"I should have thought of it earlier!"
"The most abundant resource in Lonia Lake is not just the fish in the lake, but the abundant nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium on the shoreline! We are almost there, just ahead!"
Walking towards the lake with Mosquito, Gale talked excitedly along the way.
The two stopped at a shallow beach by the lake.
The vegetation here is luxuriant and easy to hide. It is an excellent water point for both humans and animals.
As soon as Gale stretched out his hand and was about to point, Mosquito stepped forward before him, and squatted down in front of a relatively flat rock.
He stretched out his index finger, wiped lightly on the stone wall, then leaned closer to smell it, and tried to lick it.
Gale didn't care about his hot eyes, and asked quickly.
"How is it?"
Spit on the ground, Mosquito's face was half happy and half sad.
"Hey, why the hell are there fresh ones..."
Gale: "..."
Although I accidentally tasted fresh guano, one thing is certain is that there are indeed a lot of struvite here.
The main component of this ore is Mg(NH4)[PO4]·6H2O, with an orthorhombic crystal structure. It is not difficult to see how versatile this thing is just by looking at the chemical composition.
Not only that, when a certain amount of struvite is formed, the ammonia component in it will be gradually oxidized to nitric acid under the action of nitrifying bacteria, and finally accumulate in the form of potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, calcium nitrate, magnesium nitrate, etc. under the soil , forming the so-called Nitrogen.
This kind of nitrate as an "associated mineral" only needs to be mixed and boiled with plant ash that has not been filtered out of potash-alkali water by simple methods, and the calcium and magnesium ions in it can be precipitated, so that nitre with a small amount of impurities can be produced !
To put it simply, if you find bird droppings, you basically have saltpeter.
And having saltpeter is basically equivalent to having gunpowder!
In fact, it is not just bird droppings. There are a lot of different kinds of excrement distributed on the shore of Lonia Lake. Over time, these excrements gradually weathered, deposited and hardened, and finally formed dung stone mines.
As for why there are so many bezoars by the lake, it is actually very easy to understand.
In the early years when this planet just entered the Wasteland Era, it experienced a severe cold period that lasted nearly half a century.
During that period, Wetland Park, as the area with the richest water resources in this area, used to have a large number of wild animals and domestic animals that escaped from the pasture.
These feces should be left behind at that time.
It wasn't until the end of the severe cold period that the uninhabited urban area formed a more lush ecosystem, and it gradually became deserted here.
"With this nitrous, it's not a big problem to get the black powder out!" Standing up from the ground, Mosquito looked excitedly at the wind, "Help me, let's get some back."
Gale asked suspiciously.
"There is nitrate and charcoal, but I remember that there is sulfur in the black powder formula? Where are you going to find sulfur?"
If he remembered correctly, things like sulfur usually appear near craters or hot springs.
However, this area obviously doesn't look like there are these two things.
Mosquito froze for a moment.
Apparently he hadn't had time to think about it.
"Uh, if there is no sulfur, sulfates are also available, but the process is a little more troublesome...it should be easy to find, right?"
Gale looked around and shrugged helplessly.
"Anyway, let's look for it first."
...
Unfortunately, there was no sulfur in the forest, and nothing suspected of sulfur was seen by the lake.
Think about it too.
How could this thing appear in the Wetland Park?
Fortunately, just when the two were about to give up, they found some gypsum mines beside a small river extending from Lonia Lake.
The ingredient of this thing is calcium sulfate, and it can be burned together with carbon at high temperature to produce calcium sulfide and carbon dioxide, which is exactly the sulfate mineral they are looking for!
"How did I forget about this!" Mosquito slapped himself on the back of the head annoyedly, "Looking at Bunny and the others burning cement two days ago, it seems that this kind of gypsum powder was mixed in! This thing is not his. Are they calcium sulfate?"
Gale said with a wry smile.
"Is this the so-called darkness under the lights?"
"In short, the result is good." After picking up some gypsum ore and putting it into a plastic bucket, Mosquito washed his hands, stood up and looked at Gale and said, "Let's go, the materials are done, let's go back too."
Gale nodded and followed behind him.
The two returned to the survivors' settlement together, and were about to walk towards the cabin, only to find that there was a commotion in front of the settlement's gate.
I saw that the players who were working on the construction site had come down from the scaffolding at some point, and they were all holding tools in their hands, surrounding a cow with two heads.
Beside the two-headed ox stood a strange man.
He was wearing a leather jacket, had a flattering smile on his face, made strange gestures, and muttered some incomprehensible words.
Mosquito looked curious and stopped.
"Who is that person? New NPC?"
I didn't hear it was going to be updated today.
"I don't know, I'll ask..."
Gale is a man of action, put down the plastic bucket in his hand, strode towards Brother Scrambled Eggs who was standing in front of the bacon stand watching the excitement, and asked him curiously.
"What happened there? Who was that man?"
Brother Scrambled Eggs folded his arms, shook his head and said.
"I don't know the details. I heard from other people that our people met this guy on the way back from transporting stones from the construction site, and then this guy didn't say anything, just followed behind, followed our people all the way to here .”
Gale approached and heard the players' discussions.
"Why does this cow have two heads?"
"A domesticated alien?"
"This man followed us all the way! I bet, he is definitely not a good thing, maybe it is the secret work of predators!"
"Not necessarily, what if it's an NPC?"
"It doesn't make sense. If it's really an NPC, wouldn't it be impossible to communicate?"
"Could it be that the condition was not triggered?"
"How about we lock him up first and wait until the manager comes back?"
Sensing the increasingly hostile eyes of the people around him, Gomu, surrounded by the crowd, felt a lot of pressure.
Although he had a revolver hidden under his leather jacket with the safety on, it only contained six bullets even if he emptied it.
And the nearby residents of the refuge who were getting closer and closer would never give him a chance to fire 6 shots in a row.
One hammer per person, and he had to lie on the ground.
"I'll say it again, I have no malice. I'm a businessman. Do you understand businessmen? Damn it, no matter how bad it was 200 years ago, there wasn't even a trade as a profession, right? Or did you sleep too long and forget? "
"Okay, calm down, to put it another way, I want to use these things on the back of the cow to exchange with you for something that you don't lack and I just need...anything! Of course, it doesn't matter if you don't want to trade, I'm leaving now, and I promise not to disturb you again!"
Seeing that there was no way to communicate at all, Gomu already had the idea of retreating.
However, the residents of these shelters didn't mean to move away at all. Instead, they got closer and closer, and even took out the rope.
Gomu was in despair.
Just when he was thinking about whether to fight to the death, the blue coats surrounding him suddenly gave way.
I saw a man walking towards here with the corpse of a mutated reindeer on his shoulders.
The mutated reindeer weighed more than a hundred kilograms at least, and was almost as big as a horse. However, the man seemed to be okay, carrying the prey that could cover him and walked as usual.
Although he was wearing a blue coat and looks harmless to humans and animals, Gomu still smelled an extremely dangerous breath from him.
This guy……
Definitely not an ordinary shelter resident!
The man threw the prey heavily on the ground, said a few words to his companions, and then these people obediently dispersed.
Looking at the man walking towards him, Gomu felt nervous and his nerves tensed.
For a moment, a thought flashed through his mind. If he could hold the person in front of him hostage, he might be able to leave here smoothly.
However, his intuition told him that if he really did this, he would die the moment he did it...
"Who are you?" Lucius looked at him and asked.
Hearing the man talking to him, Gomu was taken aback for a moment, with a surprise expression on his face.
"You can speak? No, I didn't mean that, I meant you can speak the language here?"
The language here refers to Renlian language.
Before the war, this area belonged to the territory of the People's Federation, so they naturally used a unified language. It stands to reason that the residents of the refuge also speak Renlian, but I don't know why these people are a little different.
Lucius frowned slightly, looked at him and continued.
"Now I'm the one asking you."
"Answer me, who are you?"
Hearing the unkindness in that tone, Gomu quickly explained.
"My name is Gomu. I come from Demonia Town next door! I'm a businessman!"
Demonia Town?
Hearing this strange place name, Lucius raised his eyebrows slightly.
He only knew that this was Spring City, the River Valley Province located in the hinterland of Renlian. As for the other cities in the River Valley Province, he is not very clear.
"What are you doing in Spring City?"
Gomu said carefully.
"I'm a businessman... of course I'm here to do business."
Lucius's expression remained unmoved.
"Businessman? Then why did I hear from my companions that you followed them?"
"Misunderstanding, this is definitely a misunderstanding!"
Gomu waved his hands and explained dumbfoundingly.
"I originally planned to go to Boulder City. I happened to see them wearing blue coats on the road. I thought there was a shelter nearby, so I thought about exchanging something with you... I'm just a businessman, and I really didn't offend you. the meaning of!"
He didn't expect these people to be so sensitive.
If it were an ordinary survivor settlement, he would definitely not dare to approach it rashly alone, but it would be different if it were a shelter.
These little cuties in blue coats are notoriously silly and sweet in the wasteland, easy to bully and deceive.
They are usually mostly the elite of the pre-war society, or the descendants of the elite, often claiming to be descendants of civilization, arrogant and defiant.
At that time, he thought about following the past, so he followed it. At worst, he would be thrown away as a beggar, and there would be no loss.
Who would have thought that after these people brought him in, they surrounded him without saying a word, didn't listen to him, let alone planned to leave.
The expression on his face did not relax because of this guy's explanation, Lucius still looked at him expressionlessly and continued.
"Whether you meant to offend us or not, you have done something to offend us. I believe that stalking is not an act of kindness anywhere in this wasteland, are you right?"
Gomu was sweating profusely, and nodded his head.
"...You are right."
"Very well, it seems that you have realized your mistake," Lucius nodded, "but you don't have to worry, we are reasonable people, just now I have persuaded my companions and told them that you are willing to offend yourself I apologize for my behavior.”
Gomu nodded quickly.
"Yes, yes, I do!"
Hearing these words, Lucius finally showed a smile on his face.
"That's fine. By the way, you shouldn't suggest that we pick it ourselves?"
Gomu was stunned for a moment, and looked at the man in front of him in a daze.
"Wait, what do you mean by choosing yourself?"
Lucius said of course.
"Apology can't be done empty-handed, right? Otherwise, how did you come to make an apology? We won't blackmail you, at most we'll just pick something from your bull's back."
Speaking of this, the smile that appeared on Lucius's face before gradually collapsed.
"You wouldn't... be reluctant, would you?"
Gomu had an expression uglier than crying, but he still nodded his head.
"No! Everything is in this car...you choose."
The bandits! What about the modesty and pride of being a civilized person?
He actually robbed a ragged wastelander! It's like a rich man with a lot of money going to rob a beggar on the roadside. Don't these people blush for their actions?
Shaking and cold!
Gomu scolded numbly in his heart, but he still greeted him with a smile on his face, not daring to show any negative emotions.
He has gradually begun to realize that this shelter seems to be fundamentally different from the shelters he has encountered before.
As for Lucius, he didn't care what the businessman was thinking.
Because that doesn't matter at all.
Seeing that this guy is so sensible, a happy smile appeared on his face again.
"Then I won't be polite."
"I should have thought of it earlier!"
"The most abundant resource in Lonia Lake is not just the fish in the lake, but the abundant nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium on the shoreline! We are almost there, just ahead!"
Walking towards the lake with Mosquito, Gale talked excitedly along the way.
The two stopped at a shallow beach by the lake.
The vegetation here is luxuriant and easy to hide. It is an excellent water point for both humans and animals.
As soon as Gale stretched out his hand and was about to point, Mosquito stepped forward before him, and squatted down in front of a relatively flat rock.
He stretched out his index finger, wiped lightly on the stone wall, then leaned closer to smell it, and tried to lick it.
Gale didn't care about his hot eyes, and asked quickly.
"How is it?"
Spit on the ground, Mosquito's face was half happy and half sad.
"Hey, why the hell are there fresh ones..."
Gale: "..."
Although I accidentally tasted fresh guano, one thing is certain is that there are indeed a lot of struvite here.
The main component of this ore is Mg(NH4)[PO4]·6H2O, with an orthorhombic crystal structure. It is not difficult to see how versatile this thing is just by looking at the chemical composition.
Not only that, when a certain amount of struvite is formed, the ammonia component in it will be gradually oxidized to nitric acid under the action of nitrifying bacteria, and finally accumulate in the form of potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, calcium nitrate, magnesium nitrate, etc. under the soil , forming the so-called Nitrogen.
This kind of nitrate as an "associated mineral" only needs to be mixed and boiled with plant ash that has not been filtered out of potash-alkali water by simple methods, and the calcium and magnesium ions in it can be precipitated, so that nitre with a small amount of impurities can be produced !
To put it simply, if you find bird droppings, you basically have saltpeter.
And having saltpeter is basically equivalent to having gunpowder!
In fact, it is not just bird droppings. There are a lot of different kinds of excrement distributed on the shore of Lonia Lake. Over time, these excrements gradually weathered, deposited and hardened, and finally formed dung stone mines.
As for why there are so many bezoars by the lake, it is actually very easy to understand.
In the early years when this planet just entered the Wasteland Era, it experienced a severe cold period that lasted nearly half a century.
During that period, Wetland Park, as the area with the richest water resources in this area, used to have a large number of wild animals and domestic animals that escaped from the pasture.
These feces should be left behind at that time.
It wasn't until the end of the severe cold period that the uninhabited urban area formed a more lush ecosystem, and it gradually became deserted here.
"With this nitrous, it's not a big problem to get the black powder out!" Standing up from the ground, Mosquito looked excitedly at the wind, "Help me, let's get some back."
Gale asked suspiciously.
"There is nitrate and charcoal, but I remember that there is sulfur in the black powder formula? Where are you going to find sulfur?"
If he remembered correctly, things like sulfur usually appear near craters or hot springs.
However, this area obviously doesn't look like there are these two things.
Mosquito froze for a moment.
Apparently he hadn't had time to think about it.
"Uh, if there is no sulfur, sulfates are also available, but the process is a little more troublesome...it should be easy to find, right?"
Gale looked around and shrugged helplessly.
"Anyway, let's look for it first."
...
Unfortunately, there was no sulfur in the forest, and nothing suspected of sulfur was seen by the lake.
Think about it too.
How could this thing appear in the Wetland Park?
Fortunately, just when the two were about to give up, they found some gypsum mines beside a small river extending from Lonia Lake.
The ingredient of this thing is calcium sulfate, and it can be burned together with carbon at high temperature to produce calcium sulfide and carbon dioxide, which is exactly the sulfate mineral they are looking for!
"How did I forget about this!" Mosquito slapped himself on the back of the head annoyedly, "Looking at Bunny and the others burning cement two days ago, it seems that this kind of gypsum powder was mixed in! This thing is not his. Are they calcium sulfate?"
Gale said with a wry smile.
"Is this the so-called darkness under the lights?"
"In short, the result is good." After picking up some gypsum ore and putting it into a plastic bucket, Mosquito washed his hands, stood up and looked at Gale and said, "Let's go, the materials are done, let's go back too."
Gale nodded and followed behind him.
The two returned to the survivors' settlement together, and were about to walk towards the cabin, only to find that there was a commotion in front of the settlement's gate.
I saw that the players who were working on the construction site had come down from the scaffolding at some point, and they were all holding tools in their hands, surrounding a cow with two heads.
Beside the two-headed ox stood a strange man.
He was wearing a leather jacket, had a flattering smile on his face, made strange gestures, and muttered some incomprehensible words.
Mosquito looked curious and stopped.
"Who is that person? New NPC?"
I didn't hear it was going to be updated today.
"I don't know, I'll ask..."
Gale is a man of action, put down the plastic bucket in his hand, strode towards Brother Scrambled Eggs who was standing in front of the bacon stand watching the excitement, and asked him curiously.
"What happened there? Who was that man?"
Brother Scrambled Eggs folded his arms, shook his head and said.
"I don't know the details. I heard from other people that our people met this guy on the way back from transporting stones from the construction site, and then this guy didn't say anything, just followed behind, followed our people all the way to here .”
Gale approached and heard the players' discussions.
"Why does this cow have two heads?"
"A domesticated alien?"
"This man followed us all the way! I bet, he is definitely not a good thing, maybe it is the secret work of predators!"
"Not necessarily, what if it's an NPC?"
"It doesn't make sense. If it's really an NPC, wouldn't it be impossible to communicate?"
"Could it be that the condition was not triggered?"
"How about we lock him up first and wait until the manager comes back?"
Sensing the increasingly hostile eyes of the people around him, Gomu, surrounded by the crowd, felt a lot of pressure.
Although he had a revolver hidden under his leather jacket with the safety on, it only contained six bullets even if he emptied it.
And the nearby residents of the refuge who were getting closer and closer would never give him a chance to fire 6 shots in a row.
One hammer per person, and he had to lie on the ground.
"I'll say it again, I have no malice. I'm a businessman. Do you understand businessmen? Damn it, no matter how bad it was 200 years ago, there wasn't even a trade as a profession, right? Or did you sleep too long and forget? "
"Okay, calm down, to put it another way, I want to use these things on the back of the cow to exchange with you for something that you don't lack and I just need...anything! Of course, it doesn't matter if you don't want to trade, I'm leaving now, and I promise not to disturb you again!"
Seeing that there was no way to communicate at all, Gomu already had the idea of retreating.
However, the residents of these shelters didn't mean to move away at all. Instead, they got closer and closer, and even took out the rope.
Gomu was in despair.
Just when he was thinking about whether to fight to the death, the blue coats surrounding him suddenly gave way.
I saw a man walking towards here with the corpse of a mutated reindeer on his shoulders.
The mutated reindeer weighed more than a hundred kilograms at least, and was almost as big as a horse. However, the man seemed to be okay, carrying the prey that could cover him and walked as usual.
Although he was wearing a blue coat and looks harmless to humans and animals, Gomu still smelled an extremely dangerous breath from him.
This guy……
Definitely not an ordinary shelter resident!
The man threw the prey heavily on the ground, said a few words to his companions, and then these people obediently dispersed.
Looking at the man walking towards him, Gomu felt nervous and his nerves tensed.
For a moment, a thought flashed through his mind. If he could hold the person in front of him hostage, he might be able to leave here smoothly.
However, his intuition told him that if he really did this, he would die the moment he did it...
"Who are you?" Lucius looked at him and asked.
Hearing the man talking to him, Gomu was taken aback for a moment, with a surprise expression on his face.
"You can speak? No, I didn't mean that, I meant you can speak the language here?"
The language here refers to Renlian language.
Before the war, this area belonged to the territory of the People's Federation, so they naturally used a unified language. It stands to reason that the residents of the refuge also speak Renlian, but I don't know why these people are a little different.
Lucius frowned slightly, looked at him and continued.
"Now I'm the one asking you."
"Answer me, who are you?"
Hearing the unkindness in that tone, Gomu quickly explained.
"My name is Gomu. I come from Demonia Town next door! I'm a businessman!"
Demonia Town?
Hearing this strange place name, Lucius raised his eyebrows slightly.
He only knew that this was Spring City, the River Valley Province located in the hinterland of Renlian. As for the other cities in the River Valley Province, he is not very clear.
"What are you doing in Spring City?"
Gomu said carefully.
"I'm a businessman... of course I'm here to do business."
Lucius's expression remained unmoved.
"Businessman? Then why did I hear from my companions that you followed them?"
"Misunderstanding, this is definitely a misunderstanding!"
Gomu waved his hands and explained dumbfoundingly.
"I originally planned to go to Boulder City. I happened to see them wearing blue coats on the road. I thought there was a shelter nearby, so I thought about exchanging something with you... I'm just a businessman, and I really didn't offend you. the meaning of!"
He didn't expect these people to be so sensitive.
If it were an ordinary survivor settlement, he would definitely not dare to approach it rashly alone, but it would be different if it were a shelter.
These little cuties in blue coats are notoriously silly and sweet in the wasteland, easy to bully and deceive.
They are usually mostly the elite of the pre-war society, or the descendants of the elite, often claiming to be descendants of civilization, arrogant and defiant.
At that time, he thought about following the past, so he followed it. At worst, he would be thrown away as a beggar, and there would be no loss.
Who would have thought that after these people brought him in, they surrounded him without saying a word, didn't listen to him, let alone planned to leave.
The expression on his face did not relax because of this guy's explanation, Lucius still looked at him expressionlessly and continued.
"Whether you meant to offend us or not, you have done something to offend us. I believe that stalking is not an act of kindness anywhere in this wasteland, are you right?"
Gomu was sweating profusely, and nodded his head.
"...You are right."
"Very well, it seems that you have realized your mistake," Lucius nodded, "but you don't have to worry, we are reasonable people, just now I have persuaded my companions and told them that you are willing to offend yourself I apologize for my behavior.”
Gomu nodded quickly.
"Yes, yes, I do!"
Hearing these words, Lucius finally showed a smile on his face.
"That's fine. By the way, you shouldn't suggest that we pick it ourselves?"
Gomu was stunned for a moment, and looked at the man in front of him in a daze.
"Wait, what do you mean by choosing yourself?"
Lucius said of course.
"Apology can't be done empty-handed, right? Otherwise, how did you come to make an apology? We won't blackmail you, at most we'll just pick something from your bull's back."
Speaking of this, the smile that appeared on Lucius's face before gradually collapsed.
"You wouldn't... be reluctant, would you?"
Gomu had an expression uglier than crying, but he still nodded his head.
"No! Everything is in this car...you choose."
The bandits! What about the modesty and pride of being a civilized person?
He actually robbed a ragged wastelander! It's like a rich man with a lot of money going to rob a beggar on the roadside. Don't these people blush for their actions?
Shaking and cold!
Gomu scolded numbly in his heart, but he still greeted him with a smile on his face, not daring to show any negative emotions.
He has gradually begun to realize that this shelter seems to be fundamentally different from the shelters he has encountered before.
As for Lucius, he didn't care what the businessman was thinking.
Because that doesn't matter at all.
Seeing that this guy is so sensible, a happy smile appeared on his face again.
"Then I won't be polite."
