Apocalyptic Reincarnation: Start with a 30-million Bonus

Chapter 571: Chapter 506: The Locust Plague_2

Everything was ready, and tomorrow they could officially begin constructing the exterior wall.

Night fell.

At night, Li Yu had everyone return to the base; time was of the essence, yet the lives of those at the base were even more critical.

Thus, they didn’t work overtime at night.

These days, everyone worked together on a project, which led to more communication and familiarity with each other.

After a busy day, everyone was tired and went to sleep early.

...

Unknown to them,

kilometers away from the base, a yellow torrent was surging southwards, covering the sky and earth.

...

Early next morning, Li Yu was woken up by three little wolf dogs licking him.

Li Yu opened his eyes and smiled, saying, ”Alright, alright, I’ll feed you now. You’re getting bigger and your appetites have increased a lot. Next time we leave the base, maybe I can take you with me.”

Ao woo, ao woo, ao woo.

The three wolf dogs lined up obediently, waiting for Li Yu to feed them.

Rustle rustle~

Li Yu poured some dog food he found earlier into a few small bowls.

Watching the three wolf dogs devour their food, Li Yu got up and did 100 push-ups on the ground until he felt warm.

Then, he put on his sportswear, and by this time, the wolf dogs had also finished eating.

They sat obediently at the door, waiting for Li Yu to open the door and take them outside for a run through the wilds.

Li Yu just went downstairs and sniffed the air.

He detected some dust.

Thinking of the recent construction work outside the base, he assumed it was just construction dust blowing in.

Li Yu started running, but as he ran, he felt that the smell was a bit strange.

Buzz~

Plop~

He saw a yellow locust on the leaves of the planted peanuts by the road.

Since he was running, he didn’t see the locust clearly and thought it was just an ordinary insect.

But soon, after running less than 300 meters, another insect flew past him.

Two sightings garnered Li Yu’s attention.

Li Yu crouched down and looked at the insect.

It was a locust!

Li Yu looked up at the sky and within visible range around him, he could see a dozen or so locusts had already appeared.

Seeing a dozen locusts, Li Yu was instantly captivated.

This is!

Without the mood to continue running, Li Yu sprinted towards the villa area.

While running, he heard the voice from the walkie-talkie strapped to his arm.

”Director Li, our duty personnel on the north side of the national highway say there are lots of locusts, so many that there is no end in sight,” He Chao said through the walkie-talkie.

Upon hearing this, Li Yu was shocked.

He immediately contacted Second Uncle, instructing him to ring the base’s highest alert bell.

The locust plague was terrifying. Wherever it went, nothing green remained.

Today was May 8th.

The rice had only been planted for a little over 50 days, and for rice with a 90-day growth cycle, it was still growing.

What to do.

After hearing the alarm, people inside and outside the Inner City heightened their vigilance.

Li Yu said to Zhou Weiguo, who was in charge of farming, ”Currently, how many chickens and ducks do we have in the base?”

Zhou Weiguo thought for a moment and said, ”For chickens, we have about a hundred, and ducks, around ninety. Including the chicks and ducklings born half a month ago, we have a total of about four hundred and fifty.”

Li Yu estimated the numbers; they were not small, but in terms of the whole base, they were still lacking considering nearly 200 acres of land in both the Inner and Outer City.

On average, there were only two chickens or ducks per acre, which was insufficient care.

Li Yu addressed everyone, ”According to our brothers on duty outside, a large swarm of locusts is heading our way. Everyone, be prepared.

First, we need to quickly make some nets for trapping locusts. Once caught, we will deal with them collectively. Uncle Lai, you’ll be in charge of this task.

We’ll experiment with these locusts on animals to see if they can be eaten. If they are edible, then these locusts will become our reserve food.

Second, Zhou Weiguo, make sure to take good care of these chickens and ducks. Also, allocate 40 chickens and ducks to the Outer City, as there are more than twenty acres of rice there.

Third, everyone hurry, harvest the mature vegetables, potatoes, and other crops outside. If they are not mature yet but close to ripening, pick them as well.

As for the rice, it’s just started to spear and isn’t mature yet. Everyone needs to find a way to protect it.”

Fourth, Bai Jie, you and the other two pharmacists need to figure out a solution and develop a suitable pesticide as soon as possible so we can start the medicine-based prevention.

That’s all for now, let’s get moving.”

After delegating all tasks, Li Yu also went to the Outer City to instruct He Chao and the others to ensure the protection of the rice in the Outer City.

These rice crops are the source of their food.

Currently, there are over two hundred people in the base, with more than 140 in the Inner City and nearly a hundred in the Outer City.

At present, the scale of the locust plague is still unknown, so Li Yu does not want people from the Outer City to come in for the time being.

Besides, the current number of people is still sufficient.

Suddenly, Li Yu thought of something.

He immediately found An Ya and instructed her, ”The underground planting area in the Inner City must be well protected; do not let a single locust in.”

An Ya also understood the gravity of the situation and earnestly said with her tanned little face, ”Don’t worry, Director Li, I’ve locked up the underground planting area. There are people watching over it.”

Hearing her say this, Li Yu felt relieved.

Time trickled by.

The number of locusts in the sky was increasing.

After the locusts arrived, they ate everything indiscriminately.

Anything green was gnawed on by these locusts.

And Li Yuan and the others were frantically harvesting vegetables; locusts especially fancied eating these leafy vegetables.

Half an hour.

Li Yu mobilized nearly eighty people to harvest all the vegetables and stored tons of them in the underground warehouse.

Li Yu asked Zhou Xiumei, the wife of Lai Dongsheng, to lead five or six people to urgently process these vegetables.

Now that the weather is warmer, the vegetables won’t last long before rotting.

Two tons of vegetables were put into the cold storage, and the rest needed to be dealt with.

The first method was pickling.

There was another method that involved drying them, which could preserve the vegetables for a longer period.

But now, with damn locusts everywhere outside, anything left out would be devoured.

So they used the few dehydrators brought back to the base to deal with the rest.

Dehydrating the vegetables was also a solution.

As everyone busied themselves, more and more locusts arrived.

Li Yu thought that there must be no shortage of guards on the wall.

There were 28 mu of land planted around the Inner City, 20 mu of rice in the Outer City, and nearly 10 mu indoor and underground, totaling almost 60 mu.

Li Yu thought about it and then instructed Li Tie, Third Uncle, and ten others to stand guard on the wall, while having Li Hang and Li Yuan clear out locusts around the warehouse.

Finally, he allowed He Chao and the people who had previously followed him to come in.

There were about forty people.

The reason for choosing them was simple; they were the group of people who had been in the Outer City the longest and were part of the Big Camphor Tree Base.

Moreover, they were not far from earning enough Contribution Value to enter the Inner City. Many of their children would also be able to enter the Inner City for education later.

And for Li Yu, although most of these people were women and children, destroying locusts did not require valor.

But rather patience and perseverance.

After they came in, only He Bing, Old Luo, Uncle Qin, and others were left in the Outer City.

Xiaoshi also entered the Inner City to help eradicate the locusts.

An hour later.

The sky darkened considerably.

Not due to a change in weather, but because there were too many locusts, blotting out the sun.

Seeing so many locusts, Li Yu felt a sense of despair.

The locusts were everywhere, dense and numerous.

They were frenziedly exterminating the locusts, not having time to care for the fruit orchards on the hills.

Currently, protecting the crops was the most important task.

Apart from the ten mu of land in the underground planting room, more than two hundred people from the base were deployed to protect the remaining over forty mu of crops.

Nearly four or five people and almost ten chickens and ducks were assigned to each mu of land to guard the crops and ensure the locusts did not devour them.

As for the rest, the flowers in the gardens and the fruit trees in the forests were ignored outright.

Yet, even so, they could visibly see the crops dwindling.

Looking at the locusts that obscured the sky, extending endlessly.

So many of them.

The people worked very hard, having caught nearly a ton of locusts.

Yet the number of locusts did not seem to decrease, but instead appeared to grow more numerous.

Damn it! Li Yu cursed under his breath.