Chapter 185 — A Road Encounter
The group, who had originally agreed to rest for half a day and get to work in the afternoon, somehow ended up resting for an entire day instead. Some slept straight through to the evening, while others were busy in their rooms with certain things everyone understood, completely losing track of time and putting all other matters out of their minds. As for the few who had rested well and prepared to call everyone to start working, they accidentally overheard a few things near the walls and quickly ran back to their rooms, stifling their laughter.
The next morning, while assigning the day’s tasks, Luo Xun resolutely and silently vowed in his heart—he would absolutely make sure Yan Fei did a thorough job with the soundproofing in the house! He would never give anyone the chance to eavesdrop again!
Stealthily rubbing his lower back, which still felt a bit soft even now, Luo Xun put on a stern face to announce the day’s plan before leading everyone down to the basement. Time to work!
What they needed to do today was very simple, and it was something everyone had done back at the base—sawing wood to prepare for growing mushrooms.
They had brought out quite a few mushroom spawn bags with them this time. There was no avoiding it; after all, they grew a large amount of mushrooms at home. It could almost be said that however many crops they had, they needed a matching amount of logs, sawdust, and other materials underneath.
During their previous supply run, they had conveniently scavenged a lot of farming tools, which naturally included quite a few saws. Once Luo Xun and the others measured the width of the existing planting racks in the basement, he tasked Li Tie and the guys primarily with sawing the logs and producing sawdust. He and Yan Fei then entered the planting room to thoroughly inspect the planting racks, preparing to raise their height.
These planting racks were originally fixed close to the ground, with various specialized equipment for sowing and harvesting suspended above them. For anyone else, modifying these machines and racks would be a highly tedious and difficult engineering project, but it was absolutely no match for Yan Fei, a metal-user.
“Study the structure of these planting racks thoroughly first. If we need to expand the planting space later or want to add another layer above them, we’ll need to replicate their exact specifications. It just so happens we can make use of these sets of automated equipment.” The sowing and harvesting machines built into this room were completely different from ordinary agricultural machinery. Although they were smaller and far less efficient than standard large-scale harvesters and seeders, they fit perfectly onto these planting racks. They were clearly specialized equipment designed specifically for this room.
Yan Fei nodded slightly. He first extended his metal-type superpower to scan the area, confirming how to handle the modifications so the equipment could still run normally after the racks were raised. Then, he confirmed with Luo Xun, “The structure isn’t complicated. It’s similar to the planting racks you designed at home, just more scientific. The grooves on the outside are clearly meant for these machines to slide along while operating. It won’t be hard to replicate.”
Luo Xun finally breathed a sigh of relief. “So raising them up and adding racks underneath for mushrooms won’t be an issue either?”
“No issue at all.” Yan Fei smiled and shook his head, looking up at the high ceiling. “However, the irrigation setup above is a bit tricky. If it really doesn’t work out, we can switch it to the kind we used at home…”
“There’s another way.” Luo Xun also smiled, looking up at the forest of intersecting metal pipes on the ceiling—the positions where those pipes wove together were fitted with nozzles, serving as specialized irrigation equipment. “We can add a row of planting racks above, and position the water outlets directly at the bottom layer of the upper racks, letting the water drain straight down to irrigate the crops on the lower layer… But if we do that, the volume of water for the upper and lower layers will be a bit hard to control. We’ll look into it more later.”
Since moving the metal racks wasn’t a problem, the two didn’t hold back and immediately got to work. The metal they had hauled back two days ago was currently piled up in the open space of the planting room. Yan Fei located the joints in the long, seemingly continuous planting racks, lifted a section directly, and inserted metal supports underneath. He raised the planting racks throughout the entire room by about seventy to eighty centimeters before finishing up. Once that was done, they began fabricating mushroom boxes that functioned like metal drawers to be pushed under the planting racks, just like they used to do back at the base. These would be entirely dedicated to cultivating mushrooms.
This time, they didn’t plan to use only logs to grow mushrooms; they decided to switch a portion over to materials like sawdust. Of course, the log cultivation still had to be maintained, as logs lasted far longer than sawdust, though sawdust would certainly yield a greater volume.
These metal drawers could be pulled out halfway from both the left and right sides, making them highly convenient to operate. However, unlike at the base, they didn’t make double-layered metal boxes nested together to hide things from prying eyes. Instead, they made highly breathable metal drawers full of mesh so they could see the contents at a glance. This was their own territory now, so naturally, they would do whatever was most convenient and practical. They no longer had to overthink every single action or worry about how to explain things if outsiders saw them, like they did back at the base.
The sheer volume of items Luo Xun and the team had brought back this time was quite substantial, especially the metal. Even after Yan Fei could no longer add any more metal to the two large iron spheres rolling alongside them, they had stuffed quite a bit of metal into several vehicles that weren’t fully loaded. Yet, after only reinforcing the thickness of the metal walls in the tunnel a bit more and modifying one planting room—before they even had a chance to add the extra layer of planting racks to it—they unexpectedly discovered that the metal was almost completely gone!
When they thought about how they still had to add another layer of planting racks, that the work on the second basement level hadn’t even begun, and that they still planned to use metal to construct an above-ground planting space, Luo Xun and the others felt a slight pang of anxiety.
“Tomorrow we’ll go out again. This time Yan Fei and I will go, and we’ll just need two other people to tag along.” Li Tie and the guys still hadn’t finished processing the pile of wood at home today, so Luo Xun decided they would split the team into two forces. Since they had already figured out the situation of the place they were visiting, four people would be fully capable of handling it.
“Wang Duo and I should go with you,” Zhang Su said with a nonchalant wave of his hand. “My superpower isn’t exactly useful for sawing wood anyway.”
Li Tie and the guys stared at him with deeply conflicted expressions—yes, his superpower wasn’t useful for sawing wood, but when it came to making sawdust, who could possibly compete with him?! He could just lift a piece of wood with a miniature tornado and spin it around, and before long, that wood would turn into complete shreds!
“Alright, then the four of us will head out early tomorrow morning. This time we’ll take the large truck and a small truck. Let’s aim to bring back metal and at least haul one crate containing solar panels,” Luo Xun pondered for a moment before nodding in agreement.
After washing up and organizing their things, Luo Xun and the others went to bed early and woke up early the next morning, driving the two vehicles back out through their underground tunnel. This trip’s objectives were very clear and simple: a large amount of metal, the subterranean crates containing solar panels, and if it was on the way, they could also bring back a few more trees.
The two vehicles drove in a single-file line, with Luo Xun and Yan Fei driving the large truck, while the small truck driven by Zhang Su and Wang Duo led the way.
They continued along the same road they had taken before. After reaching the spot where they buried the crates and having Yan Fei inspect them, the two vehicles continued toward the solar panel factory.
“We need to keep looking for other places that might have large amounts of metal. Right now, no matter what we want to build in our small base, we need to use metal…” Luo Xun said as he drove, a trace of helplessness in his voice.
Yan Fei comforted him, “It won’t be hard. Even if we can’t find a factory with a high concentration of metal, we can find plenty just by taking a spin around the outskirts of the city. I recall there are railway tracks and elevated highways nearby.”
Even the Southwest Base, when searching for metal later on, targeted these two major pre-apocalyptic consumers of metal. Why should Luo Xun and his team be any different?
“True, those things are easy to find. Let’s gather the materials in this area first before looking elsewhere.” Luo Xun paused, his expression turning helpless once more. “When we get back this time, we’ll also have to ask He Qiankun and the guys to help look for a glass manufacturing factory nearby… If we want to set up an above-ground planting room, we’ll inevitably need a large amount of glass. Even if we make it fully enclosed and build the structure entirely out of metal, we can’t completely forgo installing glass, right? Even if we just put a few pieces for decoration.”
The four people in the two vehicles spent the night halfway through their journey and continued toward their target. The snow on the surrounding wilderness was growing scarcer by the day. From a few days ago, when it was a rare sight to see patches of brown earth, to now, when it was a rare sight to see any remaining snow, the natural transformation of the landscape seemed to happen in the blink of an eye.
The two drove while casually eating some dry rations—yes, dry rations, literal dry rations, incredibly crunchy. This was something Luo Xun had specially made while preparing for their excursion a few days ago, using the limited amount of oil at home to fry up some crispy rice crusts because he was craving them!
This stuff was savory, airy, and incredibly crispy—delicious to eat. It was a great snack before the apocalypse, and an excellent choice for dry rations after the apocalypse.
Thinking about the massive planting area their small base now possessed, they could freely plant all kinds of grains, soybeans, and other crops. By then, their supply of food and cooking oil would naturally be guaranteed, allowing them to use it however they pleased! When the time came, they wouldn’t have to worry if they wanted to eat these delicious treats again!
Just as they were about to drive near the solar panel factory, a series of thunderous thud-thud, thud-thud sounds echoed, accompanied by a slight tremor in the ground…
“B-Boss, what on earth is that?!” Wang Duo’s slightly trembling voice came through the walkie-talkie. Before Luo Xun could answer, he heard Zhang Su’s somewhat cold voice, speaking through gritted teeth, come through as well: “Something is coming this way… and it looks like there’s more than one.”
“What is it?! How many?!” If we run into another zombie tide…
Before the thought could finish forming in Luo Xun’s mind and before Zhang Su could deliver his answer, the group spotted the culprits responsible for the tremors and noise—
A massive grey rabbit was hopping and sprinting frantically ahead. The rabbit was easily the size of a small truck, and chasing right behind it was a dog only half its size… Why on earth was a dog of that size chasing a rabbit that was easily twice its height?
Luo Xun and the others felt like their brains hadn’t fully processed the situation when a thunderous crash rang out. The dog had lunged and tackled the rabbit, and the two creatures rolled into a ball, unexpectedly crashing through a wall of the nearby solar panel factory and creating a massive hole! If they kept rolling this way, the trucks they were driving would inevitably be flipped over by the impact!
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