Chapter 111: The fog cave opens again, and the flames of fire provide shelter for the city!
The bus drove smoothly into the Public Works Department and went all the way to the parking and charging area without any obstruction.
When the weather gets cold, the energy consumption of battery vehicles soars.
Rows of charging piles were occupied. After waiting for a few minutes, a bus slowly drove away, leaving a charging space vacant.
It seems that the remaining vehicles plan to stay overnight and will not come to unload their weapons until tomorrow morning.
Master Zhang's car had just been charged during the day, and the dashboard showed that there was still 81% power, which was more than enough to run 400 kilometers.
But when Master Zhang heard Cheng Ye say that he needed to plug in the gun to reserve a position and then recharge it before leaving, he did not hesitate at all and followed the instructions.
"I'm going to charge my phone. You and Dalong can go find a pot and some seasoning."
"good."
Although he was wondering why Cheng Ye was so concerned about charging, Master Zhang did not suspect anything and happily followed Dalong away.
There are no seasonings in other places, but the Public Works Department should have them. It would be easy to find some by using Cheng Ye's name.
After everyone left, Cheng Ye took off the charging head, put the pendant in it, and swiped the card to start charging.
[Current Energy Recharge Efficiency: Normal (Level 3 Energy)]
[Remaining time until the charge value is fully replenished: 3.42 hours]
A prompt flashed on the panel.
This time, Cheng Ye didn't plan to leave after charging it to 80%, but instead planned to charge the pendant completely.
After all, there is no garage in Quarantine Area B, and plugging into an ordinary socket at home can only replenish about 5% overnight, which is too slow.
Liu Kunming may come over at any time in the next two days, so it would be more reassuring to replenish the energy value.
But three and a half hours is still a bit exaggerated. Fortunately, I can delay it for a while by eating and drinking.
Enter the lounge.
The thick glass door keeps out the cold outside.
After a while, Mr. Liu came hurriedly with two apprentices.
It was late at night when he had already finished get off work, but Cheng Ye called him back. Normally, he should be resentful.
However, when they heard on the phone that there was beef to eat and fish soup to drink, and that they could take some salted fish back after the meal, the three of them rushed over without any hesitation.
Of course, we still have to maintain our composure and show respect, as if we are there whenever the Inspector needs us.
"Prosecutor Cheng, would you like to make changes today?"
Engineer Liu rubbed his hands, put the drawing clip on the table, and there was a hint of professional tension in his tone.
It only takes a word for the client to modify the drawings, but they have to measure, draw, check parameters, adjust node structures, and update the material list. Every link must be carefully monitored like embroidery, and the slightest mistake may lead to defects upon completion.
In the old days, if mistakes occurred, the most that could be done was to arrest the person responsible.
But when problems arise in the wasteland, no one can escape, from top to bottom.
"No rush. I won't be revising the blueprints today. I'd like to get some advice from you guys in the industry. Just chat and have a meal. I've troubled you guys so many times lately."
Cheng Ye narrowed his eyes and smiled, leaning back in his chair. He said in a relaxed tone, "The pedestrian street has been almost demolished in the past two days, and you are almost done with the planning drawings. Construction will start soon. After all, my ideas are limited, so I still need to listen to your ideas and strive to get it right the first time so that there will be no need for repeated revisions in the future."
"What do we think?"
Mr. Liu was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously pushed his glasses down on his nose to hide the surprise in his eyes.
But the two apprentices behind him looked at each other, with an incredible expression on their faces.
After dealing with him for so long, who doesn’t know that Prosecutor Cheng is a man of his word?
The planning map has been revised three times, and he was the one who made the final decision every time. Why is he suddenly going to listen to their opinions today?
Cheng Ye observed the three men's behavior and understood them. "Don't be shy, sit down. You're on the construction site every day. You must know better than me where to ditches and where to reinforce the foundations. For example, I originally wanted to give all the temporary shops flat roofs for aesthetics, but it's raining so hard today, and I only realized it when I passed the shantytown. Do you think a sloping roof would be more practical?"
On the way to and from the checkpoint, Cheng Ye stared out the window not just to look at the scenery.
As a top student who graduated from a serious architecture department, what he lacked was practical experience, not a pair of eyes that could discover problems and a reserve of knowledge.
"Slanted roofs are indeed better, but they require 30% more consumables and the construction time will be extended by two days."
Engineer Liu frowned in thought, his fingers unconsciously tapping the blueprint folder. "How about this? Keep the flat roof, but add a 30-centimeter overhang at the eaves. Then, dig a hidden ditch along the back wall of the shop, leading directly to the main drainage ditch. The overhang will block the slanting rain, the hidden ditch will conceal the water, and it won't interfere with paving the sidewalk in front of the shop. It's practical and saves materials!"
"Eaves."
Cheng Ye frowned and thought. He hadn't used his brain for more than three months, but it felt like all the previous knowledge was about to be lost.
Seeing how seriously he was thinking, Mr. Liu became even more curious.
In this huge buffer zone, I have never heard of any inspector who is familiar with the construction industry.
"Engineer Liu."
"Why."
"What material are you going to use for this roof?"
"Color-coated steel plates," Engineer Liu replied simply. "They're light, easy to replace, and require minimal maintenance. They're most practical in buffer zones."
"Um"
Cheng Ye pointed his fingertips in the air and made a bend. "The angle of the overhanging eaves needs to match the eaves edge treatment. Color-coated steel plates have poor toughness. If you bend the corners directly, rainwater will seep in through the seams during heavy rain. It will rust through in less than half a month, and rework will be even more troublesome."
"This?" Engineer Liu's eyes lit up. "So we need to add an L-shaped steel angle lining at the corner. This not only increases the bending strength but also allows water to flow directly to the ground along the lining. It's especially practical in low-maintenance conditions."
What the two were talking about was the rain curtain principle commonly used in industrial plants.
The two apprentices' eyes widened. They had thought Inspector Cheng was just asking casually, but they hadn't expected him to actually understand the practical aspects of this?!
"Are you going to add a waterfall to the culvert structure?"
"Waterfall treatment?"
"The culvert itself has a drop in height. If rainwater flows into the main ditch and directly washes away the ditch wall, it can easily accumulate and become clogged. It's easy to clean during light rain, but if it's still necessary to clean it during continuous heavy rain, I'm afraid we'll have to send people in to dig out the mud."
After Cheng Ye finished speaking, he completely forgot that he came here to listen to opinions, and unconsciously took out the client's frame again. "It is best to pad the joint with three steps of concrete blocks, with a drop of 5 cm on each step. Also, the inner wall of the culvert must be plastered with cement mortar to a thickness of 20 mm, compacted and smoothed."
"This way, the inner wall is smooth, the water flow resistance is small, which can reduce siltation, and it can also enhance the anti-seepage property, preventing rainwater from seeping into the surrounding foundations and affecting the foundation stability of surrounding houses."
"Oh, you mean multi-level energy dissipation!"
Engineer Liu slapped his thigh, suddenly realizing something. "I mentioned this idea last time when we were renovating the wastewater treatment tank, but the budget was tight at the time. This would have increased material costs by nearly 15%, and in the end, the higher-ups said it was unnecessary and rejected it."
"We can't skimp on the budget for the pedestrian street. You have to build it to the most durable standards. If you run out of materials, just let me know. A budget increase isn't a problem. Since we're going to build it, let's build something that will last for ten or twenty years. It would be a complete waste of manpower and resources to tear it down and rebuild it again in two years."
"Oh, if only I had known you knew the ins and outs of this."
Engineer Liu smacked his lips. "The most frustrating thing about our business is submitting the budget. Changing the design, adding materials, and the numbers on the budget just keep going up. And when you run into a boss who doesn't understand the business, it's useless to explain everything for hours. If I'd known you were knowledgeable, I would have just told you what I needed."
"Don't worry, I have enough budget. In the future, I plan to turn this pedestrian street into a landmark building in the buffer zone. It must not only be practical, but also presentable."
Cheng Ye made no secret of his ambition.
If an investment of 20,000 contribution points only results in a barely usable commercial space that slightly improves the lives of the residents of Tianyuan Community, it will not meet the expectations of the elders at all.
The so-called envy of 50% of the community is only said to fools.
Combining the real intention with the ideas promoted by the idealists in the buffer zone, Cheng Ye could probably guess that the elders wanted the residents of the buffer zone to see new hope and new development direction!
In this way, whether it is for community development, cultivating power in advance, or maintaining ideas to accumulate capital for oneself, one must make a real name for oneself.
Since we are going to build it, we should build it on a large scale and build it specifically.
Only when the pedestrian street becomes the "face" of the buffer zone, the first stop for foreign caravans, and a place that all residents and scavengers are willing to frequent can it be said that the money is being spent wisely.
He had a vague feeling that even if the current budget had exceeded the target, as long as he achieved the desired effect, the elders in the inner city would definitely not be stingy with the second or third investment.
By then, not to mention a lot, just a few tens of thousands of points will be returned, and all the initial investment will be returned.
"Okay, now that you put it that way, I have some ideas as well."
Engineer Liu gritted his teeth. It was a rare opportunity to meet someone who knew the business. All the ideas and inspirations in his mind that had been suppressed by the budget and construction period burst out like bubbles.
It's understandable if it's some ordinary architectural detail, but then it became, "I think we could add solar panels on the roof. It might not be practical in the summer and fall, but in the winter and spring, we could charge for electricity. The electricity generated by the solar panels could be used by the shop itself and sold back to the city grid, creating sustainable development."
"That's great, we can add it, and it would be best if we could add a whole energy storage device!"
Cheng Ye immediately made the decision, and Engineer Liu was so happy that he was overwhelmed.
The two apprentices were stunned. When they came, Mr. Liu warned them that they must be careful with their words and actions tonight. Whatever Cheng Ye said was the truth, and they should try not to express any opinions.
But now, Mr. Liu is talking so much that he doesn't even remember the importance of being careful with his words and actions.
After a while, the door of the lounge was pushed open and four large iron pots were carried in.
Master Zhang followed behind, carrying a bulging cloth bag. "Prosecutor Cheng, we found the seasonings. There's plenty. I heard they'll be delicious for stewing meat!"
"Rest for a while, boil some water, cook some meat, and we'll talk while we eat."
After discussing with Engineer Liu, Cheng Ye felt a little excited. The sense of fulfillment of turning the ideas in his mind into drawings bit by bit was even more satisfying than killing Zhang Can, the advanced fusion.
After all, in the wasteland, construction is the main theme, and fighting will only break out when it is forced to do so.
However, charging would take nearly two hours, so I couldn’t finish discussing the plan and then sit there chatting awkwardly for the rest of the time.
The induction cooker started buzzing. The wiring in the lounge was connected to an industrial line, and four stoves started firing at the same time without even a flicker of the light.
Before long, the water in the pot began to bubble. Dalong picked up half of the Yaksha cow's hind leg, chopped it into large pieces and threw it into the pot.
As soon as the meat was put into the pot, a layer of fine blood foam appeared.
What was strange was that after the blood foam formed a ball, a faint fragrance wafted out. It was not the fishy smell of ordinary beef, but rather had a bit of the freshness of grass and trees.
“This tastes absolutely amazing!”
Dalong sniffed, dipped some blood foam with chopsticks and put it into his mouth, "Sir, this beef seems to be special, eat it..."
For a moment, he was at a loss for words and didn't know how to describe the taste.
Cheng Ye simply went to the pot and dipped a little into his mouth.
Hmm.
How to describe it?
It was a bit like the yak meat he had eaten in western Sichuan, which naturally had a special aroma.
But this fragrance is not the fragrance of meat, but a rich fragrance of flowers and plants.
"It's so delicious, and it's still alive in Hua Province?"
Cheng Ye couldn't help but be surprised.
Normally, in the wasteland, the mutant beasts that are delicious and have no hard shells should have been hunted down by scavengers long ago.
Even the ant wolf is a delicacy on the scavenger's table.
I think this kind of Yaksha cattle is not very common in Hua Province and is a rare breed.
I didn't expect that when I passed through the fog cave and arrived at the checkpoint, there were six of them at once.
"Flower Province?"
Engineer Liu came over and said, "There are very few people living in Hua Province because it's right next to the blockaded land. I heard that in recent years, people have only migrated to other places, and no one has ever gone there."
"No wonder."
Cheng Ye raised his eyebrows and said nothing more.
There are four pots, one for stewing meat and one for making fish soup.
There were two pots left, and everyone gathered around them. Without any seasoning, they just dipped the thinly sliced raw beef into boiling water. When they saw the edges of the meat slices curled up slightly, they took them out and put them into their mouths while they were still hot.
For people who are used to eating strong flavored food, this will inevitably taste bland.
But after drinking too much nutrient paste, the chewy beef in your mouth is so delicious that it makes your eyes pop out.
There was chili powder in the seasoning bag that Master Zhang brought. Cheng Ye pinched some and dipped it in the beef and took a bite, but felt that the spiciness destroyed the refreshing aroma of the Yaksha beef, so he put down the seasoning dish and just ate it in its original flavor.
"Eat as much as you can. Eat as much as you can. I'll give you another piece when you leave."
When Cheng Ye said this, everyone said they didn't dare, but they didn't stop using their chopsticks.
The steam billowed under the light, making everyone's face red.
Engineer Liu enthusiastically told the interesting stories he had collected on the construction site. Dalong took over the conversation and told about the interesting things that happened when the Corps was building the dock. Master Zhang drove a truck all over the country when he was young, and also joined in the fun by telling some interesting stories from the surrounding provinces.
Only Cheng Ye and two apprentices were listening, but the latter's eyes were only focused on the meat in the pot and they didn't pay any attention to these things.
outside the house.
The fog seemed to be even thicker, and even the searchlight in the lounge could only illuminate a short beam of light, and visibility continued to decline.
After eating for two hours, it was almost 12 o'clock.
Only then did everyone touch their round bellies and put down their chopsticks contentedly.
The two apprentices leaned back in their chairs, too weak to speak, with broth still stained the corners of their mouths.
"Dalong, cook some more beef and bring it back to Mr. Qu to try."
"Okay."
Dalong immediately stood up, added water to the pot with swift hands and feet, and cut two large pieces of meat and threw them in.
Cheng Ye had no intention of dividing the 85 bags of dried salted fish.
This thing is durable and is a must-have for the winter, so it must be stored well.
But Yaksha beef is different. It is best eaten fresh. It will go bad easily if left for too long, so it is better to share it while it is fresh.
"Engineer Liu, each of you three, master and apprentice, take one piece and take it back to satisfy your family's cravings."
Mr. Liu quickly waved his hands: "How can I be so embarrassed? I have already eaten so much of yours."
"Take it."
Cheng Ye put a piece of meat weighing more than ten pounds aside and said, "It takes a lot of brainpower to modify the blueprint. Let's fix it."
The other two apprentices received less, five pounds each.
He also cut off two large pieces, each weighing twenty pounds. He gave one to Luo Xiaoxue and the other to Miao Yang.
"Dalong, take the rest back and process it so that the residents can have some meat."
"Okay, let me thank Prosecutor Cheng on behalf of everyone."
Dalong responded cheerfully. Since there were outsiders present, he finally stopped being polite.
"Okay, you guys keep eating. I'm going to go out for a walk and get some fresh air. I'm sweating all over."
Cheng Ye raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, pushed open the door and walked towards the bus.
There was too much steam in the hall, and coupled with the lively conversation just now, the back of the clothes was already soaked, but when the cold wind blew, it actually felt refreshing.
And just now, the pendant finally sent a reminder that it was full. This was the first time that the charge value was fully replenished since it was activated.
If it is only a level 1 skill, you can search five times.
At the very least, searching for items and investing all your energy can greatly increase your success rate.
"If I can't find this, it only proves that I am still far from being a transcendent."
Taking out the pendant, Cheng Ye plugged the bus in to charge it.
There was a loud thud.
The charging station was activated, and he turned around to go back to the hall to rest for a while, but his footsteps suddenly stopped and his eyes turned cold in an instant.
At some point, thick fog once again enveloped the entire parking lot.
During the charging process, visibility dropped to less than 50 meters, and even the bus charging in the distance was only a blurry outline.
But what really made his heart sink was the direction of the Public Works Department.
The thick fog engulfed all three buildings, including the lounge, which also disappeared in the fog.
"It's endless, isn't it? You come to me again?"
A hint of murderous intent flashed across Cheng Ye's eyes. He opened the bus door, opened his backpack and began to assemble parts.
A few clicking sounds.
The two rifles were quickly assembled, the heavy gun bodies pressed against his palms, and the extra bullet clips were neatly buckled onto his belt.
A faint rustling sound came from the fog, like something rubbing against the ground, or like an auditory hallucination.
"Starting tomorrow, you'll have to wear your battle armor to and from get off work."
Cheng Ye took a deep breath, and the panel flashed in the upper right corner of his vision.
The dragon power was unloaded, leaving a slot free to equip the iron body and enter pseudo-pregnancy at any time.
He walked out of the car, holding the Ranger upside down in his left hand and PL 1 in his right hand, and walked slowly towards the lounge.
Not to mention some Yaksha bull or some mutant beast, even if a high-level fusion form came, it would first be suppressed by firepower.
The moment he touched the fog hole, he felt a faint pulling sensation, as if a pair of invisible hands behind him were gently pulling the corner of his clothes.
But after taking two more steps forward, the pulling feeling suddenly disappeared and turned into a strange pushing feeling, as if someone was pushing his back with the palm of his hand from behind.
The further he went, the stronger the feeling of being pushed became, but before Cheng Ye could feel any discomfort.
Buzz.
A ripple flashed by, and the thrust disappeared without a trace in an instant. The thick fog seemed to be pushed away by an invisible hand, and visibility suddenly increased several times.
The scene in front of me became clear.
In the lounge, Dalong, Mr. Liu, and a group of young men gathered together. They were not as nervous as he had imagined, but rather crowded against the wall facing the gate out of curiosity.
When they heard footsteps behind them and turned around to see Cheng Ye walking in with a gun, everyone finally reacted.
"Sir, there's a fog hole in this lounge!"
"Mist cave?!"
Cheng Ye's heart tightened and he turned his head in the direction of Dalong's finger.
I saw that a huge oval gap had appeared in the side wall. It was more than three meters high and almost reached the ceiling. Its width occupied the entire wall and was at least five meters long.
There was a faint white mist on the edge of the gap, as if it was wrapped in a layer of flowing gauze, but a passage was carved out in the middle, so that the scene on the opposite side could be seen clearly.
It was a spacious cement street with bright street lights on both sides. The walls were covered with dark green vines, exuding a vitality that was not found in Xingfu City.
What was even more shocking was that there were a few people crowded on the other side of the passage, wearing clean gray-blue uniforms, looking over here through the fog hole, their faces also full of curiosity and uneasiness.
Judging from their expressions, it was obvious that both sides had already had a brief exchange.
"Is it a city of refuge?"
"Yeah!" Engineer Liu nodded heavily, his tone filled with realization and excitement.
"They said they were from the Fire Sanctuary City!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
