43
After Tao Sai left, Zhou Ning was quite uncomfortable at first and felt empty inside.
Because since the beginning of this natural disaster that swept the world, she has always been Zhou Ning's backbone. As long as she is by his side, it seems that she can give him an infinite sense of security and push him forward. No matter what he does, even when he sleeps, he always feels at ease.
Zhou Ning comforted himself that Taotao was only away temporarily. When Taotao was not around, as the "first mate" of the ship, she was the backbone and brain of everyone.
In the evening, just before the express delivery station closed, Zhou Ning brought the strong labor force on the ship, including Zhou Weixing, An Song, Lan's father and Lin's father, and borrowed three carts from the berth owner again to pick up the express delivery.
This time, there were as many as 79 packages to be picked up. The guy looked at the numbers displayed on his work computer and still had a painful expression on his face, but it was much better than last time.
When he got the seventh package, the young man pointed to four huge cardboard boxes in the corner, indicating that these things were theirs.
Zhou Ningshang walked closer and saw that the volume of each cardboard box was much larger than the capacity of the cart.
Zhou Weixing and Ansong struggled to move the first cardboard box onto the cart. A large part of the box was hanging outside. Fortunately, the center of gravity was still on the cart. As long as the cart was steady and not shaken too much, the cardboard box would not fall off.
"Dad, what did you buy?" Zhou Ning guessed that it was his dad who bought it.
"Let me take a look," Zhou Weixing found the express delivery slip on the side of the box, looked at the product information carefully, and suddenly his eyes lit up.
"Oh, the power supply has arrived." Zhou Weixing clapped his hands a little excitedly, and then enthusiastically gave her daughter a science popularization lecture.
These four boxes likely contain power supplies. Unlike the generator batteries currently installed on ships, these are industrial power supplies. Industrial power supplies have a large capacity and stable voltage, and are typically used in critical institutions and organizations, such as research labs, small and medium-sized data centers, and online gaming servers.
In the face of sudden power outages in the city or other force majeure disasters, these industrial power supplies can ensure the normal operation of the organization's electrical equipment.
Of course, industrial power supplies are expensive. The four power supplies he bought online cost him a total of 100,000 yuan!
Under normal circumstances, if he dared to spend 100,000 yuan to buy something, Ms. Li Yinzhu would pull his ears off.
Zhou Weixing estimated that, for now, one industrial power supply was sufficient for their refugee ship's power needs, and they already had other batteries on board. However, considering that batteries could age and become damaged, making them difficult to replace or repair, he still bought four at once, with the remaining batteries serving as backups.
Another important point is that the four power supplies can be used individually or in parallel. Zhou Weixing studied the product details before placing his order. If the total parallel capacity reaches 1000 kVA, and the power factor is 98.5%, these four power supplies can store nearly 1000 kWh of electricity.
Zhou Ning had no idea what 1,000 kWh of electricity meant, but she did some online research and found that a typical urban household uses 100-200 kWh of electricity per month. Converting that, if used sparingly, a fully charged unit could power 30 people for a month!
There are less than 20 people on their refugee boat now. If there is enough electricity, it seems that they can consider adding some more electrical appliances to improve the comfort on the boat.
Zhou Ning's first consideration was whether to install air conditioning on the ship. The captain's cabin had air conditioning, but the rest cabin below lacked it. The cabin was already confined, cramped, and poorly ventilated. These past few nights, everyone had been suffering from the heat, unable to sleep or even waking up drenched in sweat. Even electric fans weren't enough. If possible, a high-powered central air conditioner, one for eight, would be necessary. Since cabins are smaller than bedrooms, a one-for-eight setup shouldn't be a problem.
There's also the dehumidifier. Taotao and she had previously considered physical dehumidification, but the humidity at sea was far greater than they'd imagined. Even on sunny days, clothes, blankets, and floors would become damp, and the room would reek of mold, making it uncomfortable and prone to eczema. They'd tried using lime powder and dehumidification bags, but these weren't very effective. Therefore, it became imperative to equip every room with a dehumidifier.
These appliances are probably difficult to buy online anymore. Even if you can buy them, the seller may not be able to deliver them safely after shipping. If there is an accident during transportation or the package is directly eaten by insects, the money you spent will most likely be wasted.
So Zhou Ning decided to take some time tomorrow to go to the nearby electrical appliance store to look for central air conditioners and dehumidifiers, and if he saw any other useful electrical appliances, he would try to buy them.
"Hey, Dad," Zhou Ning suddenly thought of an important point, "How do you charge the power bank you bought? The solar panels and wind turbines on our ship can't generate that much electricity, right?"
After all, once at sea, without AC power, the only way to replenish power is through electricity generation. She is seriously skeptical about relying solely on solar photovoltaic panels and wind turbines to store electricity.
"Don't worry, I bought the power generation equipment, too," Zhou Weixing said confidently, rummaging through the other packages. "I don't know if it's delivered yet. I bought a portable photovoltaic panel. It doesn't require installation. You can just put it anywhere there's sunshine. The other end connects directly to the battery. It's very convenient."
"Not only that, I also bought an exercise bike generator. Xiao Tao told me before that I could buy more fitness equipment. Exercising is also very important when living at sea. I thought about it and simply bought five exercise bike generators, so that I can exercise and generate electricity at the same time." Zhou Weixing continued.
At this time, the guy just delivered a large flat cardboard box from the warehouse. Zhou Weixing saw the information on the express delivery note and confirmed that it was an exercise bike.
"This is it," he patted the cardboard box, "Tuantuan, let me tell you, don't underestimate it as just cycling, the power generation is actually considerable." After saying that, Zhou Weixing raised his eyebrows proudly, waiting for praise happily.
"Not bad." Zhou Ning gave him a thumbs up perfunctorily for a second.
Her father was the type who would light up if he was given a little color; praise would easily lead to him becoming complacent and complacent, which would then discourage him from making progress and hinder his continued intellectual development. Zhou Ning understood this well, having learned from decades of experience with Ms. Li and her grandmother.
After picking up the packages from the express delivery station, Li Yinzhu prepared dinner for everyone. It was a simple meal consisting of instant food from the warehouse.
Zhou Ning had specifically told Ms. Li not to use the kitchen for cooking during this period, as the fumes and aroma of cooking would permeate the air. In these apocalyptic times of food scarcity, this would be no different from flaunting one's wealth and would only cause unnecessary trouble.
After eating, Zhou Ning began to divide the work for everyone for tomorrow, because the task was actually quite heavy and it would be best to complete it before Taotao returned.
First, she planned to go to the nearby electronics store with her dad to buy a central air conditioner and a dehumidifier, and perhaps pick up any other items she might have missed. After all, the human mind is limited, and when shopping online, you can't think of so many things at once. If you find something later, you can add it while there's still room for error and a chance to make amends.
The second and most important task was digging the soil. The supermarket shelves stacked in the empty warehouse hadn't yet been assembled, and planting would require a large amount of fertile soil. Zhou Ning had inquired at the dock and learned of the vast fields surrounding the area. Naturally, she delegated digging to Lan Xiaojia. No one on board knew more about selecting suitable soil than Lan Xiaojia, an agronomy major. Zhou Ning's only responsibility was to provide the plastic bags and rent a small truck for transportation. She would then arrange for Lan's father, Lin's father, and An Song, three strong men, to help with digging and handling.
The next task was to inquire around the docks and monitor the movements of all parties involved. The food at the fishermen's market had been completely looted, and the government might begin distributing relief grain. If relief wasn't adequate, crime would likely ensue. If unrest broke out, everyone needed to be on top of the situation and respond immediately. Zhou Ning assigned this task to An Nan alone, as she was quite agile and nimble.
Next, Ms. Li, Lan's mother, and Lin's mother were arranged to search the neighborhoods around the dock tomorrow. The wet market was currently closed, and other food stores had been sold out, but other stores besides food were still open, so they could check for any missing daily necessities. There were undoubtedly many private individuals or vendors at the dock who had stockpiled large quantities of vegetables and meat at high prices, hoping to sell them at even higher prices to profit. Vegetables and meat have a limited shelf life, so they'd try to sell them quickly. If they came across any, they could selectively buy some more food. The key was to spend all the money, not be afraid to spend it, and not let it become worthless.
Grandma Zhou and Grandma Lin, both elderly women with limited mobility, stayed behind on the boat. An Nan's sister-in-law, Xia Ruowei, stayed behind with the children. Lin Kang, the naughty kid, was a nuisance, so he stayed behind. And Liang Yuanzhou, who preferred to sit in a chair in the large, empty cabin and didn't like going out, decided to stay behind as well. While he was a capable laborer, there had to be a tall, young man on board to keep things under control. Otherwise, Zhou Ning wouldn't be able to leave the elderly, women, and children on board without him.
The last thing is to pick up the express package. It’s not urgent, so as usual I’ll pick it up in the evening for the best efficiency.
Zhou Ning took advantage of the time when everyone was resting in the large empty warehouse to convey the task arrangements for tomorrow. Everyone obeyed the arrangements without any objection.
Except for the naughty kid Lin Kang who would sometimes clamor to go digging with his dad and sometimes clamor to go with his mom, Zhou Ning ignored him and would just use the game console to get rid of him.
But Zhou Ning still faced a difficult problem: money. The one million yuan generously given by Ms. Li was almost gone. She figured that although the An, Lan, and Lin families had spent a lot of money on their evacuation from the inland, they should still have some savings.
So Zhou Ning quietly called An Nan, Lan Xiaojia and Lin Yan to the cockpit to discuss whether they could persuade their families to take out their savings and pool their money to do something big while the money could still be spent.
"Sister Ning, I'm really sorry. The money my family can afford is probably less than 10,000 yuan." An Nan's face showed a look of extreme apology.
She knew her family's financial situation intimately; her brother had never hidden it from her. Their parents had died long ago, leaving no inheritance. Her brother had gone out to work before graduating high school, supporting her from junior high school through college with his modest salary. Only when she could work part-time outside of her training and academic classes did her brother's life become easier. Her sister-in-law's family wasn't well off either. Her parents divorced when she was very young and each remarried. He hadn't even attended their wedding last year, giving only a token red envelope.
Last year, they sold their old house and bought a bigger one, and her brother is still working hard to pay off the mortgage. Then, her nephew was born, and preparing maternity and baby supplies, including milk powder and diapers, cost another fortune.
"It's okay, An An. It's a token of my appreciation." Zhou Ning comforted her.
They are all partners who work together to resist natural disasters, not shareholders of a company, and the profit distribution needs to be accurately calculated based on the original shares held by each shareholder.
It is enough for everyone to do their best. Being sincere and willing to work together is far better than those who think they are superior because they bring more supplies.
"My parents still have 130,000 yuan," Lin Yan said. "Sister Ning, give me your card number and I'll have them transfer it to you right away."
She had just discussed this with her parents. Although Mother Lin's doting on her son didn't have a clear bottom line, she was still clear-headed on major issues. They would use all their remaining savings to purchase supplies, and the money was already prepared.
"Okay," Zhou Ning felt a little relieved and looked at Lan Xiaojia beside him, but she looked very worried at this time.
"Xiao Jia, what's wrong with you?" Zhou Ning asked.
Lan Xiaojia raised her head and said embarrassedly, "Sister Ning, I've always been embarrassed to say that my parents...are reluctant to take out the money."
Lan Xiaojia had done some ideological work on her parents before. She thought her parents were usually quite open-minded, but she didn't expect the resistance this time to be so unprecedented.
I don't know if the two men had discussed it in advance, but they were of the same opinion and quite stubborn, and were only willing to pay 50,000 yuan no matter what.
Lan Xiaojia didn't know how much savings his parents had, but they both worked, earning above-average salaries in their small, inland city, where the cost of living was low. The family hadn't spent a fortune in years, and no one had suffered any disasters or illnesses. They lived in a twenty-year-old old house in the neighborhood. Even after getting a driver's license, his father hadn't been willing to buy a car, and their commuting method had always been the electric scooter they'd originally bought to pick up Lan Xiaojia from elementary school.
Lan's father stubbornly said, "Don't be fooled by the mysterious nature of natural disasters these days. No matter how difficult it is, we can overcome it. The country always has a solution and it won't collapse. Every penny of money in the bank is valuable." Lan's mother also said, "Xiao Jia, you can't be so naive. You have to be careful and have a way out. When your father and I first got married, we were so broke. Just think about it, if we put all our money in now, what if the bugs are gone and we go back, we won't be able to take out a penny and we'll be truly broke."
Lan Xiaojia was talking a lot, but even if she brought out the theory that "if the bugs can't be removed, the money will become waste paper", it was still useless.
This is their family's private matter, and Zhou Ning is not in a position to interfere. Anyway, 50,000 yuan is not bad.
The next morning, everyone started to act according to their assigned tasks.
Zhou Ning and Zhou Weixing took a taxi to a home appliance street near the city center. This was the closest appliance mall to the pier shown on the map. They bought the integrated stove and refrigerator freezer for the kitchen last time here.
Although all the shops on the street were still open for business, there were few consumers around, probably because everyone was busy buying food and other daily necessities at this time.
Zhou Ning took a quick stroll down the street. Not only did the electrical appliances on sale not increase in price, they were even slightly discounted. Many merchants also put up eye-catching signs saying "Low Price Sale" and "Fire Sale" in front of their shops.
No one knew how long this global disaster would last. Circuit components have a shelf life and will age and break down over time. Furthermore, according to the news, the insect swarm had left no grass growing, completely engulfing power plant high-voltage lines and transformers. Without power, electrical appliances would simply become a pile of scrap metal.
The merchants thought it through very thoroughly. This batch of goods was a waste of money, so they might as well sell it at a loss. After all, it was most realistic to keep the money and exchange it for life-saving supplies.
So the central air conditioner, which originally cost 30,000 yuan, was bought for 25,000 yuan after Zhou Ning and Zhou Weixing took turns bargaining, including shipping and installation.
Zhou Ning bought 10 dehumidifiers at once, one for each room in the rest cabin, one for the captain's room, and another high-power one for the large empty space, spending a total of 3,000 yuan.
While browsing, Zhou Ning spotted a display of washing machines and suddenly remembered she'd been planning to buy one, but had almost forgotten. Washing clothes is a major chore. Summer is fine, when clothes are light and thin, and you can just rub them by hand. But winter, when clothes are thick, the water can be icy. Her hands are particularly prone to frostbite. During her first year of college, the school didn't have a self-service washing machine, so she had to bring her clothes home every weekend.
Zhou Ning bought three washing machines with good performance. She also bought a washing machine and a dryer.
There is also a juicer. They bought fruit seeds online. If Lan Xiaojia can grow fruit in the future, they can use it to make juice.
With this idea in mind, Zhou Ning bought two more blending machines. There were still a lot of bean seeds in the warehouse, so he could grow beans and make soy milk and even tofu in the future.
The only thing missing from the kitchen was an oven, so Zhou Ning bought one without hesitation. After all, Ms. Li was also an expert at baking cakes and bread. She also bought an egg beater, as baking cakes requires thoroughly mixing the eggs, which is difficult to do manually.
On the other side, Li Yinzhu took Mother Lin and Mother Lan to walk around the streets of the fishermen's community at the pier. On the way, they met many private vegetable vendors, who suggested that they could buy vegetables from their homes, as the vegetables were fresh and rich in variety.
They now dare not set up stalls openly in the vegetable market because they have increased the prices by a hundred times, and if they are caught by the market supervision department, they will definitely be heavily fined.
Li Yinzhu was brought to her yard by a vegetable vendor. The vegetables for sale were placed on a stall in a cool room. Cardboard boards with prices clearly marked were placed next to each type of vegetable, but the numbers on the price tags were repeatedly changed with a marker, and the prices rose sharply.
Cabbage with rotten skin is 350 yuan per catty, partially wilted eggplant is 300 yuan per catty, and good quality eggplant is 380 yuan per catty.
But this one is actually considered good. The prices at the one they just saw were higher and the food was of worse quality.
Li Yinzhu thought about the task that Tuantuan had given her - the money had to be spent. Without further hesitation, she walked over to the stall, bent over, and carefully selected the items.
As Li Yinzhu was choosing, an idea suddenly struck him. Even if he spent all his money on the food stall, it would only last a few meals. Did they need a few meals? Obviously not. Even if things got tough, they could still get by with a few compressed biscuits.
It’s better to be cruel!
When they came out of the vegetable vendor's yard, they didn't buy a single vegetable leaf. Each of them was holding an old hen that could lay eggs.
Li Yinzhu used WeChat to scan the QR code and pay 20,000 yuan. It was the first time she had scanned so much money at one time, and her fingers were twitching when she entered the payment password.
But buying old hens is definitely more cost-effective than buying vegetables. Chickens can lay eggs every day, so it is a sustainable investment.
On the way back, Li Yinzhu heard the sound of a loudspeaker coming from the alley on the side of the road. They didn't understand the dialect, so they walked along the alley curiously and found that it was an ice cream wholesale supermarket.
The shop owner sat at the door with a sad look on his face.
All ice creams were discounted by 50% off the original price, which was a huge discount that was almost like a huge sale. However, apart from some people from the neighborhood who came to buy some, the rest were completely unsaleable.
Logically speaking, all food should be out of stock at the moment, but frozen food is obviously special. The capacity of residents' refrigerators is limited, and they cannot freeze frozen meat, fish, and shrimp, let alone ice cream.
The most important thing is that ice cream can’t satisfy your hunger.
Li Yinzhu actually disliked Zhou Ning eating cold food. Eating cold food was bad for the body and would increase the burden on the stomach and intestines.
But it’s the end of the world now, so what’s the harm in making the children happy?
eat!
So she spent all her remaining money to stock up on various types of ice cream. Their refrigerator and freezer were large enough to accommodate them all.
Of course, she will strictly control the amount of ice cream each person can eat every day, and no one can eat more.
Watching the aunt open the freezer and put the unsold ice cream into bags one by one, filling one bag and then filling another, it was obvious that this was a big customer. The wholesale store owner couldn't help but cry with joy.
Finally, seeing that the aunts were still carrying the old hens in snakeskin bags and it was inconvenient for them, he offered to help deliver the goods to their homes by electric car to prevent the ice cream from melting on the way.
The digging team naturally had the hardest and most tiring task throughout the day.
Lan Xiaojia led everyone to survey three locations in succession, and finally chose a piece of unowned wasteland on a hillside.
The land was overgrown with weeds, had loose soil, a dark, fertile layer of soil, and its only drawback was that the only path leading from the road where the pickup trucks were parked was steep and rugged, which was probably the main reason why the land had been abandoned.
At the end of the day, they dug a total of 78 snakeskin bags full of fertile soil from the ground.
Lan Xiaojia made a rough estimate and found that even if all the shelves were put together, there still wouldn't be enough soil. He would have to dig soil for half a day tomorrow, and it should be enough to get 120 bags.
The digging team returned from a tiring day, drenched in sweat and exhausted, their bones feeling as if they were about to fall apart. They were pleasantly surprised to find that the central air conditioning in the room had been installed. They didn't even bother to eat, but showered and simply lay down in the air-conditioned room, set to 26°C.
Li Yinzhu naturally would not let them go hungry. He prepared nutritionally balanced food and delivered it to their beds one by one.
An Nan summarized the information she collected today to Zhou Ning.
At present, several groups of survivors have been accommodated in several open spaces at the fishing boat dock. The government has organized volunteers to set up tents in advance, with a total number of more than two thousand people.
More survivors will be sent here in the future, because Donghai City has been defined by experts as a safe city away from earthquake zones and insect swarms.
There are only fourteen such safe cities in the country, and without exception, all of them are located on the islands along the southeast coast.
In addition, thugs at the dock have begun harassing the weaker fishermen, and several incidents of stealing food, beating and injuring people, and provoking trouble have occurred today.
Zhou Ning understood that as time went by, public security problems would become more and more serious.
Especially at night, you need to be more careful.
Starting tonight, Zhou Ning decided to implement a rotation of duty. With the exception of the elderly, women, and children on board, everyone would be required to stand guard for an hour, maintaining absolute focus and alerting her immediately if they encountered any disturbance.
The duty station is in the cockpit, which has a good location and a good view, and the situation on the deck and the bow fan-shaped area is clearly visible.
Zhou Ning consulted with everyone and made a shift schedule, which he posted on the wall of the large empty warehouse. After finishing his shift, Zhou Ning returned to the captain's room to rest.
After a good night's sleep, Zhou Ning was suddenly awakened by a rapid knock on the door. It was only dawn outside.
"Wake up, something's happening." the young man shouted.
Zhou Ning sat up from the bed, listened to the sound outside the door, and recognized Liang Yuanzhou.
"What happened?" Zhou Ning walked out while tying her hair into a ponytail.
Pushing open the door, Liang Yuanzhou said solemnly, "Just now, a man came to the bow of our ship. He was sneaking around and tried to lift our tarpaulin, but I stopped him and he ran away. He was a man."
"Lift the oilcloth?" This made Zhou Ning quickly alert. She walked forward quickly and looked out through the cockpit window, but the shore was empty at this time.
This berth is crowded with fishing boats on both sides. The bow of the "Deep Sea Fish" is covered with oilcloth. The appearance of the shelter ship is very well camouflaged, so why would it still attract other people's attention?
Zhou Ning had a bad feeling.
That person is paying attention to the appearance of the "Deep Sea Fish", so he is... a player?
Failed to stop players from publishing their coordinates, and the [Hunting] channel exploded.
[Mr. Bucai Youshan (Lv3)]: What an idiot, I can't pull him back, he deserves to die, damn it
[Three Feet of Life (Lv3)]: Alas, I can't save him. I'm still dozens of kilometers away from Wolong River, and I estimate that Qu Wuyi should be teleported there soon.
[Tang Sixi (Lv3)]: I have nothing to say. He disrupted our rhythm. Qu Wuyi will probably go to the East China Sea soon. This guy deserves to die.
Tao Sai looked at the conversation information on the world channel, especially the last coordinate. She knew very well that the coordinate was the berth of the "Deep Sea Fish" at the East China Sea Fishing Boat Wharf, word for word.
She stood up stiffly, closed the temporarily unused page, and focused all her attention on the fourth-level refuge ship on the Wolong River in front of her.
Ten seconds later, the crew seemed to have received some instructions and began to raise the anchor quickly.
Suddenly, Tao Sai felt a powerful force. At this moment, on the water surface right in front of the "Hanjiang City", the space was distorted and shaking, and a wormhole was forming.
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