Chapter 18：Today is Electrician Chen Dao!

wild fruits and vegetables to enhance the flavor of meals is quite nice.

Peyton was constantly making Molotov cocktails outside, having already emptied one alcohol storage tank. Chen Dao thought this tank could be cleaned and used to store clean water.

"—— Beep beep beep — beep beep beep — beep beep beep ——"

Chen Dao's wristwatch alarm rang, indicating it was mealtime. He turned off the alarm and glanced at his watch. It read July 28th, exactly 12 o'clock.

It had been two days since his hearing recovered. During these two days, Peyton had made over 300 Molotov cocktails.

Tymenia and Chen Dao had explored the surroundings of Faria Village together.

At the same time, the generator had been installed next to the distribution box outside the house, raised on bricks, and waterproofed with oilcloth.

Only the wiring was left.

As Chen Dao expected, water and electricity would never be restored.

They could only rely on themselves.

Chen Dao stood up, holding the guidebook in one hand and the cup in the other. He walked out of the garage and saw Tymenia and Peyton coming out of the farmhouse.

He raised his hand in greeting, then returned to the farmhouse to have lunch with Peyton and Tymenia.

After lunch, as long as the generator was wired, this house could have electricity again.

Today, Tymenia cooked a slightly sweet bean lunch with dried kidney beans and made some fried pig roots. Paired with lunch meat and canned meat, it had a special herbal flavor.

Speaking of pig roots, the term is used in many parts of America, but it refers to different things.

In the west, pig root generally refers to cassava, but in some small villages in Kentucky, pig root refers to Jerusalem artichoke, also known as "foreign ginger" or "devil's ginger" in China. Many places will slice and pickle it to make a crisp and refreshing dish.

But it's also delicious when Tymenia fries it.

This plant is almost ubiquitous. When you see fields of small yellow flowers that don't quite look like regular chrysanthemums, but more like mini sunflowers, don't doubt it. Underneath those flowers, Jerusalem artichokes are buried.

(Jerusalem artichoke, also called ghost yam in mainland China, is suitable for cold pickling.)

The reason it's called pig root is simply because North American wild pigs are best at gnawing these nutrient-rich tubers buried in the ground.

When locals saw this, they naturally called this plant "pig root." But North American wild pigs don't just eat one kind of tuber Their keen sense of smell and enormous appetite drive them to gather all the tubers that exist in nature.

As a result, quite a few plants are referred to as "pig root" by the locals.

After all, on one side, it's the most common wild animal in North America, and on the other, it's the most despised field wrecker and granary thief by Kentucky farmers. The impression is profound.

These past few days, Chen Dao has been preparing, checking the wires and pipes in the car house, planning for the future. This place could indeed serve as one of the long-term refuge points.

The surrounding land is fertile, with many lakes, sparse grasslands, and farmland. The view is unobstructed. As long as they remain vigilant and protected, they can warn of zombie herds in advance, prepare to respond or simply flee.

This small farm is just too small, just enough for three people to live. However, as a stable farming foothold, it's quite suitable.

The three of them communicated during meals, knowing what each other was busy with, where they could find each other, and agreed on when to gather in the house to prepare meals.

After Chen Dao finished eating, he immediately began to check the lines in the house, inspecting for short circuits or broken wires, checking whether the wires were still usable, and preparing to replace them in a timely manner.

Tymenia took a small bucket and headed towards the small pond at the edge of the village, preparing to fetch a small bucket of water and observe the situation of the zombies from a distance.

Peyton was preparing to push the empty can next to the car, as Chen Dao wanted him to. He said he wanted to pull it to the pond to clean the residual liquor inside. Chen Dao was afraid there might be some toxic by-products of homemade liquor and dared not use it directly.

After inspecting the surrounding electrical appliances and turning off the switches that needed to be turned off, Chen Dao rearranged the appliances, disconnected the house's electricity, and even placed the TV on the other side of the fireplace, not connected to the plug.

Chen Dao walked out of the house and, following the guidebook's instructions, connected the wires to the generator and began to check before starting the generator.

The antifreeze was full, and the water tank was checked.

The machine oil was within the standard scale, and the gearbox was checked.

He turned the adjustment button to the civilian power position and reset the emergency stop device. The mode check was completed.

Finally, he checked the fuel tank and added a can of 15L gasoline to fill it up.

Fuel checked, fuel tank checked.

Chen Dao took a deep breath and began to turn the starter crank.

Like other products from 1993, this generator didn't have the electric start feature like modern generators do. It had to be manually operated.

But this generator was surprisingly easy to start. After Chen Dao turned it twice and applied a little force, it immediately started.

The generator made a "da-da-da-da" sound as it started, attracting Peyton, who came over to watch.

Chen Dao turned his head and gave Peyton a bright smile.

Finally, they had returned to the era of electricity.

But Chen Dao didn't let his guard down. He tried to distance himself from the farmhouse, trying to figure out how far the generator's noise could reach.

In the game, the operation of the generator would produce noise, exhaust, and heat up the environment.

During the gameplay, countless new players died from carbon monoxide poisoning in their sleep because they put the generator in the garage.

Yes, the in-game generator or bonfire would produce carbon monoxide, and the poison area of carbon monoxide was calculated based on the entire area of the house.

As long as your generator was placed within the house's area, it would produce a carbon monoxide poisoning effect, killing your character.

Even if you put it in the garage, even if you put the generator on the first floor where all the walls were smashed by the engineering hammer, the carbon monoxide poisoning area it produced was still the entire house.

That's why the generator is usually placed outdoors in the game. Although it will attract some zombies, its maximum noise transmission distance will not exceed 20 yards in reality, and it can power all electrical devices within a 20-yard radius and within a 5-story height. The higher the power, the faster the fuel consumption.

But even so, there are still new players who ignore the warning that comes with placing it in an indoor area: "Turning it on in this area will produce a lot of toxic gas!".

Then they insist on putting this hard-earned generator in the garage, fearing that it will be damaged by zombies or rained on. They even open the garage door, deceiving themselves and others by saying, "It should be okay if the door is open, right?"

Then they get poisoned by the gas and have to start over with their characters, all distressed!!!

Don't cherish materials, cherish your life.

This is the first element of playing the game well for beginners.

This element often contradicts players' various collection habits and collector preferences.

It's also one of the reasons why players find the gameplay challenging at times.

Chen Dao walked a long way along the road, then slowly walked back to the farmhouse, occasionally listening carefully to determine if the generator's sound was loud enough to attract zombies.

He finally determined that the noise from this generator was slightly louder than a car. About 30 meters away, Chen Dao could already hear the faint humming of the generator.

Chen Dao silently noted this distance, knowing that the future walls must be a bit farther than this distance.

Upon returning to the farmhouse, Chen Dao immediately began connecting the power lines of various electrical appliances. There was no refrigerator in the farmhouse, so they would have to get a freezer later for storing food. They couldn't always eat canned food. Once they started farming, they would need to eat fresh local produce and store vegetables and grains.

After Chen Dao finished his work, it was already 5 p.m. He looked at the house's main switch and the generator's power meter. If nothing was turned on, the power loss from the line was only about 9w, which was not high and was acceptable.

In the game, the generator's consumption rate is astonishing, but the repair method is extremely simple.

After working for about seven days, the generator will consume 30%-50% of its durability, but it only needs electronic waste and a screwdriver to repair.

Many people think that this is just a way for the raccoon to force players to regularly maintain the generator, giving players something to do in the later stages.

But in reality, generators also cannot run for long periods. In general, portable small generators need to be shut down once every three days to prevent overheating, while also needing to be checked, adding antifreeze coolant, machine oil, and checking if there is any carbonization in the line.

The longest continuous working time generally does not exceed half a month.

And once a generator breaks, it can't be fixed with just a piece of electronic waste and a screwdriver.

So Chen Dao must be cautious because they don't have more generator reserves. They only have this one, and if it's used up, it's gone.

But well, having electricity is still very pleasing.

Tonight, Chen Dao and the others finally had a normal light source while eating, and they ate bread baked not from the fireplace but from a real, very fragrant electric oven.

Tymenia also fried a few pieces of canned mackerel.

Paired with chips, this meal was a standard British fried set meal "Fish and Chips".

Chen Dao felt that Peyton was almost moved to tears.