Cave Refuge-Chapter 137 - 136 Approaching Disaster_1

Before the natural disaster occurred, the first thing everyone thought of to cool down in the summer was to stay in an air-conditioned room. Air conditioning was once considered one of the greatest inventions.

However, similar cooling methods existed in ancient times. One measure of a family’s heritage, one of the standards by which it could be called a noble family, was whether or not it had an Ice Storage Room.

The most common method of cooling in ancient times was to collect ice blocks in winter and store them in underground ice storage rooms, to be used in the summer.

Before air conditioning became widespread, many places still relied on ice for cooling in the summer. However, by then, people had discovered the use of saltpeter, so there was no need to collect ice in winter.

The supplies that Dong Tianyu was planning to ’contribute’ this time were saltpeter. Unlike other supplies, saltpeter was consumable; once used, it was gone. Moreover, once it entered the public warehouse, it was unknown whose hands it would fall into.

Dong Tianyu did not plan to bring a lot this time, he just sent 300 kilograms to the Refuge Center.

It may seem like 300 kilograms of saltpeter is not much, but when dissolved in water, it can be reused repeatedly after drying or boiling.

Even if natural losses are factored in, 300 kilograms of saltpeter can last two to three years without a problem.

As Father Dong and Mother Dong began to move, the officials began to issue abnormal weather warnings to all the streets.

In fact, even if the officials did not issue this warning, the recent halt to the survivors’ fieldwork in the streets, replaced by the repair of the previously flooded underground shelters, also attracted the attention of the survivors.

With the gradual rise in outside temperatures, all survivors were reminded of the time before the Cold Catastrophe.

Perhaps having experienced several natural disasters already, the survivors were suspicious, but they did not cause any chaos.

Although the officials had plans in place to deal with unrest, the upper echelons of the officials did not expect that the survivors in Pengcheng would become so calm.

Perhaps due to advanced preparation, compared to the chaos after the previous natural disasters, everyone began to act according to the plan in an orderly manner this time.

However, in contrast to the past when all the shelters were controlled by the officials, some shelters decided to give up material supplies in exchange for autonomy over their own shelters.

There was fierce debate in the officials about this situation during their meetings.

The main reason proponents supported this was it could save resources and reduce management costs for the rest of the survivors, with some darker thoughts mixed in.

Opponents, on the other hand, argued strongly that if they agreed to this proposal, it would be akin to breaking up the land and awarding nobility in the ancient times, with a risk of a state within a state forming, which would weaken the officials’ control over Pengcheng.

The number of supporters and opponents in the upper echelons of the officials were roughly equal. Although the proposal is still being hotly debated, with temperatures rising, the main task now is the relocation of survivors, so the proposal has been temporarily shelved.

But precisely because of the gradual increases in temperature, some survivors moved to the underground shelters that originally didn’t have tunnels connecting to the subway network.

When the Cold Catastrophe struck, these shelters didn’t have tunnels linking them to the subway network, resulting in them not receiving supplies in time and resulting in the death of most of the survivors in those shelters due to starvation.

And the survivors who managed to live until the end of the Cold Catastrophe did not escape the sanctions from the officials, they were directly assigned to the most dangerous and exhausting work to contribute to the recovery of Pengcheng.

Because of this shelved proposal, survivors who had ideas simply moved directly into these ’independent’ shelters.

While the officials noticed these actions, they did not interfere directly; instead, they seemed to tacitly approve, ignoring their behavior.

After all, everyone was an adult, and each person had to pay the price for their own choices.

The outside temperature continued to rise, and at this time it had reached over 45 degrees. Although the survivors could still move around barely, under this high-temperature weather, even with the best sun protection measures, it was very easy to have sunstroke leading to fainting.

With this hellish weather outside, as long as one falls unconscious, they could directly be sun-dried without the help of companions.

The temperature didn’t decrease much with the arrival of night. Though the night blanketed the earth, the night temperature gradually approached forty degrees, entering the preliminary stage of the disaster.

With the intense heat, some inland lakes near the urban area of Pengcheng begun to dry up gradually. However, due to prior preparation, all the shelters were not short of water.

After the last flood, the large amount of water purification equipment that Dong Tianyu prepared for his home was barely used due to the relocation of the West City District Headquarters.

In the end, he donated all of it and this time the officials found these water purifiers in the warehouse and distributed them to streets near Dragon Lake. They organized the survivors to purify and store water.

While those lakes hadn’t evaporated completely, the survivors prepared ahead of time and purified these lake water and transported them to the warehouse as reserves.

While the survivors in Pengcheng were still busy preparing for the impending disaster, Dong Tianyu was leisurely practicing the Art of Controlling Objects on the platform at the cave entrance.

At this time, Dong Tianyu was the only one left on Nameless Mountain.

The forces that used to farm on Nameless Mountain, after confirming the imminent arrival of the disaster, decisively left this place.

After all, according to the information they received, the next disaster would likely be severe heat. If they really stayed on this barren mountain, there would be no chance of survival.

After confirming there were no other survivors left on Nameless Mountain, Dong Tianyu was free to practice on the platform at the cave entrance again.

The Art of Controlling Objects was much simpler than he had imagined. After all, it was a basic technique with a low learning curve and low energy consumption.

Seeing the wooden sword constantly flying around him, Dong Tianyu knew he had successfully mastered the technique.

Following Dong Tianyu’s control, the wooden sword hovered near his feet.

At this moment, Dong Tianyu could no longer hold back. When dreams become reality, no one could remain indifferent.

With an excited heart,

Trembling hands,

Dong Tianyu carefully stepped his left foot onto the hovering wooden sword. As he gradually exerted force on his left foot, the altitude of the hovering wooden sword dropped a little, but it was still floating in the air.

Seeing this, Dong Tianyu pushed off with his right foot and stood on the wooden sword with both feet.

As Dong Tianyu’s feet left the ground, the Spirit Power consumption needed to maintain the Art of Controlling Objects increased dramatically. There was a ’snap’ sound, and the wooden sword fell heavily to the ground.

However, fortunately, the height of suspension was not high, so Dong Tianyu, who was standing on the wooden sword, just swayed a little, and did not fall over.