I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 158 - 156 Thinking Pointlessly After Eating

After finishing the first meal post-harvest, and the first proper rice meal since arriving at the refuge, Chen Xin patted his bulging stomach, feeling genuinely satisfied.

Having a full stomach had become a long-lost feeling since the apocalypse struck. After all, having food to eat and eating until your belly is full are two entirely different things.

The former is considered semi-full, while the latter is eating until you’re stuffed. The difference in food consumption between the two is significant; the former might be 0.8, and the latter reaches 1.5, enough to have another meal.

So Chen Xin felt extremely satisfied and very blissful.

After eating and drinking his fill, Chen Xin didn’t turn on the game console today. Instead, he planned to play some games on his laptop before continuing to work on the dryer blueprints.

Using the laptop, he could start work right after gaming without having to turn off the TV or game console, making things a bit more convenient.

However, after turning on the computer, Chen Xin inexplicably opened a refuge game.

It was a simple pixelated side-scrolling game. The main storyline was about a family building an underground refuge after a nuclear war to escape the apocalypse.

This game was likely downloaded by Chen Xin a long time ago because it was small and he never deleted it, leaving it on the desktop.

In this game, players need to control a game character to venture into urban wastelands to gather resources, expand their refuge, and ultimately collect parts to repair a car for escaping the apocalypse.

During the game, characters would face various crises and difficulties, encountering enemies, excessive radiation, illness or hunger due to lack of water and food, and even psychological issues from committing acts like shooting people...

All these issues needed to be handled by the players to keep the refuge running and the characters alive until they fixed the car to escape the apocalypse.

But as Chen Xin played, he discovered a fundamental problem that made him want to laugh.

Because he himself was in the apocalypse, playing this game gave him a vivid impression. Some issues he encountered in the game, while some he didn’t—but that was aside. However, the main character surviving solely by scavenging for food in the abandoned city was something Chen Xin couldn’t accept.

This might reflect the biggest difference between Eastern and Western civilizations. Westerners always think about looting resources to develop, while Easterners think more about farming.

For someone from the Flame Country, if they encounter an apocalypse, once the environment stabilizes, they will find means to plant something, even if it’s just a pot with tomatoes. Plant something they must.

This mindset difference also led to Chen Xin’s survival strategy differing vastly from the game’s.

Of course, it might be because he had a system and perks, making farming feasible. If he was like other refuges without conditions for a greenhouse, he wouldn’t be able to farm either.

However, the mindset of wanting to farm is deeply ingrained; given the means, people would still try to plant something.

In the view of the Flame Country people, relying on the sky, earth, or parents is nothing compared to relying on oneself.

Hoping to gather resources from abandoned cities, how’s that more stable than farming? Growing your own food lets you eat your own produce, and surplus can be traded with others. Isn’t this development model appealing?

Moreover, without taking the risk of venturing into city ruins to gather resources, doesn’t it greatly enhance safety? 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

If one could farm peacefully and have food, why risk life and limb battling others for a bit of food?

Of course, if truly without conditions, there’s no choice. But if conditions permit, Chen Xin believed no one would willingly risk life and limb for food rather than farm steadily.

Perhaps this highlights the difference in perspectives between the Flame Country and other countries. Western perspectives on the apocalypse resemble beasts in a dark forest, everyone cautious, hiding, wary of others, struggling to get a bite, and upon discovery, a vicious fight ensues— the defeated become the victor’s prey.

But for people from the Flame Country, they prefer to cultivate and farm together, then build a home, unite and strengthen to live better.

It’s because of such deep-rooted beliefs and sufficient conditions that Chen Xin took special care of his greenhouse, not only planting upland rice and vegetables to eat but also trading with Li Wensheng for aquaponics equipment, planning to implement aquaponics in his greenhouse, raising fish to diversify his diet.

However, although Li Wensheng delivered the aquaponics equipment, Chen Xin hadn’t started raising fish immediately. One reason was the equipment wasn’t installed, and Chen Xin had nowhere to raise fish. Another was Li Wensheng hadn’t delivered live fish.

These days, Chen Xin was occupied with harvesting rice, delaying the aquaponics equipment installation.

Now that the rice was harvested and he had tasted the new rice cooked meal, Chen Xin naturally remembered this matter.

For the aquaponics equipment, Chen Xin initially planned to integrate it into the greenhouse, combining it with hydroponics, cultivating vegetables while raising fish simultaneously.

It’s not hard to achieve since aquaponics was designed for hydroponics; integrating the equipment posed no conflict or unsuitability.

However, the aquaponics equipment Li Wensheng delivered is quite small. According to him, it’s a small household set, designed for a 30-square-meter hydroponic area and a 3-cubic-meter aquaculture water body.

For a household’s consumption, this was sufficient for 3-5 people, but for Chen Xin’s greenhouse, one set doesn’t cover even a fifth of the area.

If Chen Xin wanted to convert the hydroponic system in his greenhouse to an aquaponics system, he’d need either multiple setups or use the current equipment as upgrade materials to upgrade the entire greenhouse.

However, upgrading the greenhouse this time would require three times the previous survival points, and more crucially, Chen Xin lacked enough materials. The aquaponics equipment alone would only reduce the survival points consumption by 10%.

Fortunately, his greenhouse’s hydroponic planting trays were separated, not an integrated large trough. He could first connect part of the trays to the aquaponics system.

After all, he only traded with Li Wensheng for ten live fish, so he wouldn’t need a large-scale aquaculture water body immediately.