Chapter 203: Infinite Resources

September 25th.

Technological breakthroughs sometimes come unexpectedly fast.

Unlike other technologies, research on fundamental materials relies not just on flashes of inspiration but is also filled with randomness and variables.

It's like drawing cards from a gacha game without any guaranteed pulls.

No one knows how many resources must be invested before one is lucky enough to pull a golden card.

And clearly,

This time, Su Wu's luck was exceptional.

Just two days later, he completely unlocked the technological icon for Rapid-setting Cement.

Truly obtaining this material that transcends its era.

"The main materials are limestone and rubber, plus a small amount of catalyst."

"The cost is still acceptable."

Looking at the formula for Rapid-setting Cement,

Su Wu first estimated its cost and the difficulty of mass production.

The catalyst could be ignored.

Its usage was so minimal that even if exchanged for gold and silver, it wouldn't be a concern.

Limestone accounted for the largest portion.

But its reserves were also enormous.

Not to mention the direct output from the small limestone mine, the hundreds of millions of tons of concrete in the city ruins also contained a large amount of limestone.

And unlike ordinary cement,

When making Rapid-setting Cement, there was no need to waste a lot of resources and labor to separate the limestone from the finished concrete.

It only required crushing the concrete into powder form, which could then be directly added to the production process.

The overall cost was not much higher than digging it from the limestone mine.

The real challenge was rubber.

Jianghe City and its surrounding areas had no oil fields.

In the short term, it was unlikely to synthesize rubber on a large scale using petroleum as a raw material.

As for natural rubber,

With nearly all surface life forms extinct,

Harvesting natural rubber would require starting from scratch by planting rubber trees in the limited space of underground shelters.

And even if Su Wu started planting immediately, it would take six or seven years before the first harvest.

Neither of these paths to obtaining rubber on a large scale was easy.

Fortunately,

In the Rapid-setting Cement formula, although rubber was the secondary main material after limestone,

Its usage was not that significant.

Maintaining a ratio of about 1000:1.

Approximately two pounds of rubber could be used to produce one ton of Rapid-setting Cement.

Initially, Su Wu could bear this level of consumption.

Using stockpiled materials or old tires could suffice for a while.

But when the usage increased later on, it might become problematic.

After all,

No matter how large the stockpile of rubber, in the apocalypse, unless oil fields were discovered, it was a non-renewable resource.

"Overall, Rapid-setting Cement is still a limited and precious resource."

"It shouldn't be wasted carelessly."

Considering this,

Su Wu did not rush to make plans.

Instead, after preparing some samples of Rapid-setting Cement in the chemistry lab,

He conducted a series of more in-depth practical tests.

In the tests,

A 5-centimeter-thick layer of Rapid-setting Cement had various performance metrics comparable to the standard shelter's one-meter-thick concrete walls.

Additionally, it performed better than concrete in terms of insulation, waterproofing, and flexibility.

This meant that using Rapid-setting Cement to build shelters would make them more resilient to extreme temperatures.

And also provide excellent resistance to earthquakes.

Furthermore, there was no need for additional waterproofing as with concrete.

Rapid-setting Cement itself was the best waterproofing material.

Moreover,

Rapid-setting Cement could solidify within three minutes, almost rivaling Su Wu's use of Survival Points to enhance ordinary cement.

Theoretically, if there were enough of it,

Su Wu could create architectural miracles in an extremely short time.

Expanding the shelter's scale to an incredible extent.

However, while Rapid-setting Cement's performance exceeded expectations, its actual application cost was slightly higher than anticipated.

Rapid-setting Cement could not be mixed with sand and gravel; it only solidified when exposed to special light after adding a small amount of water.

This meant that walls cast with Rapid-setting Cement,

Were primarily composed of Rapid-setting Cement.

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Whereas, in ordinary concrete walls, the proportion of ordinary cement was less than one-third.

The rest was water and sand, whose costs were almost negligible.

Comparing the two, under equivalent effects,

The difference between ordinary cement and Rapid-setting Cement,

Was not as exaggerated as the 20:1 difference seen between concrete walls and walls made of Rapid-setting Cement.

It should be reduced to about 7:1.

"Currently, there are 7000 tons of rubber in stock."

"With materials readily available,"

"Producing Rapid-setting Cement isn't difficult."

"A single production line can easily produce over ten thousand tons a day."

"Therefore, in the short term, supply is not a concern."

"As for usage, this Rapid-setting Cement should first be used on the Farmhouse Shelter."

"Coincidentally, the construction team is currently working on the first phase of expansion."

"Let's just use Rapid-setting Cement to cast the outermost layer of the expanded walls."

"Set the thickness at 5 centimeters, with performance equivalent to one-meter-thick ordinary concrete walls."

"This way, the newly added space will be as safe as the inner parts of the original shelter."

"And it will also significantly speed up the shelter's expansion."

"Additionally, Rapid-setting Cement can be used to build underground tunnels."

"Connecting the Farmhouse Shelter with various Subsidiary Shelters."

"Facilitating the transport of materials between them."

Looking at the test results of Rapid-setting Cement,

And considering the total amount that could currently be obtained,

Su Wu gradually developed a clear vision for its use.

7000 tons of rubber stock equaled 7 million tons of Rapid-setting Cement.

This massive number,

Far exceeded Su Wu's current capacity to utilize it.

Meaning that until Su Wu's shelter developed to a certain scale in the future,

He could confidently treat Rapid-setting Cement as a nearly infinite resource.

Some construction plans that previously existed only in imagination could now be boldly implemented in reality.

Among these plans,

The most important was still the expansion of the Farmhouse Shelter.

Currently, the Farmhouse Shelter could expand about 600 square meters each day.

This speed,

Was not the limit of the construction team's excavation and building capabilities underground.

But the limit of the small limestone mine's cement production speed.

Once Rapid-setting Cement replaced ordinary cement, solving the material shortage problem,

The construction team's expansion speed could reach at least 1000 square meters, or 12000 cubic meters, per day.

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