Wasteland Survivalist: A Scientific Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival

After the supplies were loaded, Gu Lang went to the speedboat and carried back a few barrels of oil.

It was 3 p.m. when the convoy left the logistics park.

Gu Lang drove the Lynx assault vehicle along the coastal highway he had come from.

A sea breeze carrying a faint salty smell blew in from the sea, and the roadside trees rustled in the wind.

We had driven less than two kilometers when we suddenly heard the familiar sound of propellers in the sky.

Gu Lang instinctively stepped on the brakes, and the assault vehicle lurched violently, its tires scraping two shallow marks on the concrete road.

He swerved to the right, gliding the car into the shade of a row of casuarina trees.

Then he jumped directly from the driver's seat to the back and pulled up the bolt of the heavy machine gun.

"Take cover, there's an airplane." He pressed the intercom, his voice extremely low.

"I see it, it looks like a military drone," Bai Lang's voice came through the walkie-talkie.

Before the words were finished, a large fixed-wing drone flew low overhead.

The bottom of the pod popped open, and a stack of leaflets fell like snowflakes, fluttering and scattering in the sea breeze.

One of them tumbled and spun several times in the air before drifting all the way to the Lynx assault vehicle.

With a "smack," it stuck to the windshield of the assault vehicle.

The layout above is familiar: a few math problems and a string of textual explanations.

Gu Lang reached out, tore off the flyer that was fluttering in the wind, folded it a few times, and stuffed it into his breast pocket.

"Guys, good news! We've received notification for the next airdrop."

"Shall we have Director He solve the problem now?" Bai Lang joked with a smile.

"No, let's calculate it when we get back. The shorter the time we spend outside, the better."

The convoy set off again, heading towards the mountains, with several seabirds startled and taking flight along the way.

Five minutes later, several dark figures appeared on the Haiphong Highway.

The leaflets on the road were still being pushed and tumbled by the wind, making a rustling sound.

The shadowy figure crouched down and picked up the flyer from the ground. Upon seeing the fresh skid marks on the ground, a smile appeared on his lips.

By the time Gu Lang and his two companions returned to the base, it was almost dark.

Bai Lang's father drove the excavator as a crane, while the others used ropes to assist.

All the supplies were unloaded from the truck, briefly distributed, and then moved into the warehouse.

After resting for a night, He Ping went to the power plant to help the Bai family replace the seals.

After several hours of repairs, the turbine unit finally passed the full-load operation test.

Meanwhile, Gu Lang is helping Bai Lang improve the base's weaponry.

He had noticed early on that the Molotov cocktails prepared at the base were traditional Molotov cocktails.

The bottle was filled with gasoline, and the neck was stuffed with strips of cloth; it was so rudimentary that it looked like it had been taken straight from a historical documentary.

Therefore, they proposed to Bai Lang that the project be upgraded and renovated.

The core improvement lies in the ignition method, replacing manual ignition with the self-ignition property of metallic sodium upon contact with water.

However, the sodium blocks he had previously collected from the school laboratory had long been exhausted and needed to be made again.

To produce metallic sodium, you first need to obtain caustic soda—sodium hydroxide.

This substance is highly corrosive and was often used in the past as a powerful degreaser or drain cleaner.

Because they are classified as hazardous chemicals, it is already very difficult for individuals to purchase them through legal channels during peacetime.

Gulang had previously tried to make his own salt water by electrolyzing it, but the process produced chlorine gas, making it extremely dangerous and troublesome.

Fortunately, Bai Lang had ample supplies and was able to select many useful items.

Accompanied by Bai Lang, Gu Lang entered the warehouse on the first floor of the dormitory building.

I walked around the rows of shelves twice and selected the right materials.

Bai Lang cleared out a worktable for Gu Lang in the maintenance room of the hydroelectric power station.

Gu Lang then took a Coca-Cola bottle filled with kerosene from the Lynx assault vehicle and began working.

He first opened two packets of powder, one containing sodium carbonate and the other quicklime powder (calcium oxide).

Simply add quicklime powder to water to produce slaked lime (calcium hydroxide).

Adding quicklime to the pure alkali solution and stirring thoroughly will trigger a chemical reaction.

The calcium carbonate produced will settle to the bottom, and the clear liquid on top is a sodium hydroxide solution.

After filtering out the solution, heating and evaporating it will dry it and you can obtain solid sodium hydroxide powder.

Compared to purifying caustic soda from complex drain cleaners, the process is much more time-saving and labor-saving.

But this is just the beginning; the crucial step of electrolysis still cannot be skipped.

The process of electrolyzing molten sodium hydroxide to obtain metallic sodium is known in industry as the Cassna process.

Molten caustic soda is extremely corrosive; even a single drop on the skin can cause a deep chemical burn.

Therefore, an electrolysis device must first be made.

Since sodium hydroxide has a melting point of 318 degrees Celsius, this device must be able to withstand high temperatures.

Gu Lang removed a nickel-chromium alloy wire from a hair dryer to use as a heating element.

A small stainless steel cup with a diameter of five centimeters was chosen as the reaction vessel.

He removed the cup handle and wrapped the outer wall of the cup with several layers of fiberglass cloth and car exhaust sealant as an insulation layer.

Then, evenly wrap the nickel-chromium alloy heating wire around the outside of the insulation layer.

Then they found a large aluminum pot and lined it with a layer of sand.

Place the water cup in the center of the pot, cover the surrounding area with sand, and finally seal the top with cement.

The cement was also homemade. Gu Lang crushed ceramic flowerpots to obtain waste powder and crushed plaster toys to obtain plaster powder.

Waste powder, quicklime, and gypsum powder are mixed in a ratio of 70:25:5.

Add water and stir into a paste, and you have the most time-saving and labor-saving "cement substitute".

Once the cement has dried completely, the first step of container making is complete.

The second step is to manufacture an electrolytic cell.

Gulang used a 50-millimeter-thick steel pipe to make a collection port for the formation of metallic sodium.

Disassemble a power bank and remove the nickel plates inside to use as electrodes.

Two nickel sheets, positioned and fixed on the outside of the steel pipe and connected in parallel with copper wire, serve as the anode.

A section of copper tube is wrapped with copper wire on the outside and fixed to the center of the inside of a steel tube to serve as the cathode.

Then wrap the entire steel pipe with cement, leaving only the collection opening.

With everything in place, Gu Lang put on his full-body protective suit and completed all safety preparations.

He added sodium hydroxide powder to the stainless steel cup and turned on the power to the heating wire.

The temperature inside the cup slowly rose, and after about ten minutes, the solid sodium hydroxide began to soften.

The edges melted into liquid first, and then the center collapsed as well.

After waiting another five minutes, only a pool of colorless, transparent molten liquid remained in the cup.

Gu Lang immediately inserted the steel pipe slowly into the mouth of the cup, turned on the electrode power supply, and the molten alkali began to decompose under the action of the current.

A few minutes later, tiny silver particles began to appear on the inner wall of the steel pipe, gradually growing larger as it tumbled.

Gu Lang used a lighter to heat the small stainless steel strainer to ensure that there was no moisture on it.

Next, use a spoon to scoop out the metallic sodium and drop it into a glass containing kerosene.

After repeating the above steps, dozens of small sodium metal balls appeared in the glass.

It has a silvery sheen and a soft texture, and can be kneaded like clay.