LOSS System: Last Store Standing

Jack waited until both CUEVs had stopped before walking over to the cargo beds.

Several devices of different sizes were packed inside, along with a box of lightweight panels and a roll of hose that looked more like a thick strip of fabric.

“We came across this at the agricultural supply center,” Henry said as he climbed out of the driver’s seat. He pointed to the hose. “I wasn’t sure whether we could use it, but I brought it back just in case.”

Jack gave him a puzzled look.

“You’re this excited over a roll of hose?”

“Of course not. These are what I’m excited about.”

Henry pointed to two other machines in the cargo bed.

“A Portable Atmospheric Thermal Converter, or PATC, and a Coastal Atmospheric Water Recovery Unit, or CAWRU.”

Warren came over just in time to hear him.

“They still had those two pieces of junk?”

Jack looked between them.

“What do you mean?”

“The PATC was the predecessor of the PCCU,” Warren explained. “As for the CAWRU, think of it as a dehumidifier with far more functions than anyone could possibly need.”

Jack still didn’t understand, so Warren started with the PATC.

“The PATC is extremely powerful. Back in the old world, the manufacturer originally intended to sell it as premium camping equipment. They maximized its heating and cooling capacity, airflow, and continuous operating capabilities to handle extreme outdoor environments.”

“That sounds useful.”

“It was,” Warren said. “The problem was its power consumption. At maximum output, a fully charged mobile energy cell could keep one running for only about an hour.”

Jack stared at the machine.

“It uses that much electricity?”

“Exactly. Even if you connected it directly to a household power supply, the monthly bill would be enough to make anyone question their life choices. And this was supposed to be outdoor camping equipment.”

“Then why wasn’t it discontinued?”

Walter had joined them by then.

“It never was,” he said. “Ordinary consumers simply stopped buying it. Most of the remaining buyers were research institutions and researchers working in harsh environments. Large electronics malls still carried a few, but the stock was always limited.”

“We searched a large section of the mall and found only four,” Henry added. “So we brought back every one of them.”

Jack finally understood. He turned toward the larger machine beside the PATCs.

“What about the CAWRU?”

Even decades after the disaster, Warren still had plenty to say about that particular machine.

“That one was even more ridiculous. Sometimes I wonder whether the manufacturer’s entire research and development department had lost its mind.”

Jack’s interest immediately grew.

“What did they do?”

“They built a seawater desalination system into a dehumidifier,” Warren said. “Then they advertised it by telling coastal residents that if they ever ran short of water, they could connect the CAWRU to the sea and get fresh water from the other side.”

He paused.

“The problem was that living near the coast didn’t mean living right on the beach. If there was a water shortage, were people supposed to run a hose from their homes all the way to the ocean?”

Jack had no idea how to respond.

“And the desalination system couldn’t even be turned off,” Warren continued. “Once the CAWRU started, every system inside it ran at the same time. If an ordinary household kept one running, most of their monthly income would probably go toward the electricity bill.”

Jack no longer knew what to make of the engineers who had designed it.

“Let me guess. Research institutions were the only ones still buying those too?”

“Mostly institutions studying marine or extreme environments,” Henry said. “They were among the few buyers who could actually use all those functions and afford the power consumption. We found only two CAWRUs, even fewer than the PATCs.”

Jack looked at Henry.

“If both machines use that much electricity, why are you so happy?”

“Because you don’t have to worry about electricity,” Elias said.

“Exactly.” Henry smiled. “They consume a ridiculous amount of power, but the manufacturers weren’t exaggerating about their performance.”

The PATC had been designed for extreme outdoor environments from the beginning. Its cooling range was far greater than that of a PCCU, and its durability was just as impressive. As long as the power supply remained stable, it could continue operating at full output in harsh conditions without needing to stop.

The CAWRU’s dehumidification performance was equally powerful. It could rapidly remove excess moisture from the air, then purify and store the recovered water.

For ordinary consumers, the greatest weakness of both machines was their extreme power consumption. For Jack, that was the one problem he didn’t need to worry about.

The PATCs and CAWRUs weren’t the only things Henry’s group had brought back. There was also an Indoor Air Regulation Unit, or IARU, a Rooftop Heat Dissipation Unit, or RHDU, a box of Modular Ceiling Panels, or MCPs, and a Modular Exhaust Fan, or MEF.

“Were there more of these at the mall?” Jack asked. “Besides the PATCs and CAWRUs?”

“Probably quite a few,” Henry said. “But we didn’t know which ones would be useful in the shelter, so we only brought back one of each for Warren and Walter to inspect.”

Warren checked the devices one by one.

“The IARU, RHDU, and MEF can all be used in the shelter. We won’t install the MCPs yet. Once the trading post is finished, we can decide how to use them in both buildings.”

“The power connections won’t be a problem either,” Walter added. “The RHDU and MEF need reserved installation openings, but we can take care of those during construction.”

Jack pointed to the CAWRU.

“What about this one?”

“We should be able to use it in the new trading post,” Warren said. “The water pit is right beside it, so the humidity around there will probably remain high during the heat wave.”

Once it was clear that all the equipment would be useful, Jack made the decision.

“Keep bringing the rest back tomorrow. We already have all the PATCs and CAWRUs, so bring back as many IARUs, RHDUs, MEFs, and MCPs as you can. Don’t forget the hoses either.”

Henry nodded.

“We marked the location of the warehouse. Tomorrow, we can go straight there and start loading.”

With the equipment sorted out, Jack told Elias what had happened that afternoon.

“Warren passed out from the heat after you left.”

Elias immediately looked at Warren.

“How are you feeling now?”

“I’m fine,” Warren said. “It won’t interfere with the work.”

Jack ignored the second half of that answer and told the four men about the new construction schedule.

“You’ll continue making supply runs during the day. Traveling at night is too dangerous. Once you return, get some rest. You won’t need to join the nighttime construction.”

Henry, Elias, Hal, and Mort accepted the arrangement.

Ruth and Edith soon brought over dinner. After eating their bread, canned beef, and boiled potatoes, the four men returned to their tents to rest.

Jack then found Walter.

“Can you run an extension cable from the utility poles to the construction site? I want to test the PATCs.”

“Sure.”

Walter and Colt soon extended the power line to the construction area.

Jack positioned the four PATCs around the site and connected them to the power supply. Once everything was ready, he switched all four on.

The PATCs came to life almost immediately. Powerful streams of cold air swept across the construction area from four directions.

The heat that had lingered over the site quickly began to disperse. Before long, even Jack could feel the difference.

Standing in front of one of the PATCs, he grinned.

“This is much better. No one has to work in the heat anymore.”

The people nearby smiled as well.

Once darkness settled over the area, the streetlights and temporary work lights around the construction site came on.

Everyone picked up their tools and resumed the work they had left unfinished that afternoon. Some continued dismantling wooden pallets, others assembled support columns, while the rest transported the prepared wood to the shelter site.

With all four PATCs running, the nighttime construction progressed far faster than Warren had originally expected.

Powerful cold air covered most of the work area, and the temporary lights kept the entire site brightly illuminated. Without the sun beating down on them, no one needed to stop for frequent breaks. Each night, the shelter took on a visibly different shape.

Eleven days remained before the heat wave was expected to arrive.

By the end of the night, all thirty assembled wooden columns stood across what had once been an empty construction site.

Two rows of load-bearing columns ran neatly through the center. The columns around the perimeter outlined the shelter’s full dimensions, fifteen meters long and eight meters wide.

From a distance, the structure resembled a massive wooden skeleton. It still had no walls or roof, but the general positions of the sleeping area, common area, and two entrances were already visible.

At daybreak, everyone stopped working and returned to their tents to rest.

When the sun went down again, the lights across the construction site came back on, and work resumed.

Ten days remained before the heat wave was expected to arrive.

The individual columns had been joined into a complete box-shaped frame. Wooden boards gradually covered the exterior, leaving only the planned entrances and the space reserved for the basic washroom and toilet area.

By the second half of the night, two exterior walls were already complete.

Light poured through the remaining open side, casting the shadows of the columns and wooden frame across the ground.

From the second floor of the convenience store, the shelter was already taking shape beside the area where the tents stood.

The weather was changing as well.

The wind grew weaker during the day, and heat continued rising from the ground long after sunset. Even at night, the air remained stifling beyond the reach of the PATCs.

Nine days remained before the heat wave was expected to arrive.

All four exterior walls of the shelter were now complete. The flat roof extended from one side of the building toward the other.

When everyone stopped working at daybreak, the roof covered only half the structure. After sunset, they returned to the site and began filling the remaining gaps with wooden boards.

By the time dawn approached on the third day, the shelter was fully enclosed.

Everyone stood outside and looked up at the finished structure.

What had begun as thirty wooden columns now formed a complete rectangular building. The wide entrances, the basic washroom and toilet area in the corner, and the open sleeping area inside were all clearly visible.

Warren inspected the shelter inside and out. After confirming that the structure was secure, he announced that the main construction was complete.

The shelter had originally been expected to take five days.

They had finished it in only three.

Walter and Colt immediately entered with the cables and electrical components they had prepared and began installing the internal wiring.

The others moved the IARUs, RHDUs, and MEFs beside the shelter, ready for installation once the wiring was complete.

That same night, the rest of the construction team moved to the site of the new trading post.

Eight days remained before the heat wave was expected to arrive.

Construction lines marked out the new trading post on the inner side of the moat entrance.

The building would face the entrance directly. Once it was ready, outsiders entering the trading post would no longer need to travel any farther into the area inside the moat.

Unlike the all-wooden shelter, the lower section of the trading post would be built with fired bricks.

By the end of the first night, the brick walls had risen to just under half a meter. Behind the moat entrance, the twelve-meter-long, nine-meter-wide outline of the building was already visible.

The walls continued rising the following night.

A main entrance was left in the side facing the moat entrance. On the opposite side, another entrance was reserved for internal personnel and the transport of supplies.

By the second half of the night, the fired-brick walls had reached a height of roughly one meter, and the wooden frame for the upper section had begun to take shape.

The last of the eighteen hundred fired bricks from the first batch were used just as the second batch finished firing.

Seven days remained before the heat wave was expected to arrive.

Once the kiln had cooled, Hal and Mort led several people in opening it and removing the second batch of fired bricks.

The second firing produced more than seventeen hundred bricks. Although more of them had been damaged than in the first batch, the usable bricks were still enough to complete the lower walls of the trading post.

With only a small number of unfired brick blanks remaining, Hal and Mort decided not to begin a third firing and temporarily shut down the kiln.

The newly fired bricks were transported directly to the construction site and used to complete the unfinished sections of the lower walls.

Above the brickwork, wooden boards were fixed to the frame one after another. What had previously been little more than a ring of low walls gradually became a fully enclosed building.

From a distance, the lower section consisted of neat red brick walls, while tightly joined wooden boards formed the upper section. A clear line separated the two materials.

Compared with the old trading post built entirely from sun-dried bricks, the new building looked more solid and had a much more finished appearance.

The weather continued to worsen.

The sunlight became increasingly harsh during the day, while the nearly motionless air carried a growing sense of burning heat. Even at night, the heat stored in the ground refused to fade, and the temperature remained higher than it had only a few days earlier.

Six days remained before the heat wave was expected to arrive.

The wooden upper walls of the trading post were finished, and the box-shaped roof began closing over the structure.

The main entrance facing the moat now had a complete frame. The entrance on the opposite side, reserved for internal personnel and supply transport, had also taken shape.

After another full night of work, only a small amount of finishing remained.

From a distance, the trading post no longer resembled an unfinished frame. It had become a large building of red brick and wood.

Meanwhile, Henry, Elias, Hal, and Mort continued making supply runs.

Their two CUEVs traveled between the electronics mall and the convenience store every day, steadily emptying the warehouse of anything they could use.

Before long, more than ten IARUs, over ten RHDUs, and more than ten MEFs had accumulated near the convenience store. They had also brought back dozens of boxes of MCPs.

Five days remained before the heat wave was expected to arrive.

On the seventh night, the new trading post was officially completed.

Warren inspected the entire building, checking the walls, frame, and roof. Once he confirmed that there were no structural problems, Walter and Colt entered with the cables, electrical components, and equipment they had prepared.

They began installing the internal wiring, lighting, RHDUs, and MEFs in the reserved positions.

The IARUs remained set aside until the wiring was finished and the units could be tested.

Dozens of boxes of MCPs were also moved into the trading post. The panels would be installed after all the equipment was in place.

With the new trading post complete, Jack called Nolan’s group over and asked them to resume making brick blanks. Once they had prepared enough, Hal and Mort would begin the third firing.

Seven days had passed.

The shelter and the new trading post now stood near the convenience store in their completed forms.

Where there had been empty ground only days earlier, a massive wooden shelter now stood. Directly inside the moat entrance was the new trading post, its lower walls built from red bricks and its upper section from tightly joined wooden boards.

Once the wall around the moat was completed, the trading post would become the farthest point outsiders could reach without special permission.

But as the construction neared completion, the abnormal weather became impossible to ignore.

The sun was already sinking, yet the burning heat in the air showed no sign of fading. The wind had almost completely stopped. The air above the wasteland seemed motionless, and the distant scenery wavered in the heat.

Even the nights were no longer cool.

The four PATCs continued running around the construction area, but the moment anyone stepped beyond the reach of their cold air, the heat pressed against their skin again.

Jack stood outside the newly completed trading post and looked up at the darkening sky. Then he turned toward the shelter nearby, where the main structure was complete and the equipment was still being installed.

In seven days, they had turned two bare outlines into complete buildings.

Only five days remained before the heat wave arrived.