Chapter 330: Chapter 330

Many people couldn’t sit still anymore. Some showed their IDs, others sent texts for help, and some even threw tantrums. They tried every method they could think of, but Officer Plump was impervious to both soft and hard tactics.

Jing Shu no longer resisted and instead began to seriously examine the list of resources on her left. This list detailed the corresponding prices of various items. As she calculated her own wealth against the price list, she was shocked by what she found. If these were the true calculations, the wealth she possessed in assets, resources, and food could only lead her to say one thing: everyone present is trash.

The most valuable assets currently were live domestic poultry, various vegetables, rice, flour, oil, and so on. She also had various fresh fruits and had cultivated many expensive medicinal herbs. Even disregarding the space, just by breeding chickens, ducks, cattle, and pigs, her assets were terrifyingly high. Not to mention that before the apocalypse, she had purchased millions worth of resources, various foods, and long-discontinued snacks like beef and sausages—it was an astronomical sum.

Because the current valuation was based on weight, with everything calculated by the gram, she could crush anyone present by randomly picking just one item from her stores. It’s often said that sitting idle depletes one’s resources, but she was the ’farming’ type, capable of perpetual growth and becoming ever more prosperous. That was why her assets would only continue to increase in value.

But Jing Shu obviously couldn’t bring them out. Officer Plump was right; this was truly just an investigation, at least a financial assessment of Wu City’s entire middle class. So, what could she bring forth that wouldn’t land her in last place, while also not being overly modest, and yet wouldn’t draw attention or resentment?

Jing Shu reviewed her assets and scoured the list again, when suddenly, her eyes lit up. Yes, red worm cakes!

Consecutive earthquakes and natural disasters had left the nation with no time nor possibility for mass cultivation. This also left many people displaced and unable to create value.

With no other choice, the nation began consuming the red worm cakes prepared for the second year, and they ate them for a very long time. Jing Shu had more than enough red worm cakes. However, this food, much as it could save lives in the apocalypse, wasn’t really valuable—just like the corn fed to pigs and chickens in pre-apocalyptic Huaxia.

"Twenty pounds of red worm cake for 1 Virtual Coin is the current standard price, but I bought 200 pounds for 1 Virtual Coin back then. Even accounting for some moisture content that was squeezed out, and after subtracting labor, storage, and transportation costs, my profit now stands at 500%. It’s simply outrageous! Besides, with the current situation, the price of red earthworms is bound to keep rising."

Aside from breeding leeches in her space, Jing Shu had also raised a batch of red earthworms much earlier, intending to use them as future breeding stock. Initially just one cubic meter of red earthworms, they had grown for over half a year and increased to a massive eight cubic meters, equivalent to eight tons of red earthworms.

Jing Shu knew this rate of growth was abnormal. It was like the red earthworms in Uncle’s pond, which had only grown by a little more than half over several months. This was a stark contrast to their initial proliferation rate when red earthworms were rampant, producing a new batch every seven days—it was definitively 7 to the Nth power.

There had to be something missing, some way to enable bacteria to reproduce quickly and restore the former breeding rate of red earthworms. Not just Jing Shu, but the authorities were also studying this, since red earthworms were crucial as a food source that could prevent starvation in Huaxia.

So far, despite many attempts, Jing Shu couldn’t replicate the conditions. There was a reason red earthworms had become globally popular. If she could solve this issue, could she prevent so many from starving and become a mini Yuan Longping? Even Jing Shu felt her idea was too naive.

Jing Shu finally wrote the value of 1,000,000 on her placard. This was the status she deserved as a major player in red worm cakes!

After all resistance proved futile, Officer Plump had everyone display their placards. People glanced at the numbers around them.

The one who truly stunned everyone was a man in a suit who had written 3,000,000. He was followed by Jing Shu with her sky-high 1,000,000, which fittingly reflected her VIP 3 pass status. The rest were generally between 100,000 and 800,000.

There were none below 100,000. It seemed everyone preferred to write a higher number rather than a lower one to avoid being last. As a result, the declared values on the scene were already inflated by about ten times.

Officer Plump clapped his hands in satisfaction. "Next, I’ll conduct the auction. Officer Wang will record how much everyone spends. Afterwards, you must equivalent materials. If that’s not possible, no worries. You can write an IOU, hehe. We’re not that strict."

Jing Shu rolled her eyes; this man was cunning, continually spurring donations. He was probably trying to ensure people wouldn’t want to be last, compelling them to everything they had.

"First up, this Type 95 automatic rifle. It starts at 1,500."

"Okay, 1,800... 1,900... 2,500... Okay, the final price is 2,700. Very good. Next one."

The hawk-nosed officer was equally cunning. He projected a ranking chart onto the screen, clearly showing who had spent how much and who was last. This ensured that auction prices would rise as the event progressed.

Neither the old man nor Jing Shu had bid even once. The old man seemed to be asleep, while Jing Shu hadn’t encountered anything she wanted. Of course, that wasn’t the most important reason; truth be told, acquiring some more rifles and submachine guns would have been quite beneficial for her.

But what was crucial here was that it was still a trap. Once someone bid on these firearms, then for the subsequent ammunition, Jing Shu would bet her little finger that this black-and-white-faced King Yan duo would surely invite them every few months to ’’ something or to push some bullets on them.

"It’s a pity Li Yuetian isn’t here; things wouldn’t be this passive."

At this time, Li Yuetian was also struggling. Officer Plump had not misspoken. They still held the position of ’Honorary Chairman’ and had to gather donations of one million every month. The people he supervised in Banana District had all fled to the jurisdiction of Lingshan District. This left him in a predicament with no recourse but to seek donations elsewhere.

As the auction prices of various weapons kept rising, Jing Shu squinted. Perhaps she could only resort to bidding on defensive equipment?

When the disposable rocket launcher was introduced, Jing Shu’s eyes brightened.

"Type 08 disposable rocket launcher. Low production cost; pre-apocalypse, the cost was only a few hundred yuan each. Easy to carry for combat, and extremely formidable firepower. We don’t have many, only ten to auction together, all numbered. We’ll check them every three months. Usage must be reported and recorded. Alright, the bidding starts at 15,000 for all ten."