The sun rose in the east, and for over half a month, the clear and transparent sky made the Tibetan region’s sky seem clear. The low floating white clouds made people feel as though they could touch them.
Even when looking out over the vast expanse of white snow, it became incredibly beautiful under the clear blue sky.
Standing on the white snow with the vast sky above, everyone standing in this world felt like giants standing tall and proud. But in the next moment, they felt as small as dwarves in this vast expanse…
Han Ya faced the rising sun and sighed.
One after another, the excited people from last night also came out of their tents.
“Han, what are we building today?” Xiao Tao didn’t see Xiao Wen and Wen Le, but saw Han Ya standing alone in the snow.
Han Ya raised his eyebrows and looked at Xiao Tao and the people who had gathered behind him.
“We’re not building anything today.”
Upon hearing Han Ya’s words, disappointment spread across everyone’s faces. Previously, when they left the rescue station, Xiao Wen and Wen Le went to X City and returned with a lot of building materials. After the excitement of last night, everyone was ready to work hard and build their future homes. However, Han Ya’s words dampened their enthusiasm.
Han Ya paused and continued, “Today, everyone will take action and measure the land. Wen Shao will distribute tools and markers every hundred meters. Starting from the center of the tents, measure an area of two square kilometers for me today!”
It sounded simple, but ensuring the accuracy of the measuring route and every corner’s 90-degree angle in this two-square-kilometer area was not an easy task. Nonetheless, everyone present accepted the task with enthusiasm.
After breakfast, everyone who could participate except for Li Yunsheng, Mo Gang, and Lin Yan’s parents picked up the tools Wen Le distributed and started working together. Li Yan was entrusted to four elderly people, and Huang Yao also joined the measuring team.
Watching everyone start to work, Han Ya and Xiao Wen gathered in the car with others, removed the car’s seats, and set up a small square table and several chairs. In addition to Han Ya’s four people who had been discussing together these past few days, he called two men with experience in civil engineering from the group who came with Lin Yan.
After laying out a large sheet of paper, Lu Jianye and Ren Cheng, the two people with construction experience, began to draw a circle on the paper according to a certain proportion.
“Did you note the proportion?” Han Ya reminded them.
Lu Jianye marked the proportion in the lower left corner of the drawing.
After finishing the circle, the six people stared at it together.
“When can we build such a big base?!” Lin Yan couldn’t hold back his fear and asked after hesitating for a while.
There were only over 40 people in their group, excluding the four elderly people and one child who couldn’t do labor work. Even counting the women, it was impossible to build a base with a diameter of two kilometers in a short period of time!
Upon hearing Lin Yan’s trembling words, Wen Le burst out laughing.
“Brother Lin, let’s plan first. After all, we don’t need such a big space with just us few.” Wen Le kindly suggested.
Han Ya glanced at Lin Yan. He was usually a shrewd person, so why did he say such an unreliable thing now?!
“In the future, the base can’t just be for us few people, right?! Since we’ve started working on it, let’s plan out the overall layout of the future base, so that when other survivors come in, they don’t have to redo the planning.”
Lin Yan nodded, realizing he had made a mistake earlier.
“Will the base be circular when it’s built?” asked Lu Jianye hesitantly. He was originally an architectural designer, and although he had not worked on large-scale regional construction due to his lack of fame and connections, the principles of construction were universal. He could definitely design the overall structure.
Han Ya nodded, explaining that he and Xiao Wen had carefully researched and decided on the circular shape. Although it was rare for buildings to adopt this form, they had considered it for a long time and believed that it was more feasible.
“During the last zombie siege, the city wall was pushed down, and everyone saw it. For the outer wall of the base, the height must be high, and if the thickness is not enough, it can easily be pushed over by external forces. This time, we will build a circular outer wall, which will bear more weight due to the intersection of forces. Thickness is one aspect, and I also want to install steel beams on top of the thickness, diagonally inserted into the wall, which will increase its load-bearing capacity.”
Upon hearing Han Ya’s explanation, the others’ eyes lit up.
“Then let’s plan the accessories needed for the base inside here,” said Lu Jianye eagerly. It was also a challenge for him to undertake such a large project for the first time.
Wen Le took out pen and paper. “First and foremost, the most important thing in the base is housing. Although I have collected a lot of building materials, building high-rise residences in the apocalypse is basically just talk. If an earthquake or something happens, we will be wiped out without zombies attacking us. Bungalows[mfn]Bungalows are small, low-rise houses with a simple layout and typically one floor. They usually have a front porch, a low-pitched roof, and wide eaves. The term “bungalow” originated from the Hindi word “bangala,” which means “of or relating to Bengal.”[/mfn]are relatively the safest, but they take up too much space. The larger the area occupied, the less favorable it is for defense, so I suggest two-story buildings. What do you all think?”
The others thought carefully, and Wen Le’s consideration was reasonable, but…
“How many people do we plan to accommodate in the base with our initial planning?” Lin Yan asked.
Han Ya glanced at Xiao Wen. “Initial estimate is one hundred thousand people.”
“I think we shouldn’t rush to decide on the specific plans for each facility this time. The most important thing is to list the types of facilities needed for our base, and then divide the area according to proportion. Finally, we can design the building forms based on the area occupied.” Lu Jianye suggested.
The others nodded, thinking it was a reasonable plan.
“Residential areas, power supply equipment, heating equipment, perimeter security posts…” Han Ya thought of all the facilities at the X City relief station. “Livestock breeding facilities can also be built within the base, but if we also use the land for cultivation, it will take up too much space.”
As Han Ya listed the categories, Wen Le recorded them quickly while also recalling all the facilities at the B City base.
The B City base used to be the capital of Z Country, and its area was reduced to within the fourth ring road. Important leaders and several key research facilities were arranged within the Forbidden City, and the second ring road was the next most important area, housing mid-level military and government personnel and various mercenary groups. Therefore, the B City base built a wall outside the second ring road that surrounded the entire ring road, with the area inside the wall called the inner city and the area between the second and third ring roads inhabited by general survivors and some small mercenary groups. The farmland, pasture, factories, and other facilities were located on the outermost ring road, the fourth ring. Beyond the fourth ring was the thick wall that served as the outer wall of the entire B City base, and the main line of defense against external dangers.
“Having a clean water source and basic small-scale farmland within the base would be ideal, so that we can at least be self-sufficient in case of being trapped and not starve to death,” Lin Yan added.
Wen Le nodded and continued writing down things, muttering under his breath: power plant, boiler room, residential area, military zone, reservoir, small farmland, pasture…
“Add a warehouse and we should be able to ensure the normal operation of the base,” Xiao Wen looked at what Wen Le had written and suggested.
The others nodded in agreement, realizing that they had covered most of the necessary facilities.
Wen Le hesitated for a moment as he looked at the list he had written down, and then looked up at Xiao Wen.
“What’s on your mind?” Xiao Wen asked.
Wen Le unconsciously tightened the pen in his hand and spoke, “I think we should also leave some space for future laboratories and factories once we have enough personnel. The end of the world is not something that will end quickly, and many essential goods are absolute consumables. We may not feel it yet, but as time passes, these necessary items will become scarcer and scarcer. We must ensure that we can produce them ourselves, and if we can stand firm in the apocalypse in the future, what we produce may become the basis for trade with other bases. And regarding laboratories, we can say that as time passes, we will inevitably have to face the evolution of zombies, the mutation of animals, and the creation of energy.”
Regarding Wen Le’s words, the others fell into silent contemplation. Nowadays, all they could think of was building their base and providing a place for everyone to survive, but they hadn’t thought about the future.
Wen Le’s two suggestions were not comprehensive and could not represent all the future development of the base. However, they did serve as a wake-up call for them. They were now making plans and couldn’t just focus on the present.
“Wen Shao’s words are right. When we can ensure survival, we will face development. This apocalypse has also dealt a blow to all technology. Let’s not talk about whether we need to leave behind the research achievements of our society’s development for our future generations. Just to live better and safer in the apocalypse, we must keep moving forward and seize every opportunity we can,” Han Ya took the paper that Wen Le had recorded and picked up a red pen from the table, emphasizing two words on the paper – “the future.”
Although Wen Le and Han Ya made sense, Lu Jianye thought that the planning of the base was right in front of them, and there were some things they might not be able to think of comprehensively at the moment. So, he hesitated about how to implement the plan…
Wen Le noticed Lu Jianye’s hesitation and leaned forward to the table, pointing to the empty circle on the paper and asking Lu Jianye to draw a small circle inside the larger one.
“Here, this small circle represents the base we’re going to build now. We need to ensure our survival here, of course. Currently, we have too few people, and the area represented by this small circle is also very small. In the Tibetan area, we don’t have to worry about the threat of zombies, so we can build peacefully. However, we need to act quickly. After the second mutation, the weather will become abnormal. It may not be very noticeable now, but in the summer, we won’t be able to stay outdoors for long periods of time in such high temperatures. As for all future plans, we can gradually expand them as the base is built. The reason why I brought up these two points just now is mainly to plan the laboratory in our small base. In the future, the base will expand with the increase of personnel, but the small base we’re building now will always be the center of the future base, the core area.”
Everyone agreed with Wen Le’s words, so they narrowed their vision to the small circle drawn by Lu Jianye.
When planning the base construction, Wen Le referred to the structure of the B city base in the early days of the apocalypse. At that time, it was already one year into the apocalypse, and there were so many experts in the B city base. Their plan was definitely a summary of the opinions of various experts. Wen Le didn’t know the reason for their construction, but it didn’t prevent him from drawing on their achievements.
“Then let’s first determine the facilities we need now in this area. The base will expand in the future, but Wen Shao is right. No matter how big the future base is, the area we’re building now must be the core of the entire base. So we don’t need to consider the future situation when building the facilities here. As the core, there must be a self-contained ecosystem here, including farming, ranching, power generation, heating, drinking water, and even housing. We just need to consider the present.” Han Ya summarized in the end.
Xiao Wen nodded, Han Ya and he had the same idea.
It’s just like the inner city of the B City base. Even if everything outside the second ring is destroyed, the inner city can still guarantee basic self-sufficiency and form a small ecological environment. Their future base also needs to achieve this point, otherwise, once the periphery of the base is destroyed, the entire base will also perish.
Note :
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Thanks for the chapter! Better include the future in their plans. They have the chance of starting from scratch, they can do it right.