Chapter 26

Previously, Chen Xin had read the information published by the government on the bunkers. Every family was allocated a room smaller than a university dorm.

The rooms were only about ten square meters, even the beds provided were steel wired beds. It was not hard to imagine how tough the living conditions were.

In Vermillion, it was normal for a family to live in a house about ten square meters back in the 70s and 80s, or even the 90s.

However, half a century had passed since then and the standard of living conditions had considerably improved.

Now that doomsday had arrived, the living conditions had to regress to the 70s, or even worse. That would no doubt be a huge test for mankind who had long been accustomed to the comfort of modern convenience.

It was unimaginable for modern people to live without takeaways, the internet, soft drinks, and even meat.

Other than that, they had to hide in underground bunkers and were not allowed to leave. To many people, that was no different from being thrown in jail.

Even though the whole country managed to stay quarantined at home under the restrictions implemented by the government at the start of the year, many people succumbed to mental illnesses when the pandemic broke out.

Chen Xin finished his meal while thinking about that. He threw the trash into the garbage bin after rinsing his mouth.

Chen Xin had no intentions of throwing out his trash as the environment outside had not settled. He would definitely throw them out when the environment settles down.

After dinner, Chen Xin had nothing to do, but he resisted the urge to play with his phone. Instead, he checked out his bunker for other things to do.

However, there were not many things that he could occupy his time with.

All the supplies were already neatly organized. Chen Xin had only moved in today, therefore there was nothing that needed to be arranged.

Also, the bunker was not very big as it only contained a bedroom, a living room, a bathroom, and an electrical room. Those rooms were built with shipping containers and were Chen Xin’s main activity spaces.

Temperature-wise, the containers were much more comfortable than cement built rooms as they were filled with insulating materials.

Besides that, the storage, water tanks, fuel tanks, sewage treatment tanks, generators, and the garage were placed in rooms dug out in the mountains outside the containers. After all, he only needed to ensure that the ambient temperature would not affect the functionality as they did not need to be insulated.

If Chen Xin had lived in the bunker for a long time, he would need to check on all the equipment periodically for maintenance. However, only the generator was operating at that time, even the sewage treatment tanks were still clean.

Chen Xin scratched his head, he could only inspect the generator’s fuel tank again. Seeing that there was still enough fuel in it, he walked toward the electrical room.

Chen Xin only had about 4000 liters of gas stocked up while his generator needed 20 liters per filling to generate over ten hours of electricity.

However, Chen Xin did not need to let the generator empty its tank as his daily electricity consumption was not very high.

Around six to eight hours of power generation was sufficient to fully charge the large batteries in the electrical room, which could supply enough electricity for the rest of the day.

That day, the generator had already been in use for about four hours. It had not been for as long as he planned, but Chen Xin did not use much electricity other than for lighting purposes. Therefore, most of the electricity was used to charge the batteries.

Chen Xin did not know if the batteries were full. If it was, he could then turn off the generator in advance and save some gas.

In the electrical room, the indicator on the large batteries flickered as they charged. The fuse box next to it was also working normally.

To be honest, Chen Xin did not plan to install a fuse box when the bunker was built. After all, it was only a small bunker with a small generator to light up the rooms. It would be a waste to install a fuse box.

However, when he bought the container houses, the manufacturer included a fuse box with his order. So, Chen Xin just made use of it.

Coincidentally, the fuse box, together with the electrical room and the generator could be regarded as one complete electrical system that could be upgraded simultaneously.

Moreover, both upgrade options suggested by the System had fuel-saving and efficiency-improving entries.

That was undoubtedly great news for Chen Xin. The post-upgrade increase in power generation and reduction in fuel consumption were both important to him because it would make his fuel reserves last longer than expected.

After doomsday, gasoline would surely become an important commodity and it would not be as easy to obtain as before. Therefore, if one could save even just a little, there was no reason not to.

Chen Xin checked on the large batteries’ indicators. They did not show that they were fully charged yet, so Chen Xin was not in a rush to turn off the generators.

He estimated another hour’s time until the two batteries would be fully charged. Chen Xin then looked at his watch and took note of the time, and went back to his bedroom.

Nevertheless, Chen Xin still had nothing to do when he returned to his bedroom. He had no choice but to lie on his bed and daydream.

If it was in the past, he would have taken out his mobile phone to play games and watch videos, but now the mobile phone was wrapped in thick layers of tin foil and stuffed in an iron box. He would need to wait for a few days for the aftereffects of the EMP shockwaves to subside before it could be used.

Chen Xin could not use any electronics for a few days.

As he thought of the EMP shockwaves, Chen Xin could not help but wonder about what the outside world was like currently.

Chen Xin had already entered the bunker for more than half of the day. Throughout that period, the shockwave generated by the meteorite impact had swept across the Earth. Even if he hid underground, he still heard the violent blasts. It made him think that something in the bunker might have broken, or maybe the meteorite crashed at the entrance.

Since the meteorite had fallen, the vicinity of the impact site had become hell. The heat released by the impact would eventually set the whole Earth on fire.

Thinking of that, Chen Xin could not help but sigh.

That was not a wildfire, nor the extinction of a species. It would be a raging flame that would sweep through the world, destroying the entire ecosystem.

More than ninety percent of land creatures on Earth would not escape that conflagration.