161: Chapter 161 Agricultural Closed Loop Achieved! 23,000 Bowls of Hot Noodle Soup

1:00 PM, third-floor greenhouse.

The Fast-growing Wheat on the ten sets of Hydroponic Racks has been harvested clean, leaving only root systems and stalk residue in the nutrient solution.

Twenty Agricultural Technicians were divided into two teams; one team turned the wheat ears beside the Air-drying Racks, while the other crouched in front of the Hydroponic Racks to clear the stubble.

Lin Wan stood in front of the third set of Hydroponic Racks, holding a finger-length piece of wheat straw.

The communicator rang.

"Lin Wan." It was Lu Chen's voice.

"City Lord."

"How is the straw clearing coming along?"

"The stubble from groups one through four has been completely pulled and is being bundled. Song Ya is clearing groups five through ten simultaneously."

"What's the total amount?"

"The wet weight of the straw and root residue is just over two tons. It will shrink to about 1,300 to 1,400 kilograms after drying."

"How long will 1.3 or 1.4 tons of straw last for feeding?"

"Liao Dacheng calculated it with me yesterday. Thirty pigs, twelve cows, and forty sheep consume eighty to one hundred kilograms of roughage daily."

"1.4 tons can last fourteen days."

"Correct. But that's only the straw from the first crop. The planting area for the second crop will expand to over seventy percent, so the amount of straw will double accordingly."

"The second crop's straw plus the remainder from the first will last until the third crop's harvest."

"It will. Starting from the third crop, the greenhouse will produce a batch of straw every seven days, and the Livestock Farm's roughage will be a completely closed loop."

"When will it be sent down?"

"Feeding wet straw directly isn't ideal; the fiber is too tough for the pigs' digestive tracts. It needs to be spread out in the greenhouse for four to six hours until the surface moisture evaporates to below thirty percent."

"Four to six hours. Can it be sent this evening?"

"6:00 PM at the earliest. I've asked Song Ya to arrange for two people to handle the transport, taking it directly from the greenhouse's Freight Elevator to the first-floor Livestock Farm entrance."

"Coordinate the receiving process with Liao Dacheng."

"Already done. He's waiting over at the Livestock Farm."

Lu Chen didn't reply, and the communicator went silent for two seconds.

"City Lord."

"Yes?"

"I just turned the wheat ears on the Air-drying Racks. The surface moisture is evaporating faster than expected. After raising the greenhouse temperature by two degrees, the air humidity dropped by eight percent, and the drying speed increased by at least thirty percent."

"What time can the Threshing begin?"

"At this rate, the moisture content of the grains should drop below fourteen percent around 5:00 PM, and Threshing can begin."

"Thresh at five, grind flour at six."

"I tried the Synthesizer's grinding mode at noon. The yield for coarse flour is around sixty-five percent. From six tons of semi-dry wheat ears, we'll get five and a half tons of grain after Threshing, which will grind into three and a half to four tons of coarse flour."

"How many bowls of noodles will three and a half tons of flour make?"

"Calculating at 150 grams of dry noodles per bowl, that's 23,000 bowls."

Lu Chen tapped his finger on the armrest.

"Twenty-three thousand bowls."

"Not enough for one bowl per person for thirty thousand people."

"Make the first pot for the Engineering Team. The rest will be distributed in batches according to the registration order of the Residential Areas."

"Alright. What about your bowl?"

"Make mine last."

"City Lord, I'll make yours first."

"Last."

Lin Wan was silent for a second on the other end.

"Fine, last it is. But I'll knead the dough and have it ready; it'll only take three minutes once you're ready to eat."

"Okay."

"City Lord."

"Yes?"

"After the Hydroponic Racks are cleared, they need to be rinsed with diluted Disinfectant to kill off any residual Root Rot Fungi. Once rinsed and dried, the second crop can be sown tomorrow morning."

"Is there enough Disinfectant?"

"Yes. The Disinfectant provided by the system has a high concentration; one liter of concentrate to fifty liters of water. We have twenty liters of concentrate stored in the greenhouse, enough for thirty washes."

"What time is the sowing tomorrow morning?"

"6:00 AM. Song Ya and I will sow in two teams simultaneously. We expect to finish all ten sets of Hydroponic Racks in two hours. The planting area will expand to over seventy percent."

"The second crop will be harvested in the following days."

"Correct. The yield will double, to twelve or thirteen tons."

"Full production starts from the third crop."

"Right."

The communicator hung up.

Lu Chen leaned back in the driver's seat. The time on the panel showed 1:12 PM.

He pressed the communicator.

"Liao Dacheng."

It connected five seconds later.

"City Lord."

"At 6:00 PM this evening, the first batch of straw from the greenhouse will be sent to the Livestock Farm. Lin Wan is arranging for two people to transport it; be ready to receive it on your end."

"Alright. I'll have Ma Dong wait at the Freight Elevator entrance."

"You decide how to process the straw, whether it needs to be chopped or softened."

"The pigs eat it chopped, the cows can chew the long stalks directly, and the sheep eat the short, tender stems. I'll process it in three portions."

"Is the system-allocated Concentrated Feed still enough?"

"Yes. The consumption of Concentrated Feed is fifteen percent less than I estimated. The protein content provided by the system is high; the pigs eat less but grow faster."

"What about the Pregnant Sows?"

"The intake of the three Pregnant Sows is stable, and their weight continues to increase. I checked their bellies this morning; the fetal positions are all correct."

"And the two sows in Proestrus?"

"I'll observe them tomorrow and breed them the day after or the day after that. I've isolated Breeding Boar YM-01; he's in great condition."

"Let me know when the Breeding starts."

"Will do."

"Anything else you need?"

"One thing," Liao Dacheng lowered his voice. "Ma Dong's milking technique is improving quickly; the milking time for the four cows this morning was ten minutes shorter than yesterday. But he's only one person. The Livestock Farm is 9,600 square meters; it takes twenty minutes just to walk a full circuit. Can you give me another person?"

"Ask Zhao Tiezhu for one."

"Alright."

"Get someone careful, not someone clumsy."

"Understood."

The communicator hung up.

Lu Chen wrote a line in his Logbook: The first batch of straw arrives at the Livestock Farm at 6:00 PM today; the feed closed-loop has officially begun.

He closed the Logbook. The radar scan line on the panel rotated at a steady speed.

There were no abnormal signals within an eight-kilometer radius; the northern horizon was empty and desolate.

That dark red Signal Log was still flashing, fifteen degrees north-northwest.

Three days, and not a second signal.