I Am Cultivating in the Apocalypse

Chapter 697: Synthetic Meat on Sale

So, the fact that Jing Shu was able to find a large number of clothes for keeping warm was truly like timely rain.

Jing Shu also felt that the success of synthetic meat and Giant Cell Meat had come just at the right time, more than half a year earlier than in her previous life. How many lives could be saved during this period? If everyone could survive, no one would come to her for food anymore! And that was indeed good news.

"Bacterial Meat, or meat from hugely enlarged cells, requires red energy. As per our previous agreement, you need to provide this, and then you will be given a certain percentage," Jun Bao began. "For the synthetic meat, you provided the formula, and I provided the research resources. Wu You’ai and her mentor provided the academic research. From now on, I will privately supply the raw materials, so you get 25%. That’s no problem, right?"

Jing Shu nodded, never having imagined that she would own a stake in the food that would sweep across all of Huaxia in the future—and a substantial stake at that.

This benefit was undoubtedly huge.

This time, it wasn’t just a small-scale operation selling only in Wu City; it was based on the reach of Jun Bao Shop, selling to the entire country!

And the most critical point was that she had, after all, tied her interests with the leader of Wu City. At least, as long as Jun Bao lived, no one would dare to covet this part of the profits.

Well, this business had accidentally become quite big.

Speaking of red energy... she also felt a twinge of reluctance. However, her need for red energy wasn’t as great now, so she could afford to provide some.

And so, the matter was settled.

Regarding the ready-made clothes factory, Jun Bao also agreed. He would find a way to get more machines, letting Jing Shu start up her factory first.

Only after the R&D was successful would the truly busy phase begin.

After all, investing massively in production would bring headaches concerning personnel, raw materials, machines, and trade routes, among other things.

Eventually, Jun Bao decided to increase his investment in those eight red worm factories and then have the Insect Cake Factory process the synthetic meat and the Giant Cell Meat.

Next, they would continue to expand into surrounding cities, acquiring sites, personnel, and so on.

These were not matters she was familiar with, nor did she need to decide or worry about them; all she had to do was manage the meat processed in her own factory.

"The factory in Wu City will start up with the others," Jun Bao said.

"You go back first and hire some more workers. I will arrange for technical staff to come and guide them."

"Synthetic meat will be sold as a mid-range food in the future. After all, its cost and taste are higher than that of cell meat."

Jing Shu nodded; at least synthetic meat tasted like meat.

Cell meat enlarged a thousand times... one literally couldn’t bite into it. It was like eating wood—edible, but with hardly any other advantages.

"By the way, Bone Powder, as a seasoning, can be added to these ingredients to raise the price a bit," Jing Shu recommended her own product. "After all, the Insect Cake with Bone Powder sells very well!"

"Product diversification can promote economic consumption. Agreed."

And so, she and Jun Bao had settled all the details.

Even during the New Year festivities, Jing Shu couldn’t stay idle and hired a few more people.

The Insect Cake Factory would have to be expanded and modified to incorporate synthetic meat and Bacterial Meat; the eight factories in Sichuan would also need to be expanded and modified, and Jun Bao was even planning to build more factories in other cities.

If it weren’t for the fact that the apocalypse had made transportation completely impracticable, Jun Bao would even want Wu City to develop its entire food manufacturing industry with full force and then transport products to various places.

His goal was to turn Wu City into the richest city!

...

"You’ve spread your operations so wide; won’t it be tough to manage everything? I’ve heard that your factories each have six or seven thousand workers," Mrs. Jing expressed her concern.

There was a famine all over the world now, and nowhere had enough food.

Yet her daughter was involving so many people, each with a mouth to feed—how many tons of food would be consumed daily just for them?

Moreover, being in the Ministry of Agriculture, she knew the current situation all too well. Wu City’s Artificial Sun, relying on the city’s abundant resources, was burning through them day after day with reckless abandon. The hard-earned energy produced was all used for cultivation.

It’s not easy to get by in the Ministry of Agriculture these days.

"Your Uncle Niu Mou is so worried every day that he’s practically losing all his hair. The pressure on the Ministry of Agriculture is even greater now than on the Ministry of Finance," Mrs. Jing said.

Finance had always been the most sought-after sector since ancient times. Whenever a region wanted to do anything, whether it was to wage war or upgrade equipment, they needed to allocate funds; even paying salaries required allocated funds.

But now, the Ministry of Finance was like a general without an army. It seemed like there was money for everything—just a vast amount of numbers in big data. They could allocate as much as you wanted, but were there actual resources to back it up?

The Ministry of Agriculture’s recent headache was the need to plant vegetables and cereals.

Cotton could not go unplanted, nor could soybeans. The textile industry, processing industry, materials industry, and so on all needed some resources.

Food is important, but doesn’t society have to keep running?

Minister Niu was being pushed every day to grow various things, but there was only so much land and so many resources available.

This put Mrs. Jing in a difficult position, caught in the middle day after day.

To make matters worse, Mr. Jing occasionally asked Mrs. Jing, "When will you plant more soybeans and produce some soy pulp for feed? Our livestock at the farm are suffering from indigestion from eating Insect Cake every day."

"By the way," he’d add, "the vet said that to increase breeding chances, he’s prescribed a mix of several foods. Can’t you grow those?"

"If you want to grow herbs, go ask your daughter!" Mrs. Jing retorted angrily.

Mr. Jing quietly walked away. He couldn’t afford to provoke either of the two women at home. The Medicine Association was currently focused on growing life-saving herbs; they wouldn’t prioritize growing *those kinds* of herbs for livestock.

Finding ways to increase poultry breeding and improve their nutrition had become Mr. Jing’s most recent source of anxiety.

So, with the situation so grave, it was understandable why Mrs. Jing worried about Jing Shu hiring so many people.

Jing Shu then shared some details about her collaboration with Jun Bao. "Alright, don’t worry anymore. No one in Wu City will starve to death this year."

...

The temperature in Wu City was dropping further, reaching over forty degrees below zero. Without any pressing reason, people were increasingly unwilling to go outside.

Jing Shu really didn’t plan to step outside anymore, deciding instead to work remotely from now on, even if there were matters to attend to.

Wasn’t it nicer to stay home, enjoying fresh fruits and delicious food?

In the evening, she’d spend three hours practicing with her Magic Cube, and the days would pass by just like that.

The clothing factory also quietly opened half a month later.

Next, aside from selling the first batch to West Mountain and another batch to the Township Government, Jing Shu planned to hoard all the subsequent clothing production.

She wasn’t hoarding scarce goods to sell at a premium. People can’t even afford their meals currently; who would have money to buy clothes? Once there’s enough food and work, won’t people have spare money to buy clothes?

The Insect Cake Factory’s extra production of synthetic meat, however, did come out in the first batch.

This time, they introduced two new products: regular synthetic meat cakes for 5 Virtual Coins each, and tasty synthetic meat cakes with Bone Powder for 7 Virtual Coins each.

They were first sold to the various departments of the Township Government, then to the Resource Department and the official workers.

Currently, these groups were the ones with Virtual Coins; ordinary people were still reluctant to indulge. The new synthetic meat was, for now, mostly just a topic of conversation in chat records.

West Mountain didn’t buy any.

After learning about this, Qian Duoduo instead purchased 300 tons of Insect Cake, planning to feed Insect Cake to the official workers as well.