Chapter 95: Wrapping Up and Heading Home!

Jiang Yan didn’t bother washing her face, and just ran her fingers through her hair.

She was heading back to Qianshui Bay Community in the afternoon.

After spending two or three days out, if she cleaned herself up too much, it would only draw unnecessary attention.

Not that she was afraid, but it never hurt to keep a low profile and stay cautious.

After packing up her tent, sleeping mat, sleeping bag, thermos, and so on, her instant noodles were ready.

She hadn’t had any in a while, and with the damp chill outside, this bowl of spicy beef instant noodles tasted like the most delicious thing in the world.

She finished it in one go, not even leaving a drop of soup, and instantly felt warm all over.

She changed into her wetsuit, went down to the 13th floor, and entered her space again to bring out Huabao, who had been left inside to “power-level” by eating like crazy.

She glanced casually—the progress bar above the little stream had already reached 32%!

So far, the progress was pretty fast, probably because Huabao had been prioritizing those insanely valuable jewels.

Jiang Yan guessed that as things went on, the progress would slow down.

After all, the further she went, the less valuable the remaining jewels and watches would be.

But she wasn’t in a hurry.

As soon as Huabao was summoned out, it looked at Jiang Yan with eager anticipation:

“Jie jie jie?” (Mom, where are we going today?)

It would never admit to Mom that it had just found a new source of fun after seeing two turtles sunbathing by the pool outside. For example, it had “kicked” one into the water with its little leaf-foot, and flipped the other onto its back, leaving it flailing upside down.

Jiang Yan took out her treasure map and pointed to a nearby marker labeled “Anming Bee Base” for Huabao to see.

Navigator-Huabao instantly memorized the coordinates.

“Jie jie jie?” (Hey, Mom, what’s a seed resource bank for?)

Huabao pointed with a little leaf at a name marked on the mountain not far from the bee base, curiosity written all over its face.

Jiang Yan brought the map closer and saw “Anming Seed Resource Bank” written on it, and couldn’t help but laugh:

“Huabao, you’ve got sharp eyes! A seed resource bank is a specialized place for storing crop seeds!”

She hadn’t noticed it before—there was actually something like this nearby.

Looked like she could add another stop to her itinerary this morning.

With that thought, Jiang Yan took out her inflatable boat, compass, and theodolite from her space.

She started the motor, and together with Huabao, sped toward the bee base.

Everyone knew that in the apocalypse, seeds were incredibly valuable.

With seeds, there was hope for all things to revive, and for humanity to survive.

She remembered that in the Island Nation, there was a “Doomsday Seed Vault” built on permafrost, storing over a hundred million seeds from all over the world.

That seed vault was as secure as the US national gold reserve.

It could withstand asteroid impacts, nuclear war, and other disasters.

Even if the Antarctic glaciers melted and sea levels rose, it wouldn’t be affected.

And supposedly, its backup power could last at least two hundred years.

The Anming seed bank was a joint public-private project.

Its reserves and security level couldn’t compare to the Doomsday Seed Vault.

But she still wanted to check it out.

After all, if no one went today, no one would be able to go tomorrow.

While Jiang Yan was thinking, she’d already arrived near the bee base.

“Base” was a generous term—it was really just a few small houses built halfway up the mountain, probably with some greenhouses attached.

But it looked like there had been landslides and mudslides earlier, and most of the buildings had been destroyed, leaving devastation everywhere.

Only the central house was still half-standing, stubbornly holding on in the mud.

Jiang Yan figured she might be going home empty-handed today.

But since she was already here, she decided to take a look inside.

The glass windows had long been washed away by the flood, and the door was broken.

But the doorway was blocked tight with a pile of twisted branches, making it impossible to get in.

She had to pack up her inflatable boat, put on a safety helmet from her space, and climb in through the only window.

Inside, the water was waist-deep.

Floating in the water were specimens, branches, dead rats, and some tiny bee corpses.

Jiang Yan shone her flashlight around for a while and finally found the stairs to the upper floor in a corner.

She used a trekking pole to probe the floor as she waded slowly across.

The stairs were wet and slippery, with no handrail, so Jiang Yan climbed very carefully.

After a few minutes, she reached the upper floor.

She switched her flashlight for a high-powered spotlight, instantly lighting up the whole room like daylight.

The small room held seven or eight large metal cabinets with glass doors.

Jiang Yan stepped closer and saw the words “Incubator” on them.

Probably because of the earlier high temperatures and power outage, all the bees inside were dead.

A bee base like this should have had backup power to last a while.

But most likely, the generator room had been destroyed by rain or the wires had been damaged, so it was useless now.

Jiang Yan frowned and was about to leave, when a thought struck her as she glanced again at the incubators.

She’d learned from her self-study in agriculture that to hatch chicks from eggs, you either needed a brooding hen or an incubator.

She already had live fish, shrimp, crabs, and turtles in her space—if she raised some chickens, ducks, and geese, she could really establish an ecosystem in there.

And she had not only chicken, duck, and goose eggs in her storage, but also quail, pigeon, and even ostrich eggs.

If she hatched them all, her space would be bustling.

As for pollinating bees, she hadn’t found any, but that was fine.

Besides bees, butterflies, ants, and beetles could also pollinate.

If all else failed, she could do it by hand, or have Huabao act as her “flower worker.”

Jiang Yan quickly finished thinking it through, took out a spare battery from her space, and tested the plugs on the incubators one by one.

After testing, only three of the eight incubators still worked. She cleaned out the dead bees and stored the working ones in her space.

She decided that when she had nothing to do during the next heavy rain, she’d hatch all kinds of eggs in her space—perfect for testing her agricultural skills.

Back on the inflatable boat, Jiang Yan noticed the rain had gotten heavier.

She didn’t dare linger, and with Huabao’s “navigation,” quickly headed for the seed resource bank.

Halfway there, she stopped the boat and habitually took out her binoculars for a look.

A small boat with a flag was anchored nearby.

It looked like an official vessel.

Looking farther, Jiang Yan’s eyes widened.

The mountainside near the seed resource bank had suffered a massive landslide, completely burying the entrance.

A group of people in black rain boots were digging through the mud with hoes and crowbars.

Others were working together to clear out branches and debris.

Without an excavator, who knew how long manual labor would take.

But that wasn’t Jiang Yan’s concern.

She turned her boat around, took out a raincoat and put it on, donned her goggles, and started the motor, speeding toward Qianshui Bay.

As she neared the community, she switched to a rubber dinghy.

She also took out a large black backpack from her space.

At this point, the backpack was stuffed with instant noodles, sausages, and other supplies.

It wasn’t heavy, but it looked stuffed to the brim at a glance."