I can upgrade the shelter
Chapter 122 - 120 Hot Springs, Snickers (6/10)

Chapter 122: Chapter 120 Hot Springs, Snickers (6/10)

"This isn’t right. I’ve always drawn up cold water before; it can’t suddenly become hot!" Chen Xin still found it very strange. He shook his head and said, "If I’d discovered earlier that there were hot springs below, there would have been no need to bother with a geothermal heat pump. I could have just drawn up hot water directly for use, no need to mess with shallow geothermal heating."

Qin Lan heard what Chen Xin said and nodded in agreement.

Though she agreed with Chen Xin, Qin Lan was still puzzled about the current situation. Why did the cold water suddenly turn into hot water?

"So, Xin, do you know what could cause the underground water temperature to change suddenly?" Qin Lan thought it over and still felt that the temperature change was due to something happening with the underground water.

"Change the underground water temperature? Unless there’s a geological change that causes the aquifer to break, allowing deep underground water to seep into the shallow underground water." Chen Xin had indeed studied this matter and understood the subject: "I researched related knowledge before when I wrote novels. Deep underground water is closer to the mantle, so its temperature is higher than that of shallow underground water. If geological activity occurs, causing the interval between the aquifers to break and deep underground water to seep upwards, it could affect the shallow underground water temperature. However, I didn’t have a..."

Chen Xin was about to say that no geological activity had occurred, but he suddenly remembered yesterday’s earthquake.

Qin Lan, listening to him, naturally thought of the same thing: "Was it yesterday’s earthquake?"

"It’s possible. If the earthquake affected the aquifers, it’s very likely to have caused hot water." Chen Xin nodded in agreement with what Qin Lan said.

"That’s wonderful, Xin, now you have hot spring water to use." Qin Lan couldn’t help feeling happy for Chen Xin.

However, Chen Xin didn’t seem to care much, just shook his head and said, "Hot spring water is just like that, and how long this hot water will last is still unknown. Geological activity might cause deep underground water to surge to the surface or seep into shallow underground water, but it could also be short-term, and it might be gone after a while.

To have a continuous supply of hot spring water, there needs to be a stable passage below, allowing hot water to constantly flow up.

In the past, such things were quite common: sudden murkiness, off-flavors, or heating of well water—all indicating that geological activity affected the water quality of underground water, but generally, these were short-term changes."

Facing Chen Xin’s explanation, Qin Lan just looked at him, then smiled somewhat dejectedly after he stopped talking, "Xin, you still know a lot as always!"

Chen Xin nonchalantly raised an eyebrow. Seeing the plastic box filled with enough water, he turned off the faucet and said to Qin Lan, "Let’s carry it over. Those parts need a good scrubbing."

Qin Lan nodded and helped him lift the water-filled plastic box together.

"Just place it on the ground." The plastic box itself was not heavy, but filled with water, it became weighty. Chen Xin didn’t plan to put it on the table and just placed it on the ground next to the workbench.

After setting down the water-filled plastic box, Qin Lan looked at the disassembled parts on the table and asked Chen Xin, "Xin, should I just soak these parts in the water?"

"You need to scrub them, clean off the surface grime." Chen Xin took two steel brushes from the hanging board, handing one to Qin Lan: "We should actually soak them in kerosene, which effectively dissolves the grime on these parts, but now we’ll just scrub them slowly."

Even though he could use the system to clean these things instantly without Qin Lan noticing, Chen Xin thought scrubbing them slowly was not a problem.

There was only one stool in front of the workbench. Chen Xin intended to bring a chair down from the bedroom, but Qin Lan just had him move aside a bit and sat down next to him.

Chen Xin didn’t say anything upon seeing this, and after indicating to Qin Lan that there were rubber gloves on the table, he put on a pair, picked up a burnt black part, and began scrubbing it with the steel brush in the water.

Qin Lan was doing the same thing, but with only one stool, the two were a bit cramped sitting there together.

"Xin, you’ve gotten thinner." As Qin Lan scrubbed a part with the steel brush, she chatted casually with Chen Xin.

"I work on the farm every day, unlike writing books before which required a high sugar and energy intake; it’s normal to slim down." Chen Xin was naturally aware of his weight loss.

At least when he showered every day, he could clearly see his middle-aged paunch fading away and his abs becoming more defined.

"Xin, do you still like eating sweets? Is it difficult for you not to have sweets now?" Qin Lan couldn’t help but worry about Chen Xin, as she had seen him in a fluster when he was too focused on writing and forgot to eat, searching for something to eat.

This is a common problem among those who do intensive mental work, where a lot of blood sugar is consumed due to the high-intensity mental labor and concentration, while energy consumption is not high.

This was why Chen Xin would always want to eat something when writing, felt easily hungry, and particularly liked sweets.

This also explains why Qin Lan said he had slimmed down. Chen Xin used to rely on high-sugar, high-energy foods, but while sugar would be consumed by mental labor, the energy wasn’t, thus building up as belly fat.

Chen Xin just smiled at Qin Lan’s worries and shook his head, saying, "It’s fine, I’m not using my brain as much now. Most of the work now is physical, so the energy consumption is quite large. It’s okay not to eat sweets."

Listening to Chen Xin, Qin Lan hesitated for a moment, then took off one glove, unzipped her jacket, and took out a Snickers bar from the pocket inside her clothes, handing it to Chen Xin.

"Snickers? Lan, how do you have this?" Chen Xin did not take it but was curious about how Qin Lan had it.

"The scavenger team found it in a supermarket, and I exchanged it from them." Qin Lan explained briefly without mentioning that this Snickers cost her three servings of the standard rations from the shelter.

Although it sounds like a big gap, what logic applies in a post-apocalyptic world? Especially now, sweets like chocolate are in short supply, let alone Snickers, which is great for emergency food.

Though Chen Xin didn’t know how Qin Lan traded for it, hearing that she exchanged it made him aware it wasn’t cheap, so he shook his head and refused, "Keep it for yourself. I’m not lacking food, and if I need something sweet, I can make malt candy."

Seeing that Chen Xin did not accept it, Qin Lan did not insist, but she didn’t put the Snickers away; instead, she placed it on the workbench.