CHAPTER 190: CHAPTER 188 HIDDEN CRISIS

With the help of Qin Lan and Ding Ning, the work in the shelter is completed much faster than when Chen Xin was working alone.

Originally, it took Chen Xin a whole day to finish the work, but with the collective effort of three people, it was done in one morning.

"I never thought that with some help, things could be finished so quickly. Now there’s nothing to do in the afternoon," remarked Chen Xin with some amazement as he ate lunch, realizing how much easier it was to work with assistance.

Hearing Chen Xin’s words, Ding Ning teased him: "Ah Xin, it seems like you want someone to stay here! Do you want both Lan Jie and I to stay, or just Lan Jie alone?"

Ding Ning’s words made both Chen Xin and Qin Lan feel somewhat embarrassed. However, Chen Xin shook his head and said, "I wish both of you could stay, but it wouldn’t be convenient for you two to get to work."

Although the upgrade of Chen Xin’s vehicle is already in progress, considering the distance between his shelter and the city center, even if his SUV is upgraded to an ATV, driving them to work is still not a convenient choice.

After all, even with a completed vehicle modification, frequently driving out in this environment remains a cumbersome task, not to mention it’s not a safe choice.

So Ding Ning was merely joking, and after Chen Xin said this, she dropped the topic.

Seeing Ding Ning skip over the topic, Chen Xin didn’t mind and the three continued chatting about other topics while eating lunch.

"Ah Xin, what do you plan to do in the afternoon?" Qin Lan proactively asked about Chen Xin’s afternoon plans.

She is not someone who can sit idle, and in the current environment, having nothing to do is extremely torturous.

"I’m planning to continue working on my car this afternoon, doing some modifications," Chen Xin answered Qin Lan’s question, and also asked her, "Ah Lan, what do you and Xiao Ding plan to do this afternoon? If you want to play games, feel free to use the console."

Faced with Chen Xin’s hospitality, Qin Lan shook her head and said, "Forget about games. I want to do some physical training this afternoon. After lying in the hospital for so long, I feel rusty."

Upon hearing Qin Lan’s plan, Chen Xin didn’t stop her, he just reminded her to be careful with her wound and didn’t say much more.

Meanwhile, Ding Ning expressed interest in car modification, wanting to see how Chen Xin does it, declaring she would provide personal protection.

Hearing Ding Ning’s assertion, Chen Xin didn’t stop her, as Ding Ning was sent to protect him, so it’s reasonable for her to be concerned.’

After lunch, Ding Ning took it upon herself to do the dishes while Qin Lan returned to the bedroom to rest before starting her afternoon recovery training. Chen Xin sat at his computer in his bedroom, checking the design plans for the vehicle modification and concurrently monitoring the outside situation.

Snow at the shelter’s entrance showed signs of increasing in depth; from the camera’s perspective, nearly half of the shelter door was buried in snow.

This was not solely the result of snowfall from the sky. Although the typically abundant precipitation near the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake causes considerable rain year-round, now with the further drop in temperature, most newly formed snow comes from other places, blown around and accumulated by the wind.

This indirectly reflects how harsh the current weather is. With the loss of sunlight, the atmospheric circulation lost its source of energy, leading to the worsening of the climate.

The vegetation on the ground was mostly destroyed in previous fires, and regeneration is not possible in the current environment. Without windbreakers, the wind has become increasingly fierce.

In such an environment, human survival only becomes more difficult.

For now, due to pre-disaster resource stockpiles and the continued function of the national system, the survival of most survivors is guaranteed, along with basic living standards, with potential for improvement. But this doesn’t mean everything’s over, followed by post-disaster reconstruction with everything looking up.

Take this city, for instance; at first glance, everything seems normal. Except for the inability to live on the surface, requiring people to reside in underground shelters, everything seems to be recovering.

The roads between shelters are opened, and supplies such as food are secured. Residents of city shelters who are willing to work will always have a meal, and even those unwilling to engage in dangerous work can still find shelter jobs without starving.

However, all of this is contingent on the continued supply of resources to the city.

Food is not an issue—the city had grain warehouses before the disaster, storing large quantities of food. Post-disaster government cultivation zones and shelters growing mushrooms, breeding mice, and mealworms can somewhat ensure food self-sufficiency. Although food variety is limited, hunger is avoided.

Other resource supplies, however, are problematic, especially coal supply.

The city is located by Dongting Lake; before the disaster it was indeed picturesque with a scenic environment, Chen Xin remembers his mother’s colleague from the Northeast coming to work here due to the beauty of Dongting Lake and Yueyang Tower depicted in poetry.

But no matter how beautiful a landscape is, it can’t be eaten or used as firewood.

Pre-disaster, the city’s lush vegetation and forests could be cut as firewood, but post-apocalyptic disaster left the surface barren.

Moreover, the city has no coal resources, relying entirely on railway shipments. If railway transport is interrupted, coal supply ceases...

Anyone who’ve played Frostpunk can visualize the aftermath. In minus seventy-degree weather, after one day, numerous frostbite cases require amputation, and after two days, people begin freezing to death.

Underground shelters provide insulation blocking some cold invasion, but the majority of imported coal is used for power generation.

This isn’t the nineteenth century when life without electricity was unaffected. Today, lacking electricity is akin to the steam era without coal; all production and life must change or cease.

Especially now, with everyone in underground shelters, ventilation, heating, lighting, cooking, boiling water—all aspects of life rely heavily on electricity. Large shelters particularly require electricity for oxygen generation and plantation operations.

If coal supply is interrupted externally, relying on existing reserves in the city can offer temporary emergency support for a few days. But prolonged issues can lead to a power outage crisis, with large-scale fatalities in shelters within three days.

For Chen Xin, having manufactured nuclear batteries through the system has resolved his electrical woes; his shelter’s energy demand never reaches the exaggerated 150KW, and placing a single nuclear battery in his shelter’s control room suffices for all electrical needs.

But Chen Xin doesn’t assume everyone else shares his crisis-free environment just because his survival situation lacks imminent danger.

The city’s calm life resembles a fragile soap bubble or sandcastle; beautiful yet vulnerable to a wave, with any crisis possibly destroying it all.

Chen Xin hopes he is overly cautious and that the city government possesses adequate crisis management capacity.

Otherwise, like the recent terrorist attack, if the terrorists targeted railways for sabotage instead of using explosives for suicide attacks on shelters, the city would already be in chaos.

Thinking this, Chen Xin’s expression suddenly changed dramatically. He stood up, increasingly worried.

However, after contemplating, he sat down again, believing this to be a foreseeable issue that the city government would have considered.

Railway transportation is crucial for the city and province alike, especially logistic transportation from Hubei province requiring passage through the city. Therefore, railway damage is a nightmare.

Such events, Chen Xin expects, should be preemptively managed by city and provincial governments, not allowing railways to be easily sabotaged.

Besides, simple rail destruction is less meaningful, causing mere hours of delay before workers replace damaged tracks and sleepers. With modern industrial infrastructure, railway repair takes time, albeit not much for minor track repairs.

Still, Chen Xin worries and leaves his room to find Ding Ning, expressing his concerns.

"So, Ah Xin, you think the terrorists might sabotage railways, endangering city-wide, Province-wide rail safety?" Ding Ning understood Chen Xin’s concern but was more serious than him, needing confirmation.

Chen Xin also solemnly asserted to Ding Ning, "Whether they’ve noticed this or not, since we’ve identified this issue, notifying your father is preferable to avoid severe consequences if problems arise."

After hearing this, Ding Ning nodded: "I’ll contact my father immediately."