Chapter 521: Chapter 521
It was truly a magnificent sight, not arranged like a supermarket, but like a warehouse, with a diverse variety of items, each type stacked by the crate.
"Satisfied now, aren’t you? No more worries, right?"
CLICK. The lights were turned off. Grandma Jing was pulled out and the lock CLANKED shut. Then, WHOOSH, all the rice and flour inside were swept into Jing Shu’s space.
Grandma Jing seemed to be savoring the moment, smacking her lips. "I haven’t seen enough yet... I haven’t even counted how many bags of grain we still have. Why are you in such a hurry, child?"
Jing Shu was worried that if Grandma Jing saw too much and remembered it all, how could she fool anyone next time?
Grandma Jing whispered excitedly, "Look, there are dozens, even hundreds of bags of rice and flour, all piled up as high as a mountain! Granddaughter, why did you buy so much grain?"
Jing Shu pouted. Without them even realizing it, they had consumed more than half of the grain, and it had only been three years. It seemed she would have to start growing some rice in her space soon. But it was still early; she’d wait a bit longer, especially since she didn’t have good Seeds yet...
She also wanted to eat Northeast Wuchang Rice, Imperial Field Rouge Rice, Zhefang Royal Rice... She was, after all, a person who pursued quality in life.
Hmm, should she press the person delivering the Seeds again? Half a year had passed. Surely her Seeds hadn’t gotten into trouble, had they? It was worrisome! Especially with this mudslide; if they got buried in the mud, she’d cry her eyes out. Maybe she should go out and look for them...
"Back then, they said you had to buy at least a few hundred bags to get the wholesale price. I was confused and just bought them all, storing them in the basement. It cost a lot of money, and I didn’t dare tell Mom. Grandma, you absolutely mustn’t let it slip."
Grandma Jing nodded like a little chick pecking at rice, her heart finally at ease. "This rice will get infested if stored for too long; you need to take good care of it."
"Alright, I’m off to dig the drainage channel then." Jing Shu put on her rubber boots and, shouldering a specially made iron shovel, went off to dig.
The life of the Jing family had returned to normal: eating and drinking as usual, working until they were dizzy. However, the atmosphere was not good.
Although mudslides were not as frequent or devastating as earthquakes, they were persistent, constantly flowing. Areas where the mud was thin were manageable, but thicker areas were like glue. Whatever the mudslides engulfed, vanished permanently.
The Jing family members weren’t reincarnators with foreknowledge, so everyone was very worried. What would they do if the mudslide submerged their villa? Consequently, every day after dinner, they would open the backyard gate to inspect the hills behind their house. They would see mud and water already accumulated tens of centimeters high against the walls of the neighboring villas. However, the tombstone in front of their own villa was diverting the mudflow, showing no signs of accumulation, which brought them some relief.
Nevertheless, the impact of the mudslides was significant, creating immense difficulties in everyone’s daily lives. Mr. Jing’s breeding farm, which had finally been showing signs of improvement, was once again struggling. Now, resettling the Domestic Poultry, their care, and their feed all became pressing problems.
Mrs. Jing’s Agricultural Department wasn’t faring much better. Previously, they had options, but now they were forced to use soilless cultivation and growth stimulants for the vegetables. Mudslides had also begun to breach the defenses near the Artificial Sun, proving impossible to block completely. Consequently, they were rushing to harvest everything, and Mrs. Jing had already been working overtime for an entire week.
Jing Shu’s Red Worm Factory wasn’t in too dire a situation yet. Thanks to a recent increase in investment, she had sourced numerous large boulders from Qian Duoduo, which helped divert the mudslides.
The mudslides had devastated the land, severely impacting people’s livelihoods. Previously, families with electricity and adequate heating could grow some crops, easing the pressure on the government. But now, muddy water seeping from the ground had ruined countless crops.
Overall, there was even less food for people to eat.
It seemed Qian Duoduo’s Stone Garden, constructed entirely from stone, and its stone base, were impervious to the mudslides. Wasn’t that bound to make people envious?
The situation in Ningshan City was also dire. In just over ten days, its inhabitants had been forced to relocate to the last two remaining resettlement sites. Recently, many workers had been recruited to salvage materials from Ningshan City, with trucks running back and forth, transporting countless essential supplies.
If things continued , the people of Ningshan City would have no choice but to abandon the entire city and start migrating.
Where would they migrate to?
Only Wu City remained as an option.
That was a large city, once home to a million people. Even after three years of the apocalypse, there were still several hundred thousand survivors, weren’t there? If they all flooded into Wu City, wouldn’t that drastically increase the government’s administrative difficulties? With hundreds of thousands of mouths to feed, could the government possibly ignore them?
However, in her past life, this matter had been far removed from Jing Shu. She had been starving to death herself back then; how could she have cared about so much else? In this life, it wasn’t much different. She felt it didn’t really concern her.
What concerned Jing Shu more was that, in her previous life, the tyrant was due to take office soon. In this life, her little butterfly-effect actions had saved the current leader. What would happen next? If the tyrant didn’t take office, would he still target Qian Duoduo as a fat sheep ready for slaughter? More importantly, would the tyrant even come to Wu City at all?
Forget the tyrant; even Jing Shu herself felt like slaughtering that fat sheep, Qian Duoduo. The benefits at his Stone Garden were so incredible it had practically become a paradise on earth.
The food situation in Wu City as a whole had deteriorated again. They hadn’t even made it to the Lantern Festival before the standard Insect Cake was replaced with Earth Worm Cake. Honestly, the taste was nowhere near as good as the pure meat Insect Cake. Even when chopped up and seasoned with a bit of salt, the regular Insect Cake was as tough as chewing on leather. The cake mixed with soil, however, tasted like chewing on firewood; it was truly hard to swallow.
Fortunately, an Earth Worm Cake was only 0.5 Virtual Coins, significantly cheaper. Otherwise, it would have been utterly unreasonable. Jing Shu’s Red Worm Factory, of course, still produced pure meat Insect Cakes. After all, didn’t she still owe the Government so much money? She had to make monthly payments to clear her debt.
Thankfully, this tense atmosphere didn’t last long. Even Mr. Jing had relaxed considerably.
The profession of Earth Digger became wildly popular overnight because the seven o’clock news featured a segment in its "Path to Prosperity" column:
"Red earthworms? Are there many left? We’ve practically eaten them into extinction! Are mudslides terrifying? No, they’re not scary at all! In fact, they will be our primary food source in Huaxia for the next year. The more mud flows, the fuller our bellies will be!"
"Now, let’s welcome Mr. Liu, who became a millionaire by digging earth and making ’Earth Cakes’! He’s here to teach us how to be a true Earth Digger, how to eat earth, and how to eat it healthily! Please welcome him!"
Mr. Liu began, "As soon as the mudslides started, I knew a business opportunity had arrived. I spent ten years in Africa, so I know exactly how to make delicious earth cakes."
"I contracted a mountain hollow, hired people to dig earth, made deals with the garbage disposal sites, and partnered with the government. I encountered many difficulties, but I never gave up..."
This program was a bit odd. Every time it ended, it left viewers with the distinct impression: ’If I do that, I could make a fortune too!’ Read full story at 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡⁂𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢⁂𝘯𝘦𝘵
So much so that the next day, when everyone went to observe the mudslides again, Mr. Jing genuinely felt as if he were looking at flowing gold. Even Jing Shu found herself frowning, wondering, Should I... open another Earth Cake factory?