Getting rich quietly at home and living like royalty was already enough, but raising livestock to sell? That's just asking for trouble!
She'd seen what the fifth year of the apocalypse looked like, when people were so hungry their eyes turned green. The moment someone collapsed, that meant they were dead, and their bodies would get dragged away into the dark and secretly eaten. The government sometimes pretended not to see, because even the national reserves had been emptied and there was nothing left to hand out.
If back then her family had chickens and ducks running around, making noise day and night, she wouldn't have worried about thieves stealing them. No, she'd have been scared of having to kill desperate people in self-defense, only to end up being made an example of. She could already imagine the headline: "A Certain Miss Jing, overwhelmed by guilt after accidentally killing a starving citizen, donates all her food before taking her own life to atone for her sin…"
Luckily, it was still only the third year. The people her mother chatted with were mostly talking about raising chickens, ducks, or planting crops. It had even become a trend to apply for official livestock licenses. The bumpkins envied the rich folks with their BMWs and Benzes, but their eyes hadn't turned green yet. After all, killing or stealing a licensed chicken meant hard labor until death.
"Still, it's not like we can't raise them," her mother said. "We just need to follow the proper regulations, raise them for the government, not for ourselves."
Jing Shu narrowed her eyes. She was determined to raise those Lion Head geese anyway. She needed more space, and she'd been thinking about it on the way home. Sure, she could raise a batch inside her Cube Space, but she also wanted some at the villa. Now that they had the land, it was perfect.
She smiled. "Alright then, if everyone wants to raise them, let's finish fixing up the yard first. I just hope we don't attract people like last year who threw Molotovs when they couldn't steal anything. Or worse, have officials come confiscate everything."
Grandma Jing's face turned pale. "Let's not rush. We'll talk again once your dad and grandpa finish fixing up the courtyard," she said quickly, already backing out of the idea.
Jing Shu began organizing all the supplies she'd brought back. Some went into the basement, some into the fridge. She even took out a few things from her Cube Space, but didn't mention that to her family. She liked to keep a trump card hidden. Later, if she took out something weird, she could just shrug and say, "Oh, that? I brought it back from America ages ago. You didn't know?"
It was her habit to record where every item was stored, whether in the basement or her Cube Space. It made things easier to find later. But after that trip to America, her stockpile had both shrunk and expanded, and everything was now a mess.
"When I get the chance, I'll swing by Li Yuetian's place and pick up the rest of the supplies from America, then redo my inventory," she muttered. Jing Shu was basically a hoarder hamster. She didn't just love stockpiling, she loved counting it all over again every now and then—it gave her a sense of security and satisfaction.
Within a short time, she'd drawn up a half-month plan. Once she completed that, she'd start prepping for the fourth year—solving the landslide problem—and then move on to migration plans for the fifth. Busy, busy, busy!
——
Soon after, her Maternal Eldest Uncle's family arrived, and her Paternal Third Aunt, Jing Lai, finally came back from the cafeteria, looking exhausted. Even her long-lost cousin, Wu You'ai, looked drained. It was obvious work had been rough lately.
Grandma Jing had already prepared a welcome dinner at the villa. Originally, they hadn't planned to invite her Maternal Eldest Uncle, Su Yiyang, today—it would've seemed a little sudden—but since Jing Shu wanted to discuss something important, it turned out to be perfect timing.
Her uncle chuckled. "Little sister, we've gotten quite a few nice things lately. Here, these plums are for you to try. They're a bit sour since there's no sunlight. Oh, and a pack of Yuxi cigarettes for Father and your husband, for when they wanna relax a bit."
"Come on, you didn't have to bring anything!" Su Lanzhi said with a broad smile. It wasn't about the gifts, really, but the thought behind them.
The same polite words said since ancient times.
"Jing Shu, I heard you came back, so I brought something special for you. Hope you'll like it," Wu You'ai said, tossing over a small glass bottle filled with a dark green liquid that looked exactly like filthy drain water, sealed with a wooden cork.
Jing Shu took a sniff, and her face immediately twisted. "Holy shit! It really is drain water! What the hell is this?"
"It's a new project my mentor and I developed, called Spirulina algal bloom. It's an algae species, now classified under cyanobacteria. It was one of the earliest photosynthetic oxygen-releasing organisms, responsible for transforming Earth's atmosphere from anoxic to oxygen-rich," Wu You'ai explained proudly.
Yep, this was exactly the kind of conversation that gave Jing Shu headaches. Ever since she was reborn, not understanding a word out of her genius cousin's mouth had been one of her biggest frustrations.
Wu You'ai sighed. "Basically, it's that green layer floating on the surface of drain water. Before the apocalypse, during summer, frogs and tadpoles loved swimming in it."
Now that, Jing Shu understood.
She nodded seriously. "Right, I know this stuff. I've seen it a lot—it's disgusting! Especially after floods, you see thick layers of it everywhere, it smells awful, and sometimes even stinks of rotting corpses. So, what's it good for?"
In all her ten years of surviving the apocalypse, she'd never seen that slime do anything useful.
Was Wu You'ai messing with her, or testing her intelligence?
"It can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it into protein. It's useful as fertilizer for rice paddies and as feed for fish. It also absorbs harmful substances and purifies water," Wu You'ai said.
Ah, now she got it. Fertilizer and fish feed.
But the fish in her Cube Space and ponds had all drunk Spirit Spring water—they'd eat anything. Fertilizer or not, algae or not, didn't make much difference.
Jing Shu shook the bottle. "That's all? It's kinda little."
Wu You'ai shook her head. "This is the concentrated raw form. My mentor and I spent half a year restructuring its composition. It can be cultivated and expanded easily. Just pour it on carrion or any protein source, and it'll multiply rapidly. Theoretically, it can reproduce infinitely. You can use it as fish feed or fertilizer. Though, I'd suggest you test it first. Our test subject, Fish No. 101, is still alive."
Jing Shu rested her chin in her hand, eyes lighting up. "So you're saying I can use corpses or bugs to grow tons of this algae, and it'll basically become free feed?"
If that was true, she'd just struck gold! Feed in this apocalypse was as precious as food itself. This could solve half her problems. A self-sustaining, lossless production cycle—absolutely perfect!
Wu You'ai nodded. "In theory, yes. But there are still many uncontrollable factors."
===
The original text is 螺旋藻藻华 (Luóxuán zǎo zǎo huá), which refers to a large, concentrated accumulation of Spirulina in a body of water.
Spirulina: This is the scientific name for the genus "螺旋藻 (Luóxuán zǎo)".
Algal Bloom: This is the term for the phenomenon of "藻华 (Zǎo huá)" (algae multiplying rapidly and forming dense, visible patches).