Chapter 16 How to Play Sandbox Games

  In Linghu Wetland Park, outside the deserted nursing home, there are wooden piles of different sizes.

   "I heard that if the wood that has just been cut is not treated, it will crack and deform." Looking at the logs piled up randomly on the wall, Lao Bai, who was sticking an ax, frowned and said.

  Fang Chang asked.

   "How do you usually deal with it?"

   Lao Bai said.

   "Dry the moisture in the wood, or paint both ends and wait for the wood to dry naturally. You can also throw it in water and soak it, but it will be more difficult to handle... I hope it will not rain these days."

  Lao Bai made a rough estimate. Counting yesterday’s labor results, he cut all these logs into 3-4 meters long logs, sharpened both ends into the soil, and it was more than enough to repair the north and west walls of the nursing home.

   It’s just that these logs are untreated logs, so it’s hard to guarantee their sturdiness, and they might rot after a few rains.

  So he discussed with Chang Fang and decided to change his thinking and use cement as a building material.

   There is a lot of concrete waste on the wasteland, even in nursing homes.

  After time weathering, thermal expansion and contraction, wind and rain, most of these concrete blocks peeled off from the steel bars have turned into slag.

   Do not count on how reliable these materials are.

   But mixing these materials with cement, and then fixing them with some steel bars removed from the ruins, it is still no problem to build simple concrete fortifications.

  Although it is a shabby project, it is much stronger than wood.

   No plans to build skyscrapers anyway.

  However, if you want to use these concrete wastes, you must first have cement.

   To make cement, they first need enough coal and a furnace that can withstand a high temperature of 1450 degrees.

   Coincidentally at this time, Kuang Feng and Ye Shi came back.

  Fang Chang noticed that the plastic bucket in Kuangfeng's hand was full of mud with a uniform texture.

"There is a river to the east of Linghu Lake, which is not shown on the map. It should have been formed in the last two hundred years. We have explored the entire lake shoreline from the east to the south. The areas where the heterogeneous species are active and the locations of suspected lairs are marked. It's on the map."

   As he spoke, the wind made Ye Shi take out the map, on which some marks were drawn with charcoal.

  With this map, it will be much safer for them to go to the lake to fetch water.

   But Fang Chang's attention was on the bucket in his hand.

   "This bucket contains..."

   "I found it by the river." Putting the barrel on the ground, Kuangfeng continued, "I suddenly thought that this thing could be used as building materials, so I brought it back."

"This thing can't be used as a building material. It will be gone as soon as the water is washed." Squatting on the ground, Lao Bai stretched out his hand to pick up some mud, rubbed it with his thumb and index finger, and suddenly there was an excited expression on his face, "But this thing It's a good thing, our kiln is gone."

   "Kiln?" Ye Shi was stunned.

   "I discussed with Lao Bai and planned to make cement." Fang Chang said.

  Guangfeng looked at him in surprise.

   "Will this... work?"

"What's wrong? Isn't this a sandbox game?" Lao Bai stood up and said excitedly, "Just pour the mud here, and you can get a few buckets back. Fang Chang will help me pick up some branches. Hurry up." .”

   "Okay." Fang Chang went with great enthusiasm.

  Guang Feng and Ye Shi looked at each other, and then left in a daze.

  …

  The river is not deep, but there is a lot of silt beside it, and it is not far from the sanatorium, so it didn't take much effort to get a pile back.

  Old Bai surrounded a circle with mud, and dug two holes on the side as air inlets, and then put charcoal and dead leaves left over from the previous fire and cooking in the mud circle, and lit it with the match left by the manager.

  The fire rose quickly.

  The surrounding mud is slowly drying.

  Old Bai dug new mud with his hands, and built it on the furnace wall while drying it. He didn't start to stuff the thumb-thick wooden sticks until the furnace was as high as his thigh.

   "What is this for?" Fang Chang looked curious. Although he had played survival games, he had never done such detailed work in games.

   "Burning charcoal! Without coal, we can only use carbon instead. If you want to make cement, you can't burn wood. We have to start from the most basic."

   "How do you understand this?"

   "I played in my hometown when I was young."

   "..."

   It’s okay to play.

  Who is okay to play this.

   Standing up, Lao Bai clapped his hands, and began to cap the stove before the fire in the stove had lit the firewood.

   This step is critical.

Before the firewood is ignited, he needs to leave an opening on the top, wait until the temperature in the furnace is high enough, and then seal all the openings with mud, let the wood inside be stuffy for a day, and he will be able to harvest a full harvest tomorrow. Charcoal for the stove.

   "If you fill all the holes, the fire inside will go out."

  "It won't be destroyed immediately, and this effect is what I want."

  Old Bai wiped off his sweat and patted Fang Chang on the shoulder.

   "Don't be idle, let's build a few more kilns, and get out the cement burners by the way."

"good…"

   Not only Fang Chang joined Lao Bai's "construction team", but even Feng Feng and Ye Shi were recruited after moving enough mud.

  Four players worked together to build four earthen kilns for making charcoal, and built a slightly larger one with aluminosilicate clay dug from the river.

   According to Lao Bai, tomorrow they can try to make some cement.

   What he intends to refine is plant ash cement.

  The cement produced by this soil method has no technological content and is not too strong, but it is definitely stronger than wood.

   And with plant ash cement, he can try to build a cement kiln that can withstand higher temperatures.

  Old Bai has already made up his mind to check information online when he is offline.

"What the hell... I understand now why the manager asked us to find a way to build a bathroom." Smelling the smell of sweat all over his body, Ye Shi, who was already a bit of a clean freak, felt that he was about to stink to death up.

   This game is too **** hardcore.

   "How about we go to the lake to take a bath before going offline?" Lao Bai suggested.

   "I agree... But, what about the manager? It's time to go offline soon, why hasn't he come back yet?" Kuang Feng asked.

   "Maybe there is something wrong."

   "Then how do we let him know the fruits of our labor this afternoon?" Ye Shi asked quickly.

  Fang Chang glanced at the nursing home behind him.

   "Don't worry about that. I've already talked to that robot named Xiaoqi. It said it has counted our results and will report the situation to the manager truthfully."

  Hearing this sentence, Ye Shi finally felt relieved.

  …

   Just when the players went offline, took off their helmets and got up, ready to start a new day, Chu Guang, who was still on Beit Street, was carefully removing the plastic bucket under the water purifier.

  There are public wells on Beit Street, and every household has its own water collector, and Chu Guang is no exception.

   Aside from "glowing rain" with fallout, or when the clouds are clearly looking erratic, rain levels on the wasteland are generally safe, even safer than in pre-war times.

   After all, this is two hundred years after the decline of civilization, and the specialties of industrial society, such as acid rain and smog, are hard to see here.

   Of course, even so, drinking rainwater directly is not a wise thing to do.

  By cutting the plastic water bottle from the middle, Chu Guang placed a layer of dried pine needles and moss under the mouth of the bottle, and added crushed charcoal ash on top.

   In this way, a simple water filter is completed.

   Whether graphite can absorb radiation is unknown to Chu Guang, but in the outer suburbs far away from nuclear bomb craters, radiation is not the main threat to survival, but diarrhea and dehydration are.

  He still remembers that in the first month he lived here, he pulled water almost every other day, and he didn't die at the hands of the alien species, but almost died in his own stomach.

   "Less than 10L...a drop in the bucket."

  Looking at the bottles and cans in the room, Chu Guang sighed.

  Have saved supplies for several days, this player has only been here for a few days, and he has already used up almost all of them.

   Have to think of a way.

  At this time, there was a knock on the door.

  Chu Guang got up and walked up, pulled out the latch, and opened the door.

  I saw Xiaoyu standing at the door, with his hands behind his back, staring at him intently with his **** eyes, and did not speak.

   Chu Guang, who was just about to say hello, suddenly remembered the second child of the Yu family, the marriage he had mentioned earlier, and couldn't help being embarrassed.

  Take ten thousand steps back.

  If there is no Vault 404, no system, no players, isolated and helpless, he can only try to integrate into the society here...he can't do that either!

too skinny.

  Anyway, I will raise him for another two years.

   "What's the matter?" Chu Guang said calmly.

  Yu Xiaoyu stretched out her arm hidden behind her back.

  At this time, Chu Guang saw that there was a small piece of black cake in her hand, which should be made of green wheat paste without accident.

   "My second brother asked me to bring it to you, and he told me to say that I made it for you." The words were pronounced word by word.

  The subject-predicate relationship between you, me, and me took Chu Guang around for a long time, and it took a long time to figure it out. It was Yu Hu who asked her to give this cake to him.

"Thanks?"

"Need not."

  Put the cake into Chu Guang's hand, and Xiaoyu turned around and ran away, leaving Chu Guang alone in the wind.

  …

  In this world.

  Jinling.

  Taking off the helmet, Yanfeng rubbed the bridge of his nose, reached out and groped on the bedside table, found the glasses and put them on.

  Sitting by the bed and brewing for a while, he got up and went to the bathroom. After washing up, he put on his coat, went downstairs, stepped on his bicycle, and walked slowly to the cafeteria.

  The time now is half past five.

  Except for postgraduate students, few people will come to the cafeteria at this time, the whole hall is empty, only a few windows near the door are open.

  The cafeteria aunt who was busy behind the window recognized this regular customer at a glance, and said with a smile on her face.

   "Professor Yan, it's so early today."

   "Well, I went to bed very early yesterday...here are two buns."

   "The buns have just been steamed, you have to wait for a while."

"Not in a hurry."

  Iwakaze took out his meal card and swiped it on the card reader.

   The mist from the steamer is very fragrant.

  Iwakaze likes this smell very much, it makes people feel very comfortable, but unfortunately, it is not friendly to him who wears glasses.

  Taking off his glasses and wiping the fog off them, Yanfeng couldn't help but think of his role in Wasteland OL.

  My self in the virtual world, although the initial power is a little weaker, is still much stronger than my real self.

   And most importantly, the self in the virtual world is not short-sighted.

   At this time, someone patted his shoulder.

  Yanfeng put on his eyes and turned around, and saw that it was Professor Wang Haiyang.

   "Do you have class in the morning?"

   "There is no class, and I wake up when I can't sleep."

   "I thought you guys would stay very late doing physics."

   "That's an illusion, I rarely bring work home," pushing his glasses, Yanfeng suddenly thought of something, looked at him and said, "By the way, I want to consult you about something."

  Professor Wang Haiyang raised his eyebrows.

   "Is it yesterday's topic?"

  Iwakaze nodded.

"Um."

"Wait a minute, let me ask first, the novel you mentioned, you probably wrote it yourself," Professor Wang Haiyang said with a smile, "It's good that novels are specious, if they really want to be exactly the same as reality, It's not pretty."

   "Actually, it's not a novel, frankly speaking, it's... a game."

"game?"

   "Well," Yanfeng took the bun from the canteen aunt, peeled off the plastic bag, and took a bite, "A game with the theme of the end of the world."

  Professor Wang Haiyang became interested and asked.

   "How specific?"

   "I don't know the specifics. The game is currently in the beta testing stage, so I don't know much about it." Yan Feng paused for a while, "You said how developed a society is, so that cars don't even have power."

   "No power supply?" Professor Wang Haiyang was stunned for a moment, and said with a smile, "Do you mean to use remote power supply technology to replace fixed power supply?"

   "Is it difficult?" Yanfeng asked.

"I don't know whether it is difficult or not. From my professional point of view... wireless power supply technology is not difficult. The difficulty lies in how we obtain clean and cheap energy, so that even if the energy loss reaches 90% or more, Costs are still acceptable."

   Speaking of this, Professor Wang Haiyang paused, and continued in a joking tone.

   “I can’t think of a better solution than the kind of controlled fusion depicted in science fiction.

  Nuclear fusion?

  Yanfeng looked thoughtful.

   "Is that so..."

  It seems that the background of the story in "Wasteland OL" is bigger than he imagined.

   There should be a lot of places worth digging in.

   "When is your novel going to be published? Can you show it to me?" Professor Wang Haiyang joked, "Maybe I can give you an advisor."

   Yanfeng glanced at him.

   "I said it's not a novel."

   "All right, all right, if you say no, then no."

   After taking his own breakfast from the lady in the cafeteria, Wang Haiyang smiled and patted his colleague on the shoulder, "I still have classes, let's go first. Good luck!"

  (end of this chapter)