CHAPTER 640: THE BUILDING’S FOOD SHORTAGE

There definitely needed to be people going out to dig traps and fences, and it was urgent. They had already started counting people over there and had limited the food supply. If you didn’t go out to work, unless you were rich enough to afford food, you would just have to wait to starve to death.

On the other side, the life teacher had finished checking the number of people under each jurisdiction and quickly identified the two missing individuals. One was indeed Tang Yuan’s husband, Cheng Long, and surprisingly, the other was a woman in her fifties who had come to attend the auction.

No one had expected Cheng Long to have gotten involved with the noble lady, become intimate with her, and even had trysts with her in the wild.

"I’ve been saying Cheng Long is always out at night these days," someone remarked.

"And Cheng Long has had so much good food lately. It turns out he was playing the gigolo," another added.

"Sister Tang Yuan, your Cheng Long really is... *sigh*, I don’t know what to say. Look at this mess. You’ll just have to mourn him."

"A perfectly good person, gone just like that."

There were those who laughed at Tang Yuan, those who reveled in her misfortune, and those who sighed at the unpredictability of life.

With a dark face and red eyes, Tang Yuan was partly angry and partly felt an odd sensation. She sneakily glanced at the expressionless Young Master Lan and bit her lip. Perhaps her future support would be Young Master Lan?

"What are you looking at? Do any of you even have Virtual Coins to buy food? Go register to dig fences now! If some people are dead, they had it coming, but those of us who are alive need to continue living!" Tang Yuan said angrily before running off to register. By going early, and because she was a woman who knew Young Master Lan, she might get an easier job. If she went late, she’d really only be left with digging pits.

A crowd also hurriedly went to register. After all, registering now meant they could snag breakfast, and most of them really had no Virtual Coins left for food. Plenty of them had been living off their salaries from the network, but they always needed to save some...

In any case, Jun Jia was still a sly fox, clearly understanding these people’s minds and making them willingly go to work.

When the people in the private room had mostly left, Gold Dominator came over, humming and hawing, "Hey, Jing Shu, I need a favor."

"I won’t help," Jing Shu said, not wanting to deal with Gold Dominator, then turned her head to Liu, "Let’s go to the cafeteria."

"Wait, wait a moment, Jing Shu! Just a small favor. My little piggies have run out of feed these past few days. Could you spare some Insect Cake? I just found out that my pigs used to eat your family’s Insect Cake... Can I buy them? I know you don’t need money, but just tell me what you want for some Insect Cake?" Gold Dominator said helplessly.

In a corner, Young Master Lan was cleaning the pigsty and feeding them hot water. Both pigs were listless. Hearing this, Young Master Lan looked up towards Jing Shu, his expression complex.

Jing Shu stopped, raised an eyebrow, and spoke, "How about this: I’ll supply food for your two pigs until we’re rescued, and in return, you give me one of their offspring when they breed."

After all, they were nearly extinct Jinhua sows. Although her family also had black pigs, which were delicious too, Jinhua Ham was famous far and wide, and Jing Shu hadn’t properly tasted it yet. Good things, how could anyone have too much of them? It’s like who would complain about having too much money?

"No way, that would be too much of a bargain for you," Gold Dominator immediately refused without thinking.

"Then forget it," Jing Shu said without turning her head and walked away with Liu.

Gold Dominator, fuming in their wake, looked at the dejected Pig Jin Bab and said, "I’ll think of other ways. I refuse to believe there’s no other food available."

Young Master Lan said weakly, "I’ve been feeding them other things for the past couple of days too, but they hardly eat any—probably because they’ve gotten used to Insect Cake."

"They’re just spoiled!" Gold Dominator said angrily and stormed off. He was going to his uncle to demand an explanation. Besides, Gold Dominator had been in a terrible mood these past few days because his daily milk and snacks were gone. All that was left were pitiful biscuits and awful-tasting stale buns.

"Ah, when will we be rescued?"

...

"Boss, this situation doesn’t look too good," Liu said worriedly, following behind Jing Shu.

"That’s putting it mildly," Jing Shu shook her head.

The two of them had just reached the grand dining hall on the second floor of the new world. Boss Lu had converted the entire floor into a cafeteria, with people dishing out food at windows and others taking notes. Whether they were celebrities who had bid high prices at the auction, wealthy individuals, or service staff, everyone obediently stood in line with their bowls.

It seemed Jun Jia had reached some agreement with Boss Lu.

Sometimes, the serving lady’s hand would tremble, leaving hardly anything in the bowl. Though the food wasn’t good, the main concern now was simply getting enough to eat.

A young man pointed to a half-bowl of some dark sludge, made of who-knows-what, and said, "Give me some more, please."

"That’s enough, move along now! The rules from above state that those working outside only get half a bowl! Keep quiet, or you’ll lose your eligibility to work," the serving lady said impatiently, shooing away the young man, who quickly left.

Behind him, a middle-aged man in a down jacket smoothed his slicked-back hair and grinned, "Beautiful, I’ll take six bowls. Just put it on my tab; here’s my identification."

The lady scoffed, "Six bowls? You wish! There’s a limit of one bowl per person now. Take it or leave it."

"Yes, yes, yes..." The middle-aged man bowed low as he handed over his bowl, and the lady filled it generously. After the person next to him had recorded it, the next person in line was served.

Now, whether you were a multimillionaire or a poor fellow, everyone had to keep a low profile. If you were a dragon, you had to coil up; if you were a tiger, you had to lie low.

No matter how many supplies one had, their net worth, whether they lived in a villa or held high authority, if they hadn’t brought their own food, they had to endure.

The cafeteria was crowded. Although there were several windows, a variety of food choices had been available during the first two days. Jing Shu had even reluctantly taken a bite or two back then.

But today, there was only this dark mush, a mixture of all sorts of scraps cooked together, which even smelled indescribably foul.

Liu whispered quietly, "I heard from the driver that Li Yuetian has been leading his men everywhere, gathering insects and any living thing they can find. They chop it all up and cook it together. Apparently, Jun Jia said the situation might turn dire, so they must conserve as much food as possible."

So this is why today’s breakfast is like this? Probably, some people won’t be able to stomach it. Jing Shu recalled that some of her own insects had mysteriously disappeared recently. Li Yuetian and his men had probably dug them out. It seemed she’d have to be more careful about where she kept them.

Liu continued softly, "I also heard that Boss Lu has begun to secretly hoard food. He doesn’t dare openly resist the Township Government. However, under these circumstances, he’s definitely keeping extra food. The only question is how much Boss Lu actually has left."