Humans Shrunk 100 Times

Chapter 78: Shelves

Of course, for now, taking a bath isn't possible immediately.

Although the water issue has been resolved, there is still no bathroom.

If only boys were present, it wouldn't be a big deal; they could just be open about it.

But now that everyone is sharing the same space, co-ed bathing is definitely not an option.

Fortunately, while building a proper bathroom might take some time, some simple partitions are easy for Chen Mu to set up.

"While it's raining, I'll create a simple partition near the water outlet, and we can take turns to wash."

These days, except for sometimes in the morning when He Ying brings buckets of water for everyone to wash their faces, it's difficult even to wash our hands.

Taking a bath.

The concept seems so distant now.

The last time they washed up was when they went as a group to collect water. They rinsed a bit under the mineral water bottles without even taking off their clothes.

Somebody suggested bathing outside when it rained, but Dong Junwei, Tang Jing, and others vetoed the idea.

Though raindrops wouldn't kill anyone, it would significantly affect their movements. Besides, if the water flow on the ground was a bit strong, it could easily sweep someone away. Risking their lives for a bath clearly wasn't worth it.

But now, with the entire water supply project in place, during the rain, they practically have an unlimited water source and don't even need to use the water stored in tanks.

Chen Mu made a simple makeshift room near the water outlet so that everyone can take turns to undress and take a bath.

Priority goes to the girls.

Each person gets five minutes.

Since they don't have shower gel or anything of the sort, bathing is just a quick rinse; it doesn't require much time.

And if anyone takes too long, it's possible the rain might stop at any moment.

Even so.

When Wei Dalei finished bathing, nearly an hour had passed. The rain had also subsided considerably.

...

Everyone had smiles on their faces.

Bathing indeed brought joy and relaxation to both body and mind.

Now, the biggest problem was the lack of clean clothes.

The clothes they were currently wearing had been on their bodies for half a month, enduring all sorts of stains and being soaked and dried repeatedly by sweat. Even Dong Junwei and the other girls couldn't escape the unpleasant odor.

But as they say, when everyone stinks together, no one minds each other's smell.

Moreover, with time, they seemed to have grown accustomed to it.

"It seems like we should prioritize the bathroom and toilet issue as well," Chen Mu sighed.

"We are on a tight schedule," Dong Junwei said.

"You might get too tired. After finishing the task with the door crack, take a break for a while," Dong Junwei suggested.

"It's okay. Even if I rest, I still need to practice my abilities daily. Besides, it seems that using abilities with a specific purpose yields better results in training."

"Alright then," Dong Junwei agreed helplessly.

Tang Jing said, "I'll plan the layout first."

...

After bathing, everyone felt refreshed.

Chen Mu continued chiseling the stairs in the door, while others, under the guidance of Dong Junwei and Wei Dalei, began reorganizing and rearranging some large objects inside the rooms.

There were shelves on both sides of the storage room.

The metal shelves had a total of five tiers, and at the highest point, the stacked items almost touched the ceiling. Even on the lowest tier, there was a 10-centimeter gap from the ground.

Most of the things on the shelves were stored in cardboard or plastic boxes, and even Tang Jing didn't fully know what was inside them.

However, just thinking about it, they probably contain kitchen utensils. Therefore, since they arrived here, no one had the intention of exploring what's inside.

But as life gradually stabilized, curiosity began to awaken.

After all, everyone might have to live here for a long time, and not knowing the items in their own home made them feel uneasy.

Therefore, a couple of days ago, Dong Junwei started organizing people to prepare for a complete room rearrangement.

Of course, before climbing up the shelves, they had to thoroughly clean the floor.

Although Dong Junwei had led everyone in tidying up during the time when Chen Mu and Wei Dalei were out, it was only a preliminary cleaning, and they were completely powerless when it came to moving large objects.

And now, Chen Mu was busy with other tasks, leaving only Wei Dalei with some free time.

Wei Dalei's abilities might not progress as rapidly as Chen Mu's, but they were still impressive. After all, physical labor was a form of ability training for him as well.

The so-called large objects were actually several cardboard boxes containing disposable plastic tableware.

Since they were directly placed on the ground, the bottom of the cardboard boxes had become a bit damp. Although it had dried out now, they were already soft, worn, and tattered, with occasional bits of paper and dust falling from them.

If they didn't deal with these, the house would never be thoroughly cleaned.

But what if they were thrown away?

Leaving aside how they would move such large cardboard boxes outside, even if they could manage it, nobody wanted to throw them away.

Whether it was the cardboard boxes themselves or the disposable plastic tableware inside, they were all valuable materials.

An irrigation project consumed about dozens of disposable spoons, so even though there were many things in the house, they couldn't afford to squander them as if they were worthless.

But what they needed now was space.

Especially the area along the walls.

According to Tang Jing's medium to long-term planning, the rooms where people would live in the future would still be placed against the walls, and the facilities like toilets that required drainage would be the same.

If the number of people increased in the future, this storage room, which was less than 4 square meters and was currently occupied by supplies, might not be enough.

Therefore.

Dong Junwei's first step in the plan was to free up the floor space, especially the two large cardboard boxes against the walls. They needed to find a way to move them onto the shelves.

The first tier of the shelves still had some space, but the problem was, with the current size of humans, how could they lift these large cardboard boxes onto a 10-centimeter high shelf?

Wei Dalei stood in front of the cardboard boxes, looking left and right for a while before saying, "If they were empty inside, I think I could lift them."

Tang Jing chuckled, "Indeed, the weight might be manageable, but we are so tiny now that there's no way we can lift these soft and floppy large cardboard boxes."

"So what should we do?"

"There's only one way."

"What is it?"

"Ant-style moving, bit by bit." Tang Jing spread her hands, feeling somewhat helpless.

"How do we do that specifically?"

"First, we take out the things inside one by one, then we disassemble the cardboard boxes piece by piece, and finally move them bit by bit onto the shelves."

"That sounds a lot like the Foolish Old Man Removing the Mountains." Chang Junyan looked up at the huge cardboard boxes and sighed.

"That's all we can do."

"But even if we manage to move them onto the shelves, we won't be able to climb up even if it's the bottom tier."

"Yeah."

Tang Jing nodded, "So, we still need Chen Mu to make us a staircase."

Everyone immediately shifted their gaze to Chen Mu, who was diligently chiseling another staircase at the entrance.

They sighed collectively.

Without Chen Mu, they wouldn't be able to accomplish anything.

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