I Am Cultivating in the Apocalypse

Chapter 784: Slap Fried Rice, Hit Me If It’s Not Tasty

It had been over a month of travel. With each factory they opened in a new location, fewer people followed, but the supplies they carried increased even more.

Ahem, wasn’t this unintentionally sweeping up practically all the reasonably priced, high-quality goods and local specialties along this route?

Jing Shu truly broadened her horizons. She gained much insight and tried numerous delicacies she had never eaten before the apocalypse. All the while, she also took in the unique, dark scenery of the post-apocalyptic world, expanding her worldview.

Food is paramount to the people. Shunde is renowned as a gastronomic capital. Her only regret was not having passed through Shunde.

Jing Shu thought with some resentment, Sigh, it’s only about two or three hundred kilometers. If time weren’t so tight, I’d definitely have gone! Feeling a pang as she used them, she then took out five precious and rare packets of seafood broth instant noodles. She squeezed out every last bit of the seasoning packets, even rinsing them with water three times to ensure not a single speck was wasted.

Then she casually added some common seafood ingredients like lobster, abalone, and sea cucumber, not daring to add anything else for fear of ruining the original flavor of the instant noodles.

After all, these were instant noodles that were no longer in production. Each packet eaten was one less, and Jing Shu’s stash was dwindling.

Such regret! Why didn’t I stockpile a whole supermarket’s worth of snacks back then? Why was I so stingy, only buying a few boxes of each kind?

Nowadays, even craving that specific taste of instant noodle soup has become an extravagant wish. I’ve even forgotten what Kangshuai Fu Braised Beef Noodles actually tasted like. I just remember the soup was delicious. There was a time I ate it until I was sick of it, and then, when it was all gone, I missed it terribly.

Fortunately, they had managed to acquire some pre-apocalypse snacks from businesses that hadn’t yet closed down along their journey, which offered some comfort.

Taking advantage of a moment alone, Jing Shu retrieved from her space some KFC classics from back in the day: Colonel’s original recipe chicken pieces, fries, Chicken Nuggets, chicken tenders, Fried Chicken pieces, shrimp cakes, and the like, accompanied by a large taro ball red bean milk tea.

For dessert, she had a slice of cheese durian mille-feuille. BURP. Jing Shu was thoroughly stuffed. The side effect from the Space Spiritual Spring, an increased appetite, was becoming more pronounced. If it weren’t for the Spring’s remarkable output, she genuinely couldn’t have afforded to feed herself. The Jing family’s appetite had increased two to threefold, turning them into true gluttons, in every sense of the word.

Crossing through Guangdong and Guangxi, the food she acquired the most of on this trip was Liuzhou snail rice noodles. The first time she tried them, it took a little getting used to, but afterwards, she simply couldn’t get enough. Those sour, pungent bamboo shoots were just too addictive!

After slurping down snail rice noodles, she moved on to Old Friend Noodles. After Old Friend Noodles, it was Gui Lin rice noodles. Jing Shu slurped so many noodles that blisters formed at the corners of her mouth.

The second most abundant item they collected was salted sea duck eggs and regular salted duck eggs. As an iconic local food, they were cheap, delicious, and satisfying. A single bite into the savory, oily yolk, and Jing Shu could down three huge bowls of rice porridge with it, without even pausing for breath!

She also unlocked a new recipe: Slap-in-the-Face Fried Rice.

Yes, Slap-in-the-Face Fried Rice meant the fried rice was so incredibly, unbelievably delicious that you wouldn’t put down your bowl even if someone slapped you across the face.

Ordinary egg fried rice was already delicious on its own. But to elevate it, one would first use shrimp heads to render an insanely fragrant shrimp oil. Then, crushed salted egg yolks were mixed in and stir-fried with shrimp, carrots, egg liquid, and egg whites. Finally, the soul of the dish—the leftover rice—was added. Sprinkle on some finely chopped scallions as the finishing touch... TSK TSK TSK. That’s how the incredible aroma came about! The magical flavor combination of shrimp oil and salted egg yolk was absolutely, divinely unbeatable!

The mere fact that Jing Shu, her Uncle, and Third Aunt ate Slap-in-the-Face Fried Rice for three days straight was testament enough to how delicious it was!

Having eaten her fill, Jing Shu sprawled on the sofa in a "Ge You slouch," rapidly twisting a Magic Cube in her hands. Since her last upgrade, Jing Shu had re-entered a phase of steadily accumulating experience, just waiting to hit a bottleneck and encounter some fortuitous event that would lead to a breakthrough and another level-up. However, that didn’t seem likely in the short term. Her only option was to venture out and see if there were any BOSSes or Elite Monsters to farm.

Just as she was pondering this, there was a knock on the door of the Hulk.

It was Zhao Yu, the Coordination Minister, responsible for coordinating all major and minor affairs for this trip. Generally, if there was any issue, finding Xiao Zhao was the solution.

The young man, in his twenties, had entered the Elite Team at a young age. Though athletic and muscular, he appeared quite scholarly and polite once dressed. He was amiable, well-liked, and perfectly suited for resolving all sorts of thorny, miscellaneous problems.

Of course, the Coordination Department also had another nickname: the "designated scapegoats." Any problems arising in other departments could be, and often were, pushed onto them.

"Sister Jing, the ferry operators in Zhanjiang and Xuwen still refuse to agree to the price we offered. They insist on a lower price to sign a long-term contract with our Cigarette Factory.

"Otherwise, not only will they refuse to ferry us, but they also won’t handle the transportation for our goods in the future. They’ve calculated that we’re trapped on an isolated island and will definitely need ferries to ship goods out."

Yes, after more than a month of arduous travel, Jing Shu had finally arrived in Zhanjiang. With only about 100 kilometers left to her destination, the South Sea, victory seemed within reach!

But she had also encountered a massive problem.

As everyone knew, the South Sea was an island. To reach it, one had to take a ferry or an airplane. Even before the apocalypse, traveling by train or car to the South Sea involved driving those vehicles onto a ferry, which would then transport them to the island.

Jiang Jiang only needed an hour by ferry to get from Xuwen to the South Sea.

Large ferries could carry thousands of people and hundreds of cars, their size comparable to a football field.

Before the apocalypse, Xuwen was the world’s largest port. Even after the apocalypse, the port hadn’t fallen into decline; freight transport still relied heavily on ferries.

Jing Shu furrowed her brows, her thoughts drifting to her past life. Back then, when they migrated, they were dust-covered and pitiable. Furthermore, with government subsidies and assistance from the local Township Government, the ferry operators had enthusiastically transported all the Wu City People to the South Sea, boatload after boatload. Not only did they not ask for money, but they even provided a meal.

In this life, they had arrived full of vigor, with bulging sacks of supplies, offering generous terms and prices, yet they were now stuck at the port.

Their current trip was for commercial cargo transport, not civilian passage that might be free. Therefore, they had offered a more than adequate price, but the other party was still not satisfied.

The various ferry businesses had formed a Ferry Chamber of Commerce, intending to carve out a hefty slice of the pie from the Cigarette Factory.

"Hey, if you don’t agree to give us your goods at a rock-bottom price, our ferries won’t carry you. You can just stay at the port and suck on the northwest wind! Or, if you’re so capable, go ahead and fly over," they taunted.

Jing Shu’s convoy consisted of military vehicles, cargo trucks, and dozens of vehicles laden with various supplies; they truly needed ferries. But the fundamental problem was that their future ability to transport goods and supplies in the South Sea was being throttled.

It was said that in this apocalypse, providing someone with a meal or finding them a job was no easy feat. However, the Ferry Chamber of Commerce at this port truly had capital. Even the local Township Government had to give them some leeway. After all, half of Zhanjiang’s current population depended on the Ferry Chamber of Commerce for their livelihood.

Speaking of which, Fuel was expensive in the apocalypse. Logically, ferries should be too costly to operate. And indeed, they couldn’t really afford it.

For the first two years of the apocalypse, the ferry operators had actually kept a low profile.

The turning point came with the rotten corpse insects. Without natural predators, these rotten corpse insects in the ocean became virtually invincible, reproducing unchecked. They eventually returned to the port areas in full force, leading to a catastrophic plague.

These rotten corpse insects were inedible and utterly devoid of any practical value. One year, they completely inundated Xuwen. Countless insects swarmed out from the sea, blanketing the sky and submerging Xuwen once more...