Chapter 80
Four hours after the apocalypse, the roar of the heating stove in the mountain villa was even more steady than in the early morning.
Su Jing squatted by the stove, holding a piece of smokeless coal she had taken from her spatial storage. The coal was heavy, carrying the dry scent stored in the space, and had a shiny black surface with no signs of dampness.
She had just gently placed the coal into the stove when she heard the electronic voice of the patrol robot coming from the doorway, with a steady mechanical rhythm: "Outdoor temperature -40℃, down 10℃ from 2 hours ago, wind force maintained at level 7, ice particle density increased, hitting the outer wall with a high-frequency 'da da' sound, infrared alarm detection range maintained at 10 meters, no abnormal target triggered."
With snow accumulation reaching 20 centimeters on the solar panels, the snow removal robot has switched to a 'snow removal three times a day' mode to avoid excessive energy consumption.
Su Jing got up and walked to the thermometer on the living room wall. The green number remained steadily at "25℃" without any fluctuation.
She reached out and touched the radiator next to her. The cast iron surface was scorching hot, and she had to remove her hand after a few seconds. The heat spread outwards through the gaps in the radiator, making every corner of the living room warm and cozy.
Even in the training area furthest from the furnace, the standby thermometer in the corner showed "24.8℃", with a temperature difference of less than 0.2℃. The 15-centimeter-thick insulation board and double-layered vacuum glass completely blocked out the extreme cold from the outside.
She walked to the window and scraped away the thick frost flowers on the inside of the glass with her fingertips—the outside world was completely frozen in white: the snow in the yard was already above her calves, and it made a crisp "crunch" sound when she stepped on it. The previously clear cement ground was completely covered, leaving only the red indicator light on the top of the infrared alarm, which looked like a faint red star in the snow curtain.
The black ice of the moat was frozen solid. Ice pellets bounced off the ice, leaving tiny white marks without any sign of breaking.
At the distant entrance to the deep mountains, the once clear path was filled with snow, and no footprints could be seen. Only the wind swirled snowflakes on the road, forming white ripples like flowing snow rivers.
“It’s time to prepare dinner.” Su Jing turned and walked towards the kitchen. The housekeeping robot “Chef 1” had already placed the dinner ingredients on the stainless steel countertop: a piece of pork belly with skin taken from the space’s freezer (it had been naturally thawed to room temperature). The meat was bright red, with even layers of fat and lean. It was a “five-layer pork belly” that she had stockpiled earlier. The label was still stuck on the skin, which read “Stockpiled on 2025.09.28, stored in the space freezer”.
Next to it were three potatoes grown in the space, with clean skin, no soil, and each about the size of a fist;
There was also a bowl of braised pork broth that had been simmering before, placed in a ceramic casserole dish. A layer of light red oil had condensed on the surface; it was reserved from the last time the pork was stewed, to make it even more fragrant when stewed a second time.
Su Jing first processed the pork belly: she picked up a cleaver and cut the meat into 3-centimeter square pieces. When the blade fell, she could clearly feel the firmness of the meat, without the looseness that comes with freezing.
The chopped meat pieces were placed in a stainless steel basin, and "Chef 1" automatically brought in warm water. Su Jing gently rubbed the blood off the surface of the meat pieces with her hands until the water became clear before taking the meat pieces out to drain.
Next comes blanching: "Chef 1" places a stainless steel pot on the gas stove, adds water to cover the meat pieces, adds two slices of ginger, a section of scallion, and a spoonful of cooking wine, and then heats it up.
After the water boiled, a layer of grayish blood foam floated to the surface of the meat. Su Jing gently skimmed it off with a slotted spoon, being careful not to bring the meat out with her.
After blanching for 3 minutes, she took the meat out and rinsed off the remaining blood foam with warm water. The meat became firmer, the skin shrank slightly, and it had a light pink sheen.
Caramelizing the sugar is the key step. Su Jing poured a little cooking oil into the wok, turned on low heat, added a handful of rock sugar, and stirred slowly with a spatula—the rock sugar gradually melted, turning from white granules into a transparent liquid, and the color slowly deepened, from light yellow to dark yellow, and finally turned into a date red, with fine bubbles forming, and the sweet aroma of caramel filled the air.
She immediately poured the blanched meat chunks into the pot and stir-fried them quickly. The spatula collided with the bottom of the pot, making a "whoosh" sound. The surface of the meat chunks was quickly coated with a layer of bright red sugar color, and oil splattered up, filling the entire kitchen with a rich aroma of meat and caramel.
Add seasonings and pour in the stock: Su Jing added two tablespoons of light soy sauce and one tablespoon of dark soy sauce, and continued to stir-fry evenly so that each piece of meat was coated with the sauce. Then she poured all the stock from the casserole into the pot, added enough hot water (enough to cover the meat pieces by 2 centimeters), and threw in two star anise, a piece of cinnamon, a bay leaf and two dried chilies.
After bringing the soup to a boil over high heat, she skimmed off the surface oil, transferred the meat and broth to a ceramic casserole, covered it, and simmered it over low heat.
While the meat was braising, she prepared the potatoes: peeled them, cut them into chunks similar in size to the meat, and soaked them in water to prevent them from oxidizing and turning black.
After the meat chunks simmered for 40 minutes, she added the potato chunks to the casserole and simmered for another 20 minutes—the potatoes absorbed the meat juices, became soft and tender, and would fall apart with a gentle pinch.
The meat chunks are stewed until tender; the fat and lean meat can be easily separated with chopsticks, and it melts in your mouth without being dry or greasy.
"The braised pork is ready. I recommend eating it with the pearl rice grown in the space for a more balanced nutrition."
"Chef 2" brought over a bowl of freshly steamed rice. The grains were distinct and glistening with oil. It was made from rice grown in the space and milled, making it sweeter and more fragrant than ordinary rice.
Su Jing served herself a bowl of braised pork, picked up a piece of meat and put it in her mouth—the aroma of the meat mixed with the sweetness of caramel and the richness of spices spread on her tongue, the skin was chewy, the fat was tender and flaky, and the lean meat was flavorful, without any greasiness.
Take another bite of potato; the potato, soaked in meat juices, has a subtle sweetness and is soft and fluffy. Pair it with a bite of rice; the aroma of rice and meat intertwine, and warmth spreads from your stomach to your whole body.
At dinner, she turned on the villa's surveillance projector—all four screens were still a blanket of white: no footprints at the entrance to the deep mountains, the moat frozen solid, coal piles neatly arranged, and snow accumulation on the solar panels not exceeding the warning level. Compared to the chaos in the city previously reported by the system (power outages, looting of supplies, people frozen to death), the peace and stability here was strikingly evident.
Su Jing scooped a spoonful of braised pork broth and mixed it into her rice, clearly realizing how crucial the decision to build a villa deep in the mountains had been—
Away from the chaos of the city, with enough space to store supplies and strong defenses, one can comfortably enjoy a hot braised pork meal in the extreme cold of -40°C.
After the meal, "Kitchen 1" cleared away the dishes, and Su Jing walked to the coal pile by the door to check the remaining coal—800 kilograms of the 1,000 kilograms of anthracite coal remained, enough to support heating for a month.
There was still plenty of spare coal in the room, so there was no need to worry about a shortage. She bent down and added two pieces of coal to the heating stove, which made the red glow from the stove burner even brighter, and the indoor temperature remained stable at 25°C.
Ice pellets were still pounding against the glass outside the window, and the red number "-40℃" on the temperature display was particularly eye-catching.
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