Jing Shu suddenly remembered: when it came to natural enemies of the carrion scavenger, frogs were absolutely the top candidates. Second only to that were the maggots everyone usually looked down on.
In the first year of the apocalypse, countless people survived by raising maggots. And where did all those maggots get their food? From carrion scavengers. The cycle of life was harsh indeed, and no one was spared from heaven's retribution.
Jing Shu felt that the bees in the second-floor greenhouse were enough, and they were pleasing to the eye. In the villa's yard, one fat chicken and one Xiao Dou were more than sufficient, ensuring every bug was pecked clean.
What she was mainly planning was to raise frogs as a "business" and as gifts. After all, in the apocalypse, one had to have a legitimate endeavor.
At the beginning of the apocalypse, people were easily rattled. On the one hand, the rampant carrion scavengers terrified them. On the other hand, the bugs indeed brought endless troubles. No matter how careful a family was, carrion scavengers always found a way in: spoiling stored food, biting people in their sleep until their bodies swelled painfully. In her previous life, whenever Jing Shu slept outside, carrion scavengers always bit her.
Even with floral water, it was impossible for others to keep their entire houses as protected as Jing Shu did. So, when clever people discovered that gifting frogs earned immense gratitude, they simply began raising frogs themselves. This was practically a pet that needed no food, surviving on bugs alone.
Thus, once floral water and medicated oils ran out, a trend spread: In the apocalypse, the best gift was a live frog.
A household frog could solve nearly all bug problems. Frogs became one of the new luxuries of the apocalypse, like prized dogs before the end. Families that kept frogs were admired.
"The optimal temperature for frogs is about 32°C. They've nearly gone extinct now, which is why bugs are exploding in numbers. So if you want stir-fried bullfrog, fried frog legs, braised forest frog, or dry-pot bullfrog, I'm afraid that's not happening anymore," Wu You'ai calmly said, picking up a cola chicken wing.
"Emm, so in your eyes I'm just a foodie?" Jing Shu rolled her eyes and said, "Any kind of frog will do."
"My professor still has a few South American horned frogs. They're vicious, eat a lot, and are easy to raise. Their giant mouths make up half their bodies, and they even eat their own kind. Do you want them?"
Jing Shu clapped her hands. "Perfect. I want those."
After dinner, Jing Shu brought Xiao Dou to her grandparents' house and gave it a thorough cleaning. As expected, they found carrion scavengers, though not many. After all, her grandparents' food was stored in the fridge at Jing Shu's villa. Jing Shu decided to bring Xiao Dou over every day for a patrol to prevent infestation.
The carrion scavenger issue had to be taken seriously. If one only noticed after the food was ruined, it would be too late. Just like that man in the community, Luxury Car Dealer, who only discovered at night that carrion scavengers had infested his food. Over a dozen bags of rice were destroyed. For it to have gotten that bad, it meant he had already run out of edible supplies, forcing the bugs into his bed.
Jing Shu did not even want to imagine how many carrion scavengers had bred in that house. And this was the same man who once complained that Jing Shu had not warned him? Hah. Serves him right. Let's see how he survives now.
Carrion scavengers wasted enormous amounts of food in the early apocalypse. People as careless as Luxury Car Dealer, once stripped of food, likely drove the trend from theft to home invasions, violence, and even murder as human nature decayed. Jing Shu saw it clearly: the six months of humanity's darkest cruelty were finally about to begin. That was when robbery and killing gangs appeared, marking the true arrival of the apocalypse.
Sure enough, the evening news reported on the bug, officially naming it the carrion scavenger and explaining its habits.
They also exposed black-hearted farms that tried secretly raising live poultry for higher profits, which instead led to massive poultry deaths. As a result, carrion scavengers spread wildly, with billions of female bugs swarming out to breed. In just three days, they invaded households nationwide. The government was now spraying chemicals and burning poultry carcasses to combat the crisis.
The polluted lakes were also covered with endless swarms of these bugs. Soon, countless more females would fly off in search of places to reproduce. Without natural predators, carrion scavengers would become a natural disaster.
Scientists on the science channel even claimed carrion scavengers now stood at the top of the food chain and would soon devour all grains. But they were proven wrong not long after. That part will be told later.
The news also mentioned that medicated oils could repel the bugs. Until the government found a solution, households were urged to spray them to safeguard their food.
Jing Shu gave her villa's defenses one final inspection, checking the traps at the front and back doors. Still uneasy, she used three kilograms of rice to trade with Liu the manager from Suning for a full infrared night-vision monitoring and alarm system.
Money had already lost value. Food was the true currency. After the coming six dark months, money would be utterly worthless.
Once installed, the surveillance, alarms, 24-hour air-conditioning, and ice machines overloaded her electricity. UBC's power supply could no longer keep up. Jing Shu had no choice but to bring out her gasoline generator, burning one liter per day. Fortunately, she had 15 tons of gasoline stockpiled, enough to last for decades, though she still planned to save some for migration.
Now, whenever anyone approached the villa, Jing Shu's phone received a video. If someone tried forcing the door, an alarm went off. Advanced indeed. At last, Jing Shu felt secure.
The next day, Wu You'ai brought five horned frogs. Their giant circular mouths and bulging bellies looked comical, so different from ordinary frogs.
Jing Shu and Grandpa Jing built a two-square-meter pen by the pond for them. Grandpa Jing frowned. "Why build such a big place for just a few frogs?"
"I'm planning to breed them. This could make real money. Grandpa, you see how every household is overrun by bugs now? If we raise more frogs, they won't have to worry about carrion scavengers." Jing Shu explained.
Grandpa Jing dismissed the idea, thinking a small frog could not be worth much. To him, they were just pets.
Jing Shu secretly placed one male and one female frog into her Cube Space, separating them from the quails and feeding them with No. 3 feed, hoping they would breed quickly.
Jing An finally returned. His spirits were high, and he brought back two boxes of bottled water. He told Su Lanzhi, "Your eldest brother's family is really something. I just helped with a small task, but they insisted on giving me all this water. By the way, your eldest brother mentioned a relative was coming over. Did you know?"
Su Lanzhi nodded. "They said it over a month ago, that someone was coming from back home, but there's been no word. Why, have they arrived? Who is it? My parents' generation has almost all passed away."