Love and passion, cutting up the wasteland

"Take a rest, the food is ready."

Li Liu greeted Lu Meng, who had just completed a day's training, and Huo Buyang was waiting early with his job.

Lu Meng sat down cross-legged and picked up the chopsticks made of wood.

The bowl in front of you is thinly stretched snow-white noodles, and the top layer is sliced ​​bacon. When you pick it up, you can still see the fibers of the meat. It is thin enough to show your knife skills.

Although the slices of meat were very thin, because there was so much, they piled up in a thick layer and almost overflowed the lid of the bowl.

Just looking at it makes one's fingers twitch.

He took a bite and found that the texture was not greasy or greasy, and the taste was different from simply processed air-dried meat. In addition to the meaty flavor, it also had a woody aroma, which added a lot of flavor.

The noodles are also extremely smooth.

"Teacher Li's skills have improved again." Lu Meng both joked and praised sincerely.

Under Li Liu's guidance, Lu Meng's cooking skills have reached level 11 (basic).

He thought that he was almost able to open a shop to support himself based on this craft alone.

"As long as you like it." Li Liu smiled and said, "Eat it quickly."

Lu Meng and Huo Buyang were also unceremonious and wolfed down the food.

As the amount of training increased and their physical functions improved, the food intake of the two of them also increased day by day, especially Lu Meng.

If Lu Meng didn't want to taste the food and know that he had to chew it slowly to digest it, Lu Meng would have wanted to insert a funnel into his throat and feed it like a spoon.

Efficient and filling.

At this time, Lu Meng noticed that the bowl Li Liu was holding was completely white, and there didn't seem to be much meat in it.

"Aunt Li, why don't you put some meat on your own?" Lu Meng pretended to take some meat slices from his bowl and give it to her.

"No, no, no, look," Li Liu took out a piece of meat from the bottom of the bowl, "mine is all down there."

She seemed casual, but Lu Meng's eyes were so sharp that he could tell the difference instantly.

He pinched it suddenly, and the piece of meat landed on his chopsticks.

Although there are only subtle differences, if you look closely, you can see that the color of this piece of meat is darker than that in Lu Meng's bowl, and there are some signs of stickiness on it.

This is a sign of slight deterioration.

Lu Meng looked at Li Liu: "Aunt Li, show me your bowl of noodles."

"Hey, don't...oh." Li Liu originally wanted to stop him, but when he saw Lu Meng's serious eyes, he knew he couldn't resist him, so he put the bowl down.

Lu Meng took it over and turned it over, and found that the meat inside also showed signs of deterioration. The piece Li Liu showed him at the beginning was relatively mild.

"Our reserves should be sufficient." Lu Meng said softly.

"Mom, what's going on?" Huo Buyang on the side also noticed, anxious and angry.

"It's nothing... I just think the meat is going bad and I want to eat it early to avoid wasting it." Li Liu paused and quickly added, "Actually, this is how we people have come here for so many years..."

Lu Meng believed that Li Liu was telling the truth. In fact, after experiencing the baptism of the wasteland, all living things have mutated or evolved to a greater or lesser extent, and humans are no exception. One of the manifestations is that they have a higher resistance to spoiled food. force.

Like the human subspecies "Sons of the Scorched Earth" to which Lu Meng belongs, their digestion efficiency is higher and they are less prone to hunger.

Children of the Scorched Earth can even eat raw meat directly without worrying too much about parasites and germs.

It's just that Lu Meng doesn't have this habit after all. Although he can bear it physically, he wants to avoid it psychologically. As long as he can, he will cook it and eat it.

Cooked food is worry-free and more delicious.

Lu Meng has also seen a mentality like Li Liu's among the older generation.

They worry about wasting food and always like to eat the leftovers first.

Just because life has changed for the better, the remaining meals are eaten, and the newly cooked dishes are left.

But in any case, completely rotten meat cannot be eaten.

Under certain circumstances, this is a joke on your own health.

"No matter what, you can't eat this meat anymore." Lu Meng said in a relaxed but unacceptable tone.

"Why don't I make another bowl for Aunt Li? It's time for the teacher to try my handiwork."

"I'm here to help too!"

"...You kids." Li Liu could only smile helplessly.

…

After the meal, at Lu Meng's request, Li Liu took him to the storage room and pointed out the spoiled food.

It is said to be a storage room, but it is actually a small independent room. It is only cleaned and a layer of plant ash is laid on the floor at the door to prevent insects. Other than that, there is no professional equipment.

But even so, it stands to reason that smoked meat will not spoil so quickly.

Dehydrated bacon can be stored for 3 to 6 months. If it is bacon of this level, it will not be a problem for several years.

"I'm not very sure. Maybe I didn't do it well when I first processed it, and I didn't remove it completely due to dehydration..."

Li Liu was not sure either.

Lu Meng checked the bacon and found that only the meat piled on the outer layer showed signs of deterioration. It did not look like there was any mold in the air.

The overall loss is not very big, only about ten kilograms.

He continued to follow the traces and seemed to have found the source.

There was a simple desk with a kitchen knife on it. There was slightly more spoiled meat nearby.

Lu Meng picked up the kitchen knife and his pupils shrank.

He wiped his hand across the blade, leaving fine droplets of water on his fingers.

Condensation?

This is very similar to the so-called Huinantian climate. When the air humidity is close to saturation, it is easy for water droplets to condense on the wall or metal.

This storage room is surrounded by water-absorbent earth walls, and even if water droplets appear, they will quickly seep in.

Only under this kitchen knife is it possible for puddles to form.

The temperature during the day is too hot, and most of the water has evaporated at this time, and they will not come here specifically to check when they are keeping watch at night.

But there is a serious problem with this analysis.

"How can there be so much water vapor in the hub station..." Lu Meng thought.

If the hub had such a humid climate, thirst and dehydration wouldn't be the number one cause of death for scavengers.

But the reality is right in front of me, and I have to pay attention to it.

"Storage food in a ventilated place."

Now that we know that air humidity is increasing, preventing insects and birds is no longer the primary consideration.

No matter how high the humidity is at night, the sunlight and temperature during the day will never attenuate. At this time, it is more beneficial to store and expose in the open air.

Staple foods such as flour have been packaged in earthenware jars brought from scavengers long ago, so there is little chance of them becoming damp and moldy.

Moisture resistance is only a minor issue.

The key is that this kind of climate change has, for the first time, exceeded Lu Meng's understanding of the hub station environment.

After all, the world is dynamic. Although he can master the knowledge of background settings and has a deep understanding of normal laws, he dare not say that he can predict all abnormal phenomena.

Lu Meng believed that he was not the first person to discover such a change.

For others in the hub, the most significant impact of increased air humidity is that they can find ways to collect moisture in their own homes.

This is of course a good thing for ordinary people and can significantly increase the probability of survival.

"But how will the market react..."

What Lu dreams of is that the two major resources controlled by Fangshi - water and food, are actually related to water resources.

The reason why cacti can be planted in the eastern district of Fang City is essentially because there is groundwater there, forming a small agricultural oasis.

If residents could collect water themselves, even in small amounts, it would not shake the monopoly of Fangshi, but it would weaken their control over the lower classes.

So how will the market respond?

When economic control weakened, violence came into play.

They've never been nice.

But the problem at hand is...

Lu Meng looked at the slightly spoiled meat strips and pieces that had been collected.

"How can we use these?"

He also has no habit of waste.