I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 494 - 492 Cake

For Chen Xin, there are many things he needs to handle every day, and although it’s not to the point of overwork, there’s not much time for rest and relaxation.

Aside from the leisure time after finishing things at the Research Center and returning to his residence, he occasionally takes a break amidst the busyness of handling various tasks by sitting under the Ecological Dome at the Research Center and drinking some tea.

The tea leaves are a product of the Ecological Dome; after it was put into use, the Bioscience team planted many plants here, including a few tea trees.

Although the yield of tea leaves is minimal, Chen Xin still managed to get a little, occasionally tossing a few leaves into a cup to brew, then sitting in the rest area under the Ecological Dome to relax a bit.

The construction and planting in the Ecological Dome are now complete. With the energy provided by the nearby geothermal power plant, it simulates the effect of sunlight in the past, allowing these plants to photosynthesize, while also providing lighting for the entire Ecological Dome.

Because it uses a natural light simulation model, and there are many lush green plants around, the rest area under the Ecological Dome has a pre-disaster feel to it. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Sitting here, one might occasionally and unconsciously forget that it’s the long dark winter after the meteor fall, and have a momentary illusion of being before the disaster, leisurely enjoying a pleasant afternoon rest and tea.

Only when you look up, the black sky outside the transparent dome will remind you that it is still the end of the world.

For Chen Xin, he obviously wouldn’t forget that it’s still the apocalyptic era. After all, when it comes to making one forget the current predicament and re-experience the pre-disaster beauty, the holographic room he set up for himself in the shelter is far better than this.

So to Chen Xin, the rest area under the Ecological Dome is just a place where he can sit and rest during work intervals.

Although his own shelter and the Research Center are only separated by a corridor, Chen Xin is still not used to going back to rest during work hours; he even mostly has lunch at the cafeteria of the Research Center with everyone, rarely going home for meals.

He just comes to the rest area occasionally to rest a bit after lunch.

Everyone else at the Research Center is aware of Chen Xin’s habit and generally doesn’t disturb him during his lunchtime nap. Even those who also choose to come to the rest area at noon try to avoid him, not disturbing him.

However, today seemed to be an exception as someone came to find him during his rest, breaking his lunchtime tranquility.

"Ingredients, I brought you something tasty, do you want to try it?" Mo Qingyan sat down in front of Chen Xin with a smile, placing a covered plate on the small table in front of him.

"Food? What is it? Why so mysterious?" Chen Xin wasn’t bothered by Mo Qingyan’s interruption, casually looking at the covered plate and asking her curiously: "You even covered it so I can’t see it, what is it?"

Saying this, Chen Xin wanted to reach out to lift the cover, but Mo Qingyan pressed it down with her hand, smiling at Chen Xin: "It’s delicious, but you can only eat it if you guess it right. If you can’t guess, you don’t get to eat it!"

"Huh? What are you up to? Are you really not going to let me eat it?" Chen Xin looked at Mo Qingyan’s hand holding down the cover, his expression a bit incredulous.

"Guess! I put a lot of thought into making it. How can I let you eat it so easily?" Mo Qingyan insisted with a smile, determined to make Chen Xin guess.

Faced with Mo Qingyan’s attitude, Chen Xin felt helpless and could only follow along: "If you want me to guess, at least give me some hints? Just covering it up and letting me guess, how can I know what it is."

"If I gave you a hint, you’d guess it immediately, and that would be no fun." Mo Qingyan refused Chen Xin’s request, her face filled with confident amusement.

"No hints?" Chen Xin rubbed his chin, looking at the plate: "The plate isn’t big, and the cover you used is quite shallow, so it shouldn’t be something large. It doesn’t seem to be covered for warmth, so it shouldn’t be something hot."

Chen Xin tried to analyze while touching the lid covering the plate, sure enough, the lid wasn’t hot.

Seeing Chen Xin begin to guess the contents of the plate, Mo Qingyan’s smile became even brighter, as if she was certain Chen Xin wouldn’t be able to guess what was inside.

But after looking at her fingers and sniffing her clothes, Chen Xin was surprised: "Is it cake? Where did you get the flour?"

In this time of severe resource scarcity, cake is a luxury, as both eggs and milk are extremely rare. Chen Xin only gets some dairy products every month thanks to special supply from the state.

As for flour, Chen Xin originally had it in his monthly special supply, but with recent flour shortages, he hasn’t had any lately.

Actually, the situation is simple: because of the previous earthquake in the Southwest Region, the state’s grain reserves were transferred to aid the disaster area, so the anticipated flour supply naturally wasn’t available.

Now Mo Qingyan suddenly made him a cake, which inevitably surprised Chen Xin a bit.

"You guessed it!" Mo Qingyan felt a little disappointed that Chen Xin guessed so easily, but she still uncovered the plate, revealing a small cake not very elaborately made but covered with a layer of cream and specially topped with strawberry jam: "I didn’t have much in the way of ingredients, so I made a small one. Try it, the taste should be good."

As she spoke, Mo Qingyan pulled out a small fork and handed it to Chen Xin.

"Where did you get the flour? I remember we shouldn’t have any flour left, right? And there was only a little sugar left. You didn’t use all the sugar, did you?" Chen Xin wasn’t shocked by the cake itself, but rather curious about where Mo Qingyan got the cake’s flour from.

"Don’t worry! I didn’t touch your sugar. The ingredients for this cake were all processed from things grown in the Ecological Dome. They wanted to give you a surprise." Mo Qingyan explained to Chen Xin while urging him: "Try it! I spent the whole morning making this cake!"

Hearing Mo Qingyan say this, Chen Xin could only set aside his curiosity about the Ecological Dome’s situation, using the fork to cut a piece of the cake and putting it in his mouth.