Chapter 48 Chapter 48 Searching for Coal (Part 2)
With a plop, Su Qing sank deeply into the snow.
Qin Yuben saw Su Qing spinning in the air and was about to control the rope, but before he could move, Su Qing was thrown down and fell not far in front of him.
"Miss Su! Are you okay?" Qin Yu hurried over.
"Puff, cough cough cough... No... I'm fine." Su Qing lay in the snow with her mouth and nose covered by the snow. She raised her hand to wipe off the snow on her face.
Su Qing felt it and found that she didn't feel the pain she had imagined. She sat up, touched her head and body, and looked at her hands and feet. Hmm... her limbs were intact. She was actually fine!
Qin Yu helped Su Qing stand up and looked at her apologetically. "Miss Su, I'm so sorry I didn't catch you in time."
"It has nothing to do with you. It's my own fault for being too nervous." Su Qing stood up and patted the snow off his body.
The helicopter was hovering at a low altitude, causing snowflakes to fly around it. Snow got into Su Qing's neck, and she was shivering from the cold.
Seeing this, Qin Yu flashed his flashlight at Qingshan a few times, and the helicopter rose in altitude and flew away from them.
The two of them didn't waste any time. Su Qing used the snowplow to clear the roof. Qin Yu saw a chimney on the roof and took out a rope from his backpack and tied it to it. "Miss Su, we... still have to slide down."
The first time is new, the second time is familiar. Now that Su Qing has fallen once, he doesn't care about being afraid of heights or not. He just closes his eyes and jumps.
He nodded to Qin Yu, indicating that he was fine.
Seeing Su Qing like this, Qin Yu swung the rope with a quick movement, held it with both hands and slid down, then kicked his feet against the wall to gain leverage and slide down quickly. When he was about to land, he did not let go of the rope, but stepped tentatively in the snow. The snow on the ground was much deeper than the roof. Qin Yu stepped down little by little, and the snow did not reach his waist before he stepped on the hard ground.
He loosened the rope, took out an ordnance shovel and simply cleared away some of the snow around her, leaving about half a meter of snow. This would make it easier for Su Qing to land and prevent her from slipping and falling and getting hurt again.
"Miss Su, you can come down now." Qin Yu took out a flashlight and looked up at the roof and shouted.
Su Qing had some experience this time. She held the rope, closed her eyes and slid down. When she was about to touch the ground, Qin Yu stepped forward to support her, and she landed perfectly.
Although this place was deserted and the weather was cold so the zombies disappeared, they did not dare to be careless. It was late at night and the temperature outside was over fifty degrees below zero. In just a short while, Su Qing was shivering all over from the cold, and his limbs became numb from the cold penetrating into his bones.
The two of them did not delay any longer and moved quickly. Qin Yu was responsible for checking the surroundings and guarding them, while Su Qing was responsible for clearing the snow.
After about ten minutes, Su Qing had cleared a large area of land. Seeing that there was enough space for the helicopter to land, she stopped the snowplow and contacted Qingshan with her bracelet.
Soon Qingshan flew over in a helicopter. Su Qing moved away from the open space. Her eyelashes were covered with frost, and the scarf around her face was frozen hard because of the moisture from her breath. Su Qing blinked hard and watched the plane slowly land.
When the helicopter's blades stopped turning, Su Qing called out to Qin Yu, "Captain Qin, let's refuel the helicopter first. We'll just stay on the plane tonight."
While the plane was landing, Su Qing exchanged fuel with the system and consulted the system to learn that the helicopter could start the temperature control system independently. She thought that there were still more than three hours before dawn and it would be inconvenient to look for coal at night, so she simply waited on the plane until dawn before taking any action.
Su Qing took out barrels of fuel from his backpack. Qin Yu and Qingshan, who had just jumped off the plane, came over and picked up the fuel to add to the tank.
After refueling, they returned to the plane and closed the cabin door. Su Qing was instantly surrounded by warmth. Fuguier, who had been staying on the plane, saw Su Qing and rushed over with a bark, shouting at her.
"Well, it's too cold outside. Why don't you just enjoy the warmth on the plane? I'm jealous that you don't have to do anything."
"Awoo~Awoo~" Am I the kind of dog who only cares about pleasure? I am also very useful, okay!!!
"Oh, I see. Don't worry, there will be a place where you can be of use. You won't be able to refuse to go when the time comes." Su Qing touched Fugui'er's head and comforted him.
Qin Yu didn't turn on the temperature control first because he was afraid that everyone couldn't stand the sudden changes in temperature, so he waited until everyone got used to the temperature in the cabin before adjusting it to a suitable temperature.
"Miss Su, you've been busy all night. You should sleep a little longer. We will call you when it's dawn." Qingshan turned around and said to Su Qing after hearing the cabin become quiet.
"I didn't do anything. I slept before and I'm not sleepy now. But you two have been flying the plane. Take a break." Su Qing said as he took out the hot ginger soup in the thermos from his backpack.
Su Qing took out two paper cups and poured two of them out first. He stood up and handed them to the two people in the cab. "Drink some ginger soup to warm your body and prevent colds."
They both thanked him and took it.
The two people in the cockpit drank ginger soup and closed their eyes to rest, while the man and the dog in the cabin played quietly for a while.
After playing for a while, Fuguier turned his four paws up to the sky, revealing his white belly, waiting for Su Qing to tickle and massage him.
Before I knew it, white light gradually came out of the window and soon the sky brightened.
Seeing that it was already dawn, Su Qing took out some porridge, side dishes and a few steamed buns from his backpack for breakfast.
Qin Yu and the other person turned off the temperature control and walked into the cabin. The three of them and the dog gathered together and quickly ate breakfast. After eating, they put on thick clothes, tidied themselves up briefly, and then opened the cabin door.
Since Qin Yu had turned off the temperature control early on, the temperature inside the cabin was also very low, so being exposed to the outside air at this time was still acceptable.
The snow had stopped for a while, but the temperature was still slowly dropping. Su Qing put the helicopter into his backpack and led a few people forward according to the route map, clearing the snow.
After walking for about half an hour, they finally found an open-pit mine on the coal distribution map.
The coal was found, but how to take the coal from such a large mine was another problem. Moreover, there had been heavy rain and heavy snow before, and the open-air coal was frozen. We still had to find a mine and a warehouse.
It seems we have no choice but to set up camp here for now.
Su Qing shared his thoughts with Qin Yu and the others, "Judging from the areas we've cleared so far, the coal on the ground has frozen solid and is difficult to dig out. There are probably only two places where coal can be found: the warehouse here, and the mine."
"There's no rush for the warehouse. I think we should find the mine first. If the equipment inside the mine is still usable, we can go down into the mine and see if we can get some coal."
Qin Yu and the other two had no objection to this. Since the snowplow could only be used by Su Qing, they couldn't help much, but it was not a big deal to just stand by and watch Su Qing work.
The two men asked Su Qing if he knew the location of the warehouse. They planned to shovel snow towards the warehouse. Although manpower was not as good as machines, it was better than nothing.
The warehouse and the mine were in two opposite directions. Su Qing first cleared out a piece of open space, and then took out two heavy yurts from his backpack to use as temporary residences.
In the early morning, they had only been running the temperature control for more than three hours, and one third of the fuel had been consumed. Su Qing really couldn't afford to burn more fuel, and now she was afraid that she would have to stay here for a few days, so she thought of the yurt in her backpack.
She had asked some grassland brothers in the base to make this thing a while ago. The quilt covering it was made of very solid thick felt. At that time, she only thought of it in case of emergency, and now it is used.
The yurt was put away as a whole by Su Qing. Su Qing opened the door of one of the yurts and walked in with Fuguier. He took out a specially made large wooden platform from his backpack and placed it on the ground to keep out the cold. The wooden platform covered two-thirds of the ground. He took out a thick velvet blanket and spread it on it. In the middle, he placed two thick mattresses and thick quilts, as well as two down sleeping bags.
Then she took out a stove and a chimney pipe. The chimney hole on the roof was a bit high, so Su Qing called Qin Yu and the others to come and help.
Su Qing's actions stunned Qingshan who was standing beside him. Qin Yu slapped him several times before he reacted.
"Ms. Su! You are awesome!!!" Qingshan walked into the yurt and looked at the furnishings inside and couldn't help but give Su Qing a thumbs up.
"Helicopters consume too much fuel. Given the limited conditions, we'll just have to make do with a yurt."
After handing the stove chimney over to the two men to install, Su Qing flipped through his backpack and continued to take things out.
A long table and three chairs were placed on the ground, pots, pans, cups and kettles were placed one by one, and then a box of instant food products was taken out and placed on the table.
The high-performance solar generator that had undergone system refresh was taken out and placed next to the window, and two electric heaters were connected and placed on the left and right sides of the yurt.
Then he took out a few outdoor hanging lights and hung them in several corners.
Watching Qin Yu and the other man set up the stove, she took out a basket of charcoal and a basket of dry firewood and placed them next to the stove.
"This yurt is for the two of you to live in. Tell me if you need anything."
After finishing one, Su Qing came to her own yurt again and arranged it again roughly according to the previous layout. After putting all the things in place, she turned on the electric heater, put dry firewood in the stove, and took out the fire starter and charcoal cloth from her backpack.
This fire starter was made by Grandpa Guan. The most difficult thing in the apocalypse is to start a fire. Once this thing was released, it was sold out in an instant, and it was even difficult to find one at a discount.
The outside of the fire starter is a tube and lid made of thin bamboo. It is unknown what material is filled inside the bamboo tube. When it is ignited, it only burns slowly with a few sparks. When used, just blow on it a few times to start a fire.
This thing is super easy to use, but its lifespan is relatively short, one can only be used for 6-7 days. Su Qing used his privileges to find a backdoor and customized dozens of them and put them in his backpack.
She used a fire starter to light the charcoal cloth and placed it under the firewood in the stove. Soon the firewood started burning, and then she added charcoal on top of the firewood.
With the electric heater and the stove, the temperature in the yurt slowly rose. After working for a while, Su Qing felt much warmer. He left Fugui'er to look after the house and went out to continue clearing the snow.
When he walked out of the door, he saw Qin Yu and Qingshan waving shovels and shoveling snow. Seeing this, Su Qing also hurried to work.
After shoveling snow for a while and then going back to rest for a while, Su Qing was busy on and off for a whole day. He finally found the entrance to the mine. Various tools and safety helmets were scattered around the entrance, and there were two small carts upside down on the tracks. He didn't know if they could still be used.
Su Qing walked inside. The mine was dark and gloomy, with only a long railway track leading to the depths. There was an operating box on the wall at the entrance. She pressed it but there was no response. There was no electricity here, and she didn't know if there were any other problems.
Seeing that it was getting dark, Su Qing didn't dare to stay any longer and turned around and walked towards the yurt.
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