Chapter 5: Busy Farming in the Last Days

After taking a short break, the two of them resumed their journey. Ji Cha moved from the back seat to the passenger seat, holding a bag of snacks in his arms. With one hand grabbing a piece of dried mango and the other holding his phone, he clumsily typed.

On a classified information website, a message suddenly popped up.

“Urgent sale: 3 bedrooms, 1 living room, 2 bathrooms, 120 square meters in West Hong Residential Area, S City. Selling price: 2.4 million.”

Several real estate agents who happened to come across this listing were shocked. This price in S City was truly surprising, especially considering the “urgent sale” label.

S City was not a major city, and the average housing price was around 15,000 yuan per square meter. However, the location of Ji Cha’s property was excellent. With a bit of patience, it could easily sell for 31,000 yuan per square meter. But now, the price had been slashed by almost one-third. Even the real estate agents couldn’t help but think that this was either a foolish move or a scam. Seeing such a prime property right in front of them, they hesitated to dial the phone number provided.

Ji Cha switched his phone to airplane mode and stuffed another piece of dried mango into his mouth, causing his cheek to puff up slightly, making him look like a hamster.

What is most lacking in the apocalypse?

Food!

Delicious food!

A variety of abundant food!

The stomach, which had been hardened and numb from constantly struggling to survive, completely regained its senses after a steaming hot meal of rice. It was as if it had come back to life, almost human-like!

With the choices he now had, why wouldn’t he choose food? In order to eat full meals and sleep well in the future, he had to make the most of these two months.

What if there was no food? Grow it yourself!

Ji Cha might not be familiar with many things, but he knew about farming. He had been cultivating fields in the S City base for five years. However, in order to live a stable life in the apocalypse, the most important thing was to have a solid fortress. Ji Cha had thought about it, and the factory in the suburbs where his family lived was enough. The remaining empty space inside could even be used for farming.

If he reinforced the walls of the factory and the internal facilities, it would be the ideal setup to use directly. After all, the suburbs of S City had already been divided into various new factories, and the remaining farmland was just small scattered pieces of land owned by someone else.

Even his grandmother, who had been farming all her life, ended up losing her land for just a few tens of thousands. It had been five or six years since she had worked on the land. The only place left to tend was a small vegetable patch enclosed by a bamboo fence at their doorstep.

Ji Cha tore open a lollipop and put it in his mouth, slowly pondering the trivial matters of farming.

One major prerequisite for cultivating the fields was to have a solid fortress, not only to withstand the clumsy attacks of the zombies but, more importantly, to defend against the post-apocalyptic humans who indulged in their primal instincts. They were often more difficult and dangerous to deal with than the zombies.

The factory’s perimeter wall was only about two meters high and not very sturdy. If someone was determined, any grown man could easily climb over the wall. This needed to be changed.

The wall needed reinforcement and heightening. How tall were prison walls again? Ji Cha furrowed his brow. Four meters? Five meters?

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Liang Jincheng struggled to multitask while driving (please don’t imitate), and Ji Cha’s presence beside him seemed so unreal. He played with his phone, put it down, ate dried fruit, ate candy—every movement he made, Liang Jincheng observed out of the corner of his eye until his gaze fell on the slightly rosy corner of Ji Cha’s mouth.

The candy brushed against his lips, leaving a layer of sticky syrup, and the sweetness permeated the air, not just the fruity taste, but also the captivating sight of the candy swirling around in Ji Cha’s mouth as he manipulated it with his fingertips, producing a sucking sound with each sip.

It was truly maddening…

Liang Jincheng tightly gripped the steering wheel, his breath involuntarily growing heavy. He tried to focus his gaze on the fast-moving vehicles on the road, but his thoughts scattered like wild horses.

A single candy now made Liang Jincheng feel jealous.

Unaware that he was being ogled, Ji Cha suddenly reached out and grasped the stick of the lollipop. He wrapped his lips around the candy ball and pulled it out, producing an almost inaudible “pop” sound.

Then he heard Liang Jincheng gasping beside him.

Turning his head with a hint of concern, Ji Cha asked, “Senior, what’s wrong with you?”

Ji Cha really wanted to please Liang Jincheng. He was so anxious that he scratched his head, but the abnormal social dynamics in the post-apocalyptic world made him even more worried about doing something that would scare Liang Jincheng.

For instance, deep down, he wanted nothing more than to cling to Liang Jincheng’s thigh and beg the big shot to take him in, but on his face, he maintained an expressionless look as he gazed at Liang Jincheng.

His gaze was so pure and natural that it immediately pulled Liang Jincheng out of his forbidden fantasies. Uncomfortably, Liang Jincheng shifted his legs, afraid that he couldn’t fully conceal them. In the end, he simply pulled out the shirt that was partially tucked into his waistband, loosely covering his thighs.

“It’s nothing,” Liang Jincheng shook his head, pretending to concentrate on the road, but his slightly flushed cheeks betrayed his emotions.

Thinking that he might be feeling hot, Ji Cha quickly grabbed Liang Jincheng’s jacket from the back seat and wrapped it around himself. Ji Cha wasn’t short among boys, standing at 176cm with shoes that had thicker soles, which easily put him at a height where most girls would look up to him. However, when Liang Jincheng’s jacket was on Ji Cha, it almost covered half of his face, making it difficult for him to emerge.

Ji Cha deftly put on the jacket and raised his eyes, only to notice that Liang Jincheng had just withdrawn his gaze from him, wearing a look of surprise and confusion.

“I’m feeling cold, so I borrowed your jacket for a while. If you’re feeling hot, you can lower the air conditioning temperature a bit,” Ji Cha explained earnestly. Then he found a comfortable position and put the lollipop back into his mouth, allowing his thoughts to wander.

Ji Cha was wearing his own jacket, and this wasn’t just imagination, it was reality.

Oh… Liang Jincheng was practically breaking out in a sweat on his forehead. He was definitely feeling even hotter now.

Completely oblivious to the other person’s discomfort, Ji Cha continued to ponder over the details.

With a solid external structure in place, attention was turned back to the interior. In addition to the foundation underneath the factory building, there was a large area of land within the walls that could be used for cultivation. It would be highly beneficial to utilize all of it.

In order to produce, tools were necessary. The cultivation efficiency in Base S was not high, and one important reason was the limited availability of tools.

The horrors of the apocalypse, aside from the unfathomable human nature, lay in the fact that it stripped people away from their familiar environment, almost back to a primitive state. Especially in the tenth year after the apocalypse, there were still a significant number of people in S city base who couldn’t solve the problem of subsistence. Without resolving the issue of subsistence, it was impossible to develop productivity and achieve the return of technology.

Ji Cha had witnessed children born within the base grow up to four or five years old, unaware of traditional poetry, and never having heard of mobile phones, tablets, or laptops. Moreover, in the years that followed, even if he grew older, the loss of knowledge and talent created a cliff of knowledge. Countless scientists had dedicated their entire lives to research achievements that might never be known to anyone again.

Humanity was reduced to ants, returned to their original state overnight.

At this thought, Ji Cha furrowed his brows tightly. The remaining half of the candy couldn’t withstand the force of his teeth, and with a crisp sound, it broke into two pieces in his mouth.

Liang Jincheng’s fiery breath hesitated, and his shoulders couldn’t help but tremble slightly.

“Damn, that hurts.”

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

Translator has something to say: Liang Jincheng, sir, you have way too much wild imaginations lol.