Surviving the Apocalypse with my Multiplier System-Chapter 238: Rising Temperatures

A few days later Liam's caravan came back from Fred's Ranch, concluding another successful trade.

"How did things go? Was Fred happy to see the chickens?", asked Rayne.

Liam smiled and nodded.

"Not only was he happy, but the whole settlement even threw a party in celebration!"

Rayne laughed, feeling like that was exactly the type of response Fred and the Ranch would have.

Liam looked up at the sky and wiped away a few beads of sweat from his forehead.

"It seems like it's gotten even hotter recently."

Rayne looked up, "You're right. It does feel that way."

She turned to look at what the others were moving out of the RV and into the warehouse, smiling. There were many jars of milk, butter, and cream as well as steaks and ground beef and beef bones.

Their warehouses were still very well stocked so there were no issues with continuing the trade route.

-

From the corner of her eye, Rayne saw Ella running towards her.

"Rayne! Bad news!"

Rayne walked over to meet her, curious about what was going on.

Ella took a few deep breaths and looked up at Rayne with a slightly panicked expression.

"The new seedlings, they're all wilting. The farmers keep saying that the sun is too strong and that they'll burn up if something isn't done."

Rayne's brow furrowed. These crops were the hope of the settlement, they needed to figure out a way to save them.

She looked up at the sky, feeling the blazing sun beaming down on her face. This sun was much more intense than she had ever felt before.

Looks like we need to prepare for yet another disaster.

"I'll go find Julian and head over to the fields to discuss any potential solutions with the farmers. Thank you for letting me know."

Ella nodded and went back to the fields to offer help to the farmers.

-

Rayne walked over to her house to find Julian. On the way there she observed her surroundings. The green grass had already begun to wither in the less shady areas, turning yellow and brittle.

"Looks like the signs were already here. They were just so gradual we didn't notice right away", she said.

"What did we not notice?", asked Julian.

He was sitting on the couch when Rayne walked in mumbling to herself.

"Oh! You're here. I was just looking for you. Ella just came to me because the farmers are worried about the crops. The sun's gotten so intense that the recently planted seedlings are all wilting".

Julian stood up, placing his book down on the coffee table.

"Hmm, the temperatures have indeed been hotter recently. Let's go take a look and see how we can help."

They walked out together, heading towards the fields. On their way over Julian paused when they passed the lake, looking at it with a big frown.

"The water level has gone down significantly. If this continues at this rate we will be in big trouble. This lake is the main source of water in our settlement, and without it, we won't survive."

His words caused Rayne to feel a bit of panic. She didn't realize that the water level had gone down so much.

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She followed him over to the fields where a group of farmers were huddled around a small seedling.

"This isn't good. Even if we continue to water the plants at double the required amount they will still die", one of them said.

"Maybe we can think of a way to cover them during the most intense daylight hours? From like noon to 3 pm?", another farmer suggested.

Rayne walked over and listened in on their brainstorming.

"What type of materials would you need to build this cover?", asked Rayne.

She discretely scrolled through her system panel, looking at the different types of coves and tarps she had collected. All of these sheets were made from different materials for different purposes.

One of the farmers tapped his foot while thinking, "Well, ideally something that would filter the UV rays. That way the plants can still benefit from the sun, but the intense UV rays won't damage them."

She nodded, listening to the requirements.

"I will take a look in the warehouse to see if we have anything that fits that requirement. If not I think we could go find it."

-

Rayne walked over to the warehouse with Julian, pretending like they were looking for tarps and covers.

"Do you have something that will work?", he asked.

Rayne scrolled through her system panel, taking out a few different rolls of transparent and semi-transparent material. Most of them resembled clear plastic, but she knew that they were all a little different.

"Here is what I think might work, but I'm not sure what each of them does. Some of these don't have labels so I'm not exactly certain".

Julian looked through the options, feeling each one with his fingers.

"This will work. If anything we can just use the opaque tarps to completely block out the sun. Since it's only for a few hours a day, it should work fine."

Rayne nodded, eyeing the few greenhouse kits she had in her system. A part of her wished that she had made a few copies of them before everyone moved in. Farming was a big part of their settlement's lifestyle so a greenhouse could have potentially prevented this issue altogether.

"Next time we go on a loot run, remind me to bring back a greenhouse kit. We can assemble one or two around the lake."

"Okay, I'll do my best to remind you. Let me go call the farmers over to see if any of these covers will work!"

He ran off back to the fields as Rayne quietly made her way over to the food warehouse. She was beginning to be concerned about the water supply.

She checked the shelves and the bottled water was already half gone. There was still a decent amount of water left in the large vats, but she wasn't sure how long that would last.

She walked over to one of the freezers and opened it to find most of the ice already used up. There were a few recently filled ice cube trays sitting inside, waiting to freeze.

"Looks like people are really feeling the heat. I'll have to add more fans and air conditioners to the stockpile so that people can cool off", she mumbled.

Fans and air conditioners would require electricity and currently beside her house and Anna's medical house no one else had electricity.

Her eyes shifted to the adjacent warehouse where she had placed large solar panels.

Look's like we will need to start another big project soon.