Chapter 496: Chapter 496
Jing Shu coughed. "They mature in three days and can breed a new batch in seven days, but the newly researched red earthworms can only reproduce for two generations; the rest cannot reproduce anymore. That means we need to feed them a new batch of larvae every ten days. Currently, we can only produce about ten tons per day."
The numbers Jing Shu mentioned were what she prepared to sell. The rest she planned to store once things stabilized, pay off some debts, and exchange for resources with Qian Duoduo every day. All these were costs and expenses.
It wasn’t possible to sell all the output daily. Storing so many Virtual Coins was useless; Virtual Coins were just a means to facilitate market liquidity through recovery and conversion. Jing Shu’s main goal now was to prepare for the famine in the fourth and fifth years—to save Qian Duoduo’s Stone Garden and her own shares.
Qian Duoduo still couldn’t die. He needed to remain at the forefront, attracting all the fire, while Jing Shu quietly developed and grew stronger in the shadows—that was the truth.
For example, when discussing who is rich, people all know that in some years the richest person in Huaxia was Wang Linjian, in other years it was Jack Ma, and sometimes it was someone from Tencent. But who clearly knows who was the second richest in any of those years?
Everyone always remembers who came first.
Just like Wu City’s richest man, Qian Duoduo. When people spoke of the rich and wealthy, Qian Duoduo always came to mind. But who was the second richest person in Wu City? Ninety-nine percent of the population didn’t know.
Hearing Jing Shu’s answer, Jin Tianci was very satisfied. "There’s still room for development here. Work hard, and if you run into difficulties, seek help from the Government. The Government will help you find solutions... Is it possible to expand production to hundreds of tons per day?"
Jing Shu’s eyes nearly popped out.
How could he even say that? Jing Shu suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and forced a smile. "There aren’t enough raw materials, and we don’t have enough conversion agents. If we could solve these issues, we could produce as many tons as we wanted."
She was joking. If she had to produce so many tons of red earthworms every day, it would significantly drain her Spiritual Spring. Although it serves as a catalyst, it couldn’t handle such large quantities. With her frugal nature and her compulsion to hoard supplies, she definitely wouldn’t consume too much of her life-saving Spiritual Spring. Unless, in the future, we could obtain a large amount of the materials for the Spiritual Spring. However, since the Magic Cube Space can convert products from the Dimension Space, does that mean that as long as there are other products from the Dimension Space, the Magic Cube Space can also convert them into Spiritual Spring? And they would be Spiritual Springs with different abilities and effects. That would also require luck. If we’re fortunate enough to find other products from the Dimension Space, we could try it.
Jin Tianci was slightly disappointed. "Alright then, keep up the good work. If you need any materials to increase production and it’s within our Government’s capability to solve it, come find me." After all, in these times, anyone who could develop new food sources was very precious and had to be strongly supported.
Factory Director Su then led a large group to continue touring the now operational processing plant. His constant explanations aimed to convey the many difficulties and high costs involved in breeding red earthworms, subtly indicating that only Boss Jing could manage and personally prepare the formula.
As the workers scooped up the dead red earthworms from the bottom of the pools, they transferred them to conveyor belts leading to giant pulverizing machines. First, the red earthworms were completely pulverized to avoid the awkward situation of the elderly and children struggling to chew something as tough as rubber bands.
Then, they were transported to large pots for steaming. This place, conveniently repurposed, was originally a huge boiler room from a pre-apocalypse factory.
Considering the increasing harshness of the winters, especially in the fifth year when temperatures would drop to -70 degrees Celsius, the boiler room had to be fired up; otherwise, the workers would literally freeze to death. The boiler room also connected to the dormitories. Once lit, the boiler, maintaining a constant temperature, wouldn’t consume much fuel—similar to an electric heating system, it only required a small amount of fuel added each hour to maintain the temperature.
This allowed the workers’ frigid housing to stay above 0 degrees Celsius, so they no longer trembled from the cold. This was a significant benefit provided by the factory, and it also explained why a single room cost 100 points a month. With such comfortable housing, no one wanted to leave the factory anymore.
Just a few days ago, employees with enough points to reach LV3 had directly applied for a four-person dormitory, displacing a group of people. Those without enough points had to sleep in the corridors and were now working hard to earn more points.
However, with a limited number of housing units, Jing Shu estimated that within a month, once people experienced the benefits of points and the honor and convenience that came with VIP levels, they would fill up the four-person and two-person dormitories. At that point, rooms would become scarce.
When the first batch of LV5 employees moved into single rooms, housing would become even scarcer. Jing Shu then planned to introduce LV6, granting access to luxury suites, followed by LV7 with presidential suites. In any case, for those talents who could contribute hundreds of thousands, even millions, of points to Jing Shu, she would definitely make them feel like esteemed club members, second to none but one.
Moreover, she had promised her Uncle’s family housing here. Currently, Uncle was staying in a single dormitory room, while Aunt was still at West Mountain. If they were to move in, the three of them squeezing into one room wouldn’t be convenient for long. What if their son asked, "Mom, Dad, what are you doing?" It would be awkward to explain with no privacy.
More importantly, Jing Shu had originally chosen this piece of land in the apocalypse because it was a *feng shui* treasure. It had survived several years of crises and could serve as a second home and refuge in the future.
She wanted to build a larger, more comfortable, manor-style villa on this land. The villas in Banana District were crammed full of supplies and felt very crowded. Even with an added 300-square-meter backyard, how could it compare to the expansiveness of this factory site, which was over ten thousand square meters? At one edge of the factory, there was also a patch of wasteland. If possible, she wanted to do something with this land. But it’s also time to put the construction of new employee residential buildings on the agenda. However, building anew isn’t very practical, whether it’s my planned new manor or the employee dormitories. The conditions aren’t right for construction now; it’s difficult, and the costs are too high. Not to mention the materials needed for building, which would also be very time-consuming. Moreover, it will get even colder in the future, so those tin-sheet houses wouldn’t be suitable for living; they must have proper insulation.
Besides, if I were to create a second refuge manor for myself, it couldn’t possibly be inferior to the villas, could it? So, what other options are there? There are still many mobile, luxurious manor-style villas in the refuge! There are also many insulated, lightweight, and transportable houses. In my previous life, these were unattainable luxuries, things I believed only the wealthy could possess. Wherever you go, your home goes with you! Even in this life, I hadn’t planned on aiming for such things. But now that I have the land, these desires are gradually expanding... I don’t just want to eat the best food in the world; I also want to live in the largest and most comfortable house! What was the purpose of my rebirth? It was to live better in this harsh and difficult apocalypse!
Jing Shu’s gaze shifted back to Jin Tianci...