Wasteland Survivalist: A Scientific Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival

Compared to geotextiles, stacks of densely packed gabion mesh are much heavier.

Gu Lang grabbed a stack of net cages and pushed them forcefully, only to find that they were completely beyond human power to move.

It remained completely still, as if it were fixed to space itself.

"It weighs at least four or five hundred kilograms. Off-road vehicles and assault vehicles can't carry this; we'll need to find trucks and forklifts."

Gu Lang released his grip and shook his aching fingers.

The three of them walked around the park and soon found several trucks whose diesel fuel had been drained.

One of the JAC Junling trucks looked to be in fairly good condition, and the key was left on the driver's seat.

"That's it."

Gu Lang siphoned some diesel fuel from the Lynx assault vehicle and poured it into the truck's fuel tank, then jumped into the driver's seat and turned the key.

The starter motor made two weak turns and then stopped, and the lights on the instrument panel were so dim that they were almost invisible.

"The battery's dead." Gu Lang leaned out of the car window.

Bai Lang immediately knelt down to check the battery under the car and used a flashlight to illuminate the nameplate on it.

"Damn it, this truck uses a 24-volt battery."

My equation-based leopard can only output 12 volts and 220 volts, so it can't be directly connected to the power source.

"Do you have an emergency jump starter in your car?" He Ping asked.

"It's useless. That thing only works with 12 volts, so it can only be used for small cars."

Bai Lang straightened up and patted the dust off his trousers.

"Don't panic, military vehicles all use 24-volt batteries."

Gu Lang calmly walked to the rear of the Lynx assault vehicle and opened the engine compartment cover.

After carefully examining the interior layout, he was stunned.

The military battery pack is integrated under a sealed armor plate, and the output end is a dedicated interface, so there is no civilian jump starter.

The entire power compartment is so compact that you can't even fit a finger in it; to force a connection from the positive to the negative terminals would require completely disassembling the power compartment.

After studying the matter together, the three concluded that disassembling the equipment themselves would definitely lead to seal failure and even damage to the equipment.

"A 24-volt battery should be made up of two 12-volt batteries connected in series."

"How about we disassemble the truck battery and charge it separately?" He Ping suggested a solution.

"That won't work. I just checked, and the battery is a one-piece, fully enclosed unit."

Modern lead-acid batteries are intentionally designed to be non-maintainable.

"If we force it open, I'm afraid it will break completely." Bai Lang shook his head.

The three men stood in front of the truck, looking at each other in bewilderment.

Just then, Gu Lang suddenly had a flash of inspiration and slapped his thigh.

"Got it."

"What is it?" He Ping and Bai Lang turned to look at Gu Lang at the same time.

"I once hand-cranked a 24-volt generator."

Later it was replaced with a vertical axis wind turbine, which is now mounted on the speedboat.

That thing can directly output 24 volts of electricity, although the power is a bit low.

But if you keep shaking it for a while, you'll eventually get it started.

"I knew you were Doraemon." Bai Lang couldn't help but laugh.

"Please call me the King of Junk." The gloom on Gu Lang's face vanished.

After a brief discussion, the three decided that Gu Lang and He Ping would drive the Lynx assault vehicle to the speedboat to transport supplies.

Bai Lang stayed behind at the warehouse and looked for a usable forklift nearby, while the two sides went their separate ways.

The Lynx assault vehicle left the logistics park, went into the water from the beach, and drove back to the dark submarine hangar.

Under the beam of his flashlight, Gu Lang saw that the speedboat was still moored at the deepest part of the cave, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

He boarded the ship to select supplies, and He Ping secured them with ropes.

Before leaving the cave, the Lynx assault vehicle was refueled with diesel fuel.

Gu Lang launched the drone again to make sure there was no one else around before returning to the logistics park.

After connecting the wires, He Ping began to turn the crank handle to charge the truck battery.

"Have you found the forklift?" Gu Lang asked Bai Lang.

"We have several electric forklifts and chargers, but we don't know why they won't charge."

"It's probably because it hasn't been used for too long, the battery is low, the voltage is too low, and the protection board is locked."

"Damn, what do we do now?"

"There's no way around it, it'll probably require specialized equipment to reactivate it. Do you have a fuel-powered forklift in your possession?"

There's a diesel forklift behind the warehouse; it looks usable.

"I just can't find the key, so I can't start it." Bai Lang spread his arms and shrugged.

Gu Lang walked to the back door of the warehouse, and sure enough, there was a yellow forklift parked next to Bai Lang's SUV.

"Has the oil been added?"

"I added a little bit, and the battery was fully charged. The battery consists of two 12-volt lead-acid batteries connected in series."

It's just exposed on the outside, and you can charge it separately by disconnecting the wires, which saves me a lot of trouble.

I removed the steering wheel cover, intending to short-circuit the circuit to start the engine.

There were six wires inside, followed by two circuit boards, which gave me goosebumps.

In movies, don't car thieves just pull out two wires and touch them to start the car?

"You know it's a movie?" Gu Lang laughed, walked to the back of the forklift, and opened the engine cover.

"However, the principle is indeed correct, but the wrong location was deliberately chosen in the movie for the sake of filming convenience."

It's no wonder you were misled; to actually start the vehicle, you have to work on the starter motor.

Gu Lang shone his flashlight into the engine compartment and discovered several terminals on the side of the starter motor.

"Did you see that?"

The thinner wire is the starter wire, the thicker one with black rubber is the negative terminal, and the one next to it is the positive terminal.

We only need to short-circuit the positive terminal and the starter wire, and the starter motor will start turning.

"And what about this red thread?"

"The red wire is the power supply wire for the kill valve. Shorting the positive terminal to this wire will shut off the engine."

"How exactly do I do it?" Bai Lang rubbed his hands together, looking eager to try.

"Test the motor first, then start working."

Gu Lang first gently touched the positive and negative terminals with the wire, and then immediately separated them.

A small spark flashed, and the starter motor turned half a circle before stopping.

"This step is just to let the motor idle for a while to confirm that the motor itself is not broken."

Now, as you begin the actual startup, immediately disconnect the machine upon hearing any noise to prevent burning out the motor.

With a flash of sparks, the starter motor quickly began to spin.

Immediately afterwards, the diesel engine roared to life, spewing out a cloud of black smoke from the exhaust pipe.

Gu Lang immediately disconnected the wire and took two steps back.

As the black smoke from the exhaust pipe gradually thinned, the engine began to run steadily.

"Awesome!"

Bai Lang excitedly jumped onto the forklift and shifted the gear a few times.

He turned the steering wheel one full turn to the left and one full turn to the right, then slowly drove the forklift toward the pile of gabion mesh in the warehouse.

At the same time, a voice came from the other end of the warehouse: "Reversing, please be careful..."

He Ping also successfully started the truck and was carefully reversing into the loading and unloading area.

Gu Lang directed Bai Lang to operate the forklift, lifting stacks of gabion cages and neatly stacking them at the bottom of the truck bed.

Lighter geotextile rolls are placed on top of the gabion to secure it.

The trucks were quickly filled, while other supplies were loaded directly into the off-road vehicles and Lynx assault vehicles.