Desert Island Survival: A Hundredfold Improvement After Having a Baby?

"Brother Qiang."

"Who was it that said my search for shelter was a waste of time, just half an hour ago on the beach?"

"You probably don't need it now, right?"

Wang Qiang's expression froze for a moment.

The surrounding employees also stopped.

Xiao Zhou from the administration department, Lao Li from the finance department, and several other male employees who usually hung out with Wang Qiang remained silent.

They were so hot that they didn't even have the energy to be angry.

But they have a scale in their hearts.

Just now on the beach, if Chen Jian hadn't insisted on going up the mountain, some of them would probably have fainted from the sun in the sea by now.

"I...I did that to keep morale high!" Wang Qiang stubbornly insisted, trying to save face. "With General Manager Su here, of course I have to follow his orders. You've found the place now, that's also thanks to General Manager Su's wise leadership..."

That's enough.

Su Qingxue spoke up.

She looked up and saw that the crevice in the rock was almost within reach.

"Let's talk about it up there."

……

Five minutes later, the group finally squeezed into the crevice.

This is a naturally formed limestone fissure, about four meters deep and about ten meters long.

Although the ground was uneven and covered with fine stone chips, the moment everyone stepped into the shadows, the chill that shot from the top of their heads to the soles of their feet made everyone let out a sigh that was almost a groan.

Liu Feifei collapsed onto the ground, not caring that the dust would soil her expensive one-piece swimsuit.

She was breathing heavily, her chest heaving violently.

Su Qingxue leaned against the deepest rock wall, closed her eyes, and felt the slight chill coming from her back.

As soon as Wang Qiang entered the cave, he immediately reverted to his usual domineering, housekeeper-like demeanor.

"Move to the side! Leave the spacious middle area for President Su!" He shoved a few girls from the administration department, then turned to Chen Jian and gave a sarcastic laugh. "Chen Jian, this place is alright. You gigolo finally got hard for once."

Chen Jian ignored him.

He walked to the edge of the crevice and looked out at the desolate island, which was baked white by the scorching sun.

Wang Lan walked up to him quietly.

She handed Chen Jian half a bottle of the mineral water she had just received, her eyes subtly scanning the cave.

Su Qingxue was resting with her eyes closed, Wang Qiang was directing people to clean the ground, and everyone else was busy catching their breath.

Nobody paid them any attention.

Chen Jian took the water, took a small sip, and moistened his parched throat.

He turned around, looked at Wang Qiang who was busy currying favor with Su Qingxue, and suddenly spoke.

"Ten-minute break, then all the men come with me."

The crevice in the rock fell silent.

Wang Qiang was fanning Su Qingxue with a large leaf he had picked up from somewhere when he heard this and paused.

"Where are you going? It's forty or fifty degrees outside, are you going out to die?" Wang Qiang rolled his eyes.

"Go gather firewood," Chen Jian said.

"Huh?" Wang Qiang burst out laughing after hearing this. He turned to look at the people around him. "Listen to this, has this gigolo gone mad from the sun? In this weather, he wants us to go out and collect firewood? What, is Engineer Chen planning to have a barbecue here?"

A few scattered laughs rang out from the surroundings.

"Chen Jian, that's enough," a male colleague from the finance department couldn't help but say. "In this temperature, you'd get sunburned after just a couple of walks outside. Besides, we might be able to leave this awful place in ten minutes."

Chen Jian rolled his eyes at him, then said, "The current extreme high temperatures are abnormal; this is called pre-frontal warming."

"Before a cold front arrives, it compresses the original air mass, causing a rapid rise in temperature. The higher the temperature rises, the stronger the cold front that follows."

Chen Jian pointed to the sky in the west, which was beginning to change color.

"It will get colder tonight, and it will be a precipitous drop. If I'm not mistaken, it will not only be cold tonight, but it will also rain, and it will be heavy rain."

"If there isn't enough dry firewood in this crevice, we'll all freeze to death tonight."

Wang Qiang scoffed and threw the leaf in his hand away.

"Chen Jian, are you acting out a disaster movie here? A sudden drop in temperature? And torrential rain?"

He stood up, walked over to Chen Jian, and poked his forehead with his finger. "Don't think you're a weather expert just because you found a crack. President Su just said the rescue team is on its way. We're going to be on a helicopter back to Jiangcheng for hot pot before it even gets dark. Who the hell is going to be here gathering firewood with you?"

He turned to the crowd and shouted, "Don't you all agree? Going out to collect firewood in this weather is just plain stupid!"

"Yeah, it's so hot. You break out in a sweat just from moving around."

"Sister Wang, tell your husband to rest for a while, don't keep him up."

Everyone echoed this sentiment.

On this sweltering afternoon of 45 degrees Celsius, no one wanted to think about the freezing cold that might arrive a few hours later.

They just want to lie paralyzed in the shadows, clinging to that vague fantasy of rescue, until the end of time.

Chen Jian's expression was rather unpleasant.

He turned to look at Su Qingxue.

Su Qingxue was silent for a moment, then said calmly, "Chen Jian, your intentions are good. But the current temperature is indeed not suitable for outdoor physical labor. Let's wait until after three o'clock when the sun is not so strong, and then we'll see."

This is a disguised form of rejection.

There was a deathly silence in the crevice of the rock.

The heatwave outside was blocked by the stone wall, and the temperature in the shade barely remained around thirty degrees Celsius.

Dozens of people lay sprawled on the ground, haphazardly. Chen Jian stood near the entrance, looking at them with exasperation. "Do you even have brains?" he said.

He pointed to the stone walls above and around him.

"Take a good look at the terrain here! It's four meters deep, ten meters long, and has only one exit! It's a typical semi-enclosed cavity!"

"If rescue efforts don't arrive before tonight, and the temperature drops to below -10 degrees Celsius, we'll have to start a fire for warmth. If we don't collect the wood outside now, it will all become damp and wet when the humidity rises again this afternoon and the temperature drops further."

Chen Jian took a step forward and stared at Wang Qiang.

"Burning damp wood in this semi-enclosed space will produce a large amount of carbon monoxide and dense smoke. The smoke can't escape and will all get trapped in these gaps. It won't take long for people to freeze to death; two hours will turn this place into a gas chamber! At that point, everyone will either freeze to death or suffocate!"

These words were extremely serious.

The logic is clear, and the cause and effect are well-defined.

The engineering student's mind went to its limit in this life-or-death situation, laying bare the worst possible outcome for everyone.

But he was met with a loud sneer.

Wang Qiang leaned against the stone wall, fanning himself with a large leaf in his hand.

He glanced at Chen Jian sideways, as if he were looking at a mentally ill person.

"Engineer Chen, have you gone crazy from drawing so much? Do you have paranoia?"

Wang Qiang straightened up, walked up to Chen Jian, and poked his shoulder with a finger.

"You keep saying 'if rescue doesn't come.' Did you ignore what President Su just said? The helicopter will be here before dark! Who the hell wants to spend the night in this crumbling rock?"

Chen Jian stood still.

He looked at this group of shrewd white-collar workers, seasoned veterans of the workplace, calculating KPIs and year-end bonuses.

But now, they are just a bunch of ostriches burying their heads in the sand.

It's not that they can't understand Chen Jian's logic.

They simply didn't want to face the despairing assumption that "rescue might not come."

As long as they don't gather firewood, it means they'll definitely be able to leave tonight.

This is an extremely ridiculous, yet extremely real form of self-hypnosis.

"Okay." Chen Jian nodded, his voice turning completely cold. "If you're not going, I'll go myself."

He turned around and walked without hesitation into the blinding white light outside the crevice in the rock.

"Hey, what are you pretending to be, acting all high and mighty!" Wang Qiang spat behind him. "Go if you want! Don't stop him! I want to see how many gold bars he can pick up!"

After Wang Qiang finished speaking, he turned to Su Qingxue and put on a fawning smile: "President Su, please don't pay attention to this lunatic. Let's continue resting."

Su Qingxue closed her eyes, her brows slightly furrowed.

Chen Jian's confident attitude made her feel a little irritated.

Just then, Wang Lan stood up...