#402 - Chapter 403 Target: Airship in the sky!
The construction of the Life Belt was decided upon only recently by Qin Jin, after discussions with his cadres.
On one hand, the survivors in the Green Source Belt genuinely needed some hope to keep them going. Otherwise, without tasks to occupy them, they would either starve to death or flee.
The hard-won order would collapse in the face of death.
On the other hand, it was naturally also for Miss Lin's sake.
Although most of the cadres present were unaware of this reason, Old Zhou remained silent, naturally not voicing his speculations.
In any case, this major project was thus finalized.
"I will figure out a way to solve the food problem! Don't worry, our first batch of rice and other crops will be ready for harvest in less than a month! Things will only get better from now on!"
Qin Jin encouraged the cadres present, dispelling their concerns.
The construction of the Life Belt would require a lot of manpower from the Green Source Belt, but the待遇 (dai yu - treatment; pay and conditions) would be significantly worse than at the sub-base.
They would only be provided with a bowl of thin porridge for lunch each day.
After work in the evening, they would receive additional rations of food distributed according to their labor, which they could plan for themselves.
It wasn't much; those who worked would receive 70-150 grams of food per day as compensation, fluctuating based on the type of work and hours worked.
Roughly the amount of 1-2 bowls of rice.
It was a bit harsh.
But this was the maximum amount Qin Jin could offer after careful calculation.
Based on 2,000 people from the Green Source Belt working daily, he would need to provide approximately 260 kilograms of food each day!
Keep in mind that the total daily food consumption for all workers at the main base and sub-base combined, approximately 500 people, barely reached this amount.
In other words, after the Life Belt project was approved, the Green Source Base would be operating at a deficit, depleting its reserves.
Therefore, expanding and increasing food production became a new problem.
Of course.
Qin Jin had already found a new direction.
One was to increase the planting area, and the other was to find better food crops.
After discussing it with Yuan Mu, he decided to proceed in two directions.
Increasing the planting area goes without saying; it was already being implemented, with people from both the sub-base and the main base diligently working in the fields.
The other direction was to send combat troops to a more distant city—Nanlin City—to search for an agricultural research institute there.
According to Yuan Mu, that area had always been a core experimental zone for the seed industry in China, and it was highly likely to contain information or samples of many special food crops.
If he could obtain that information and those samples, he was confident in upgrading the entire food production level for Green Source!
Upon hearing this, Qin Jin immediately decided that this matter must be pursued.
This was definitely an extremely important task.
However.
Nanlin City was located in Hainan Province, the southernmost province on the Chinese map, an island province.
It had no land connection with Guangnan Province and required travel by sea or air.
At this time, helicopters were not yet operational, and traveling by boat was too risky. Since the Mutation Night, the oceans had become infested with countless frenzied, bloodthirsty giant sharks, whales, and octopuses.
Traveling by sea could be described as a one-in-ten chance of survival.
These crazed marine animals were inexplicably more terrifying than land animals, perhaps due to the higher and stronger concentration of purple mist they absorbed when it rose from the ocean floor.
Consuming their meat also carried the risk of mutating into zombies or dying suddenly!
Countless "clever" survivors had tried to escape to the coast, attempting to obtain food from the sea, only to become prey themselves.
Regarding this.
Qin Jin had been trying to find a solution recently.
He had discussed the issue of aerial vehicles with Li Xu and Xia Yan, and they had concluded that there was still a flying tool that could operate under the rampant geomagnetism!
That was the airship!
It was an alternative flying device that generated buoyancy by filling with a light gas and then using an engine for propulsion!
Somewhat similar to a hot air balloon.
Compared to high-precision, high-tech products like helicopters, this type of vehicle required much less technical expertise.
Some places or businesses would use this type of flying device for advertising and tourism.
The advantages of this flying device were that, with sufficient fuel, it could fly in the sky for up to ten days!
And it had the advantage of being silent!
It was simply designed for this apocalypse!
Its numerous shortcomings, such as its large size, conspicuousness, weak protection, flying speed of only 100-150 km/h, maximum flying altitude of no more than 6,000 meters above sea level, and payload of less than 10 tons, seemed insignificant in comparison.
As long as it wasn't used for combat, but only for troop transport and travel to some special locations, it was currently the best flying tool!
Qin Jin deeply regretted not having made sufficient preparations for this type of flying device during peacetime.
The information he currently had on hand only identified three possible locations where airships might be stored, two of which were outside the province, but one was in Guangnan Province!
He had decided that he must send combat troops to check it out!
"You can go back to your work for now. I'll call you if I need anything."
Waving away Wang Yang and the others present, Qin Jin lit a cigarette in his office and puffed away.
Sure enough.
Having one when troubled always allowed him to temporarily escape the pressure and feel relaxed.
He had recently lamented that he had become idle, but he immediately plunged into the busy affairs of base development. What a jinx.
There had been some research progress on Lin Runwei's side recently, but it couldn't be called a breakthrough yet, and he was monitoring it every day.
In addition, the Green Source Base had recently gained a small reputation within Guangnan Province, and countless flies were attracted from the outside.
Everyone wanted to use a magnifying glass to find out the reason for Green Source's strength.
Come on.
I'm a reincarnator, okay?
Although I'm the lowest kind, without a system or special abilities.
But I can't lose face as a reincarnator.
Wanting to take advantage of me is one thing, but if you dare reach out, I'll chop off your whole hand!
Want to cooperate?
That's possible.
Come with sincerity, and Green Source will accept.
Qin Jin finished his cigarette in a few puffs, took a sip of tea, and once again devoted himself to the grand plan of development.
The combat troops were now considered mature, and he felt comfortable letting them go out on missions alone.
Now, as long as normal forces outside had heard of their Green Source name, they would generally take the initiative to avoid the Green Source's signature modified vehicles if they didn't want trouble.
This time, the task of finding the airship would continue to be handled by Li Bowen's team. He wouldn't go.
The base still needed him here to hold the fort for now.
(End of this chapter)
[Regarding the issue of 末世 (mo shi - end of the world) hunger and food, I would like to explain it to everyone here.
I wonder if you have ever thought about how many edible plants, fruits, grains, and vegetables would still be available on Blue Star if the acid rain had not destroyed most of the plant crops?
The answer should be that the remaining survivors could not finish eating them all.
The number of plants and animals in an entire planet, or even a country, after the human population has been reduced by 98%, is extremely terrifying. Imagine the vegetables and crops in the fields, the orchards, and the wild plants throughout the country. Even if they are not managed, will they all become extinct? The naturally grown portions alone would be enough to feed all the remaining humans. A banana tree, in addition to the fruit, also has edible parts such as the banana heart. Other palm trees, flowers, grasses, melons, fruits, sweet potatoes, potatoes, wild vegetables, etc., as long as you move away from the city and return to the countryside, there are too many things to fill your stomach.
The novels I have read before did not deal with these issues, and it is difficult to establish the premise of people starving to death. I am not considering extreme disaster backgrounds, but I feel that if it is to be reasonable, these issues must be addressed.
After an acid rain, I set the destruction rate of edible plants to 96%-98%, leaving a little bit remaining. It is not as if there is no grass growing anywhere. The survivors in the Green Source Belt can still dig for wild vegetables, tree bark, tree roots, earthworms, insects, and some small amounts of food left behind by humans, which will sustain the lives of the survivors. Only in this way can there be a basis for hunger.
What the survivors in the Green Source Belt value is the stable environment and order here, as well as the opportunity to trade and work, of course.
Most of them are just not full and are at risk of starving to death.
It is not to say that if the city runs out of food, all the survivors will have to wait for death.
Of course, every book has a different setting, and others may have other ways to deal with it, so it is not within the scope of this discussion]
