167: Chapter 167 Rice Harvest, Cabbage for the Dinner! New Terminal for Speed ​​Up

3:00 PM, the Third-floor Greenhouse.

On the Fast-growing Rice Hydroponic Racks, the ears of rice weighed down the stalks.

The grains were plump, and the husks were golden yellow.

Lin Wan squatted in front of the Hydroponic Rack and gently pinched a grain of rice with her fingers.

It was hard, with a moisture content of fourteen percent.

"It can be harvested," she said into the communicator.

"Half a day ahead of schedule," Lu Chen's voice came through.

"The lighting conditions in the Dome Greenhouse are excellent; the grain-filling speed of the rice is ten percent faster than I estimated."

"What about the yield?"

"The planting area for rice is smaller than for wheat. The dry weight of the first harvest is estimated at five to five and a half tons."

"Adding the six and a half tons of wheat, the total yield of the first double-grain harvest will be eleven to twelve tons."

"Correct."

"Start harvesting."

"Okay."

She stood up and glanced back at the Agricultural Technicians behind her.

Twelve people took their positions with sickles.

The rice only occupied four sets of Hydroponic Racks, fewer than the wheat. Twelve people could finish harvesting it in two hours.

Song Ya wasn't in the greenhouse; she was with eight others inspecting the seedling stage by the Hydroponic Racks of the second wheat crop.

"Song Ya, the rice harvest has started," Lin Wan called out over the communicator.

"Okay. The wheat seedlings are all normal, the root systems are well-established, and the nutrient solution concentration is within the standard range."

"Don't worry about the wheat for now. Come over and help move the crates."

"Coming."

Two hours later, all the Fast-growing Rice on the four sets of Hydroponic Racks had been harvested.

The collection crates were piled high with golden ears of rice.

"Dry weight is 5.2 tons," Lin Wan reported to Lu Chen.

"Consistent with the estimate."

"The air-drying time for rice ears is longer than for wheat, and the rice husks are thicker than wheat husks. It will take eight to ten hours."

"Air-dry tonight, thresh tomorrow morning."

"Yes, and after threshing, we need to mill the rice. It only becomes rice after the paddy is dehusked."

"What will you use for milling?"

"Just lower the rotation speed of the Synthesizer's grinding mode. Low-speed grinding can remove the husks without breaking the grains."

"What's the milling yield?"

"Sixty-five percent. After threshing 5.2 tons of rice ears, we get four tons of paddy, which mills into 2.6 tons of brown rice."

"How many people can 2.6 tons of rice feed?"

"Based on 300 grams of staple food per person per day, it's enough to feed 8,600 people for one day."

"Flour plus rice—3.7 tons of flour plus 2.6 tons of rice makes a total of 6.3 tons of staple food."

"Enough to feed 6,400 people for ten days."

"Or enough to feed all 30,000 people for two days after the migration is complete."

"Two days isn't enough."

"It's not, but the yield will double when the second crop is harvested in seven days. From the third crop onwards, we'll reach full production, and there will be no more shortage of staple food for 30,000 people."

"Lin Wan."

"I'm here."

"Send the rice straw after the harvest to the Livestock Farm as well."

"Okay. Rice straw is softer than wheat straw and has better palatability; the cows and sheep love it."

"Let Liao Dacheng know."

"Will do."

"Also."

"Yes?"

"What about the Cabbage? The batch of Cabbage you said could be harvested three days ago."

"It was harvested this morning. Six leaves, and the quality is better than before."

"Six leaves."

"Four for you, two for Liao Dacheng."

"Four for me? Last time I said I wanted two."

"When you said you wanted two, I already planned to give you four."

Lu Chen didn't reply.

"City Lord, you've been eating Nutrient Bars for nearly two weeks straight, with only one bowl of noodles and a cup of milk in between. Four leaves of Cabbage won't restore much nutrition, but at least they'll let your stomach remember the taste of vegetables."

"Alright."

"Tonight I'll make Cabbage soup. I'll use two leaves of Cabbage and a piece of Mutant Beast meat, stewed in an iron pot."

"The iron pot is still around?"

"It's been with us from Lv.1 to Lv.3. It's always been here."

"That pot has been around longer than I've been transmigrated."

"It has lived longer than any of us."

The communicator hung up.

Lu Chen leaned back in his chair and glanced at the panel.

The time was 5:12 PM.

The communicator rang.

"City Lord Lu Chen, this is Chen Li with the 4:00 PM daily report. It was delayed by an hour because you were on a call this afternoon."

"Go ahead."

"Item one: Migration progress. 289 people moved in today, bringing the total number of registered residents to 6,968."

"Close to seven thousand."

"Yes. At a rate of 250 people per day, it will take another 92 days to complete the full migration."

"Too slow."

"The main bottleneck is the registration channel. Currently, there is only one registration terminal at the first-floor Airlock entrance, and each registration takes three minutes."

"How many people can be registered in a day?"

"Based on a twelve-hour workday, 240 people. In practice, due to queuing and breaks, it's between 250 and 290."

"Is there any way to speed it up?"

"If a second registration terminal could be opened, the capacity would double. However, the registration terminal is a system module bound to the City Lord's authority; I'm not sure if it can be replicated."

Lu Chen glanced at the City Management System on the panel.

Resident Registration Terminals: Current 1/3, Available Ports: 3.

He clicked on the second port.

A prompt popped up on the panel.

[Second Registration Terminal activated. Please specify the physical location of the terminal.]

"Chen Li."

"I'm here."

"The second registration terminal is open. Set its physical location at the entrance to the Second-floor Residential Area and arrange for someone to be on duty there."

"A second terminal?" Chen Li paused for a beat.

"The system supports three terminals; only one was open before."

"Understood. I'll arrange the personnel immediately. If two terminals operate simultaneously, the daily registration volume will double to over five hundred people."

"How many days will the full migration time be shortened to?"

"With 23,000 people remaining, at 500 people per day, it will take 46 days, completing on the 95th day."

"Still too slow."

"What if all three terminals are opened?"

"We won't open the third terminal for now; two are enough."

"Understood."

"Item two."

"Zhou Yuan's communication status: still disconnected, exceeding forty hours."

"Proceed as planned."

"Item three."

"Iron Hoof Legion signal: no new signals all day today. The signal silence has lasted for four days."

"Continue scanning every hour."

"Yes, sir."

"Item four."

"Today, the third batch of flour was distributed to 1,500 people, two bowls each. A total of 4,500 people have received distributions. The remaining flour inventory is 2.5 tons. Distribution will continue tomorrow."

"Good. Continue at four o'clock tomorrow."

The communicator hung up.