Chapter 457: Apocalypse Trading System (29)

After experiencing nearly a month of fearful, survivalist days, now remaining in the safe rear guard, without needing to face terrifying zombies, and only needing to spend every day cleaning the poultry and livestock sheds by the beautiful Lotus Lake, keeping them well-fed and healthy, they could harvest a bucket of drinking water and pick from the fruits and vegetables covering the residential complex—could there be a better job than this?

Besides, they weren't doing this just for a meal or two; the things they were taking care of were everyone's reserve rations! The meat on the dining table in the future!

Just for this point alone, they had to muster twelve times the spirit.

The four girls harmoniously divided the work:

In the morning, they took turns waking up early to feed and water them; in the morning, they each cleaned the Chicken Coop, duck sheds, and Pig Pen, then cut pig grass, dried hay, and wove straw mats; in the afternoon, they fed the chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs another meal, then cleaned the public areas of the complex according to their assigned zones, incidentally checking if the chickens, ducks, or geese had laid eggs while wandering outside that hadn't been collected in time.

The residential complex is my home, caring for it depends on everyone.

Having rarely found such a paradise-like, immortal dwelling in the apocalypse, one must maintain it well and not destroy it.

Yang Xiaoyan and the other girls were like they had been injected with chicken blood every time they went to work.

While doing their main jobs well, they also took the time to separately furnish the lead chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs with poultry sheds and pig pens, laying down hay and installing feeding troughs, letting them experience the privileges of a leader so they would lead their respective "tribes" to grow meat and lay eggs well.

The two spiritual sheepdogs also gained extremely dry and comfortable dog houses, plus an office that belonged to them—the security room.

From now on, the two of them were the complex's security guards, and their daily Task was to patrol the complex and report anything suspicious to Yu Baozhi in time.

The others weren't idle either—

The lead chicken took the flock to peck insects in the vegetable patch; the lead duck led the flock to the lake to eat the insect eggs laid on the water surface; the lead goose took the other geese to patrol the complex; the lead pig... forget it! It was better to keep the pig in the Pig Pen, lest it come out and root up the sweet potato fields and melon patches.

But when necessary, the lead pig could also lead the domestic pigs to form a squad, using their sharp tusks to pounce on invading bad guys.

As for the ordinary poultry and livestock, they could naturally be slaughtered for food; otherwise, why raise them?

Especially the poultry; why raise so many just to keep them for laying and collecting eggs?

Of course, the eggs had to be collected... oh, there was no need for Yang Xiaoyan and the others to go around collecting them at all.

Because under the supervision of the lead chicken, lead duck, and lead goose, these ordinary chickens, ducks, and geese actually obediently laid their eggs at the doorstep of the Xie Family.

When they first saw this spectacular scene, everyone was dumbfounded.

"Good heavens! Have these poultry become spirits?"

"I saw that little hen with my own eyes; from far away, I could feel it was about to lay an egg, clucking non-stop, flapping its wings for dear life, walking and flying, and it insisted on coming to the benefactor's door before laying the egg."

"..."

The key was, this wasn't just once or twice.

It was every day!

Every day after that, when the Xie Family opened their door in the morning, they could harvest a pile of chicken, duck, and goose eggs like a small mountain.

Perhaps after the chickens, ducks, and geese arrived here, they recovered their dietary habits from before the apocalypse, or one could even say they ate better than before the apocalypse, because Yu Baozhi replaced the green grass by the lake with alfalfa and chicory, which the chickens, ducks, and geese all liked.

With their nutrition caught up, the egg-laying efficiency was naturally top-notch.

When there were no eggs to eat, they craved them, but now that there were too many eggs, it was also a headache.

Yu Baozhi had done almost nothing else at home these days; whenever she was free, she used accelerated-growth vines to weave baskets and hampers.

The woven baskets were used to hold eggs, and once a basket was full, it was moved into a small room set up as a cold storage as reserve supplies, and the rest were distributed, ensuring that every partner in the complex had a daily quota of three eggs.

"If you can't finish eating them and are worried they'll go bad if left too long, you can come find me to trade for other supplies, such as tissues, sanitary pads, diapers, or other food; as long as my family has it, I can trade it to you."

The men had big appetites, and three eggs a day was nothing to them.

The women might not be able to finish them.

Yu Baozhi said this when distributing eggs to Zhong Yuling, Yang Qianqian, and the other girls.

This was instructed by her daughter; her daughter's Trading Ability could exchange things they didn't need for things they did.

Yang Qianqian and the others had no doubts about this and only felt grateful.

Every member of the Xie Family was an Ability User, taking turns going out to fight zombies and collect supplies every day; they likely didn't lack these daily necessities, but they were kind-hearted to be willing to trade them.

Yang Qianqian traded for a pack of toilet paper and a pack of diapers.

Yang Xiaoyan and the other girls traded for toilet paper rolls and sanitary pads.

In Zhong Yuling's family, there were just the mother and daughter; the daughter often went out to fight zombies with the Xie Family and frequently brought back supplies, so they didn't lack food, and they had saved up quite a few eggs.

Besides paper products, she also traded for a pack of Brown Sugar and a pack of dried ginger slices to boil Brown Sugar ginger tea for her daughter later.

The chickens, ducks, and geese were so proactive in laying eggs that everyone felt embarrassed to slaughter them for meat.

Those lead chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs that could understand human speech could even less be slaughtered for food; they still had to be kept to manage their respective "tribes."

Fortunately, they had also brought back quite a few Fish, Shrimp, and Crab from the breeding farm that day.

They picked the lively, undamaged ones and put them into the artificial lake to continue raising them; once they spawned, there would be a constant supply of Fish, Shrimp, and Crab to eat.

Xie Yang took the opportunity to buy a batch of Fish, Shrimp, and Crab fry of various sizes from the Trading Platform, along with river mussels, soft-shelled turtles, Rice Field Eel, Loach, river snails, and River Snail, mixing them in and putting them all into the artificial lake.

The lake was planted with lotus roots, water caltrops, and arrowhead, and several clumps of water grass were accelerated to grow near the shore, so even without feeding them fish food, they wouldn't go hungry.

Moreover, Xie Yongcheng liked fishing and had some experience in fish farming; he would make his own fish food and bait, so he would toss some homemade organic fish food into the lake every now and then.

He believed that by the New Year, there would be quite a harvest.

As for those that had been bumped or bruised during the catch—for example, fish with scales rubbed off, crabs with broken legs, or shrimp with heads fallen off—they were naturally distributed to everyone to eat.

All this busy work was just for this moment!

Just consider it celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival early.

Although the Xie Family didn't lack this food, only when everyone had something to eat was Yu Baozhi willing to use the heavy seasonings.

Like the braised shrimp in thick oil and red sauce, the fragrant sweet and sour fish, and the scallion-braised crab.

Usually, they could only eat boiled or steamed food, fearing the fragrance would drift too far and make people suspicious.

Now that everyone had ingredients, they weren't afraid of the fragrance drifting out, because everyone was cooking and everyone had something to eat.

Feel free to pick the scallions, ginger, and garlic in the shaded corner to use as seasonings; no Soy Sauce or Yellow Wine? Her family had it; bring a bowl to scoop some back.

How could anyone bear to finish the Fish, Shrimp, and Crab they received in one meal? They scooped a basin of lake water and raised them for a few more days.

They only cooked and ate them when they saw a fish turn its belly up or a shrimp stop jumping.

In this way, the Xie Family also ended up eating river delicacies for several extra days.

She had her fill of river delicacies.