Chapter 605: Chapter 605

No matter how you put it, having an extra card in hand made Jing Shu feel much more secure. As she accumulated more cards, she strategically positioned each one to ensure they could be used to maximum effect when most needed.

Back at home, Tan Ke’s sister was joyfully chasing after the fat chicken, with Wanzi giggling as she followed behind. The three of them were running around playfully.

Tan Ke, wearing an apron, was preparing dinner. He occasionally blew into the stove fire while watching the bubbling soup in the pot and asking his sister to slow down, his face brimming with a smile. These recent times had been truly blissful. How long had it been since they had experienced such uncomplicated, warm happiness?

The ordinary people might not have a particular feeling about the situation. As long as there were jobs, or even if not, the Township Government would find various ways to distribute food, regardless of whether it was Insect Cake or something else strange. The common people might be anxious, but in reality, they relied on the Township Government, feeling a sense of security, knowing that it would definitely provide food.

But Tan Ke was different. One could say his department was directly involved with food supplies, and he knew the reserves in the storeroom had been slowly dwindling over the years. How long will this darkness last? he wondered. We aren’t at rock bottom yet, but... even official employees are starting to go without rice. This means that if humanity doesn’t develop new, mass-producible food sources soon, famine will strike. How many will starve then? How much panic will it cause? What riots will it provoke? When will this human catastrophe ever end?

"Let’s add these to the pot as well, boil some noodles. Let’s keep it simple today and just throw everything together," Jing Shu said, taking out her carefully prepared big bag from the storehouse. She extracted various ingredients like Dried Vegetables, canned lunch meat, smoked meat, cured sausages, ham sausages, and a big pack of dragon beard noodles.

Seeing the thin soup, she decisively threw in a packet of hot pot base. Let’s just make do, she thought.

"There’s no way this pot can boil so many noodles..." Tan Ke naively scratched his head.

"Just add as much as you can. You know I eat a lot."

"’Oh...’ Tan Ke felt a surge of emotion as the realization slowly dawned on him. Mirror is always so understanding. She never frames her actions as helping; instead, she asks for your help, making it seem like she’s the one in need... Of course, if she doesn’t want to do something, she absolutely won’t. She’s a woman of great ideas and courage, and most importantly, her combat power is off the charts. Thank you. From now on, whenever she needs my help, I’ll do it without a second thought."

However, they didn’t end up eating the stewed mix. Instead, due to a series of mishaps, they had spicy dry pot because too many ingredients had been added and it eventually dried up. Sprinkled with some green onions and coriander and dipped in garlic sesame sauce, the flavor was surprisingly good. Of course, the noodles turned into fried noodles, which were also delicious. It felt like Jing Shu had discovered a new world of cuisine.

For some reason, she suddenly remembered the spicy dry pot duck feet from before the apocalypse... It’s a pity they didn’t have tens or hundreds of duck feet at home for her to indulge in; at most, they could manage a big hodgepodge.

After dinner, Jing Shu went to oversee Wang Danai’s work.

Wang Danai was swamped, practically spinning from how busy he was, but everything was on the right track. Initially, Jing Shu had been responsible for signing documents, but now she wasn’t needed for that anymore. Seeing this, she didn’t want to interrupt any further, so she just gave Wang Danai some food and quietly left.

Patrolling the grounds was still necessary. Not just outside, but even within her space, Jing Shu had to patrol daily, monitoring the growth of its fauna and flora. After all, if those ’ancestors’ in the vegetable patch were left unharvested for too long, they would overripen. Having farmed for more than four years, Jing Shu now had a deep knowledge of the crops in her space. She understood the best timing for harvest to get the tastiest yield, although some things indeed got better as they aged.

In any case, farming was indeed a science.

On the third day, Jing Shu, pressed for time, set off with Tan Ke. This was to be her last bit of ’sweeping goods’ in the Imperial Capital.

However, before this shopping spree, tasked by Jun Bao, Jing Shu first had to visit the Biological Research Institute. She needed to deliver some materials and this time’s reward: a mysterious red liquid.

Jing Shu had possessed this substance in abundance before, initially in crystal form. However, after her Magic Cube upgraded, it absorbed all the crystals, which had caused Jing Shu much heartache for a long time.

This stuff... and the liquid I got from the mountains in the United States last time seem slightly different, Jing Shu pondered with furrowed brows while escorting the liquid to the Biological Research Institute. The two should be of the same nature, so why is there a slight difference? If it comes to quality, of course, the crystals are the best. As for the liquids, I feel that mine and the one the Township Government obtained are about the same.

Although the reward specified a certain amount, and contracts had been signed, meaning Jing Shu was not allowed to skimp either overtly or covertly, she still quietly swapped some of the liquid from this mission’s reward with the liquid from her space. When I return, I want to study the differences between the two, she thought. Last year, I almost exhausted all the crystal energy in the mountains of the United States, so this red liquid obtained by the Township Government must have come from another place. Productions from two different places in the four-dimensional space? Interesting.

She had thought this visit was just about delivering goods, but unexpectedly, there was an additional gain. Given that the Biological Research Institute was researching all sorts of things lately, Jing Shu recalled how her two Mutant Blood-sucking Ants, after mating, always left behind a large puddle of liquid. It’s a bit disgusting, she mused, but could that shiny substance have other uses? If it does have uses, then might the Mutant Blood-sucking Ants also yield by-products in the future? Just like fat chickens lay eggs, or snakes are used to make medicinal wine.

With the mindset of being efficient and not wasteful, Jing Shu also gave these liquids to the Biological Research Institute for analysis.

"By the way, please help me research these liquids," she said.

The researchers at the institute happily accepted the samples, informing Jing Shu that results could be expected in a couple of days. Only then did Jing Shu hurriedly proceed with Tan Ke to "stock up."

Since they were already in the Imperial Capital, it was indeed time to bring some more items back. Jing Shu wasn’t satisfied with the goods from the mountain the day before. But this time, it wouldn’t be the Black Market.

It was the legitimate, transparent, high-end market of the Imperial Capital, which differentiated it significantly from the Black Market. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡~𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢~𝙣𝙚𝙩