Chapter 323 - 321: Food Shortage (Second Update)
Hearing Han Ze mention lights in the distance, Chen Xin was a bit surprised and puzzled. The blizzard had just passed, how could someone be coming here?
Even though he was perplexed, it didn’t affect Chen Xin’s response. He let his parents and the Mo sisters return inside the shelter, then closed the shelter door with Han Ping. Only then did Chen Xin go to the observation room, taking the binoculars handed over by Han Ze to look into the distance.
Indeed, just as Han Ze said, there were a few points of light speeding towards Chen Xin’s home across the snowy landscape.
"So fast! What is that?" Chen Xin estimated the speed at which the lights were approaching and found that they were very fast, clearly not like a car.
Because of the snow, cars couldn’t move quickly on the snow, and the lights appeared to belong to a vehicle with just one headlight, unlike cars that should have two.
As Chen Xin felt puzzled, the vehicle represented by those lights also approached Chen Xin’s shelter and stopped at the clearing that Chen Xin and others had just cleared out, sending over communications.
"Comrade Chen, it’s me, Lao Li from the SWAT team! Please open the door!" Lao Li’s voice came through the radio, finally putting Chen Xin at ease and prompting him to have Han Ping open the door.
Meanwhile, Chen Xin looked closely through the binoculars again from the observation room before going down to the door himself.
Once the door was opened, Lao Li and the others quickly got off the vehicle, leaving two people to watch the vehicle while the others swiftly entered Chen Xin’s shelter.
With the door open, Chen Xin was finally able to see clearly under the light inside the doorway that Lao Li and the others were riding a snowmobile.
This type of vehicle was originally meant for snow use, and under current circumstances, it proved to be very practical. Especially since the snowmobiles Lao Li and the others rode also had tracked sleds, looking like they were meant for hauling cargo, which made Chen Xin take notice.
"Snowmobiles? Riding these in such cold weather, you all must be freezing!" Chen Xin couldn’t help but quip at the sight of Lao Li and the others with a layer of ice on them, and snowflakes hanging from their eyebrows as they walked into the shelter.
"Who can say otherwise? But there’s no choice; cars can’t get through, so we can only ride these." Lao Li shook off the snow and ice from his body before smiling bitterly at Chen Xin: "Comrade Chen, what are you wearing? It looks quite good!"
"Exoskeleton Protective Suit. The country already has a production plan, and the first batch should be coming out soon. See if you’ll be part of the distribution." Chen Xin shrugged nonchalantly, steering the topic back to business: "In this cold weather, instead of engaging in post-disaster reconstruction in the city, why did you come to me? To collect the vegetables you left here last month? Rest assured, they’re frozen in the warehouse. You can haul them away, but this month’s harvest isn’t collected yet. If you want them, you’ll probably have to wait until tomorrow."
"That’s truly a relief!" Lao Li was overjoyed upon hearing this from Chen Xin.
They had indeed come for the vegetables, but when they arrived, they didn’t have much hope. After all, after a blizzard, no one expects vegetables to last for a month.
However, at Chen Xin’s place, the vegetables were stored in the warehouse, and the low-temperature freezing had successfully preserved these vegetables for a month. Though some might be frostbitten, at least they were still edible.
Realizing that last month’s vegetables were still intact, Lao Li relaxed and began explaining to Chen Xin why they had come over: "The city’s supply of materials is a bit tight right now. Although reserve grains are still sufficient, almost a year has passed since the meteorite fell, and the grains stored in the shelters have been consumed by nearly half. Vegetables and fruits are long gone, and many of the breadworms and rats raised before have frozen to death in this blizzard. The city government is quite worried about this."
Even though Lao Li didn’t describe it as severe, the information revealed still made Chen Xin realize the gravity of the situation.
"Isn’t the city government working on underground farming? I went over to help them renovate the boiler before and took a look at it. Don’t they have vegetables, fruits, fish, and poultry there? And what about the mushrooms grown in the various shelters?" Chen Xin asked Lao Li, frowning. Although he had anticipated the impact of the cold brought by the blizzard, he hadn’t thought it would be this severe.
Lao Li sighed deeply and shook his head, explaining to Chen Xin: "Although the underground farming area still produces quite a bit, it’s only a drop in the bucket compared to the consumption of over 200,000 survivors in the city. Moreover, this blizzard severely damaged the underground farming area, with many crops suffering severe reductions even if they didn’t die from freezing.
The mushrooms grown in various shelters did yield some food, but only partially supplement consumption. The previous blizzard destroyed most mushroom rooms, so everything needs to start over, making it hard to resume production in the short term.
Plus, the city government had previously used emergency reserves. Now the city’s material supply is indeed tight, and they’re considering rationing."
Upon hearing this from Lao Li, Chen Xin realized the seriousness of the issue.
Faced with this problem, however, he had no good solution.
He could upgrade the planting greenhouse, increasing the planting area to allow for more crops, but crop growth takes time. Even with high-yield seeds and fertilizers boosting production, they couldn’t override the natural rules to make seeds grow from today to tomorrow.
As for his own small output here, it’s more than enough to feed himself while also allowing some support for others. But solving the food crisis would require Chen Xin to upgrade his planting greenhouse several levels to a planting factory for large-scale cultivation; otherwise, relying on him for a solution is unlikely.
The real solution to this problem must rely on the country.
Though the nation has abundant reserves, having stored vast quantities of materials targeted for disaster beforehand, after over a year of consumption, how much remains is a concerning question.
After all, feeding today isn’t the end of the issue; even the largest reserves face depletion, necessitating plans for national food supply when reserves run out.
Despite Flame Country having the highest post-disaster population, providing vast resources for disaster reconstruction labor and technical personnel, it’s also a heavy burden, posing a significant challenge to Flame Country’s logistic support and material production capabilities.
Still, such matters are beyond Chen Xin’s capacity to intervene, and not something he needs to concern himself with. Rather than worrying about national food supplies, he should focus on his planned large-scale planting greenhouse, which if succeeded, could create food production areas and provide technical accumulation for the subsequent Energy Tower project, serving as a multi-purpose beneficial development.