168: Chapter 168: A Nostalgic Trip to Stewed Meat in an Iron Pot! Twelve Reconnaissance Soldiers on Standby

7:00 PM.

Second-floor kitchen.

An iron pot was set atop the induction stove.

The water in the pot was already boiling.

Lin Wan placed four washed Cabbage leaves into the pot.

She then went to the cold storage to cut a piece of leg meat from a Mutant Beast.

The meat was sliced thin and added to the pot.

She covered it with the lid.

Ten minutes later, she uncovered it.

The Cabbage leaves had turned a translucent emerald green.

They floated atop the milky-white meat broth.

Part of the fat from the meat slices had melted.

Fine droplets of oil formed on the surface of the soup.

She used a ladle to scoop a bowl of soup and carried it up to the third floor.

Inside the cockpit.

Lu Chen sat in the pilot's seat.

The blue light from the panel reflected off his face.

Lin Wan placed the bowl next to the console.

"Cabbage soup."

Lu Chen looked down at the bowl.

Emerald-green Cabbage leaves bobbed in the milky-white meat broth.

Steaming hot vapor rose upwards.

He took a sip with a spoon.

Fresh.

The light sweetness of the Cabbage and the richness of the beast meat blended together, the flavor spreading across the tip of his tongue.

"Delicious."

"Credit goes to the iron pot," Lin Wan said, looking at the pot. "This pot has stewed Cabbage and meat countless times; even the bottom of the pot is seasoned."

"When was the first time we stewed it?"

"Dozens of days ago, I think. Before the ice storm, you hunted a Mutated Snow Bear, and I stewed it using the first batch of Cabbage and the Snow Bear meat."

"Back then, there were only six square meters inside the vehicle."

"Six square meters. The iron pot was on the floor, the Cabbage was next to the Cultivation Box, and the Snow Bear meat was cut with a folding knife."

"Now the greenhouse is 14,000 square meters, the livestock farm is 9,600 square meters, and the cold storage is 40 cubic meters."

"But the iron pot is still the same one."

Lu Chen finished the soup in the bowl, ate the Cabbage leaves, and finished the meat slices.

He set the bowl down.

"Lin Wan."

"Here."

"Tomorrow, Zhao Tiezhu's Patrol Car will head out again to pick up coal crystals at the Factory Ruins."

"How many people?"

"Five."

"You're not going?"

"No."

"You didn't go last time either."

"I didn't need to go last time either. It doesn't take me personally to have a single Patrol Car picking up coal crystals on the outskirts."

"You used to go out hunting yourself every time."

"Back then, there were only two people in the vehicle; no one else could take my place. Now there are over six thousand people, and Zhao Tiezhu has three hundred soldiers. We're not short on people to run errands."

"You're the City Lord; you don't need to risk yourself personally."

"It's not about not taking risks," Lu Chen said, looking at the panel. "Right now, the gains from taking risks don't compare to the gains of me monitoring the radar panel in the cockpit."

Lin Wan didn't respond.

She picked up the empty bowl.

"City Lord."

"What?"

"I delivered the disinfectant to Liao Dacheng's side this afternoon. Two liters of concentrate—it's enough."

"Good."

"He told me about the breeding. ZM-04 has already been bred, and ZM-05 will be bred tomorrow."

"You care about pig breeding?"

"I care about everything in the livestock farm. The greenhouse and the farm are a closed loop: straw feeds the pigs, and pig manure is composted back to the greenhouse."

"Pig manure composting?"

"Liao Dacheng mentioned it to me today. The farm's waste treatment system will collect pig, cattle, and sheep manure for fermentation. The fermented organic fertilizer can be used as a supplementary component for the greenhouse's hydroponic nutrient solution."

"Is the system designed for that?"

"It's a built-in circulation pipeline in the system. You just have to open the valves."

"Is it open?"

"Not yet. Liao Dacheng said we have to wait for the compost to ferment to a certain degree before it can be used. Manure that's too fresh has a nitrogen content that's too high and will burn the roots."

"How long?"

"Seven to ten days, then the first batch of compost can be used."

"That's exactly when the third crop of wheat reaches full production."

"What a coincidence."

"It's not a coincidence."

Lin Wan's tone was light.

"The system is helping you calculate the rhythm again."

"I'm going."

"Okay, I'll wash the bowl and bring it back."

The elevator doors closed.

Lu Chen leaned back in the pilot's seat.

The time on the panel showed 7:40 PM.

He pressed the communicator.

"Zhao Tiezhu."

"Here."

"Have the people for tomorrow's Patrol Car departure been selected?"

"Yes. The lead scavengers from last time will take the lead, and the other four were picked from the newcomers who started learning welding yesterday. They're quick and nimble."

"Departure time?"

"7:00 AM."

"Same route?"

"Same. Fifteen kilometers north, the outskirts of the Factory Ruins. We won't go inside. We'll be back before noon."

"If the coal crystals on the outskirts have clearly decreased, don't force it. Just pick up as much as you can."

"Understood."

"Battalion Commander Zhao."

"Here."

"Among your three hundred men, are there any who used to run long-range reconnaissance?"

"Yes. I had a Reconnaissance Platoon on the iron wall—twelve men. They specialized in reconnaissance missions within fifty kilometers of The City-State's outskirts."

"Are those twelve men still here?"

"All of them. They moved into the Polaris with me."

"We might use them later. No rush for now; we'll wait until Zhou Yuan returns."

"Understood."

The communicator hung up.

Lu Chen wrote a line in his logbook.

Zhao Tiezhu's Reconnaissance Platoon, twelve men, possess long-range reconnaissance capabilities, on standby.

He closed the logbook.

Outside the window, the night was deep.

The radar scanning line rotated at a steady speed.

The north was empty.

The signal log glowed with a dull red light.