Cave Refuge

"This stuff is just like industrial perfume; it requires specialized equipment to make, and currently, that equipment is presumably mostly damaged."

"So, at this time, these additives should be able to fetch a high price. Moreover, if you manage to get a wider variety of kinds, then the selling prices should be higher when the time comes."

Upon hearing Ye Liuyun’s analysis, Dong Tianyu had some agreement, but Rylan’s attitude was the opposite of Dong Tianyu’s. Rylan thought that Ye Liuyun’s idea was somewhat absurd.

Rylan’s opinion was related to his upbringing. As a second-generation official not lacking in money, his life before the catastrophe could not be said to be one of luxury, but with nannies at home and high-end restaurants outside, he rarely came into contact with food heavily flavored with spices.

Although he had some understanding of industrial flavorings, it was limited mainly to instant noodle seasoning packets and some takeaway pre-cooked dishes, so his knowledge about flavorings was not extensive.

There’s no need to say much about Dong Tianyu, who led an ordinary life before the disaster; whether he liked it or not, from small condiments like soy sauce and vinegar to the upscale buffets (around 400 per person) that he could afford to indulge in occasionally, all were filled with technology and hard labor.

And the cheaper and tastier the food, the more it involved the latest technology and the most extreme techniques.

Somehow, at some point, the general sentiment shifted to believe that delicious food was a product of high technology, while unattractive and bad-tasting food became a symbol of green health.

Take, for example, the "explosive peaches" and "split peaches" that became fashionable for a time, which were said to be free of pesticides and naturally cracked with sweet flesh inside.

In reality, these were just rotten peaches that had fallen to the ground in the orchard. Initially, they could only be sold to juice processing plants or thrown directly into the trash as substandard products. After a name change and some repackaging and marketing, they were sold for even higher prices than the top-grade ones.

Such tricks might fool those brainwashed by merchants, chasing trends, but most ordinary people might buy them once out of curiosity. After finding out what they really were, they definitely would not buy them a second time.

Rylan might not understand this very well, but Ye Liuyun, who had always been mingling in all walks of life, knew these schemes inside and out.

It was precisely because of this that Ye Liuyun knew that for the average person, something visually appealing and tasty, even if it was a product of technology and effort, would be more welcomed than those so-called healthy foods that were unattractive and didn’t taste good.

Dong Tianyu knew not only that technology and effort could produce good-tasting food but also that he had plenty of such stuff in his Storage Space.

It might look like just a drop or two of spices needed for cooking a pot of food, but these things were not expensive before the disaster—a bottle cost just a little over ten dollars.

A bottle the size of a mineral water bottle of essence was enough for an ordinary marinated meat shop to use for about three months.

And this was not any restricted product. It was available not just in the dry goods stores at various big markets but also at wholesale stores in vegetable wholesale markets and in plenty stocked in food city warehouses.

These substances also had a very long shelf life, with labels stating a shelf life of about three to five years after opening, which meant that unopened, these things were virtually non-expiring.

If Ye Liuyun hadn’t mentioned it, Dong Tianyu might have forgotten that he still had plenty in his warehouse. Although he ate these things every day before the disaster, after the disaster, Dong Tianyu seldom ate them.

However, Ye Liuyun’s mention of them stirred some nostalgia in Dong Tianyu for the taste of those foods made with technology and effort.

It’s like cigarettes; everyone knows smoking is harmful to health, but how many smokers can actually quit?

"Let’s do it this way, then. I’ll get some fancy packaging, put together a few sets, and give it a try. If it works out, great; if not, so be it."

When Dong Tianyu said this, Rylan and Ye Liuyun didn’t say much more. They made clear to Dong Tianyu that the transport would land in the eastern area of Pengcheng in three days, and the three agreed to meet at the camp that morning to go together.

Once they finished discussing business, the three men left the office. Rylan had other matters to attend to, so after saying goodbye to Dong Tianyu and Ye Liuyun, he hurried off.

After Rylan left, Ye Liuyun took Dong Tianyu to find Robinson William, and the three of them had a small gathering at Ye Liuyun’s place.

The meal Ye Liuyun prepared was fairly sumptuous, and it might have been because Pengcheng had established a fixed flight Waterway with Kyoto, but there appeared to be many ingredients on the table that Dong Tianyu was not familiar with.

Through Ye Liuyun’s introduction, Dong Tianyu realized that the ingredients on the table actually came from all over the world. It turned out that not only had Pengcheng developed a unique species before the revival of the ancient organisms, but all cities had encountered a similar situation to Pengcheng’s.

These creatures, different from the newly appeared ancient creatures, had no special abilities up to now. Just like the biologists before the disaster imagined—bigger in size and stronger in force—but without any special powers.

However, the creatures that emerged in each city during the earthquakes, more or less, all possessed some special abilities that, although not impressive at the start...

But, it was perhaps after the revival of ancient organisms, once they had obtained sufficient food sources, that these special creatures began to evolve. And as they evolved, their once modest special abilities started to become increasingly practical.