CHAPTER 60: CHAPTER 60: PICKING UP TRASH IN THE WASTELAND

With the gun, Chen Xin felt that his safety was greatly guaranteed and improved, so he couldn’t help but have the idea of going outside for a walk.

Although there’s nothing much to see outside now, scavenging in the wasteland is undoubtedly a part of post-apocalyptic survival that must be experienced. Moreover, it allows for an understanding of the current external environment.

However, even with a gun in hand, Chen Xin felt that he should make sufficient preparations before going out.

At the very least, a Protective Suit that can completely wrap himself up, a gas mask that can be used for a long time in the external environment, and a strong flashlight that provides good illumination are essential.

In addition to these, a water bottle, medical kit, and even portable food need to be prepared.

Chen Xin, of course, had a gas mask prepared long ago, and he also had readily available medical kits, water bottles, and flashlights, so there was no problem with going out to explore.

The only thing that made Chen Xin a bit apprehensive was the Protective Suit.

By going out twice for resource exchanges, Chen Xin had gained some understanding of the external environment. Now, two months after the meteorite fall, the outside temperature had started to drop. Although it hadn’t yet fallen below zero, it was already quite cold.

If it were before the disaster, Chen Xin would have already brought out the heater to warm up at this temperature.

Therefore, if he were to go out, keeping warm with clothing was a necessity.

This was easy to handle. Since it’s known that the future temperature would drop to tens of degrees below zero, it would indeed be foolish not to prepare warm clothing.

In Chen Xin’s wardrobe, not to mention anything else, there are always a couple of down jackets and cold-resistant coats.

However, considering the external environment, this time, Chen Xin wouldn’t just stay in the car like before but would be exposed to the external environment for a longer period, so clothes should have some protective abilities in addition to being warm.

By protective ability, it’s not about radiation protection, but about preventing the skin from contacting toxic and harmful components in the air.

The harm of toxic and harmful components in the air is actually far more serious than radiation. Some gases, once inhaled into the body, can cause symptoms such as dizziness, difficulty breathing, and shock, or even cause death in a short time.

And some gases are more severe; even with just skin contact, they can cause swelling, ulceration, peeling, cracking, etc. Contact with the eyes or mucous membranes can produce intense irritation, leading to swelling and many other reactions, which can even result in blindness in severe cases.

If it were just a fire, at most there would be more sulfur compounds and carbon monoxide in the air, but there are many large chemical plants around the city.

In fact, Chen Xin grew up in a chemical plant. His family originally lived in the factory’s residential area, and due to being immersed in the environment, Chen Xin came to understand the dangers of toxic gases very well.

Especially when he was a child, Chen Xin witnessed an industrial accident while passing the plant area on his way home from school.

At that time, it was at a maintenance site, and a migrant worker working on-site accidentally fell into a sphere tank for storing chemical gases.

By the time he was rescued, his skin was cracked as if dehydrated from sun exposure, peeling layer by layer, his eyes turned grey, and his hair looked like dried straw.

The migrant worker’s tragic condition terrified the then less than ten-year-old Chen Xin, leaving a deep psychological shadow.

Therefore, from childhood to adulthood, Chen Xin has been very fearful of toxic gases and would never take risks without adequate protection.

Moreover, the key point is, although chemical plants are crucial for post-disaster rebuilding, and theoretically, the city should repair these plants first, unfortunately, most of these plants are specialized fireproof units, and an explosion from a fire could be catastrophic...

Chen Xin didn’t know to what extent these chemical plants are currently damaged but is certain that the air quality in the city must be terrible now.

In the previous two outings, once he drove and another time he only stayed at the shelter’s entrance briefly, neither of which exposed him to the external environment long enough to cause a problem.

But since this time he decided to scavenge in the wasteland, he obviously couldn’t stay in the car the whole time and inevitably would spend a long time in potentially dangerous environments.

In fact, for survivors in a post-apocalyptic environment, unless it’s absolutely necessary to gather resources, leaving the shelter’s safe environment is the most erroneous move.

Because in the apocalypse, no one knows what crises lurk in what was once a safe environment. It could be a lurking zombie from a rotted zombie movie, a wasteland-style bandit, or a deadly unseen threat...

So, when self-sufficient, staying in the shelter without going anywhere is the safest option.

However, Chen Xin still decided to go out once. It’s not because of experiencing the life of scavenging in the wasteland, but he hoped to get a general understanding of the current environment and possibly find some resources.

Although the fire caused by the meteorite fall almost burned everything, it doesn’t mean nothing survived the disaster.

For example, some supermarkets or small shops, although the storefronts by the street might be ruined by the fire, the storage warehouses of the shops might still be intact and possibly spared from destruction.

If Chen Xin could find such a warehouse that hadn’t been burned, even finding a few bottles of soda would make the trip worthwhile.

And to go out, the Protective Suit becomes of utmost importance.

A qualified Protective Suit not only needs to cover the body, minimizing skin exposure, but also be resistant to acid and alkali, and corrosion. If used in a chemical plant, it even needs to be anti-static.

For instance, like in "Death Stranding," the protagonist’s delivery suit, or the operator uniform of Rhode Island.

Both frequently operate in dangerous environments, and their clothing belongs to Protective Suits with certain protective functions.

Given the current external environment, acid rain is not uncommon, and without good protective performance, getting drenched in acid rain would undoubtedly be an unpleasant experience, possibly literally causing the skin to peel.

Without the system, Chen Xin might have suppressed his emotions and waited until the next resource exchange to ask Qin Lan for a Protective Suit.

The SWAT team responsible for maintaining the security of the major shelters would certainly have their equipment stocked with a safe and reliable Protective Suit when going on external duties.

However, since Chen Xin has a system, he now has another choice.