novel."
"Okay, okay, if you say it's not, then it's not."
Wang Haiyang took his breakfast from the cafeteria lady and patted his colleague on the shoulder with a smile, "I still have classes, so I'll leave first. Good luck!"