The locust cloud had dissipated.
Illuminating the surrounding environment.
The past seven to eight hours felt like a dream.
At the peak of the locust plague, the sun was obscured by the cloud of locusts, and yellow locusts filled the surroundings; with every step taken on the road, one could hear the sound of locusts being crushed.
Even walking through dense locust areas felt like stepping into a marsh, feet sinking into heaps of locusts.
Some even crawled into socks; opening one’s eyes felt like suffering from floaters, the buzzing made one dizzy.
The locust plague had passed.
Blue skies and white clouds.
However, whether inside the base or in the forests outside.
The green of spring was gone.
Bare branches, the ground covered with dark greenish-black locust feces,
These plant-eating orthopterans typically produce feces of this color.
The greenery that was once visible had been completely devoured by the locusts.
Everyone looked at this desolation, bleak.
The scene was even more desolate than late autumn or winter.
They were in the Southern subtropical monsoon climate, commonly evergreen broadleaf forests.
Green leaves should persist through all seasons.
But now, wherever the eye could see, all was vast and bleak.
Li Yu slowly walked into the warehouse and asked Li Yuan who was checking the supplies, "Yuanzi, have any locusts gotten into the warehouse?"
Li Yuan turned to see Li Yu, startled, but still nodded and said, "No, they haven’t entered. The warehouse has double doors that Second Brother and I guarded well."
Li Yu then checked the breeding grounds, examining the rice seedlings and fodder harvested today.
Zhou Weiguo and Ding Jiu were spreading out the fodder and rice seedlings previously stored in the barn designated for livestock feed.
Methodically clearing the mixed-in locusts and their eggs.
These locust eggs had to be thoroughly removed.
Suddenly, Li Tie ran over from the fields. Hearing his footsteps, Li Yu raised an eyebrow and asked, "What’s wrong?"
Li Tie said, "The locusts we caught today, some have been dumped into that dug-out pit. How should we handle them?"
Li Yu asked, "What did Second Uncle say?"
Li Tie thought for a moment and replied, "Second Uncle said we can dry them out over the next few hot days."
Li Yu said, "First steam them with fire for sterilization at high heat, then we can dry them."
Li Tie nodded, about to leave when Li Yu turned back and added, "I’ll come with you."
Both arrived at the middle of the field.
Many people were still in the fields, disoriented, staring at the now barren land devoured by locusts.
Second Uncle saw Li Yu approaching, walked over and said, "Your dad, Third Uncle and I have discussed. It’s still early May; if we hurry, we can still catch up with the spring planting."
A light glinted in Li Yu’s eyes. Although they had acquired thousands of tons of rice in Luo Tianyan, there was no immediate worry about food shortages.
He had been considering building an underground planting base in the new Outer City, but faced the issue of power supply.
Though they had procured many solar panels earlier, installation required time.
Upon hearing Second Uncle’s suggestion, surprise mixed with joy hit him.
This was good; despite just facing a locust disaster, not only did they not get discouraged, they were able to swiftly detach from the setback and start anew.
"Alright. But the construction of the Outer City must also progress simultaneously," Li Yu stated.
Second Uncle agreed, clarifying they could not neglect the Outer City’s construction, but replanting crops within the base was essential too.
So Second Uncle suggested, "I think it’s feasible, especially since we previously acquired three transplanting machines from outside, which will greatly speed up the process."
Li Yu nodded, "In that case, let’s organize everyone to get to work."
Second Uncle then assembled everyone.
Li Yu, standing before everyone, skipped any preamble and dove straight into the subject, "The locust disaster has passed, and our work continues. Next, we need to replant. An Ya, you take charge of the transplanting machines in the base to save labor. The plan for the second Outer City must keep going too; He Chao and your team should get started on that right away. The rest of you, don’t idle around. Few people are needed here for replanting, and apart from those An Ya needs, everyone should return to their assigned posts."
After Li Yu spoke, everyone dispersed like scattering birds, busily engaging in their tasks.
There was no helping it; the base had too much on its plate.
Li Yu specifically found Zhou Xi...
Luo Lai household, spoke to her, "Aunt Zhou, let’s have locusts for dinner tonight. Try to make them taste as good as possible."
Zhou Xiumei rubbed her hands and replied to Li Yu, "Let’s prepare them with spicy flavors, and also deep-fried."
"Great, let’s go with those two options," Li Yu agreed.
After arranging everything, Li Yu returned to the vicinity of the enclosure boundary.
The vertical kiln had already been installed by Floating Life; all that was needed was to pour limestone and clay among other raw materials into it to begin production.
For this, several power lines had been drawn out from within the walls to provide electricity.
Dapao and Yang Tianlong, along with several from Wang Cheng, drove out a few Ruijiang tank trucks. Having these meant manual stirring was no longer necessary.