CHAPTER 65: FOOD SHORTAGE BEGINS

"He only arrived a few days ago. I heard he’s been on the road for over a month, hopping from one train to another. It was your father’s cousin who came; you should probably call him Little Uncle. Why have you never mentioned this relative of yours?" Mr. Jing hesitated, then continued, "He was supposed to stay at your elder brother’s place, but for some reason, he ended up at Su Meimei’s house. It seems like she was his actual destination."

As soon as Su Meimei was mentioned, the atmosphere in the living room grew somewhat colder. The grandparents had already returned to their house, leaving only Mr. Jing, still preoccupied with the garlic sprouts, Mrs. Jing, fiddling with oyster mushroom packs, and Jing Shu, who was making frog-tying ropes.

Jing Shu lifted her head and unconsciously squinted. She remembered clearly that in her past life, no relative had come from so far away, and there certainly wasn’t an incident involving her maternal grandfather’s cousin seeking out Su Meimei. What sort of butterfly effect could have fanned this anomaly into existence?

Mrs. Jing let out an "Oh." "In the early years, my dad and his cousin came here as educated youths sent to the countryside. After a few years, his family pulled some strings to get him recalled. My dad wasn’t so lucky and stayed behind. I was only a few years old then and don’t remember much; I only heard these things later from my mom. After my parents passed away, we completely lost contact with our relatives back home."

Jing Shu furrowed her brows, deep in thought. "Grandfather has been deceased for many years now. After so many years of no contact, why would he suddenly come from so far away? What could be the unspeakable secret?"

Mr. Jing nodded. "Your elder brother also looked upset; there might be some other matter involved. Since it’s none of our business, let’s not meddle."

"An elder has come so far; we should still go and visit. Besides, there are hardly any people left from my parents’ generation... sigh." Mrs. Jing sighed deeply.

In the end, the family decided they would see the old man off when he was leaving, mainly because Mrs. Jing got emotional about it. "I really don’t want to go to Su Meimei’s maternal aunt’s house. I’ve completely seen through her [Su Meimei]."

Mrs. Jing wouldn’t have been so heartbroken over a stranger. The issue was that she had grown up with Su Meimei. Mrs. Jing had always shared the best things with her and treated Su Meimei with wholehearted sincerity. But what was the result? Su Meimei not only refrained from helping Mrs. Jing when times were tough but also schemed to take advantage of her, thoroughly breaking Mrs. Jing’s heart.

Maybe it is a good idea to go have a look, Jing Shu thought. I must discover what butterfly effect sparked an event nonexistent in my previous life. I can’t afford to take Su Meimei lightly.

Her hands moved even faster, and Jing Shu skillfully produced hundreds of frog-tying ropes. This was a technique she learned from a Frog Farmer in her past life. The tying rope was actually a slipknot, similar in function to a dog leash. It was adjustable to fit around the necks and limbs of both small and large frogs, preventing them from hopping away and getting lost.

After all, in an apocalyptic world where insects were rampant and almost all frogs had perished due to extreme temperatures, owning a frog was truly precious; not everyone could afford one. The primary benefit of raising frogs was their appetite for insects, but this required the owner to provide water and suitable temperatures.

For this reason, Jing Shu had even stolen many containers for the frogs from a glass factory. Normally, the frogs stayed in these containers. Every few hours, they could be led on their leashes to consume the mysteriously abundant insects at home. Well-kept Bell Horned Frogs could live for over a decade and eat all insects in the vicinity, making them far more useful than the discontinued floral water sprays. Unfortunately, under the difficult survival conditions of the apocalypse, few people could manage this.

In just a few days, the Bell Horned Frogs in Jing Shu’s Magic Cube Space had already produced many tadpoles, while the three outside the villa showed no signs of activity. Jing Shu knew that frog breeding was difficult, with only one season per year, which explained why Frog Farmers had become so rare in the apocalypse.

"Tomorrow, bring your precious frogs to work to eat some insects. We’re really short on insecticides lately," Mrs. Jing said.

Jing Shu agreed while simultaneously keeping an eye on a minor drama unfolding in her online group.

Wang Qiqi No.13: "Right now, @Luxury Car Specialist No.5, @Wind No.3, @Wang Dazhao No.1, and @Zhu Fan No.7—all the food in these four people’s homes has been eaten clean by the rotten corpse insects. Who still has food and is willing to barter or sell some to them? They are already queuing at the supermarket entrance, but it’s estimated it will take another couple of days before it’s their turn to buy anything."

Then the group started chattering about how much of their own stock had been wasted. Now, they didn’t even have instant noodles to eat, only cornmeal and rice left, and even that wasn’t enough.

I have a baby No.13: "I can trade 5 kilograms of dried sweet potatoes with @Wang Dazhao for all his prepared baby supplies."

Almost everyone knew that Wang Dazhao’s pregnant wife had died from eating vegetables sold by scalpers, and her body had been forcibly cremated that same day.

Wang Dazhao No.1: "Okay. All ten uncontaminated tins of milk powder are for your little one."

I have a baby No.13: "Thanks so much! Then I’ll give you an extra ten kilos of rice! Milk powder is out of stock everywhere now; you can’t even buy it."

Wang Dazhao No.1: "Thank you."

Seeing that someone still had dried sweet potatoes, a snack many were excited about, numerous people immediately traded half a kilogram of rice for some. However, for the other three families, there wasn’t much worth trading. Even with Wang Qiqi’s help, no deals were successful.

In the end, Wang Xue Mei agreed to give each of them 300 yuan and deliver a bowl of white rice to them at the supermarket tomorrow; this was only as a favor to Wang Qiqi.

There used to be scalpers selling vegetables a while ago, but even they had disappeared now. The price of cabbage soared to a thousand yuan each, yet it was still unobtainable. Even the special vegetable supply for leadership families had diminished greatly, not to mention the absence of those selling grain at high prices.

All food factories had stopped production. Supermarkets had run out of all other goods, only selling rice and flour in very limited quantities and for limited times each day. Everyone was eager to stock up more.

The sunlight had been gone for half a year. Combined with high temperatures and water shortages, the nation had even begun implementing the Artificial Sun. This indicated that large-scale crop cultivation hadn’t resumed, making everyone aware of the situation’s seriousness. Although some grain remained, it wasn’t much, and everyone wanted to hoard more.

Many who had hoarded grain six months ago now regretted not hoarding more. Under these circumstances, no one was willing to sell their grain.

「The next day」

Jing Shu took five frogs, tied up with ropes, to Mrs. Jing’s unit. Only then did she understand that Yu Caini’s section had used pesticides for insect control and lacked nothing, whereas Mrs. Jing’s section, unfortunately, had none.

But thankfully, the garlic sprouts, spinach, and oyster mushrooms on Mrs. Jing’s side were growing lushly, looking vibrant and extremely pleasing to the eye.

Jing Shu released a Bell Horned Frog by its rope. This frog from the Magic Cube Space was noticeably more active, hopping around looking for insects, while the other three frogs were much more lethargic.

"Mom, why are there so many rotten corpse insects here?" Jing Shu asked, looking at several heaps of them in the corner. "These will definitely turn into tens of thousands of rotten corpse insect larvae in a couple of days!"

"They bully the weak and fear the strong," Mrs. Jing said. "They don’t dare go where there are insecticides."

As the mother and daughter were chatting, footsteps approached. A voice called out, "Director, the vegetables over there must have been eaten by insects! Look how well our crops are growing. We’ve developed several formulas by experimenting with various insecticides!"