Jing Shu waved her hand dismissively, her expression neutral. "There's no need to make it that complicated. You don't have to kill them yourselves. Just watch. From now on, just say this to them: 'Face the storm.' That'll work. It's the breeder's command." She thought of Xiao Wei's childish naming habits and felt a brief flicker of amusement.
She walked up to a massive gastropod-like bug, its slick, dark skin shimmering under the harsh hall lights. She spoke the words clearly. "Face the storm."
Something unbelievable happened. The ferocious creature froze for a few seconds, its antennae quivering as if it were processing a complex signal. Then it raised its enormous, serrated pincers. With a series of loud, sickening cracks, it began to snip off its own legs right from the roots. It didn't seem to feel any pain at all. A few more systematic snips followed, and the bug cut its own massive body into several manageable pieces. Finally, the pincers fell weakly to the floor and stopped moving altogether.
Even after the creature died, its nerves continued to twitch, making the pincers clack—clack against the stone floor. Its fist-sized eyes stared blankly and coldly at the gathered crowd, remaining wide open even in death. A chilling, eerie silence settled over the hall.
"Though there's still a lot of meat to process, this'll make it easier to handle," Jing Shu said, her voice cutting through the quiet. "Tell the chefs to throw all the chunks, shells and all, into the heavy-duty meat grinder and mince them into patties. Then mix them with soil, flour, and salt in a 10:1:1% ratio. Oh, and don't waste the head either. The eyes and the brain paste are both delicious."
She gestured casually, watching as the remaining bugs did exactly what Xiao Wei said they would. They really did know how to self-destruct, and they even dismembered themselves with mechanical neatness. That alone saved the staff a massive amount of physical effort.
"Man, I have never seen food this convenient," she mused. "It can trek all the way from the deep mountains to the trading point on its own legs, then process itself for you. If needed, Xiao Wei can even ramp up production. They still have plenty of dirt to eat for now, but next year there will be nothing but snow. And the best part is that these bugs cost even less to raise than my red nematodes."
She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, completely unaware that the people behind her were staring at the scene with their jaws dropped in horror.
"Holy crap!" one worker whispered.
"That's insane!"
"This is unreal. Food that kills itself?"
Seeing the stunned, motionless chefs, Xiao Cai stomped her foot in frustration, the sound echoing in the high-ceilinged hall. "What are you idiots standing there for? Record the test data! Move it!"
The chefs snapped back to their senses and scrambled toward the remains, their hands shaking as they started weighing the bug pieces.
"Total weight, 428 kilograms!" one shouted, his voice cracking.
"That's a lot for just one creature. It'll last a while."
"This stuff is reliable!"
Even Qian Duoduo let out a quiet, controlled sigh of relief. The yield was more than he had dared to expect.
He quickly ordered the staff to throw the bug meat into the industrial grinder. As the chefs busied themselves with the grisly task, he and the other shareholders kept glancing between the workers, the obedient bug army, and Jing Shu. She was leaning against a pillar, munching on something as if none of this was out of the ordinary. He could only hope this test passed the final evaluation. The entire future of Phase Two of Xingfu Shiyuan depended on the success of these patties.
After a while, more than a dozen chefs finally finished processing the first specimen. They rolled out half-human-tall plastic buckets filled to the brim with minced bug meat mixed with dark soil. Xiao Cai's voice trembled with a mixture of excitement and nervous energy.
"Based on our test, one bug, after grinding and mixing with soil and a little flour, gives about 800 kilograms of filling. When made into fresh wet patties, there's no loss in weight. If each person eats at least 200 grams a day, that's enough to feed 4,000 people. If we dry the patties for long-term storage, the total is about 700 kilograms. Rehydrated into a thick porridge, that can keep 6,000 people alive."
Xiao Cai picked up a freshly made, greyish-brown patty and passed it around the circle of shareholders. "In other words, one bug can feed 4,000 people. With just thirteen bugs a day mixed with soil and flour, we can feed 50,000 people. Does anyone want to try it? It's a strong fishy smell but a little saltiness too. The wet ones don't taste great, but if we bake them, they'll turn out crispy."
Jing Shu, smiling from the sidelines, had already done the math long ago. She didn't expect Xiao Cai to be even harsher than her. Only 200 grams of food per person per day, and that was mostly dirt; it was barely enough to survive. But in this era, nobody even dreamed of eating their fill. Just being able to swallow something and stay alive was already a blessing. In her previous life, if she could have had 200 grams of food a day, she would've cried from happiness.
By this calculation, 390 bugs a month mixed with plenty of soil could feed the whole group. But food alone wasn't enough for a stable colony. They couldn't just rely on bug meat. There had to be incentives, such as promises of rice, steamed buns, and better meals for those who worked hardest. Otherwise, if people got lazy just because they had a guaranteed welfare ration, Xingfu Shiyuan would collapse in no time.
Clearly, she and Xiao Wei would have to breed even more bugs. They needed enough not only to feed 50,000 people but also to stockpile massive reserves for the leaner months ahead.
A few shareholders curiously took a tiny bite of the patty, a piece barely the size of a fingernail. They immediately began to gag, their faces turning pale.
"This tastes awful! It's worse than pig feed!"
"My chickens wouldn't touch this!"
The heavy, cloying stench of fishy meat and wet earth filled the air. Some of the shareholders covered their noses, their expressions full of disgust. Jing Shu, however, stepped forward and picked up a large piece. She put it in her mouth and started chewing, savoring the texture slowly.
"It was salty, rich in protein, and met the body's bare minimum nutritional needs. It was food that kept you breathing. It was perfect."
Even if it tastes bad, after surviving ten years of the apocalypse, she had long ago gotten used to never wasting a single bite. She swallowed it all without a grimace. "It isn't as good as red nematode patties, but it's way better than carrion scavenger meat. That's truly inedible. If you can eat something and live without starving to death, that's already the best I can do for you."
She didn't notice Qian Duoduo narrowing his eyes as he watched her. "Even if it's awful, it's still food. It's food that can save lives."
Then he took a big bite himself, chewing thoughtfully before he nodded firmly. "Keep this ratio. Salt is precious, but it's essential. Any less, and you can't taste anything at all."
Jing Shu smiled. Whatever his ultimate motives were, the fact that he could do this much meant he had real guts.
"Alright, let's have all these bugs minced into patties. Half will be baked into soil-bug biscuits, and the other half will be kept as wet patties. We will start getting ready to move a lot of people into Phase Two of Xingfu Shiyuan."
Someone in the back hesitated, their voice uncertain. "So soon? Are you sure this will work?"
"The sooner the better," Qian Duoduo said, his voice gaining strength. "The government can't wait to lighten its burden. I'm sure anyone with half a brain would agree to this deal. Alright, the meeting is over. Jing Shu, let's go. We are heading to the government office."
After confirming the arrangements, Qian Duoduo immediately took Jing Shu with him, heading straight to negotiate the deal in person.