Chapter 62: Kitchen Utensils

The committee's five-member list was finally confirmed.

Dong Junwei, Tang Jing, Chen Mu, Wei Dalei, He Ying.

As for duties and daily work, Tang Jing promised to produce a plan within twenty-four hours for everyone to discuss and vote on.

At first everyone approached this general meeting with a sense of fun, not even realizing it would be a formal meeting; they just stood in an open space forming a circle, but as time went on they moved to sit on the towels.

After establishing the organization's name and electing the leadership committee, everyone's attitude gradually became more serious.

By then a long time had passed since noon, and only then did everyone realize they hadn't eaten lunch yet.

"I'll go do it right away." Du Jia Jia hurriedly stood up.

The food now is still only flour-based pancakes; although Du Jia Jia keeps improving and innovating, there's only this much, and even a skilled cook can't make a meal without rice—eventually one gets tired of it.

Fortunately, compared with the earlier rice cakes, the current oily, salty flour pancakes are already quite good; it will take a while before one grows sick of them.

The celery leaves brought back have been the main food these past few days; since this fresh vegetable doesn't keep long, everyone has been eating it with gusto.

As for He Ying's group, especially Feng Xiao Yu who had just arrived for the first time, this meal completely refreshed her perception.

The steaming hot pancakes came with fresh vegetables, meat, and even a sauce with a fresh spicy kick.

This kind of life.

How long has it been since I last tried this?

When she bit into the first scalding-hot pancake, Feng Xiao Yu couldn't help but tear up; He Ying patted her shoulder to show she understood her feelings.

Kitchen facilities are becoming increasingly complete, letting Dong Junwei heat the iron block used as a stove; its shape has changed several times, finally reaching the form and height that Du Jia Jia finds most satisfactory.

Moreover, various kitchen utensils have been added one by one at the request of Head Chef Du.

From the simplest iron plate to spatulas, scrapers, and various plates for holding food, even steel wool balls and rags for washing are all present.

Among them, the steel wool ball took a lot of effort.

Pulling stainless steel slowly into a uniform wire and then bundling it up—an action that sounds simple—took Chen Mu nearly two hours, nearly exhausting his psychic power.

Yet the resulting wire, in both feel and usability, is worlds apart from store-bought.

As for the rag, Chen Mu simply gave up on it.

Instead, he just pulled some cotton threads from the towel, wrapped them loosely a few times, and they were barely usable.

Of course, most of the time utensils are cleaned by dry wiping only, because water is still too precious.

Therefore, each person's utensils are fixed to prevent cross-use unhygienic, and every other day Dong Junwei performs a high-temperature disinfection on them.

To avoid mistakes, Chen Mu also engraved each person's name on their utensils.

Inspired by the weapon engraving of Dong Junwei and others, Chen Mu discovered that this fine control greatly helps train his special ability, and his psychic power increased noticeably the next day.

Therefore, he doesn't mind being a carver now.

Twelve names—that's no small project.

Chen Mu didn't cut corners; he earnestly carved each name, striving for neat characters that sink three fen into the wood.

Compared to before,

the characters he carved are indeed much better-looking.

Moreover,

Chen Mu also found that, in this fine control, his ability still retains the trait of proficiency through practice.

That is,

as long as he has tried a character before, copying it exactly will be much faster.

Before long, he believes he can truly become like a seal, stamping impressions at will.

……

After lunch, Dong Junwei summoned the five committee members to discuss the next steps.

Qiming currently finds itself in a rather awkward situation.

Food and warmth have been temporarily solved.

Although there are still many things to do now, none have an obvious priority.

"I think water and safety are the two most crucial aspects."

Chen Mu glanced at the other four.

He Ying had just joined and obviously didn't want to speak much, while Wei Dalei, tall and big, stood there clueless about what to do.

Dong Junwei said: "Regarding safety, those staying at home should be fine for now. After all, the gap in the door is only that high, so big creatures like rats can't get in; centipedes and spiders, though more threatening, are not a big problem with the house and grenades providing cover."

Tang Jing said: "I'm just worried that centipedes and such might crawl in unnoticed; once they get close, we won't have time to hide, and even if we eventually drive them off, casualties could still occur."

"What do you mean?"

"I have two suggestions: first, set up a dedicated lookout post where one person stands on a high point and can observe the surroundings at any time, so everyone can relax a bit normally instead of everyone staying constantly alert, which over time wastes energy.

"Second, block off the door gap, leaving only a single opening for our own entry and exit; then both defense and surveillance will be much simpler."

After listening, Dong Junwei turned and asked: "Chen Mu, what are your current abilities..."

Chen Mu replied: "Doing it all at once definitely won't work, but we can gradually carry out construction; just exactly how to block it..."

"Do you have any suggestions?" Tang Jing asked.

"Two options: first, completely seal it with no gap, which avoids worrying about small crawling creatures getting in; second, use a fence—I can set iron rods upright in the door gap, one end inserted into the concrete floor, the other buried in the lower edge of the door; the advantage is better ventilation."

"Ventilation?" He Ying couldn't help but ask.

"Ventilation really is an issue; it's not yet the hottest time, but by July and August this storage room without a ceiling will become scorching hot during the day. Our perception of outside temperature seems unchanged from before, which is unreasonable; logically, after we've shrunk, our bodies' heat dissipation..."

Tang Jing said up to that point, then suddenly stopped and laughed: "Let's not talk about that; in short, it's best not to completely block the door gap—although this storage room is already big enough for us, we can't say whether the internal airflow is sufficient to serve as a ventilation system."

"Then let's tentatively go with the fence plan?" Dong Junwei proposed.

"Good." Chen Mu nodded.

"Besides, there's also water."

"Drinking water is not a problem for now, but washing up, doing dishes, flushing the toilet—these will need to be considered sooner or later."

Chen Mu had just finished speaking when everyone heard a sound as if something was striking the glass window of the storage room.

Everyone was startled.

This sound appeared again a few seconds later.

Everyone looked up.

They saw that the glass, which had been fairly clear, now seemed to have two blurred patches.

It was obvious.

It was a drop of water.

"Is it raining?"