Jing Shu: "…"
She stood in the damp, pungent air of the pig pen, blinking as she tried to reconcile the sudden shift in the atmosphere. Wasn't this a bit too random? They were just talking about the sow's reproductive cycle a minute ago. How did the topic jump this far?
Before she could even process the transition, Xie Zhuzhu was already gripping her sleeve and dragging her toward the office to sign the contract. He turned to the dumbfounded Song Bin and barked, "Hurry up! Weren't you guys the ones saying we needed to do this fast? I have got plenty of things to deal with after this. Where is the stuff? Bring it over!"
Song Bin stared blankly, his mouth slightly agape at the scientist's sudden turnaround. "How can someone's attitude change that fast? And just like that, he agreed? What on earth did Miss Jing do this time? God, she always manages to catch people off guard." What had seemed like an impossible problem, a mountain of stubbornness and red tape, was solved in mere minutes.
"Oh, oh, right." He fumbled with his phone, his fingers tapping rapidly to pull up the big data files that contained the electronic contract. Paper was no longer used after the apocalypse; digital contracts were the norm. It was more convenient for the town government to monitor the exchange of assets too.
He prepared to read the details aloud, planning to explain how the lab's shares were divided among the current members, how much stock the newcomer would receive, each party's obligations, the profit-sharing agreement, and the current assets. It felt exactly like a divorce settlement. You had to divide the assets, make sure everyone's responsibilities were clear, and even sort out the kids' custody, so to speak. Every detail mattered to the future of the company.
But Xie Zhuzhu didn't care in the slightest. He behaved like a disinterested boyfriend who couldn't be bothered with the fine print. Without even glancing at the document, he pressed his thumb to the scanner to confirm his identity, then looked at Jing Shu with an expression that clearly urged her to hurry up. If the rules didn't require both major shareholders' approval, he would have dumped the whole responsibility on Jun Bao and been done with it.
He didn't even seem to care about the profits. Jing Shu wondered why he bothered running a laboratory at all.
Song Bin had expected some negotiation, especially since the town government had joined through Jun Bao and taken part of the shares. He thought Xie Zhuzhu would be difficult to handle, but the man clearly couldn't care less about the administrative side of the business.
Xie Zhuzhu's indifference only made Jing Shu more serious. She was the kind of person who would count every penny and never signed contracts casually. She had missed her chance during the Xishan Qian Duoduo share transfer, so this time she made sure to do it herself.
When she looked up from the screen, the scientist was watching her with an eager, almost hungry look.
"Alright." She placed her finger on the scanner, the device beeping as it completed the process. It felt a little anticlimactic, yet this was no small thing. Five years later, this very Biotech R&D Lab would rise to become the industry's powerhouse. It felt somewhat like when Jack Ma first started his company with only thirteen people. Now she was like the fourteenth person, holding 5% of the shares. She felt a quiet surge of excitement.
Song Bin glanced at the updated share table on his device. Every researcher's ownership had shifted. This should have been a solemn, formal moment, yet it all happened while everyone was still staring at a breeding sow in the distance. Most of the researchers were pretending not to look at all, their eyes darting back and forth.
"Well, whatever. At least it wasn't as hard as I expected. Mission accomplished," he whispered, letting out a breath of relief.
Honestly, Jing Shu's visit felt less like a formal contract signing and more like she had been invited as a pig expert to a live boar-sow mating demonstration. Everyone kept crowding around her, asking for tips on livestock management.
And when it came to pigs, Jing Shu never held back. She could talk for hours about raising them, the proper way of slaughtering them, the nuances of cooking them, and which specific parts tasted best.
Song Bin's head buzzed like static. He couldn't even follow half of the technical details she was providing, but he could clearly see how animated she was. She was gesturing wildly while explaining the best feed ratios. Each time she raised her hand to emphasize a point, the researchers nodded in agreement like disciples before a master. Even Xie Zhuzhu, who usually only trusted hard data, was staring at her with wide eyes.
Of course, the breeding session wasn't the end of her involvement. Jing Shu went all in with her care for the animal, and her efficiency almost made the director want to applaud. The sow that had been considered a hopeless case, meant to be sent for mutation testing, was already recovering at a rapid pace.
The researchers, who had always lived by their data, began to doubt their instruments for the first time. The readings on the sow were changing at an impossible rate. When the irreversible turned reversible, any scientist would start questioning reality. Jing Shu wondered if they felt the world was shifting around them.
Song Bin was completely speechless. "Miss Jing was just unstoppable. everywhere she went, she amazed people." He didn't need to do anything but clap and shout "666!" from the back of the crowd.
Breeding a sow wasn't a one-time event, though. When Xie Zhuzhu learned that Jing Shu would return to Wu City in a few days, he was genuinely reluctant to see her leave. He quickly added her on WeChat, and they agreed to stay in touch for remote meetings whenever livestock issues came up.
After that, it was time for Jing Shu's territory inspection. She already thought of this godforsaken laboratory as her own asset.
The reason it was called a Biotech R&D Lab became clear as they moved deeper into the cave. Everything here revolved around biology. Jing Shu saw creatures that shattered her understanding of life, or more accurately, her apocalypse worldview.
The third floor of the laboratory was called the micro world. That was its fancy name, a title proudly coined by Xie Zhuzhu himself. He beamed as he introduced the level. "The organisms here are our main research subjects right now."
The moment she stepped onto the third floor, Jing Shu's scalp tingled. Thanks to her night vision, she could clearly see the eerie setup of the floor, which resembled a science museum from hell.
The entire floor was sunken, with only a narrow, metal passageway running around the perimeter. When the crane lowered them down, they had to walk with their shoulders pressed against the cool glass walls. The enclosure was made of transparent tempered glass, sealed completely from the outside air. And on that glass, densely packed, were strange living things crawling and writhing. They were only a few centimeters away from her face, their translucent bodies shimmering in the low light.
They weren't insects. She had survived ten years into the apocalypse and seen countless Darklife species, but she had never seen anything like these creatures clinging to the glass.
"What... what is that?" she asked, pointing at the swarming mass above her head. It looked like one giant, living sheet, yet each unit wriggled independently, constantly splitting apart and merging again in a rhythmic pulse.
Xie Zhuzhu stood with his chest out. "That's bacteria magnified a thousand times. This dish here contains a thriving bacterial colony. Isn't it? Don't underestimate that little patch. There are billions of bacteria in there. They reproduce rapidly and can even replicate each other. Among micro-level specimens, they are actually pretty low-maintenance."
"Ugh..." Song Bin nearly threw up, his face turning a pale shade of green. He leaned close to Jing Shu and whispered, "Miss Jing, those things... those are supposed to be food. Ugh."
But Xie Zhuzhu's nod was earnest. "That's right. If food shortages hit again, we are planning to introduce bacterial food into the supply chain. After all, the human body itself is made up of bacteria."