Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Brother, how much are these stones?” Zhang Bei swallowed.
“Ah? You want this lousy stone? Take it if you want it.” The other party immediately replied.
Zhang Bei thought for a moment and exchanged a bottle of water and a packet of instant noodles.
“Thank you, thank you. You’re really a good person!” The other party quickly thanked him and confirmed the transaction.
Zhang Bei opened the bag of the stones and took them out to smell them.
“Yes, this is limestone.” Zhang Bei was extremely excited.
Zhang Bei could not be blamed for being excited. Not many would take note of this thing. One year when he returned to his hometown, an old man told him.
And lime could be used to make binding agents for sand and gravels.
The limestone needed to be burned with fire to produce the lime, so Zhang Bei arranged all the paper boxes, lit the fire with the flame stick, and threw the stones in.
“Lime is a good thing.” Zhang Bei looked at the flames, and heat waves hit his face.
However, it would take a long time to burn the limestone, so Zhang Bei mixed the gravels and sand together first.
Zhang Bei opened two bags of sand and gravel and poured them on the ground. Seeing some large and well-proportioned stones, he picked them out.
“It’s not easy to stick these stones together. I might as well pick them out and use them for other purposes.”
Zhang Bei poured out sand and gravel and picked the larger stones.
About two hours had passed. On Zhang Bei’s left hand was fine sand and gravel, and on his right was stones.
Zhang Bei stood up and stomped his numb feet.
Then, he shoveled the mud that he had stirred earlier into the sand and gravel.
Zhang Bei rolled up his sleeves, picked up the shovel, and began to mix the mud with the sand and gravel evenly.
After about half an hour, Zhang Bei panted as he looked at the mixture of sand, gravel, and mud in front of him. He was extremely satisfied.
“The lime is almost ready.” Zhang Bei walked to the mostly burnt limestones.
The large stones, after being burnt by the high temperature of the fire, had mostly turned into grayish-black powder.
Zhang Bei scooped up a handful of powder and poured it into the mixture of sand, gravel, and mud that he had stirred earlier.
“It doesn’t seem to be enough.” Zhang Bei shoveled another handful of powder in.
Zhang Bei ran back and forth three or four times. Finally, when he was stirring the mixture of sand, mud, and gravel, he felt a relatively obvious resistance.
“Success!” Zhang Bei grinned.
Then, he put the mixture on a wooden board and waited for it to solidify.
Zhang Bei washed his hands and poured water on the bags containing the sand and gravel. After the bags were wet, he covered it with the mixture.
“It won’t dry up like this.” Zhang Bei clapped his hands.
Zhang Bei suddenly remembered that there was a large iron shelf in the greenhouse, so he went in and took it out.
“If I can break this, it should be able to be used as bars.” Zhang Bei rubbed his chin.
“Let’s see if it can be removed first.” Zhang Bei looked at the connection point of the iron shelf and began to look for a way to disassemble it.
He realized that this shelf was actually made mostly with mortise-and-tenon technique. The joints were connected to each other and did not have many welded parts.
Zhang Bei began to dismantle this shelf.
First was the top layer. Zhang Bei first removed the partition, then pulled the supporting iron rod out of the large iron rod and placed it to the side.
The second level was the same. First, he drew the partition, then drew the large iron rod.
When he got to the last level, Zhang Bei realized that the bottom was welded.
Therefore, Zhang Bei took out a hoe from the greenhouse and knocked on the welding point. Finally, he dismantled the entire shelf.
Zhang Bei counted. There were ten iron partitions and twenty iron rods of various thicknesses.
After dismantling the shelf, the mixture was about to condense. Therefore, Zhang Bei first moved it with his hand. As soon as he lifted it, his waist sank and he almost fell to the ground.
Zhang Bei quickly put it down and smashed it with a stone.
After smashing for a long time, there were no cracks on the mixing board at all. There was not even a scratch.
Zhang Bei picked up the hoe again and threw it at the same spot.
When it hit the 68th time, there was a crack. Zhang Bei was exhausted.
“As long as the same point is not struck continuously, it shouldn’t be a problem for it to withstand a meteor shower.” Zhang Bei put down the hoe.
“Put the iron rods in first.” Zhang Bei dug a hole from the bottom of the tent where the rope was connected. He inserted an iron rod into each of the four corners of the tent, and even the storage room was inserted with iron rods.
The surroundings of the window were sealed, so after Zhang Bei inserted the iron rods, he only needed to pour the mud in through the rods.
After securing the rods, Zhang Bei began to pour the mixture into the tent’s interlayer.
As he did not have any large tools, Zhang Bei could only use the shovel to fill the gap.
When it was almost done, Zhang Bei’s arms felt numb.
“It’ll be done soon.” Zhang Bei gritted his teeth and mixed another shovelful of mud mixture.
“It’s finally finished.” After the last shovelful of mud entered, Zhang Bei immediately sat on the ground and panted heavily.
His hands were filled with blisters, and some of them were already popped. Blood covered his hands.
His arms had also swelled up to twice its size, and it was as if he could see the veins under his skin jumping violently.
Zhang Bei wanted to stand up and drink some water, but realized that he couldn’t move anymore, so he just lay on the ground and waited for the concrete to dry.
At some point in time, Zhang Bei fell asleep. When he woke up, the swelling on his arm had subsided and the wounds on his palm had already formed scabs.
Zhang Bei swayed as he stood up and touched the tent.
“It looks like it’s hard set.” Zhang Bei knocked on it and felt a rough sensation on his hand.
Walking into the tent, he clearly felt that the temperature inside was much lower than outside.
He looked at the time table that he had carved with a stone and calculated. It was probably going to be night again.
“What kind of surprise will there be tonight?” Zhang Bei put down the paper in his hand helplessly.
“But with the tent reinforced by concrete, the meteors should be harmless to me,” Zhang Bei thought to himself, “But there’s really not much water and food left. I have to continue searching for supplies.”
Zhang Bei stood up and walked out of the tent.
“There are about two bags of sand and gravel, and half a bag of lime.” Zhang Bei picked up the five iron rods on the ground.
“Put away these materials first. They’ll definitely be useful.” Zhang Bei moved them to the side of the tent.
Suddenly, the detector emitted a white light, startling Zhang Bei who was moving things.
“White…” Zhang Bei scratched his head and sent his consciousness into the detector..