175: Chapter 175 The Sow Gives Birth in the Middle of the Night! Lu Chen's Timeline of Life and Death

3:22 AM.

The communicator rang.

Lu Chen opened his eyes from a light sleep.

The driver's seat back was reclined; he hadn't returned to the living quarters to sleep, making do in the cockpit for three days.

He had adjusted the backrest angle yesterday, and it was a bit better than before.

He pressed the communication button.

"What is it?"

"City Lord," Liao Dacheng's voice was hoarse and heavy, "ZM-06 has started farrowing."

Lu Chen propped the backrest up.

"Her first litter?"

"Yes, ZM-06 has the earliest due date among the three pregnant sows. I noticed her starting to nest last night. Contractions began around 2:00 AM today, and the first Piglet just came out."

"Current progress?"

"The first Piglet weighs about 1.1 kilograms, is healthy, and has already started nursing. The second one is just starting to emerge. I'm keeping watch right next to her."

"Is it going smoothly?"

"Very smoothly. ZM-06 is a multiparous sow; this is her third litter. She's experienced and doesn't need much human intervention."

"Is Ma Dong there?"

"Yes, he got up at 2:00 AM and is right here with me."

"Good. Keep watch and report any situations immediately."

"Understood. Go back to sleep, City Lord. I've got things covered here."

"I know."

The communicator disconnected.

He leaned back against the seat.

3:24 AM.

The radar scanning line on the panel rotated at a constant speed.

There were no abnormal signals within an eight-kilometer radius; the north was clear.

The signal log column still showed those two dark red records; the third had yet to appear.

It had been fifty-six days.

The third signal still hadn't come.

He calculated the interval.

The first signal was on the forty-second day, and the second was on the fiftieth—an eight-day interval.

Today was the fifty-sixth day, six days since the second signal.

If the interval remained around eight days, the third signal should appear between today and the day after tomorrow.

If the interval shortened, it meant the vanguard reconnaissance phase was accelerating toward its conclusion.

Lu Chen stared at the signal log column for a minute; no new records appeared.

3:31 AM.

The communicator rang again.

Liao Dacheng.

"City Lord, the second one is out. 1.2 kilograms, healthy, female, birth order number two. ZM-06 is stable. Continuing."

"Good, keep watching."

"Will do."

The communicator disconnected.

Lu Chen didn't try to sleep again.

He picked up his logbook, turned on the small light on the side of the cockpit, and began writing on a blank page.

He was drafting an estimated consumption table for the Synthesizer raw materials.

Twelve Protein Synthesizers, each consuming about three kilograms of organic raw materials per day; that's thirty-six kilograms a day for all twelve, and 1,080 kilograms a month.

Raw materials would need to be replenished in eighty to ninety days.

He glanced at Liao Dacheng's report from three days ago regarding the current meat reserves in the cold storage; there were about six hundred kilograms of Mutant Beast meat blocks left, plus the miscellaneous prey Zhao Tiezhu usually brought back.

Lu Chen wrote a line in the table: Around the 130th day, Synthesizer raw materials will run out; need to go out hunting to replenish.

130 days.

It was currently the 56th day.

There was still a seventy-four-day window.

But the Iron Hoof Legion would arrive within twenty days.

Was there a connection between the timing of these two things and the response plan for the Iron Hoof Legion?

He stopped after writing three lines, placed the pen on the edge of the logbook, and lowered his head to calculate.

There was a connection.

If Polaris needed to relocate after the Iron Hoof Legion arrived and headed toward the Ash Rift Valley, the density of Mutant Beasts along the way would be higher than in the Rustwind Wasteland, providing hunting opportunities to replenish raw materials en route.

Lu Chen added a line next to those three: Replenishing raw materials on the maneuver route requires pre-planning hunting nodes.

4:07 AM.

The communicator rang for the third time.

"City Lord, the third and fourth are out. Both healthy, weights between 1.1 and 1.3. ZM-06 is still going; judging by her state, this litter is estimated to have nine to ten Piglets."

"Very smooth."

"Extremely smooth, even better than I estimated. The farrowing speed is stable, and there's no birth canal obstruction."

"Good, continue to keep watch."

"Understood."

Lu Chen put the communicator back and continued writing in his logbook.

At 5:00 AM sharp, Liao Dacheng reported for the fourth time.

ZM-06 had finished farrowing with a total of eleven Piglets; ten survived, one was stillborn. A survival rate of ninety-one point something percent was a good result. The sow was stable and had begun nursing.

He wrote in the logbook: ZM-06 produced 10 healthy Piglets, Day 56, farrowing successful.

Then he wrote below: ZM-07 and ZM-08 due dates on Day 4, and ZM-05 pregnancy confirmation around Day 71.

He laid out the timeline from the fifty-sixth day all the way to the eightieth, filling in estimated events one by one.

He looked over this column of the schedule, then added a line at the very top.

Day 71 to Day 76: Iron Hoof Legion main force arrives at Rustwind Wasteland.

The two timelines were squeezed onto the same piece of paper.

One was an upward curve of agriculture, livestock, and resource growth.

The other was a countdown of an approaching threat.

The small light on the side of the cockpit illuminated the handwriting in the logbook clearly.

He looked at the paper for a long time, then closed the logbook, turned off the light, and leaned back against the seat.

The radar scanning line continued to rotate at a constant speed in the darkness.

5:16 AM.

No new signals.

He closed his eyes.

His mind was still racing, but his body needed a little more sleep.

In three hours, it would be light. Lin Wan would bring up milk, Chen Li would have a short morning report, and Liao Dacheng would send an update on the Piglets' status.

And then it would be the fifty-seventh day—the harvest of the second crop of wheat.