Chapter 110: "The Army of Maggots Will Arrive at the Battlefield in Three Seconds!":

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On June 1st, Jing Shu received her first paycheck of 60 work points.

Her mother received her first paycheck under the new job reform: 180 points and 2,000 yuan in paper currency.

Even though paper money was almost worthless, it could still be used to buy some overpriced daily necessities. Some people were still hopeful that the dark days would end, or that after the artificial sun was constructed in October, monetary systems would be restored.

Third Aunt Jing Lai, after deducting her daily meal expenses, earned 30 work points, enough to trade for some food and water. Last time when Zhetian tried to blow up the oil district, they had also planned to rob Ai Jia Supermarket, but since it was now guarded by armed police, it remained unaffected.

On June 1st, it marked exactly one month since the reform that began on May 1st, 2023. Initially, it was tested only in government and civil service sectors, but from June 1st, the virtual currency system tied to citizens' IDs officially launched. For now, the virtual currency could only be used to buy food and water, while other items were still available with paper currency.

Thus, the first-year work points system of the apocalypse was officially underway, gradually replacing paper currency. Meanwhile, the era of big data and zero privacy was silently emerging.

This transitional period was expected to stir up conflict and power struggles, but the truth was that the upper class had already completed their transition from paper currency to virtual currency. They had carved up the pie of power once again.

From this point on, virtual currency would become part of the post-apocalyptic monetary system.

In her previous life, Jing Shu didn’t have the chance to witness these changes. But in this life, she saw every bit of transformation around her. The government’s network, after being spread wide, was finally starting to reel everything in.

Reporting robbery or murder could earn a reward of 1 to 100 virtual currency points. This measure kept 80% of Wucheng’s population constantly vigilant, ready to report anything suspicious with a phone call.

On one side, police and satellite cameras would verify the claims, while on the other, the data was entered into the new big data system. This system could analyze the whereabouts of individuals based on personal location data and estimate their likelihood of committing robbery or murder.

Once the government announced that Jack Ma would become the CFO of the big data system and explained its functionality, everyone was stunned. It turned out the reason some people were getting arrested when they showed up to collect food was because of how powerful big data had become.

Moreover, measures like collecting knives and other dangerous tools were initially met with a spike in crime, but as time passed, there was nothing left to rob. People resorted to stealing cloth, bedding, and other household items to trade for food. Eventually, even those items ran out, and they had no choice but to trade their weapons for food. Little did they know that their actions had already been logged and analyzed by the big data system.

Discussing who had food had become a taboo topic among the public. If anyone mentioned it, they would immediately become a target.

Jing Shu’s grandmother, who used to enjoy gossiping with the other elderly ladies in the neighborhood, now rarely left the house. Every day, she felt a sense of security seeing the boxes of dried goods in the kitchen and the five fridges constantly stocked with food. She was determined to guard these supplies.

Meanwhile, Wucheng had gone three days without food. The corpse bugs had eaten most of the mushrooms.

To be exact, the mushroom rice supply was gone, leaving only plain white rice, priced at 2 virtual currency points per portion. Many people had traded everything they owned for only a handful of points. With the need to buy both food and water, a family couldn’t last more than a few days. The mushroom rice had cost only 0.5 points, just enough for a family to get by.

There were also white steamed buns and smaller portions of meat, but these could only be traded for knives or weapons, further intensifying the collection of sharp objects.

In her past life, Jing Shu’s family had kept only one knife; they traded the rest for white steamed buns. Unfortunately, their last knife was lost in the second year during the floods.

On the fourth day without food, corpse bugs went on a rampage, eating humans, crops, and anything else they could find. At that point, most households had traded away all their knives, weapons, and anything else they could find for food, and had already consumed it all. Now, they were facing the dual threat of starvation and being bitten by corpse bugs.

On the fifth day, people began shouting for the government to “open the warehouses and release the food,” demanding free provisions or threatening to riot.

By the sixth day, the Wucheng government introduced a new food supply, priced at 0.3 points per portion—cheaper than the mushroom rice.

It was almost June 7th, the Dragon Boat Festival. After delivering food to Wu Youai, Jing Shu started preparing ingredients for making *zongzi* (rice dumplings) with her grandmother.

Jing Shu knew that today would bring a major event—one that, in her previous life, had shattered her worldview. As the people of Wucheng continued to protest for food, the government finally responded.

Yes, the prophecy made by the science channel—that corpse bugs would rule the world and sit atop the food chain—was once again proven wrong. Because a new enemy of the corpse bugs had emerged: grain bugs.

In other words, maggots.

Due to the extreme heat, many places had become breeding grounds for maggots, especially now.

At first, the maggots were caught off guard by the corpse bugs and couldn’t react in time, allowing the corpse bugs to take over most of the food supply. Even the flies had no place to lay their eggs because any available food was quickly devoured by the corpse bugs.

But now the maggots had evolved a new strategy. If the corpse bugs took over the food supply, no problem—they would just slowly overtake the corpse bugs.

Flies, utilizing their incredible reproductive abilities, began laying eggs around the corpse bugs.

Although maggots took longer to develop than corpse bugs, and the food was usually eaten by the bugs first, when the maggots finally hatched, they were much larger than the corpse bugs and could crawl over and slowly eat them.

Wherever there was food infested with corpse bugs, there would be a nearby army of hungry maggots waiting to devour them once they hatched.

Jing Shu recalled a phrase: “Life is like a game of chess. I am but a pawn, slow and steady, yet I never retreat.” And the army of maggots was just three seconds away from arriving on the battlefield!

Jing Shu mused that maggots were a form of biological warfare. Why? It was like the relationship between Vivo and Oppo phones—where one exists, the other follows. Now, wherever there were corpse bugs, there would be maggots.

After the corpse bugs devoured the mushrooms at the twelve management offices of Wucheng, a miraculous thing happened: an army of flies arrived, laying a vast number of maggots.

Just when the government was at its wits’ end, a biologist suggested, “Grain bugs are rich in protein. If properly processed, they taste pretty good and can satisfy the cravings of those who are constantly demanding meat.”

To be fair, the government had done its best. People complained about the lack of vegetables, so the government gave them vegetables. Now they were complaining about the lack of meat, so the government provided plump maggots. What more could they want?

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*Author’s note*: Thanks to Xuan Xuan Xuan Xuan and "Plain Faces Aren’t Always the Most Beautiful" for the tips!