Chapter 76: Resolving the Crisis
With the help of Zhan Yun’s team, the mutated rat infestation was finally brought to a successful end. Every last mutated rat was exterminated. Aside from those that had been blown into bloody fragments by the bombs and those devoured by the carnivorous plants, the remaining rat carcasses were largely intact—amounting to at least several hundred jin.
When Jiang Xuzhou heard the good news, the frown he had worn for so long finally eased. He personally hurried over to express his gratitude to Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe, and instructed the soldiers to collect all the rat carcasses and send them to the canteen to be made into meat dishes, as a reward for the soldiers who had worked so hard over the past few days and for the civilians who had been living in fear.
Although it was rat meat, these were mutated animals, and the meat of mutated animals was known to be exceptionally tasty. As long as it was properly cleaned, it could still be considered a delicacy. This was no longer the pre-apocalypse era—there was no room to be picky. Moreover, with a large portion of the base’s food supplies already ruined by the rats, this was precisely the time when food was most scarce, so there was absolutely no way they could afford to waste this hard-won rat meat.
Fragrant braised rat meat with potatoes, served with white rice, cost two work points per portion. The survivors at the base ate with smiles on their faces. Everyone was happy—on one hand, because they could finally eat meat again, and on the other, because they no longer had to worry about a giant, man-biting rat suddenly charging out from somewhere.
Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe had overused their abilities. Although it didn’t look like they were suffering much on the surface, both of them were actually quite tired. They went straight back to the mid-rise building and slept comfortably for a while. Their teammates brought food back from the canteen for them; knowing they had good appetites, they simply got six portions, packed them into food containers, and carried them back.
Su Ruizhe tasted it and found that the mutated rat meat really was quite good—its flavor was somewhat similar to chicken.
“Brother Zhan, when we went to eat today, we noticed that there are quite a few fewer people in the base,” Zheng Jiahe said, pulling over a stool and sitting down beside them while Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe were eating.
“Oh? What’s going on?” Zhan Yun asked without even lifting his head.
“It seems that some people think the base might be on the verge of collapse, so they’ve gone elsewhere to look for a way out in advance.” With so many people coming and going, the canteen was a place where news spread easily. “When we came back, we also saw a lot of people handling exchanges at the management center. I heard they’re heading to that nearby Lincheng Base. Quite a few people even drove off—there were several ability users among them. When they left, they used their ID cards to exchange a lot of grain with their work points. It’s really shameless!”
“Does the base know about this?” Zhan Yun asked.
“They do, but what can they do about it? They can’t exactly detain people and stop them from leaving…” Zheng Jiahe continued. “From what I can tell, the base is really short on food now. I heard from Niu Dali that higher-ups have issued an order to send out half of the troops to search for supplies.”
“And there’s more…” Zheng Jiahe hesitated.
“What else?”
“I heard from people at the management center that it was after they saw the blown-open grain warehouse and realized there wasn’t much food left inside that they started planning to go to Lincheng Base.”
Hearing this, Su Ruizhe tightened his grip on his chopsticks. With the base’s supplies already ravaged by the rats, the remaining resources probably wouldn’t even last two months.
With the stored grain reduced to that state, those who chose to leave with supplies in hand were essentially taking advantage of the disaster. Yet even knowing that their reserves were running dangerously low, the base still grit its teeth and exchanged food with them.
It was like when a bank suddenly became embroiled in negative news and many depositors rushed to withdraw their money. Even knowing that its reserves were extremely tight, the bank would still have to find ways to pay out. Otherwise, once it refused withdrawals, it would confirm that it really couldn’t produce the money, stirring panic and prompting even more people to demand their funds—leaving the bank with only one outcome: bankruptcy.
The base was the same. Once the base refused to exchange food, there was a high chance it would trigger panic among the populace, and then the base would descend into chaos.
Although they had now learned hydroponic cultivation techniques, it would still take a long time before crops could actually be grown in the greenhouses. Plant-type ability users could stimulate some vegetables to grow, but relying on them to produce enough staple food to feed all the survivors in the base was simply impossible.
Sending troops out to search—how much could they really find? It would be nothing more than a drop in the bucket…
Su Ruizhe instinctively turned to glance at Zhan Yun. The grain depot had been blown open by him; although it had been done to eliminate the rats, it had nevertheless exposed the base’s food shortage to the public. If the food problem wasn’t resolved quickly, the base really might fall apart.
He now had an idea…
Seeing Su Ruizhe’s look, Zhan Yun quickly understood what he was thinking.
Among Su Ruizhe’s secrets, the one Zhan Yun knew best was his plantable space—his greatest trump card. Zhan Yun had once been taken inside by Su Ruizhe and had seen that valley, as beautiful as a paradise beyond the world. In addition to fruits and vegetables, it was planted with large amounts of grain crops such as rice and wheat. If all that grain were taken out, it would be enough to quickly resolve the base’s food crisis.
The problem was… finding a suitable timing and a convincing explanation…
After finishing their meal, Zhan Yun sent the others back to their rooms, then closed the door with Su Ruizhe and entered the space.
Inside the space, flowers bloomed in abundance and fruits hung heavy on the branches—everything thriving in exuberant vitality, a stark contrast to the real world where prolonged heat had caused massive plant die-offs.
The two of them found tools and worked together to harvest all the rice and wheat from the fields in the space, piling it up into a large mound on the field ridge. With ten mu of land, the yield should be around three to four thousand jin—enough to help the base get through its most difficult period. However, since they didn’t have a thresher and couldn’t remove the husks, the total weight of the harvested crops would likely be double that.
They worked until they were drenched in sweat, their backs nearly unable to straighten, but they still didn’t let anyone else help. It wasn’t that they didn’t trust their teammates—after all, everyone already knew Su Ruizhe had spatial abilities—but his space was simply too special. The fewer people who knew the specifics, the better.
It was roughly the autumn harvest season, so it wouldn’t be unusual for farmers to have stored harvested grain in warehouses. They decided that the next day they would take the team out on a trip, and upon returning, tell the base that the grain had been found in storage in a village.
Because the freshly harvested grain looked very fresh, they would also need to find an open area during the day to dry it in the sun, disguising it as having been stored for some time.
After leaving the space, the two took showers and went to rest.
The next day, after the sun had set, Zhan Yun and the others went to find Commander Zhang to borrow a large truck. After all, several thousand jin of grain couldn’t possibly fit in their small off-road vehicle.
Without hesitation, Commander Zhang gave them a heavy-duty truck. He had originally wanted to assign them a driver as well, but Zhan Yun politely declined. Zhang Shuoliang held a Class A license, so driving a heavy truck was no problem.
Zhan Yun and the others drove around all day, and when they returned, they brought back a truck completely loaded with grain. They also took the opportunity to visit a few nearby villages and found two threshing machines, which they brought back as well.
Zhan Yun handed the grain directly over to Commander Zhang. A whole truckload of golden grain—although it had been? under the scorching sun all day and no longer looked very fresh, with little moisture left—was still precious food. Even Commander Zhang, a soldier standing nearly 1.8 meters tall, was moved to the point of reddened eyes.
At first, Zhan Yun and the others said that the grain had essentially been found for free and that they wanted to donate it directly to the base. But Commander Zhang firmly refused—soldiers would never take advantage of civilians. In the end, the grain was converted into work points for them, with the agreement that once hydroponic cultivation succeeded and grain could be produced in large quantities, the base would repay them.
The base had grain again!!! A huge amount of grain had been transported in from outside!!!
This was truly wonderful news. The survivors at the base saw with their own eyes that truck loaded full of grain driving in through the main gate. They didn’t know where the grain had come from and simply assumed it was military stockpiled supplies from outside. Combined with the announcement that hydroponic cultivation would soon begin to ensure future food supplies, the survivors were overjoyed, spreading the news everywhere.
As for those quick-minded people who had already turned in their ID cards and requested to leave the base, the base was no longer willing to keep them. Such easily shaken individuals would only undermine the base’s cohesion and bring no benefit at all. Since they wanted to go to another base, they were free to do so.
From the window, Su Ruizhe and the others watched as those people left the base one after another with their belongings. They knew that Lincheng Base was a privately established small base, likely even weaker than W City Base. While it favored ability users, conditions for ordinary people there were far from good—it was definitely not a good destination. In this lifetime, without Fatty Lu Yang, Lincheng Base probably didn’t even have solar generators. Once those people arrived, they would realize exactly what kind of opportunity they had given up.
From now on, the Southern Base would only grow better and better. If those people ever wanted to come back, it wouldn’t be so easy.
There is no medicine for regret in this world—everyone must take responsibility for their own choices.
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