"Think of a solution? What solution could there be? Right now, it's just a bit of viscous silt seeping up from the depths of the earth, but give it some time, and it will erupt like a volcano. When that happens, half the city will be buried under the sludge. It looks harmless for now, but that mudslide disaster is bound to come."
The destruction it brought was permanent. Once the mudflow stopped moving and solidified into place, it turned into something like solid concrete, swallowing buildings and essential supplies whole. Farmland, already incredibly scarce in this dying world, would become even rarer once the land was entombed.
In the apocalypse, even simple soil had become a precious resource.
Jing Shu narrowed her eyes, her gaze fixed on the dark, damp patch as she sank deep into thought. This wasn't something she had faced in her previous life, where she had been struggling just to find her next meal. No matter how much she had prepared back then, fate always had new surprises waiting in the shadows. Still, thank goodness Grandpa Jing discovered it early, giving her time to plan for the inevitable.
"I just hope the land around the artificial sun isn't filled with this sludge," Su Lanzhi said worriedly, her voice trailing off as she imagined the consequences. "If the yield drops there, how many people are going to starve?"
If it was only their family's soil that went bad, it would be fine, as they had other ways to survive. But if this isn't an isolated case and the entire city is being affected...
Jing Shu thought her grandfather had brought the issue up at just the right time. He wasn't wrong to worry either, and this was the perfect chance to get everyone in the household preparing for the next phase of the crisis.
"I noticed it a few days ago when I took Xiao Dou up the hill," she said, her voice steady. "The mountain is covered in this same mud, and it's already trickling downward in slow, heavy streams. It's not just us. I just didn't expect it to seep up through our own yard so quickly. What is worse, it's affecting the growth of the crops. That is why our harvest has dropped so much lately. Food is already scarce, and now this starts happening? We need to act fast, at least to make sure our own plants don't suffer any further."
Grandpa Jing's brow furrowed, the deep lines on his forehead etching deeper. "If this stuff spreads everywhere... We already lost the sun, the temperature is freezing, and now even the land might fail us? People could at least grow lettuce or garlic that didn't need sunlight before, but if the soil has gone bad too, then what the hell are we supposed to do?"
His words sank into a heavy silence. Everyone knew the truth of their situation. The only reason they lived so comfortably in the apocalypse was because of their constant harvest. Even families with stable government jobs only got a pitiful, single share of vegetables each day, while their family enjoyed fresh produce and sweet fruit whenever they wanted.
"Grandpa, don't be too pessimistic," Jing Shu said. "We still have soilless cultivation methods. The higher-ups will find a way to manage the state farms. For now, let's just focus on ourselves." She looked around at the worried faces of everyone gathered. "We not only have to deal with the yield drop, we also need to stock up on food and supplies while we still can. Grandpa is right; another disaster could be coming at any time. Whether it's the freezing weather or the contaminated soil, it's only going to get harder to grow crops and fresh vegetables."
Grandpa Jing puffed twice on his cigarette and nodded, the ember glowing brightly in the dim light. "You're right. Let's take care of ourselves first. I will tell your Paternal Eldest Uncle and Paternal Second Uncle's families tomorrow, and maybe warn some friends too. But as for us, we need to find a way to fix this yield problem. I have already swapped out several batches of soil, and it's no use. The mud keeps seeping up from underground. The deeper I dig, the worse it gets."
"Let's eat first," Grandma Jing said, waving her hand to clear the air of the smoke. "We will think about it after dinner."
Grandpa Jing coughed a few times, the sound rough and dry. "And we should start saving food. There's a lot of us here, and we eat like kings every day. No matter how much we have, it won't last forever."
Grandma Jing snorted at the suggestion. "From now on, our granddaughter is the one in charge of how we eat. She is the one who brought in all that food in the first place. If you say to ration it and she goes hungry, then what? You know how big her appetite is."
Grandpa Jing gave an awkward laugh, glancing at his granddaughter. "Today is my birthday. Cut me some slack."
The whole family burst out laughing, the sound echoing through the warm villa. Jing Shu chuckled too. She hadn't come back to this life to suffer through deprivation again. She wanted to eat well, live well, and sleep well every night. If her quality of life dropped to nothing, what was the point of all this effort and preparation?
"Let's focus on fixing the problem," she said. "We don't need to ration food. Everyone here has got a big appetite, and we don't need to starve ourselves while we have plenty."
And she meant every word. That big table of food couldn't even be finished by more than ten ordinary people, but once everyone had eaten their fill, she would start her "clean plate mission." She didn't care if the dishes had garlic, ginger, or chili; she would finish every bite with relish. And even then, she still needed a late-night snack before bed, or she wouldn't be able to sleep from the gnawing hunger.
After dinner, Jing An went to clear the table, the clatter of porcelain filling the air while everyone else headed out to the yard to check the vegetable patch under the artificial lights.
The villa's front yard was small. Aside from a narrow walkway made of stone, every bit of available space was used for planting. They had expanded the backyard a while ago, so the chickens and ducks were all moved there, and their old coop had been turned into a specialized mushroom room.
Even though Jing Shu had stocked up on plenty of dried mushrooms years ago, most were gone by now, either eaten by the family or given away as precious gifts. Only half remained in the pantry. To prepare for even worse days ahead, they still grew new mushrooms regularly in the damp dark. There weren't many varieties, but once she found those lost seeds she had tucked away, she planned to cultivate more for long-term storage in the fifth year.
Aside from the deep fish pond they built early on, the rest of the yard was packed tight with vegetables.
Before, walking down the path meant being surrounded by lush greens; there was bok choy, spinach, lettuce that ripened in ten days, and even seasonal crops like sweet potatoes and potatoes. Now, most were withering, looking sparse and weak in the cold air.
At first glance, the soil looked fine. Jing Shu grabbed a shovel and dug a few times into the earth. Sticky sludge clung to the metal blade, refusing to slide off back into the hole.
Most of the vegetable roots had turned pale or yellow, some so waterlogged they were glued to the dirt in a sickly clump.
Grandpa Jing pointed at them with a frustrated gesture. "Normally, sand soil can still grow stuff, but this? This feels just like cement. Look what it's done to the crops."
Su Lanzhi hesitated, looking down at the ruined plants. "Should we pull the roots out and keep them in water for now, then replace all this soil with fresh dirt?"
Grandpa Jing shook his head. "It won't wash off. It's like cement, see? The longer the roots stay in it, the harder it gets. If we try to pull them out now, they will just break."
It wasn't actually cement, but that strange mud carried the same destructive nature as the fourth-year mudslides. Right now, the ground was still soft, but once the eruption ended and the cold hit it fully, it would harden like stone.
Seeing how bad it had gotten, Jing Shu sighed, her breath visible as a white mist in the air. "No saving it. Pick whatever is still edible, dig up the rest, and replant. We will just have to lose a batch of seeds."
Grandpa Jing sighed too. "How can we keep growing on land like this? Thank goodness the balcony vegetables are still fine."
Grandma Jing quietly wiped her eyes with her sleeve, then she went to count the remaining seeds in storage. Luckily, she had kept some aside for just such a crisis.
Jing Shu squinted, thinking as she surveyed the damage. "Looks like we will have to completely fill and seal the yard's soil, then coat it with cement so the sticky sludge can't seep up from below. After that, we can build a greenhouse on both sides, maybe even add double-deck racks for more crops. I will find a way to get better soil. That will block the mud and give us more planting space. It will be cramped, but we will make it work."