The car drove onto a side road and after about ten minutes, the two realized why those people were stuck on the main road, the small road was almost completely destroyed, making it difficult for vehicles to pass unless they walked.
Mo Tiancheng’s evergreen ivy once again demonstrated its power, rolling up debris and boards to create a smooth road.
Looking out of the tightly closed car window at the green passage, Mother Xu couldn’t help but marvel at the convenience of superpowers. Abu was unaffected by the terrain and effortlessly ran ahead.
After about two hours, they finally reached the back of the cotton field and understood why those people were unwilling to come to pick cotton here…
“Oh my… no wonder they said they couldn’t come over.”
Standing on top of a small tree on top of the RV, Xu Song held binoculars while Yue Zheng confirmed the situation in the distance with his eyes.
Underneath the white cotton flowers, the stems, leaves, and stalks were all turning yellow and withering in the autumn breeze.
Hovering above the cotton field were groups of flying bees… no, mutated bees, each one larger than a tennis ball! They were terrifyingly patrolling their own airspace.
Fortunately, most of those bees were gathered near the direction of the main road. Yue Zheng also noticed a tree with half of its leaves fallen, hanging a terrifying beehive that was as tall as a person.
Apart from that, Xu Song felt that there were some other creatures in the field, and Mo Tiancheng confirmed that they were most likely a large number of some kind of mutated plants, also occupying the field.
“What should we do?” The group gathered in the car for a meeting.
“Should we secretly take some and go back?” Mother Xu chose the most cautious approach.
Xu Song looked at Yue Zheng, feeling reluctant to leave after seeing so much cotton in the field. “I’ve already modified the fire extinguisher to use oil from the oil fruit. The only concern is that cotton is highly flammable…” It wouldn’t be good if it turned into a forest fire. It was currently autumn, and with the dry weather, and with so many mutated plants, starting a fire might even spread to the entire Asian continent.
Yue Zheng pondered for a while and made a decision. “Let’s first determine what kind of mutated plants are in the field.”
A small green dot fluttered its wings and finally made it to the edge of the field.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ktf uljca yffr kfgf qjagbiilcu atflg afgglabgs, fztlylalcu atf vfwfjcbg bo mbaabc olfiv geifgr, byilnlber ab jcsatlcu jqqgbjmtlcu delfais.
Dfakffc atf klatfgfv sfiibk mbaabc rafwr, cfjg atf ugbecv, atfgf kfgf vfcrfis fcaklcfv ugffc nlcfr tlvlcu klatlc atf ktlaf rfj bo oibkfgr, rlifcais iegxlcu…
“Zbgclcu Xibgs? Cgf atfs ralii yibbwlcu ja atlr alwf?” We Vbcu oeggbkfv tlr ygbk jcv ibbxfv ja Tef Itfcu.
“Perhaps they have some special means of attack…” Yue Zheng contemplated for a moment and looked at another small creature with a smaller size that wouldn’t cause much commotion.
Achi twisted its body and was lifted down by Mo Tianyou. Its four little legs scurried quickly…
Xu Song poked the emerald green body of the grasshopper with his fingertip. “Thank you for your hard work, go and lie down near the air conditioner.” The grasshopper fluttered its wings and flew away.
Xu Song looked at Yue Zheng. “Can insects survive the winter? Grasshoppers won’t survive this year, right?”
The grasshopper, flying in the air, stumbled for a moment, nearly falling down. It desperately flapped its wings to regain balance and flew back to its original trajectory.
Yue Zheng looked deeply at the clumsily flying Grasshopper-san and said, “It’s too cold outside. Let’s try not to let it go out again later.”
“Yeah, look at how it’s flying unsteadily. It would be such a waste if it dies right after reconnaissance.” agreed Xu Song.
The Grasshopper-san stumbled and flew under the air conditioning unit, silently resting on a tender plant specially grown by Mo Tiancheng for it, nibbling on the leaves to heal.
Achi successfully carried back a Morning Glory flower, seemingly unaffected by the presence of animals and plants. These Morning Glory flowers did not attack Achi.
Mo Tiancheng manipulated the Morning Glory flowers and conducted experiments. Finally, the group reached a conclusion, the pollen attack of these flowers had a hypnotic effect.
Xu Song sighed with relief and looked at Mo Tiancheng. “Tiancheng, we need some four-leaf clovers.”
They had discovered the mutant four-leaf clovers on their way to City B, which Achi had accidentally brought back. These mutant four-leaf clovers didn’t possess any special abilities, but they had detoxifying properties.
Most plants with toxins, except for highly poisonous ones like the Black Rose, could be neutralized and detoxified using the crushed four-leaf clovers.
After crushing most of the four-leaf clovers and placing them in makeshift masks, Xu Song and Yue Zheng wore them. They confirmed that the Morning Glory flowers no longer affected them and proceeded cautiously towards the farmland.
They deliberately created some noise near the edge of the farmland, attracting the nearby bees. Xu Song sprayed orange flames into the air, instantly incinerating the bees that approached before they could attack.
Fortunately, most of the beehives were located near the main road and not many mutant bees noticed their presence. This allowed Xu Song and Yue Zheng to infiltrate the farmland with relative ease.
“Alright, you can come out now,” said Yue Zheng.
Upon hearing Yue Zheng’s voice, Mother Xu and Mo Tianyou, along with Mo Tiancheng and Xiao Shu, got out of the car and walked towards the field.
With the help of Ivy and Xiao Shu, the group rapidly harvested a significantly larger quantity of cotton balls compared to pre-apocalyptic times. Xu Song and Yue Zheng took charge of keeping watch. In just three to four hours, they harvested a large area, with Ivy and Xiao Shu playing a crucial role.
The remaining space in the shipping container was nearly filled with cotton peaches. Of course, the increased size of the cotton peaches also contributed to occupying a significant amount of space.
“That should be enough. Let’s retreat!” Yue Zheng felt that the clovers in their specially made masks were losing their effectiveness and quickly signaled the group to withdraw.
Just like their arrival, the group’s departure did not disturb the bees. The Morning Glory flowers, unable to induce drowsiness, became docile after Yue Zheng cut off a few of their stems and didn’t make any further movements.
The car started again, using Ivy’s vines as a road. When they reached the intersection of the main road, Mo Tiancheng had already fallen asleep from exhaustion.
Gently touching Mo Tiancheng’s soft hair, Xu Song picked him up and put him on the small bed. Mo Tianyou obediently followed and climbed up as well, sleeping on the outer side.
Mother Xu prepared a simple dinner. After a whole day of exertion, everyone was too tired. They had dinner and set up camp directly.
Judging from the smoke rising from the direction of the farmland, it seemed that the group of people was still deadlocked there. It was hard to say if it was worth spending so many days without anyone willing to back down.
After a night’s rest, early in the morning, they packed up and exercised before Yue Zheng started the car and headed towards the safe base.
Xu Song and Mother Xu sat in the cargo area with the two children, sorting the cotton seeds from the cotton balls.
After being compressed, the cotton in the large shipping container actually shrank in volume. Now, Mo Tiancheng, who had recovered and had a satisfying breakfast, used the newly harvested cotton seeds to sow again. The cotton in the back of the car could be used to complete a mission, but they also needed cotton for themselves to survive the winter.
The large, white flowers in the middle were surrounded by a faint yellow halo. Xu Song leaned in and smelled them, plucking one to examine. As he sniffed the rich and sweet aroma, he exclaimed, “No wonder there are so many beehives around here. These flowers seem to have a lot of nectar.”
Mother Xu sadly looked at the withering petals and said, “It would be great if we could collect them and make some honey for the children.”
Yue Zheng smiled and said, “Don’t worry, let’s go back this time and come out again in a few days to collect honey separately.”
“It seems that the hypnotic pollen of the Morning Glory flowers doesn’t affect the bees,” Xu Song said as he picked some ripe cotton peaches and asked in the direction of the driver’s cabin.
“We can let Xiao Shu try next time. Doesn’t it have the itching powder? We’ll find a windy spot,” Yue Zheng suggested.
“Yeah! I forgot it had such a powerful weapon!” Xu Song slapped his forehead and looked at Xiao Shu with excitement. Xiao Shu tilted its crown and wrapped its roots around a cluster of cotton peaches, hovering in the air.
They sowed wave after wave of cotton and harvested wave after wave, with the mutated cotton peaches each being the size of a man’s outstretched palm. In no time, they had filled two large baskets with cotton.
Mother Xu sat on the side and removed the seeds from the cotton balls, while Tianyou took the seeds and planted them one by one in another pot of soil. Mo Tiancheng finished planting a pot on one side and ran to plant another one, and everyone had a great time.
“It’s a pity we don’t have cotton-spinning tools,” Mother Xu said while processing the cotton peaches, sighing.
Xu Song laughed and said, “Do you want to do everything yourself? We have obtained so much cotton that we can entrust it to the base for processing. Our small team gets a significant discount and benefits. It’s much more suitable to have them do the processing than to do it ourselves.”
Mother Xu understood this as well, but living in the post-apocalyptic world had made them tight on resources, so she was a bit reluctant. Now, after hearing her son’s words, she smiled and poked his forehead, saying, “Alright, I know you’re amazing!”
After driving for a while, Mo Tianyou and the others sensed that there seemed to be some kind of ability user or human approaching.
Xu Song quickly got up and went to the co-pilot’s seat, staying alert with Yue Zheng as they continued driving forward.
Cotton field fun is followed by stranger danger! Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🌳🦗🦔🦮🐝