Besides changing the fields, Jing Shu reserved eight cubic meters for fish. She wanted to breed a large stock and turn them into ready-to-eat dishes—grilled, fried, steamed, braised—so she could stash them in the space as midnight snacks. After the upgrade, her appetite seemed to grow again. She got hungry easily, and hunger made her irritable.
Last year, she had spent her time sun-drying all kinds of vegetables, and the space had been too cramped to raise more fish. This year, she had both time and room. It was better to process everything into finished food, so she could eat whenever she wanted. Otherwise, remembering to cook only when she craved something would be a hassle and a waste of time and effort.
She also earmarked twenty-four cubic meters for poultry, doubling the flock. In about half a year, she planned to slaughter another batch and process them all into prepared foods. She had to get ready early for the great migration in year five. Once they were on the road, there would be no time to cook in bulk.
The goal for the second half of this year was simple: turn every category of food into finished, shelf-stable goods and stock them in the space. She had to make sure this big eater could stay fed and eat well. Then she would pickle and cure everything that could be pickled and cured, so that when she brought them out later, no one would be too surprised.
For example, turn fruits into canned preserves, vacuum-pack boiled corn, and take them out when there were crowds. At worst, she could say they were expired pre-apocalypse foods.
After the apocalypse, a single vacuum-packed ear of corn was as luxurious as a vintage from 1982. These so-called expired foods from before the end were truly a dwindling treasure.
So the space now looked like this:
One cubic meter of Spirit Spring + twenty-four cubic meters of fields + eight cubic meters of fish + twenty-four cubic meters of poultry + two hundred eighty-six cubic meters of supplies.
She hadn't filled all two hundred eighty-six cubic meters yet, with more than eighty cubic meters still free. Setting aside the bulky gasoline, diesel, TNT, bottled water, basement stocks of rice, flour, and oil, a small number of hammer-shaped boulders, purpose-made reusable conical steel spikes, and eight cubic meters of nuts, almost everything else was food. Each type took up anywhere from one to three cubic meters.
When the space was closer to full, she would reorganize it. As it grew larger, she kept wishing for a video-game style "auto-arrange" button. That would let her sort all supplies in one click instead of slogging through it. Even with a 360-degree god view and see-through retrieval, one glance across all those cubic grids was enough to make her eyes swim.
Her Rubik's Cube Space was currently seventh tier, and the handheld cube she needed to solve was the eighth-tier challenge. At sixth tier, it had unlocked the "second form," letting the virtual space overlap with reality for more intuitive management. She could even use the overlap to make tasks like slaughtering pigs or cattle much easier.
At seventh tier, it gained an "illusion" ability, allowing her to control and influence creatures within the overlap range of the second form, and to a lesser extent even affect people in that area. The effect on people was weak, but it was still a new tool for control, survival, scouting, and tracking.
That was why she kept hallucinating during seventh-tier practice, waking up at four in the morning every day to "deal with something." Jing Shu suspected that the upgrade conditions had evolved. It was no longer just about restoring the cube to its original state; new disruptive elements would appear to slow her down and raise the difficulty. The rewards were richer too, always accompanied by new abilities.
So she had no choice. After studying the upgraded space, and after a pot of congee and a pile of crayfish, she went back to practicing the eighth-tier cube.
She had no idea what problem she might face this time, or what new ability would spawn after the next upgrade. She only knew time was running out. She wanted to upgrade the space once more before heading to the United States next year.
That way, she could "bring" back even more, making the trip worthwhile. Her motivation surged.
Time flew. In the blink of an eye, it was late April. The temperature dropped from 36°C to 29°C. In two months, it would plunge again. The gentle hot-spring rains would turn into killing-cold rain.
The silkworms in the space laid thousands of eggs. Starting next month, their numbers would double again. The silkworms in the villa courtyard also laid more than a thousand eggs. Grandma Jing and Zijin would be busy. Grandpa Jing built more than a dozen racks, filling the bedrooms for silkworm trays. If they ran out of space, they would move them to the living room, but the living room was already partly taken over by garlic, scallions, and mushroom beds. If they added silkworms too, it would be crowded.
More than a month had passed since the last incident. The bombing at Xishan was never made public, only whispered about in certain circles. Word was that Qian Duoduo had been busy building a new "one-stop base." He had contacted Jing Shu a few times, inviting her to visit in a few months and promising a surprise. He even bragged that if she fancied something, he would give it to her.
As for what a one-stop base actually did, Jing Shu genuinely did not know. In her previous life, she had been at the bottom and knew nothing about that circle.
Su Xiangnan, on the other hand, had a personality all his own.
However many times Qian Duoduo contacted her, Su Xiangnan would always call one more time. He kept saying he was not as stingy as Qian Duoduo. Jing Shu could only sigh. Qian Duoduo was preparing a surprise for her, and Su Xiangnan insisted he was not petty either. If she waited a bit longer, he would have a surprise for her too.
She felt a little excited about all this, but also vaguely irritable and worried.
Because Lin Yi had not been executed. He was being protected. When Jing Shu heard the news, she was dumbfounded.
"Why? Someone like that should be shot immediately. Did he hypnotize your leader's leader?"
Yang Yang said helplessly, "After the United States learned he was captured, they sent assassins to kill him. The secrets in Lin Yi's head are extremely valuable. Until the scientists fully figure things out, not only will he not be executed, he will be guarded closely."
So Jing Shu had no idea when Lin Yi would die. As long as he lived, she could not rest easy. All she could do was keep tabs on the situation. Fortunately, his ability was now known at the top, and they had already taken corresponding measures. There was no way they would let him escape again.
A few smaller things also happened over the month. Wu You'ai finally arrested father and son who had been occupying Zhang Bingbing's home, sending them to labor reform. After only a few days, they were said to be skinned by exhaustion. The torrential rains continued, the floods had not receded, and anything salvageable in the city had already been salvaged. The rest could no longer be recovered. After months of soaking, nothing was usable.