The evening of the 16th.
The sunset.
In the large camphor tree base, rice and sweet potatoes were placed on the cement pavement, washed and sliced for exposure.
To preserve these things for a long time, they must be exposed to the sun and air-dried.
Generally speaking, rice can be almost dry after being exposed to the sun for three days.
Li Yu stood on the wall and looked at the rice paddy paved on the cement pavement in the outer city. Under the dim yellow sunlight, the rice was also golden and looked particularly beautiful.
The second uncle stood next to him, saw Li Yu's frown, and said, "Xiaoyu, I feel like you have something on your mind. Our greenhouse has been harvested now, so don't worry too much."
Li Yu shook his head and said: "It's okay, I'm not worried. By the way, has the grain harvest been counted now?"
The second uncle took out a book from his arms, opened a few pages and said: "The rice has not yet been completely dehydrated. The rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and other staple foods grown on 120 acres of land have been roughly counted, but there is no final count. Leave to dry.
The weights with moisture are: 48 tons of rice, about 36 tons after sun-drying and machine drying, 10 tons of corn, 10 tons of sweet potatoes, and 5 tons of potatoes, for a total of 61 tons of staple food. .”
Li Yu calculated that according to the fact that greenhouses ignore weather temperatures, rice takes about 3 to 4 months to grow in one season and can reach three crops a year.
That is to say, the annual staple food output can reach 183 tons. Because the rice is not shelled and the corn has cobs, roughly calculated based on 80%, it is about 146 tons.
Based on the average person eating one pound a day, it can feed more than 800 people.
At present, the total population of the inner and outer cities of Dazhangshu Base is less than 400 people.
With the current food supply, it is possible to provide food for everyone in the inner and outer city bases, as well as exchange supplies with cooperative personnel, and basic subsidies for non-staff personnel.
There was even a surplus.
Li Yu quickly calculated these in his mind and breathed a sigh of relief.
In the apocalypse, the most important thing is always food, and weapons are only second.
Why do sunsets and mornings look the same?
That's because the end point and starting point are very close to each other.
Everything has its own rules and cycles.
From the starting point - the end point - the starting point -.
After this blizzard, everyone thought it was finally over and it was time to usher in new hope.
What they didn't know was that another storm had just begun.
People are always eager to reach their goals and end points. After reaching a certain end point, they suddenly realize that it is a new beginning.
Over time, people lose their motivation and passion, just like being beaten hard with a hammer.
People who have seen through all this will feel that life is meaningless, and will feel that living in this apocalyptic world must resist the evil thoughts in the heart, starve without eating people due to lack of food, is too tired, and then walk alone into the darkness to die.
Li Yu once thought about this and thought clearly about it, but he was supported by the saying that it would be better to die than to live.
After returning from rebirth, he gradually began to understand and found the answer.
Paying attention to the meaning of life itself has no meaning. Do not deliberately seek meaning, but use your own body to experience everything in the moment. This is the greatest meaning.
Just do what you like to do, don't waste time, and focus on one idea.
He doesn't care what others think.
The more than fifty cooperators left. When they left, they left very slowly, but they finally left.
Li Yu watched them leave with his own eyes, as if he had seen what would happen to them soon.
The sun is setting little by little.
Sudden.
Li Yu saw that He Chao and the others were preparing to collect the rice that had been drying all afternoon, and quickly shouted to him: "He Chao, there is no need to harvest the rice, you can continue to dry it tomorrow!"
He Chao looked up and saw Li Yu talking to him, but he was too far away to hear clearly.
So he took out the walkie-talkie and asked, "Mr. Li, I didn't hear clearly what you just said."
Li Yu then took out the walkie-talkie and said to He Chao: "I said, there is no need to harvest these rice. It will be dried tomorrow. It is a waste of time to collect it tonight and dry it again tomorrow."
He Chao stood there, obviously stunned for a few seconds.
"That night, do you want to send someone to watch here?" He Chao said.
Li Yu looked at a large field of rice with solar street lights on the cement road, so he said, "Okay, you can arrange for someone to watch it tonight."
"Okay." He Chao replied, and then asked the other people who helped collect the rice to push the rice back.
The outskirts of Hangzhou.
The sparse jungle has fallen leaves and rotten leaves with some dewdrops on them.
The ground was wet.
Xu Chengcai tightly covered his nine-year-old son's mouth to prevent him from making any sound.
The son's body trembled like a sieve as he listened to the screams coming from over there.
He stuck his head out warily and looked nervously at a group of people not far away.
"Brother Zhang, you enjoy it first! Hahaha." A man with a dirty face covered in red rashes said with a grin.
His teeth were uneven, yellow and black, and just looking at them made him feel sick.
The taller man said a few words of hey, unscrupulously untied his belt and walked over.
The screams echoed in the sunset.
Xu Chengcai clenched his fists tightly, and the anger in his eyes seemed to burst out.
But when he saw his son next to him, he had no choice but to put down his hand.
If he were alone, he would rush over.
eat human!
It is no longer a rare thing in the apocalypse, but every time he encounters it, it makes him feel extremely uncomfortable.
In the apocalypse, there was a shortage of food. He and his son survived the cold winter, but now they have not had a normal meal for a long time.
"Xiaoyong, let's go!" Xu Chengcai said to his son after he saw the gang taking the two women away and the woods regained calm.
Xiaoyong trembled all over, hugged his father's arm, his eyes filled with tears: "Dad, will we die?"
Xu Chengcai's heart trembled slightly and he said to him: "Don't be afraid, I will protect you, it'll be okay."
Due to long-term malnutrition, Xiaoyong was skinny and skinny, with the skin sticking to the bones all over his face.
Xiaoyong wiped his tears and slowly stood up with his father.
Xu Chengcai stood up limping. He hadn't eaten for a long time and his body was extremely weak. This was one of the reasons why he had just chosen to hide.
He carried his luggage and walked slowly in the opposite direction from where those people had just left.
The father and son supported each other and slowly walked out of the woods.
The afterglow of the setting sun stretched the silhouettes of the two people very long.
Suddenly.
Xiaoyong raised his head, looked at his father seriously and said, "Are we good people?"
Xu Chengcai touched his son's hair with dirty hands and said, "We are good people."
"Because we are good people, we don't eat people, right?"
"Yes, because we are good people and we have a fire in our hearts."
The two walked for about half an hour, watching the sky gradually get dark.
They must find a shelter immediately to avoid the zombies at night.
Coming out of the mountain forest, they saw several rural cement houses next to abandoned farmland overgrown with weeds.
Xu Chengcai walked there with his son. He was very hungry and had not eaten much for three days.
This blizzard has frozen many plants and animals to death, making it difficult for them to find anything to eat.
The two of them walked through the field and headed towards the houses.
Suddenly, Xu Chengcai stopped slightly. He heard a small movement from the farmland.
"Wait for me!" Xu Chengcai put down his backpack, pulled out a short spear from the backpack, and said to his son.
"Dad, what's wrong?" Xiaoyong asked with some confusion as he didn't know what was going on.
"Shh~" Xu Chengcai put his finger on his lips.
His eyes were electric, looking in the direction to the right of the field ridge.
He didn't take off his shoes and stepped directly into the farmland.
The soil in the farmland was very soft, and his right leg was suddenly stuck in the soil.
Xiaoyong watched as the sun had set, and the sky was getting dark at a speed visible to the naked eye. They were at the foot of the mountain, where the mountains and forests were steep, and the darkness seemed like a devil, swallowing up the sunlight.
He looked at his father anxiously, wanting to remind him that they had to go to that house early. After they passed there, they would definitely check and improve some of the house's protections.
This all takes time.
But my father remained motionless, standing in the farmland.
Time seemed to stand still.
Silk——
A voice came from the farmland, and then, a huge snake with yellow and black patterns on its body opened its mouth and bit Xu Chengcai.
"Be careful! There is a snake!" Xiaoyong shouted on the field ridge to remind his father.
It's too late, but it's soon.
Whoosh——
The spear in Xu Chengcai's hand flew out. The sharp spearhead passed directly through the mouth of the cauliflower snake, and flew back with the two-meter-long snake body.
The snake's head was pierced and its entire body was nailed to the ridge on the other side.
Half of the fifty-centimeter spear was stuck in the soil.
On the other side, Xiaoyong, who saw this thrilling scene, was excited and wanted to shout loudly, but he remembered his father's instructions to him: don't speak loudly at night.
So he could only hold it in and look at his father with admiration.
In his eyes, it seemed as if his father would never fall.
If it weren't for myself.
Thinking of this, Xiaoyong felt a little depressed.
Xu Chengcai slowly walked towards the short spear, and with difficulty he pulled his feet out of the muddy mud.
Looking at the cauliflower snake whose body was still twisting, he slowly pulled out the short spear with his right hand.
The snake's head was completely penetrated by the short spear. When the short spear was pulled out, the snake's head was also pulled out.
He inserted the short spear and the snake's head into the harder soil next to it, then took a dagger from his waist, and then cut off the entire snake's head.
Then he wrapped the snake's body around the short spear and walked slowly towards his son.
"Let's go over and have a look." Xu Chengcai said with joy on his face, they had dinner tonight.
This cauliflower snake is quite fat, non-venomous and can be eaten!
Picking up the backpack on the ground, the two of them walked towards the houses.
When the two came to the door of these houses, it was already dark.
Xu Chengcai stuffed the snake he had just captured into his backpack, then held a short spear and motioned for his son to follow him.
The houses in front of me were in dilapidated condition, with broken windows all over the floor.
The door frame also rotted and fell to the ground.
Xu Chengcai took out a hand-cranked flashlight and turned on the lighting.
Walked in through the door.
The door fell to the ground, and he could directly shine a light on the situation inside. In the center of the hall, there was a god cabinet with a statue of a god placed on it.
But the statue was covered with dust, and a piece of the statue's arm was broken.
There were only a few short sticks of incense on the incense burner, which had obviously burned until only the wood remained.
The hall was in a mess, and it was obvious that someone had searched the place long ago.
Xu Chengcai searched the house and then took his son to the second floor.
The second floor has been renovated and some tile floors have been installed, but the floor is covered with dirt and dust and sawdust are everywhere.
There was a sofa on the second floor. The sofa was covered with volcanic ash that had drifted in. Xu Chengcai tore the sofa hard to reveal the wooden frame inside.
I will use this to burn it later, Xu Chengcai thought.
"Dad, come here quickly!" At some point, his son left his side and ran into a room.
Xu Chengcai was instantly nervous and rushed towards the direction of his son's voice.
This was obviously the owner's bedroom, wardrobe, broken dresser.
Xiaoyong stared blankly at a corpse on the bed. Xu Chengcai glanced at it and said angrily to his son: "Why did I tell you before that you should not leave me two meters away? Why did you run in by yourself?" .What if there are zombies?"
Xu Chengcai's tone was a bit fierce. Xiaoyong lowered his head after hearing it.
Seeing him like this, Xu Chengcai said nothing, then walked to the bed and lifted the sheets.
After opening it, the body was found to have rotted away, leaving only the bones.
He looked at it and then put the sheet back on him.
Seeing that there was no fearful expression on his son's face, he sighed slightly. In this apocalypse, Xiaoyong followed him and had seen everything.
He did not look at the skeleton again, but searched in the cupboard in the room and found a blanket.
The blanket was in good condition, so he took it out and covered his son's shoulders.
Although the temperature has increased recently, it is still a bit cold at night, only a few degrees.
Xu Chengcai searched the house again, and after finding no zombies, he took an iron bucket and fetched some water outside.
When I returned to this building, I used an iron wire to wrap around several broken bowls found in the room at the door as a warning.
Although the door and window glass was broken, the windows on the first floor had wooden railings, so zombies couldn't get in.
The iron wire placed here can alert them if there are zombies coming and they hear the sound.
Xu Chengcai took his son to the second floor, dismantled the sofa and lit the wood with flint.
Xiaoyong watched his father operate and wrote down how his father did it.
As the flames burned, Xu Chengcai disposed of the cauliflower snake's body on a wooden board. His ability to use a dagger was superb, and he disassembled the snake in a few clicks.
After briefly cleaning it with water, he took an iron can and hung it above the fire.
He just threw the snake into the tin can and stewed it. After thinking about it, he took out some lichens he collected during the day and threw it directly into the tin can.
This kind of lichen is a symbiosis of moss and fungi. Both organisms can be eaten, so the lichen can also be eaten. It tastes like a common vegetarian dish with a bit of mushroom flavor. Lichen has high nutritional value, rich in a variety of amino acids and minerals, and has a high calcium content that is rare among vegetables.
A weak zombie roar came, and when Xu Chengcai heard the sound, he knew that the zombie was at least two kilometers away from them.
At night, everything is silent, and the roars of the zombies seem to be the only sound in the dark, so they can travel very far.
Gululu——
Xu Chengcai looked at his son, looking expectantly at the lichen snake soup in the tin can. Under the firelight, he said with a smile on his face: "It will be ready soon. There are many parasitic bacteria on snakes, so it must be You can only eat it after it’s boiled.”
In the past, he had no time to spend with his son, but after the end of the world, only the father and son were left in the family.
As the two depended on each other for life, the relationship between father and son had strengthened a lot.
And every time, Xu Chengcai would seize the time to educate his son with the knowledge he knew.
I am afraid that one day, I will be gone and my son will still be able to live in this world.
The water boiled and boiled for about ten minutes.
Xu Chengcai took two wooden sticks, picked up the tin can, and then gave half of it to his son. He took the tin can directly and picked up the snake meat with the chopsticks he had just cut with a dagger.
The snake meat was a little bit cooked and couldn't be picked up at all.
But he was very patient and slowly picked out the snake bones bit by bit.
"Eat slowly, be careful with the snake bones!" He warned when he saw Xiaoyong drinking from the basin in a hurry.
"It's delicious!" In the firelight, Xiaoyong's face was full of satisfaction.
With a smile on his face, Xu Chengcai shook his head, holding the tin can, and wanted to pour more into his son's basin.
But was rejected by Xiaoyong.
Seeing the determination on his face, Xu Chengcai's nose was slightly sore.
No words were spoken.
Finished the hot lichen snake soup.
The night is dangerous, so for safety, the two take turns on duty.
Xu Chengcai was on duty in the first half of the night, and Xiaoyong was on duty in the second half of the night.
Looking at his son's face sleeping on his lap, Xu Chengcai's eyes were filled with deep fatherly love.
"You are everything to me! You are the motivation for me to live." Xu Chengcai murmured in his heart.
This apocalypse is too difficult for adults to survive, not to mention he has to take care of a child.
You know, when the apocalypse first broke out, Xiaoyong was less than seven years old.
That is to say, as a member of the top special forces team with strong fighting ability, he is able to take care of a child and still survive to this day.
Watching the flickering light of the fire, he remembered the past.
I thought of Lao Qin, the big ant, and the captain.
He didn't know where to go next, he just knew that he had to keep going.
Perhaps it would be better to go south, at least the weather would be warmer.
He doesn't want to join any force, because some people have no idea whether they are good people or bad people. It has been so long since the end of the world, and he has not seen many good people.
Sometimes, there are survivors who not only want to seize your supplies, but also want to eat your flesh.
(End of chapter)
