Wasteland Survivalist: A Scientific Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival

As darkness fell, Gu Lang and his two companions returned to the mountaintop restaurant.

After spending these few days together, He Ping and Bai Lang gradually became assimilated by Gu Lang.

I used to find Western food with strange flavors hard to eat, but now I can enjoy it to my heart's content.

Those expired Coke bottles in glass were also completely drunk up.

But no one spoke at the dinner table tonight; all three knew it was time for a showdown.

After finishing the last bite of pasta, Bai Lang tossed his fork back onto the plate and crossed his arms.

He Ping stood up and, after tidying up the table, glanced at Gu Lang.

"Thank you for your help, Director He. You can go to the observation platform to keep watch first, I'll come back to relieve you later."

He Ping nodded, slung his air rifle over his shoulder, and left.

"Director He seems to listen to you quite a bit."

Bai Lang watched He Ping's figure disappear outside the porch, then turned his gaze back to Gu Lang's face.

"We have an equal working relationship; we just have different roles within the team."

Let's get back to our previous topic. How would you like to collaborate?

Bai Lang didn't beat around the bush and directly stated his conditions.

"Now I can tell you, I have a fully equipped survival base."

It's located dozens of kilometers away from here, deep in the Shiwan Mountains.

I now formally invite you and He Ping to join my team and live in the base.

However, there are two prerequisites.

First, surrender your weapons; they will be kept and distributed collectively.

Second, obey collective decisions; the minority must submit to the majority.

Gu Lang laughed after hearing this: "Brother Bai, are you asking me to surrender?"

If I surrender my weapons, then I'm a lamb to the slaughter.

As for the idea of ​​the minority obeying the majority, that's even more absurd.

There are two of us on my side, and I've encountered at least three on your side before.

With the people in the shelters included, the number will only increase.

Then you can just shout, "Family members, does anyone know how to do this?"

They voted to distribute all my supplies, and then sent me out to die. I didn't even have the right to say no.

This is not cooperation; this is the path to enslavement.

As I've said before, I don't accept being recruited.

Bai Lang also laughed, without refuting, but instead shrugged.

"Ask the sky, then bargain down. Treat this like a business negotiation. Tell me your terms."

Gu Lang didn't rush to name a price; instead, he asked a crucial question first: "Are there any other forces around your refuge?"

Yes. Although most of the Shiwan Mountains are primeval forests.

However, apart from the core protected area, there are actually several villages in the mountains, but they are sparsely populated.

The area I'm in covers a radius of several dozen kilometers.

There are many other survival teams that are openly operating, but I don't know how many are hiding in the shadows.

However, the mountainous terrain is too restrictive, even though the straight-line distance is only a few kilometers.

It would take most of the day to actually walk there, crossing mountains and valleys, as it is largely blocked by the natural environment.

So far, there haven't been any major conflicts of interest, and everyone is coexisting peacefully.

"Are there any ruins or remnants of bandit strongholds near your refuge?"

Or an abandoned building would be fine, preferably on a mountaintop.

Bai Lang immediately understood Gu Lang's intention and looked up to recall for two seconds.

Then he began to answer, and spoke very slowly.

"Um... I haven't heard of any bandit strongholds... You'd probably have to ask the locals..."

However, there are indeed two abandoned buildings on the mountaintop...

"Wait! What was the ground made of when you stepped into the abandoned building? Answer me now!"

Gu Lang suddenly asked a question loudly, throwing out a seemingly inexplicable question.

"Huh?" Bai Lang looked up again, puzzled, trying to recall.

"The campsite is a grassy area, I'm sure of that."

The ground of the communication base station is hardened; it should be considered a cement floor.

Why did you suddenly yell so loudly? You startled me.

"It's nothing, just asking casually."

Gu Lang smiled and nodded; he had just confirmed that Bai Lang was not lying.

There's a famous internet rumor that says: when people recall the past, their eyes look upwards; looking left means remembering, while looking right means lying.

This theory originated from neurolinguistic programming in the 70s.

It argues that right-handed people look to the upper left when they are "retrieving real memories".

Looking to the upper right, it's about "creating a fake image".

However, this theory was disproven by psychologists as early as 2006.

We analyzed eye movements and brain activity frame by frame using a large number of experimental videos.

Scientists have concluded that whether one looks to the left or the right has almost no correlation with telling the truth or lying.

The direction of one's gaze depends entirely on individual habits and preferences, and has nothing to do with honesty.

However, the act of "looking up" itself does reveal information, indicating that the brain is accessing its visual memory bank.

Unfortunately, liars also employ visual constructive abilities when fabricating images.

Brain scans showed that the brain regions activated by these two behaviors highly overlapped.

Therefore, if you want to determine whether someone is lying, a more effective method is to look at their "reaction time lag" and "redundancy in details".

When a person recalls a question, their eyes will pause for one to two seconds.

It follows the brain's "file search" process, with the eyes fixed in one direction and the details described in a calm tone.

The fabricator often answers the question immediately upon hearing it.

They either recite the script from memory or react slowly but suddenly speed up their speech.

Furthermore, when describing the scene, his eyes frequently dart left and right.

It's like searching for vocabulary or constantly revising a draft.

At this point, you can suddenly ask a "non-visual" detail question to conduct a test.

The person recalling the event will instantly look up again to retrieve this minor piece of information.

To avoid being exposed, fabricators often lower their eyes to reduce visual distractions and verbally fabricate logic.

At this point, the lies he tells will become extremely brief or vague.

Gu Lang had obtained the information he wanted and felt Bai Lang's sincerity.

So he sat up straight, became serious, and officially began the negotiation process.

He doesn't plan to join someone else's team, but the hardest part of building a shelter in the mountains is safely getting through the initial setup phase.

The success rate can be greatly increased if an ally's base can provide assistance.

"He Ping and I remain independent, we will not join your team, and we will certainly not surrender and accept so-called collective decisions."

But I can form an alliance with you to establish a base near your refuge by choosing a suitable location.

Both sides kept in mind the principle that "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold," and maintained a relationship of mutual assistance.

If either party encounters danger, the other party must provide unconditional support.

Gu Lang wasted no more time and presented his terms.