Wasteland Survivalist: A Scientific Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival

The embers of the campfire emitted a final, faint glow.

Wearing a headlamp, Gu Lang was flipping through a copy of "An Introduction to Clinical Medicine" that he had found.

Just then, a piercing air raid siren suddenly sounded outside.

He suddenly looked up and gazed out the window in confusion.

Several strange lights pierced the corner of his eye.

At first I thought it was an illusion, but then more and brighter spots of light appeared.

Gu Lang turned off his headlamp and squinted as he observed the strange phenomenon.

"It's not an airplane. Airplanes don't move so fast, become so bright, and... leave a contrail."

The air raid siren maintained a rhythm of 36 seconds of sound followed by 24 seconds of silence.

This was repeated three times, lasting a total of three minutes.

"Is this an advance warning? Has the military detected an aerial threat?"

After calculating the time on his watch, Gu Lang stared at the sky in shock.

At the same time, it seemed as if shooting stars appeared in the sky.

They were incredibly fast and numerous, constantly emerging from different directions on the horizon.

As time went on, it began to leave blinding white streaks in the sky.

It was falling towards the west, south, and the land it was in.

"Bullet re-enters..."

Gu Lang's heart felt as if it were being gripped by an icy hand, almost stopping its beating.

He recalled the information about nuclear war warnings in the survival manual.

The graphic descriptions that once seemed incredibly distant and abstract.

It is manifesting before my eyes in the most terrifying way.

Those bright spots are the warheads of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

It is re-entering the atmosphere at a terrifying speed of more than twenty times the speed of sound.

The warhead undergoes intense friction, compression, and combustion with the dense air.

A high-temperature plasma sheath was generated, emitting a bright light.

"Nuclear bombs? Nuclear war has broken out?!"

Gu Lang felt dazed; time seemed to stretch out infinitely, or it seemed to be compressed in an instant.

Extreme fear instantly transformed into the instinct for survival, and he sprang to his feet like a spring.

The essentials of nuclear explosion protection clearly came to mind.

Shock waves, light radiation, early nuclear radiation, and radioactive contamination.

Every second is a matter of life and death!

Shockwaves are the number one killer!

He scanned his surroundings with lightning speed.

The empty courtyard and hall are a death trap!

We must find shelters that can withstand the overpressure impact and flying fragments.

His gaze instantly locked onto a narrow corridor leading from the hall to the building at the back.

At the bottom of the stairs at the end of the corridor is the entrance to the basement.

The corner structure of the stairwell can withstand shock waves and fragments.

And that's where the pathology samples are preserved, and there's a huge freezer inside.

He ran to the light truck and slung the hiking backpack over his shoulder from the passenger seat.

He grabbed two more buckets of water and rushed into the corridor without hesitation.

Gu Lang pushed open the half-closed iron door and entered the basement.

He put down the bucket and opened the abandoned freezer.

I threw away the empty box inside and tossed my backpack in.

There was no flash of a nuclear explosion outside, and Gu Lang still had some time left.

He immediately turned off his mobile phone and other electronic devices and continued moving supplies using a trolley.

After several trips, the food and water from the car were transported to the basement.

Seeing that there was still time, he returned to the garage, pulled down the roller shutter door, and weighed down the bottom with sandbags.

Then I opened the hood and disconnected the car's power.

Then they found a large bundle of plastic bags and two rolls of tape.

They began sealing the light truck's air intake and air conditioning vents to improve the vehicle's airtightness as much as possible.

Just then, the air raid siren sounded again.

Maintain an interval of 6 seconds of blasting followed by 6 seconds of silence.

This is an air raid warning, indicating that an attack is imminent.

The alarm sounded 15 times and lasted for 3 minutes.

Upon hearing this signal, Gu Lang immediately donned protective gear and rushed back to the basement.

Less than five minutes after the alarm stopped, the outside world lit up instantly.

A blinding light appeared, like billions of suns rising at once.

Blinding light pierced through the door frame, turning the basement into an unnatural, deathly white.

The massive amount of light radiation released by a nuclear explosion is enough to cause instant blindness.

Combined with the neutron flux and gamma rays released in the first few tens of seconds of a nuclear explosion.

It can also severely burn exposed skin.

Gu Lang turned his head away, squinting to avoid looking at the flash, and forcefully slammed the rusty iron gate shut.

Turn off the deadbolt switch and press down on anything that could block the door.

The ground began to tremble, as if an earthquake had occurred.

The building structure emitted teeth-grinding groans and cracking sounds.

Cement debris fell like a torrential rain, hitting the ground and kicking up a cloud of choking dust.

Soon, an indescribable and irresistible force crashed down from all directions.

Sensing the approaching shockwave, Gu Lang quickly closed the freezer lid.

He huddled in the freezer, his body turned to the side with his back against the wall.

He curled up his legs and buried his head deep under his arms and backpack.

Open your mouth to balance the pressure difference of the shock wave on your eardrum.

The sound of shattering glass echoed down the corridor, along with the dull thud of hanging objects hitting the ground.

The violent tremors lasted for a while before gradually subsiding.

Gu Lang didn't rush out. After the shockwave passed, there would often be a reflected wave.

Sure enough, a second strong tremor occurred after a gap of more than ten seconds.

Then the world suddenly became quiet.

In the enclosed space, only heavy breathing could be heard echoing in the freezer.

Just in case, Gu Lang stayed for an extra thirty seconds.

I didn't open the freezer lid until I felt the oxygen level inside was too low.

The basement was filled with thick dust, and there was a strange, burning smell in the air.

Outside the iron gate, the sounds of buildings collapsing and objects rolling down could still be heard intermittently.

Gulang successfully evaded the first wave of impact.

The defensive capability of reinforced concrete against nuclear weapons is beyond doubt.

Back then, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there were survivors even in basements 200 meters from the epicenter.

Turn on the Geiger counter; the numbers are slowly rising.

He decisively moved the clutter blocking the door.

The mushroom cloud that rises after a nuclear explosion will carry a large amount of radioactive material into the upper atmosphere.

In a maximum of 10 minutes, the deadly radioactive dust will settle down.

Radioactive dust particles are odorless, invisible, ubiquitous, and pervasive.

Depending on the weather and wind direction, it can drift for hundreds of kilometers.

Thick concrete, brick walls, and soil are the best barriers.

He must immediately seal all gaps to prevent outside air from entering the room.

The first wave of radioactive dust deposition is the most concentrated, and the dose is lethal.

However, radioactive dust has a very short half-life, and its intensity drops significantly after a few hours.

In an emergency, if one continues to take refuge for 48 to 72 hours, one can conditionally return to the ground.

If the refuge period exceeds 7 days, a safe evacuation can generally be achieved.

Gu Lang took out the remaining roll of tape from his bag and sealed the door gap completely.

He then stepped on the freezer and removed the vent from the ceiling.

The ventilation ducts were sealed with plastic bags and tape.