Apocalypse: the Most Ruthless Person - Chapter 244 193: Achieving Pork Independence
“Alright, alright, Boss Zhang, we just want half. You tell me what you want to trade for, whatever West Camp Village has is fine. Just saying ahead, we can’t ask for any young girls or boys; we’re not trading people.”
It sounded like a joke, but Ma Changshou’s tone was far from joking, which made Zhang Su ponder for a while.
“Don’t worry, I can’t afford to support too many people anyway. But, old village chief, I’m eyeing your big fat pigs, give me a better price, just four well-bred sows!”
Zhang Su directly quoted a price.
This time, Ma Changshou’s response was noticeably slower, with a minute of silence before he replied, “Boss Zhang, your words left me stunned. I just specifically checked with the village, there’s no big fat pig at all, just a few sheep. How about giving you four sheep? Winter is coming, eating mutton is good for the body!”
Zhang Su’s mouth twitched, and he said blandly, “Old village chief, I’m not haggling over numbers with you. Why are you playing tricks with me here? Four sows, well-bred, yes or no? If not, forget it, United Village has them. I’ll trade with them, and you find supplies in the city yourself.”
“Don’t, don’t, don’t, Boss Zhang, let’s talk slowly…”
Ma Changshou knew that in these times, big fat pigs were very valuable, but still not as valuable as medicine, especially life-saving medicine. He pinched his nose and said, “Boss Zhang, how about this? You want well-bred sows for breeding, right? I have a batch of sows bred before the disaster.
“Calculate the days, there’s less than a month until they give birth. Even if we don’t count the comatose period, they will produce in half a month later, saving you two months of breeding time. Three heads, what do you think? It’s a good deal, really. You are a scholar, calculate and you’ll know, it’s worth it. Time is money, my friend!”
Ma Changshou sounded like an old goblin, and Zhang Su wondered if that old man was a WOW player!
“Three sows with less than two months to due date, healthy with no hidden diseases, and guaranteed natural birth, right?”
“Yes, yes, oh wait, no…” Ma Changshou eagerly agreed, then realized he was in a trap, hurriedly saying, “Boss Zhang, the pigs are healthy enough to eat and drink now, but as for natural birth, I can’t guarantee that, no way. I can guarantee a caesarean…”
Zhang Su also felt this request was imposing, so he said, “Alright then, when the pigs deliver, lend me a technician specialized in this, okay?”
“That’s no problem, for sure, how’s that, Boss Zhang? Have we settled this deal? If we have, I’ll call someone to prep the pigs for you, let’s complete the trade as soon as possible.”
Ma Changshou didn’t hide his impatience.
“I’ll pick when I get there, no hurry. Oh, and prepare a van to load the pigs, I’ll give you ten more nitroglycerin tablets.” Zhang Su said.
“Twenty tablets, the new car was brought in at the start of the year, and I’ll give you half a tank of fuel!” Ma Changshou bargained hard.
Zhang Su found it amusing. Seeing Tan Huajun and others had already prepared breakfast, he agreed to Ma Changshou’s terms without fuss and happily went to the dining room to eat.
Cooking a big pot of steaming hot dumpling soup, with various canned meats and pickled vegetables, had enough share; today everyone could enjoy one egg. In the entire Survivor Camp in Qin City, this was quite a feast!
At the dining table, Zhang Su said, “I’ll tell everyone some good news—soon we’ll achieve pork freedom!”
Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan knew about this, but they wouldn’t blurt it out. Such major news naturally had to be announced by Zhang Su. They sat joyfully eating next to him.
Zheng Xinyu cleverly chimed in, “Brother Su, what do you mean? Where do the pigs come from? I didn’t know!”
Everyone else looked at Zhang Su with puzzled yet delighted eyes. Pork held immense importance for most of Celestial Dynasty’s people, many were meat lovers, and the words ‘pork freedom’ were enough to excite anyone.
Pork even served as an indicator of economic stability; any drastic change in its price would prompt government intervention!
Zhang Su didn’t keep folks in suspense and shared the trade with West Camp Village with everyone.
“Oh oh, Mr. Zhang said it was heart disease before. Don’t worry, I don’t have heart disease, my heart is very healthy. Fifty-eight age, twenty-eight heart, hahaha.”
Yuwen laughingly bragged about his good health, always a pride for him. His school medical checks showed consistently normal indicators, rare to have anything out of range.
“Just a little amount of medication exchanged for three sows that can give birth, darn, how do you even tally up this kind of value!”
Lu Yubo counted on his fingers with a puzzled face, learning a new value system.
Zhang Su waved his hand and said, “Bozai, don’t worry too much, haha. Anyway, I’m telling you all this to say, Teacher Yu, gather some folks and quickly pick a spot for a pig shelter.”
“No need to set up elsewhere, I suggest converting the guest rooms in Qingfeng Xiaozhu. Just one floor can plan an aquaculture scale for forty pigs, is that enough?”
Yuwen was very enthusiastic.
Qingfeng Xiaozhu was a reinforced concrete structure, similar to small apartment blocks, sturdier than the place Zhang Su’s group lived, but the location wasn’t ideal, lacking facilities, thus uninhabited.
“Enough, plenty!” Zhang Su swallowed the last mouthful of dumpling soup and instructed, “Come on, let’s help unload the food and coal from the truck!”
“Going to get pigs?”
Qi Xiaoshuai hurriedly asked, full of excitement.
Zhang Su shook his head, “Not just going to West Camp for pigs, the zombies at Xiang Village are considering us taking them out. United Village agreed not to touch Xiang Village’s supplies. If any stragglers found the empty Xiang Village, every pound of rice taken belongs to us. Let’s check there first, take anything important!”
“Brother Su is right, I’ll help!”
Guo Dachao slurped down his dumpling soup, wiped his mouth, then stood up. Since joining the camp, his enthusiasm had been tremendous.
“Yeah, let’s go, those done eating come to unload with me!”
Zhang Su beckoned and led the way out of the dining room.
The one most entitled to rest was Zhang Su, yet he was busy, leaving no room for others to take a break. Everyone quickly finished their food and exited the dining room to join in the transport work.
The RV turned into a cargo vehicle; its luxury carpeted cabin scattered with flour, corn kernels, rice grains, and clods. The back garage held coal chunks so large they weighed up to one hundred and eighty pounds!
Once unloaded, Zhang Su drove away from the camp with a group. He didn’t use two cars, given the limited hauling manpower that couldn’t load so much stuff, no one to load the truck was futile, and it wasted fuel.
In the camp, people moved supplies, while others kept clearing zombie corpses.
Nearing noon, zombie bodies covered the mountain path in heaps down to the fields below, covering a hundred square meters—a sight both grand and unsettling.
“Do you guys wonder if these corpses could enrich the land if they slowly sink? Can we farm on top of them?”
Liu Tianji asked pensively.
Zhang Ya rubbing her sore arm, said, “I’m not sure if the land can be farmed, but eight hundred bodies piled here will easily breed bacteria. Winter might be okay, but come next spring it would be unbearable…”
Yuwen pushed his glasses, saying, “Burial is impossible. Clear a firebreak as Mr. Zhang suggested, and set it on fire, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
“Yeah, I think burning is the solution; seeing it all makes you feel stifled.”
“No way, this is our proud record, what’s stuffy about that, it’s called glory!”
“Stop it, I’d rather not have this glory… just hope no more zombie attacks on us.”
“Burn it, clean it out.”
In the end, everyone unanimously decided to set the bodies on fire, but first a clear firebreak needed creating around it so flames wouldn’t rampage across the fields, risking the entire mountain.
Everyone busted themselves, quickly cleared a firebreak five meters wide around the piles, enough to handle the blaze.
