Wasteland Survivalist: A Scientific Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival

Gu Lang and Zhou Lei continued to pretend to haggle for a while.

It seems the superficial work is almost done.

As planned, Gu Lang revealed the other party's bottom line in the negotiations.

"I checked with a drone this morning. You don't actually use diesel to generate electricity, and you're still mining oil."

There were no torches burning on the platform, clearly indicating that they were being used to power a natural gas generator.

So you don't lack diesel at all; what you said yesterday was all a lie to me.

"Ah, that's a misunderstanding. You had just arrived then, and we weren't familiar with each other yet."

That's why I kept it a secret, and I apologize to you for that.

Zhou Lei's tone was exaggerated, and Gu Lang mentally gave his acting a one-star rating.

Fortunately, the other two seemed distracted and didn't notice anything amiss.

The subsequent negotiations went much more smoothly.

The three, pretending to be serious but actually feeling guilty, basically accepted all the conditions proposed by Gu Lang.

After a few perfunctory words of discussion among the three insiders, the deal was quickly and smoothly concluded.

Most things before a nuclear war are like this.

Important matters are discussed in small meetings, while minor matters are discussed in large meetings.

The things on the table are just for show; don't go overboard.

As for the opinions of most other people, a simple "tape" will suffice.

The truly crucial exchange of interests had already been completed behind the scenes.

You only look at the surface and really think you can rely on your sharp tongue alone.

If a deal could be completed so easily, then that would be a huge mistake.

In the end, Gu Lang took out five cartons of cigarettes, five bottles of wine, and all the medicines nearing their expiration date, plus 10 jin of dried bear meat, in exchange for 1000 liters of diesel fuel.

Ultimately, this batch of diesel fuel is now public property.

The leaders of the three small teams wouldn't feel a pang of regret at selling off these public resources.

Whether or not they could obtain that pistol was a matter of personal interest for the three of them.

It is estimated that the final winner will be determined on the platform, and the "privatization" will be completed.

That's why some people will treat the public resources on the platform as their own property.

With the cage repeatedly raised and lowered, the large 200-liter oil drum landed steadily on the stern deck.

This is the fifth barrel of diesel fuel today.

Gu Lang has already poured all four barrels into the yacht's fuel tank using an oil pump.

It's a bit noisy at the stern now; the yacht's engine has just been started and is warming up.

Because the same oil drum was used, it took a lot of time to move it back and forth.

With this spare barrel of diesel, the ship now has a total of 1400 liters of diesel fuel.

It's sufficient to support an economical driving range of over 1500 kilometers.

After securing the oil drum, Gu Lang tied the last 3 jin of bear jerky to the hanging cage.

"You can pull it up now. It's been a pleasure working with you."

He shouted into the walkie-talkie.

"Brother Gulang, I was originally thinking of inviting you to come up to the platform for a visit."

But since you're an outsider, we still need to consider the risks.

Zhou Lei said with a smile, clearly in a good mood.

"I understand. You should also cook the bear jerky thoroughly before eating it."

This helps prevent parasites and also guards against viral risks.

"That's thoughtful of me. I'll let the chef know."

Ma Cheng's tone also seemed to imply a sense of confidence.

Although the platform manager didn't say anything, based on Gu Lang's speculation, he probably now felt that he could turn the tide.

The drilling platform is currently enjoying a win-win-win situation for all four parties, but this will soon become unsustainable.

He crossed the deck and jumped onto the steel beams at the bottom of the platform.

After untying the mooring ropes for the yacht, he used paracord to tie the revolver to the truss.

Back on the ship, Gu Lang pushed the throttle and sailed away from the drilling platform.

"As agreed, I left a gift on the platform, hoping that we can continue to get along amicably."

I'll accept this walkie-talkie as a free gift. See you all again someday.

Gu Lang immediately turned off the walkie-talkie and sped off towards Penglai City in the southwest.

After turning back to confirm that there was enough distance between them and the drilling platform, they reduced their speed.

Right now, the people there are probably engaged in a fierce power struggle over the ownership of that gun.

With no time to worry about himself, he could travel at his own pace.

Based on previous observations, this is likely due to security concerns.

All the transport boats belonging to the drilling platform were placed on the work platform by cranes.

They'll probably be busy fighting over the gun under the platform now, and won't have time to worry about themselves.

At the bottom of the platform, there are three rapid deployment platforms.

Several freefall escape boats were also suspended above, maintaining a downward tilt.

It is used for emergency evacuation and can be quickly deployed into the sea.

Although this thing has a range of over 200 kilometers, its top speed is only 10 knots.

Even if the yacht maintains an economical speed of 15 knots, it would be impossible to catch up.

Gu Lang stared at the electronic nautical chart while controlling the course of the voyage.

During the wait for the oil to be unloaded, he obtained some important information from Zhou Lei.

The course determination problem has been temporarily resolved.

蓬来19-3平台的中心点位于北纬38度22分，东经120度07分。

The nearest landmass is Kagoguchi City.

The coordinates of the center point are 37 degrees 39 minutes north latitude and 120 degrees 19 minutes east longitude.

Use the spherical trigonometry formula to calculate the initial azimuth angle between two points.

You can calculate the true heading as 167.5 degrees north, but you can't directly use a compass to align with this angle for navigation.

The geographic poles and the geomagnetic poles of Earth do not coincide; the geomagnetic poles are constantly shifting.

The Earth's magnetic field itself is irregular around the world.

Each magnetic declination needs to be corrected to obtain the magnetic heading.

Therefore, in the absence of a magnetic declination diagram.

Using a compass for navigation literally means getting completely lost.

The reason Gulang got lost the day before yesterday was precisely because he didn't calculate the magnetic declination.

Following Zhou Lei's instructions, Gu Lang activated the compass rose function on the electronic nautical chart.

The magnetic declination of the Bohai region is shown as 7 degrees west.

According to the mnemonic "Magnetic becomes real, add to the east and subtract from the west; real becomes magnetic, subtract from the east and add from the west".

The magnetic heading is 167.5 degrees north plus 7 degrees, which equals 174.5 degrees.

Gu Lang gently turned the steering wheel, adjusted the course, and aligned the nautical compass with this angle.

Even if you achieve this level of sophistication, the nautical compass itself will still have errors.

It needs to be calibrated regularly and corrected using a deviation table.

In actual navigation, it is still impossible to accurately determine the direction.

The ship's position needs to be cross-verified using reference points such as lighthouses, navigation marks, and islands.

Without satellite navigation, simply determining the direction is much more difficult than before.

Fortunately, the Bohai Sea is a semi-enclosed inland sea, so even if the directional error is large...

The problem isn't too big; we'll eventually find the coastline.

It just means a little more diesel fuel will be wasted.

After this experience, Gu Lang decided that he would rather take more risks and sail along the coastline as much as possible.