Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhuang couldn't help but clench his fists, his gaze fixed intently on the lush green seedlings in the laboratory petri dish:

"In other words, if we can increase the yield of the Sun Fruit and develop a safer way to use it, it might still be possible for humans to return to living on the ground?!"

Throughout history, humanity's yearning for the sky and the earth has never changed. Even though humans are now forced to live in underground cities due to extreme cold, some things are ingrained in our bones and cannot be changed.

Professor Jiang nodded with a smile:

"Although it is only one hypothesis, hope is always precious."

During this period, thanks to the tireless research of our institute's food safety engineering researchers, many convenient foods have been developed.

For example, slime supplements, fluorescent berry extract chocolate, wheat and seaweed ball compressed biscuits, wheat and seaweed ball fried instant noodles, and milk and berry product dried milk powder, etc., taste very good. Teacher Xu, would you like to try some?

"So fast? I thought it would take at least some time."

Xu Milu was quite interested in these processed foods.

Although the food supply pressure in the underground city has been temporarily relieved, it will still take some time for the plants and animals in the plantations and breeding farms to mature.

The limited number of ripe fruits she brought demonstrates the advanced technology of this world, which is evident in the fact that she was able to develop so many varieties of convenient food in such a short time.

Although the solar storm destroyed most civilian technology, some important core technologies were preserved intact.

This is also the only thing humanity can rely on in the hazy future.

...

...

Xu Milu followed Professor Jiang into another laboratory filled with supplies. Seeing someone enter, several lab technicians, their faces pale from being busy recording data, looked up and their eyes suddenly lit up:

"Hello, Engineer Jiang."

"Is Engineer Jiang here?"

Before Professor Jiang could speak, a group of people swarmed around him, their eyes filled with concern.

"Jiang Gong brought a new guy? Quick, quick, come and relieve me for a bit. I've already tried almost thirty packs of compressed biscuits, and if I eat any more, I'll really burst!"

"Newbie?! Come on, try this! The latest flavor of compressed lard energy bars, plus slime concentrate nutritional supplements, and we have everything from fluorescent berry and big tomato sweet potato to sauerkraut flavors!"

"Go away! You're full after just two of those nutritional supplements, what's the point of trying them? Comrade, try our team's protein powder energy bars and fluorescent insect extract chocolate. We guarantee the taste is just as good as that pre-disaster chocolate from a certain brand!"

They were so enthusiastic; they practically poked the unwrapped cookies into Xu Milu's face.

Xu Milu didn't stand on ceremony, took it, broke off a piece, put it in her mouth, and chewed it:

It's dry, extremely dry; that's the only feeling you get after the first bite.

It's like a large chunk of fried noodles mixed with sugar and salt being compressed into this tiny bite. Your teeth collide and squeeze against the biscuit, and the aroma of seaweed balls and wheat flour spreads slightly on your tongue, mixed with a bit of the unique oily aroma of lard. Perhaps because a lot of powdered sugar was added, the aftertaste is a bit cloyingly sweet.

It's not exactly delicious, but it's not bad either. It requires no special skills; you just add various raw materials together, crush and mix them. Rather than calling it a gourmet dish, it's more like an emergency food.

Looking at Xiao Zhuang next to me, she was eating very carefully. She first broke off a piece, put it in her mouth, and slowly dissolved it with her saliva before swallowing it little by little with her saliva.

"Teacher Xu, you probably don't like this, do you?"

Professor Jiang smiled and pointed to the cookies in his hand:

"You don't know, compressed biscuits are different from regular biscuits. They are a special food. A single biscuit the size of a child's palm can meet an adult's daily energy needs."

Previously, when our soldiers went on missions, they would boil a kettle of water in the freezing cold, soak a compressed biscuit in a cup, and that was a good meal. It contained flour, salt, and sugar, so eating one of those provided the body with the necessary sugar.

Xiao Zhuang quickly swallowed the biscuit in his mouth, and added as if to further explain:

"Professor Jiang, these biscuits are much tastier than the military rations we used to eat. They even have meat floss inside. I'm already feeling full after just one small piece."

"It definitely makes you feel fuller!"

A young man nearby chimed in:

"It contains dried pork floss, freeze-dried polar fast-growing tomatoes, and seaweed wheat flour as the main ingredient. It is baked, cooled, crushed and stirred through a special process, and then a large amount of oil and sugar are added and stirred and dried. If I eat one of these, I won't need to eat for two days!"

While munching on the remaining biscuits, Xu Milu looked around at the other types of food on the workbench. Although the packaging of some of the food looked like something out of a novelty, the taste was surprisingly good.

First and foremost is the "nutrient solution" that often appears in science fiction novels.

Its outer packaging looks a lot like toothpaste. After opening the cap, you can squeeze out the translucent slime extract inside. The texture is somewhat similar to thick honey, but also a bit like frozen jelly sticks.

"The only ingredients are fluorescent berry extract and slime pulp?"

What does that taste like? Jellyfish salad with sugar?

Xu Milu almost lost her composure.

She tentatively took a bite, and to her surprise, it didn't taste as strange as she had expected.

The mixed paste is very soft, similar to the texture of melted ice cream. It melts in your mouth without much chewing. The tartness of the fluorescent berries nicely balances the blandness of the slime puree, so it doesn't taste bland at all. It's a bit like drinking a sweet and sour solid fruit juice.

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