Chapter 19: The ambition of the construction team leader

"Wuwuwu, Master, you finally came to find me."

The repeated "wuwuwu" sound was the sound of the pulleys rolling on the concrete floor.

After returning to the surface, Light Chu went to the third floor of the sanatorium.

He had planned to find Qi to ask about the situation, but before he reached the window, he saw the pitiful waste paper basket leaning towards him.

Light Chu looked at it in confusion, not knowing what was wrong with it.

"What's the matter with you?"

"Qi only has one bar of battery left."

Sigh.

So that's what it is.

Wait a minute...

Light Chu: "Where can I find a place to charge you?"

Qi: "I have a wireless charging interface on my body. Stay in the sanctuary for a while, and it will be enough!"

Light Chu: "..."

No wonder he didn't see a single socket in the sanctuary, and the computer on the table that had no host never ran out of power. It turned out to be high-tech.

Although wireless charging couldn't be considered high-tech.

Light Chu picked up the waste paper basket-shaped robot and walked downstairs.

As the wheels underneath were neatly folded up, Qi suddenly spoke up.

"By the way, Master."

"What's wrong now?"

"I suddenly remembered that the power system of the sanctuary seems to be powered by a fusion reactor core."

"Fusion reactor?"

"Yes, so the electricity inside lasts for a very long time."

"Oh, that's a good thing." Light Chu's mind had already started to ponder how to steal the electricity from inside.

Qi continued, "Although, however, this may not be a good thing."

His train of thought was interrupted, and Light Chu, who was going downstairs, stopped in his tracks.

"What do you mean?"

"Because it is already the year 2340, which is a very long time after the year the sanctuary was built..."

What?!

Light Chu hurriedly asked, "What will happen if the electricity runs out?"

However, Qi's reply almost made him spit out a mouthful of blood.

"I don't know."

"Don't know???"

You actually don't know such an important thing!

Isn't there any emergency plan???

Qi cautiously said, "Because according to the plan... the sanctuary should have been opened a hundred years ago, but for some reason, it was delayed for a whole century."

Light Chu: "..."

Seeing Light Chu remain silent, Qi continued to console him in a soft voice.

"But you don't have to be too pessimistic, Master. The power room of Sanctuary 404 should be on the third floor. As long as you unlock that floor, you can replace the fuel rods in time."

Light Chu almost couldn't hold back his laughter.

"Where the hell am I going to get fusion reactor fuel rods!"

It was already the 211th year of the Wasteland Era.

Qi: "Uh, there must be a way, right?"

Light Chu: "..."

In any case, he couldn't vent his anger on electronic products.

That would be too disgraceful.

Light Chu placed Qi by the elevator and watched the waste paper basket robot roll back with a rumble.

He felt a bit annoyed.

However, Light Chu also knew that being anxious at this time wouldn't help. The problems needed to be solved one by one.

In the short term, there shouldn't be any major issues with electricity. Even though the sanctuary's opening was delayed by a century, it had been in energy-saving mode for the past century without any work. The remaining electricity might last for several decades.

Compared to that, the upcoming harsh winter was what he should be more concerned about.

He didn't have much time left to prepare...

After leaving the sanatorium, Light Chu arrived at the cement kiln and found the gamers working enthusiastically, already starting on the construction of the second cement kiln.

Next to it, there were neatly stacked piles of charcoal, a total of eight of them.

They were skipping the agricultural era and leaping directly into industrialization!

Light Chu couldn't contain his joy.

Thanks to his leadership skills and village management, everything was going smoothly!

Seeing the approaching governor, White wiped the mud off his face and stood up excitedly, not looking like someone in their twenties or thirties, but more like a child.

He greeted, "My governor, you're here!"

"Hmm, I just went down for a while... are these your ideas?" Light Chu asked, looking at the earthen cement kiln behind him.

"It's everyone's effort!"

"No need to be modest, I saw it all. The organization will remember your contributions!"

White's face lit up with excitement.

This was exactly what he had been waiting for!

Especially the second half of the sentence.

"...In addition, on behalf of the organization, I will award each of you 1000 contribution points as recognition for unlocking cement building materials. And from now on, you will be the leader of the construction team of Outpost Station of Sanctuary 404!"

"You can freely unleash your creativity and design and build our outpost base within the planned area."

It would have been cool if there was a "ding" sound of a system prompt at this moment.

That would definitely be awesome.

Or even a pop-up window with reward notifications appearing in front of the gamers would be nice.

But unfortunately, there was none of that.

Nevertheless, even with just verbal promises and commendations, White's face was beaming with excitement.

Merit! Position! And, favourability!

It seemed that the hidden system in this game was even more rich than he had imagined!

"Respected governor! I will do my utmost and give my all to build our homeland!"

The other three gamers looked at him with envy on their faces.

Although everyone had contribution points, it was clear that White, who obtained the position of "construction captain," was the real winner.

Being able to freely exercise creativity in constructing facilities, he was more like the planning director of the Wasteland OL!

Absolutely amazing!

Seeing White's high spirits, Light Chu nodded approvingly and said, "Very well, now I need you to tell me about your plans."

"Yes!"

White straightened his back and began his report.

According to White, after he logged off yesterday, he conducted field research at a real cement plant and asked the master craftsmen there. He learned that adding iron powder to cement could produce a stronger and more durable cement.

Since there was rusted iron all over the wasteland, he mixed the collected rust with charcoal, using the latter as a reducing agent. He smelted the mixture to obtain iron and then burned the resulting iron slag with wood ash cement.

Although this seemingly increased the production cost of cement, the cement produced in this way was more durable, heat-resistant, and had a higher yield for cement kilns.

"It's impossible to produce a large quantity of cement with just these few earthen kilns, so I plan to invest all the cement produced in the early stage into the construction of production facilities to further increase the cement output!"

Light Chu nodded approvingly. "This idea is good, but... using just tree bark, how much cement can we produce?"

Just a moment ago, Light Chu had already noticed that not only the pile of felled logs on the ground but also the trees in the vicinity of the sanatorium had been stripped of their bark by the survivors. They didn't even spare the tree stumps!

White had obviously already considered this issue and confidently replied, "That's why we need more advanced cement kilns... ones that can reach a temperature of 1450 degrees! With those, we can produce calcium carbonate cement by burning limestone and clay, completely replacing the grass and wood ash as raw materials!"

Potassium and sodium-containing grass and wood ash cement were not the ideal building materials; they were just substitutes when conditions didn't allow for better options.

After being appointed as the construction captain, White suddenly had greater ambitions. He no longer only saw a single wall or a single sanatorium building in his eyes. He saw the entire wasteland. He wanted to transform this world into what he envisioned!

"You've considered everything comprehensively, so go ahead and do it as you wish," Light Chu nodded, then looked at the other three gamers.

"Two newcomers will be ending their dormancy soon and joining our advance team. I plan to hold a small feast to welcome them, so we need to gather some wild game... we can't just serve them porridge."

Pausing for a moment, Light Chu continued, "Who is willing to go hunting with me?"

As soon as he finished speaking, all four hands shot up in the air.

Light Chu was taken aback. Wow, even the newly appointed construction team leader raised his hand!

"Cough, we don't need that many people... Nighten, you come. You have perception abilities."

"Yes, sir governor!"

Nighten saluted excitedly, standing proudly beside the governor in front of the envious gazes of the other three gamers.

Light Chu looked at the other three gamers and said seriously, "Your task is also crucial. Cement is of utmost importance for the outpost's development. We have enough wood for now, so the logging work can pause. I need all of you to focus on cement production. Can you do that?"

Although they were disappointed that they couldn't go hunting with the governor, the three gamers obediently followed his instructions.

"We guarantee to complete the task!"

Very well.

They truly deserve to be the gamers I have chosen!

Light Chu nodded in satisfaction and, with Nighten, who was overjoyed with a wide grin, headed towards the southern forest of the sanatorium.