Humans Shrunk 100 Times

Chapter 146: Rice

Since there have been groundbreaking advances in the field of biology, Chen Mu couldn't help but wonder what would happen if he could apply his abilities to the human body.

He had actually had this idea for a long time.

However, on the one hand, there were no test subjects available for him to try it out. He couldn't just ask someone to sacrifice themselves for his experiments.

Chen Mu had thought about trying it on himself, like using his ability on his right hand and then on his left hand.

But after hesitating for a long time, he ultimately dismissed the idea.

If he couldn't control it properly, at best, his bones and tendons might break, and at worst, he might trigger his entire body, risking his life.

On the other hand, changing the shape of the human body didn't seem to have much practical significance at the moment.

In terms of combat, if he could touch an opponent's skin and have enough time to activate his ability, it might be more effective to just give them a direct slash.

Instead, if he could use it on himself, stretching and flattening his body at will without damaging his bodily functions, that might be more meaningful.

The first thing that came to Chen Mu's mind was Luffy from "One Piece."

But he still didn't dare to try it.

...

The changes to the tomato weren't significant, just some wrinkles on its previously smooth skin, as if it had aged a few years out of thin air.

However, the mental energy Chen Mu consumed was frighteningly large, almost half of what he would typically use in a whole day.

Exerting himself so much in such a short time made him feel a little uncomfortable.

Subconsciously, Chen Mu picked up the tomato and took a bite.

But when the sweet and sour juice slid down his throat, he suddenly paused.

Could this thing cause any genetic mutations? Could eating it be fatal?

Although everything seemed normal after the first bite, and his body didn't show any discomfort, Chen Mu still threw the remaining tomato into the trash can.

Well, there were plenty of tomatoes anyway.

He had recently made the trash can.

Previously, they used to have flatbreads every day, which didn't produce much kitchen waste. But now, things were different. Tomato stems and potato peels needed a place to go.

The plastic trash can Chen Mu made was essentially a disposable item. Once it was full, they sealed it and, after accumulating several of them, Wei Dalei would push them all outside on a flatbed cart.

...

Breaking through with his ability was a delightful thing. Taking the opportunity, Chen Mu discussed some extended issues with Tang Jing, and soon it was lunchtime.

After several days of tomato feasts, everyone couldn't bear it anymore and strongly demanded to stop this inhumane recipe.

The original idea was that potatoes, carrots, and rice could be stored for a longer time. So, while tomatoes and other things were still edible, they would try to store them first.

But now, it seemed like everyone was almost at their limit.

Interestingly, they endured when food was scarcer, and no one complained. But now, even with eggplants, bell peppers, and tomatoes, three types of vegetables, they couldn't bear it.

Especially the rice, the fear that was once dominated by rice cakes seemed to have been forgotten. Now they even wanted to take a few bites of raw rice.

Staple food was truly magical.

Even though it didn't have much flavor and wasn't particularly delicious, if they didn't eat it for a few meals, they felt uncomfortable all over, lacking strength. Even eating meat wouldn't help.

Therefore, with everyone's unanimous agreement, from today on, Qingming's menu would no longer be limited to just tomatoes, bell peppers, and eggplants.

And regarding the cooking of rice, there was also a new breakthrough.

Since a few days ago, Dong Junwei had deliberately been training her control over heating metal.

The goal was as mentioned before: to hope that, with enough proficiency, she could cook a pot of rice.

This was actually not easy.

Because they didn't have a way to measure the temperature, Dong Junwei found it challenging to control the extent of heating each time. She could only use tomatoes as the test subject and try it over and over again.

But now the conditions were mature.

First, Chen Mu made an iron box. Then, he put the cleaned rice and water into it in a ratio of 1:0.8 and carefully sealed it.

Sealing was crucial.

Because once heated, the internal pressure would become unimaginably high.

In a regular electric rice cooker, the ratio of rice to water is 1:1.

If using a stove, the amount of water could be appropriately increased.

But in this situation, since the moisture couldn't escape at all, they could reduce the amount of water by another 20 percent.

In the morning, just after getting up, Dong Junwei heated the iron box to a moderate temperature, as she had practiced several times before, and then left it without attending to it.

The principle of this thing is roughly equivalent to a pressure cooker, except there's no pressure release valve.

Five hours later, the temperature of the iron box had decreased significantly, but it was still warm, and at least safe to touch.

When Chen Mu opened the iron box, everyone excitedly gathered around.

In an instant, the aroma of the rice spread out.

Everyone took a deep breath.

"I haven't smelled this scent in a long time."

"Even without any side dishes, I could eat two big bowls of this rice."

"If we had some potato beef stew..."

"..."

Although there was no beef stew, the addition of sauced potatoes and carrots from the vegetable pack still elevated this meal.

The small pieces of beef from the instant noodle vegetable pack were now almost gone, and the issue of meat supply was gradually becoming evident.

Even Dong Junwei, Tang Jing, and others who were once determined to throw away the frogs, were starting to regret it a bit.

The few remaining beef pieces had to be prioritized for Du Jiajia. Though currently, letting Xiao Huang bring back a rat or a frog wouldn't be such a bad thing, considering the food supply was still relatively abundant. After discussing with Dong Junwei, Chen Mu decided not to resort to using this last-resort skill for now.

After all, Du Jiajia was not yet skilled enough to have the cat skillfully carry away the remaining carcasses, and every time Wei Dalei or Cao Zishan went to dispose of them, it was a risky endeavor.

After lunch...

Tang Jing came running to find Chen Mu, asking him to make more notebooks.

"You used up the previous one so quickly?" Chen Mu asked.

"Yeah," Tang Jing nodded. "Also, help me make a few more pencils."

"What are you writing that requires so much paper and pencils?"

"It's almost done. I'll show it to you all when it's ready."

"Alright."

Helplessly, Chen Mu followed Tang Jing's request and made an upward-flipping notebook, along with several pencils that he carefully sharpened. With improved proficiency, he could now make pencils much faster.

He even became a bit inflated and confidently declared that he would make a pencil sharpener.

However, after several attempts, he failed each time. The structure of the sharpener was straightforward, but it required high precision during assembly. Even a slight deviation in the angle of the blade made it unusable.

Though he could spend more effort and eventually make it, it was evident that it wasn't worth wasting so much time on it. After all, Chen Mu had many other things to do.

On the third day, after lunch, as everyone was about to disperse, Tang Jing called everyone to gather.

"I've finished writing the thing. Take a look and see if there's anything that needs to be modified," she said.

"Is it finally done?"

Not just Chen Mu, but everyone had been eagerly anticipating Tang Jing's grand creation these past few days.

Tang Jing then brought out two thick notebooks and placed them on the table.

The one on top was an ordinary book that flipped to the left, which Chen Mu remembered as the first one he made for her.

On the white cover, there were five neatly written large characters in printed font: "Chronicles of Qiming."

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