Chapter 522: Chapter 522
Never mind. Making mud cakes still required a small amount of flour and salt. Even at a 10:1 or 100:1 ratio, Jing Shu couldn’t afford it. Otherwise, it would be literally eating dirt, and who could stomach that?
Jing Shu lowered her head, covering her face as she looked at the fat chicken, which had grown another layer of plumpness. Oh, there it was, the fat chicken, head down, pecking at the dirt. It pranced on its ’noble’ chicken claws, carefully wandering the villa’s back hill. While pecking at the ground, it excitedly stomped in the mud with the new rubber shoes Grandma Jing had made for it. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾·𝗇𝖾𝗍
Although these ’chicken claw shoes’ were simply made from cut-up rubber shoes, they symbolized something different. The fat chicken knew they were a symbol of its status in the Jing family; after all, neither Da Hua nor Gou Dan had any shoes. Therefore, the fat chicken cherished them. Still, it insisted on wearing them every day to walk a few laps with its owner, wanting the whole world to know that it—Number One, the fighting chicken—had new shoes.
Watching the mud flow down the back hill had become a daily habit for the Jing family. The television and online data streams constantly reported mudslides flooding one place after another, so checking their own hill each day was reassuring.
Regardless, by the Lantern Festival, the New Year celebrations were officially over. Though they talked about cutting back, Grandma Jing’s actions spoke louder than words. Frankly, if her granddaughter wanted to eat this today and that tomorrow, how could she not make it?
The meal on Lantern Festival day was even richer. Aside from the sweet dumplings Jing Shu personally made, they even brought out delicious food not seen during the main New Year festivities. There were grilled pork chops drizzled with a thick layer of cheese—a completely new way of eating for them—and slices of Iberian ham as thin as paper, paired with cheese and bread, creating another unique flavor.
Wu You’ai said she was satisfied as long as there were sweet dumplings. Her mentor, Chu Zhuohua, hadn’t returned yet, and Wu You’ai was busy with neighborhood matters. However, she mentioned that the research on synthetic meat, financed by Qian Duoduo, had progressed. The biggest drawback, though, was still the cost of raw materials. If the cost couldn’t be reduced, how could they use cheap materials to produce synthetic meat in bulk? This was truly a lengthy process. Then again, if it were that easy to solve, so many people wouldn’t have starved to death in the previous apocalypse, and even Qian Duoduo wouldn’t have been so repeatedly exploited.
The world was changing, and intelligent beings like humans were continually adapting to the apocalypse. Figuring out how to produce more food in a cold, sunless world was a challenge all of humanity was researching, and it couldn’t be rushed.
The Wu City Government’s cafeterias also distributed sweet dumplings. These were made from the last available batch of sticky rice flour and had two types of fillings: one was savory, made from stored frozen chicken and duck meat, chopped up bones and all; the other was sweet, containing brown sugar, water, and black sesame. Everyone could get two for free; regular employees received double that amount. The taste of the sweet dumplings was quite ordinary, as they had a somewhat off, preserved taste from being stored for a long time. Nevertheless, people were very happy and ate them with joy.
Moreover, because the situation in Ningshan City had been dire recently, many people were recruited to rescue supplies. This provided job opportunities and, naturally, meals for some. Coupled with the Wu City Government distributing free sweet dumplings for the festival, it finally felt like there was a festive atmosphere.
After the New Year, everything returned to a semblance of normalcy, and people accepted the reality of the ongoing mudslide disaster. Ordinary citizens focused on survival, which meant working to earn Virtual Coins, then using them to buy food and stay alive. There were many ways to earn Virtual Coins besides holding a stable job. Many places now offered short-term work that included meals. One could also collect garbage to exchange for Virtual Coins at disposal stations. Even a day’s worth of collected human waste could be exchanged for some Virtual Coins. Recently, the profession of ’Earth Digger’ had become highly sought after.
Jing Shu felt a pang of regret that she hadn’t been able to become an Earth Digger in her previous life. Digging required great physical strength. Afterward, one needed to sift the soil to ensure it was of the finest quality, free of any Shi Zi or similar debris. In her past life, she had been frail and weak, her hands and ears covered in chilblains—how could she possibly have worked as an Earth Digger? Mr. Jing, however, had taken up the job, and it was incredibly tough.
Jing Shu shook her head, suppressing the nightmares of her past life. Instead, she focused on the current situation in Wu City and her plans. Wu City’s food reserves were dwindling. They relied on the Twelve Divisions and the Artificial Sun for meager crops, which were definitely not enough for its millions of inhabitants. One day it might be canned goods, the next some biscuits and frozen meat, all mashed together into the currently popular food concoctions that barely provided any real nutrition. They had been stretching one portion of food to serve as ten for the past three years. Food with a short shelf life was long gone, leaving only actual, unprocessed grains. Nobody knew how long the darkness would last, and these precious grains wouldn’t be touched unless it was a true matter of life or death. Therefore, her plan was likely not far off; it was just a matter of time.
"Because of my ’butterfly effect,’ things are already a bit better than in my previous life."
"In this lifetime, the mud cakes at least have half Insect Meat mixed in, which has saved many lives. And isn’t that because I established the red worm factory?"
Had she said anything? Was she proud? Jing Shu lifted her chin, her gaze falling upon a group of people carrying shovels, digging a diversion channel. They were contracted to dig this channel for the villa area, directing the mud slowly trickling down from the mountain into the ’black hole’ for which Jing Shu had purchased the usage rights.
The rent from Su Malie’s five-unit row villa was the first income Jing Shu collected from this venture. The other residents in the villa community had initially planned to play dumb and use the channel directly. However, after seeing a few days ago how useful the marker stone Jing Shu’s family had erected was, some began to reconsider. In this era of scarce resources, who would want to spend extra money to rent a ’black hole’ for diverting mud? Many figured they could just divert their mud runoff directly—what could she do about it? But when they saw that even the big shot from the five-unit row villa had voluntarily paid up, the others quickly followed suit the next day, paying their fees in Virtual Coins.
Jing Shu hadn’t expected things to progress so smoothly. These people... they’re too perceptive, aren’t they? They didn’t even leave me any room to grandstand. Honestly.
The Virtual Coins Jing Shu collected were instantly exchanged for an equivalent amount of natural gas. Nowadays, not many families could afford to use natural gas without restrictions like hers did. Of course, there was the exception of a big shot like Su Malie, who still indulged in a hot bath every day—a luxury Jing Shu herself dared not afford.
Moreover, Jing Shu had recently begun processing their raw food materials at home into semi-finished products in batches. This time, even Mr. Jing and Grandma Jing were very supportive and actively helped her.
"Who knows when our place might get flooded?" Grandma Jing said. "It’s best if it doesn’t, but if it does, we need to be ready to pack our essentials and flee, possibly never to return. So, we must take all our important belongings, right? It’ll be chaotic on the roads, and if my granddaughter craves something then, we won’t have the means to make it for her anymore...
"...Just like during the last earthquake, we were homeless for half a month. Cooking was so troublesome then! Getting water, washing vegetables, proofing dough, preparing time-consuming dishes—everything was a problem. It’s much better to prepare more food now while we still have natural gas at home."