I Am Cultivating in the Apocalypse

Chapter 686: Long-Haired Ball

"Dark Creatures?" Jing Shu looked up, interested by Liu’s mention of them. To be honest, some Dark Creatures are very valuable, while others are basically worthless. These creatures can adapt to the apocalypse, survive without photosynthesis, and need only to consume all sorts of junk, even soil, to stay alive. They exist solely for survival. What else can you expect from them? For the sake of surviving, many creatures have evolved to the point where... they can’t be eaten anymore, which is quite annoying. And among those that can be considered food, they are rare and carry significant drawbacks, such as an inability to reproduce, like the Dinosaur Chickens.

So, the first thing Jing Shu asked was, "Can they be eaten?"

This was Jing Shu’s most important criterion for assessing their value.

Liu looked somewhat troubled. "They can’t be eaten." If they were edible, Luo Junren would have treasured them instead of traveling such a long distance to open an Insect Cake Factory.

"Oh." Jing Shu immediately lost interest. She casually picked up a few round... balls? This batch of Dark Creatures was just a small truckload, about a few hundred balls? And they’re moving? Each ball varied in size, roughly the size of a basketball. They somewhat resembled sea urchins, with dense spikes? No, it should be called fur. Each strand of fur was thick and long, about thirty-odd centimeters, as thick as a finger.

"What use are they?"

"Boss, these Dark Creatures are called long-haired balls."

"The name fits them well, but their fur is a bit stiff. Otherwise, it would be perfect for knitting sweaters," Jing Shu commented with slight regret.

"Boss, they’re called long-haired balls because of all the long fur they have. Although it’s stiff, I heard that boiling it in water and then treating it with saltpeter makes it very flexible. If you use a cutting machine to split one strand of long fur into a dozen or so thin strands, you can get a rather primitive yarn."

Jing Shu’s eyes gradually lit up, signaling Liu to continue.

"The yarn obtained from processing the long-haired balls isn’t as soft as cotton or wool yarn, but it at least provides warmth. This material isn’t breathable, and the clothes made from it, although stuffy, do keep you warm."

Jing Shu rubbed the long-haired ball in her hand. They were pitch black, with no visible eyes, nose, or mouth. Their fur was as flexible as a soft sword; it wouldn’t break even when bent back and forth. If what Liu said was true, and they could be processed to serve as materials for warmth, then they were indeed necessary!

"Has Luo Junren mentioned how to breed them, reproduce them, and what problems exist?" Jing Shu asked. The species was good, and its function was great. But with just these few long-haired balls, the quantity was too small. On a large scale, they wouldn’t make much of an impact. On a smaller scale, her family had already planted cotton long ago, Grandma Jing was raising silkworms, and they had sheepskin, pigskin, and cowhide at home, so they didn’t lack these materials.

"Dark Creatures will eat anything, so there’s basically no need to worry about how to raise them. They can eat dirt or trash. The long-haired balls were taken for research, but artificial reproduction wasn’t successful; they can only reproduce naturally. A thousand long-haired balls can increase their numbers by about one hundred a year. The oldest ones have lived for several years now... Well, that’s just how Dark Creatures are, full of drawbacks.

"But the fur from one long-haired ball, once sheared and processed, can make one set of clothes. And it grows back to this length in just two to three months, allowing for virtually unlimited shearing."

As he spoke, Liu’s eyes lit up with excitement. This small batch of long-haired balls represented hundreds of pieces of clothing, and every two or three months, they could be sheared again. These were Dark Creatures; they didn’t require special care and could survive on their own... It was indeed a good thing.

"Shear all their long fur, then follow the procedure to make a batch of clothes for warmth. As for how to make them, if we can find the old factory, we’ll make them there. If not, hand them over to the Township Government and let them give the task to professionals. Hmm... I’ll take the rest of these critters back with me," Jing Shu finally decided.

She initially had an interest in black potatoes, but when the long-haired balls appeared, Jing Shu couldn’t take her eyes off them. This thing sounded incredibly good, almost like nature’s gift of linen thread in the apocalypse! Of course, there are many steps from thread to finished clothing. At Jing Shu’s house, the process of turning silk into cloth also took Zijin and Grandma Jing a lot of time. With nothing available, everything reverted to primitive methods, so they had to take it step by step.

But time waits for no one.

After returning home, Jing Shu brought back a cartload of supplies. Apart from keeping one piglet to raise in her Space, she left everything else at the villa. This was because, no matter what she was raising, she was accustomed to keeping one in her Space as breeding stock or, one might say, a safeguard. She was fearful of accidents and felt extremely insecure.

She then began her research on the long-haired balls. Half of them would be raised in her Space. In that comfortable environment, with a bit of diluted Spiritual Spring water and food, they would surely reproduce quickly and grow fur rapidly. The other half would be raised at the villa, split into three groups: one fed on soil, one on mixed nutritional feed, and one... Jing Shu pondered for a moment. Let’s try to make use of waste. Could they perhaps feed on the flesh of the rotten mermaids?

The rotten mermaids had no flesh, just a mass of tough soil. Upon death, they left only a pile of white bones. The long-haired monsters had no mouths. Their feeding method involved small orifices at the tips of their countless long hairs, which absorbed anything as food. If the long-haired monsters were on the ground, they would absorb nutrients from the soil; if there was no soil, they would absorb water. They couldn’t walk or move, nor did they attack humans.

It made Jing Shu wonder whether these were a plant-based or animal-based mutation. Each of the now-bald long-haired balls had many orifices. Jing Shu stuck them onto the bodies of the rotten mermaids and left them be.

Experiments take time, after all. She would just come by daily to check on them and record the condition of these long-haired balls. Then, she would select the ones that reproduced the fastest and grew the best quality fur.

"Hey, did you hear? This year’s annual bonus doesn’t just include the rare black potato; there’s also a reward of super warm long-haired clothes!"

"Long-haired clothes? What exactly are they? Aren’t they just ordinary cold-weather clothes? I already have two cotton coats."

"Man, just look at Jian Yi; he’s wearing one right now."

A group of people looked enviously at Jian Yi, this year’s top performance contributor.

"These long-haired clothes look like black raincoats; nothing special about them."

"But this stuff is really good! Look, just wear one layer inside and put this on top, and I guarantee not a bit of cold wind will get through."

"Jian Yi, Jian Yi, what do you think?"

Jian Yi took off his hat, gasping for air. "I just walked around outside and actually felt a bit warm. It’s over thirty degrees below zero out there! This thing would probably keep you warm even if it were colder. However, the clothes aren’t breathable; they’re too stifling and hot. It feels a bit like wearing plastic—somewhat stiff and not very comfortable." Despite saying this, Jian Yi was reluctant to take it off.

The people around him were very envious. It was so cold now; people wouldn’t go out unless they absolutely had to. The drawbacks Jian Yi mentioned might have been considered flaws in the past, but now, they weren’t flaws at all.