‘Month 4 Day 9, the weather in the basin is good, the temperature is between -4 degrees to 16 degrees, the clothing recommendation is… a hoodie.

‘Today’s weather has finally begun to show signs of significant decrease. Fortunately, there’s still enough sunshine, so we won’t have to worry about freezing weather during the day.

‘Feedback received in the morning shows that the prefabricated houses are chilly at night. We need to construct the boiler room and heating pipes as soon as possible to ensure a warm environment at night and prevent an outbreak of colds!

‘Because of continuous physical labor, the food supplies have been consumed faster than usual and it has greatly surpassed our previous predictions. It is estimated that food supplies will be completely consumed 19 days in advance.

‘However, the benefit from it is that the physical fitness of all villagers has improved significantly.The women who could not pick up chickens can now shoulder heavier labor!

‘The Ents are as calm as always, and they don’t seem to be in a hurry. I won’t have to rush to cause a chaotic scene in their territory. I’ll consider visiting after I’ve finished dealing with the matters in Freedom City.

‘The growth trend of rice leaf seeds is stable, and the sunshine conditions are sufficient. Watering amount today… 220ml!”

‘Today’s survival points…967 points acquired. The survival points balance is 2110, and territory points acquired is 2.14, total territory points is 4.9!

‘The survival points have a long way to go. I’ll save up the territory points and try to accumulate ten points to upgrade the heatstone mine resource.

‘Oh? The Wind’s Whisper brought a message from Lu Yongyi today? Wow, they actually found a large island to settle down on. It’s been so comfortable these few days, but time is passing by so fast~’

…

‘Month 4, Day 10, the weather in the basin is cloudy. The temperature is between -6 degrees to 15 degrees, the clothing recommendation is… a sweater jacket!”

‘The temperature continues to maintain a steady downward trend as expected. According to the magnitude, it will likely drop to -10 degrees for the first time in seven days.

‘After pushing the construction progress of the boiler room yesterday, the general structure had already been completed by night. If the pipes can be laid out today, then we can start testing the heating.

‘The winter wheat can also be planted by today. The first batch of crops in the basin is expected to be harvested in 60 days if no problems occur. Thus, the basin will make a big step toward self-sufficiency.

‘The monument has already begun to be built. As soon as Ai Janfeng’s blast furnace is ready to produce the first batch of steel, they can quickly form the monument’s structure.

‘Speaking of this, Hao Qiang’s training speed is rapid. There are all kinds of tough simulated levels in virtual reality. Despite being lacking in terms of theoretical knowledge in terms of practical experience, he’s doing well. He’s comparable to a secret agent who probably trained for a year or two. There’s a high probability that I can make a trip to Freedom City tomorrow!

‘The growth trend of rice leaf seeds is stable… Watering today… 300ml.

‘Survival points acquired.. 670 points. The survival points balance 2780, territory point acquired is 2.4, and the territory points balance is 7.3!”

‘This is bad. The survival points acquired have dropped significantly. It will likely drop to one or two hundred points if I don’t go out to accomplish some things. I’ll have to do something big this time!

‘In the Wind’s Whisper today…”

‘The dwarves deployed in Black Stone Base Camp have finally withdrawn their troops. Do they really think they can deceive me by swapping around their armed forces?

‘However…it seems the conflict between the Light Empire and the Demon clan is tense. It’s unclear what their intentions are since it would have been easy for the Demon clan to finish the war quickly, but they have dragged it until this current situation.

‘This is troublesome, really troublesome. Wouldn’t it be great for everyone to peacefully develop right now? It’ll be troublesome if the fighting affects the future business of the Fire Exchange.’

Su Mo turned off the daily system announcement after writing the last sentence in his diary as he stood on Fruit Tree Mountain. Su Mo firmly gripped his notebook and pen in his arms.

The warm sunlight mixed with the cool breeze blew on his face. The hot summer was only a month ago, but the dryness before the onset of winter could already be felt.

The leaves of the fruit trees on Fruit Tree Mountain had fallen, and the trees had gone bald after the temperature change and the wind.

The previously desolate field was now covered with neat grass and was no longer abstract.

The artificial roads resembled a clean shave after a razor had run through the grass, leaving eye-catching streaks through it.

Aside from the external conditions, Hope Village, which was trapped within the basin, seemed like a desolate island in the vast sea. It was both happy and depressing at the same time.

The smoke that rose from the center of the isolated village had a different feeling to it.

“Shelter leader, so this is where you’ve been! Everyone has been looking for you!”

Chen Shen’s familiar voice suddenly came from behind Su Mo, who was admiring the scene of the “ants” working in the village.

He turned around and smiled.

“Does this mean that the boiler room and the pipes have been completed?”

“Yup! Yesterday, I worked overtime to construct the pipe system’s general structure, and today we placed the materials in it. We’re waiting for our shelter leader to give us the approval for our first test run!”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

Su Mo was refreshed. His exhausted mind from the past two days had become active again after hearing that the boiler room had been completed and they could start the tests for water and air leakages today!

The announcements for the past two days had not completely relieved the mental exhaustion.

However, Su Mo was able to brainstorm and prepare for the following missions after stopping for a while.

The boiler was one of their current top priorities.

Their biggest threat during the winter would be gone as long as their previous design for the heating system was able to operate smoothly.

Even in the terrifying cold weather of -40 degrees, Su Mo was confident that the damage to the basin would be significantly lower than the other New World territories with their powerful heating system!

It was even possible. . .

That they would get through it without any damage!

The two quickly returned to the back of the village, which was where the old kitchen was, after descending the mountain.

The structure of a boiler was not complicated to an expert in energy conversion equipment. The technical barrier was mainly the raw materials needed for the construction.

The principle of the boiler was also easy to understand. The water was heated in the furnace, then the water vapor generated drove the water to flow through the laid pipes, and the cycle was repeated, constantly releasing heat through the process.

As a thermal power giant, Huaxia’s boilers could be seen in almost every big city and even small villages that consisted of 100 people.

Su Mo was uncontrollably excited as he saw the familiar shape and the incompletely dried mud hut from a distance.

“Goodness! I missed this thing every winter while I was in the south the past few years! I can’t believe that we made it ourselves during an apocalypse!

“This is so precious!”

About 30 workers responsible for the project were busy carrying out various tests in front of the boiler room.

Everything was straightforward except for the familiar red cloth that hung on the door, which was the only decent thing that represented a ribbon-cutting ceremony!

“Shelter lord! The boiler construction was very successful! I guarantee you that there will absolutely be no problems this time!

“As long as the pressure test runs smoothly, the boiler is not overly technical at all! It’ll be able to run for more than ten years if maintained well!”

Ai Jianfeng patted his chest full of pride with a face covered in dust.

It was evident that he was passionate since it was his first real project!

These past two days, Ai Jianfeng had been so busy with the construction work that he was continuously at work when he was not asleep or resting.

He had done everything himself, including basic shoveling and material selection, to ensure that everything ran smoothly.

It was no exaggeration to say that, excluding the human resources needed for the construction, Ai Jianfeng alone had completed more than 70% of the work, which was impressive.

This was precisely the reason he dared to promise success.

“Oh, Jianfeng? You’re very confident!”

“Don’t worry! I’m a professional in the field of machinery!”

Ai Jianfeng took the scissors from the person beside him and handed them to Su Mo with a face of excitement to start the test run.

Su Mo did not stall any longer after seeing Ai Jianfeng’s enthusiasm.

Su Mo stepped forward and pulled the cloth above the sign amid the crowd’s applause of more than 30 people. The words “Boiler Room” were revealed, and he waved the scissors and instantly cut the ribbon in two.

Whoa!

After the end of the simple ceremony, the 30 people entered the boiler room in an orderly manner and began to prepare for the test run as if they had been practicing well.

Ai Jianfeng went toward the part of the instrument placed in the center and began to adjust the pressure in the boiler to identify any possible problems.

Moments later, as the pointer on the meter stabilized and the pressure indicator lighted up green, the sound of water could be heard as Ai Jianfeng pressed on it lightly.

It was the same as when they did a heat test previously in the north. The step was done by pressurizing the interior to force the water to rise through the pipes.

During the process, if there was a water leakage or no seam, the pressure indicator would fluctuate.

This was the first step to finding a problem.

The cycle progress was at 30%. The pressure index was stable, and the water flow speed was stable. Pass!

“30%… raise… the lever…!”

As soon as Ai Jiangfeng’s words fell, a person waiting beside him rushed out and shouted with a loud voice at the people on the other side of the village.

With a bang, the separator stuck at the 30% was raised by the person waiting above the pipe, and the water rushed down the pipes.

“The cycle progress is 70%, and the pressure index is fluctuating. Detect whether there is a water leakage problem in the middle section and report immediately!”

Almost half of the pressure was released, and the barometers of the pressure gauges immediately began to show a certain fluctuation range.

Ai Jianfeng shouted nervously to the outside of the boiling room. He thought for a moment and rushed outside.

“Huh? The index is really weird. It doesn’t feel like a water leak or air leak, but something is pumping air pressure and disappearing.”

Without Ai Jianfeng, everyone instinctively turned their attention to Su Mo.

Su Mo did not panic and trusted his experience from playing in a boiler room when he was a child. He stepped forward and began to problem-solve.

“The speed of the water flow is stable, so there’s no problem, and to affect the air pressure, it can only be…

“The temperature indoors is dropping significantly, causing the air pressure to fluctuate?”

Su Mo immediately opened the system panel after a quick analysis of the problem and decided to run a problem identification.

Different from the faint green light before, for this “big guy” in the territory, the light from the system’s identification was always much deeper, and it had some yellow spots.

As the light gushed, the attribute panel of the boiler room slowly lit up.

[Clay Boiler Room with Rough Craftsmanship (Normal: Minor flaws)]

[Description: The boiler room was manufactured with rammed earth techniques that can maintain heating demands under the pipeline length of less than 500 meters. In terms of pressure, the natural uncertainty caused by the rammed earth technique is so-so. If the heating pressure exceeds a certain level, there may be the risk of an explosion.

However, considering the complete prevention and control measures inside and the standard monitoring code table, the probability of such risks is reduced to a certain extent.

The current quality has declined due to the existence of a hot stone at 63.26 meters in the pipeline, which generates heat absorption and release. If this heatstone is removed, the overall quality of the boiler room will return to normal.

Replacing all the pipes with heatstone material can greatly improve the quality of the boiler room and produce a special effect.]

[Boiler separation: Domestic boiler]

[Type of fuel: Diesel, kerosene, heavy soil, coal, wood… hearthstone (reusable), natural gas, liquefied gas, biogas…]

[Boiler pressure: Atmospheric pressure (A standard atmospheric pressure)]

[Special ability: Locked (Upgrade the quality to Good to unlock)]

[Heating intensity: Current pipeline length: 341 meters; Temperature: 14.1 degrees (Full Capacity: 36 degrees; Economical: 24 degrees; Heat preservation: 20 degrees)]

[Comment: There is a chance to obtain an alchemy furnace if you keep upgrading it.]

It was rare for the system to grade an item lower than normal.

Of course, this did not mean that there were any craftsmanship defects when it was built, but someone must have sneaked a heatstone into the pipeline.

A heatstone would continue to absorb the heat of the water in an unsaturated condition, which reduced the air pressure inside the pipe. This led to the fluctuation in the pressure.

“Sure enough, it’s this little thing. I searched really long to find one. I didn’t expect someone to throw this thing into the pipeline.

“If I hadn’t tested the properties of a hearthstone and didn’t have the aid of the system, it was highly likely that I would have to dismantle the pipeline again and check it thoroughly.”

Su Mo knew that Ai Jianfeng had a confused expression and could not find the reason.

The heatstone had been completely integrated into the pipelines. Even if you knew the location and wanted to remove it, there would be no other way but to replace the whole pipe.

However, Su Mo glanced at the survival points in the lower right corner of his system interface, which had broken the 3000 mark. Su Mo’s heart ached slightly as he opened the auxiliary panel.

[Upgrade Method 1: Iron boiler: The rammed earth structure of the boiler will be upgraded to steel, and the pressure resistance of the boiler will be slightly enhanced to allow steam to be transported a long distance through the pipelines. The steel boiler will cause a slight decrease in rigidity. The risk of damage will increase in extreme weather due to the thermal expansion and contraction. Upgrade cost: 2990 survival points. Can be upgraded with corresponding material (iron block) for risk reduction. The maximum reduction rate is 2650.]

[Upgrade Method 2: High-efficiency boiler: The rammed earth structure of the boiler will be upgraded to a higher-grade heat-resistant clay. The heat storage capacity will increase significantly, pressure resistance will increase moderately, and slightly improves the damage resistance of the boiler. Additionally, upgrades the material of the iron pipes and adds a high-strength thermal insulation coating to them to prevent the loss of heat during the circulation of steam and water. Upgrade cost: 4580 survival points. (Can be upgraded with corresponding material (heat-resistant clay; iron block; copper block; high-quality water source)for risk reduction. The maximum reduction rate is 3190)]

[Upgrade Method 3: The effect of the upgrade is unknown, the risk of the upgrade is unknown, and the strength of the upgrade is unknown. Upgrade cost: 62350 (Can be upgraded with corresponding material (heatstone) for risk reduction. The maximum reduction rate is 60000.)]