novelraw Chapter 1087 - 1187: Do You Have to Eat Snot to Sleep? To Eat or Not to Eat?
Chapter 1087 - 1187: Do You Have to Eat Snot to Sleep? To Eat or Not to Eat?
Three days have passed just like that.
For a full three days, the rescue team and the indigenous refugees have been living in an endless cycle: eat, work when full, eat when hungry, work again after eating.
It’s not that they don’t want to sleep; it’s that they just can’t seem to sleep, as if they’ve suddenly lost that ability.
The entire underground nest, from the outside down to the bottom where Xie Jian Country sleeps, a section about several hundred meters wide is now a spacious, unobstructed road that has been completely excavated.
The former underground tunnel resembling an ant nest has also been entirely leveled.
In terms of work, everything that can be done has been done, yet everyone still can’t sleep, which is extremely bizarre.
At the meeting.
Everyone bears dark circles under their eyes, resembling pandas. Although they can’t sleep, each person is still incredibly tired, wanting desperately to sleep but unable to no matter how hard they try, such as through experiments like closing their eyes and self-hypnosis for eight hours with no success.
Yang Yang feels as if they’re all still alive but actually dead.
Of course, who can go three days and nights without sleeping at all? It’s exhausting, torturous, driving everyone insane.
Jing Shu carefully hides in a corner, not wanting others to notice anything unusual. Though her face also shows faint dark circles, they are drawn with an eyebrow pencil—because after her and Su Malie snacked inside the Hulk with spatial items and drank Spiritual Spring, she can sleep peacefully again.
Moreover, her sleep is quite restful.
Hence, the truth is nearly shouting out by this point; everyone’s insomnia is certainly related to Dark Energy! But before uncovering the truth, she can’t reveal the matter of the Spiritual Spring...
After all, a few days without sleep aren’t life-threatening, and there’s no need for her to offer the Spiritual Spring as a solution; besides, she can’t just produce fruits from spatial items every day, so the problem remains unresolved unless properly addressed.
Jing Shu and Su Malie secretly hide in the corner, listening to Yang Yang’s enthusiastic voice:
"I think we’ve finally found the reason for insomnia!"
Big Yellow Teeth, with bags under his eyes nearly hanging to his mouth, speaks dispiritedly, "Say it, just say it already, because if we don’t get some sleep soon, we’ll seriously drop dead."
Big Yellow Teeth looks enviously at the Zombie People like Situ Xiaoye, witnessing these New Humans who don’t need to eat, sleep, or breathe, possessing admirable energy and abilities. The only cost for them is drinking his bodily fluids daily.
Yang Yang gestures for Chu Zhuohua to speak.
Chu Zhuohua stands up with two assistants and explains, "After three days of research, various experiments, and comparative analysis, we’ve determined that if we want to sleep, it’s quite simple—we just need to eat the mucus... that’s dripping."
The sound of dripping continues outside the tent.
In recent days, everyone broke open the stomach bag’s horizontal isolation, converting it from a honeycomb nest into a large flat surface; previously, the mucus used to drip from walls, but now it falls directly from above.
Chu Zhuohua continues, "The trapped people previously had nothing else to eat but the mucus, hence they could sleep. However, since we arrived and started providing unlimited food and water as per labor contracts, they’ve stopped consuming the mucus."
Of course, with daily food and water provisions plus extra meals, who would still go for that snot-like mucus?
"So now even the trapped people can’t sleep, and since none of us who arrived have tried the mucus, nobody has been able to fall asleep. Except for Xie Jian Country, for whom the mucus is originally a part of his body."
Everyone is shocked and starts asking questions in a hubbub.
"So in order to sleep, we must eat the mucus?"
"How much should we eat? This snot seems disgusting; can just a small piece do?"
"Do we need to consume it as a meal every day? Is it harmful to health?"
Chu Zhuohua signals for quiet, "I drew blood from several people, and without exception, the melatonin—a body substance meant to make us sleep—is absorbed by the stomach bag, which doesn’t just absorb that but also rapidly draws from our body’s water and releases a signal compound created from consumed solids. So whatever and however we eat, it equates to being absorbed by this ’stomach bag’."
"Currently, my suggestion before sleeping is casually dig up a fist-sized piece of mucus from the ground. Two of my students tried it with no issues; the ground’s mucus isn’t Dark Energy, merely a byproduct of energy bodies."
"Besides, if there was any problem, the refugees who’ve stayed here this long would’ve shown symptoms already. I’ve randomly checked a few individuals here and found that despite being emaciated, they’re quite healthy."
Of course, Chu Zhuohua isn’t a Doctor; his so-called examination operates under his own lunatic standards—
So the dilemma remains for everyone: "Eat snot to sleep, or abstain and stay awake—should we eat it?"
"Eat!"
Yang Yang’s lips twitch, "Professor Chu, while you study Dark Energy, can’t you simultaneously research extracts? Or administer it via injection? Doing it orally is really difficult for me."
Chu Zhuohua smiles slightly, "No time. Look, my students thoughtfully dug up the cleanest mucus, guaranteed without feces."
Ultimately, everyone begins to eat the mucus; some people grimace and just swallow it, others swallow it with closed eyes.
Chu Zhuohua and Wu You’ai chew slowly and eventually comment on the precise taste:
"A bit sticky to the teeth and slightly salty."
"If it were sweeter, it’d taste like a nice rice cake."
"This likely contains rich dark elements; consuming it should be beneficial to the body, right? Perhaps I could replace one of my meals with it."
"Makes sense."
Others: "..."
Jing Shu: "You all never cease to amaze!"
"Hmm, Sister Jing, aren’t you eating?"
Someone questions, causing all heads to turn toward Jing Shu hiding in the corner.
Jing Shu: Thank you for noticing me after all.
Jing Shu smiles gently, "I might go back and brew it in water with some sugar; it should taste better."
Big Yellow Teeth, after swallowing a big chunk: "..." then his eyes light up, "That’s a good idea. I’ll try using it for tea; wonder if the snot tea would dilute its flavor, making it less weird."
Yang Yang, sensing drowsiness approaching, quickly says, "Alright, report your status today, then hurry off to bed."