Wasteland Survivalist: A Scientific Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival

Although the oil drums were marked with markers, Jiang Peng and his gang's management was extremely chaotic.

The marking methods are varied, including numbers, letters, Chinese characters, and some are simply scribbles.

Gu Lang took out a knife and unscrewed the lid of the first barrel of oil.

A typical diesel smell wafted over, and he dipped his finger into the rim of the bucket, rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger.

Diesel fuel has a much higher viscosity than gasoline. When you rub it between your fingers, it feels slightly lubricating, unlike gasoline which evaporates quickly.

Gu Lang tightened the lid and used a knife to cut a "D" on it.

By the fifth container, a distinct gasoline smell was detected the moment the lid was opened.

Without much thought, Gu Lang simply drew a "G" on the lid.

In the tenth barrel, he smelled a peculiar sweet aroma.

So he drew an "M" on the lid.

Kerosene may be useless to us, but in the apocalypse it can be used as fuel for lighting and heating, or as a barter commodity.

After all the markings were completed, Gu Lang finally confirmed that there were 12 barrels of diesel oil, 5 barrels of gasoline, and 2 barrels of kerosene inside.

After confirming that the diesel fuel was of good quality, 2400 liters of diesel fuel were poured into the speedboat's fuel tank using a hand pump.

The remaining kerosene and gasoline were moved into the hangar and piled up in the corner gaps.

According to plan, Gulang used Hainan Island as a reference point and maintained a safe distance of about ten kilometers from the coastline to head south.

At first, things went smoothly. The western side was all rural area, with only continuous beaches and forests in sight.

As the speedboat passed Tonggu Cape, its course changed from due south to southwest.

Beyond this cape, a dozen kilometers to the west lies the space launch site.

He did not approach the sensitive facility rashly, but instead launched a drone for reconnaissance after stopping the ship.

Footage transmitted from the drone at an altitude of 500 meters showed that no nuclear crater was visible at the location of the space launch site.

But the roofs of all the supporting factory buildings were gone, and the steel-structured rocket launch tower collapsed completely.

Judging from the damage, the area suffered an aerial nuclear strike.

The shockwave from an airburst, after being reflected and superimposed, causes a wider area of ​​damage, but does not leave a crater on the ground.

Gu Lang lowered the drone to 100 meters, zoomed in, and saw a familiar scene.

The bones are exposed in the wild, and there is no cock crowing for thousands of miles.

The rage had clearly spread here as well, just like the scenes he had seen elsewhere.

Diesel fuel was plentiful at the moment, but just to be on the safe side, he decided to detour eastward, away from the coastline.

As the speedboat ascended into the ocean, the drone's camera swept across the surface again, capturing an unusual silhouette.

It was a huge, square-shaped object that looked like an artificial island floating on the sea.

At the bottom is a square ship platform, with a huge cubic tower structure supported on the deck.

After careful observation, Gu Lang concluded that this was a rocket recovery platform at sea.

He had seen this thing in the news several years ago; it was a sea platform used by China's aerospace industry to recover reusable rockets.

The report stated that the platform can capture the rocket using the arresting net at the top of the tower, achieving a soft landing.

After retrieving the drone, Gu Lang drove the speedboat, stopping and starting intermittently.

As the speedboat gradually closed the distance to the platform, the images transmitted by the drone finally became clear.

Notably, the SOS shape was formed from various objects on the ground of the platform's rocket landing site.

Just as he was about to ignore the platform and continue south...

Two flags suddenly rose from the mast of the platform at the bottom of the ship.

The blue, white, and red vertical stripes on top are the C flag.

The red swallowtail flag below is the B flag.

CB together means "I need immediate assistance".

Gu Lang was immediately caught in a dilemma, wondering whether he should choose to ignore it.

Push the accelerator up, bypass the platform, and continue south.

But after a moment's consideration, he decided to go closer and take a look.

Since the other side has already raised their flag, it means that we have been exposed.

It would be better to take the initiative to approach them and try to extract some information.

Therefore, Gu Lang decisively chose to stop the boat.

The C flag and the P flag were raised one after the other. The two letters CP mean "I am coming to your aid".

After waiting for about two minutes, there was new movement on the platform's mast.

The two flags that had been raised earlier were lowered, and a red and white answer flag was raised.

Below that was a C-shaped flag, indicating that the other party had responded to Gu Lang's request to get closer.

As the speedboat approached the platform at the bottom of the hull, the details on the hull gradually became clear.

The words "Pilot" are written in large white letters on the blue hull, and the logo of "Dragon Nation Aerospace" is painted on the left side.

The platform is estimated to be over 140 meters long and over 60 meters wide, with a rough displacement of around 20,000 tons.

The most eye-catching feature is the nearly 70-meter-high recovery tower erected on the deck.

Looking up, the massive steel structure is equivalent to more than 20 stories.

At the top of the tower, a huge "well"-shaped frame opens up like a skylight.

Gu Lang circled the platform and only saw one person standing below the mast.

Wearing a white hard hat and gray overalls, he was waving his hands wildly at him.

After confirming that the other party was alone and unarmed, Gu Lang docked the speedboat on the other side.

The other person also went down to the bottom deck of the platform, and the two began to talk, separated by a height difference.

"Soldier Song Zhong, 2208, Chinese Navy."

"He Ping, designer of the China Aerospace Academy, is the temporary head of the Pilot Sea Platform."

"Comrade Song Zhong, could you please give me something to eat? I'm starving!"

Upon hearing this, Gu Lang returned to the cabin.

I pulled out a package of compressed biscuits from the locker and filled an empty mineral water bottle with water.

They put them all in a plastic bag and threw them forcefully onto the platform deck.

Gu Lang watched as the other person wolfed down his food and noticed that he was extremely thin, as if he had been starving for a long time.

He noticed that there were many containers piled up on the deck of the recycling platform, which were probably used to collect rainwater.

Fishing lines were hanging all over the railing, and it looked like people were fishing.

After about ten minutes, He Ping spoke again.

"Thank you so much. I thought no one else would come."

Are you alone? How long have you been here?

"It's been five months since the beginning of July."

He Ping wiped his mouth with his hand and placed the empty water bottle at his feet.

"Our platform originated from Sanya and was towed to this area by tugboat."

The mission was originally scheduled for a rocket recovery at sea, but a solar storm triggered a complete communications blackout, and the mission was temporarily canceled.

"And then?"

"Everyone else took the tugboat to Wenchang, but the big boss asked me to stay and guard the platform equipment."

A few days later, the nuclear bombs fell, and I saw a fireball rise in the west with my own eyes.

The tugboat never returned, and the communication equipment malfunctioned due to an electromagnetic pulse, making it unable to contact the outside world.