Chapter 586: The Trouble of Snow, the Alchemy Furnance Upgrade!

The speed of the snow that covered the land was far beyond everyone’s expectations, and it was worthy of being cla.s.sified as a “medium disaster.”

Compared with the previous disaster that would explode to the extremes in an instant…

Although the snow was not immediately fatal, it was like boiling a frog in warm water, and it was hard not to notice the damage caused.

“Three kilometers, the snow thickness is 0.35 meters, and it is estimated that we need 760 people will be needed. In the next 12 hours, the current height will remain unchanged.

“Five kilometers, the snow thickness is 4.3 meters, and it is estimated that 540 people will be needed. In the next 12 hours, the height will be maintained at 5 meters.

“Ten kilometers, the thickness of snow is 7.2 meters, and it is estimated that 100 people will be needed. In the next 12 hours, the height will be maintained at… 9.1 meters!”

Inside the brightly lit meeting room.

Every time Chen Shen finished reading a piece of data, he raised his head and glanced around at everyone’s expression.

He finished the three announcements, put down the ma.n.u.script, and like the others, only moved his cold, red hands forward to hold a thermos cup filled with hot water.

In the room, there were heating pipes pa.s.sing through, and the temperature was maintained at about 25 degrees, which made people feel a little dizzy.

The water temperature of 40 to 50 degrees in the thermos cup did not bring an expected warmth, but instead an unspeakable burning sensation.

Their cold feet that were slightly numbed did not allow them rest that was meant to be “enjoyed” and instead kept everyone on their toes.

It was nine in the evening which was the three-hour break time of the disaster.

Before the first day of the disaster was over, the thickness of the snow on the periphery of the basin had already reached a full seven meters.

Based on the current situation, in the next seven days, the snow might not reach 30 meters but there was absolutely no doubt that it would reach about 20 meters in height.

The problem was how to clean it up.

Where would they transfer the snow?

It was the biggest problem they faced in the current situation.

Su Mo, who sat in the main seat, lowered his head in deep thought, and the others did not dare to speak.

For a moment, everyone’s eyes flickered, and the air around them became increasingly dull, which created a suffocating atmosphere in the room.

A few moments later, Su Mo finally parted his lips.

“What about newd from the other territories? Have you been able to gather anything?”

Pei Shao, who was still a little sleepy and was sitting in the lower seat, immediately woke up and replied, “According to the collection of radio and disaster resistance videos, currently 60% of the people in the New World have chosen to temporarily give up their territory, mainly focusing on the tasks, and for the remainder, 10% had all kinds of means to safely get through the disaster, and 30% was struggling like us to resist the disaster.”

“However, because of the extreme punishment at the bottom of the game, those who gave up their territory did not dare to rush out of the border and could struggle onthe snow fields!”

A disaster with convenient information dissemination channels was an eye-opener for all players in the wasteland.

Everyone in the wasteland was eager to demonstrate their skills during the disaster.

Almost every race and tribe had different means of dealing with disasters, and they had different effects.

The basin was not at the bottom, but they were not at the top among the other territories.

“How is the ents’ territory? Has there been any news from them?”

Su Mo specifically remembered to ask about their only ally.

“There hasn’t been any news yet. Their territory is also covered with snow. It’s unclear what they’re doing!”

The heavy snow blocked the channel of information dissemination, and all the territories became deserted islands trapped by the disaster once again.

Su Mo thought about it for a while.

He could only wave his hands for now and announced the dissolution of the meeting.

“Those who haven’t rested can leave to rest first. Chen Shen, Qi Qin, and Li Hu will stay!”

The door opened and those who were not named by Su Mo wrapped their clothes and walked out into the cold wind.

In an instant, there were only four people left in the room.

“This time, I can’t think of a good solution for the time being. We can only maintain our current efforts and slowly look for opportunities!”

Su Mo went directly to the point.

Su Mo was extremely honest with his remaining four confidants in the meeting room.

It was not that he wanted to worry them, but this time, faced with such a large-scale disaster, there was really no solution to the problem with the current foundation of the basin.

The first acid rain disaster was neural acid, which did not damage the land and plants. Players would only need to avoid being soaked for a long period in the acid rain.

In the second blizzard disaster, although the wind and snow were heavy, it was easy to survive smoothly as long as there was a place to hide.

On top of that, the thickness of the snow was less than 130 centimeters.

When the weather warmed up, the snow melted immediately.

It only took more than ten days for the snow water to be absorbed by the soil below, leaving no snowflake trace.

For the third disaster on the ocean, everyone had a lot of resources on hand and could even build boats. They were not afraid of the seawater raising below at all.

However, this time…

No matter how much they tried to hide, it was impossible to run away!

The blizzard was happening throughout the whole New World and on everyone’s territory.

Unless they escaped to the Deep Sea, they would get covered by the snow no matter where they went now.

Even if the basin were to successfully push the snow out of the territory…

When the time came and the temperature rose, if several neighbors around them had not removed the snow, it would eventually turn into a violent flood that swept away everyone’s territory.

“It won’t be hard to maintain our current situation. With our current strength, we could at least ensure that the village was not covered by snow if it were to snow heavily.

“However, in the future…”

Chen Shen shook his head and was evidently not too pessimistic.

“Let’s make some more boats before the snow melts, and then everyone can simply get on them. I still believe that humans would be able to live without land!” Li Hu, who was beside him, also added.

As soon as Li Hu finished speaking, Qi Qin also gave his own thoughts about the situation.

“I feel that those territories that can resist disasters are going to be unlucky. They would easily become the target of public criticism if they perform too well under such a terrifying disaster.

“Let’s take this step by step, don’t be too pessimistic!

“When the time comes, if we can’t get rid of the snow, whether to leave or stay could be divided in an instant!”

For the time being, they comforted each other with words of encouragement.

Su Mo pointed to the ma.n.u.script on the table and led the discussion with the four to continue further planning.

The disaster was of a far greater magnitude than they expected, and they needed to be more detailed in their preparations to take control of the situation better.

From the beginning to the end, the meeting lasted for nearly an hour and a half with repeated discussions and revisions.

“You guys go ahead and get some rest. You’ve all gained some experience today, so don’t overexert yourselves.

“Just ensure the s.h.i.+fts run smoothly!”

The three agreed and got up to leave through the door with the revised plan in their hands.

After everyone had left, Su Mo continued to study through it again.

When the bell rang at eleven at night, he finally left the discussion room.

The night in the basin.

The temperature had reached -25 degrees.

This temperature was somewhat different from the -20 degrees described in the game before, but no one could guarantee whether the game was talking about the apparent temperature or the outside temperature.

Outside the room.

The first thing that caught his eyes was the lights that were placed before the disaster struck.

With the transmission of electricity, more than a dozen street lamps in the village were still stuck in place as they emitted a warm glow.

The few spotlights collected before radiated with a dazzling white light and illuminated the entire foggy sky.

During the day, the ground of the village was not yet covered with snow, and the cobblestones on the road could still be seen.

However, at night, after the villagers’ physical strength decreased, it was inevitable that a thick layer of snow gradually covered the ground.

After he turned off the lights in the house and b.u.t.toned his jacket, Su Mo stepped on the snow with one foot, causing a squeezing sound in the snow.

He took a few steps and made a turn to the village center.

Traces of white mist could be seen oozing out from the windows of several prefabricated houses, proving that the temperature indoors was much higher than the outside.

A few villagers who were still sweeping the snow hurriedly lifted their masks and stood up straight with a look of respect as they saw Su Mo approach.

“Have you guys had something to eat?”

The villagers’ faces were flushed red from the cold temperature.

Su Mo noticed the torn clothes around the elbows of the two villagers and knew that they had injured themselves after they slipped in the snow more than once.

“Yes, yes! We’ve had a filling meal!”

The captain of the team clumsily dug it in his own pocket and took out half of the frozen hard pancake while giggling as if afraid that Su Mo would not believe him.

The disaster resistance days were bitter, but at the end of the day, apart from the exhaustion, there was a sense of fulfillment and achievement.

This kind of feeling made one’s body radiate with endless energy, and they had an adrenaline rush, wanting to stay on the front line for 24 hours a day.

Su Mo stepped forward, patted the captain on the shoulder, and then glanced at everyone’s expression with deep sentiment in his eyes after recognizing that the team had been well fed and were not exhausted.

“Good, good!

“Please be careful about your safety out here! The territory cannot do without any one of you!”

“Understood!” everyone excitedly replied in unison.

Disasters were strange.

Sometimes, it was a life-threatening knife and pushed people into a corner step by step, not giving them a chance to fight back.

Sometimes, it was a touchstone, strengthening people’s will and training their temperaments as well as shortening the distance between people.

There were no neighbors in the city, and there was no exchange of real cups and teapots. Only people in the elevator ignored each other and were vigilant against each other to maintain the relative integrity of each other’s s.p.a.ce in a civilized age.

However, in the doomsday wasteland…

Only through this battle, Su Mo was completely convinced.

The thousands of people who were brought together would grow increasingly close and become real friends as well as comrades to who they would trust to leave their backs open to one another.

Su Mo strode forward and left the village gate. He went to the three-kilometer border to continue his inspection.

A lot of fuel had been acc.u.mulated in the territory and it was enough to use for mechanical power in the basin for a few days because of the previous deduction of electricity.

Even at night, several machines continued to work sleeplessly, which greatly reduced the workload of the villagers.

“Hey! What are you guys doing here?”

At the three-kilometer border, Su Mo saw Lu Kuan, Ai Jianfeng, and others who were gathered together from afar.

The seven to eight scientific research scholars had no mood to stay indoors in such weather.

After they made reports in the morning, they disappeared for a while.

Seeing Su Mo approach, everyone moved out of their circle and revealed a machine that was about half a person tall that was in the center.

“We’re trying to replicate a s...o...b..ower machine, but this…feels kinda impractical!”

With that said, Lu Kuan pressed the b.u.t.ton located on the handle.

In the next second, the snowflakes on the ground were blown high into the distance. After about seven or eight meters, they fell to the ground weakly.

It was effective but not really at the same time.

On Earth, such a machine only needed to sweep the snow on the road to the roadside, and then there would be vehicles to pull the snow.

However, in the wasteland, what the basin needed was not snow removal but a machine that can quickly absorb and digest the snow.

“It’s a pity. We put some sc.r.a.ps together to build it, and we didn’t expect it to be so impractical! It’s such a waste!”

He turned off the machine.

There was a trace of disappointment on everyone’s face.

Technology changed lives, but at this time, even if they had countless knowledge in their minds, there was no place to put it to use.

The insufficient raw materials also limited them from developing more products.

The technological tree restriction also limited them from making more advanced items.

Unless…

“It would be good to have a high-power heating furnace, and we could directly burn the snow all day long. We could boil the snow, then use it to melt the snow, and continue to heat up more snow!

“As long as the stove was big and powerful enough, the snow would be burned in minutes!”

Lu Kuan’s proposal out of frustration made those around him smile and shake their heads.

The principle was indeed correct.

However, it would require a significant instantaneous power that the existing equipment could not provide in the basin.

With so much strength to waste, it would be better just to make more snow blowers. It would be better to maintain their own survival and not care about others. They could simply blow the snow into other people’s territory.

However…

Everyone did not realize that when Lu Kuan’s suggestion came out, the word that Su Mo had almost forgotten suddenly refreshed in his mind…

The alchemy furnace!

Earlier on, after seeing that the boiler could be upgraded into an alchemy furnace, Su Mo decided to upgrade it without hesitation.

However, due to the lack of coal and the difficulty of excavating energy stones, the idea of upgrading it was temporarily pushed aside.

After all, an alchemy furnace required a full 800 kilograms of energy stones and 3000 survival points.

Without knowing the specific properties, it would have been extremely uneconomical to rashly push aside the heating system.

However, now…

“Lu Kuan, how much can we take out from our energy stone reserves?”

Lu Kuan was stunned for a moment, then quickly calculated in his mind and answered.

“Our energy stone reserve has about 120kg, but if you need it urgently, we can extract it from the previous power supply reserves. After all, we don’t need a lot of electricity these days.”

“Maintaining 75% of the existing power supply efficiency, plus the previous ones, we can take out about 600kg!

“Keeping the current power supply efficiency at 50%, we can take out about 840kg!

“To keep it as it is…

“That’s enough! Prepare 800kg for me, I need it urgently!”

As soon as he heard that they could maintain half of the power supply and take out 800 kilograms of energy stones, Su Mo immediately made a decision and hurried back with everyone.

The alchemy furnace, if it could use snow as fuel, would be helpful to convert it into heat energy.

It would be okay if that were not achievable since they would only lose half the power output and a few survival points. It was a loss that was within an acceptable range!

Ai Jianfeng’s disciples were called to help out.

The speed of dismantling the energy stone supply was extremely fast. It took less than half an hour to collect 800 kilograms, which met the basic requirements to upgrade the alchemy furnace.

Outside, the time had neared twelve midnight, and they had only ten minutes left.

Su Mo pushed the cart that was originally used to transport snow, which was now filled with energy stones. He pushed it all the way to the boiler room which had white mist emitted from within as it gave off an astonis.h.i.+ng temperature.

“Guard the outside! No one is allowed to enter without my order!”

Su Mo dismissed the workers that were working inside without an explanation. He pushed in the cart to the boiler room and immediately closed the door.

Outside the boiler room, it was extremely chilly winter weather.

Inside, it was like sweltering heat.

After taking off his heat-insulating helmet, Su Mo scattered all the energy stones in the cart on the ground. Su Mo summoned the upgrade panel of the boiler with his mind.

[Clay Boiler Room with Rough Craftsmans.h.i.+p (Normal: Minor flaws)]

[Description:] …

[Upgrade method 1: Iron boiler…]

[Upgrade method 2: High-efficiency boiler…]

[Upgrade method 3: Alchemy furnace: The effect of the upgrade is unknown, the risk of the upgrade is unknown, and the strength of the upgrade is unknown. Upgrade cost: 3180; can be upgraded with corresponding material for risk reduction(800kg hot stone). ]

It was the same as the previous introduction.

The difference was that after acquiring the energy stones, the cost of 60,000 survival points was rapidly reduced to slightly over 3,000 points.

Without any hesitation, Su Mo immediately used his mind to tap on the upgrade b.u.t.ton!