164: Chapter 164 Two bowls of noodles each! The Iron Hoof Legion has vanished?

At five in the morning, Lu Chen woke up.

Three messages were blinking on the panel.

The first one was from Lin Wan, timestamped 4:30 AM.

Sowing of the second batch of Fast-growing Wheat is complete; 72% of the sowing area for the ten sets of Hydroponic Racks has been covered.

The second message was from Liao Dacheng, timestamped 3:58 AM.

The first batch of stalks has been received and processed; 600 kilograms of chopped stalks for the pigs have been placed in the feed troughs, and their intake is normal.

300 kilograms of long stalks for the cattle have been placed on the hay racks, and 100 kilograms of short-cut tender stems for the sheep have been distributed. The palatability of the stalks is good, with no signs of feed refusal.

The third message was from Han Zhengqing, timestamped 5:01 AM.

Work on the fourth set of vents begins today, and the remaining twelve light positions will all be completed this morning. All the noodles from last night were finished with none left over; the engineering team's morale is high.

After reading the three messages, Lu Chen pressed the communicator.

“Lin Wan.”

The call connected after three seconds.

“City Lord, you're awake?”

“Until what time were you grinding flour last night?”

“Until 2:00 AM.” Lin Wan spoke quickly. “The first batch of 500 kilograms of flour has been completely ground, producing 3,200 bowls of noodles. The engineering team ate 200 bowls, and the remaining 3,000 bowls have been made into dried noodles and stored in the cold storage.”

“When will the 3,000 bowls of dried noodles be distributed?”

“Distribution starts today, but 3,000 bowls is only enough for half of the 6,400 people.”

“How will they be divided?”

“My suggestion is to follow the bed numbers in the residential areas, starting from number 1 to 3,000. The rest will wait for the second batch, which we'll make as we continue grinding flour today.”

“The Synthesizers are still grinding flour today?”

“Yes, the remaining five tons of wheat kernels still need to be ground.” Lin Wan flipped through a logbook on the other end of the communicator. “If all twelve Synthesizers are running, we can finish two tons this afternoon and the remaining three tons tomorrow.”

“So everything will be ground in two days.”

“Yes. Five tons of wheat kernels will yield 3.2 to 3.5 tons of flour. Combined with last night's 500 kilograms, that's a total of 3.7 to 4 tons of flour.”

“Enough to make 24,000 bowls of noodles.”

“Roughly.”

“That's three to four bowls for each of the 6,400 people.”

“At a rate of one bowl per person per day, it's enough for three days. The second batch won't be harvested until three days after that, leaving a four-day gap in between.”

“What about the gap?”

“The Synthesizers will switch back to Nutrient Bar mode; the Nutrient Bars will cover those four days. Once the second batch is harvested, the yield will double, and the gap will disappear.”

“Alternating between noodles and Nutrient Bars.”

“Yes, after that, the noodle supply will be continuous. Once the third batch reaches full production, all 30,000 people will be able to eat staple food every day.”

“Lin Wan.”

“Yes.”

“Don't worry about the flour distribution; leave that to Chen Li. You only have two tasks today.”

“Which two?”

“First, monitor the seedling management after the second sowing. Second, check the growth progress of the strawberries and Watermelons.”

“Understood. I measured the strawberries this morning; the fruits are already four centimeters long, and the red coloring at the bottom has expanded to 30%.”

“30% ripened.”

“Yes, the coloring speed of the Grade A cream strawberries has been accelerated under the conditions of the Dome Greenhouse, twice as fast as normal varieties.”

“When will they be edible?”

“At the current rate, they'll be ripe on the 78th day, two days earlier than the initial estimate of the 80th day.”

“What about the Watermelons?”

“The vine branching is stable, and the first female flower has been successfully pollinated. The fruit has just begun to swell and is green.”

“Ripe on the 78th day.”

“Yes, roughly at the same time as the strawberries.”

“When the time comes, pick a Strawberry for me to taste first.”

“The first Strawberry was always meant for you.”

The communicator hung up.

Lu Chen stood up and walked toward the second floor.

Passing the kitchen, the thermos on the stove was still in its place, with the tape still on the body of the cup.

City Lord.

He unscrewed the lid and took a sip of milk.

It was lukewarm.

Setting down the thermos, he took a Nutrient Bar and walked back to the cockpit.

At 4:00 PM, the communicator rang on time.

“City Lord Lu Chen, Chen Li's 4:00 PM daily report.”

“Go ahead.”

“First item: migration progress. 261 people moved in today, bringing the total number of registered residents to 6,679. The migration speed has returned to normal.”

“Second item.”

“The coolant level for The City-State's auxiliary engines dropped by 1.8% today, consistent with the previous two days.”

“Third item.”

“The flour distribution plan has been implemented. Following the bed numbers in the residential areas, 1,500 bowls of dried noodles were distributed today. Order was well-maintained, and there were no scuffles.”

“1,500 bowls? Wasn't it 3,000?”

“Two bowls were given to each person. We served 750 people today, and the 3,000 bowls will be distributed over two days.”

“Two bowls per person?”

“City Lord, one bowl isn't enough.” Chen Li's voice was steady but noticeably faster. “The residents who received the noodles ate them on the spot; some were even licking their bowls after finishing. I made a temporary decision to change it to two bowls per person and extend the distribution period by one day.”

Lu Chen's finger paused on the armrest.

“Your decision?”

“Yes. Before Deputy Chief of Staff Zhou Yuan left, he told me that emergency adjustments involving livelihood distribution could be executed first and reported later.”

“No problem this time, but inform me of similar adjustments in advance in the future.”

“Understood.”

“Fourth item?”

“Fourth item: Zhou Yuan's communication status. The iron wall has been out of contact for over twenty-four hours. Based on the itinerary, he is nearing the outskirts of the Dawn Legion.”

“When is the earliest communication will be restored?”

“If everything goes smoothly, he'll be within the 500-kilometer effective range on his return trip between tomorrow night and the morning after.”

“And the latest?”

“If he stays an extra day with the Dawn Legion, it will be the night after tomorrow.”

“Continue monitoring.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Fifth item?”

“That's all.”

“What about the signal from the Iron Hoof Legion?”

“No new signals today. The last signal was that 0.3-second one from three days ago.”

“Three days without a new signal.”

“Correct.”

Lu Chen glanced at the signal log in the bottom right corner of the panel.

The dark red light was still flashing.

Three days.

“Chen Li.”

“Yes.”

“Starting today, upgrade the signal monitoring for the Iron Hoof Legion to a scan every hour. If any new signal appears, no matter the time, notify me immediately.”

“Understood.”

The communicator hung up.

Lu Chen leaned back in the pilot's seat.

The wasteland outside darkened in the gray light of dusk.

He closed his eyes.

The noodles were distributed, the stalks were delivered, the vents will be finished tomorrow, the light positions will be installed tomorrow, the second batch has been sown, and Zhou Yuan is still on the road.

The Iron Hoof Legion has been silent for three days.