novelraw Chapter 700: Solution
Chapter 700: Solution
Right, Jing Shu’s red worm factory did need a substantial number of rotten corpse insects to cultivate algae. But this "substantial" was relative. There was an absolute abundance of rotten corpse insects currently. However, according to a certain ratio, if Jing Shu were to use all the rotten corpse insects for breeding red earthworms, then the Spiritual Spring and Blood-colored Spiritual Spring would be far from enough. Now that there was synthetic meat, and soon there would be giant-sized food, Jing Shu really didn’t need to use such precious Spiritual Spring to convert a large number of red earthworms.
If breeding red earthworms didn’t require Spiritual Spring, only rotten corpse insects, Jing Shu could definitely breed as many as possible and spread the factories all over Huaxia without any problems. This way, everyone would have enough food.
Relying on the rotten corpse insects consumed by the red worm factory, currently, only the area around the factory could be cleaned, which utterly failed to deal with the massive amount of corrosive insects in Wu City. Mutated rotten corpse insects surged from the sea, crawling everywhere, thickly layered on the ground—even more numerous than the red earthworms of the past!
Jing Shu also had the factory manager take advantage of the current abundance of rotten corpse insects—a free raw material—to stockpile as much as possible. They would sun-dry and preserve it for a few years, and then raw materials would not be a concern. Previously, that’s what Jing Shu did.
Actually, in her previous life, the problem of rotten corpse insects was never solved, nor did it need to be. In this life, after everyone had enough to eat, they really started to focus on the issue of rotten corpse insects, especially those standing at the top of the pyramid. The threshold of the Medicine Association had almost been trampled down recently. Everyone, whether they had connections or not, wanted to get some mugwort from the Medicine Association to fumigate, but how could the supply possibly meet such massive demand for fumigation?
Relatives and friends close to Jing Shu all received Mugwort Pillars made by Mr. Jing. These burned longer, the smoke was thicker, and burning one for fifteen minutes could drive away the rotten corpse insects in a house for a whole day without issue.
"The problem with rotten corpse insects really needs to be addressed. During the excavation of the Underground City, rotten corpse insects always burst out, making the digging work difficult."
"Rotten corpse insects have become my shadow. I wake up every day covered in bumps. New ones form before the old ones have healed."
"The most terrifying thing is not knowing when they will crawl into your clothes and wiggle around. It’s just unnerving!"
The hall was in a chaotic mess, everyone complaining about these indomitable rotten corpse insects.
"Maybe some mosquito repellent? Special medicine? Sterilization spray? Sterilizing male insects?" someone suggested.
At this moment, Big Yellow Teeth, who was next to Jing Shu, spoke up loudly, "I don’t agree with planting mugwort. Our Medicine Association has already grown a large batch for the Township Government, and next, we are going to grow some lifesaving herbs."
Jing Shu sat in her chair, holding a thermal mug. She occasionally took a sip and even chewed now and then. No one knew what she was eating.
Jun Bao sat in the principal seat and lightly coughed. "Alright, stop arguing. From now on, only offer suggestions. Only state what solutions you have, and nothing else. Also, no more talk about mosquito repellent, pesticides, or anything that increases the demand on planting resources."
The hall quieted down.
Indeed, dealing with the rotten corpse insects using mosquito repellent and worm-killing medicine was overwhelming. Stepping down could crush an entire nest. With them now buried under snow in this frigid weather, such methods were merely temporary fixes that wasted planting resources tremendously.
What could be done then?
If anything could motivate the hard-working and simple people of Huaxia—besides eating a species into extinction—what else could possibly drive them with such absolute determination?
"How about we hire fifty thousand people to specifically dredge and clean up the rotten corpse insects?" someone proposed. "Or we could even pay them, say, a few Virtual Coins per thousand pounds, just like with the red earthworms. I refuse to believe we can’t clean them up completely! Even if we can’t get rid of all of them, it will greatly alleviate the current situation. Anyway, Virtual Coins are issued by us; we can issue as many as we want..."
Someone immediately objected, "People today lack a sense of security. Believe it or not, even if you offer one Virtual Coin per thousand pounds, those people would bankrupt you! Once they get Virtual Coins, they would immediately buy food. Do you have enough food to meet that kind of demand?"
"Then why not just raise the price of food? Wouldn’t they still buy it? Raise it a few times, and they’d essentially become free labor..."
Heh, everyone had used this trick before; no need to pretend otherwise, right?
Jun Bao patted the table and said indifferently, "Basic food prices will not increase unless there’s a special circumstance."
Alright, that idea was rejected.
Jing Shu tapped on her insulated cup, remembering the fat chicken and other livestock at home. They ate any bugs, including rotten corpse insects. She had never found it strange. Aren’t livestock supposed to eat insects anyway?
However, a few days ago, Mr. Jing had come back complaining that there were too many rotten corpse insects. The chickens in the factory had eaten several of these insects and had fallen ill. Now, they had placed all the livestock in sealed houses and disinfected them daily.
That meant rotten corpse insects couldn’t become regular livestock feed due to the large amount of bacteria they contained, which could cause illness if consumed.
But Jing Shu’s livestock, having drunk diluted Spiritual Spring, weren’t afraid.
So...
The hall became noisy again, everyone discussing solutions back and forth. Someone mentioned that although there was enough food for now, it wouldn’t hurt to have more in case the situation worsened in the future.
"So, we should still set up a rotten corpse insect food processing factory and turn the rotten corpse insects into food to be sold at the lowest price," someone suggested.
"Or perhaps find a research team to see if they can develop a way to make them edible."
"Who will pay for the research costs? Who will cover the material costs? How much time will it take, and is success even guaranteed?" another countered.
After an hour of discussion, they still hadn’t come up with a clear plan.
Jun Bao called Jing Shu’s name, "Do you have an idea?"
Jing Shu nodded. "Earlier, we discussed collecting rotten corpse insects by the thousand pounds and setting up a processing factory. This idea is feasible. Collecting millions of tons would at least prevent them from overrunning us." If the infestation continued to worsen, the entire city might be devoured by rotten corpse insects. By the time people migrated back, they would find nothing but barren land.
Big Yellow Teeth looked shocked. "Apprentice, you want to process rotten corpse insects into food for sale? Who would eat that? The labor costs alone would be too high! If it were 1 Virtual Coin, everyone would rather eat the Insect Cakes you make."
"The thing is, now everyone has a job and meals are provided. Who would bother eating those bitter, diarrhea-causing rotten corpse insects daily?"
"Sell them to other places? But wouldn’t transportation be difficult? The transportation costs would be so high."
Jing Shu smiled. "The processing factory I’m opening isn’t for humans."
"For livestock? But livestock fall ill too if they eat them."
Jing Shu continued, "It’s meant for Dark Creatures. I plan to cultivate a batch of Dark Creatures."
"Dark Creatures? They indeed can eat rotten corpse insects. Dark Creatures even eat soil."
"But the Dark Creatures that have appeared in Wu City... what kind is edible besides the Insect meat from West Mountain?"
"It seems there are none. Either they’re all shell with no meat, or they’re poisonous."
"What kind of Dark Creatures do you plan to cultivate? Can they use up tens of millions of tons of rotten corpse insects?"
Jing Shu smiled without answering. Of course, it wasn’t the rotten mermaids or Xiao Wei’s Insect Clan she was thinking of. They could just eat soil.