Chapter 71: Busy Farming in the Last Days

Since the incident with the teenagers near the pond last time, the military has taken control of that area and strictly monitored it. On one hand, this is to prevent that area from becoming a weak spot for the base, and on the other hand, it is to increase the base’s production resources.

Ji Cha followed Zhao Tiankuo to catch fish, but he didn’t need to do anything. He just went along to watch.

“We’ve already dealt with some zombie fish before, but we still can’t clean them all up. So catching fish is not entirely safe,” Zhao Tiankuo told Ji Cha. “But we caught some safe and edible fish before and stored them in another pond. They should be okay.”

A total of about 700 kilograms of fish were caught after the two nets were pulled in. Because the mesh size of the fishing nets was relatively large, only larger adult fish were caught. This ensured that many young fish would remain in the pond, and also avoided overfishing, which laid the foundation for long-term development.

However, even with over 700 kilograms of fish meat, when it was divided up as dishes, each person only got less than one or two. Compared to other New Year’s dishes, it was still relatively simple.

Ji Cha thought and thought, and still wanted to find a way to make the first year of the base better.

As for meat, it was still not being produced in large quantities, so each piece was precious to Ji Cha. He stood in the pigsty and counted several times. With only ten adult pigs left, after several months of pregnancy, seven sows were left with their young. The number of piglets born to each sow in the first litter is usually less than the subsequent litters. Originally, the person in charge of the pig farm told Ji Cha that a sow could give birth to around 12 piglets in the first litter, but on average, the seven sows only gave birth to nine each. Now, there are more than sixty piglets that are barely a month old, looking cute and chubby as they suckle milk.

Although the prospects are good, at the moment, there is still not much meat available. Ji Cha calculated that the only usable meat was from a fully grown male pig. The male pig had been well-fed and was estimated to weigh around 500-600 kilograms.

“If we take one pig and make it into braised pork, everyone should be able to get a few pieces, right? That’s not a bad idea,” he thought carefully and told Zhao Tiankuo about the proposal.

Zhao Tiankuo was somewhat surprised, but more happy. “That’s a great idea!” he said. “Also, the troops want us to kill two more sheep that we retrieved last time to supplement the food supply. They can take the male sheep, right? You said there were a lot of male sheep last time.”

Although there were many, it still made him feel sorry to kill a few more. At this time, Ji Cha was almost like a penny-pincher, calculating things for the long term. Even eating a little more now made him feel distressed.

But Zhao Tiankuo was right. In his opinion, seven male sheep were too many, and from a breeding standpoint, too many male sheep would be difficult to manage in the long run.

Ji Cha selected two of the older male sheep and a male pig, and had them transported by the troops. The two male sheep weighed a total of 400 pounds, and the male pig weighed over 550 pounds. So counting sheep meat, pork, and fish, there were at least three meat dishes for the New Year’s dinner.

In addition, a batch of vegetables produced from the outside fields could also be put on the table. Before nightfall, Ji Cha gathered the workers to pick the last batch of vegetables such as Chinese cabbage and bok choy before the New Year’s Day. Because of the large planting scale, the thousand pounds of vegetables required by the troops were also provided.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

The vast majority of the New Year’s Eve dinner was also provided by the factory, including tofu, bean sprouts, and even soy milk, which was served as a beverage. None of it was wasted and all was sent to the cafeteria for final processing.

The New Year’s Eve dinner was completely free, with the cafeteria staff assigning dishes and unlimited rice provided. Of course, this kind of welfare was only for this one meal. Ji Cha heard that the base cafeteria would also provide free porridge the next morning, but the accompaniments such as side dishes would have to be prepared by oneself.

In these difficult times, the New Year is a time of hope. The base also wants to take this opportunity to boost morale. What comes after the New Year may not necessarily be bright. In fact, the current environment of the base cannot be considered completely safe and stable, with many external threats, including zombies.

S city originally had a population of one million. Apart from the nearly ten thousand people in the base, there are likely still many scattered survivors outside. However, based on conservative estimates, the number of uninfected humans still alive outside may be less than 100,000. Each person is struggling to survive, and it’s very possible that they may not see the sun tomorrow.

Putting aside these heavy factors, the atmosphere in the base today is indeed high.

Starting from three in the afternoon, many public places in the base were covered with curtains and projected comedy movies and TV shows. Except for a few areas such as the factory cafeteria that are still working, other places have started to rest before the New Year.

People in groups carry stools or cushions and find a place to sit and watch TV. The cafeteria not far away has already started to be busy, sorting out and cooking the dishes allocated to their side.

It takes some time to stew the lamb soup, so it was put into the pot early. The clear stewed lamb soup uses simple ingredients other than the lamb itself, all of which are supporting spices. It takes some time, but after simmering, the aroma is delightful.

After the apocalypse, who can smell this kind of aroma a few times? Suddenly, it aroused the appetite of everyone.

“I remember the announcement said that the New Year’s Eve dinner is free today, right? Wow, what is this stewed so fragrant? It must be meat!”

“Give me two mouthfuls of soup. I can eat three big bowls with white rice! No, I’m starving now…”

While watching TV, everyone discussed enthusiastically, with joyful smiles on their faces, feeling so comfortable in their hearts for the first time.

They didn’t expect this to be only the first wave of aroma. After the pig was slaughtered and divided into two halves, it was transported to two different canteens. Before, they could only smell the scent, but now they could see the half pig being carried in, and everyone couldn’t help but salivate, wishing to pounce on the raw meat and take a few big bites.

The aroma of braised pork was even more tempting, and there was also stewed fish with pickled vegetables, spicy tofu, stir-fried bean sprouts, and oyster sauce vegetables. There was no shortage of ingredients in the base, and there were even some leftovers. After all, these seasonings have an expiration date, and it would be a waste to leave them unused.

Three meat and three vegetable dishes might have been considered inadequate for a New Year’s feast before the apocalypse, but now it was a feast. When the canteen door finally opened, people rushed in, afraid of missing out on the good food.

The staff in the base had already hastily eaten their own portions or set aside their own portions in advance. Now they quickly poured the pre-portioned amount into the bowls and plates brought by the people, and then quickly measured the next portion. With dozens of staff members needing to serve hundreds of portions, it was a tiring job.

But there wasn’t a single person on either side without a smile on their face. In the apocalypse, who could ask for more? Having enough to eat and warm clothes was already a great privilege that countless people outside couldn’t even dream of.

The first year of the apocalypse ended in the relaxed atmosphere of the base, but the second year of the apocalypse was about to begin.

Thandar: I’m a little confused by the number of people in the base. A few chapters back, I remember it was 5,000 but now it’s 10,000. Did the population doubled during this time?