CHAPTER 109: THE ARMY OF MAGGOTS WILL ARRIVE ON THE BATTLEFIELD IN THREE SECONDS!

On June 1st, Jing Shu received her first paycheck in life: 60 work points.

Mrs. Jing received her first paycheck after the work reform: 180 work points and 2,000 Paper money.

Although Paper money wasn’t very useful anymore, it could still be exchanged for daily necessities at a high price. Some people fantasized that the Dark Day would end or that currency would be restored after the Artificial Sun was built in October.

Third Aunt Jing Lai, after deducting daily meals, earned 30 work points, which she could exchange for some food and water. Last time Zhetian had tried to rob the Ai Family Supermarket during the raid on the oil community. Sadly, the supermarket was now garrisoned by the Armed Police and remained unaffected.

The reform initiated on May 1, 2023, had been implemented for exactly one month. Huaxia had initially only experimented with civil servants and public institutions. From June 1st, the National ID Virtual Coin system was officially activated. Currently, Virtual Coin could only be used to purchase food and water; other goods still required Paper money.

The era of work points, in the first year of the apocalypse, had officially commenced. It would gradually replace Paper money. The era of big data and no privacy was also silently dawning.

This transitional period of change should have stirred up massive waves of conflict over interests. However, the reality was that the upper class had already completed the transition from Paper money to Virtual Coin and had carved up this new economic pie.

From this point forward, Virtual Coin would be integrated into the apocalyptic currency system.

In her previous life, Jing Shu hadn’t lived to see these global changes. In this life, she finally witnessed the subtle transformations happening around her. The net cast by the government was finally about to be drawn in.

Reporting robbery or murder could earn a reward of 1 to 100 Virtual Coins. This measure made 80% of Wu City’s population constantly vigilant. At the slightest sign of trouble, they would immediately call to report it.

Police and satellite cameras provided verification. This data, along with entries into the new era’s big data analysis, allowed for analysis based on personal positioning. It could determine where everyone was, what they did each day, and calculate the likelihood of them having committed theft or murder.

Sometime later, when the state announced Jack Ma as the CFO of big data and revealed its functionalities, everyone suddenly understood. They realized why there were no police or cameras in some places, and why some people were arrested when they went to collect food. Big data was incredibly powerful.

Furthermore, the measure of confiscating kitchen knives and other threatening weapons initially led to an increase in crime, as criminals became more rampant.

But as time passed, with nothing edible left to rob, they could only steal items like cloth and bedding, which they then exchanged for food. Later, when even these were gone, they had to trade weapons for food, unaware that their past activities had already been analyzed by big data.

Possessing food at home had become a taboo topic among civilians; one couldn’t mention it without someone else coveting it.

Grandma Jing used to enjoy chatting animatedly with the other ladies in the community, but now she didn’t even leave the house. She felt a profound sense of security seeing the boxes of dry goods and the five large freezers, always stocked with food. She resolved to stay home and guard these provisions.

「Meanwhile, Wu City had faced a three-day food shortage.」

This was because the rotten corpse insects had consumed the vast majority of Mushroom.

To be precise, the previously supplied Mushroom meal was no longer available. Only white rice remained, priced at 2 Virtual Coins. Many people had exhausted their resources just to obtain around 10 Virtual Coins. Needing both water and food, a family could hardly survive for a few days. The previous Mushroom meal, at least, had only cost 0.5 work points, just enough for a family’s consumption.

There were also white steamed buns and smaller-sized portions of meat, which could still only be obtained by trading in kitchen knives or other weapons. This further intensified the efforts to collect such tools.

In her previous life, Jingshu’s house had kept only a single knife; all other kitchen knives and weapons had been exchanged for white steamed buns. Unfortunately, the following year, their last knife was lost in a flood.

「By the fourth day without food...」

Rotten corpse insects frantically invaded, consuming people, crops, and anything edible. By this time, every household had basically traded all their clothing, kitchen knives, and any weapons they could find for food, and that food had already been consumed. They faced not only days without food but also the dual threat of being bitten by rotten corpse insects.

「On the fifth day...」

People started chanting slogans like, "Open the granaries and release the grain!" They demanded free food, threatening to cause trouble otherwise.

「On the sixth day...」

The Wu City Government introduced a new food item priced at just 0.3 work points per serving, even cheaper than white Mushroom.

The Dragon Boat Festival on June 7th, 2023, was fast approaching. Today, after delivering Wu You’ai’s meal, Jing Shu began preparing ingredients with Grandma Jing to make zongzi.

Jing Shu knew that something significant would happen today—an event from her past life that had completely shattered her worldview. As everyone clamored desperately for food supplies, the Wu City Government truly delivered once again.

Yes, the Science Channel’s prediction that the rotten corpse insects would dominate the world and stand atop the food chain had been resoundingly slapped in the face. Because, a few days prior, a natural enemy of the rotten corpse insects had appeared: the Five Grain Worm, commonly known as maggots.

Due to the high temperatures, many places were prone to breeding maggots, especially with the current heatwave.

Jing Shu felt that at first, the maggots had been caught off guard by the rotten corpse insects and hadn’t reacted in time, allowing the rotten corpse insects to take over the abundant food. This left even flies without a place to lay their eggs, as food was quickly occupied by the rotten corpse insects. But now, it seemed they had evolved a new approach: if the rotten corpse insects occupied the food, it didn’t matter; they would just slowly take over the rotten corpse insects themselves. Thus, the flies demonstrated their astonishing natural talent by laying eggs around the rotten corpse insects. Although their development took longer than the rotten corpse insects, and the food was indeed consumed by the rotten corpse insects first, once the maggots hatched, they were much larger than the rotten corpse insects and could crawl over to slowly devour them. Often, a cluster of feeding rotten corpse insects would be surrounded by a gathering of hungry maggots who, once hatched, could devour the nearby rotten corpse insects.

Jing Shu remembered a saying. Life is a game of chess. I am willing to be a pawn; my moves may be slow, but who has ever seen me take a step back? The maggot army is three seconds from the battlefield!

Jing Shu then mused that maggots were a type of creature adept at commercial warfare. Why? It was like the saying: where there’s Vivo, there’s Oppo. Now, where there were rotten corpse insects, there were maggots.

After the mushrooms in the other twelve Management Departments of Wu City were consumed by rotten corpse insects, miraculously, swarms of flies also arrived on the scene, producing heaps of maggots.

Just when the government was at a loss, biologists stated, "The Five Grain Worms are rich in protein and, after processing, taste quite good—perfect for satisfying those constantly clamoring for meat."

It had to be said, the government was quite competent. When people complained about the lack of vegetables, they provided them. When people lamented the absence of meat, they offered plump maggots. With all this, what more could they be unsatisfied about to cause trouble every day?