CHAPTER 159: RV: I’M LOST, IT’S THE ROAD’S FAULT (FIRST FAN BONUS CHAPTER)

In the Magic Cube Space, besides the precious ginseng that continued to grow, all the other common medicinal herbs had matured. Jing Shu had dried them using sun-drying, shade-drying, and oven-drying methods according to their properties during the hot weather and stored them in the space.

The rest Jing Shu transplanted into pots in the second-floor flower room. Watered daily with diluted Spiritual Spring water, they were thriving beautifully.

Jing Shu also frequently brought out a few potted plants to show her family, subtly making their existence known. This way, it would be easier to explain when more of them appeared later.

Now, Jing Shu had replanted a batch of Chinese herbs for preventing and treating rheumatism and was preparing to make more medicinal liquor. These concoctions would be in high demand and short supply in the second year of the apocalypse.

With these, Jing Shu would have more confidence and aces up her sleeve. Moreover, drinking the medicinal liquor could also boost her family’s health and prevent rheumatism and the persistent cold aches in her legs—ailments she had suffered enough from in her previous life.

She expected that once these common herbs matured next month, she could prepare the medicinal liquor according to the recipe. But if I add snakes and scorpions, the effects would be even better. I know the Five Snake Wine is very effective. If only I could get some snakes now...

Right, the Bodhi trees I planted a few months ago are almost mature. Once they’re fully mature, I should consider transplanting some branches into pots. Firstly, it would make their origin clear and legitimate. Secondly, I could sell them at a premium to the wealthy or exchange them with the government for other resources. The rest of the Bodhi I can use gradually for myself.

As Jing Shu focused on both tending to the fields in the Magic Cube Space and practicing with the Magic Cube, one of the squares on the Magic Cube seemed to flicker.

Was that an illusion? Jing Shu frowned, quickly twisting the Magic Cube. She remembered that she had just restored the color of the X2Y3 position, so why had it changed back to its original color?

There was a formula for solving the Magic Cube: start from the center points of the faces and restore the original colors layer by layer.

The same principle applied to Magic Cubes of any order.

But the color of a small square in the middle ring that Jing Shu had just restored had changed back to its previous, unrestored color...

Could it be that I wasn’t paying attention and made a mistake? Jing Shu went back a step and tried again, spending eight minutes to complete the seven-stage Magic Cube.

Jing Shu shook her head. "That’s not right either." Could the Magic Cube change colors on its own? After trying a few more times without any odd occurrences, she had to give up.

Maybe it really was an illusion.

After practicing with the Magic Cube, Jing Shu checked the villa as usual. The dehumidifiers in each room had been turned on, the central air conditioning was set only to remove humidity, and the wall-mounted boiler for the underfloor heating had also been started, making the villa cozily warm, unaffected by the torrential rain outside.

Jing Shu then organized the frogs she planned to take to the Agricultural Department the next day and went to bed.

Mrs. Jing was right; this downpour had come at just the right time. With cooler temperatures and no lack of water, Jing Shu, the honored Frog Farmer, was essentially out of a job.

She delivered the last batch of several thousand frogs to the Agricultural Department and returned five to her mentor Wu You’ai. At Jingshu’s house, only the two Bell Horned Frogs that had been nurtured with Spiritual Spring water remained; she had named them Number 6 and Number 7.

That’s right. A frog like Number 6, after all, having been fed Spiritual Spring water, now claiming its own territory under the pond’s lotus leaves, bold enough to compete with piranhas for food—such a frog certainly deserved its own name!

Jing Shu registered these two frogs as her pets, intending to take them with her through cold or heat, or even if she moved to the end of the world...

Pfft, it’s just to prevent parasitic leeches and Blood Leeches. So much sentiment for such a practical reason...

Jing Shu didn’t know if she would ever have pets named Number 2 and Number 3; she left it to fate.

The next day, when the whole family went out, Jing Shu insisted on giving everyone a homemade rain hat. "If you don’t want to come back and have to shave your heads," she warned, "you’d better wear these always."

Not only were the rain hats waterproof, but they also protected against red earthworms. Though a bit ugly, they were very comfortable.

Imagine Mrs. Jing going to work at the Agricultural Department. Just as she greets someone, that person’s head full of red earthworms jumps over—no way to avoid them—and then the two of them are tangled together... That’s not even the most embarrassing part. And if Mr. Jing went to the breeding farm and, just by looking down at a pig, got tangled up with it and couldn’t get separated, how embarrassing would that be? When you’re out and about, you absolutely must protect yourself. These are lessons learned through blood and tears!

It was only after everyone had left that Jing Shu started to get busy preparing for the upcoming flood.

Wu City’s terrain is a central basin surrounded by mountains. Therefore, when the floods arrive, as anticipated this year, the city center is completely submerged, while the more remote outskirts remain intact. The West Mountain in the old city district, being on higher ground, isn’t typically flooded. However, it’s crowded, its buildings are old and difficult to renovate, and it cannot accommodate many people. Jingshu District, in contrast, is a new, vast, and sparsely populated development area. Many newly built residential buildings stand empty, half of them held by housing speculators, creating swathes of vacant properties. Consequently, seven of the thirteen district governments have already relocated to this area. Jingshu District has thus become one of the most sought-after locations, recognized as the most upscale and desirable place to live in Wu City due to its prime terrain, large area, and villa zone.

With half of Wu City flooded, things would definitely be chaotic, and there would be no shortage of people taking advantage of the situation. When her family went to ’take refuge,’ the villa would be unoccupied.

The first thing Jing Shu needed to prepare was to enhance the villa’s security.

The villa featured extensive tempered glass, complemented by comprehensive surveillance and traps around it. This setup ruled out the possibility of burglary by breaking through the glass or climbing over walls in a short time.

The weak point was the main door, which only had a restraining trap. If someone managed to dodge the restraint and pry the door open, there would be nothing stopping them.

So, Jing Shu moved a section of the electric fence to the front of the main gate, ensuring that even if someone managed to pry the door open, they would be electrocuted.

The second line of defense consisted of Jing Shu’s homemade automatic crossbow traps. She set up six or seven at the villa entrance. When the courtyard door opened, it would pull a trigger, releasing a volley of arrows; even if not fatal, the volley would cripple them.

If these defenses couldn’t stop intruders, steel reinforcement barbs Jing Shu had installed last year above the courtyard entrance awaited them. Anyone daring enough to enter the courtyard would surely be turned into a sieve.

Finally, Jing Shu would constantly monitor the surveillance cameras and rush back to the villa before thieves could bypass all these traps.

The second thing Jing Shu needed to prepare was a place to sleep.

Originally, the plan was for Heng Jin’s logistics transport to arrive in Wu City by the end of December, allowing her to take possession of the RV. No matter how badly damaged the RV was, the family could still squeeze inside for the few days they would need to seek refuge from the flood.

Who would have thought Heng Jin would be delayed on the road for more than ten days, only to send a message saying they were lost and couldn’t find their way?

What in the world?

"It’s really not our fault," they claimed, "it’s the road’s fault..."