Ling Jiang looked at Lan Jin and asked, "Pots, spatulas, we have all that at home, but how do we cook? Use a stove?"
There was a stove, but even if they used it continuously, it wouldn't produce much food in a day.
Lan Jin, however, had all the necessary tools. "I have generators in my space, diesel ones, but those are really loud and I don't have much diesel. I want to save that for now. But when I bought them, I also got treadmill generators. You just run on them and they charge a battery. Then we can use the battery to power an electric cooker. I have several induction cookers in my space, and matching big pots. I want to use these to cook."
The key was that these made very little noise. The treadmill generators were far quieter than diesel generators. Lan Jin had tested them in the space. Except for the noise while running, everything else was normal.
They knew Lan Jin was well-prepared, but they didn't expect her to be this thorough. Since everything was ready, there was no need to worry.
After discussion, they set up the cooking area in Room 3201, the place where they had made charcoal before. The wood in this room had all been converted into charcoal, leaving enough space to cook. The other three empty rooms were still stacked with wood, so the only usable rooms were these.
Lan Jin first found the most open spot and brought out the treadmill generator. There was no electricity at all, so Huang Jinghe was the first to experiment and charge the battery a little.
Lan Jin explained, "When I bought this, the seller said running one or two hours would meet a day's cooking electricity. I tried it before and it seemed a little off, so if we want to store food, we might need to take turns running."
That wasn't a problem for them. Lao Gao said, "Exercise and cook at the same time. Not bad. Maybe I can modify my treadmill to do the same."
"Let's not waste time on that. Start cooking now," Lan Jin said.
Since it was for themselves, the dishes had a balance of meat and vegetables.
The vegetables grown in the space didn't need washing. Pick a few, chop them, and they could go straight into the pot. With the induction cookers' strong heat, the three of them could cook the same dish together. Several pots later, one large barrel was already one-third full.
Lan Jin had imagined that they could cook a lot together, but she didn't expect this much.
Grandma Ling was also boiling two pots of chicken soup and duck soup nearby. These only needed two or three hours to finish, and tomorrow they would start on pork rib soup. No one was idle.
After a full day, everyone had taken turns around the cooking stations, and the aroma made them extremely satisfied. "Smells so good. Maybe we haven't eaten this for too long, or maybe your ingredients are just good. Smells amazing."
Lan Jin said, "The vegetables are grown in the space, so they taste better than outside. The rest I bought earlier. Maybe it's because I had you add Spiritual Spring Water while cooking. Even I can smell how good it is."
The soups were all made with Ling Spring Water. Even if the chicken or duck wasn't perfect, adding Spiritual Spring Water balanced the flavors.
They spent the entire day smelling these dishes and it made them restless with hunger.
For dinner, Lan Jin served each person a whole chicken with vegetables and rice.
Fearing they might refuse, she said, "Don't be polite. I only serve like this because we've been so busy these past few days. Smelling the food while cooking is unbearable. It won't be like this later."
Who was really uncomfortable?
It was those still living nearby.
A few days after waking, they smelled the hotpot being cooked in their home. It had only been a few days, and the aroma of the soup overflowed. They spent the whole day swallowing their saliva, afraid to step outside. The neighborhood wasn't even safe yet, and everyone had limited food left. It was a truly pitiful scene.
"Humans, yet what lives those four lead, and what lives we lead," one murmured.
"If you want, go steal. Or we go together. Worst case, fight to the death."
"They just saved us. A few days in, and we want to steal from them? And those thirty-plus people before were clearly dangerous, but they couldn't even touch those four. We're nothing to them."
"Exactly. Why go looking for death?"
"I still wonder why they saved us. Wouldn't it be better if we were dead?"
"But didn't they explain? The worms stay active even if we die. When I briefly woke during my memory blackout, I realized they didn't lie. We also saw their injuries."
"Yes, I also woke briefly. I barely remember the frenzy, but I saw how deadly they were even when crazy. Yet they could handle us. That shows how terrifying they are."
"Basically, don't tempt fate. We didn't provoke them, so there's no need to because they saved us."
After this worm incident, the nearby households had actually united. With so few people left, living together increased their survival chances.
For three consecutive days, they cooked all kinds of vegetables at home. On the fourth day, they moved on to meat dishes: braised pork, braised pig's feet, meatballs, sweet and sour ribs. Every meat dish was doable, and none were impossible.
But meat took much longer to cook. Each dish took several times longer than vegetables. They worked for three more days and only produced a few barrels of meat dishes, not yet full.
For now, time was their most plentiful resource. Lan Jin said, "Keep cooking the meat dishes. I want to fry chicken wings and legs for Qiao Qiao, and make dog food for Nana."
"Alright, you handle it. Two stoves are enough for the meat. We also have soup. After a few days of boiling, we can make some other easy soups."
Lan Jin smiled. "Immortal soups. I made seaweed egg soup and tomato egg soup for Qiao Qiao before. Both are simple, just need hot water."