28: There's not enough food

Leaving Shen Yi's room, Tian Ming found Gouzi, who had already sent people to move out the raw materials: a large pile of discarded copper wires and casings for permanent magnets.

Tian Ming began to reassemble the motor according to the design on the blueprint.

The principles of generators and motors are actually not difficult; they simply involve wires cutting magnetic lines of force to generate electromotive force.

Electromagnetism is mutually generated, and the structural materials are not difficult to obtain.

Soon, four small generators with a peak power of 10 kilowatts were built.

There wasn't enough copper wire, so Tian Ming could only make four.

After Tian Ming built the generators, he looked for some cars that were not in good condition.

These cars were brought by survivors, totaling over 150 vehicles, of which 80 were dismantled by Tian Ming.

These were all electric cars, and Tian Ming collected all the battery packs.

In the northeast of the Shelter, a centralized energy storage station was built.

Gouzi, with his people and Shen Yi, worked tirelessly for three full days to complete the construction of both the power station and the energy storage station.

The remaining copper and motors were also installed in the spacious factory building, forming a small power station.

Electricity is typically generated and used immediately, but in the Apocalypse, it was different.

The generating equipment was too rudimentary, and the voltage fluctuations were significant, making it impossible to use directly.

The best way was to generate electricity, store it, and then use an inverter to solve the power supply problem.

Fortunately, there weren't many places in the Shelter that required electricity, apart from the Clinic and Shen Yi's simple laboratory; ordinary survivors' residences had no power.

Tian Ming used the remaining steel to make a steam generator, but water sources were scarce.

The river water in the factory area could not be used directly for power generation because the water was too hard, and the boiler would not be able to withstand it.

Centralized power generation was still unrealistic; instead, a few people would be responsible for one generator, using human-powered foot pedals.

First, they would store the power, then gradually transition.

Others were not idle either; there were six dormitory buildings in the old factory area, each capable of housing 300 people.

They were previously hazardous buildings, but after Tian Ming reinforced them, they became exceptionally sturdy, with the internal concrete and rebar strengthened and carbon fiber embedded in the load-bearing parts.

After these people cleaned the houses, they began to move in one after another from the large factory building.

Half a month later, the Shelter successfully built a large filtration pool, solving the drinking water problem.

Most people had already been assigned jobs: human-powered generation, water filtration, patrol and Warning, and materials collection, all with corresponding people in charge.

Here, there were no wages; wages were food and daily necessities: toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, shampoo, and even tableware.

This morning, there was a knock at the door; opening it, Tian Ming found Lin Yue.

She and Wan Yu had already moved out of Tian Ming's house and into the Talent Building.

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Talent Building Location

Not only did it have electricity, but Tian Ming also got her a computer and a tablet to facilitate her materials inventory and accounting.

“What is it?” Tian Ming asked, rubbing his eyes.

“I just inventoried the materials.

After deducting what’s been distributed, the Shelter’s supplies are running low.

Everyone has been working hard recently, so too many materials have been distributed, and the materials collection team is finding fewer and fewer items.”

“Alright, I understand.

How many more days can we last?” Tian Ming asked.

Lin Yue looked at the tablet in her hand and said, “At the current consumption rate, about twelve days.”

Tian Ming fell into deep thought.

In recent days, the Materials Group had lost over a dozen people.

Now, the number of zombies in the outer perimeter had also increased, and the Guard Patrol Team had even found four or five zombies in the trench outside the Shelter.

Tian Ming understood better than anyone that a food shortage would cause panic.

“Don’t spread news about the material shortage; I will make up for the insufficient parts,” Tian Ming instructed.

In these past few days, he had created a large amount of equipment, and Tian Ming's personal control range over matter was already approaching eight meters.

However, he also noticed that the control range was growing slower and slower.

But anyone with a bit of mathematical common sense knows that while the control radius increases linearly, the controlled area increases quadratically.

The area Tian Ming controls is a spherical space centered on him, which increases cubically.

A 1-meter cube is 1 cubic meter, a 2-meter cube is 8 cubic meters, and a 3-meter cube is 27 cubic meters.

By analogy, every small increase in distance for Tian Ming results in a cubic increase in the space he controls.

Therefore, the increase in control distance will only become slower and slower.

Lin Yue’s complexion seemed a bit off; she looked very gaunt and appeared to lack energy.

But she still nodded slightly and said, “I won’t spread it around; that’s why I came to find you alone.”

“What’s wrong with you? Your complexion is so poor?”

Lin Yue shook her head: “Dr. Wu looked at me; it’s a vitamin deficiency.

In the Shelter, there’s only processed food.

She prescribed vitamin tablets for me.”

Suddenly, her face turned pale; she clutched her stomach, her expression one of great pain.

Seeing this, Tian Ming quickly stepped forward to support her.

After a quick examination, there was no zombie virus in Lin Yue’s body.

It seemed to be caused by nutritional problems.

Although he could conjure food out of thin air, it was limited to processed foods; he had no way to control the generation of fresh vegetables or meat.

It took a while for Lin Yue to recover.

During this period, her diligent work had also made her very tired.

“Go back and rest.

It’s fine if you don’t do inventory for a couple of days,” Tian Ming said.

Lin Yue’s complexion improved a little, and she said, “Someone in the warehouse is stealing from us.

I’ve already reported it to Gouzi.

Although not much was lost, the thieves are from the Guard Patrol Team.

Gouzi has been doing an internal check on the personnel, but he hasn’t found out who it is yet.”

“Understood.

I’m giving you the day off today; go back and get some good rest.”

“Mmm, okay!” Lin Yue nodded slightly and turned to leave.

With a thought from Tian Ming, his loose outer jacket changed shape, transforming into a jacket shirt.

It was quickly approaching November, and the weather had turned cold.

During this time, some survivors had also come to seek refuge, most of them having escaped from the city.

Tian Ming arrived at the Shelter’s dormitory area.

From afar, he heard Aunt Lin’s extremely unpleasant curses echoing from the hallway: “Su Rou, you stinking bitch, you slut, a rotten whore who’s been slept with by who knows how many men.”

Soon, another woman’s voice came: “Try cursing again, see if I don’t tear your stinking mouth apart?”

“Come on, if you dare, just come.

With my 150 pounds, I’ll crush you, you slut.”

Tian Ming took out his walkie-talkie: “Gouzi, Gouzi, what’s going on?

Why is there a shrew cursing in the dormitory area?”

Soon, Gouzi’s voice came through the walkie-talkie: “It’s Aunt Lin.

She’s changed dorms several times, and every time she gets into a conflict with her roommates.”

“Aren’t you going to do something about it?” Tian Ming asked.

“I’ve already warned them.

If they fight, I’ll throw her out.

Don’t worry, Boss, it’s just an argument; she wouldn’t dare to fight.”

The patrol team rarely went into the female dormitory hallway because the patrol members were all men.

Tian Ming strictly forbade violence within the shelter, so those patrolling basically just ran through the hallways to keep themselves in check.

Since the Wan Yu incident, no man dared to act recklessly again.

Tian Ming smiled.

Aunt Lin was so full of vigor; he ought to find her a good job.

Aunt Lin sat on the bunk bed, drinking a compressed biscuit paste soaked in water, while scolding the girl opposite her.

The dormitory door was open, and at some point, Tian Ming had appeared outside the dormitory door.

Aunt Lin was the first to notice Tian Ming outside the door; she quickly jolted, sat up straight, and her curses abruptly ceased.