Jin Tianci felt a piercing light hit his back, making every hair on his body stand up in a sudden prickle of alarm. Something is wrong... there's something strange in the air, a shifting tension he couldn't quite name!
Making a fortune quietly, living a high-profile life in a low-profile way, having the ability to avoid trouble but not fear it, and the strength to handle anything that came her way; that had always been Jing Shu's ultimate goal in this apocalypse. She moved through the world with a calculated grace, ensuring her foundations were solid before taking a single step forward.
She was long past the fragile stage where she had to guard everything like it was glass, fearful of a single crack shattering her world. Now she had the capital to aim higher and to fight for a better environment. She had her trump cards, her foundation, and now even shared aligned interests with the government. After all, the most loyal alliances in history were always built on mutual benefit.
"Let's hope you don't crash and burn when the time comes. My manor, my employees' luxury dorms, they're all counting on you, you know!"
She wasn't wrong. By the fourth year of the apocalypse, food had become more valuable than houses. There was even a saying: "A meal can buy you a mansion." The exchange was brutal and absolute. By the fifth year, food shortages had reached their worst point. People starved or froze to death everywhere, their bodies left in the unforgiving cold.
Even the real estate tycoons of Wu City had started selling off their luxury villas and mobile houses just to trade for a few bags of grain to keep themselves alive.
Around that same time, most poultry began dying out from disease and hunger. By the fifth year, there were hardly any left to be found. In the third year, middle-class families could still raise a few chickens in their yards or plant some garlic sprouts or lettuce in window boxes. But by then, even official workers were no better off than the common crowd, surviving only on the government's emergency reserves of processed nutrients.
You could imagine how miserable life had become for everyone. That was the year people started eating corpses, carrion scavengers, even digging up dry tree roots for food. Some even ate "Guanyin soil" just to feel something in their stomachs. Yet, that was also the year the Shiyuan estate grew even bigger, which made everyone green with envy. It was no wonder the Tyrant swooped in and seized it during the fifth year's famine.
But Jing Shu was nothing like Shiyuan.
First, Shiyuan could be replaced at any time. It was a massive machine, and a change of ownership wouldn't hurt the production much.
Her Red Nematode Processing Factory, though, was another story entirely.
She held the most critical secret; it was the Spirit Spring. Without her presence, the factory couldn't reproduce vast quantities of red nematodes. It wasn't likely anyone else could master the method, and it was even less likely they could coerce her into giving it up. If things went south and she decided to fight back, the government would suffer even heavier losses than it could afford.
After all, killing the goose that laid the golden eggs was stupid. She was the only hen that could lay those golden eggs. The smartest move was to just make the hen lay more eggs, to get more of the formula and breed more red nematodes for the people.
Any smart person would treat their only golden egg-laying hen like a revered ancestor, just like how Grandma Jing treated her plump chicken, Xiao Dou.
Second, Qian Duoduo's resources were on a whole different scale. He didn't just have Shiyuan, but oil reserves and other hidden assets too. The Tyrant wanted it all because that much food and fuel could save hundreds of thousands of people.
Jing Shu, on the other hand, had far less. Aside from the factory, her assets were limited to the supplies in her villa and the goods she had imported from America. She ran a boutique route—small but elite. Her poultry were precious, her farm animals diverse, and her diet rich. She had vegetables, fruits, and over a hundred kinds of snacks, including pickled radish and dried greens that still held their flavor.
The only issue was the quantity.
How many people could all that feed? A thousand, maybe? Out of the millions of hungry souls in Wu City, that was nothing. When the bigger picture mattered most, little fish like her didn't count in the grand scheme of things.
Third, by taking down Qian Duoduo, the Tyrant could boost his reputation significantly. With Shiyuan and all its supplies, he could manage distribution better and save more people from the brink of death.
But what would he gain by seizing the Red Nematode Factory? More production? Hardly. Without the secret formula, they couldn't make a single patty. The factory currently produced food for hundreds of thousands daily. Take Jing Shu out of the equation, and that number wouldn't drop to zero overnight. Keeping her in charge ensured a steady supply. Why would the government sabotage that?
Even if you took ten thousand steps back, the red nematodes existed to feed people and prevent mass starvation. In that light, no sane leader in Wu City would ever shut down the factory.
Having aligned interests with the government meant they could be good friends, standing on equal footing at the same level. This was Jing Shu's confidence. She wasn't afraid of the government causing trouble for her operations.
Qian Duoduo had once thrived under that same principle of shared interests, though every alliance eventually faced fractures. Knowing how to balance that was the key to longevity.
Jing Shu's eyes gleamed as she scribbled down a new line in her plans:
During the fourth-year famine, use red nematodes to trade for luxury manors and employee dorms.
She had been wondering what to trade with the government, and now she had her answer. In her past life, they had even auctioned off luxury villas back then. With Jin Tianci's influence, getting her hands on a mobile mansion shouldn't be a problem.
Her villa in Banana Community would last her safely until year five. Beyond year seven, things would get dangerous as resources became even scarcer. This was her way of paving her backup plan. There was no rush, though, as long as she could secure a good one eventually.
The dorms, though... that was urgent.
"Now everyone can see, the boiled red nematode pulp has been dehydrated. The workers are mixing it with salt provided by our sponsor, 'Salty As Hell Salt Merchants.' I would like to express my heartfelt thanks for their generous support!
Next, we move to the final step. The workers follow strict measurements, packing each portion of the paste at exactly one hundred grams into heavy molds labeled 'Eat Your Fill Worm Patty.' Oh, and special thanks to the craftsmen of Wu City for forging these custom iron molds for us. They have helped us make a name for ourselves and made the production line run much smoother."
Once the patties were molded into their uniform shapes, they were sent down a conveyor belt into outdoor baskets to freeze solid. In this weather, they would keep for years without spoiling.
Everyone followed the line outside, where a gust of cold wind hit their faces and turned their breath into white mist. Workers were bustling about, making sure the steaming patties didn't stick together as they cooled, then hauling the frozen ones back into storage.
"This is our red nematode storage warehouse,"
The dim light revealed a massive cold chamber, the air thick with a deep, biting chill.
Gasps filled the air as the officials stepped inside. Even Jin Tianci was taken aback by the scale of it.
It was immaculate.
It was magnificent.
Rows upon rows of perfectly aligned shelves filled the place from floor to ceiling. Half were metal and half were stone, each lined with countless patties that were all identical in size. The best part? Every single one faced the same direction, their embossed words "Eat Well Worm Patty" staring back in perfect, unwavering order. It was the kind of sight that could soothe anyone's OCD.
Each rack had ten sections, a thousand patties per section; it was exactly one ton per rack.
Factory Director Su grinned proudly. "This masterpiece was organized by one of our employees, Gu Yiyi, who is a bit of a neat freak and insists on perfect symmetry for everything. He will be managing this warehouse from now on. See that guy over there with the middle-parted hair and matching plastic pocket covers? That's him. I will go call him over."