CHAPTER 653: ENTRUSTING THE ORPHAN

"Even if the mudstone flow is vast, it should have hit something and stopped, or at least subsided by now, right? This endless drifting, where has it swept us off to? Where did Huaxia get such a massive Mudstone Flow Sea?"

Jun Jia immediately nodded. Jing Shu was absolutely right. Many in the team had been wondering these past few days. Even if their speed was slow, shouldn’t they have reached their destination by now? According to geography and common sense, such an unscientific event shouldn’t be happening.

Jing Shu continued, "Simply put, Wu City and every other province have time differences. The Northwest is vast, and even within our province, there is a one-hour time difference between the easternmost and westernmost points."

Jun Jia’s eyes lit up. "So, you’re saying we can determine where we’ve drifted by observing when it gets light and dark?"

Jing Shu nodded. "That’s roughly the idea. You see, I’ve been recording since the day we started drifting. It’s been over ten days, but according to my records, the time difference isn’t significant. So far, it’s at most half an hour later than usual. This suggests we haven’t drifted very far, and it’s also possible we’ve mostly been going in circles these past few days. If it gets dark early, it means we’re drifting towards Xinlan Province; if it gets dark late, we’re drifting towards another city within our province. However, which city we’re drifting to is uncertain. We might have left Wu City, but we definitely haven’t left the province."

Jing Shu remembered clearly that Xinlan City was one hour ahead of Wu City. Although various places had time differences, everyone uniformly used Imperial Capital time. For example, in the Imperial Capital during winter, it got dark around five or six in the evening. In Wu City, it got dark at seven or eight, and in cities closer to the border, it wouldn’t get dark until eight or nine. During summer, it could be as late as eleven or twelve at night. This was something many people in the south found incomprehensible: how, within the same Huaxia, it could get dark for them at six, while for others, it wasn’t dark even at twelve. But all of this was a thing of the past. After the apocalypse, everything was disrupted, the seasons became chaotic, and there was no longer any regular daytime.

Still, the data Jing Shu had been observing for so many days was viable. She would continue to observe. If a cyclical pattern of time differences emerged, it was very likely they were currently in a giant vortex, with the building spinning in circles. However, this still required further observation. At least now they knew roughly which direction they were drifting, had a general idea of their bearing, and perhaps even how far they had drifted.

"Excellent, truly excellent!" Jun Jia exclaimed, deeply moved. "Who would have thought we had someone as talented as you among us! It’s amazing you could figure this out!"

Jing Shu smiled faintly. "It’s just that the apocalypse completely disrupted the weather, so no one paid attention to this. The simpler things are, the more easily they’re overlooked. Besides, others probably pinned their hopes on waiting for rescue. And to be more precise, I don’t understand the exact geographical relationships based on this method of differentiation either." That was why no one else had thought of it so deeply.

But Jing Shu was different. She was someone who had died once. Having experienced so much during the apocalypse, she profoundly understood that relying on others was never as good as relying on oneself. Therefore, from the very beginning, Jing Shu had been constantly trying to find solutions. Although she had considered some outlandish ideas, like controlling the building, she had ultimately always focused on self-rescue.

"Excellent, excellent, excellent!" Jun Jia seemed to see a glimmer of hope. "I’ll go back and gather people knowledgeable in these matters to analyze this. Miss Jing, you’ve made a truly significant contribution!"

Gold Dominator opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing, just muttering softly, We learned this in junior high... Unfortunately, the apocalypse had struck right after they finished those studies, and now there were only online classes. The Township Government still didn’t plan to reinstate the college entrance exams. The content of the online classes had been changed, no longer including the difficult subjects of the past. Instead, it was tailored to cultivate the most needed talents for the current situation and was divided into many fields like humanities, science, practical skills, and sociology. After finishing high school, one could directly apply for temporary jobs with the Township Government.

Ah, I haven’t signed in to water for so many days. The vegetables for my Chinese class homework are going to die. I’m going to fail this semester, Gold Dominator thought, stuffing his long-dead smartphone into his pocket. The Chinese language class was a separate app, much like certain farming simulation games, teaching different methods for growing fruits and vegetables, controlling temperature and humidity, and even requiring bug catching. Under normal circumstances, Gold Dominator should have been a carefree college student by now. What a pity.

Gold Dominator stomped his feet like a child, listlessly listening as his Uncle and Jing Shu discussed the operational plans and many confidential matters. His uncle clearly valued Jing Shu a great deal.

Suddenly, Gold Dominator looked up as he heard Jun Jia say, "Miss Jing, I have a somewhat awkward favor to ask... I might be very busy soon, perhaps too busy to look after myself. So, I’d like to ask for your help in taking care of Gold Dominator. If, by any chance, something unfortunate happens to me, please, at the very least, ensure he survives. My sister and brother-in-law... they only have this one child..."

Is he entrusting his nephew to my care?

Jing Shu thought. Not just Gold Dominator, but Jing Shu herself was incredibly surprised. This seemed unnecessary. However, seeing Jun Jia’s somewhat agitated expression, she nodded in agreement. "Uncle Jin has always taken good care of our family. Please don’t worry, I’ll look after Gold Dominator."

That was her promise. Jun Jia finally set aside his last worry. He trusted Jing Shu. She had managed to survive and return from the perilous environment in the United States. Others might not know the details, but he did. Furthermore, based on the information Yang Yang had brought back, he wouldn’t be surprised if Jing Shu possessed some special ability. More importantly, he had heard from Ling Yi’s own lips about the fear Jing Shu inspired, and then there was the inexplicable appearance of so many skeletons in the hall. Jun Jia knew Jing Shu was far from ordinary. Even if everyone else here perished, Jing Shu surely had her own ways to survive. Entrusting the boy to her, given her character and integrity, he felt he could trust her completely.

"Uncle..." Gold Dominator felt a surge of unease. His uncle speaking like this... does it mean something bad is about to happen? "Anyway, I don’t care! As long as I’m alive, you have to be alive too! If something happens to you, I won’t go on living either!"

"What nonsense are you spouting, child? We all need to keep living, to survive this apocalypse!"

Only then did Gold Dominator nod. He turned to Jing Shu and said, "Alright, you’re in charge of feeding my two pigs until we’re rescued. If they have piglets, I’ll give you one." These days, the two pigs’ spirits were declining more and more, and with rescue still nowhere in sight, Gold Dominator had finally relented. Although he could have used his connections to secretly get some pig feed, it wouldn’t have been an upright thing to do.

"I want two," Jing Shu said, gazing towards the sky.

"You- you’re being too greedy!" Gold Dominator grew anxious. He’d heard that a Jinhua Sow usually only birthed a few piglets at a time...

"Then... three?"

"Fine, two it is! Hmph! From now on, the pigs are your responsibility," Gold Dominator relented, feeling aggrieved. There was no choice; he was under someone else’s roof and had to bow his head. For now, everyone was reliant on Jing Shu’s Insect Cake.

"Yes, I’ll take care of them all." Jing Shu glanced at Gold Dominator. I’ll have to ensure his survival when necessary, she decided, considering the astonishing influence Jin Tianci’s family will have in Wu City later on.

Gold Dominator stomped his feet and stormed off in a huff.