Chapter 65: Power Station

Chen Mu and the others returned indoors, had Tang Jing explain her idea to everyone; although nobody really understood, they all raised their hands in agreement, since all they needed to know was that they would have water to wash with later.

The work quickly got underway.

In fact, the twelve of them really didn't have much else to do.

The room's cleaning was already in perfect order, and anything that was truly too large—even something Wei Dalei couldn't budge—was simply left alone for the time being.

Anyway, the space they needed wasn't that big.

"Let's start simple and build the water reservoir." Tang Jing quickly slipped into the role of lead engineer.

"Should we use metal or plastic?"

"Both have advantages; metal is sturdier, but plastic is more practical and easier to control, right?"

"Hmm." Chen Mu nodded.

"Besides, it makes it easier to see the water level."

"And the thickness?"

"Side walls 3 mm, bottom 4 mm, top 2 mm."

Having built a house before, Chen Mu wasn't unfamiliar with this task; the only problem was that this time the thing they had to make was much larger in scale.

First thing.

Namely, to make a plastic sheet eight centimeters long and wide, with a thickness of four millimeters.

Laying that plastic sheet on the ground felt bigger than an entire room before.

Fortunately, for Chen Mu, controlling plastic was second nature; although the volume was a bit large, as long as he spent some time, there was no problem.

At that moment, Wei Dalei was leading the boys in carrying out raw materials from the cardboard boxes, mostly disposable plastic spoons and such.

While Chen Mu was working, he suddenly wondered: "I don't know how the Qingbei folks are solving their drinking water problem."

Zhao Xiao Yan and a few other girls, having nothing to do for the moment, gathered around Tang Jing and Chen Mu, chattering away, pointing and discussing various issues.

Hearing Chen Mu's question.

Du Jia Jia said: "Because many people attended the exchange meeting, they put lots of bottled water on the playground; it should last them a long time."

"But why did I see Song Yu and his gang the last time, and they were still grimy, just like us, as if they hadn't washed their faces in ages?"

"Maybe there are too many of them, so they dare not use it freely and only use it for drinking."

"Over at Yi Zhong, there's a ready-made faucet, which basically solves their water problem once and for all." He Ying seemed to sigh at their good luck.

However, Tang Jing suddenly smiled: "A permanent solution is impossible; that faucet probably isn't even running water anymore."

"Why?"

"Actually, pretty much all tap water has been shut off now."

"Huh?" Everyone froze.

Chen Mu hadn't even thought about that, but after Tang Jing's reminder, he realized: "Because there's no electricity."

Tang Jing laughed: "Not bad. Although it's called tap water, it doesn't really come by itself—it's pumped by the water plant into the municipal pipe network, then conveyed through layers of branch pipes."

"Then why was it still working a few days ago?" He Ying wondered.

"Shangshi's electricity mainly comes from two sources: one is our own city's thermal power plant, which supplies about 70% of the city's demand, and the other 30% comes from the nuclear power plant in neighboring Qin City."

"Our Shangshi thermal power plant burns coal; it must be manually refueled every eight hours, so theoretically, after the apocalypse, our city would have electricity for at most eight hours."

"But nuclear and hydroelectric plants are different; they're far more automated and can keep running automatically for a long time without anyone. Our country's largest Nine Heavens Hydroelectric Station, under ideal conditions, can operate continuously for a whole year without human intervention."

"That's incredible?" Including Chen Mu, everyone found it hard to imagine.

Tang Jing laughed: "Of course, that's just theory; nobody knows what really happens, and no one dares to test it, but I estimate that some large hydroelectric plants could keep running for several weeks after humanity disappears without issue."

"The situation with nuclear plants is a bit more complicated; they can also run on their own for a while, but after that, because the cooling system will fail first, the reactor temperature will keep rising, and after some time, either the system will force a shutdown, or… boom!"

As Tang Jing spoke, she made an explosive gesture with both hands.

"So we were able to use tap water these past few days, but once the electricity is completely cut off, we'll have nothing."

"Actually, it's not just the power and water plants; whether it's water or electricity, during transport there's intermediate processing—water might get repressurized, electricity needs transformation—and if any link fails, our end point can't use it. Honestly, the fact that the school's faucet still works now is already a miracle."

"So from now on, we'll only be able to use rainwater?"

"Of course there are rivers, lakes, and seas, but they're too dangerous and far away to think about now; however, in the medium to short term, there's another water source we can use."

"Where?"

"The fire‑water pipe network."

"Does the water in there not need a pump?"

"The fire‑suppression system is fairly complex; normally it also uses fire pumps, pressure‑maintaining pumps and similar pressurizing equipment to keep the pipe network pressure up, but besides that, fire codes require a building of our school's size to have an elevated water tank."

"An elevated water tank?"

"Yeah, it's usually placed on the roof of the tallest building; its job is to maintain pipe network pressure, provide initial fire‑fighting water volume, and to some extent guard against pump failure. The fire‑water tank's scale is astonishing—if you just look at capacity, it could supply our water needs for a lifetime."

"So even if there's no electricity at all, the fire‑pipe network will still be full of water, right?"

"Yes, of course, as long as the whole network stays leak‑free."

"Can we make use of that water?"

"Definitely not here, but the cafeteria and teaching building have fire hydrants we can use."

"That's completely useless for us."

"But that water is crucial for the people at Yi Zhong; without tap water, their water situation will definitely become problematic."

"I bet they won't think of it."

Du Jia Jia muttered under her breath, since ordinary students wouldn't know the school's fire‑suppression system that well; if Tang Jing hadn't said it, she would never have learned this in her lifetime.

"Maybe so."

Tang Jing smiled: "Compared to that, the water‑drawing project we're building is more stable and durable; the only problem is that if it doesn't rain for a long time, the quality of the stored water will gradually deteriorate."

"That's already pretty good; nothing is ever perfect anyway."

Chen Mu spoke, yet his hands didn't stop in the slightest.

Soon.

The first molded plastic sheet was spread flat on the ground.

"Your ability has improved a lot again." Tang Jing said with a smile.

Chen Mu gazed at what he had accomplished in just a few minutes.

He smiled and said nothing.