Apocalypse Survival: Starting with a Shelter

Over 300 tons of steel was not something Su Wu could casually obtain.

Even with a small high-temperature furnace running 24/7, it would take ten days or more to smelt that much steel. Yet now, he could acquire it simply by giving someone a ride to an official shelter. There was no reason to refuse.

He delegated further communication with Liu Haoyang to Chen Xin, who was in the bedroom accompanying her sister, and began planning the next steps for development.

Currently, Su Wu commanded a mining cluster primarily composed of excavators. Once the road to the small limestone quarry was completed, the cluster would transition into an open-pit mining team to extract limestone.

To save on costs and production space, the cement production equipment would also be relocated to the quarry, where a micro cement plant would be established on-site. This essentially meant setting up a new base and production hub.

However, when it came to production, energy was always the most critical issue.

Both the operation of the mining cluster and cement production itself required a significant amount of electricity, not to mention coal. A single electric power transport vehicle would be insufficient to keep all the equipment running continuously.

"Once the cement production equipment is ready, I'll make another electric power transport vehicle to manage for now," Su Wu decided.

In the early stages, the Lime Shelter's thermal generator would suffice to power the quarry operations. The proximity of the quarry meant that alternating two electric power transport vehicles would largely resolve the power issue.

However, once the cement plant was operational, this temporary arrangement would no longer suffice. Su Wu needed to decide whether to install two geothermal generators at the site or relocate a thermal generator from the Lime Shelter.

The choice left him hesitant.

From a safety perspective, the small limestone quarry was a temporary, rudimentary outpost focused on open-pit mining. Its proven reserves were limited, and once depleted, the site would lose its value.

Thus, it couldn't be built to the standards of a permanent underground shelter. At most, Su Wu planned to construct a small underground room, a surface-level bunker, or perhaps a guard tower.

In such a setup, installing geothermal generators was an expensive gamble. Manufacturing and installing one geothermal generator required 10 survival points, while deploying the extreme drilling machine and laying steam conduits with nanomaterials would cost an additional 2 points in materials.

This heavy investment came with a lengthy payback period, making it a high-stakes bet.

Using a thermal generator, on the other hand, offered a simpler and less costly solution. Su Wu's CNC machines and 3D printers could manufacture thermal generators with ease, ensuring that even if one were damaged, it wouldn't be a significant setback.

However, thermal generators consumed large amounts of coal or diesel. Each day of operation would significantly deplete Su Wu's limited fuel reserves. With the upcoming cement production line also requiring substantial coal, even the Lime Shelter's 10,000-ton coal reserve would struggle to meet demand.

Burning coal for electricity in such circumstances felt wasteful and extravagant to Su Wu.

After some deliberation, Su Wu couldn't resist the allure of generating "free" electricity every day. He decided to install two geothermal generators at the site.

"A little gamble won't hurt. As long as I recover the initial investment, everything after that is pure profit."

Once built, geothermal generators would offer a steady stream of electricity indefinitely. Although "indefinitely" in a world plagued by natural disasters was uncertain, it was worth the risk.

Even so, the cost was undeniably steep. Each geothermal generator required 10 survival points, equivalent to building a versatile engineering robot. To date, Su Wu had only built three of those robots.

With the decision made, Su Wu also prioritized enhancing the quarry's security. The geothermal generators would be installed in an underground room beneath the bunker to protect them from most environmental threats.

The bunker itself would need to be equipped with weapons to deter potential raiders. Despite the harsh environment outside, there would always be those willing to brave the surface in protective suits and vehicles.

Additionally, a comprehensive monitoring network would need to be set up around the quarry, along with an emergency evacuation plan.

If an overwhelming disaster threatened the site, the geothermal generators would be disassembled and transported back to the farmhouse ruins as quickly as possible.

"Everything else can be abandoned, but the geothermal generators must be salvaged if possible," Su Wu concluded, solidifying his emergency evacuation strategy.

With the development path for the small limestone quarry decided, Su Wu turned his attention to the manufacturing center's production queue.

Currently, two transport vehicles were under construction. Next in line were the cement production equipment, another electric power transport vehicle, the remaining vehicles for the transport cluster, and two geothermal generators for the bunker base.

The tasks were enough to keep the manufacturing center running at full capacity for three to five days.

After some thought, Su Wu adjusted the production queue, moving the transport cluster vehicles to the end and increasing the number of geothermal generators from two to four.

Although the transport cluster wouldn't reach full capacity with just one existing transport vehicle and two new ones, the setup was still functional. At worst, the vehicles would need to make more trips.

Geothermal generators, however, provided long-term, stable returns. Once committed to building them, it was better to expedite their production.

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