I Am Cultivating in the Apocalypse

Chapter 687: The pie in the sky is going to be eaten?

When it was so cold that one was numb, all other shortcomings hardly mattered anymore. The weather grew increasingly colder, and even ordinary winter clothing proved ineffective. If one could just get an extra piece of long-haired clothes to ward off the chill, it would at least be possible to walk outside.

In just a few days, Jing Shu’s collection had grown to include a batch of longer, better-quality, and warmer long-haired coats. Distinct from those made by the Insect Cake Factory, the batch in her possession was specially manufactured by the Wucheng Town Government’s clothing department.

Indeed, places that engaged in the long-term acquisition of clothing from the deceased and all sorts of second-hand fabric items—which were then dismantled, cleaned, and remade with new materials into necessities for the apocalypse, before being sold at market prices—were known in the apocalypse as ready-made clothing factories.

There, they had professional tools and factories, and the quality of the clothing they produced was somewhat better.

After Jing Shu put on a down jacket and then added a long-haired coat that came with a hood and reached her ankles, she felt an unparalleled sense of security.

Warm, even a bit hot. It seems it can be worn on the outside during the coldest times.

The first batch of output from the long-haired balls was quickly distributed. Due to the strategy of gifting high-quality products, each coat in this batch was made with ample material. Beyond those from the Insect Cake Factory, these coats reached down to the calf. After several hundred were given away, none went to waste.

Jing Shu herself handed out over a hundred to relatives and friends—one per person per household. For larger families, this meant as many as a dozen coats. Not long after delivering coats to Yang Yang’s family, Yang Yang reciprocated with over ten boxes of brown sugar and wanted to purchase more at a high price to give to her own relatives.

Brown sugar was a luxury; even Jing Shu didn’t have much stocked up. They had plenty of honey at home, but without cultivating sugarcane, they couldn’t extract brown sugar whenever they wanted. Fortunately, aside from those few days of the month when she would drink some, they didn’t use much regularly, mostly just boiling some with ginger to ward off the cold.

Then there was Jin Tianci. After helping Jing Shu make so many coats, he and his connections deserved to be gifted some as well.

Once the items were given out, people realized their excellent quality. Now that it was so cold, these items were even better than down jackets.

Come to think of it, the long-haired coats were virtually waterproof, airtight, made of special materials, and wear-resistant—unlike cotton clothes that grew heavy when damp, or down jackets that became less warm with each wash.

The dark products were truly durable; these things hardly ever wore out.

Unfortunately, the production rate was low. Many people asked Jing Shu if they could be mass-produced. If that were possible, they would be extremely coveted and might even save a considerable amount of heating Fuel.

It began to snow, just as she remembered. Once the cold reached a certain intensity, ice flakes larger than goose feathers started to pour down. Inside the villa, they could hear a SWISH SWISH sound.

Once the snow began, it would not stop. The truly difficult times of the apocalypse had arrived, and countless people were about to starve or freeze to death...

The snowflakes of the apocalypse were much larger than before and were not pure white. Instead, they were a murky gray from pollution. In the pitch-black night, however, they shimmered with a beautiful silver light.

The long-haired coats could also block snow.

Each time Mr. Jing and Mrs. Jing went to work, they would wear their coats. The heavy snowflakes couldn’t hit their faces, instead accumulating on the long-haired clothes. Once inside, they just had to pat and shake the snow off. If it had been cotton clothing, the snow would melt from the indoor warmth, and the clothes would definitely get soaked.

Jing Shu was conducting experiments to cultivate long-haired balls, but no results were apparent in the short term. Experiments #1, #2, and #4 had all failed. Even the breeding speed within her dimensional Space was unsatisfactory. While the Spiritual Spring could accelerate breeding, using it for this purpose would be pointless. Her Spiritual Spring’s daily consumption and regeneration were almost perfectly balanced, and she was meticulously trying to save a little bit each day.

It seems that mass-cultivating long-haired balls is going to be very difficult.

If it were simple, everyone in the country would probably have a set of long-haired clothes by now.

But Jing Shu didn’t give up. She continued to record various indicators and experimental methods daily. She reminded herself that she had, after all, successfully found a way to cultivate red earthworms before.

"You can’t go anywhere during this time. Just stay home obediently and help me prepare for the New Year. Oh, these old bones of mine, how can I possibly prepare so many things?" Grandma Jing held Jing Shu’s hand, chattering endlessly. There was truly no one else at home. Zijin, with whom she usually chatted the most, wasn’t around, nor was Wu You’ai. Only her granddaughter Jing Shu remained, and Grandma Jing didn’t dare let her out of her sight anymore.

Speaking of Zijin, I plan to bring her back in a few months. In my previous life, without my influence, Zijin had stayed put. But in this life, with my help, Zijin has accomplished what she wanted to do. Regardless, I need to bring Zijin to my side and keep an eye on her before the migration, just to be safe.

"Grandma, the snow is getting heavier, and the weather is getting worse. Natural gas will become scarcer in the future; we should prepare and freeze the cooked food sooner rather than later."

In the past, Jing Shu would at least prepare semi-finished products, but that wasn’t an option now.

Jing Shu had emphasized this long ago, and now Grandma Jing didn’t object. They always needed to store more; she was afraid that one day the natural gas supply would be cut off, and they wouldn’t be able to cook. What would the whole family eat then?

This year, Grandma Jing didn’t plan to keep many livestock. The situation in Wu City was still relatively stable. However, in Xinlan and several surrounding cities, heavy snowfall had already led to many deaths from starvation and freezing. Word was that numerous people were flocking to Wu City. Security in Wu City had recently become very strict. Many refugees had previously tried to sneak in, hoping for at least one meal a day. Now, with the weather so cold, people were surely still trying to slip in through various routes.

In any case, fearing the exposure of her family’s situation, Grandma Jing ordered the slaughter of over half the chickens and ducks. "We’ll keep fewer livestock this year and see how things go next year."

"Okay," Jing Shu agreed. "Let’s not breed the Dinosaur Chickens for the time being either, to avoid attracting attention from those with ulterior motives."

*The Dinosaur Chicken thought: Thank you for letting me catch my breath! I really don’t want to be a breeding chicken!!*

The snow continued to fall, sometimes as heavy goose-feather snow, other times as light flurries. Roads became impassable, and it felt as if the entire world was buried beneath the snow. When all the houses were covered by snowdrifts so deep that even clearing it was impossible, the Wu City people still never considered leaving. The apocalypse had arrived; wasn’t survival the same struggle everywhere?

Sigh, I still have to go through it all over again, Jing Shu thought.

Just as Jing Shu was struggling to define her feelings, the official document regarding her reward finally arrived.

Even though the Wucheng Town Government was a bit slow in handling matters, they were indeed processing them. Jun Jia had made promises early on, and her contribution of two truckloads of Insect Cake, along with various subsequent actions, had been recorded on the internal "Contribution Value" wall.

Hah, to put it bluntly, it was just the internal network dangling a huge, possibly empty, promise in front of you.

Jing Shu was all too familiar with this routine. The Medicine Association also had an internal Contribution Value system. The higher your Contribution Value, the more tiers you unlocked, allowing you to exchange points for internal items.

So far, my Contribution Value at the Medicine Association isn’t enough to exchange for the most confidential items. Those things are just for show.

I was quite excited at first, but I’ve become much more composed about it since.

But today, Jun Bao—yes, the very Jun Bao who had made several bold moves right after Jiang Jiang took office—casually told her, "Your Contribution Value can now unlock the most crucial items. Would you like to come take a look and exchange for something?"