Chapter 19: Construction Captain's Ambitions

Wuuuu, wuuuu...

“Master, you finally came to look for me."

The strange noise that was produced was the sound of wheels moving across the concrete floor as Little Seven rolled over.

After returning to the surface, Chu Guang’s first stop was on the third floor of the nursing home. He planned to look for Little Seven to learn what happened while he was gone, but before he reached the window, he noticed a dumb-looking bin moving towards him pitifully.

He was dumbfounded when he stared at the sorry-looking bin. He had no idea what happened for it to look so sad.

"What’s the matter?"

"I only have one bar of battery left...”

Oh, I thought it was something else. Wait...

“Where am I supposed to recharge you?"

Little Seven quickly muttered in its robotic voice, "I have a wireless charging port on my body, I just need to go back to the shelter for some time!"

“...”

No wonder I haven't found a socket in the shelter or the computer! There isn’t even a CPU on the table! Yet, it somehow never seems to run out of battery. Turns out, it’s advanced technology. Although wireless charging isn’t really that advanced...

Lifting the bin-shaped robot, Chu Guang walked downstairs. After obediently retracting its bottom wheels, Little Seven suddenly blurted, "By the way, master..."

"What's wrong?"

"I suddenly remember that the power system of our shelter seems to be generated by a nuclear fusion reactor core." Little Seven mumbled softly.

Chu Guang was slightly taken aback. "Nuclear fusion?"

"Mhm, so it will be able to produce electricity for a long, long time...”

"Oh, that's a good thing." Chu Guang replied absentmindedly. He was already thinking about how to steal the electricity produced.

Little Seven continued, "... Well... It might not really be a good thing...”

Chu Guang’s thoughts were interrupted by Little Seven and he stopped walking down the stairs.

"What do you mean?"

"It’s already 2340 now. It has been a long, long time since the shelter was built!”

“What?!” Chu Guang asked hurriedly, "What will happen if the electricity runs out?"

"I have no idea."

Little Seven's reply nearly caused him to puke blood.

"You have no idea?!"

How could it not have an answer to such an important question?! Wasn't there an emergency plan or something?!

Little Seven spoke cautiously, "According to the plan, the shelter should have opened a hundred years ago, but for some reason, it was delayed for a whole century. I don’t know why..."

"..."

Seeing how Chu Guang had remained silent, Little Seven continued and tried to comfort him, "There’s no need to be pessimistic. The power room should be on the third underground level. As long as you unlock your access and replace the fuel rods in time, everything will be fine.”

Chu Guang nearly screamed out loud. “Where am I going to get nuclear fusion fuel rods?!”

They were two hundred eleven years into The Wasteland Era for fucks sake!

"Uh, there’s always a way, right?" Little Seven muttered in its robotic voice.

"..."

I can’t beat up a robot, I can’t beat up a robot...

He couldn’t take out his anger on an electronic product. That would be too pathetic.

Chu Guang put Little Seven by the elevator and watched the bin roll slowly into it.

He felt a little annoyed, but he also knew that it was useless to be anxious. He had to solve his problems one by one.

In the short term, electricity shouldn’t be a big problem. Even if the opening of the shelter was delayed by a century, it hadn’t been running the entire time. It would have been operating in an energy-saving state. Maybe the remaining electricity could even last for decades. Instead, he should be more worried about the coming winter. There wasn’t much time left for him to prepare.

Leaving the nursing home, Chu Guang arrived in front of the cement kiln and found that the players were energetic and busy, and had already started building a second cement kiln.

Eight smaller ones for making charcoal had been neatly erected next to them. It seemed they were going to skip the agricultural age and leap directly into industrialization!

Chu Guang was overjoyed. It was all thanks to his wit and management!

Seeing the Administrator, Old White wiped his face excitedly and he felt like a kid. He stood up and greeted loudly, "Administrator!"

"Mhm, I went down to the basement earlier. Did you come up with the idea of building more kilns?" Chu Guang asked when he looked at the earthen cement kilns behind him.

"They’re all thanks to everyone's hard work!"

"You don't have to be modest, I can tell. The organization will remember your contributions!"

Old White became even more excited. Wasn't that what he had been waiting for? Especially the second half of that sentence.

"In addition, on behalf of the organization, I will give each of you one thousand contribution points as a commendation for creating cement and building materials. From now on, you will be the construction leader of the outpost!

"You are free to use your creativity to design and build our outpost any way you see fit as long as it fits into our design."

It would’ve been great if there was a sound effect that went

‘ding’

. That would be cool. Or at least a pop-up window that could show reward prompts. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything like that. Even so, those verbal promises and compliments made Old White excited.

Achievement!

Class!

Favorability!

It seemed that the game’s hidden system was richer than he had imagined!

"Dear Administrator, I will do my best to build our home as much as I can!"

The other three players all looked at him with envy. Everyone received contribution points, but it was obvious that Old White, who was given the position of the Construction Captain, had benefited the most.

Having permission to freely build facilities? What kind of Construction Captain was this? It was clearly more like the Director of Development in Wasteland Online!

The class was just far too awesome!

Looking at the excited Old White, Chu Guang nodded approvingly while muttering, "Very well. Now, I need you to tell me your plan."

"Yes!" Old White stood with his back straight and began his report. According to Old White, after going offline the day before, he conducted a field survey of an actual cement factory and asked the workers some questions. He learned that adding iron powder to cement could make a stronger and more durable product.

Talking about content from outside the game while in-game seemed filtered by the NPC directly. Seeing as the Administrator wasn’t responding, Old White went directly to his point.

Considering the fact that there was rusty steel everywhere on the wasteland, he could mix the collected iron rust with charcoal, using the latter as a reducing agent to make iron by calcination. He would then add the smelted iron slag together with wood ash cement.

Although that seemed to increase the production cost of cement, the cement produced could be used to make cement kilns that were more durable, resistant to higher temperatures, and could produce greater output.

"It’s impossible to produce large quantities of cement by relying on these earth kilns, so I plan to put all the cement produced in this early stage into the construction of production facilities, and further increase the output of cement!"

Chu Guang nodded approvingly. "That's a good idea, but how much cement can be produced by using tree bark?"

Chu Guang noticed that not only had the pile of logs they cut down been stripped of their bark, but the trees near the nursing home were almost stripped naked by the survivors. They didn't even let the stumps go!

Old White had clearly anticipated his question and replied confidently, "Exactly. That is why we need a more professional cement kiln, the kind that can withstand a high temperature of 1450 degrees celsius! That way, we can make calcium carbonate cement by burning limestone and clay, completely replacing wood ash!"

Wood ash cement containing potassium and sodium was not the most ideal building material, but it was a good substitute if they had no other choice.

After being appointed as the Construction Captain, Old White became ambitious. What he imagined was no longer just a wall or a new wing of the nursing home, it was the whole wasteland. He wanted to transform the world into something from his dreams!

"You seem to have a comprehensive idea of what to do. Let’s stick to it." Chu Guang nodded, then looked at the other three players. "In the next few days, two newcomers will end their hibernation and join our vanguard team. I plan to host a small banquet to welcome them, so I need to bring back some prey. I can’t just feed them porridge." After a pause, Chu Guang continued, "Who wants to go hunting with me?"

As soon as his voice fell, two people raised their hands without hesitation.

Chu Guang was stunned.

Goodness, even the construction leader he had just appointed raised his hand!

"Ahem, we don’t need that many people... Night Ten, you are a perception type, so you come with me."

"Yes, Administrator!" Night Ten bowed with excitement, and under the envious eyes of the other three players, he swaggered over.

Chu Guang looked at the other three players and said seriously, "Your mission is also very important. Cement is the top priority for our outpost’s development. We have enough wood for the time being, so the logging can stop for a while. I need you to produce cement. Can it be done?"

Although it was a pity that they couldn’t go hunting with the Administrator, the three players still obediently followed his arrangement. "Yes, we will complete our mission!"

Very good. As expected of those I chose!

Chu Guang nodded in satisfaction and walked towards the woods south of the nursing home with Night Ten, who was grinning from ear to ear.