Chapter 179: My Profession is Zombie King 11
Author: 打字机
“I can’t take it anymore. The temperature is getting higher and higher. Everyone, don’t stay outside. Hurry up and pack up and go back.”
Unconsciously, the temperature outside is getting higher and higher. Although the sun is not yet visible on the horizon, the experienced elderly still feel that the sun is not far from rising.
“Ah, the three suns are really dominant. My neck and back are already burned even though they haven’t risen yet.”
The ultraviolet rays of the three suns are incredibly fierce. They didn’t feel it when they were working, but now, they can feel the burning sensation on their exposed skin when they stop working.
Everyone dared not stay outside anymore, so they took their night’s work and returned to their respective homes.
“Liuzi, go to Uncle’s house for breakfast, and then go home to sleep.”
Chi Dayuan and his son Chi Shengli were pushing a cart filled with dried crops, resulting from their work overnight.
While passing by the pond, Chi Dayuan called his two nieces to go home and asked Jiang Liu to come to their house for a meal.
Nowadays, the world is in chaos. The more able-bodied people in the family, the safer it is in troubled times. Chi Dayuan and his son Chi Shengli can only be considered half-grown men, and they have to protect three women. It would be a good thing for the Chi family if they could bring Jiang Liu closer to them.
Moreover, Jiang Liu is considered a lonely person in this village. His closest relatives are already three generations away. Being friends with the Chi family would also be good for Jiang Liu, enabling him to integrate into the Huanan village faster.
“Uncle, I’ll go home, get something, and come over.”
Jiang Liu looked at the sun and realized there was enough time for him to prepare a loach’s feast and impress the little cutie so that she would forget that he had stolen her roasted chicken.
“Okay.”
Seeing that Jiang Liu didn’t refuse, Chi Dayuan felt even better. He pushed the cart with his son and took his two nieces home.
*******
Jiang Liu went back home to get some coarse salt. This loach has a strong earthy smell that cannot be removed without special treatment.
The Jiang family loves to eat loach, and over time, they have developed a unique method of handling it. First, a suitable amount of coarse salt is poured into the loach bucket. Then, the lid is covered so that the loach can jump around in the bucket. After the loach stops moving, coarse salt will be added, and the surface of the loach will be rubbed.
This step removes the outermost layer of mucus from the loach. After all, the earthy smell of loach primarily comes from this layer.
After these two steps, the loach can be blanched in boiling water for one or two minutes and removed. The blanched loach has a thin yellow film on its surface which is its mucous membrane. In addition to the earthy smell, bacteria on the loach are also concentrated in this layer. After peeling off this layer of the mucous membrane, the earthy smell of loach is eliminated, making the loach more delicious when stir-fried.
“Jiang Liu, you have stored quite a lot of coarse salt, huh?”
Li Mei was unhappy when she heard her husband invited Jiang Liu to dinner. Still, when she saw that Jiang Liu had not come empty-handed and had brought a bucket of fat and juicy loaches and the seasoning for cooking them, her displeasure naturally disappeared.
At most, Li Mei wasn’t a bad person, just a little selfish. She didn’t mind being a kind elder as long as her husband and son’s interests were not infringed upon.
Now Li Mei’s attention was focused on the small bucket of coarse salt that Jiang Liu had brought. With the rumours of the end of the world going around, Li Mei had stocked up on many cooking ingredients at the urging of her son Chi Shengli, including salt.
But the salt she had stocked up on was the fine salt sold in the supermarket for one yuan a bag. This salt was good for cooking but not for salting meat or fish.
Their village was not a salt-producing area, and no household had the habit of stocking up on coarse salt. Li Mei had not thought of coarse salt before, but because she had caught a lot of live fish with the villagers earlier in the day, and with the weather the way it was, the fish had to be made into salted fish or dried fish as soon as possible. But since there was no salt in the house, it was impossible for her to make salted fish.
“This coarse salt was stocked up during the Japanese nuclear leak in 2011. There’s still quite a bit in the cellar. If you need it, Auntie, I’ll bring you another pot later.”
Speaking of the coarse salt in the cellar, it was a pleasant surprise for Jiang Liu. It was stored by the Jiang family’s old lady when she was alive. The old lady cherished her life very much and trusted the news on TV. Because of that, she hoarded five barrels of coarse salt at once, one for herself, one for her son and daughter-in-law, and three for her grandchildren and future great-grandchildren.
The old lady thought that since salt cannot go rancid and those sea salt may not be edible after being contaminated by radiation, she decisively hoarded salt for several generations.
However, because of her love for low prices, the old lady did not go to the supermarket to buy refined salt. Instead, she purchased five barrels of cheap coarse salt from an acquaintance at a pickling factory. At that time, her son and daughter-in-law blamed her for buying the salt, but who would have thought the situation would change and the five barrels of salt would become a treasure?
Li Mei wanted to agree, but Chi Dayuan stopped her.
“How can we just take your salt for free? Listen, Liu-zi, when you just returned, your mother rented your family’s land to someone else. So, why don’t you let Uncle Dayuan take advantage of you and consider it even? You can go to Uncle Dayuan’s land tomorrow night to collect some dried vegetables. Although the taste may not be great, it can still be cooked with water and become a dish to fill your stomach.”
Chi Dayuan was also helping Jiang Liu. The importance of salt in food had not yet been emphasized, but the importance of food was visible to the naked eye.
Now, their family cannot harvest things in the field alone. If they wait a few more days, those dried vegetables in the field will probably rot. It’s better to create some good karma than waste those seedlings.
Li Mei opened her mouth, but after thinking about it, she realized that her family wouldn’t lose out, so she tightly shut her mouth and didn’t say anything more.
Due to time constraints, Jiang Liu made two dishes with loaches. One was the classic stir-fried loaches. Since Chi’s family prefer spicy food, Jiang Liu added a lot of Sichuan peppercorns and sesame to the dish. The loaches for this dish were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, accompanied by a spicy and fragrant taste. Chi Ruoyu decisively sneaked into the kitchen on the pretext of helping and ate several mouthfuls. She even wished that she could eat her fingers.
The other dish was made with fat and tender large loaches and some small loaches with a thickness similar to the little finger. These loaches were deep-fried in hot oil and then sprinkled with a unique blend of five spices created by Jiang Liu. The loach was crispy on the outside, and even the bones were crispy after being fried. When you take a bite, you can hear a satisfying crunch. With the unique ingredients, you won’t feel greasy even if you eat a lot.
These two dishes were well received at the dinner table. If their stomachs weren’t full, Chi Shengli would have asked Jiang Liu to make all the remaining loaches into dishes.
After finishing the meal, Jiang Liu went back. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to chat and bond with the sisters of the Chi family, but the sun was about to rise. If he didn’t go home now, he might not be able to later.
On that day, as the sun rose, the villagers stood by the window, hoping as they stared at the horizon.
When three suns slowly rose on the horizon, everyone’s hope was shattered, and their hearts sank. The joy of the bountiful harvest of mud loach and river fish from the night before was gone.
It wasn’t a dream, nor was it an accidental occurrence. Three suns really appeared in the sky. The world had truly changed.
This was the first reaction of everyone who was waiting for the sunrise.
*********
“None of the information known by the reincarnated individuals matches the apocalypse we are currently experiencing.”
“We only know that reincarnated people can activate special abilities. The Reincarnated Individuals Employment Association currently has five elemental ability users, one power mutation user, two five-element mages, one magician, seven sorcerers, and three genetic mutation users. These reincarnated individuals are very cooperative with the research institute’s studies, and we are also considering how to use their abilities in government work.”
“The entire country has more than just these nineteen reincarnated individuals. There are many more of them hidden throughout the country. I suggest the government make this information public to the people and tell these reincarnated individuals that the government’s attitude towards them is welcoming and accommodating. Appropriate compensation and encouragement measures can be taken, and these reincarnated individuals are welcome to join the warm embrace of the party organization.”
“The times have changed, and the appearance of these reincarnated individuals may be the vanguard of a new era. We should be warm like a spring breeze for the good reincarnated individuals. For those reincarnated individuals who want to cause trouble in the apocalypse, we should be cold, like a harsh winter. Although there have not been any incidents of reincarnated individuals causing harm so far, we cannot guarantee that there will not be in the future. Facing the insidious abilities that these reincarnated individuals possess, the government should have corresponding measures to deal with them.”
…
In a conference room in central headquarters, the top leaders of China gathered together, and the centre of the discussion was the reincarnated individuals.
This meeting was kept confidential, and except for a few people, the outside world had no idea about the existence of the reincarnated individuals, let alone that China had already formed a small team of reincarnated individuals and was working hard to study the reasons why these reincarnated individuals had mutations.
Of course, this research was not inhumane human experiments but rather blood tests or extraction of some human tissues in cooperation with the reincarnated individuals. These experiments were carried out to ensure safety and no harm to the reincarnated individuals. Unfortunately, there have been no significant results yet.
**********
Ordinary people do not know the leaders’ worries. After getting through the initial panic, most people have gotten used to the survival method of sleeping during the day and going out at night. However, a new challenge arose not long after they became familiar with this biological clock.
There was a power outage!
In such hot weather, not to mention whether people can adapt to the high temperature indoors, the other effects of the power outage are also enormous.
The food in the refrigerator spoiled, many machines cannot be used, and modern human life cannot do without electricity. Because of this sudden power outage, people’s lives have become even more difficult.
At this time, the power of the apocalypse truly begins to show.
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