Cave Refuge-Chapter 163 - 162 Experts and Pretenders_1

Ye Liuyun gulped down his drink and let out a satisfied burp. "This stuff really is better when cold."

Setting down his cup, Ye Liuyun picked up an empty bottle nearby, carefully examining the production date.

"This stuff’s expired, isn’t it? But the taste hasn’t changed at all," he queried, feeling puzzled.

Unfazed by Ye Liuyun’s questioning, Dong Tianyu shrugged, "Even decade-old zombie meat tastes the same after being defrosted and cooked. Let alone these kind of mixed drinks. The base liquid supposedly has a shelf-life of several decades. We should be glad there’s still something to drink."

Hearing Dong Tianyu’s words, Ye Liuyun agreed. After all, it was impossible to manufacture such drinks in the current time. Having them available for drinking should suffice, and there was no point overthinking.

As he looked at the bucket of ice, Dong Tianyu was reminded of the saltpeter shortage, and took the chance to question Ye Liuyun. "D’you have any idea what happened to the saltpeter meant for the Officials? I heard a lot got lost during transportation, don’t tell me, you didn’t gather any of it, did you?"

Caught off guard, Ye Liuyun hurriedly clarified, "Don’t spread baseless rumours! The higher-ups were furious about that. There weren’t any problems during transport, but somehow a lot was missing while weighing upon arrival.

This incident caused a rift between the decision-makers and the Command Posts. Everyone’s unhappy about giving up two-thirds of their saltpeter supply.

The rest of the Command Posts felt deceived by the decision-makers as they didn’t receive enough saltpeter.

Someone in the leadership suggested that the Command Posts might not be satisfied with their distribution, and suggested they might be behind this incident.

We handed over 200 kilograms of saltpeter. The decision-makers only gave 35 kilograms to each post, while Pengville Plaza got to keep 95 kilograms.

The other posts couldn’t have been satisfied with the amount of saltpeter the decision-makers had left.

Since the incident, the decision-makers have been cracking down hard. Everyone involved is under strict surveillance, from the clerk who managed the inventory to the transporters, and yet, there are no leads.

Whoever’s pulling the strings must have influence, otherwise we would have had some lead by now.

Funny thing is, the amount of lost saltpeter isn’t that much. Each of the three Command Posts only lost about ten kilos. One has to wonder why such a big fuss is being made by someone who doesn’t lack resources."

"Each post losing 10 or so kilos sounds small, until you multiply it by three. That’s a whole city’s distribution. It’s not a small amount."

Listened to Dong Tianyu’s words, Ye Liuyun made a dismissive hand gesture before explaining. "You’re probably not familiar with the process of making ice with saltpeter. You can’t make ice by just dissolving saltpeter in water, even though it can lower the water’s temperature below zero. The water temperature rises quickly, making it near impossible to make ice without a refrigeration system.

The novel method of pouring saltpeter into water to freeze it might work, but only if you have an enormous pile of saltpeter. That wouldn’t be feasible on our scale, where we’re producing large amounts of ice.

I’m not sure how other places are making ice, but here we need not only saltpeter but also specific equipment. The electricity has to be cut every time we start the process because the biogas generator can barely support the ice-making machine.

Think about it. If we’re struggling to keep it running here, it will be the same, if not worse, for others. Right now, saltpeter is rare in Pengcheng, there are too many underground shelters in need of cooling, so everyone is looking for ways to make more effective use of saltpeter."

Although Dong Tianyu understood the explanation, he was still confused. "If the biogas plant can generate electricity, why don’t they use air conditioners or refrigerators? Their cooling performance is far superior to that of saltpeter."

Having anticipated Dong Tianyu’s question, Ye Liuyun wasn’t surprised and began to answer. "The cooling principle for both air conditioners and refrigerators is basically the same: they need a compressor to cool down.

Let’s not even mention how the electromagnetic pulses have damaged most of the compressors. There are three essential conditions for using a compressor to cool down. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

1. The compressor must function properly.

2. Enough electricity must be available.

3. The compressor must have a sufficient amount of refrigerant.

The common refrigerant we use is freon, and under normal circumstances, it has no shelf-life as long as the packaging is intact. However, it’s usually packed in iron cans which, during the Cold Catastrophe, weren’t stored properly in underground shelters due to the extreme low temperature. As a result, most of the freon in Pengcheng was damaged.

Even if some freon survived in undamaged cans, they were later swept away by the flood due to their light weight.

Even if we could somehow locate the remaining freon, and repair several air conditioners and refrigerators, you must remember the limited electricity generated by the biogas plant, which restricts the power of the devices it can support.

Also, most air conditioners can’t operate under current temperatures around 50 degrees. Hence at present, freezing with saltpeter is the best choice.

When saltpeter is used to make ice, it absorbs the surrounding heat. When it releases heat during drying, it’s taken to the surface so it doesn’t affect the temperature in the underground Refuge Center.

I know the internet is full of self-proclaimed experts, but we do have true Experts in Pengcheng.

Although those online gurus may mislead people, our technological level is actually steadily improving. You know the Advanced Research and Development Bureau, don’t you? Their role’s quite similar to those online pundits.

Although some fools amongst the Officials may believe what those online gurus say, foolery’s a dead-end in the government.

The real decision-makers amongst the Officials aren’t fools. They may have their own interests, but they’re not corrupt when it comes to major issues.

Take Director Zhang for example. Whenever I ask him something, he always says that it’s impossible for us to achieve with our current level of technology and that most of the information online is nonsense.

But whenever an announcement for a new weapon is released, he always seems to find his name among the auditors of the research reports.

So, don’t worry too much about it. Freezing with saltpeter is currently the best option we have, bar none."