Chapter 64: Three Different Disasters
Shichen noticed the ring before Zhiyi sat down.
She entered Hanchuan’s office carrying the same notebook she had taken to the warehouse, but a diamond now rested on her left hand. It wasn’t large enough to interfere with her grip, and the setting sat low enough that it wouldn’t catch against the pages.
Hanchuan had selected it for her rather than for the people expected to look at it.
Zhiyi appeared unaware that all four men had stopped working.
Zeyu noticed next. His attention dropped to her hand as she placed the notebook on the table, then moved toward Hanchuan.
"What did you do?" he asked, his accusing eyes turning to Hanchuan.
Hanchuan waited until Zhiyi sat beside him before answering. "We’re getting married in ten days."
The announcement didn’t surprise Shichen.
Hanchuan had spent seven years surviving with Zhiyi, died beside her and treated their reunion as the recovery of something that already belonged inside his life. Marriage was only the legal recognition of a decision he had made long before the rest of them met her.
Zeyu leaned back and stared at his friend. "Ten days?"
"That’s what I said."
Jingwei examined the ring once before accepting the information with a nod. Qinghe’s attention moved from Zhiyi’s hand to her face, checking for any sign that Hanchuan had moved too quickly for her.
Zhiyi interpreted the look correctly.
"I agreed."
That ended any concern Qinghe might have raised.
Zeyu’s grin arrived slowly. "And here I thought buying 11 warehouses in one day was excessive."
"The two matters are unrelated," Zhiyi told him.
"Of course they are."
Shichen saved the structural plan open on his tablet. Hanchuan would explain whatever he expected from them when the time came. Until then, nine shelters remained under construction, and the universal supplies they had purchased would accomplish nothing without the systems required to keep six people alive through three entirely different disasters.
He turned the primary display toward Zhiyi.
The Luming Mountain Hotel appeared first.
"Heat," Shichen said. "We need to finalize the specialized orders today."
The four underground levels protected the hotel’s core from direct sunlight and the worst surface temperatures, but placing people beneath the ground didn’t remove the heat their bodies, equipment and food-production systems generated. Every person released heat into the enclosed space. So did every light, battery, pump and appliance.
Without ventilation and cooling, the shelter would eventually become an insulated container trapping its own warmth.
Zhiyi opened her notebook.
"Each Heat shelter requires independent ventilation, replacement motors, compressors, filters and manual airflow alternatives."
"The primary systems are already included in construction," Shichen said. "We’re ordering enough replacement components to rebuild them more than once."
"More than once isn’t a number."
Shichen had expected that objection. "Three complete replacements for every critical component, plus individual parts based on their projected failure rates."
Zhiyi examined the maintenance schedule he placed beside the plan. Bearings, belts and filters required more frequent replacement than motors and sealed compressors. Electrical control systems could fail long before the machinery they operated, which meant manual overrides couldn’t be treated as optional.
She added two additional pressure sensors and a second type of carbon-dioxide monitor to each Heat inventory.
Water created the larger order.
Luming possessed a service reservoir. The Reservoir Safe House had private wells. Xiling Data Archive depended upon underground storage and independent connections that might become useless once the regional system failed.
All three still needed enough tanks, pumps, filtration media and replacement components to operate without outside assistance.
"Nothing dependent upon one water source," Zhiyi said. "Every location needs collection, purification and sealed emergency storage."
Shichen added the requirement.
Heat-resistant exterior materials, reflective barriers, shade structures and protective equipment followed. They ordered replacement seals for every exterior door, additional fire-suppression systems and temperature-resistant lubricants for machinery that might still need to operate above ground.
Qinghe built the corresponding medical stockpile.
Heat illness required cooling supplies, electrolytes, intravenous fluids and equipment capable of functioning when ordinary refrigeration became unreliable. Respiratory problems would increase as dust, smoke and degraded materials contaminated the air. Burns, dehydration and kidney injuries required more than the basic medical inventory already assigned to every shelter.
By midday, three separate Heat orders had been submitted.
They moved to Flood.
Jinhai and Beichen required nearly everything to be stored above the thirty-eighth floor before the water rose. Qingshan sat above the projected flood line, but the reinforced basement and underground tanks still needed protection from contaminated groundwater and drainage failure.
Zeyu took over the transportation section.
Boats would be stored at all three Flood locations, along with motors, fuel, oars, repair materials and flotation equipment. Jinhai and Beichen required docking systems that could be accessed from upper levels once their ground-floor entrances disappeared beneath the water.
The mobile base provided another evacuation option, but Zhiyi refused to include it as a guaranteed resource at all three properties.
"It can only be in one location."
"Unless I build three," Zeyu said.
She looked at him. "Can you?"
His smile disappeared as he considered the production schedule. "Not before the first apocalypse."
"Then the other two shelters require independent transportation."
Zeyu added more boats.
Water surrounded by floodwater couldn’t be treated as usable. The three shelters required purification systems designed for chemical contamination, biological waste and saltwater intrusion. Sealed containers, portable testing equipment and enormous quantities of replacement filters were divided among separate suppliers.
Qinghe added antibiotics, gastrointestinal medications, wound-care supplies and protective equipment. The contaminated water would turn minor injuries into infection risks, while crowded upper floors and limited movement increased the danger of illness spreading between them.
They ordered dehumidifiers and mold-control equipment even though both systems would consume power. Allowing moisture to destroy food, medicine and sleeping areas would cost more energy in the long term.
Freeze required a different calculation.
The Beiyuan Geothermal Station and Nanshui Pumped-Storage Station possessed their own energy systems. Longyuan Military Archive depended upon stored fuel and the heating network Shichen’s crews were installing.
Each location still required independent backup heat.
They ordered boilers, heating elements, pumps, insulated piping and enough control components to replace each system repeatedly. Fuel storage expanded beyond the amounts already included in construction. Shichen added manual shutoffs, fire-resistant barriers and spare ventilation equipment for every area where combustion might occur.
Insulation couldn’t be repaired with ordinary construction materials once external temperatures fell beyond their limits. They ordered rigid panels, thermal barriers, sealants, insulated doors and replacement window coverings for the few exterior openings that would remain.
Zeyu added tracked vehicles, snow-clearing equipment, cold-rated batteries and lubricants designed to remain usable at extreme temperatures.
Qinghe’s Freeze inventory grew to include treatments for frostbite, hypothermia, respiratory infections and the injuries caused by falls, ice and prolonged confinement. He added light-therapy equipment and expanded the vitamins required when natural sunlight became inaccessible.
Zhiyi reviewed the three disaster groups.
The universal supplies kept them alive.
The specialized supplies prevented the shelters from becoming the cause of their deaths.
Shichen watched her return to the Heat list and begin checking it again. Her engagement ring moved with her pen, catching the office lights each time she crossed out a completed requirement.
Hanchuan had promised to provide for her.
Shichen’s role was different.
He couldn’t promise that every structure would survive forces no building had been designed to withstand. He could only find each possible failure before the world tested it and construct another layer between Zhiyi and the disaster outside.
By evening, the first specialized orders were complete.
Cooling equipment began moving toward the Heat warehouses. Boats and purification systems were assigned to the Flood network. Heating components, insulation and cold-rated machinery were routed toward the Freeze locations.
Nine shelters were no longer receiving variations of the same stockpile.
Each one was being prepared for the world it would eventually face.
20 Days left