Resources! A New Way to Generate Power (First Update)

[Log]: Random level 1 resources have been generated near the main shelter, "Underground Shelter." Please access the new features to view them.

"The Level 1 Resource Card has unlocked a new function?"

Su Mo stared in astonishment at the new feature that slowly appeared above the Game Panel.

When I first saw the Game Panel, there were only five function options: attributes, chat, trade, crafting, and items.

But now, in the final section, new major categories have finally emerged.

Resource!

Unlike other small features like the Monster Compendium, the resource feature is located at the top of the Game Panel, on par with the other five options!

This also highlights the importance of resource options in the Game Panel settings.

Does this mean that in the future, everyone will have to revolve around resources?

"What is the purpose of this alien race's arrival?"

Kobolds, lion-men, and rat-men I've never seen before, and even other fantastical creatures that others have mentioned in world chat.

These creatures did not arrive with the same survival goals as humans.

Brutal tribal wars, and the regular baptism of natural disasters in the wasteland—what is it about this land that attracts these fantastical creatures to their deaths one after another?

Worrying about things that are unlikely to happen is not Su Mo's style.

When the sky falls, there are always tall people to hold it up.

Shaking his head, Su Mo recorded these thoughts, which were not relevant to his current stage of thinking, in a private message. With a sense of relief, he completely let go of his worries about the future.

The thought manifests as an illusory finger, tapping on the resource function.

A panel, distinct from other game functions, popped up.

This panel is strange; instead of simply describing the amount of resources in text, it's a topographical map that can be swiped with your finger using your mind.

The topographic map is flat and not very large at the moment, which matches the 7.5-kilometer size mentioned in the Game Panel.

On the topographic map, Su Mo saw the changes in terrain, and the resource function thoughtfully marked the resources within the current shelter area.

"Hmm, this yellow area must refer to the Sulfur Mine?"

There is a yellow marker on the ground near the Underground Shelter. As Su Mo points down, the terrain map suddenly turns into 3D mode.

Now, the entire Sulfur Mine was revealed, and an attribute panel appeared next to it.

[Sulfur Mine (Grade II)]

[Vein Status]: Extensive mining has been carried out, with a small amount of remaining ore. [Mining Value]: Half a star (Peak: One and a half stars)

[Special Ability]: None (Unlocked at 2 stars)

[Mining Difficulty]: Extremely Low [Remaining Reserves]: Twenty-six tons. The click-to-switch-view function allows Su Mo to have a great time switching between 2D and 3D modes.

The Sulfur Mine was originally supposed to be a square cube stored underground, but after mining, it has become an extremely irregular shape.

It is unknown what disasters occurred afterward, but the Sulfur Mine is now compressed into a triangle shape.

The deeper you go, the more Sulfur Mine reserves you find.

"Huh, what resource did I just add using the random resource card?"

After searching around, Su Mo couldn't find out what good stuff had been added during the earthquake.

However, in the upper right corner, Su Mo saw a small trumpet-shaped object.

After clicking in, a few seconds later, with a pleasant surprise, Su Mo returned to the initial interface and switched from 2D to 3D, scrolling down continuously.

Sure enough, right below the center of the Underground Shelter, a mysterious substance appeared that seemed to be slowly flowing.

These substances appeared invisible and colorless, with only a slight pale yellow mixed in. It was because of their movement that Su Mo missed this place when he first looked at it.

"What a strange feeling. Is this water? Or gas?"

The moment the thought arose, the mental hand swiftly grasped the strange substance and kneaded it, while simultaneously a message appeared.

Geothermal Resource (High Temperature and High Pressure Steam) - Level 1

[Vein Status]: Complete, has not been mined yet, in its prime.

[Mining Value]: Two stars (Peak: Two stars)

[Special Ability]: I'm going to crack open! (When reserves are above 50%, the vein will recover 0.2% of its reserves every natural day. If reserves drop below 50%, the ability disappears.) [Mining Difficulty]: High

[Remaining Reserves]: 500 tons

"Geothermal Resource? Or High Temperature and High Pressure Steam? Why does that sound so familiar?"

Muttering this frequently heard term, Su Mo tried hard to recall where he had seen it before.

TikTok? Bilibili? Hupu?

When recalling an event, Su Mo likes to start from the very beginning, using the initial memory point to bring out the rest of the memories.

"It seems so, thanks for the invitation? Yes! It's Zhihu!"

The thought of Zhihu gradually connected Su Mo's mind, and the flow of information surged out like a geyser.

When I first saw the Geothermal Resource," it wasn't in a specific context; rather, it came from a topic that was already being hotly debated.

Su Mo's memory of the issue at the time is vague, but he vaguely remembers that it was about the principles of nuclear power plants.

Nuclear power plants generate electricity using nuclear energy.

The core equipment is the nuclear reactor, which heats water to produce steam and converts nuclear fission energy into thermal energy.

Steam pressure drives the turbine to rotate, converting thermal energy into mechanical energy. The turbine then drives the generator to rotate, converting the mechanical energy into electrical energy.

Therefore, such behavior of "burning boilers" will naturally not be accepted by some "vast" netizens.

At the time, some people criticized it, saying that a nuclear power plant would use such a "low" method to generate electricity? Isn't that ridiculous?

Sure enough, not long after, a big shot posted a theory below and proposed a currently successfully explored power generation method, namely Geothermal Resource generation, to support his claim.

As coal and oil mining became increasingly important in the 21st century, and with technology facing bottlenecks and unable to advance to "Controlled Nuclear Fusion," the focus of exploration shifted to how to utilize new, recyclable resources.

Among all resources, Geothermal Resource have naturally come into everyone's view, and due to their high energy efficiency, they have been gradually promoted and developed rapidly.

In some areas with abundant Geothermal Resource, they have been fully utilized for heating, although the effect is less than satisfactory, but the cost is low.

As for geothermal power generation, the first step is to convert thermal energy into kinetic energy, and then the kinetic energy is converted into electrical energy.

There are three main types of Geothermal Resource used for power generation: Hydrothermal Resource, Geopressured Resource, and Enhanced Geothermal System Resource. The latter two did not improve even before the time travel, while only the first type, Hydrothermal Resource, gave rise to a complete Technology Tree.

For underground hot water power generation, steam and water must first be separated. The water must be drained so that the steam can enter the turbine to do work. This system is called Flash Steam System.

Among these, geothermal steam power generation is the simplest because geothermal steam is both the heat carrier and the working fluid, thus eliminating this step.

The renowned XZ Yangbajing Geothermal Power Station has been in operation for over 40 years, running for more than 6,000 hours annually and generating an average of over 120 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.

This fully demonstrates the advantages of this resource.

"Geothermal Resource are great, but it's too difficult to extract them for power generation at this stage!" Watching the mischievous wisp of steam darting around in his mental hand with longing, a sense of helplessness welled up in Su Mo's heart.

The deeper underground, the higher the temperature, but the burial depth of the "heat source" is directly related to the development cost.

The key to utilizing geothermal technology is drilling and water injection, and drilling costs are a significant limiting factor.

In addition to the high technical requirements of drilling depth, topography also has a significant impact on the selection of well sites.

With the system's help, reaching this geothermal steam source, which is about five kilometers underground, is not a problem, but the Survival Points consumed are not something we can afford at this stage.

Of course, most people have no idea what it would cost to drill a 5-kilometer-long well.

Huaxia has drilled over 5,000 wells, currently only located in northern Tarim, and the cost of a single well is calculated in the hundreds of millions of yuan.

This cost is still due to the presence of thousands of meters thick salt rock strata in the area. If these generally thousands of meters thick "butter-soft salt rock" were replaced with hard rock, the cost would increase several times over.

Walking over to the generator set, Su Mo tried to summon the generator's attributes. This time, sure enough, the generator set showed a new upgrade path.

Diesel Generator

Efficiency: 300kW (300 kWh at full load)

Fuel consumption: 230 grams per kilowatt-hour (82 L/h at full load)

Description: A Diesel Generator manufactured by Wuxi Siemens. The circuit is in good working order and can be used normally at present. The loss is almost negligible.

Upgrade Option 1: Replace the generator's core components to enhance power supply efficiency and reduce power consumption. Requires 1680 Survival Points.

Upgrade Option 2: Change the generator's operation method to Biomass Power Generation to enhance conversion efficiency and reduce path losses. Requires 6500 Survival Points.

Upgrade Option 3: Drill a well five kilometers underground, change the generator's operating mode to Geothermal Resource generator set, significantly improving generator efficiency. Requires 36,800 Survival Points.

"Good heavens, am I out of my mind? With 36,000 Survival Points, I'm going to upgrade to geothermal power generation? Can't I just upgrade to a more advanced Youneng Generator?"

When Su Mo saw that the Survival Points given by the system exceeded four digits, reaching five digits, and that the first digit was 3, he was stunned for quite a while.

Even if you saved up all the Survival Points for a year without spending a single penny, you probably wouldn't have enough.

"Sigh, if only we could add materials to these wells and get a discount!"

"Um?"

As he sighed, a bold idea suddenly popped into Su Mo's mind.

Based on the difficulty of the upgrade, these expenses must have been spent on drilling the well, but Su Mo remembered the costs incurred in opening the escape route.

The cost of creating something from nothing becomes terrifying, but when digging holes, this cost is reduced without limit.

After trying to open the materials list in the third upgrade path and taking a look, Su Mo exclaimed, "I'm so happy!"

Of the required materials, 5,000 units of iron ore are needed, with one unit costing 3 Survival Points, and 2,000 units of Copper Mine are needed, with one unit costing 5 Survival Points.

Ignoring these factors, providing one generator set can reduce the cost by 500 points, with a maximum of 6 generators.

Providing a standard drill bit reduces costs by 500 points, while providing a Diamond Drill Bit reduces costs by 2000 points! As for upgrading to a higher quality drill bit, costs can be reduced by up to 4500 points as the quality increases.

In the best-case scenario, if all these reductions can be accumulated, the cost of upgrading the generator set will be reduced to 4300 points.

If I can find some completely unheard-of items to add, the final Survival Points needed will be "2000 points! With just 2000 points, I can have a generator that produces at least 350 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day, and because of my special ability, as long as I stop it on time or upgrade its level, it's equivalent to..."

"Perpetual motion machine!"

Slowly uttering the three words only amateur scientists would utter, Su Mo's gaze burned as he looked at the resource card in his Storage Space.

"Iron ore."

"Copper Mine."

"I still have three more, and I even have hundreds of treasure chests! There's a real chance I'll get it!"

Thank you all for your votes and tips! I am deeply grateful!