A Parking Lot Overgrown with Grass

After thinking it over for a long time, Chu Guang still failed to come up with an answer.

Although the principle behind a generator was simple—something even middle school students knew, nothing more than "a conductor cutting magnetic field lines"—turning that sentence into a 10 kW generator was far from simple.

When he asked Baidu, all it gave him were purchase links.

Heh.

If I could shop online, would I need you to tell me what to buy?

Useless!

After quite a bit of effort, Chu Guang finally found some reliable tutorials. But considering the current shortage of supplies, none of the information was actually useful.

Soon, it was exactly six o'clock.

Accompanied by the sound of the pod doors opening, the four players woke up.

"I'll study it later."

Chu Guang lowered his legs from the desk, adjusted his appearance in a scavenged mirror, and calmly walked into the room next door.

When he entered, the four players were checking their respective attributes on the cultivation pod displays.

"Sure enough, my genetic sequence is the Strength type... I started with 7 points of Strength, but only 3 points of Intelligence? I don't feel stupid, though."

"That sentence didn't sound very smart... By the way, your beard grew way too fast."

Old White's beard was indeed rather outrageous.

Yesterday, it had only been stubble. Today, it was already as long as a fingernail.

"I don't know what's going on either. Do they have razors here?"

"Obviously not. Why don't you try using an axe?"

"Get lost."

"By the way, I'm actually the Agility type. I thought I'd be Intelligence." Fang Chang pinched his chin and fell into thought, as though considering something.

"I'm Intelligence." Gale gave a wry smile and raised a hand. "Is 3 points of Strength a little too low? And 7 points of Intelligence... I don't feel any smarter either."

"I'm Perception type. What's the use of the Perception attribute? Can it predict the future?" Ye Shi was a little depressed.

Compared to such an ambiguous attribute, he would rather have performed better in Strength or Agility.

Even Constitution would have been fine. At least he could be a tank.

"It should be an instinct for danger. Did you forget how you dodged that mutant's ambush yesterday?" Fang Chang said thoughtfully. "Used well, this attribute might be pretty broken... What a waste in your hands."

"Get lost."

"Ahem."

Chu Guang, who had entered the room, coughed, interrupting the players' conversation.

Perhaps because he had spoken with them last night as the planner about affinity, the way the four players looked at him had changed.

For the sake of the players' immersion, Chu Guang decided to maintain his imposing image and continued sternly.

"Time is tight, so I'll keep this brief."

"The work we need to do is piled as high as a mountain, but we don't have much time. To avoid affecting our future plans, we must complete our surface outpost before winter arrives."

"Food, drinking water, fuel... We need to stockpile all of these, as well as build defenses and surface housing."

"I've organized all the work that needs to be done into a schedule. You can check it on the notice board outside the sanatorium."

The players' eyes lit up, eager expressions appearing on their faces.

Was the quest system finally complete?

"That's the basic situation. Do you have any questions? If not, we'll head out."

"W-Wait, Administrator!"

"Speak."

Ye Shi raised his hand, his face flushed red.

"E-Excuse me, where's the restroom?"

The restroom.

That really was a problem.

The B1 level of Vault 404 was more like a reception area. Although it had compartments for cultivation pods, it contained no living facilities at all.

Watching the players rush out of the sanatorium the moment they reached the surface, Chu Guang suddenly realized that as more players poured in, food and drink would not be the only problem. Taking a dump would soon become a major issue too.

There were public restrooms on Bette Street, where human and animal waste was collected. Supposedly, it was sold to the nearby Brown Farm.

Since coming to the sanatorium in Wetland Park, Chu Guang had always just found a safe spot in the woods to relieve himself. He had never considered the issue of a hundred people needing to pee and poop.

Perhaps they had eaten something bad, because all four players were limping when they returned.

"Not having a latrine is fucking miserable."

"There wasn't even any paper. I wiped with leaves... Almost scraped myself bloody."

"+1."

"Fuck, why does it feel like it's burning... Do you guys feel it too?"

"No."

"Did you wipe your ass with nettle leaves...?"

"W-What are nettle leaves?"

"Nothing. Just bear with it. It'll pass."

"???"

Chu Guang listened from the side with an awkward expression.

He seemed to have forgotten to tell these guys that they could use moss to wipe themselves. That was also a little bit of knowledge he had learned from the survivors on Bette Street.

But they did not seem to have given him a chance to speak.

Just endure it.

Everyone went through this.

"Administrator," Fang Chang said respectfully as he limped up to Chu Guang, "I propose that we build a restroom."

Ye Shi: "Seconded!"

Old White: "I agree too. And once we have a restroom, we can dig a large pit to collect the waste, mix in plant ash and wood chips for composting, then let aerobic bacteria and fungi break down the organic matter and generate heat, killing pathogenic microorganisms and pathogens in the feces to make fertilizer."

Fang Chang: "Exactly. And not only can we produce fertilizer, we can also seal some of the feces and organic debris together, allowing anaerobic bacteria to convert it into combustible methane! That's how the biogas pits back in my hometown worked. The biogas they produced could provide lighting and even generate electricity."

"That's a good idea. We can adopt it." Chu Guang nodded approvingly.

Biogas.

He had been so worried about survival that he had forgotten about it.

As he recalled, although Bette Street did not have a biogas pit, the neighboring Brown Farm did.

Seeing approval on the Administrator's face, the four players became even more energized and began pooling their ideas.

Building a restroom was not difficult. Even building a biogas pit was not particularly difficult. The only trouble was finding materials for sealing it and storing the gas.

Fortunately, this wasteland lacked everything except plastic.

Especially beverage bottles and garbage bags.

Since burning them produced toxic fumes, few survivors burned the stuff. At most, they used it as kindling.

If they searched carefully, they should be able to find plenty in the nearby suburbs.

Thus, another scavenging quest appeared on the task board—collect plastic bags, bottles, and containers.

"Administrator, I have an idea about the generator." Gale, who had not spoken until then, suddenly said.

Chu Guang looked at him.

"Let's hear it."

Gale said,

"Most cars have onboard generators. I'd like to know whether there are any roads nearby? Or a parking lot would work too. If we can find cars, this problem should be easy to solve."

Chu Guang said,

"Cars aren't hard to find. There's a parking lot near the Wetland Park where we are, but I've checked the cars there. There's nothing worth salvaging."

"I want to try," Gale said unwillingly. "What if we find a usable generator? Then our surface outpost can have electricity!"

"Go ahead, then. But I can't let you go alone." Chu Guang glanced at the players before him, his gaze settling on Ye Shi. "You'll go with Gale and check out the parking lot."

Ye Shi said eagerly,

"Yes!"

Ye Shi's genetic sequence was Perception type, and his instincts for danger could come in handy.

Before they set out, Chu Guang had them bring two short grass-cutting knives. When facing mutants, those were more useful than clumsy axes.

Besides that, Chu Guang repeatedly warned them that if they encountered mutants, they must avoid fighting. If they could run, they should run.

But if the other side had already spotted them and showed clear hostility, they absolutely must not turn their backs on the enemy.

Doing so was no different from suicide...

With a map of Wetland Park and a simple compass, Gale led Ye Shi away from the sanatorium.

Old White and Fang Chang, who remained behind, looked at Chu Guang and asked,

"Administrator, should we keep chopping trees now, or...?"

Chu Guang looked around and counted the dozens of untreated logs on the ground.

"No tree-chopping today. We need to solve the restroom issue first... Here, go get shovels and axes. I'll teach you how to do it."

The parking lot was southeast of the sanatorium.

It had been left unattended for two hundred years.

Nature had completely swallowed this place.

Tree roots had broken through the hard concrete ground. Shrubs and wild grass grew everywhere, already reaching knee height.

Rust-stained vehicles were covered in vines. Through shattered windows, they could even see moss creeping across the seats and air-conditioning vents.

Seeing all this, Gale finally understood what the Administrator had meant.

There truly was nothing worth salvaging here anymore.

Ye Shi wore the same troubled expression.

With things in this state, what kind of generator could they possibly find?

"Should we go back?"

Gale fell silent for a moment, then stubbornly stepped forward.

"We're already here."

Ye Shi shrugged and followed him.

After knowing this online friend for so many years, Ye Shi's strongest impression of him had always been his stubbornness. He had no idea what Gale did in real life.

Many cars in the parking lot had hoods rusted shut, making them impossible to open. Gale searched around for a long while before finding one whose hood could barely be lifted.

But once he opened it, he froze.

Was this...

An engine?

"What's wrong?" Ye Shi leaned over and asked.

"It looks like an electric motor... but maybe it isn't." Gale frowned deeply. "Do you know anything about cars?"

"I haven't even gotten a driver's license. How would I know?" Ye Shi wiped away sweat. "Haven't you been working for years? You never bought a car?"

"I live in company housing. I only have a bicycle."

Still unwilling to give up, Gale continued rummaging under the hood. He even went around to the rear of the car and lay beneath it... checking every place he could.

Then suddenly, his hand stopped.

Noticing the expression on his face, Ye Shi asked,

"What now?"

"This is strange... I can't find the power source." Gale wiped muddy water from his face, frowned, and pondered for a long while. "I can roughly identify the engine, but... I can't find the power source."

"Could it have been removed?" Ye Shi offered one possibility. "After all, this has been a wasteland for two hundred years. It would be normal for survivors to have come through here, right?"

"That possibility can't be ruled out."

Out of habit, he closed the hood. Looking at the wrecked cars filling the parking lot, Gale felt conflicted.

There was actually another possibility.

According to the game's background setting, pre-war technology had been highly advanced. Perhaps it had reached the point where remote power sources could replace fixed ones.

But neither possibility was good news for him.

It seemed unlikely now that they could scavenge a generator from these wrecked cars...

Meanwhile.

Construction of the restroom had made new progress.

Under Chu Guang's direction, Old White and Fang Chang first dug a large pit in the open space outside the sanatorium, two meters wide and three meters long—deep enough to bury a person. Then they planted shortened logs around the pit as walls and lined the inside with broken stones and leaves.

Once the cesspit was finished, the restroom itself was much simpler.

Chu Guang had the two men build two simple sheds beside the cesspit, then connect them to the pit with flexible plastic tubing removed from the sanatorium's outer wall.

With that, a simple restroom was complete.

"Feces and urine need to be stored separately. Mixing them together makes sludge. And urine is sterile, so it can be used directly to water crops... But this will do for today." Looking at the fruits of their morning's labor, Chu Guang nodded approvingly.

Leaning on their shovels and gasping for breath, Old White and Fang Chang exchanged helpless looks.

It was supposedly a one-hundred-percent realistic virtual reality game, but did it really need to be this realistic?

"Bathing is another problem... There's a water source within a kilometer, but there are quite a few mutants near it. You'll need to be especially careful when collecting water."

They could build a bathhouse later.

Bad smells were a minor issue. Getting sick would be a major problem.

"Administrator." Fang Chang raised a hand.

Chu Guang looked at him.

"What is it?"

"I think we should consider the safety issue," Fang Chang said. "Judging from the mutant creature we encountered yesterday, this wasteland isn't safe."

No kidding.

You needed to say that?

"I know, but hygiene can't be overlooked either. The shelter doesn't have enough medicine in reserve. If an infectious disease breaks out, the consequences will be serious."

The safety issue was actually less urgent. The mutant creatures in Wetland Park were less active than those in the city, and few survivors came around here. Even if danger arose, they could always hide in the shelter.

The hygiene of more than a hundred people, on the other hand, was a major problem.

Every household on Bette Street used iron buckets to store water, leaving them on their rooftops to heat and disinfect it. They washed themselves every two or three days. It wasn't because the people there were particularly particular about cleanliness—it was because anyone who smelled too bad would really get thrown out.

Fang Chang and Old White exchanged glances.

Could it be that this Administrator's AI settings included germophobia?

They would have to watch out for that in the future.

"Speaking of which... there's something I've been wanting to ask. Why doesn't such a large shelter have any stockpiled supplies at all?" Old White cut in. "And we've always been on the B1 level. What about the other floors?"

"The other floors aren't open for now. They'll be opened later."

Chu Guang didn't explain why. He merely stated the facts.

The two players were curious, but seeing that they couldn't get an answer, they didn't press the issue. They simply treated it as part of the setting.

Just then, Ye Shi and Gale returned from their exploration.

Seeing Gale covered in mud, Chu Guang asked,

"How was it? Did you find a generator?"

"No, but it wasn't a total loss."

As he spoke, Gale opened a plastic bag he had picked up from who knew which trash can. It was filled with blue mushrooms.

The mushrooms were small, only about as long as an index finger. Their surfaces were covered in tiny, translucent hairs, and rainbow-like iridescence shimmered along their grain.

Chu Guang took one look, and surprise appeared on his face.

"Where did you find this thing?"

With a faint look of pride on his face, Gale gave an honest report.

"There's a concrete drainage pipe near the parking lot, about two people tall. A lot of these mushrooms were growing inside. I wasn't sure whether they were edible, so I picked some and brought them back."

At first, he had actually wanted to take a bite. But the game was just too realistic, and after hesitating for a long time, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"It's called the blue parasol mushroom. Its scientific name is the 'Blue Angel.' I've heard that anyone who eats it can see a real angel within an hour."

"Don't doubt it. Unless you're a mutant immune to every poison, this thing definitely isn't edible."