But actually, the glass on these two doors wasn't identical. Lao Gao measured it carefully, then could only look at Lan Jin for ideas.
Lan Jin's space didn't store spare glass. She smiled wryly. "See, I'm no help. I didn't keep any glass in my space. I had already installed bulletproof glass beforehand, so I really didn't need this."
So she hadn't bought any.
Lao Gao asked, "Do you at least have tools for scoring glass? The doors we found seem bigger than the 3201 door. Bigger door means bigger glass. I just wondered if there's something to score it. I have glue to fix the glass, just no scoring tools."
Lan Jin shook her head. "Nope. But I have lots of other things in my space. You can go look yourself if you want."
Lao Gao thought that was feasible. "Alright, I'll look. If it doesn't work, we can put this door on the balcony and fill the indoor door with big cardboard boxes."
Lao Gao's spare room, which was also a storage room, had some abandoned cardboard boxes. He had brought them when moving in to store miscellaneous items and couldn't bear to throw them away.
"Okay."
Lan Jin led Lao Gao into her space. The temperature inside was pleasant. Just moments ago he had been shivering outside, and now he felt much more comfortable.
Lan Jin guided him to the tool section. They searched but found nothing useful. Then they checked another section and discovered many transparent plastic sheets.
Lao Gao asked, "Sister Lan, these look familiar."
Lan Jin glanced and said, "These are the sheets we saw at a company when we went out to gather supplies. We didn't find food and left, but the sheets looked new. Too good to waste, so I brought them into the space."
She hadn't known if they'd be useful, but they were new and too valuable to leave behind.
Looking at Lao Gao, she guessed he wanted to use them against the blizzard, but she thought they were too thin.
Lao Gao waved it off. "Thin? Just layer them. I have glue. Two, three, four, five layers. That will make it thick. The width seems perfect for the door frame. Might work better than glass."
Carrying a stack of plastic sheets, they left the space together.
Ling Jiang frowned at the sheets. "You're not thinking of just sticking these up, right? Too thin."
Lan Jin replied, "I said the same, but he said multiple layers will make it solid, stick it to the frame, no glass needed. Strong and durable, won't break."
Seeing the two women argue, Lao Gao grew impatient. "Want to know if it works? Just try. Glass is nice, but no tools to remove it. Can it withstand the second blizzard strike? That's the real question."
Compared to glass, the plastic sheets were clearly more practical. The women just didn't understand that, Lao Gao thought, but he didn't say it aloud.
At that moment, Ling Jiang and Huang Jinghe also realized the sheets looked familiar. Ling Jiang said helplessly, "Honestly, besides these sheets, what else did you sneak into the space?"
"Tables, chairs, cosmetics. Only the fun stuff like eyeshadow and lipstick," Lan Jin replied. Food made these less valuable, but at the right time, they could still be useful.
Lao Gao asked, "Besides food, what has the highest value right now?"
Lan Jin answered, "I don't know. Once food is taken care of, everything else seems valuable. Compared to food, its value is limited though."
It depended on the situation, but more supplies were always better. No one would complain about having extra.
While gluing the sheets, Lao Gao said, "Once the door is fixed, while we can't go out, we should burn all our wood into charcoal and make more food. I feel we won't stay here long. Better to prepare in advance. By the way, do you have any plans later?"
Regarding plans, Lan Jin and Huang Jinghe did have some. Since the topic came up, they felt no need to hide. Lan Jin said, "Xiao Huang and I plan to go to the Capital city base. His parents gave me an invitation letter. The letter is just the basic entry. We'll still need lots of supplies. Xiao Huang's parents are already there, so he can go directly."
Going to the base was definite, but Lao Gao hadn't expected it would be the Capital city base.
"Do you still need an invitation to go there?"
Huang Jinghe hurried to explain, "My parents said yes and sent the invitation. But the base wasn't built yet at that time. Whether it's really required, no one knows."
Lao Gao paused while gluing, then asked, "When do you plan to leave?"
There wasn't a set time yet. Huang Jinghe said, "During the insect disaster, my parents sent the letter. The base wasn't ready. Then came heavy rain and extreme cold. Both periods weren't suitable for construction. We worried the base might not be ready in time, and we also feared problems on the way. The journey is long, and if the extreme cold ends midway, there's nowhere to hide."
That worry was serious. Lan Jin also feared if the extreme cold ended and extreme heat followed, melting ice and floods could trap them. A 24-floor flood, who knew how long it would last?
Moreover, who knew if there'd even be a place to stay at the base? If it wasn't built yet, they had to pick a safe time to travel.
Another key point: at that time, Huang Jinghe didn't know Lan Jin had a space. Traveling then would have been difficult. So they naturally waited for the safest moment. Lan Jin managed to convince him.
If it were just ordinary cold with no other complications, they could have left by car. That was feasible too.
Hearing about the Capital city base, not only Lao Gao, but even Ling Jiang felt tempted. That place was the center of the center. Its facilities would be perfect. If Lan Jin and Huang Jinghe hadn't mentioned it, they might not have cared, but now that they did, who wouldn't be tempted?