Jing Shu waved her hand. "No need to make it that complicated. You don't have to kill them yourselves. Just watch. From now on, just say this to them, 'Face the storm,' and it'll work. That's the breeder's command." Yeah… definitely Xiao Wei's childish side showing again.
She walked up to a massive gastropod-like bug and said clearly, "Face the storm."
Then something unbelievable happened.
The ferocious bug froze for a few seconds, as if receiving an order. Then it actually raised its enormous pincers and, with a few loud crack-crack sounds, snipped off all its legs from the roots. It didn't seem to feel pain at all. A few more snips, and it cut its own huge body into several pieces. Finally, the pincers fell weakly to the ground and stopped moving.
Even after it died, its nerves still twitched, making the pincers clack against each other. Its fist-sized eyes stared blankly and coldly at the crowd, wide open even in death, leaving behind a chilling, eerie silence.
"Though there's still a lot of meat, this'll make it easier to handle," Jing Shu said. "Tell the chefs to throw all the chunks, shells and all, into the meat grinder and mince them into patties. Then mix them with soil, flour, and salt in a 10:1:1% ratio. Oh, and don't waste the head either. The eyes and brain paste are both delicious."
She gestured casually, watching as the bugs did exactly what Xiao Wei said they would. They really did know how to 'self-destruct,' and they even dismembered themselves neatly. That alone saved a ton of effort.
"Man, I've never seen food this convenient. It can trek all the way from the deep mountains to the trading point, then process itself for you. If needed, Xiao Wei can even ramp up production. They still have dirt to eat for now, but next year there'll be nothing but snow. And the best part, these bugs cost even less to raise than my red nematodes."
She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, completely unaware that the people behind her were staring, jaws dropped.
"Holy crap!"
"That's insane!"
"This is unreal! Food that kills itself?!"
Seeing the stunned chefs, Xiao Cai stomped her foot in frustration. "What are you idiots standing there for? Record the test data! Move it!"
The chefs snapped back to their senses and started weighing the bug pieces."Total weight, 428 kilograms!" one shouted.
"That's a lot for just one! It'll last a while."
"This stuff's reliable!"
Even Qian Duoduo let out a quiet sigh of relief. It was more than he'd expected.
He quickly threw the bug meat into the grinder. As the chefs busied themselves, he and the other shareholders kept glancing between them, the obedient bug army, and Jing Shu, who was munching on something as if none of this was out of the ordinary. He could only hope this test passed. The future of Phase Two of Xingfu Shiyuan depended on it.
After a while, more than a dozen chefs finally finished processing everything. They rolled out half-human-tall buckets filled with minced bug meat mixed with soil. Xiao Cai's voice trembled with excitement.
"Based on our test, one bug, after grinding and mixing with soil and a little flour, gives about 800 kilograms of filling. When made into fresh wet patties, there's no loss in weight. If each person eats at least 200 grams a day, that's enough to feed 4,000 people. If we dry the patties for storage, the total's about 700 kilograms. Rehydrated into porridge, that can keep 6,000 people alive."
Xiao Cai picked up a freshly made patty and passed it around. "In other words, one bug can feed 4,000 people. With just thirteen bugs a day mixed with soil and flour, we can feed 50,000 people. Wanna try it? It's got a strong fishy smell but a little saltiness too. The wet ones don't taste great, but if we bake them, they'll turn out crispy."
Jing Shu, smiling from the sidelines, had already done the math long ago. She didn't expect Xiao Cai to be even harsher than her. Only 200 grams of food per person per day, and that's mostly dirt—that's barely enough to survive. But in this era, nobody even dreams of eating their fill. Just being able to eat and stay alive is already a blessing. In her previous life, if she could've had 200 grams of food a day, she'd have cried from happiness.
By this calculation, 390 bugs a month mixed with plenty of soil could feed the whole group. But food alone wasn't enough. They needed a full system of rewards and punishment. They couldn't just rely on bug meat; there had to be incentives—promises of rice, buns, and better meals ahead. Otherwise, if people got lazy just because they had a welfare ration, Xingfu Shiyuan would collapse in no time.
So clearly, she and Xiao Wei would have to breed even more bugs, enough not only to feed 50,000 people but also to stockpile reserves.
A few shareholders curiously took a tiny bite of the patty, barely the size of a fingernail, and immediately gagged.
"This tastes awful! Worse than pig feed!"
"My chickens wouldn't touch this!"
The stench of fishy meat filled the air. Some of the shareholders covered their noses, disgusted. Jing Shu, however, stepped forward, picked up a piece, and started chewing. She savored it slowly.
It was salty, rich in protein, and met the body's bare minimum nutritional needs. Food that kept you alive.
Perfect.
Even if it tasted bad, after surviving ten years of the apocalypse, she'd long gotten used to never wasting a bite. She swallowed it all. "It's not as good as red nematode patties, but way better than carrion scavenger meat. That's truly inedible. If you can eat something and live without starving to death, that's already the best I can do for you."
She didn't notice Qian Duoduo narrowing his eyes and saying, "Even if it's awful, it's still food. Food that can save lives."
Then he took a big bite himself and nodded firmly. "Keep this ratio. Salt's precious, but it's essential. Any less, and you can't taste anything at all."
Jing Shu smiled. Whatever his motives were, the fact that he could do this much meant he had real guts.
"Alright, let's have all these bugs minced into patties. Half baked into soil-bug biscuits, half kept as wet patties. We'll start getting ready to move a lot of people into Phase Two of Xingfu Shiyuan."
Someone hesitated. "So soon? Are you sure this'll work?"
"The sooner the better," Qian Duoduo said. "The government can't wait to lighten its burden. I'm sure anyone with half a brain would agree to this deal. Alright, meeting's over. Jing Shu, let's go. We're heading to the government office."
After confirming the arrangements, Qian Duoduo immediately took Jing Shu with him, heading straight to negotiate the deal in person.