They first stirred up trouble to distract their enemies, making them believe it was just a raid to steal weapons. After all, the entire world was in chaos and desperate for arms.
While chaos erupted over there, the top brass only recently discovered that this terrifying group of Chinese people had, months ago, silently infiltrated their core personnel. They swapped identities flawlessly, replacing them without anyone noticing.
They collected every detail: iris and retinal scans, fingerprints, and even more impressively, they altered their voices so perfectly that not even a trained ear could tell the difference.
It was also rumored that a torture expert oversaw the entire operation, personally breaking down every key figure and monitoring them constantly. No one dared to play tricks. This person was well-versed in advanced psychology, and counter-investigators interrogated targets multiple times. Anyone who tried to outwit them met a truly miserable end.
Oh, and that expert always carried his favorite weapon. Because water was too scarce in America, he stopped using water as a weapon medium and switched to filling it with carrion scavenger eggs instead.
These infiltrators even lived with the families of those they were impersonating for days without arousing suspicion.
While their enemies' attention was drawn elsewhere, the Chinese operatives quietly extracted their targets. By the time America realized what had happened, it was already too late.
Soon after, the massive data base was established right on their territory. Both sides reached a friendly cooperation agreement, and footage of the ambassadors shaking hands was released. Jing Shu could see their ambassador's bright grin, his sharp canine tooth showing adorably.
Now that things had settled down, they finally had time to collect all the charging stations. From now on, these were classified as "official equipment." To charge an energy car at a station would cost six virtual coins per session.
Many people stopped driving because of the steep price and chose bicycles instead. After all, six virtual coins could buy three meals of rice. For an average family, this was no small expense.
When Jing An heard the news, he gave Jing Shu a big thumbs-up. "See? My girl's always been farsighted. We got one early. We generate our own power and use it ourselves. Hardly any cost at all."
Jing Shu rolled her eyes. "Dad, it was because a thief tried to steal it and we caught them. You make it sound like I snatched it on purpose."
Jing An only chuckled sheepishly. Grandma Jing's voice rang out, calling them to wash up for dinner.
Wu You'ai lounged on the sofa, half-dozing as she nibbled ice cream. She sent a message to the group chat before lazily going to wash her hands:
"@Everyone Starting next week, the supermarket will supply clothes, bedding, pots, pans, and other daily necessities—the items we exchanged for virtual coins before. But to prevent reselling for profit, prices will increase by 20 percent. Also, toilet paper will be available for 0.5 virtual coins per pack."
Wang Cuihua sent a voice message. "What a scam! Buying low, selling high, even toilet paper costs that much!"
[Fat Girl]: "That's probably to stop us from wasting it. Honestly, I don't even use toilet paper anymore. There's nothing hands can't solve."
[Luo Zhu]: "So, do you usually use your right hand or your left?"
[Fat Girl]:"Right hand. You?"
[Luo Zhu]: "Ever since Li Yuetian locked me up for a few days of 'reeducation,' I usually just find a stone to rub against."
[Fat Girl]:"[Fist salute emoji] You're hardcore. I knew there was a reason all the stones downstairs smelled weird."
On November 5th, Jing Shu's black sow gave birth to a litter. Time flew so quickly. Without realizing it, Jing Shu had been reborn for a full year. She still remembered how nervous she had been after her rebirth, drooling at the sight of everything edible.
Now she no longer drooled, only swallowed her saliva. For Jing Shu, nothing was more blissful than being able to eat exactly what she craved. Like now, when she wanted pork jerky.
She slaughtered a pig, spent several days preparing it into strips of dried meat, and stored them in her Cube Space. Every now and then, she would snack on a piece—sweet, spicy, and chewy. Bliss.
She thanked heaven for giving her those two months of frantically stockpiling supplies. Everything they ate, used, or harvested now came from what she had purchased. None of it had gone to waste.
To make their future life even better, Jing An took six piglets to his workplace the next day. This promotion depended entirely on them. The remaining four piglets stayed at home, to be slaughtered for meat when grown.
Jing Shu was pleased. Jing An was finally showing ambition. He had once thought he'd just get by until the Dark Days ended, but now he was putting all his energy into running the Livestock Breeding Center.
Nobody was foolish enough to wait for the Dark Days to end anymore. Survival was all that mattered.
Jing Shu's custom PVC package had also arrived. Together with Grandpa Jing, she spent two days installing the dome, four water collection tanks, and a cover for the RV garage according to the instructions.
It looked odd but made sense. Picture an enormous square PVC umbrella covering the entire villa. To account for storms, the umbrella was much larger than the villa and sloped, so rain and bugs slid straight into the water tanks. They only needed to clean the tanks periodically.
No matter how many days it rained, their villa would never flood.
Grandpa Jing also built a wiper mechanism. They could activate it from inside to scrape any stubborn red nematodes clinging to the surface into the tanks.
Even though Yao Zixin had told himself a thousand times not to ask, curiosity got the better of him. "Covering your house with a blanket in this heat... what's the point of this thing?"
Jing Shu forwarded him news articles and online posts predicting that within three months, sea levels would rise and massive storms would flood cities.
"If that happens, my rooftop house will be underwater. Better to prepare early."
"We're struggling to find drinking water as it is. If it weren't for that fifty liters you gave us, my family would've died of thirst. These predictions have been circulating for a year and never came true. Even some of the Japanese who moved inland have gone back. Clearly, sea level rise is nonsense. Just like they said the Dark Days would last two months. It's been almost a year now, and even the higher-ups have admitted we're in the apocalypse."
===
Hey guys~ just a quick update ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ
Technically, I've got 9 ongoing projects listed on my account. But! Mom's Apocalypse Survival Log, The Invincible Money-Grubbing Fairy, and My Daughter is the Empire's Lucky Charm are all fully translated already. Right now (as of September 29), Reborn as the Fallen Idol, I Leaned Into the Chaos! has less than 50 chapters left to go.
That means, out of the last 5 projects that are truly active, 3 of them are complete works (the original novels are already finished). The other 2 are still being serialized by their authors, but I've already caught up with the latest chapters—those are also queued up in my drafts with over 400 chapters ready to roll (148+260).
So really, my current active projects are just 3. Yay progress! (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و
On my side, I also just got a job offer starting in October. I don't know the exact details yet, so I'm holding off on picking up any new big translation projects for the moment. If I do start working, I'll have to juggle both job and translations, and I don't wanna push myself into burnout (ง •̀_•́)ง.
Originally, I planned to dive into another historical-themed novel right after finishing Mom's Apocalypse Survival Log, but that might have to wait a bit. Or if I do take it, I'll probably slow things down to about 2 chapters a day instead of my usual 5. Some of you have also asked me about continuing Glitched: Highway Apocalypse, and I'll see if I can sneak it into my schedule ( •̀ ω •́ )✧.
For now, until I know how much free time I'll actually have, I won't be starting any giant 400+ chapter novels (unless the chapters are really short). If it's on the longer side with heavier word counts, I'll probably cap it around 300
the chapters are really short). If it's on the longer side with heavier word counts, I'll probably cap it around 300 chapters.
Thanks as always for reading and supporting my translations! Your patience and encouragement really keep me going (｡♥‿♥｡).