So, good people do get their rewards. Jing Shu now had another lifesaving trump card—just one drop of pure spiritual spring water could save a life. This unexpected surprise came at the perfect time.
“@Everyone, I must especially thank @Jing Shu from the Villa Area. Thanks to her for taking a family of three with viral influenza to the hospital at two in the morning. The child has now passed the critical phase, and the adults are fine. Due to the overwhelming number of patients, we’ve already completed the discharge procedures and returned to the community. Everyone must ensure they take proper protective measures; the hospital’s medication supplies are running low.”
Three days later, the couple came to thank Jing Shu, bringing a box of purple sweet potato chips and red sweet potato chips as a token of gratitude. In the post-apocalyptic world, these were lifesaving foods.
The couple had opened a sweet potato chip shop in the city, but with sales plummeting, and raw materials halted, they had temporarily closed the store. They still had many pre-made sweet potato chips and decided to give them to Jing Shu as a thank-you gift, asking for money in return or else offering their homegrown specialties.
Jing Shu was very pleased and enjoyed eating a lot with the little one—the couple’s son. After drinking the spiritual spring water, the child’s appetite increased significantly. Fortunately, he ate more and defecated more without any other abnormalities.
The sweet and chewy taste was quite good in the apocalypse, so Jing Shu decided to start making sweet potato chips herself.
That day, Jing Shu’s mother indeed scolded her again for not involving her father in saving people. It was dangerous for her to go alone. “Think about it; you’re putting yourself at risk. Remember that colleague, Wang Hong, who came to sell her house late that day? She caught the disease in the middle of the night, and by the time she went to the hospital to queue, it was too late. She died directly that day. And she still owes me 800 yuan!”
Jing Shu: “……” Her mother seemed to have different priorities.
As people around her continued to die, with the Dark Days not ending, the public grew increasingly panicked. The state’s vaccine was still delayed, and instead, they announced a national mission…
“In 2117, Australia successfully eradicated toxic mosquitoes by injecting the bacterium *Wolbachia* into them, causing males to become infertile. They released 20 million infertile toxic mosquitoes to plague the normal mosquito population, ensuring that more and more mosquitoes carried the bacterium and could no longer reproduce, effectively exterminating the toxic mosquitoes through sterilization.”
“This method is equally effective against the Black Fungus Beetles.”
“However, this approach has regional limitations, so it requires local governments to implement it. The bacteria have been distributed to all urban and rural governments. Each area must capture a certain number of Black Fungus Beetles, inject them with the bacterium, and release them back. This will sterilize the beetles, preventing them from reproducing. Once this generation of Black Fungus Beetles dies out, they will be eradicated.”
Just like in her previous life, the state began assigning tasks to the public to alleviate fear and foster a sense of collective honor.
There’s a saying: “When people are well-fed and have nothing to do, they start overthinking.” This philosophy held true, as keeping people busy kept them from worrying about other matters. The leaders were adept at understanding and addressing the public’s psyche.
Every time the water truck delivered water to Wucheng, it was accompanied by insect-catching vehicles. The authorities also distributed head coverings, burlap sacks, nets, and other tools. Each burlap sack of Black Fungus Beetles could be traded for an extra bucket of water, motivating everyone to participate enthusiastically.
People were unlikely to risk their lives to catch insects for free; this initiative had to be based on mutual cooperation.
Additionally, many households, although not yet at the stage of meticulously cleaning their dishes, have progressed to wiping them with sanitary paper. They had just enough water for drinking and cooking, so anyone with extra water was more than willing to participate.
After the temperature dropped that day, residents of Jing Shu’s community formed groups. Every household donned head coverings, thick socks, rain boots, applied floral water, and wore gloves, fully covering themselves to catch insects.
“We each need to collect at least ten burlap sacks of live beetles. Other institutions also need to collect five burlap sacks,” Jing Shu’s mother said while eating an apple, clearly troubled.
Jing Shu’s father had already sent a batch of floral water, mineral water, and vegetables to Jing Shu’s grandmother when the Black Fungus Beetles first appeared. Thus, he was quite relaxed now, saying, “I’ll help you catch them at the community entrance.”
“How long will this take? You can’t catch a burlap sack in a day.”
At this moment, Jing Shu took out a solar-powered light stick, “Use this.”
Her father always thought she was like Doraemon reincarnated.
While neighbors worked together using nets to catch insects, struggling under the only lit streetlamp at the gate, Jing Shu and her father fully equipped themselves and arrived at their villa. They took out several light sticks, turned on the strong lights, and placed them on the ground. Before long, numerous flying insects fluttered down, buzzing incessantly.
Jing Shu caught a burlap sack, pulled the light sticks filled with insects out and was able to pack one-third of the sack.
Her father followed suit. In less than half an hour, the two had filled ten burlap sacks. During the process, her father shivered at the sight of the dense, large black insects, but his daughter handled them effortlessly. Sometimes, if any insects were missed, Jing Shu would grab them and toss them back into the air.
Her daughter had recently trained a giant chicken to fly up and catch the insects, then praised it. It looked like she was treating the chicken like a dog… The chicken was doing a great job, and her father couldn’t tell if the world was messed up or if he was.
“Give this to the neighbors too, let them use it,” Jing Shu’s father said. Using the net to catch up to three or four insects at a time was time-consuming, but catching a burlap sack took longer.
“They finally have some evening activities, Dad. Don’t ruin it,” Jing Shu waved to the newly organized member No.1, “No.1, we’re leaving.”
No.1, holding his large backside, reluctantly pulled himself out of the insect pile and returned to Jing Shu. This guy was like a bottomless pit—after ingesting spiritual spring water, no matter how much he ate, he could always continue eating. The insects outside had become his delicious meal; he never got enough because he ate while defecating…
The nationwide insect-catching campaign was highly successful, boosting everyone’s enthusiasm. Every household gained a few extra buckets of water, and within three days, the Wucheng government announced that the insects had been injected with the bacterium and released.
Within ten days, the population of Black Fungus Beetles began to dwindle rapidly, and the insect disaster was completely over, allowing citizens to rest assured.
Fifty days had passed before the apocalypse, and the number of Black Fungus Beetles had sharply decreased. As the domestic situation improved, Jing Shu’s father received a call from Jing Shu’s grandmother, crying:
“You all come quickly and see. Jing Shu and Ai have been infected by the Black Fungus Beetles and have caught viral influenza! Nearby hospitals are refusing patients due to lack of medicine. What should we do?”
—
Author’s Note:
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