Wasteland Survivalist: A Scientific Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival

He Ping wiped away his tears with his sleeve, picked up his work ID from the ground, and turned to walk towards the cabin behind the platform.

Gu Lang followed closely behind with a gun, partly to search for valuable supplies and partly to verify and assess the other party.

Now he has a large amount of supplies at his disposal, and his conditions are much better than when he first fled.

The first seven of the nine essential elements of survival—air, body temperature, water, medical care, food, weapons, and skills—are no longer major problems in the short term.

It's time to consider Level 8 teamwork and Level 9 sustainability.

He Ping, like himself, was alone and was a good potential teammate.

Gu Lang glanced down at his watch; it was already 2 p.m.

He has been doing heavy physical labor for nearly 8 hours since he stole oil last night.

Severe sleep deprivation and the subsequent drop in adrenaline left me feeling fatigued, like lead weights hanging over every muscle. I could almost fall asleep standing up.

During the tanker incident, he realized that the power of a lone wolf is ultimately too limited.

If I had even had a teammate, I wouldn't have been in such a passive position last night, forced to "eat chicken".

Thinking of this, Gu Lang couldn't help but picture Zhao Xun's back.

What an ideal teammate, it's a pity he's too sentimental...

Alone with a large amount of supplies, walking through this apocalypse is like a child carrying gold through a bustling market.

Everyone, human or ghost, wants to take a bite, and even when resting, one must turn a blind eye.

He Ping, a rocket engine designer, is clearly a rare talent in science and engineering, exactly the kind of person I need.

If we can bring them into the team, they could play a significant role in the construction of potential future shelters.

The two walked around the platform cabin and could see that the supplies had long been exhausted. He Ping had only managed to gather a change of clothes.

I stuffed it into my backpack along with a laptop that had run out of power.

"Are you taking the shortwave radio with you? Even though it can only receive, not transmit."

"Take it with you, it can be used as a spare part for repairs."

These walkie-talkies that ran out of power were also packed up; I only had one left, so this is a good replacement.

By the time we finished packing, it was already 4 p.m.

As dusk fell and Gu Lang was too tired, he decided to set off again the next morning.

After leaving some more food for He Ping, he anchored in the waters near the platform.

The speedboat returned to the platform the following morning.

Before leaving, the two thoroughly searched the platform one last time and took away the toolbox and repair materials from the maintenance room.

It mainly consists of a large box of sealing rings and PTFE tape in various sizes.

He Ping said that these things are used on various pipelines on the platform, and their specifications and dimensions are also compatible with common marine pipelines. Keeping them may be useful in the future.

Before leaving, He Ping hung his work ID along with the lanyard on the doorknob of the room.

He then picked up a marker and wrote a line of text on the wooden door panel.

「航天设计师贺平，20XX年11月20日，上午07:00。」

Seeing this, Gu Lang laughed.

"Are you saying goodbye to your past self?"

"I guess so. It's mainly to imitate the astronauts' blessing ceremony and give myself a good omen."

"Oh, what does that mean?"

"That's a long story. Logically speaking, the aerospace system should be a group that particularly values ​​science, right?"

But in reality, from astronauts to technicians, they are all very "superstitious".

For example, American astronauts must play cards before launching their missions, and they must play until they lose.

Because America's first astronaut, Shepard, lost a game of poker before his departure.

Before our Chinese astronauts depart, they have to sign on a wooden door.

This is because Major General Yang, China's first astronaut, signed his name on the door before departure.

"Haha, is that so? That's hilarious."

"These are relatively simple. If you're asking which country's astronauts are the most superstitious, then it has to be the Russians."

Before departure, all astronauts who pass the final test must go to the office that Gagarin used to use.

Go there to pick up the pre-launch commemorative booklet and then leave a message in the guestbook.

We beseech Gagarin's spirit to descend and accompany and protect them on their space journey.

On the day of departure, the Russian astronauts also have to sign on the door.

After signing the papers, the astronauts went to enjoy their last meal on Earth.

This is part of a traditional ritual, where each person can only symbolically eat a little something.

After the meal, the astronauts would go together to a small cabin, where high-ranking officials from the Russian space agency would come to see them off.

The astronauts gave farewell speeches and then drank a toast to send them off.

To avoid drunk driving, the astronauts drink ginger ale.

The actual banquet took place a few days earlier, when the Russian astronauts were to dine with the designers of the Soyuz spacecraft.

A small drop of rocket engine fuel is poured into the wine, symbolizing the unity of man and machine.

The fuel was basically kerosene, so it had a very strong smell.

But the astronauts had to drink it all, because it was tradition.

After drinking the farewell toast, everyone should quiet down and remain silent for one minute.

Then a Winter Orthodox priest would come over, reciting prayers while sprinkling holy water with a whisk.

"This is too complicated; it's tiring just listening to it."

"That's not all. After the monks finish their rituals, the astronauts will board the cars heading to the launch site."

However, the car will stop and pull over after about 15 minutes to allow the astronauts to urinate.

And you absolutely have to pee on the car's right rear wheel. Can you guess why?

"I know, Gagarin peed here back then..."

"Haha, that's how it is."

Whether or not you can actually urinate is secondary; the most important thing is to unzip your zipper and give it a little peek.

For this reason, the Russian spacesuit even has a special zipper.

"Holy crap, wait a minute, what if there are female astronauts? They can't exactly unzip their pants too, can they?"

"The first female astronaut of Russia, and also the first woman to enter space."

What was her name again? Oh right, Valentina, who was in her early twenties at the time.

She did this to continue tradition and to demonstrate gender equality.

She basically said, "I don't care what you say," and then pulled down her pants and peed on the tire.

"Damn, he's a hardcore, ruthless guy."

"Later, the Russians felt that the accompanying personnel would be a bit embarrassed, so from then on, they made the female astronauts urinate in a conical flask in advance."

After getting out of the car, pour the contents of the bottle onto the right rear wheel.

"Wait a minute, could these entourage also be part of the ceremony?"

"You guessed it, after urinating, the accompanying staff will come up and hug the astronauts to say goodbye."

They were the astronauts' backup, or you could say the Plan B for the operation; their role as substitutes only ended at this point.

Prior to this, all their training, quarantine, and arrangements were exactly the same as those of the official members.

The car he was in was exactly the same as the astronaut's, and it followed behind as a backup until he finished urinating.

Backup astronauts, after successfully sending their teammates off on the current mission, often become the ones to carry out the next mission.