Jing Shu took photos of the RV inside and out, then measured everything with a ruler and recorded the data. That way, if she ever wanted to modify it later, she would already have the parameters. She also noted down any ideas that came to mind.
Afterward, she and her father went into the saltwater pool to wash the red nematodes off their bodies before stepping into the warm villa for a bath. She put on cotton-padded clothes and sipped steaming brown sugar goji ginger tea. Only then did she feel truly alive again.
She didn't dare imagine how those outside were enduring this weather, nor did she dare think about how she had managed to scrape by in her past life.
The luggage they'd brought back was piled in the courtyard. Xiao Dou pecked clean every spot crawling with red nematodes. Worth mentioning, Xiao Dou's intelligence had gone up again.
Ever since the first time it had red nematodes crawling all over its body and nearly scared itself to death, it had learned. After watching Jing Shu enter the saltwater pool and come out free of bugs, Xiao Dou now soaked itself every time the nematodes clung to its feathers.
Grandma Jing and Su Lanzhi busied themselves with salvaging the luggage soaked by floodwater. Grandma Jing cursed under her breath as she worked, heart aching over the broken bowls and pots, but most could still be used once washed clean. Water was no longer scarce thanks to their household's super filter, which had become absolutely indispensable.
While other households had red nematodes gushing out of their faucets, theirs produced pure, filtered water.
Of course, it needed frequent cleaning. Sure enough, after finishing his bath, Jing An put on a raincoat and went around the outlets to scrape away the clumps of nematodes before they clogged the pipes.
Jing Shu remembered: in the first year, vegetable yields were low because of the water shortage.
In the second year, it was the red nematode eggs that ruined everything. Even though the rains were plentiful that year and people could eat plenty of mushrooms—cough, even if those mushrooms were crawling with nematode eggs—they still counted as vegetables.
That was honestly one of the better years of food in the ten years of apocalypse. Compared to later when only carrion and carrion scavengers remained, red nematodes weren't so bad. Sure, they were rubbery and got stuck in your teeth or throat, but aside from that, they didn't have many downsides.
From her ten years of experience in the apocalypse, Jing Shu ranked the foods like this: first-year maggots tasted the best, packed with protein. Second was the red nematode. They had no flavor but filled the belly, and the best part was they were always abundant and ready to eat.
That year, if a household managed to grow garlic sprouts or scallions, they made all their neighbors green with envy.
The government, while figuring out how to house millions of people, also planned to take advantage of the plentiful rain to plant crops. Around noon, Su Lanzhi received notice. Everyone thought they could finally grow some food again, but that was when the red nematode revealed its true horror.
Any water that wasn't filtered clean of nematodes couldn't grow crops at all.
Because red nematodes were pests too. Their mouthparts chewed through anything. Before reaching maturity, they devoured every nutrient around them. Once grown, they did nothing but breed.
In her previous life, Jing Shu had learned from the news that red nematodes were evolved microorganisms, something between bacteria and trace elements. Their eggs, essentially microbial in nature, absorbed the life elements of anything around them.
So, just when the government and people worldwide reignited their hope of farming again, the apocalypse slapped them hard across the face.
Lack of sunlight could be solved with simulated light for photosynthesis.
But when people tried planting again, days passed without sprouts. If a sprout did appear, it was quickly chewed to nothing. Upon inspection, they found tiny eggs clinging to the dead seedlings. A few days later, those eggs grew into red nematodes.
Even people planting at home discovered the problem. They tried laying out cotton cloth and gauze to filter the water, but it was useless.
Eggs were too small, invisible to the naked eye.
What they needed were high-tech filters capable of removing microorganisms at the elemental level.
In Wu City, there weren't many such filters, and most had been submerged in the city center. The government managed to salvage a few, saving the situation just in time. These ultra-filters determined how much vegetable supply there would be that year.
Mushrooms were the exception. They were the only vegetables that could mature before nematodes consumed them. With enough water, they grew in two to three days. By then, nematodes were only just big enough to be seen by the naked eye.
Of course, the sight wasn't appetizing.
That year, nearly every batch of mushrooms came covered in dense red nematode eggs, with some hatched nematodes crawling across them.
The government waved it off: "Well, you used to complain about no meat, then complained about no vegetables. Now you've got both. Perfect solution! From now on, this is what we eat!"
By the way, highly concentrated saltwater could also kill nematode eggs. Seawater wasn't salty enough. It worked, but the cost was too high for mass farming.
Besides ultra-filters and saltwater, China also revived an old ancestral method. It couldn't filter perfectly, but it was enough to grow some crooked garlic sprouts. That method required no high-tech, and any household could do it. Jing Shu planned to bring it up once Su Lanzhi discovered crops wouldn't grow, letting her mother take credit for the achievement.
She couldn't afford to act like a prophet now.
So, with filtered water limited, that year's crops and vegetables became "special supplies," only available to a privileged few. If Jing Shu hadn't installed the super filter in advance, her family would've harvested nothing. And her crops in the Rubik's Cube Space would've had no chance at all.
Wu You'ai had promised to return by noon, but by the time the family finished lunch, the Hongshan Ecological Park had only just begun sending people from Banana Community back.
Jing Shu dragged Shangguan Jun's corpse home. After all, the first batch of residents was about to move into Banana Community today. If they stumbled on a body and reported it, it would stir up trouble.
Unfortunately, Yang Yang and Wang Dazhao were still unreachable. She figured they had probably lost their phones.
Banana Community was the largest and most luxurious development in the district, a big, fat cake about to be carved up. Many people were already restless and eager to snatch a share.
Naturally, the original residents' interests would be harmed. The Consolation and Counseling Specialists would soon come to reassign people.
Jing Shu thought, as long as no one touched her family's interests, she didn't care what happened. But if anyone dared cross her… tch. She had just thought that when, sure enough, someone came looking for trouble.