Chapter 20: Zhou Li's Ecosystem

June 5th. Zhou Lin noticed a significant drop in temperature as he got out of bed.

It was 8:30 in the morning, but the outside was still pitch black.

The city no longer had the bright lights it once did. Many areas were dim, and neon lights were fewer, likely because more shops had chosen to close down.

The whole world was sliding into the abyss, and no one could stop it.

Sighing, Zhou Lin forced himself to get up.

Today, his parents would go back to bring over some useful items and seal up anything too cumbersome to move.

Last night, Zhou Lin handed Zhou Caijun a pistol, four magazines, and a box of bullets, just in case.

Knowing that communication might be interrupted due to power issues, Zhou Lin found a military-grade "short-range" communication system on the Lifebuoy, with each family member getting a terminal and the main unit set up on the rooftop platform.

This system had an effective communication range of about 20 kilometers, ensuring that even if someone from the family had to go out, they wouldn't exceed this distance in the next three months.

Zhou Lin spent the entire morning busy on the rooftop. He and Zhou Li needed to finish sealing the windows, and he planned to build a sturdy tool shed on the platform. With the temperature dropping, heavy snow would fall, and some tools and materials left under the snow would quickly deteriorate.

"Brother, if you're building something, why not make it bigger? You can store things and even raise chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, and so on."

"Raise animals? What will I feed them?"

"Feed, of course. I had Mom buy it," Zhou Li said seriously.

"How come I didn't know? When did you buy it? Where is it?"

"The logistics park. We got feed for chickens, ducks, geese, quail, rabbits, dog food, cat food, various animal snacks, and cat litter. I had Mom buy a lot," Zhou Li listed, counting on her fingers.

Zhou Lin slapped his forehead. He hadn't paid attention to what he collected from the logistics park. Apparently, there were these things too. Thinking about it, they might come in handy in the future, so Zhou Li's actions weren't a waste.

"But aside from Blackie, we don't have any other animals."

Blackie had been guarding the countryside home for the past few days. Today, Zhou Caijun and Cheng Yali would bring it over, and its kennel was ready in the hallway.

"Don't worry about it. I've planned everything perfectly."

"Alright, just tell me how you want it built."

With ample materials and tools, building a tool shed wasn't difficult, and Zhou Li's precise planning played a huge role. It was as if she had a detailed blueprint in her mind. Zhou Lin just had to cut the materials to her specified dimensions and assemble them like building blocks.

Looking at the two-meter-high, twelve-meter-long, and nine-meter-wide structure, Zhou Lin fell into deep thought. Did he really build this in half a day? Maybe his true talent was in construction.

The tool shed, over 90 square meters inside, was divided by Zhou Li. The left side had rooms for the generator, filter, chicken coop, duck shed, and goose pen. The right side had a simple fish pond with a quail cage above it. The scattered feed and quail droppings would fall into the pond, becoming fish food.

The boiler was near the fish pond for efficient heat usage. The remaining space was for rabbits. The center area had rotating plant racks with red and blue LED lights above, capable of growing over a thousand vegetables at once—according to Zhou Li. This hydroponic growing technique could meet their family's basic needs.

Once again, Zhou Lin was out of his depth. How had Zhou Li, at just thirteen, learned all this? It made Zhou Lin feel like she was the one who had been reborn, not him.

"If our world is real, then there's no way for rebirth or reincarnation. You're merely surpassing your dimensional limits on a quantum level... Conversely, if this world isn't real, then rebirth or reincarnation doesn't exist. The system simply preserved your data and backed it up in the replay program..."

"I'll go make lunch," Zhou Lin said. He couldn't understand Zhou Li's words, but he couldn't abandon his pride as an older brother, so he chose to do what he did best.

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. The kitchen was Zhou Li's no-go zone. No matter how high her IQ, she couldn't make a decent fried rice, let alone her favorite golden fried rice.

"Delicious!"

Watching Zhou Li eat the scattered golden rice, Zhou Lin felt like his sister was truly back. This was the behavior of a thirteen-year-old.

The phone rang. It was Ai Bing.

Zhou Li's ears perked up like Blackie's. She wasn't nosy, just interested in anything related to Zhou Lin.

"Why didn't you call me?"

As expected, Ai Bing started with an accusation. If Zhou Lin didn't have his past life's experience, he'd be confused by now.

"It's so dark. Come pick me up. I've been waiting at a friend's house all night. I sent you the location!"

"This woman...she should be dealt with," Zhou Li mouthed silently.

"You wait there," Zhou Lin replied indifferently, then checked the location Ai Bing sent. It was just half a street away from Lanshan's back gate. The neighborhood wasn't shabby. How had Ai Bing and Tang Yili managed to stay there?

They couldn't possibly own a place there. Tang Yili wasn't from Sichuan. Did they rent it?

Knowing Ai Bing's location, Zhou Lin wasn't in a hurry.

The reason Ai Bing called was that she didn't bring any luggage, especially warm clothing, which was still at the farm. The temperature had been dropping since last night, and finding a place open to buy clothes was now a challenge.

"The temperature will drop to zero tomorrow," Zhou Lin said.

"Zero?" Zhou Li frowned. "Do we have enough coal and oil?"

"I think so," Zhou Lin replied. The Lifebuoy had ample fuel reserves, including gasoline, aviation kerosene, and diesel. Aviation kerosene was the most abundant. While it couldn't be used in regular gasoline engines, it worked in diesel engines. For example, the Conqueror RV stored on the Lifebuoy had a 15.6-liter six-cylinder diesel engine, which could theoretically run on high-quality aviation kerosene without significant issues.

As for coal and charcoal, Cheng Yali had later purchased them: about thirty tons of anthracite and fifty tons of charcoal, enough to last over a year under normal circumstances.

Even so, Zhou Li was still unsatisfied, constantly swiping on her phone until she stopped at a location twenty kilometers from Jiazhou.

"A coal mine?" Zhou Lin didn't understand why Zhou Li pointed out Jiayang Coal Mine.

"If there's a chance, go," Zhou Li said.

"Isn't what we have enough?"

"Plans can't keep up with changes. Smart people don't wait for tomorrow; they prepare for it."

Zhou Lin shrugged in agreement.