In her past life, after the only live mouse sample starved to death in Jingshu's space, she had no more specimens for her experiments, which was awkward.
It's true that vegetables nourished by the Spiritual Spring can enhance one's health, but while a cabbage normally takes 90 days to grow, with the Spiritual Spring, it plumps up in just five days. Would accelerating their growth also shorten their lifespan? Once the vegetables mature, the Spiritual Spring won't automatically supply water, but if they aren't harvested in time, they become old and dry. Does this imply that as long as there's Spiritual Spring water, the vegetables won't age and dry out? And what effect would the Spiritual Spring have on animals and humans?
Therefore, Jing Shu came to the animal breeding base in advance to experiment with livestock of various sizes and lifespans. She didn't want to be frail and inexplicably killed in this life.
She aimed to become strong in every aspect, to maintain a low profile, but also be ready to make high-profile moves at any time.
As soon as she arrived at the breeding base, a row of mini-truck drivers approached to solicit business transporting livestock. Jing Shu spent 300 yuan to hire Sister Zhou, who had seven years of driving experience.
The odors from the various livestock at the breeding base were unbearable, so Jing Shu quickly picked out 15 hens, 2 roosters, 6 female ducks, 1 male duck, 5 rabbits, and 10 quails, spending 2,500 yuan on her credit card. Sister Zhou efficiently loaded the cages onto the mini-truck in batches.
Next, she bought a heifer for 4,000 yuan, a young bull for 3,500 yuan, a male and a female lamb for a total of 1,700 yuan, and a male and a female black piglet for 1,000 yuan. She'd heard that black pork was delicious... SLURP.
Sister Zhou not only helped inspect the animals and bargain but also persuaded the sellers to include some feed, feed boxes, troughs, and other supplies with each type of animal. By the time they had packed all the livestock into the truck, it was already 3:00 p.m. Luckily, the little black pigs and lambs were small and didn't take up much space. The chickens, ducks, and rabbits all had cages. But the chickens and ducks won't stop making noise! Can't they learn from the little black pig and find a comfortable place to sleep?
Before getting into the truck, Jing Shu, in front of Sister Zhou, took photos of the license plate and the cattle and sheep. After getting in, she explained with a smile, "I'm just letting my dad know everything's all right. He always worries when I shop alone."
Girls out alone, especially in desolate, sparsely populated places, should pay extra attention to their safety. This is particularly true with a truckload of livestock worth 12,700 yuan. Money tempts people, and one shouldn't casually test human nature.
"Of course, a girl should have your sense of precaution. Young lady, don't worry, I'll make sure to get you home safely," Sister Zhou said with a smile, not minding, because the young woman was very forthright.
Using the GPS, Jing Shu had Sister Zhou drive her to the villa. It was also quite isolated, with hardly any cars in sight. After her ID was checked at the community entrance, it was a short drive before they arrived. Sister Zhou even helped unload the chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep, and cattle. Jing Shu paid her 350 yuan by credit card, saying, "Sorry for delaying your lunch. Here's an extra 50 yuan for your trouble."
Sister Zhou, grinning from ear to ear, left her phone number and thought as she drove away, Do villa residents all like raising pigs and sheep now? City folks sure know how to enjoy life.
Jing Shu didn't dare use her space at the villa entrance. This estate was built in 2018, and not far away was a community that could accommodate tens of thousands of people. Although more than half of it remains unsold, and those that were sold were mostly bought by speculators, there might still be people living there, right? There might be surveillance cameras around, right?
It's pitiful that in Huaxia, with a population of 1.4 billion, they've built enough housing for 6 billion!
Upon opening the yard gate, Jing Shu was panting from the effort of moving everything inside, trip after trip. After closing the gate, she scanned the surroundings before moving the two calves and two lambs into a 4-cubic-meter section of her space. The space will have to be increased as the cattle and sheep grow. For now, it's just right—not crowded, with room to move around.
She tossed the two little black pigs into 1 cubic meter of space, 17 chickens into 4 cubic meters, 7 ducks into 2 cubic meters, 5 rabbits into 1 cubic meter, and the 10 quails were separately allocated 1 cubic meter of space. Jing Shu threw in feeding troughs and cages, leaving them unlocked, and found some water in the villa to pour for them.
The chickens were no longer making noise, and the sheep had quieted down as well. The space seemed to have a magical quality, simulating the most suitable temperature and climate for them.
Besides the space taken up by the livestock, Jing Shu still had 1 cubic meter of feed, 1 cubic meter of mushroom bags, 1 cubic meter of Seeds, and 1 cubic meter of sweet potato root blocks that the seller had given her.
Jingshu's space usage: 1 Spiritual Spring, 6 fields, 13 cubic meters for livestock, and 4 cubic meters for miscellaneous items. She still had 40 cubic meters of space available. The cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, and rabbits would continuously require space, but after making dried and smoked meats, Jing Shu planned to keep only a few as breeding stock.
The diluted spiritual spring liquid needed to be remixed when she got home, and the feed would last a few more days, until the vegetables in the space grew well enough to feed them vegetable leaves.
Jing Shu walked around the villa for an on-site inspection and further refined her renovation plans before finally locking the door and leaving.
She wanted to get a taxi, but after waiting for fifteen minutes without success, she had no choice but to add 10 yuan to hail a car via Didi from 5 kilometers away. Without a word, Jing Shu headed straight for the energy car market. There was no other reason; the villa would soon be renovated, and without a car, it would be really inconvenient. Once the house and car were sold, she could use the energy car to commute for a few days. Besides, once the apocalypse arrived, she wouldn't have to travel so far for work anyway.
After the apocalypse, cars that burn gasoline or diesel will be as useless as scrap metal because there will be no oil—not even for those running on natural gas. Energy cars, however, will be in high demand, especially when people are fleeing for safety. If you have an energy car while others walk, you'd be driving... PFFT.
Buying an energy car had always been part of her plan, so she decided today was the day.
The development of energy cars to this point had primarily resulted in gasoline-electric hybrids, as critical problems with power and endurance remained unsolved, leading to low market share. No matter how much hype they received, they typically needed recharging after just over 100 kilometers, couldn't exceed 60 km/h, and required constant monitoring during the difficult charging process. Furthermore, batteries could fail at any time, and the vehicles didn't hold their value.
But! In the post-apocalyptic world, if you have a working car, you can just chuckle to yourself. What use is a high-end gasoline car if you can't drive it in the apocalypse?
Without saying anything, Jing Shu went straight to an older model, the BYD Song Max. The government offered a significant subsidy for it. A luxurious seven-seater car with a spacious interior, energy-saving LED lights, a 360° panoramic view camera, and it costs only a few yuan to charge! Now, buying a luxurious, top-of-the-line model and finishing the paperwork will only cost a little over sixty thousand yuan!
She chose a red one and shamelessly took out a loan, using her credit card's available 27,000 yuan for the down payment. After completing all the procedures and purchasing only the mandatory insurance, she got a temporary license plate and drove the Song Max home.
She'd gotten her driver's license at 18 but rarely drove her parents' car, so her driving skills were, charitably speaking, of the 'keep your distance to survive' variety.
It took a lot of effort to park the car in a residential parking spot. Afterward, Jing Shu went to buy more than a dozen bottles of mineral water. Completely broke and starving, she returned home. When she opened the door, she found her Uncle, Aunt, Little Aunt, and Little Aunt's husband all seated on the sofa. They all whipped their heads around in unison to look at her.
Jing Shu swallowed and checked the time: 6:25 p.m. Oh, so they're all off work. But why are they looking at me like that? What's going on?