Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 380 Building a Sunshade Shelter

Then she cleared out another plot of land in the open space, but this time she didn't divide it into smaller plots.

Instead, it was transformed into a rectangular planting area, about three meters wide and five meters long, enough for her to conduct experiments.

Xu Xiaoyan sowed the seeds at different intervals: water spinach and amaranth were broadcast, loofah, bitter melon, and winter melon were sown in spots, and chili peppers, eggplants, and cowpeas were sown in rows.

Each row was marked with a small bamboo skewer so that I wouldn't forget which plant was which.

After she finished sowing all the seeds, she watered the soil again, scooping water from the bucket and sprinkling it onto the soil, creating numerous small pits that slowly seeped in.

But that's not enough. The seeds' heat resistance alone is not enough to withstand the high daytime temperatures in open ground. She has to create a microenvironment for them to survive.

So she started building a shade structure, and the thin bamboo she had cut during the day came in handy.

Xu Xiaoyan cut the thin bamboo into even pieces and inserted them one by one into the surrounding area and the center of the open space.

Each one must be inserted into the soil at least ten centimeters deep to ensure it stands firmly and won't be blown over by the wind.

She had measured the positions of the bamboo beforehand, placing one bamboo plant approximately every sixty centimeters to form a rectangular trellis base.

Thin bamboo is flexible and won't break when inserted, but you have to change the angle when you encounter a rock. It doesn't matter if it's a little crooked, as long as it's stable.

She inserted them one by one, sweat dripping from her forehead and falling onto the mud at her feet, but she didn't bother to wipe it away.

After installing the pillars, she used thin bamboo to make crossbeams and purlins, connecting the entire trellis into a whole.

Tie the intersections with thin ropes, pull them, and if they don't move, then it's done.

The scaffold was flat-topped, and after it was set up, she began to secure the disassembled cardboard boxes on top.

Those cardboard boxes were what she found in her spatial storage. Some were boxes for bottled water, and some were boxes for canned goods. They were all different sizes and colors, with various trademarks and patterns printed on them.

Xu Xiaoyan disassembled the cardboard box, flattened it into individual corrugated cardboard sheets, and then laid them one by one on top of the shed, securing them to the bamboo frame with transparent tape.

The cardboard pieces should overlap each other by at least five centimeters, without leaving gaps. Otherwise, sunlight will leak through the gaps, reducing the effectiveness of the shading.

She laid them out very carefully, starting from one end of the frame and laying them out one by one towards the other, securing each one in place to ensure it wouldn't be blown away by the wind.

Although the colors of corrugated cardboard are not very attractive, they provide good light-blocking properties.

Moreover, cardboard itself has thickness and porous layers, which can insulate heat to a certain extent, making it more effective than simple shade nets.

When she finished laying the last layer of cardboard, she stepped back a few paces and looked at it.

The entire shade structure completely covered the planting area in the open space, making it pitch black underneath, a stark contrast to the bright light outside.

In this way, the temperature under the shed will definitely be lower than outside, and since she chose heat-resistant varieties, the chances of survival will be greatly increased.

Xu Xiaoyan straightened up, took out her watch and glanced at it; it was exactly three in the morning.

She has been working for almost seven hours straight, from sunset until now, without stopping almost at all. Now she needs to catch up on her sleep!

Xu Xiaoyan moved the electric fan from the entrance of the recess to the foot of the bed, directing it towards the bed.

This way, the air can flow from the feet to the top of the head along the length of the bed, keeping the whole person in the airflow and making it cooler and more even.

After everything was ready, she lay down, a thin blanket draped over her stomach, and the electric fan hummed, the wind blowing up from her feet.

She closed her eyes and fell asleep almost instantly. She slept very soundly and didn't wake up until noon.

Xu Xiaoyan was woken up by the heat. The air blowing from the electric fan had turned into hot air. She groggily crawled to the foot of the bed, found the fan switch, turned it, and the fan stopped.

She turned around, kicked the thin blanket aside, opened her eyes, looked at her watch—12:03—and stood up to rub her messy hair.

Then I slipped on my slippers and shuffled under the bamboo shed, where the sunlight was already shining directly down from above.

The roof of the bamboo shed blocked most of the light, but a few beams of light still slanted in from the edges, casting bright, irregular patches of light on the bamboo wall.

Xu Xiaoyan squinted to avoid the beams of light, sat down on the sofa, and then took out dumplings from her spatial storage.

The dumplings were filled with cabbage and pork, and were neatly arranged in a food storage container. They were warm, and the skin was slightly translucent, allowing you to vaguely see the green cabbage and pink meat filling inside.

She picked up a dumpling, dipped it in vinegar, and stuffed the whole thing into her mouth.

The dumpling wrappers are chewy and springy, while the filling is fresh, juicy, and flavorful. The sweetness of the cabbage and the rich aroma of the pork fat blend perfectly with the vinegar, making each bite a delightful experience.

Xu Xiaoyan ate one, then picked up a second, then a third, and by the eighth, she found that her eating speed had slowed down significantly. It wasn't that the food wasn't good, but that she was full.

She didn't force herself to eat. She stopped eating, put the remaining dumplings and the box back into her spatial storage, and saved them for when she got hungry later.

I got up and walked to the edge of the bamboo shed. I leaned against a pillar for a while and looked at the dark shade shed made of cardboard boxes in the open space.

She didn't know if the heat-resistant crops she had sown the night before would survive under the shed, but she had done everything she could.

Xu Xiaoyan sat back on the sofa, leaned back, and took the radio out of her spatial storage.

She got this radio as a trade-in when she was at Starlight Base. The seller boasted that it not only had all the necessary functions, but also came with a built-in solar charging function.

Now that she lives in the sinkhole, she is completely cut off from the outside world. She has no idea what changes have occurred in the outside world, or whether the world's order is slowly being restored.

She wanted to try, even if it was just to hear some barely audible static, at least to make her feel that there was still order operating in some corner of the world.

Xu Xiaoyan placed the radio on her lap, then pulled out the antenna. A thin, silver-white metal rod was pulled out section by section, and when it was pulled to the end, it stopped with a "click".

She pressed the power switch, and a small, orange indicator light lit up on the radio screen, while a hissing noise came from the speaker.

She started turning the tuning knob, starting from the lowest setting and gradually moving upwards. At each setting the knob passed, the same hissing sound came from the speaker.

She slowly turned the knob, stopping at a certain position, waiting a few seconds to make sure there was nothing there, and then continued turning.

She tried for an hour before finally giving up. It made sense, though; how could a base possibly be built nearby?

The sinkhole is deep in the mountains, and there is no human habitation within a radius of dozens of kilometers. Even if someone outside is restoring broadcasting, the signal cannot reach this area.

She retracted the antenna section by section, pressed the power switch, and the orange indicator light went out.