Her sudden change of behavior made Su Long immediately beg Grandma Jing to teach him how to make cold skin noodles and gluten. He swore he'd master it fast so Sister Jing could eat her favorite food again and stop saying such creepy things. He was wrong. He regretted everything and vowed never to overeat again.
But Jing Shu was genuinely in a good mood today. The process might've been tiring, but the results were more than worth it. After briefly explaining the situation to her parents, she finished dinner, then locked herself inside her second-floor bedroom in the German MAN RV to start taking stock of all her supplies, available resources, and of course, the gifts everyone had given her.
Xiao Dou was crouched in her nest, glaring fiercely at Yi Hou who was laying eggs like crazy. The ants kept invading her territory, which made the hen increasingly restless.
As Jing Shu checked her current inventory, she began outlining her next steps. Sometimes she had so many things stored that she forgot what she even had or what they were for.
First, today she'd gained 120,000 rounds of ammunition in total. That much could last her a long time, enough for several small-scale battles even if she went all out.
Next were the supplies she'd brought back today. They didn't take up much space, so she sorted and stored them right away. Everyday goods went to the villa area, industrial ones went to the warehouse. As for the food, most of it didn't contain Spirit Spring energy, so she didn't really care for it. She planned to use them as gifts or goodwill offerings—something nice to give her aunts, cousins, and friends.
Anything infused with Spirit Spring properties would be kept for her own family's use.
Finally, she'd traded four million virtual coins' worth of red nematodes and gold for four million worth of supplies, only to spend that same amount again to buy a twenty-acre plot of prime land. She even had to throw in all the virtual coins she'd saved up over the years just to make the down payment. From now on, she'd have to pay off the loan with grain and resources every month.
Jing Shu started jotting down her current issues and future plans:
1. Begin converting and building on the factory land as soon as possible, and work with Jun Jia to solve the housing problem for the nearby few thousand workers.
2. Designate an area inside the factory for raising Sulfuric Acid Ants and extracting sulfuric acid.
As for what the land would mainly be used for, Jing Shu already had a plan—it was for the Spirulina algal bloom that Wu You'ai had given her yesterday.
"Second form!"
With a flick of thought, the god view of her Cube Space appeared before her eyes. She walked past the herd of cattle and sheep and crouched in the corner of the space, staring at the thing she'd cultivated yesterday.
The entire mass was now crawling with layers of carrion scavengers. She'd collected a whole bunch of those disgusting worms from a stinking gutter yesterday, killed them, cleaned them up, and tossed them into the Spirulina bloom as food.
Wu You'ai had told her that as long as these algae had protein, they'd grow and reproduce like crazy. To speed things up, Jing Shu had even added some No. 2 Spirit Spring solution.
And now, in just a single day, the one-cubic-meter section of her Cube Space had been completely overrun by algae!
Once the algae were ready, Jing Shu moved a portion over to the red nematodes. The algae could synthesize protein and bound nitrogen by themselves, making them great fish feed—but she didn't plan to just use them that way. Instead, she wanted to feed them to the red nematodes to boost their breeding rate.
Back then, red nematodes had reproduced wildly without any feed at all, but now no matter what method she tried, she couldn't restore that efficiency. Using only Spirit Spring water wasn't realistic either. She didn't have nearly enough of it to sustain large-scale breeding. After all, individual power could only go so far.
"Let's hope these algae don't let me down."
3. If the algae could serve as red nematode feed and help them breed faster, she could move to the next stage—hiring workers for the factory and dividing it into three sections: one for collecting or raising carrion scavengers at low prices, one for cultivating algae, and one for feeding red nematodes to expand reproduction.
"There are too many carrion scavengers out there. If I can really find a way to use them properly, maybe it'll help reduce the disaster in Wu City's fifth year?"
That's right—Jing Shu didn't buy that land just for herself. She wanted to help lessen the famine that would hit in the fifth year, when the government went crazy and even confiscated Qian Duoduo's Shiyuan, killing him over grain shortages.
If her factory could mass-breed red nematodes and cooperate with the government, maybe fewer people would die when the famine hit. And if the Tyrant wasn't cornered into desperation, maybe he wouldn't destroy Shiyuan either... maybe. After all, she had shares in it too.
Still, who could really predict the Tyrant's temper?
4. From her trip to the US, she'd learned that cells have a limited number of divisions. So if the red nematodes and algae reached their reproductive limit, could the ZS880 drug boost their reproductive capacity?
With that in mind, Jing Shu began her second batch of algae and red nematode experiments.
5. The second shipment of supplies, seeds, and rare minerals hadn't yet arrived from the capital. She'd talk to Jin Tianci once they did.
6. Hao Yunlai was still unconscious. She needed to study the dead tree and crimson liquid, then discuss it with Yang Yang. Once she confirmed her hypothesis with experiments on Hao Yunlai, she'd move on to saving him. Everything she did was for her teammate's survival.
7. Start breeding Lion Head geese. Since her family had bought such a huge courtyard, she might as well renovate it too. She was really looking forward to that 300-square-meter yard.
8. She had six months to prepare for next year's mudslide. The villa and back courtyard would be hit first. She remembered someone using a pretty clever method in her previous life, but she'd have to come up with a reason to build something that big this time.
Jing Shu bit the tip of her pen, then suddenly brightened. "I don't need a reason! It's because I like it! Because I'm rich and I can!"
9. Lately, her mind often felt blank. She'd lose focus or forget things easily. It might be tied to the Cube Space's new ability awakening. She needed to prepare for the upgrade carefully and accelerate the process, because her current Cube Space just wasn't enough anymore!
10. Find an armed helicopter as her personal ride. That'd be the next small goal.
"Alright, that's enough for now. I'll add more later if I think of something."
Satisfied, Jing Shu finished writing her plans, stayed up late to record all her inventory inside the Cube Space, and finally went to bed.
The next morning, with panda eyes but a satisfied grin, Jing Shu began distributing the carefully sorted gifts she'd prepared last night.