novelraw Chapter 88: Mealworm Feed, Goodbye Marsil
Chapter 88: Mealworm Feed, Goodbye Marsil
Yu Yuan left Dale's place, and it had already been four hours.
The Magician's Ring now contained a box of insect eggs and a complete insect breeding kit.
According to Dale, mealworms were actually quite easy to cultivate. You just needed to control the temperature, humidity, and food supply—the mealworms would handle everything else.
As for the scavenger corpses here, they were left for Dale to deal with.
With the scavenger threat eliminated and unexpectedly gaining mealworms, Yu Yuan had no intention of continuing exploration and quickly returned to his shelter.
While returning through the District 15 sewer, Yu Yuan remained vigilant for any signs of the Giant Mutant Rat. He'd been constantly thinking about how to eliminate this menace.
But after the previous attack, that creature had clearly become much more cautious. It no longer rested in fixed locations, instead constantly changing positions like a guerrilla fighter—making it extremely troublesome to deal with.
This also indicated the Giant Mutant Rat's intelligence level wasn't low at all.
He returned to the shelter without incident and set up a dedicated breeding area for the mealworms. According to Dale, this batch of mealworm eggs would take 3-4 days to hatch.
Yu Yuan hadn't brought back many eggs this time, considering this was his first attempt at hatching them.This batch of eggs was just his experimental trial—the main supply was still with Dale.
In a few days, he would need to visit Dale again to collect a batch of already hatched mealworms, which would form the foundation of his real cultivation efforts.
Naturally, Yu Yuan had considered whether Dale might try to escape. Bringing back this initial batch of eggs early was precisely to guard against such a possibility.
Watching the properly arranged mealworm eggs, a smile tugged at the corner of Yu Yuan's mouth.
Although they were just mealworm eggs, one had to admit they were truly rare treasures in the wasteland.
Highly adaptable, extremely low cultivation requirements, minimal food consumption, high food output, and exceptional nutritional value.
They were practically the chosen food for the post-apocalyptic wasteland, especially in terms of protein and fat content—outclassing all other meats.
"Now I'm finally starting to become self-sufficient!"
Thinking this, Yu Yuan's gaze turned toward the kitchen.
"If that's the case, then a Level 3 kitchen won't be sufficient anymore..."
He opened the [Kitchen] construction list in the Virtual Light Screen.
To maximize the nutritional value of mealworms, there was only one method: dry them into solid matter, meaning finding ways to reduce the moisture content within the larvae. The simplest approach was undoubtedly using a drying machine.
"It actually requires a Level 5 kitchen!"
In the upgrade list, Level 4 kitchen added a sink, single-door refrigerator, and range hood, while Level 5 kitchen added a steam-baking combo machine, and the refrigerator upgraded to a double-door model.
But to build a Level 4 kitchen, he needed Level 3 [Ventilation] and Level 3 [Walls]—clearly not something achievable in a short time.
"Then I'll just find a small drying machine first. Even without facility enhancement bonuses, it should be more than adequate just for drying purposes."
Yu Yuan understood perfectly what he needed right now.
He immediately formed a plan.
As for the small drying machine, he seemed to recall seeing one in the Teardrop Mole Woman's kitchen before. He just hadn't been able to take it earlier because there were too many other items to carry. Now was the time to bring it back.
"Perfect timing—I haven't been there for several days. I wonder how Masier's research is progressing!"
Regardless, this was Yu Yuan's first investment, so he felt some anticipation.
Activating the Flamethrower defense, he rode Mie Mie toward District 11.
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After several days away, Canchino Street appeared even more desolate.
Wild weeds grew rampantly across the lawns in front of the residences.
Yu Yuan, familiar with the route, entered the Teardrop Mole Woman's house and went straight to the kitchen to pack up the small drying machine for transport.
Afterward, he didn't rush to check on Masier's situation. Instead, he began searching house by house along Canchino Street.
Last time he had only searched part of the residences here. Since he was making this trip anyway, and yesterday's gathering at the Financial Center Tower had opened another window for Taotao Hole transactions...
Soon, players still browsing Taotao Hole saw industrial and household items appearing one after another in the trading section, with prices generally 15-20% lower than usual.
They knew that big shot from yesterday was making moves again!
Some clever individuals, before others could react, quickly placed orders for the items they needed.
Some speculators began rapidly buying up normally expensive scarce items, planning to resell them at higher prices for profit later.
Many others watched as goods kept being listed and then purchased, wondering who was this formidable—had they infiltrated the city districts to procure supplies?
Some players living closer to the city, watching the accumulating transaction numbers, felt their previously fearful hearts toward the districts beginning to stir with temptation.
In summary, when players saw this batch of supplies, they all chose actions most suitable for their financial situations.
Correspondingly, transaction completion notifications continuously scrolled across the light screen, but Yu Yuan only occasionally glanced at them before ignoring the stream.
Instead, he looked delightedly at the half bag of wheat flour in his hand.
"This is already the third bag—I've probably collected about ten pounds by now!"
Flour stored for this long was clearly no longer edible.
But when Yu Yuan picked up some flour, rubbed it between his fingers, and checked its dryness, the pleased expression on his face didn't diminish.
He couldn't eat it, but the mealworms could!
Wheat flour was the best food for raising mealworms, though according to Professor Dale, such precious food wasn't necessary for feeding mealworms—wheat bran was completely sufficient.
But the current situation was that expired or unusable flour and grains were relatively easy to find in the city, while finding wheat bran was practically impossible.
Even Dale had barely managed until now only because of the wheat bran he brought from the laboratory, and even then, his remaining supply was almost gone.
Therefore, gathering food for the mealworms was also a main reason for Yu Yuan's trip to Canchino Street tonight.
And so, Yu Yuan gathered and sold items along the way. By the time he reached Number 7 Canchino Street, Masier's residence, it was nearly 6:00 in the morning.
The wall outside Masier's place was completely empty.
No circle had been drawn, clearly indicating Masier's research wasn't complete yet. Yu Yuan wasn't discouraged. Although he didn't understand research, he knew that research depended on both capability and luck.
Professional matters should be left to professionals—he wouldn't worry about that.
Still, he walked around the exterior walls of Masier's residence before shrinking into a corner to wait quietly.
He didn't have to wait long.
Masier's head peeked out from the door crack.