Chapter 81 - 80: Potatoes Are Poisonous

Words : 1260 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

Chapter 81: Chapter 80: Potatoes Are PoisonousFirst, the requirement for soil when planting potatoes is very strict. Only soil with a deep layer, loose structure, good drainage and ventilation, and rich in organic matter is the most suitable environment for potato growth. And that’s not all. The growth and development of potatoes require more than ten types of nutrients, and they have a considerable demand for fertilizers. If a plot of land continues to grow potatoes, due to the absorption of soil fertility by the potatoes, the soil fertility will greatly decline. In the second year, the yield of continuous cultivation plots must be reduced, and the quality of tubers also declines. In particular, diseases, pests, and weed problems will occur more severely. Even the protagonist of The Martian, when planting potatoes on Mars, reused the vacuum-dried feces stored by previous astronauts, fermented them into manure, and only then began to cultivate potatoes. More crucially, the stems and leaves of potato plants are toxic, and even the potatoes themselves are toxic. Potatoes mainly contain solanine and chaconine, which generally decompose when heated to 170°C. Although artificially cultivated potatoes have low toxicity, if the consumption exceeds 1.4 kilograms, the accumulated toxicity in the body can still cause poisoning reactions. As for solanine produced after potatoes germinate, it is a toxin that can cause severe poisoning if ingested between 0.2 to 0.4g. Especially for pregnant women, if potatoes are consumed over a long period, the alkaloids accumulated in the body may very likely cause fetal malformations. Before the disaster, everyone could of course eat potatoes and plant potatoes as they pleased, after all, potatoes are indeed plentiful and filling, and by paying attention to crop rotation and fertilization during planting, many problems that arise during cultivation can be avoided. But the toxins in potatoes are an unavoidable issue; after all, the post-apocalyptic world is not like before the disaster, where people have a rich variety of food choices and can eat many different foods, and an abundant supply of resources allows people to always consume fresh potatoes, greatly reducing the risk of poisoning. Yet in a post-apocalyptic world, such conditions no longer exist. The land resources underground are limited, and if staple foods are planted, there will basically only be one type. And this leads to people consuming potatoes over a long period. Moreover, the shelter certainly cannot plant and eat on demand, and it is foreseeable that the harvested potatoes will undergo mildew and germination during storage. Before the disaster, these would definitely be discarded, and no one would eat sprouted potatoes. But in the post-apocalypse, these are all important food reserves; rats, cockroaches, and earthworms are eaten, so a few bad potatoes? As long as they don’t kill, cook them thoroughly and they’re edible! So in such a time, the toxins in potatoes are a problem that cannot be ignored. Considering this from a national level, if you need to choose a doomsday staple food, potatoes are clearly not the best choice, especially since growing potatoes also requires a lot of sunlight. Chen Xin initially chose drought-resistant rice as the main food source for his shelter due to these considerations. —————————————————— After seeing off Qin Lan and Ding Ning, Chen Xin tidied up the place and sat down in front of the workbench. While taking out the pistol he exchanged from Qin Lan and loading the bullets into the magazine, he was also considering the issue of making an oxygen generator for Mo Qingyan. Although he chose a simple and crude method to create an oxygen generator for himself, later obtaining one through system upgrades, this approach was still somewhat too rough. Moreover, the overly simplistic oxygen generator he previously made had nothing notable in terms of efficiency, and its utilization rate of light energy was very low. However, after using a system upgrade, even the crude oxygen generator Chen Xin had now looked decent. Chen Xin chose the second upgrade option, where the original square plastic box transformed into a cylindrical hollow tube, with supplementary lighting directly installed in the hollow part of the tube, illuminating from the inside to achieve the highest efficiency of light energy utilization. Algae were directly cultivated within the tube for reproduction, with the produced oxygen being expelled from the top while carbon dioxide was injected through vents at the bottom. And the settled algae corpses would be filtered and recycled during the water circulation process to produce biomass for generating methane to supply fuel cells for electricity. This entire system, after the upgrade, turned into a green cylinder about two meters in height, with light faintly shining through from within, filled with algae. Such a device can produce enough oxygen to sustain a normal person’s survival, and the electricity generated can maintain the entire equipment’s energy consumption, excluding the supplementary lighting, with a bit of surplus. After all, normal algae oxygen generation and electricity technology rely on sunlight to promote photosynthesis in algae. Now, without sunlight, the energy consumption of the supplementary lights must be compensated by other energy sources. Mo Qingyan’s shelter has power and water supply from the city. Although it is supplied only at certain times, it is still sufficient for maintaining equipment operation. Having loaded all the bullets into two magazines, Chen Xin inserted one magazine back into the pistol. Feeling the gun in his hand, he couldn’t help but also take out the pistol he made, placing both on the workbench for comparison. Compared to the pistol Chen Xin made himself, the one given by Qin Lan had a noticeably larger caliber but was lighter in weight, as Flame Country used engineering plastics for the grip when manufacturing the QSZ92G semi-automatic pistol, significantly reducing its weight. As for other performance differences, without actually going out and firing dozens of bullets, Chen Xin could not compare the pros and cons of the two guns, as that would require very professional knowledge and firearms usage experience. After a little consideration, Chen Xin decided to use the pistol he got from Qin Lan as a regular self-defense weapon, while the handgun he made himself was placed in the bedside cabinet in his bedroom as a backup. This is also a safety strategy; having weapons and equipment prepared in the place closest to oneself is a good way to enhance one’s ability to respond to danger. Even though in Chen Xin’s view, as long as the main door of his shelter is securely closed, without heavy firepower, it’s very unlikely he would face any safety problems needing a gun to deal with. But it’s better to be safe; if some problem does arise, having a gun in hand is very important. After finishing these tasks, Chen Xin also took out his bow from the weapon cabinet. Archery was previously just a hobby developed with Mo Qingyan, with no practical use. In the apocalypse, even after obtaining guns, the role of a bow and arrow is greatly diminished, making the existence of this bow somewhat redundant. Furthermore, with the external temperature dropping, maintenance and preservation of the bow and arrow itself would be a problem if taken out for use. Therefore, Chen Xin planned to see if the bow could have other uses after upgrading. If possible, he intended to upgrade the bow into a crossbow and then install it at the upgraded door, using it as a defensive facility. Perhaps it can’t be used as a ballista, but there’s no saying it can’t be used as a trap.

Chapter 81 - 80: Potatoes Are Poisonous

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