Wasteland Survivalist: A Scientific Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival

After the "sacrifice" ceremony in the central square, Gu Lang carefully recorded the whereabouts of the berserkers.

Six relatively safe areas were selected, and suitable buildings were chosen from them.

Take the self-built house he is currently in as an example; it is an old building that is decades old.

It is a brick-concrete structure with extremely poor overall integrity.

The brick walls provide structural support, while the precast panels are simply placed on them.

Once the wall is damaged, the unsupported floor slab will immediately collapse.

This architectural style was extremely popular in China during the 1980s and 90s.

Because it was quick to construct and inexpensive, it could meet the rapidly growing housing demand at the time.

However, due to the relatively low design standards.

The construction process was also rather crude, resulting in numerous safety hazards.

It has extremely poor earthquake resistance, and several large cracks have appeared after the previous earthquake.

Once a key support point is breached, a chain reaction will occur.

This caused the overall structure to disintegrate like dominoes.

After placing the three gas cylinders in the three corners of the first-floor shop, Gu Lang closed the doors and windows to ensure they were sealed.

The main components of liquefied petroleum gas are propane and butane.

It will rapidly vaporize and mix with the air after leaking.

To generate the most powerful explosion, several key conditions need to be met simultaneously.

It must be a sealed or poorly ventilated space to ensure that leaked gas cannot spread outdoors in a timely manner.

As it accumulates indoors, the concentration required to reach an explosion ranges from 1.5% to 9.5%.

When the concentration is in the range of 4% to 5%, the ratio is just enough to achieve complete combustion.

At this time, the gas burns at its fastest speed, and the pressure and shock wave generated are also the strongest.

This means that it is necessary to ensure that there are 40 to 50 liters of gas per cubic meter of air.

The heavier gas will permeate the entire space, forming a uniform, highly flammable and explosive mixture with the air.

At this point, all it takes is a tiny spark, and an explosion will occur instantly.

It is enough to destroy an entire load-bearing wall, causing the building structure to collapse.

Accompanied by massive fireballs and shockwaves, it inflicts devastating damage on the berserkers.

After clearing away any potential fire hazards inside the shop.

Gu Lang temporarily left the self-built house and went back into the sewers to set up the next location.

He chose an old residential building near the town center as the "detonation site".

This place is very close to the settlement of the most threatening special berserkers; they must be lured away before crossing the town.

To Gulang's surprise, although the residential building was also a brick-concrete structure, it had been reinforced with steel structure.

The damage caused by the earthquake appears severe on the surface, but the main structure remains quite stable.

This unexpected turn of events added uncertainty to his initial plans.

With time running out and no other suitable buildings around, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and start looking for a gas cylinder.

The apartment building was littered with body parts and bloodstains, and almost all the doors had been violently broken down.

Fortunately, this was the territory of the central settlement, and the group of "settled berserkers" were all staying in the town hall building.

As expected, we did not encounter any wandering berserkers.

This building is relatively larger, with the first floor divided into multiple spaces.

Gulang has placed gas cylinders in three shops on the first floor, located in the east, west, and north directions.

The third mission objective is located in the southwest corner of the town, and the mission is not progressing smoothly.

When Gu Lang reached the target location, he couldn't push open the manhole cover no matter what he did; it seemed to be blocked by a heavy object above.

He had no choice but to change his plans and head to the more dangerous southeast corner, where at least two berserker teams were gathered.

Just as he pushed open the manhole cover, preparing to climb out...

A berserker roaming the streets in the middle of the night appeared.

Fortunately, the other party did not have night vision goggles and could not see the unusual darkness.

Gu Lang decisively abandoned the task and closed the manhole cover again.

They followed the sewer to the exit, untied the small wooden boat, and rowed vigorously out of the town.

After washing their protective suits by the river, they returned to the mountain via the same route.

The next morning, Gu Lang woke up inside the cave.

Even after a night's rest, my arms are still incredibly sore.

However, he was much more invigorated, and the demolition plan made substantial progress yesterday.

I'm pretty confident I can break through on my own.

"The stage is all set up; now it's just a matter of figuring out how to start the show."

Gu Lang put away the dried protective suit and then went down the mountain to the visitor center.

After searching the warehouse, they quickly found three loudspeakers and ten rolls of tape.

Just as he was about to close the door and leave, a large pile of fertilizer bags in the corner caught his attention.

"Potassium nitrate fertilizer? That's a good thing."

An interesting plan instantly took shape in his mind.

Without the slightest hesitation, he began to implement it.

First, there is the purification process. Commercially available fertilizers all contain passivating agents and cannot be used directly.

He found a bucket and heated the water to 80 degrees Celsius.

Then, dissolve the potassium fertilizer in water and filter out impurities while it is still hot using a mesh bag and cotton cloth.

The filtered, clear solution was set aside to cool.

After cooling, the solubility decreases sharply, and excess potassium nitrate in the solution will precipitate out in pure crystal form.

"Simple knowledge at the junior high school level, and dead memories started attacking me."

Gu Lang smiled as he took the crystal out and placed it on a ceramic plate to dry.

Potassium nitrate has a wide range of uses, but it's not the focus of this article.

It was made purely for use as a combustion aid.

He then opened a storage compartment in the car and took out a roll of magnesium strips.

"Luckily, I found this at school, otherwise I would have had to dismantle the electric water heater to find the magnesium rod."

Using scissors, Gu Lang cut the magnesium strip into small pieces and began the grinding process.

The tools used were directly the garlic-pounding stone tools from the scenic area's canteen.

For safety, he only adds a very small amount of magnesium shavings each time.

Control the heat generated by friction and prevent excessive dust accumulation.

They also found a damp cloth to wrap around the outside of the mortar to help cool it down.

It took him more than two hours to finally obtain a large amount of magnesium powder.

"I'm exhausted. It doesn't seem necessary to grind it too finely; just enough to make the reaction happen is sufficient."

Gu Lang took out his dagger and went outside the cafeteria.

The magnesium thermophilic agent is only missing one ingredient: rust.

There is an abandoned carousel next to the square in the scenic area.

The once-glorious paint has long since peeled off and is now just a pile of twisted steel wreckage.

He jumped up and examined the exposed metal skeleton.

The surface of the iron plate is covered with a thick, loose layer of rust, typically reddish-brown in color.

Pick up some with your fingers; the texture is rough, making it an ideal raw material for an oxidizing agent.

Gu Lang took out his dagger and, avoiding other complex dirt, began to scrape the surface.

The sound of "hissing—hissing—" echoed through the scenic area.

The rust was placed in a white bag, revealing a bright reddish-brown color.

This is a typical characteristic of ferric oxide.

The whole process is extremely tedious and requires patience.

The scraper needs to maintain a sharp angle with the rusty surface and be scraped with steady and persistent pressure.

The angle is too small to scrape off enough rust powder.

If the angle is too large, it can easily scrape off iron that is not yet fully oxidized.

This will affect the purity and efficiency of the magnesothermic reaction.