Chapter 63

The increasingly dense raindrops began pattering against the glass window.

The storage room's window was just an ordinary double-leaf sliding window, but because the room was small, proportionally it looked especially large, its width almost taking up the entire wall.

Consequently, the room's usual lighting was still decent.

At this moment, the glass window was struck by countless raindrops, which then gathered into streams that trickled down.

From everyone's current angle, this scene was truly spectacular and interesting.

"It's really raining?"

Since the apocalypse, this has been the first rain, and everyone felt both curious and afraid.

After all, rain used to be the most ordinary thing, but now it might turn into a disaster.

Even Wei Dalei could think of that.

"Should we go out and take a look?"

"Go out looking for death?"

"It shouldn't be that bad."

"Soybean-sized raindrops, huh? You've never used that metaphor in an essay? Now they're several times bigger than our heads—getting hit won't kill you."

"Will it?"

"Won't it?"

"Damn, if what you say is true, then every time it rains, the worms on the ground would be smashed to death by raindrops?"

"Huh? That actually makes sense."

"……"

Everyone seemed to have found an interesting topic and began discussing it.

But in the end.

they still couldn't reach a conclusion.

Tang Jing finally laughed: "Actually, it won't kill you, and it won't even injure you."

"Why?"

"In our thinking, we still struggle to adjust to the relationship between relative and absolute, and this problem is actually like falling from a height—it's an absolute quantity issue."

"The impact force of a single raindrop is an absolute value, and as far as we can tell, our bodies' tolerance per unit area is still the same as before, so no scaling is needed; you can't imagine a current raindrop as a basin of water from before—that's wrong. Likewise, if someone threw a stone the size of your head at you now, you wouldn't necessarily get hurt either."

Tang Jing finished speaking and didn't continue explaining.

Everyone found this hard to accept for a moment.

"Do you still remember, at Yi Zhong there was a person whose ability was aiming."

"Of course." He Ying suddenly raised her voice, obviously still holding a grudge about this.

"If that person's ability was merely aiming, the threat wouldn't actually be great." Tang Jing sighed: "He Ying, you once said that just one of them kept you all down and unable to lift your heads, but in fact, if you had been braver back then and not feared the stones they threw, perhaps you wouldn't have been completely defeated."

"You mean, the stones he threw actually wouldn't do us much harm?"

"Yes." Tang Jing nodded: "That's also why Chen Mu had Da Lei change weapons—because the weapon's own weight no longer helps much in battle; one relies only on Da Lei's own strength."

He Ying stared blankly for a while.

Initially, they were frightened by that person from Yi Zhong, scrambling with heads covered, and ultimately sacrificed a companion to escape; that companion's ability was extremely strong copper skin and iron bones.

Looking back now, that person actually didn't smash them directly back then.

He Ying, being relatively agile, wasn't hit.

And the other companions who were hit, after returning, indeed weren't injured at all—not even a bruise.

But back then, everyone thought it was just luck.

Although they were outnumbered and a counterattack was unrealistic, at least if they had been determined to flee, that companion wouldn't have needed to sacrifice himself.

He Ying didn't know what to say for a moment; after a while, she sighed: "If only I had met you all earlier."

Everyone could understand her feelings, but also didn't know how to comfort her.

Tang Jing also sighed: "This isn't anyone's fault; even if we knew about this, we've only been shrunk for a short time, so many things are hard to accept psychologically—just like I'm speaking confidently now, but if we actually faced that situation, we'd still instinctively dodge."

Seeing the mood sink a bit, Chen Mu quickly changed the subject: "Can we make use of the rainwater?"

"That's worth considering."

Tang Jing nodded: "But we also need to be careful; although the rain won't kill us, the water on the ground could be enough to take our lives—what once looked like a thin stream could also sweep us away."

"Then we'd better not go out for now."

"Right, let's wait until the rain stops."

May's rain, although it has already surpassed the spring rain range, is generally not heavy, and soybean-sized raindrops basically won't appear.

But for humans experiencing rain for the first time since the apocalypse, it remains a very dangerous matter.

"But if we want to use the rainwater, we'd have to go out to collect it when it rains—are we supposed to scoop it from the ground?"

"Unless it's absolutely necessary, otherwise everyone certainly wouldn't want to use water that has fallen to the ground."

Such water is okay for flushing toilets, but for bathing it's considered dirty—once or twice is tolerable, but over time it's not good; and Chen Mu's earlier solution to the water problem certainly wouldn't be waiting until after the rain to go out and scoop ground water.

"Chen Mu, do you still remember me telling you about building a water plant?"

"Of course."

Chen Mu recalled this matter; even though it was Tang Jing, he still thought little of it.

Let alone his current ability being far from building a water supply plant—hundreds of thousands of miles away—even if that day ever came, it would still be impractical.

Even a layperson like him knows a water plant isn't just about having pools and pipes.

Water pumps;

Disinfection and medication;

Electricity;

Water treatment technology.

These are beyond his capabilities; even if he reached the level of being able to transform Earth, he would still be powerless.

Tang Jing smiled and said: "A proper water treatment plant certainly isn't feasible yet, but constructing a simple water diversion project might be doable right now."

"You mean, divert the outside rainwater in?"

"Not bad."

Tang Jing smiled and said: "I believe that after humanity shrinks, Earth's environment will keep improving, and rainwater quality will become even purer; although it still won't reach the level suitable for long-term direct drinking, it's already enough for bathing and such, and if we really need to drink, the class leader's ability to boil some water should pose no problem."

These words hold tremendous appeal for everyone.

Life now is basically fine, but not being able to bathe and lacking washing water is still quite a headache.

If we could truly have a stable water supply, that would be another qualitative leap for our current living conditions.

"So shall we start now?"

Wei Dalei and everyone had already stood up, because hearing this meant it required manpower.

"Don't rush; there's no way it's that fast. This batch of rainwater surely can't be used anymore, but summer will arrive soon, and after June rain will become more frequent. I'll also consider water storage; for now, it shouldn't be difficult."

"Alright."

Wei Dalei sat down again, but still feeling a bit unwilling, he asked: "Then what should we do now?"

"Well, now."

Dong Junwei glanced around at everyone, smiling: "It's rare to have such an opportunity; let everyone rest a bit and listen to the rain—it's not bad either."