Wasteland Survivalist: A Scientific Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival

The light continued to flash, and Gu Lang used his pen to record the light signals.

At that moment, the same infrared light flashed on the other side of the sea.

The two sides, about six or seven kilometers apart, began exchanging information.

"Thank goodness it wasn't calling me."

Gu Lang breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that he had not been exposed.

He immediately went to the stern and launched the drone.

As the altitude climbed to 100 meters, the sound of the rotor gradually disappeared.

After switching the camera to infrared enhancement mode, it flew towards the light source on the shore.

A mangrove forest appears in a black-and-white night vision image.

At the junction of land and water, the area has been eroded by the tides into a complex network of gullies.

On the edge of the mangrove forest, near the sea, about three meters above the water, there is an inconspicuous dark outline.

Gu Lang zoomed in to the maximum, and the outline gradually became clear.

Several thick wooden stakes were driven deep into the mudflats as support pillars, and a wooden platform with an area of ​​about ten square meters was built on top of them.

Above the platform is a small treehouse, the structure of which looks like it was pieced together from wooden planks.

A camouflage net was hanging on the roof, and many branches and leaves were still swaying in the wind.

The treehouse is hidden beneath the mangrove canopy, in a very secluded location.

There was a figure on the platform, holding some kind of device that was constantly emitting flashing infrared light.

Gu Lang guessed that it was an infrared flashlight, and that the light could be controlled by pressing the switch rhythmically.

The sender clearly knew that visible light could attract danger, so they used an infrared flashlight, invisible to the naked eye, to send the signal.

Gu Lang moved the drone's camera away from the treehouse, turned it around, and flew it to another infrared light source.

A few minutes later, the outline of a lighthouse appeared on the screen.

The top of the tower is a circular observation deck surrounded by iron railings.

A simple infrared light hung on the railing, and two people stood beside it.

One of them held a board and rhythmically blocked the beam of light.

Another person was holding a mobile phone and filming the direction where the treehouse was located.

The situation is quite clear: these are survivors from two shelters conducting covert long-distance communication.

The CMOS or CCD sensors in ordinary cameras are capable of sensing near-infrared light.

The only difference is that mobile phone manufacturers add infrared cut-off filters when assembling the camera.

The infrared band was filtered out to prevent infrared light from mixing with visible light, which would cause the image to appear purplish-red.

This filter is usually a glass plate with an optical coating, and it is installed between the rear lens element and the sensor.

Once the camera module is disassembled, it can be heated to over 100 degrees Celsius with a heat gun to soften the adhesive, allowing the filter to be removed with tweezers.

It's not too difficult; all you need is some hands-on ability.

Gulang had previously used the same principle to make his own infrared night vision device.

Communication between the lighthouse and the cabin soon ended.

Gu Lang didn't rush to retrieve the drone, but instead circled it again in the sky.

The surrounding sea surface and islands were thoroughly scanned using thermal imaging.

There were no other ships, and no other heat sources.

After confirming the situation, he operated the drone to land on the stern landing platform.

Back in the cockpit, Gu Lang opened the infrared video he had just recorded.

Frame by frame, the code was replayed and deciphered word by word by referring to the Morse code chart.

Translate all communications between the two parties into letters and numbers and write them down in a notebook.

Most of the conversation consisted of trivial small talk and exchanges about the weather and sea conditions.

The core content is concentrated in the middle section:

Lighthouse side: "YUN4 FU4 JI4 JIANG1 FEN1 MIAN3 XU1 YAO4 MA2 ZUI4 JI4"

Cabin side: "LU4 DI4 YI3 SOU1 SUO3 WEI4 ZHAO3 DAO4"

This is a common method among amateur radio enthusiasts: directly sending the pinyin letters of Chinese characters using Morse code.

The numbers following the pinyin can be used not only as separators but also to indicate tone changes.

Even if there are homophones, they can be distinguished by context, similar to everyday spoken conversation.

The advantage is that no additional equipment or password book is required; you can operate it if you know Chinese Pinyin.

Once the recipient receives the pinyin, they can quickly understand its meaning.

The downside is that it's essentially plaintext communication, meaning anyone can intercept the information.

After Gu Lang translated the letters into Chinese characters, the key information emerged.

The Lighthouse official stated: "The pregnant woman is about to give birth and needs anesthesia."

The cabin crew reported: "The land has been searched, but nothing was found."

Lighthouse operator: "How much longer do we have to wait?"

The cabin crew said, "We're not sure, we'll try again."

Lighthouse officials: "Please do it as soon as possible."

Gu Lang closed his notebook, leaned back in his chair, and thought for a while.

The fact that these people were willing to take a pregnant woman with them to safety suggests that there is a high probability that the group includes elderly, weak, sick, or disabled individuals.

He doesn't believe that a community of violent, lawless individuals would accept the vulnerable.

Furthermore, these survival teams are generally family units.

This is completely different from those armed gangs that consist entirely of able-bodied men.

The latter's logic is plunder, while the former's logic is mutual assistance; their levels of danger in the apocalypse are vastly different.

This survival team uses infrared signals to communicate; their technology may not be sophisticated, but their approach is very clear.

This indicates that there are intelligent people in the team who are also quite capable.

This means that communication is relatively easy and the difficulty of reaching a deal is lower.

Gulang now needs to replenish its diesel fuel.

The narrowest point of the Qiongzhou Strait is less than 20 kilometers wide; if you sail at 50 knots, you can cross it in 20 minutes.

However, the terrain on both sides of the strait is flat and there are no shelters.

If there are defenses and blockades on both sides of the strait, he will be exposed to visual and radar detection throughout the entire crossing.

By detouring around Hainan Island, the journey would be nearly 200 nautical miles longer, and the fuel gauge would not have enough fuel left.

The only solution is to replenish the oil on the Lei Zhou Peninsula.

The lighthouse and the hut are most likely inhabited by locals, who are readily available sources of information.

Moreover, he happened to have something the other party desperately needed: a military first-aid kit.

In addition to various simple surgical instruments and anti-inflammatory drugs, it also contains fentanyl nasal spray, which can relieve pain and provide anesthesia.

Anesthetics, a prescription-controlled drug, are already extremely difficult to obtain in peacetime, let alone in this post-apocalyptic environment.

Gu Lang pulled out the accessory suitcase of the Matrice 4T drone.

The box has two layers: the upper layer contains the spare battery and charger, and the lower layer contains the functional modules.

He took out a searchlight and megaphone kit and mounted them on top of the drone.

After the battery was replaced, the drone took off again and flew straight towards the lighthouse.

In the night vision footage, the two heat sources on top of the lighthouse remained in place.

One person is putting away the infrared light equipment, and another person appears to be smoking.