#203 - Chapter 203 How to Raise Mice
The five minutes turned into a complete solo show for the bearded man.
The modified human was already tightly bound, struggling in vain.
“Clap, clap, clap~” Ling Luo, who was observing from outside, applauded.
“Master, in your presence, my modified human has absolutely no ability to fight back,” Ling Luo said.
“That’s because I have the advantage of a higher realm. If we were both at Tier 1, I wouldn't necessarily be a match for this modified human,” the bearded man said.
“Master is definitely the most powerful,” Ling Luo said, flattering him.
“You, you just know how to butter me up!” The bearded man pointed at Ling Luo and laughed, but it was clear that he was enjoying it.
“Master, I’ll take you to your residence to rest,” Ling Luo said, changing the subject.
… …
After receiving Dongfang Chen’s reply, Yan Zhengping felt much more at ease.
He could grit his teeth and persevere through the one-week construction period.
So, he focused his energy back on the matter of breeding rats.
From conception to birth, rats take about 3 months. The young rats mature and can reproduce at around 3 months old. Each breeding can produce 4-8 offspring. The lifespan of a rat is generally only one year.
Dongfang Chen provided Yan Zhengping with a simple and crude breeding method, including a schematic diagram for building the breeding cages.
The breeding cage is divided into upper and lower layers, separated by a fence with gaps of about 2.5 centimeters. The fence is very thin and coated with lubricating oil.
The upper layer has an independent area at the edge, covered with a layer of hay, serving as the nursing area. In the middle is a large plate, serving as the feeding area. The nursing area and the feeding area are completely connected by the fence. If the rats want to get from the nursing area to the feeding area, they must climb over the fence.
The soldiers responsible for feeding will place the food in the feeding area each time. Larger rats will successfully pass through the fence to reach the feeding area and eat the food. The pups, because of their small size and lack of agility, will fall through the gaps in the fence to the lower breeding cage when passing through the fence. This roughly separates the rats into juveniles and adults.
In the middle of the upper and lower layers, there are several climbing poles. The pups in the lower layer, after growing to a certain extent, will be able to return to the upper layer by climbing the poles.
In this way, without human intervention, the natural separation of juvenile and adult rats can be achieved by controlling the food supply.
The purpose of doing this is to ensure that the rats can continuously reproduce offspring.
Because rats are very fertile, the number of rats in the same breeding cage will at least quadruple every period of time. To ensure the stability of the rat population, it is time to harvest.
The upper breeding cage has a door that can be opened and closed independently.
Every month, the door will be opened once, releasing a portion of the adult rats to the isolation cage.
There are several zombie rats in the isolation cage.
Under the attack of the zombie rats, these rats will soon be completely infected.
After 15 days, these infected zombie rats will have basically synthesized crystal cores.
Subsequently, these isolation cages will be transported to the designated slaughter area.
Yan Zhengping doesn't need to worry about the subsequent work. In ten minutes, all the rats in these isolation cages will be turned into crystal cores. However, the Queen Bee will deduct 1/10 of these crystal cores as a fee for decomposing the rats.
With this entire system in place, Yan Zhengping's side only needs to do a few things:
1. Mass produce such breeding cages;
2. Use the rats bred in the early stage as breeding stock to breed more rats;
3. Have soldiers specifically responsible for feeding;
4. Regularly arrange for soldiers to transport the isolation cages to the isolation area.
To prevent the zombie rats from escaping, a slaughterhouse is set up in each military district that breeds rats. In this way, the rats will not leave the breeding area throughout the entire process from breeding to slaughter.
Establishing a slaughterhouse is just a formality. The purpose is to prevent people from wondering about the disappearance process of the rats. The requirements for the slaughterhouse are also very low, as long as there is a completely enclosed factory building. The soldiers transporting the isolation cages only need to drive the truck into the slaughterhouse, then go out and close the door tightly. The Queen Bee can handle the rest on her own.
Yan Zhengping would send people to Huatong Chamber of Commerce every once in a while to bring the remaining food waste from food production back to the Southwest Military Region.
In this way, the entire closed loop of breeding rats to obtain crystal cores is completely opened up.
As long as there are enough breeding cages, the number of crystal cores that can be obtained is still very considerable.
To make the rats more excited and accelerate their reproduction, Yan Zhengping also specifically had an appropriate amount of aphrodisiac added to the adult rats' food. This can also be regarded as using any means to obtain crystal cores.
Therefore, under Yan Zhengping's forced demands, the six military regions after the merger successfully became six large-scale breeding bases.
The soldiers didn't understand at first, but then they saw a constant stream of crystal cores being pulled out of the breeding areas, and everyone knew what was going on. From then on, the dejected expressions on the soldiers' faces disappeared, replaced by a spirit of full energy and high morale.
“Breeding rats isn’t being irresponsible at all? It’s clearly the most important job right now!”
“The more rats, the more crystal cores, and the more crystal cores, the more equipment.”
“No, can’t rest, continue welding cages!”
These were the soldiers' true thoughts.
