Chapter 135: Toilet Paper

Qiming's days have stabilized again; according to the short-term plan formulated at the previous meeting, within two weeks, they do not intend to dispatch the External Duty Team again.

The conflict between Qingbei and Yi Zhong shows signs of escalation; if Song Yu and the others suffered casualties in the battle two days ago, a full-scale war might break out, and going out now would risk becoming cannon fodder.

Judging from the previous situation, the overall strength of either Qingbei or Yi Zhong far exceeds that of Qiming.

On Qingbei's side, Song Yu's strength exceeds imagination; even the eighth-grader Yangbu'an has the ability to directly confront Chen Mu.

As for Yi Zhong's side, although it's not entirely clear, just that huge fireball from that day is enough to make people wary threefold; moreover, having a record of repelling Song Yu and the others, it is not something Qiming can confront head-on.

On the other hand, Chen Mu just stole their vehicle and injured a bunch of them; at this point, Yi Zhong is probably searching for them all over the world.

Most importantly, Gu Yinglong's significance is surely also clear to Yi Zhong.

Better to lie low for a few days first.

……

The room-organizing work has initially shown results.

The two large cardboard boxes originally placed on the floor—one has been completely organized, its contents placed on the shelves, sorted and occupying a quarter of the lower shelf; the box itself, after being cut and folded, has also been neatly stacked in the space beneath the shelf.

"Senior Chen."

After dinner, Lu Shanshan found Chen Mu, who was shrink-wrapping food, and said somewhat hesitantly, "We're running out of toilet paper; Senior Dong asked me to come find you to help make some more."

"Oh, I'm on it."

"Do you need my help?"

"All right."

When Chen Mu first made toilet paper, Lu Shanshan and the others hadn't arrived yet; that batch's stock has lasted until now, but with more people, the consumption rate of toilet paper has increased significantly.

The original material for making toilet paper was cardboard boxes—loose and rough, not to mention not very clean—but there was no better option, so they had to do it that way.

However, since they found a stack of brand-new A4 paper in the cardboard boxes last time, this problem has improved considerably.

When Chen Mu came out from beneath the shelf and returned to the crowd, he saw Wei Dalei and several others cutting paper.

One original A4 printing sheet had been divided into over a hundred pieces; this work has continued from yesterday to today, dulling several knives.

Even so, the paper divided into hundreds of pieces is still larger than a person.

Moreover, it's thick like a blanket.

The thickness of A4 paper is about 0.1 mm.

Holding it in hand feels like previously holding a sheet of paper 1 cm thick.

One can imagine how difficult it is to cut.

And the paper's density is about 1 g/cm³, close to water, so its weight is not low either.

"With this one sheet, we can make a lot of toilet paper, right?"

As the main cutter, Wei Dalei's hands holding the knife are slightly trembling; this task requires certain precision and skill, making it more strenuous than pure manual labor.

Most importantly, the volume is too large.

Imagine cutting a sheet of paper 30 meters long, 20 meters wide, and 1 cm thick into a hundred pieces—relying solely on one knife, it's indeed quite laborious.

Fortunately, others are helping him.

"The quantity isn't the key; the main point is that toilet paper made from this should be better than cardboard— the original was too easy to tear, and you'd easily get it on your hands."

"Holy shit, you're disgusting."

"You haven't run into that?"

"No, won't you use two sheets stacked together?"

"... I'm used to saving."

"..."

Placed before Chen Mu.

It is a sheet of paper approximately 3 cm long and 2 cm wide, which he deliberately selected, based on Lu Shanshan's ability range.

After Lu Shanshan reduced its weight, the paper became noticeably lighter; for fear of getting it dirty, it wasn't placed on the ground but set on the oval long table used for meetings.

The twelve-person conference table has plenty of space to place this sheet.

Chen Mu placed both hands on the paper, easily unfolded it, and continually reduced its thickness; however, after just a few motions, the paper's area had already expanded beyond the table's range.

It was soft and floppy, almost drooping to the floor.

His ability can change shape, so thinning the paper isn't difficult, but the object remains subject to gravity; something like paper, which hardly has any rigidity, cannot be supported.

Chen Mu shook his head, then suddenly retracted the entire sheet back to its original state.

Afterwards, he had a flash of inspiration and activated his ability again.

This time, the paper did not change overall; instead, from one end it slowly extended a thin paper strip about the width of a palm.

This paper strip was gradually pulled lengthwise, its thickness and width becoming similar to that of ordinary toilet paper roll under current proportions.

"Catch it." Chen Mu said.

He Ying reacted immediately, reaching out to catch one end of the paper strip in her hand.

"Let's see if we can roll it up."

"Yes."

He Ying quickly got to work, beginning to roll up this paper strip.

Soon, a prototype of a toilet paper roll appeared.

Meanwhile, Chen Mu continued to draw out the paper endlessly; the sensation was like pulling a thread from a ball of yarn.

At first, the paper strip Chen Mu pulled out had uneven width and thickness, but as he became more practiced, the quality improved; ultimately, to the naked eye, it was indistinguishable from ordinary toilet paper.

He Ying's movements were already fast, but they gradually fell behind Chen Mu's speed.

"One more person."

As soon as the words fell, the other end of the paper also quickly extended a paper strip.

Lu Shanshan was quick-eyed and quick-handed; she went up, imitating He Ying, and began to roll the slowly lengthening paper strips.

Hand-rolling the paper is slow; even with two people, Chen Mu's difficulty doubled, and supply still exceeds demand.

Soon, Dong Junwei also came up.

One sheet of paper produces strips in three directions.

It's like a big ball of thread splitting into three heads, continuously producing small thread balls.

On the hands of He Ying and the three people, once the rolled paper size is appropriate, they break it off and continue rolling.

Just like that.

Tube after tube of rolled paper, similar to normal toilet paper, is continuously 'produced'.

As the 'paper-making machine,' Chen Mu must now focus completely; this precision and control demand extremely high of ability users, and he also needs to do three things at once.

Tang Jing watches from the side, carefully observing Chen Mu and the paper's changes, her eyes glinting with golden light.

The others were all drawn to the scene, holding their breath and watching intently.

As Chen Mu grew more skilled, the paper became ever neater.

The sight of the big paper spitting out small paper looks extremely soothing.

It could literally make someone with OCD ecstatic.