Radio

"Red Bull, Coca-Cola, Sprite, Maidong..."

Lin Hao opened the refrigerator in the empty room and put all the drinks inside into the empty backpack on his back. There were also two packs of White Elephant instant noodles and two bottles of mineral water outside it.

"If every room has these, my backpack won't hold them all. I'll have to make a few more trips."

Then Lin Hao noticed a box on the bedside table that required scanning a QR code, and he paused briefly.

Inside the box was Durex Black Gold 001. Scanning the code would unlock it, so it was probably another paid amenity provided by the hostel.

"These are nonrenewable supplies now, too. They'll come in handy eventually, and they don't take up much room."

An inexplicably strange feeling flickered through Lin Hao's heart, and a visually arresting pink scene flashed through his mind. Then he casually struck the transparent acrylic box with his ruler, smashed it to pieces, and took out its contents, stuffing them into his backpack.

After looking around again to make sure there was nothing left in the empty room, Lin Hao was about to head to the next one. But when his gaze swept over a radio alarm clock by the bed, he stopped again.

It was a hotel furnishing, with the time 15:35 displayed on it, along with the letters AM and FM.

"Is this really a radio?"

Although Lin Hao had worked as a code monkey, he had graduated with a degree in electronic information engineering, so he was no stranger to signals. He picked up the radio-like digital clock and began tuning it.

"It really is a radio. But in this godforsaken place, who knows whether it'll give me any clues..."

With internet, electricity, and water cut off everywhere, and everyone scattered in separate residential areas, even having a radio station probably wouldn't help much. Besides, there was the station's range to consider...

"Bzzzt... bzzzt... This is Alaska Base. Welcome to today's broadcast. It has been three years since we arrived in the Abyss. There are fewer and fewer companions around us, and only 142 babies have been born this year.

"Ammunition is also nearly exhausted. The spent casings we retrieve and reuse are becoming increasingly unreliable. Our commanding officer has forbidden carrying firearms during routine exploration of the worlds. Our remaining ammunition must be reserved for defending the base.

"Fortunately, when we first began exploring our first world, we made a name for ourselves with guns and artillery. Now that we've declared neutrality, the natives don't dare invade the Duchy we established. Still, who knows how long this false peace can last? I miss the days when ammunition was plentiful..."

After tuning to an AM frequency, Lin Hao listened to the English broadcast coming from the radio. Thanks to the comprehension and translation granted by the Earth Will, his English listening skills weren't being tested at all!

Alaska Base! They fell into the Abyss three years ago?!

A slight swell of emotion stirred in Lin Hao's heart.

"Did our different population centers enter the Abyss at different times? Is this some American military base in Alaska? They've sorted out their power supply? And started broadcasting?!"

The sky over this fallen region might also have an ionosphere, so reflected radio signals could potentially travel very far.

Judging by the intermittent voices and the buzzing static, reception on this channel wasn't very clear.

The content didn't seem particularly informative, either. It just kept describing the environmental features around Alaska Base and urging survivors to gather there.

"Radio is a fallback means of communication. With skywave reflection, even worldwide coverage is no problem. The Abyss probably isn't spherical, but if it has an ionosphere, reception over ten thousand kilometers away is possible. Who knows how far away they are?"

Lin Hao went to the window and kept moving the radio around to pick up the signal. He noted down the Alaska station's frequency, then switched to FM and began tuning.

AM had a long range, but it was also susceptible to interference and fluctuations in volume.

Given the harsh conditions in the tropical rainforest outside, a distance of ten thousand kilometers would make it practically useless.

But if he could receive an FM broadcast, he could roughly determine that its source was within a few dozen kilometers!

Unlike the Alaska station, which he had found quickly, all Lin Hao got as he tuned through the FM frequencies was background static. His spirits gradually sank.

"Maybe there is one, but it isn't broadcasting yet..."

Just as Lin Hao was about to give up, a different burst of electrical noise sounded, jolting him to attention. Soon afterward, a much clearer voice came through.

"...That covers the situation in World 1. If you've entered the same world, it's best to find a way to establish your identity first. Without a travel permit, you may be arrested and forced into corvée labor. Towns and villages are more lenient, but inspections are stricter in county seats and larger settlements.

"Any gold and silver you've collected will have considerable purchasing power in World 1. If you need assistance, you can come to the Jinkou region in World 1 and seek out our Yanhuang Trade Association..."

There were other settlements within a few dozen kilometers, and they had also gotten a radio station working!

The fact that they had solved the station's power supply problem alone was proof of their capabilities.

At any rate, they were more "developed" than the area he was currently in. He just didn't know how long ago they had fallen here.

Although he had only caught half of it, it seemed to be a university back home. The announcer was constantly encouraging the survivors, sounding very upbeat and spreading positivity and hope.

"...That concludes today's information session. This is Changda Academy Radio. Our University Town has abundant resources. Survivors facing the shrinking protection of the Will can try coming to University Town for shelter. New information is broadcast daily at nine in the morning and three in the afternoon.

"If you don't have a suitable timekeeping device, you can listen to our prerecorded broadcasts, which announce the time at fixed intervals. Next is a prerecorded briefing. Those who haven't heard it can listen for reference..."

Then someone at the station seemed to press something, switching the announcer's live broadcast to a recording.

"It has been four months since we fell into the Abyss. Apart from picking up broadcasts from a few other bases, we have almost completely lost contact with the outside world. However, through the combined efforts of all our faculty and students, along with the other survivors in University Town, we have begun to adapt to the environment here...

"From the information provided by the Alaska station, we know that everyone fell into the Abyss at different times. We cannot even rule out the possibility of survivors who fell decades or even a century ago.

"According to our professors' current deductions, placing us in areas suitable for living must have taken a tremendous effort on the Earth Will's part. We must center our efforts around the Earth Will and provide it with as much wish power as possible so it can protect us..."

Lin Hao listened carefully to the following section and confirmed the source of the broadcast.

It was a Project 211 university, along with several other nearby schools, shops, malls, and hospitals in University Town. Using the schools' equipment, solar power systems, and generators, they had managed to barely keep

the radio station operating.

Their settlement was considerably larger than his own, and its situation was much better.

However, according to the broadcast, their current power output could only support a few basic needs. With their available personnel, making a few things from existing materials-or even handcrafting a small number of firearms-was no problem.

But completing the entire chain, from prospecting, mining, and smelting to industrial manufacturing, would probably require at least a decade just to restore a fraction of their former capabilities!

And that was under ideal conditions!

Their workforce was too scattered and too small, they knew nothing about nearby mineral deposits, and they also had to devote enormous effort to survival and food.

After all, even the first Industrial Revolution had required a large, concentrated workforce, known mineral deposits, and an entire nation operating as a system to make it work.

The population of a single university town might not even provide enough miners.

Not to mention that they first had to find ways to maintain basic supplies of food and daily necessities.

Without solving the problem of survival, everything else was just empty talk!

Even with a complete collection of books, relevant knowledge, and reasonably capable personnel, turning all of that into physical reality was far too difficult.

In the broadcast's own words, "The items around you now may be the most technologically advanced things you'll have for a very long time. We hope you'll treasure them."

Aside from that, the broadcast's insistence on taking the restoration of the Earth Will's power seriously also caught Lin Hao's attention.

"In the universe, the range of environments suitable for human life is extremely narrow. Even 'slight' fluctuations in temperature or air quality can easily wipe us out. We only have a habitable environment thanks to the Earth Will's protection, so everyone must do their best to find and turn in items containing wish power."

Lin Hao had originally thought this godforsaken environment was already terrible, but after listening to the broadcast, he realized that their current surroundings really were quite decent...

If the Earth Will hadn't taken care of the biggest problems, even his cheat would have been meaningless!

"The world connected to University Town's Teleportation Point is an ancient world called 'Great Qi.' They've already gained an initial foothold there. It's completely different from Alaska Base's starting world.

"I don't know whether ours is the same, but I might as well note down some of the basics first..."

Holding the radio and listening to its contents, Lin Hao resumed his card-unlocking operation.

So far, there didn't seem to be any sign of living people on the twenty-fifth floor...