Chapter 52: Busy Farming in the Last Days

Jun 07 2023

Today, the army sent a truck to pick up tofu, which was already waiting outside early in the morning. There was still over an hour until lunchtime.

The soldier who delivered the goods smiled and said, “The kitchen staff specifically asked me to come early today. The brothers didn’t get enough tofu yesterday and were all clamoring for more. They’re waiting for you to give them a satisfying meal today.”

There were about three thousand soldiers in the s city, and the ratio of ordinary people in the base to soldiers was 3:1. Few people had orderly retreated without being bitten by zombies. Currently, the s city base was only a small base with a population of just over ten thousand, which was much smaller than when Ji Cha arrived in his previous life. The tall walls that were being constructed would gradually become walls that separated different sections later on, and the base would continue to expand outward.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

China was originally a populous country, and the situation in such a country during a zombie outbreak would be chaotic by many times. However, if there were any advantages, it could be said, albeit cruelly, that because of the large population, there was also a large amount of food reserves, which would be enough to sustain the remaining people for a long time even if a large number of people died or turned into zombies.

However, the control of resources always depended on strength, regardless of the time.

Ji Cha stood at the entrance of the factory and saw the military trucks coming into the base, one after another. There had been almost no break in the morning. He asked the soldier in front of him, “What did they bring back? Why so much?”

The soldier turned around and looked at him, not hiding anything, “They found a few large warehouses outside. They were probably used for online supermarkets and stored a lot of goods. They’ve all been brought back now, along with a few grain warehouses. We’ve been rushing to build warehouses over there, and they’re gradually being completed these days, so we brought everything back as soon as possible.”

Ji Cha nodded knowingly, “That’s great.”

Having more resources in the base was certainly not a bad thing.

“In a few days, there will be a supermarket opening up in the middle,” the soldier smiled, “we can use food to exchange for oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and other things.”

“Really?” Ji Cha was a little surprised. He had saved quite a bit of these things, but there would always be a day when they ran out. It was really good news that the army had such plans.

However, he was also a little worried. Such a “supermarket” did not exist in the s city base during his last apocalypse. Either the butterfly effect prevented its establishment, or it existed but could not be maintained due to various reasons. It was also simple to think that without a circular industrial system, only exporting and not importing would naturally lead to this result.

The farm had only barely sustained the production and life of the s city base, which was far from being able to make people’s lives rich and comfortable.

“Really,” the soldier nodded, “I’ll let you know when it opens. It was smooth sailing for me to deliver the tofu today, so I can take you along.”

Ji Cha was already familiar with several young soldiers, and they were polite in both speech and behavior.

Ji Cha thanked him and kept this matter in mind.

Although six people were assigned to work, the daily production of 2,000 catties of tofu still overwhelmed Ji Cha. The problem was that there were too few molds, and insufficient rotation caused too much time to be spent. Finally, all 2,000 catties of tofu were pressed and delivered only at 6 pm.

Solving this problem was not difficult; finding a carpenter would only take half a day. However, Ji Cha didn’t have such talent on his side, so he had to seek help from the army. He also asked the soldiers who usually pick up tofu to send a soldier to ask if there were suitable containers for making bean sprouts in the army’s warehouse.

To produce 1,000 catties of bean sprouts every day, nearly 4,000 catties of bean sprouts had to be cultivated simultaneously. Ji Cha had already used up all the tools he had at home, and even the dishes used for meals were taken out.

Fortunately, things related to the army’s interests were resolved relatively quickly. That night, a soldier came to greet Ji Cha, and the army’s warehouse had enough basins. Ji Cha didn’t even need to give anything in exchange; he just needed to take them and register how many he took. The basins were specially made for tofu production. Moreover, the army even found a soldier who was skilled in carpentry for Ji Cha. He would come to the factory tomorrow and make the tofu molds.

With this good news, Ji Cha finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He took out his phone and checked the time. There were five minutes left until the alarm he set to inseminate the mother rabbit again. Ji Cha decisively turned off the alarm and took out a flashlight to go to the backyard.

At this moment, the backyard was quiet, and all the livestock and poultry had entered a state of rest.

Ji Cha put the flashlight on the shelf against the wall, letting the light shine on the ceiling and illuminating the room dimly. He squatted down and followed the method he used during the day to examine a few rabbits. With the double insurance, he finally had some confidence and took off the flashlight to leave.

Expanding the scale of livestock breeding was just as important as crop planting. Compared with crop planting, raising livestock could see profits more quickly.

If both could be developed and improved, they would complement each other and move towards the direction that Ji Cha hoped for.

Considering that Liang Jincheng had given him hickies all over his body last night, Ji Cha was very firm in rejecting Liang Jincheng ‘s request for a goodnight kiss in his room tonight.

Liang Jincheng and Ji Cha faced each other through a thickened door panel. One exuded aggression and invasion, while the other merely pretended to be tough. Although the door panel was a thickened type requested by Ji Cha to resist zombie attacks, it was not enough to withstand Liang Jincheng’s strength.

Ji Cha knew this well and felt even more uneasy. He turned his unease into verbal threats towards Liang Jincheng, “Don’t come in, or I’ll be angry…”

The moment the words left his mouth, Ji Cha felt like slapping himself. What kind of threat was that? It was utterly useless!

As expected, Liang Jincheng didn’t react in any special way, but Ji Cha’s face turned bright red in embarrassment.

“Can’t I kiss your cheek?” Liang Jincheng asked regretfully, his gaze fixed on Ji Cha’s rosy cheeks, filled with desire.

Ji Cha firmly held onto the door panel and his own bottom line, shaking his head vigorously, “No!”

He pulled down his collar to reveal a patch of red kiss marks and said, “Until these marks fade away, there is nothing else to say.”

Liang Jincheng’s eyes darkened. To him, Ji Cha’s actions were a clear temptation. Ji Cha was all too familiar with this kind of look. Every time Liang Jincheng kissed him, it felt like he wanted to swallow him whole. He was so scared that he immediately closed the door and said, “Goodnight!”

If he had smashed the door in anger, Ji Cha would have been really angry. After a moment of hesitation, Liang Jincheng chose to compromise. He gently tapped the door and said, “Goodnight.”

***

The seven hens began to lay eggs one after another, producing an average of seven eggs a day.

Ji Cha discovered this after the bean sprouts began to grow in scale. Every morning, he found a round egg behind each hen and quickly picked them up.

According to Wang Qinxue, who was responsible for feeding the chickens, he had seen the roosters and hens mate. Therefore, Ji Cha hoped that all seven hens had been fertilized and that their eggs could hatch into chicks smoothly.

It was important to pick up the eggs from the henhouse every day to ensure that the hens didn’t stop laying eggs because of brooding. Otherwise, if the hens stopped laying eggs, the losses would be too great. As for the hatching of the chicks, Ji Cha had long been prepared. He bought two egg incubators, one small and one large.

The small incubator could hatch 140 eggs at a time, while the large one could hatch 2,300 eggs at a time. It was enough for the initial stage of poultry farming. If everything went smoothly, Ji Cha believed that he could find other alternative methods later.

Fifteen days after the last mating of the female rabbits, Ji Cha confirmed that they had been successfully fertilized since none of them had gone into heat again. Normally, the success rate of hatching fertilized eggs in an incubator should be at least 90%. Ji Cha used light and soil methods to determine their fertilization status, and now hopes that the hatching rate can meet the standard.

Tofu production in the factory has been ongoing, although eating tofu every day can be annoying. But fortunately, the soldiers in the army have come up with some good ways to make tofu, and the results are still good for now. However, Ji Cha still suggested reducing the production of tofu and bean sprouts and finding a way to change the taste.

As for what flavor to change to? He has already prepared for it early on.

The small greens planted earlier have grown to be half their size after more than twenty days of growth, and can be harvested in about a week. Ji Cha wants to send these greens to the army to pave his own way, and is also researching how to use them as seeds.

Under current conditions, seeds are also a non-renewable resource. If the existing conditions are not properly utilized, even more seeds will eventually be used up. The problem is that the excellent characteristics of commercial seeds are almost impossible to pass on to the next generation. Overcoming this difficulty is the key.