Chapter 12: Must Filter Out the Red Earthworms!

She bought a Siemens washer-dryer combo for 6,000 yuan and a Siemens large-capacity dishwasher for 9,000 yuan. In the first year of the apocalypse, there was no water, Jing Shu remembered. Each person used their own dishes and then licked them clean. Clothes later became so dirty that it was impossible to discern their colors. In the second year of the apocalypse, although it rained heavily every day, the clothes never once dried... In this new life, if conditions allow, it’s still better to choose energy-saving dishwashing and laundry. Dishwashers save 20 times more water than hand washing, and the used water isn’t wasted; it’s filtered and reused. She bought a complete water circulation filtration system, including water purifiers, ultrafiltration machines, faucet water purifiers, RO reverse osmosis filters, and a corresponding ten-year supply of filter cartridges. These were installed with multiple layers inside and out, capable of filtering out even the smallest microorganisms. Four commercial water collection tanks and their filtration systems cost a total of 100,000 yuan. The torrential rains of the apocalypse’s second year might have temporarily solved the world’s water shortage, but they also spawned a new species: a type of red earthworm that accompanied the storms. The second year’s "rain" was more appropriately called a "worm rain." The worms were entirely red with black ends. Some were a few centimeters long, while others were just a few millimeters. They were thin, slightly thicker than a hair, and could live and reproduce anywhere there was water. Half of the "rain" consisted of these worms, and they had a tendency to jump around chaotically. Turn on the tap, and out would come the worms. You think the red earthworms were a catastrophe? Heh, that’s too naive. Do you believe that the Huaxia people could eat a species to the brink of extinction? Who knows how Australia, the United States, and those other countries fared? Anyway, later on, the red earthworms saved hundreds of millions of people in Huaxia. That year, you could see countless people daily catching these red earthworms: picking them off their bodies, catching them in basins, scooping them up from flood zones. They would hand them over to the government to calculate work points, and then trade those points for roasted, stir-fried, or pan-fried red earthworms in various flavors. The taste wasn’t good. The neighbors, the elderly, and the children all gave it poor reviews, complaining that it wasn’t coated in egg batter. In this lifetime, I never want to live with damp clothes breeding worms again, or be able to catch a few red earthworms on my body to snack on at any moment! I am determined to keep all red earthworms outside my villa. I never want to have to filter out insect eggs from the water again and again, or to boil water only to find red earthworms still in it! So this money was well spent! She continued by purchasing a commercial automatic ice maker for 2,000 yuan. An indispensable item in the first year of the apocalypse. A small, multi-use grain thresher compatible with soybeans, wheat, sorghum, millet, rapeseed, and corn cost 3,000 yuan. Later, the wheat and rice I grow can be threshed and stealthily moved into pre-purchased grain packaging. I’ll no longer have to fear not having white rice to eat. Afterward, Jing Shu selected more machines needed for the ten years following the apocalypse: small grindstones, manual meat slicers, meat grinders, ice cream makers, sealing machines, vacuum packaging machines, octopus ball machines, and so on, costing 8,000 yuan. Jing Shu’s purchases were mostly electric-powered. In the years following the apocalypse, Huaxia’s electricity and thermal energy resources were largely diverted to the Artificial Sun, leaving the people virtually without power. The only exception was a news broadcast between 19:00 and 19:30, which also came with restrictions. Everyone needing electricity would crowd around at this time. I have to thank the Huaxia government for this. In the ten years of the apocalypse, the news broadcast never stopped; it was always there, a constant presence through thick and thin. So I had to buy the latest generation of solar power systems. After the apocalypse, it wasn’t that there was no sun. Instead, sunlight was blocked by massive amounts of dust and debris thrown into the upper atmosphere following a stellar collision, obscuring the sun. At night, the temperature would plummet into pitch darkness, and during the day, it was as if dusk was imminent, with only faint light present. As a result, the efficiency of photovoltaic solar power was low; the electricity generated by a complete system was barely enough to power a rice cooker. UBC invented the bacterial solar cell—I won’t go into the principle—but as long as there is light, it can generate electricity. Although the efficiency isn’t particularly high, it can be compensated for with quantity. Being a ’tycoon’ in this regard, I bought ten sets, spending 150,000 yuan. At first, Manager Wang’s mouth hung wide open, thinking she was toying with him. But when Jing Shu directly transferred a 50,000 yuan deposit, his face creased into a smile so wide that the wrinkles around his eyes fanned out like the petals of an old chrysanthemum. There was a prize draw for every 5,000 yuan spent, and a reduction of 1,000 yuan for every 10,000 yuan spent. The total was 340,000 yuan, with 68 prize draws, and a discount of 34,000 yuan, so Jing Shu ended up spending 306,000 yuan in just two hours. After paying the deposit, leaving the villa address, and finalizing all the orders and requirements, Jing Shu hurriedly took a taxi home. She decided to defer the prize draw until her next shopping trip. If I don’t make it back before Mom finishes cooking, I’ll get a scolding! 「...」 The meal cooked by Mrs. Jing was enough to shatter many of Jing Shu’s food fantasies from her rebirth. Once I’m done with this busy period, I definitely need to take over the cooking myself! In the evening, following her usual routine, she fed the livestock Spiritual Spring water and collected some eggs. She noted that the marked egg still hadn’t hatched. Number 1—the hen fed the most Spiritual Spring water—was much larger than the others and fiercely aggressive, already the boss of the 17 chickens. The quails, ducks, and rabbits had also grown bigger. The sow was growing the fastest, now visibly two sizes larger than the boar. In the aquaculture space, it was hard to see any changes in the fish fry, but the aquatic plants and algae were growing like crazy. The space’s light and the Spiritual Spring provided abundant resources for these creatures. In the field, most of the six plots of land were starting to bear fruit. They could harvest a batch of vegetables in two to three days. My next plans need to be implemented swiftly. 「On November 4th」 Jing Shu got up early for her exercise, dealt with the manure, and then went home for a meal. Breakfast was Wu City’s specialty milk tea, topped with a thick layer of specially made milk skin that was chewy and left a rich milky flavor in the mouth. Alongside it were deep-fried dough sticks and spicy shredded potatoes. I give the breakfast owner 99 points. One more point, I fear, and he might get conceited. After breakfast, the family of three went out. "I’ll drop your mom off at work first, then take you to Captain Chen. He was in charge of the previous renovation. Just do what the contract states for this renovation. If you’re unsure about anything, ask Old Chen and the people from the entertainment company. Put the expenses on my account; I’ll settle it later," Mr. Jing said as he drove, thinking, It really seems like we’re at the point of having to sell the house. Indeed, a desperate need for money can bring down the bravest of men. "Mom, Dad, I want to buy a car for around twenty or thirty thousand yuan. It would be convenient for me to go to the villa for the renovation. I can’t always go to your company, then have Uncle Chen take me to the villa, and then return with them in the afternoon, right? After the villa is renovated, Mom can also use the car to go to work," Jing Shu commented, thinking, It’s time to pave the way for the energy car. "Sure, your mom will give you some more money," Mr. Jing said. He couldn’t help but think of the loss from selling the little BMW. It would have been better if I hadn’t sold it. 「...」 Captain Chen’s team comprised six members; they were a well-organized and highly efficient renovation crew. Today was the first day of the renovation. Four members stayed behind to draw up a materials list; once the renovation materials were confirmed, they could immediately order and arrange for their transport. Captain Chen and Master Liu, the carpenter, came to the villa together to hear Jing Shu’s plans for the renovation. "I want to build four tempered glass walls around the existing 2-meter wall to enclose the villa. Then, I’ll add a retractable tempered glass roof that seamlessly integrates with the four glass walls, using a steel truss frame and inverted triangle-shaped tempered glass. Such a unique appearance will definitely draw more attention when I start livestreaming," Jing Shu explained. Jing Shu’s fortress makeover, step one: bug-proof, hurricane-proof, snow-proof, and theft-proof!