Magic Space: Struggling to Survive in the Apocalypse

Chapter 162: Roast Duck, Sandstorm

"We could become sworn brothers and treat each other as such. Or we could become sworn sisters, inseparable and sharing everything."

Ronan Kendrick was speechless.

"Are you kidding me?"

Evelyn Ford chuckled. "Of course not! Let’s go home. I’m getting sleepy."

Ronan Kendrick watched her walk away, completely baffled. ’Why can’t we be like Quincy and Wyatt Vaughn?’

—

After Quincy and Wyatt Vaughn got together, the biggest change started with their appearance.

They wore neat clothes, their faces and hair were clean, and even their beards were meticulously shaved.

This was the self-discipline that came with being in a relationship.

Wyatt Vaughn had brought over three of the wild boars, leaving just one with Miles Vaughn. Evelyn Ford saw Quincy working on the pigsty while Wyatt Vaughn washed clothes by the pond. A few of the older women were chatting, and the sounds of children laughing and playing drifted up from downstairs. Evelyn took out ten kilograms of wheat, planning to sprout it and make some maltose.

Suddenly, two eagles appeared in the sky, diving toward the chicken coop to snatch the chicks. The adults waved branches, trying to drive them away.

Luckily, everyone reacted quickly, and the eagles didn’t succeed. However, to prevent them from returning, everyone with a coop covered it securely.

With the new supply of bamboo, many people in the safe zone built bamboo houses. Some even moved out of the main building to live in them.

Evelyn Ford was tempted to bring out her log cabin. Fortunately, the base had planted fir trees. Once they grew a bit larger, she could find a more remote spot and move out under the pretext of building a cabin. Then, she could finally set hers up.

After all, living in the main building was far too crowded now, and climbing the stairs every day was exhausting.

Evelyn Ford left half of the maltose she made for Ronan Kendrick and took the other half to share with everyone else.

"I’d almost forgotten what sugar tastes like. It’s so sweet." Serena Lynch was full of admiration. "Evelyn, is there anything you can’t do?"

"Maltose is easy to make; I can teach you. But it takes five kilograms of malt to make just half a kilogram of sugar, so it uses up a lot of grain."

Serena Lynch’s newfound interest was extinguished in an instant.

"Never mind then. That’s too much of a waste."

Wendy, Annie, and Cherie each got an extra piece.

"Miss Ford, I didn’t know you could make sugar from wheat!"

"Of course you can."

Evelyn Ford basked in another wave of admiring gazes. When she returned home, Ronan Kendrick was still staring at the maltose she had left for him, observing it.

"Why aren’t you eating it?"

"Evelyn Ford, just how much more do you have stored in that brain of yours?"

Evelyn Ford was amused by him. "Don’t be too surprised. I know how to do a lot of things."

Ronan Kendrick didn’t say anything, just quietly watched her.

A month and a half later, the ewe was pregnant again. Many people wanted to reserve the lambs, but Evelyn Ford only planned to trade two, keeping the rest to raise herself.

It was time to butcher another batch of chickens and ducks from the coop. Evelyn Ford planned to make some roasted chicken and duck.

"I have an electric griddle. We can make some thin pancakes, slice the roast duck, and eat it wrapped in the pancakes."

"Do we need to build a roasting oven then?"

Evelyn Ford shook her head. "I have an oven. We can just use that."

They got to work right away, dividing the labor. Ronan Kendrick went to butcher the chickens and ducks, while Evelyn Ford made the thin pancakes, mixed the sauce, and prepared side dishes like shredded cucumber and carrot.

Ronan Kendrick butchered fifty birds in one go. Evelyn Ford was beginning to suspect he’d been a butcher in a past life; his knife work was swift, precise, and ruthless. The others thought Evelyn was going to make smoked duck, so they didn’t ask too many questions. After all, every household now smoked chicken and duck to preserve their food.

Taylor Vance had also led a team to dig four cellars to better preserve vegetables.

Evelyn Ford was a whirlwind of activity. She first made a large pot of sauce, and after it cooled completely, she poured it into a large crock for storage.

They had to make a lot of pancakes. She herself could eat twenty in one sitting, and Ronan Kendrick’s appetite was three or four times hers. Every time Evelyn cooked, she based the quantity on his appetite.

The ducks’ downy feathers were hard to pluck, so Evelyn Ford mixed a bucket of a depilatory paste. You just had to apply it, wait for it to dry, and then peel it off. It was non-toxic and very convenient.

The oven only had two racks, so Evelyn Ford brought out three ovens, allowing her to roast six birds at a time.

For a doctor, slicing was the simplest of tasks, but Evelyn Ford left this job to Ronan Kendrick.

Both of them were the type who didn’t feel fatigue when they were busy. By midnight, while others were deep asleep, the two were still slicing meat and making pancakes.

"Try a bite."

Evelyn Ford rolled one up with sliced meat and condiments and handed it to Ronan Kendrick.

The pancake was very thin and carried the fragrance of flour. After eating it, Ronan Kendrick’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Evelyn Ford.

"It’s delicious."

Evelyn Ford grinned. "Then let’s make a lot more and store them in the space."

Ronan Kendrick nodded. "I’ll expand the coop and raise another batch of chickens and ducks."

Evelyn Ford was at a loss for words.

In fact, there were still many cleaned chickens and ducks in her space. But seeing how motivated he was, she didn’t stop him.

"Okay. Actually, you can also wrap roast suckling pig in these pancakes."

Ronan Kendrick gulped. "But we don’t have any pigs."

"Are you silly? Didn’t we hunt a lot of wild boars on Broken Cloud Mountain?"

A corner of Ronan Kendrick’s mouth lifted into a small smile. "I thought we ate them all."

"Don’t worry, we have more than we can eat."

"Actually, roast lamb is even tastier," Ronan Kendrick said, looking at her with an expectant expression.

Evelyn Ford huffed. "Then I’m definitely not making roast lamb."

A hint of a smile flashed in Ronan Kendrick’s eyes. He didn’t argue, just lowered his head and continued working.

Outside, others were herding sheep, cutting grass to feed the rabbits, tending the vegetable patches, and feeding their own chickens and ducks.

The two of them were still making roast duck, tirelessly engrossed in their work.

"This batch is done. We’ll make more some other time. I’m dead tired." Evelyn Ford put the last container into her space and collapsed onto a chair, her hands trembling.

"You get some sleep. I’m going downstairs to check on things." Ronan Kendrick went out with a sickle. Evelyn Ford glanced at Mina and Lola, who had just strolled back in, quickly washed up, and then lay down and fell asleep.

A few hours later, Evelyn Ford woke up. Ronan Kendrick told her that the sandstorm outside the safe zone had gotten worse.

"Let me check the temperature."

She took out a thermometer. Seeing it read thirty degrees Celsius, Evelyn Ford sighed.

"The high temperatures I was dreading the most have arrived."

Before the apocalypse, the highest temperature ever recorded in this country was 50.2°C, and the lowest was -52.3°C.

Evelyn Ford stood on the balcony. She could see the lush Four Seasons Green inside the safe zone, as well as the bamboo and trees on the periphery.

Taylor Vance still didn’t dare to be careless. Even though they had a water source, he had people store large quantities of water in earthen vats in the cellars.

The people in the safe zone, afraid the sandstorms would carry away the chickens and ducks they had worked so hard to raise, began to dig up small bamboo shoots to plant outside. The withered grass of the Four Seasons Green could also be buried in the soil to act as a windbreak.

Around the very perimeter, everyone used mud bricks and stones to build a thick, protective wall.

To protect their home, every single person was working hard.

Evelyn Ford went out to scatter another round of seeds. This time, she scattered twenty-five kilograms, covering the entire three-kilometer radius.

No matter how strong the sandstorms became, they had to protect this last oasis.