It was clearly his own issue, but Xu Song, for some inexplicable reason, was feeling a bit irritable early in the morning. Yue Zheng, with his highly sensitive intuition, immediately noticed the problem and made a quick decision to change the topic.
He said, “This area is the highest point in the vicinity, so I’ve chosen it as our temporary residence. It allows us to observe the surroundings. Although there are some creatures nearby, they don’t pose much of a threat. Also, I haven’t checked the river’s condition yet. I was waiting for you to wake up, have breakfast, and then we can go check if it’s safe. If it is, our children can play by the river without worries.”
Indeed, Xu Song was redirected, and he took a moment to sense the direction of the river. “There are aquatic creatures in the river, but I’m not sure if they are dangerous. We should check it out later.”
“Later, I’ll set up a temporary stove here. Mom mentioned that cooking inside the RV isn’t good for the appliances, and with the weather getting warmer, it’s better to cook outside.”
“Sure, I remember we collected some outdoor grills before. We should bring them all down.”
Seeing her son was also awake, Mother Xu brought out the prepared food and cooked a pot of mixed vegetable and meat porridge. Everyone enjoyed a hearty meal, and then, under Mother Xu’s guidance, the two children began their home learning, including reading and memorizing poems. Yue Zheng and Xu Song headed toward the river together.
The river was crystal clear, with various pebbles visible beneath the transparent water. Several fish swam through the water.
This area was more like a wide stream than a proper river. On the map, it wasn’t far from the upstream source, and the water flowed from west to east, merging with another stream that flowed from a different source and eventually into the sea.
Because the river itself wasn’t very deep, the fish, even if they wanted to mutate, wouldn’t have overly exaggerated sizes due to the limitations of the terrain. However, they were quite aggressive.
As they approached the water’s edge, a few fish noticed their presence. Instead of scattering at the sight of humans, as they would have before the apocalypse, they gathered and shot several water jets at the shore.
Xu Song raised his hand, forming a white “shield.” With a slight “shh” sound, not even a wisp of smoke appeared, and those water splashes completely disappeared.
“They have some level of aggression, but it’s not a big problem, more like basic water-based abilities,” Xu Song remarked. Just as he finished speaking, two fish spat out several “ice needles.” “Although… I take it back; they do have some threat.”
“However, Mo Tiancheng can handle them, and so can Abu.” These fish, limited by their size and evolutionary stage, had some special abilities, but they couldn’t successfully ambush creatures with higher defenses and greater vigilance. After they spewed water and ice at the shore, they realized that the humans there were unharmed and cleverly swam to the other side.
Seeing the few fish rapidly fleeing, Xu Song and Yue Zheng couldn’t help but chuckle; they had truly become experts at this.
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.
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The two of them continued downstream along the river and indeed found some creatures coming to drink from the river. The variety of creatures here was different from those near City B. In addition to the common mutated cats and dogs, there were many pigs, cows, and sheep, as well as mutated horses, deer, and some carnivorous animals.
However, possibly out of caution, they didn’t dare to attack Xu Song and Yue Zheng directly. When they saw a wolf, which didn’t know its place and was approaching the two men, being swiftly taken down, they retreated quietly to a safer distance.
Most of the animals that came to the river were here for drinking water. The variety of creatures in this area couldn’t be limited to just a few species, and who knew if they might be discovered by their natural predators while hunting?
As a result, over time, these creatures had instinctively established their own set of rules. Animals coming to the river seldom initiated attacks on other creatures. However, once they moved away from the river, it was every creature for itself.
After surveying the nearby area, the two men strolled back, just as leisurely as when they arrived. Yue Zheng held a massive wolf corpse in his hand, which almost dwarfed both of them. Observing this, the riverbank animals grew uneasy, but in a short while, the creatures that frequently roamed the area shared a piece of news with each other – several seemingly feeble creatures with a vicious nature had arrived nearby, so everyone needed to stay vigilant.
Hearing the commotion outside, Mother Xu raised her head and saw her son and son-in-law returning, dragging behind them a large wolf, which was nearly a person’s height. She almost burst out laughing.
She opened the door to greet them, saying, “Why didn’t you call Abu to pick you up? Although my son-in-law is strong, this… the difference is too significant!”
Yue Zheng smiled and replied, “It’s nothing, and it wasn’t far. We managed to bring it back.” Even though it did require some effort, he wasn’t really exhausted.
“Mom, don’t mind him. It’s his quirkiness,” Xu Song chimed in, grinning. He thought that it was good for Yue Zheng to expend more energy during the day, saving him from nighttime disturbances.
Smacking her son’s behind with a “slap,” Mother Xu said, “Do you have to talk like that? Who asked him to be so…unconventional?”
Looking at the dead wolf, Mother Xu thought for a moment. “We’ll skin it later, save one wolf leg for drying, and have wolf meat stew for dinner tonight!” As for the rest, some would go to Abu, and the remaining portions would be frozen in the refrigerator for later consumption. Wolf meat wasn’t something you could have every day.
In the B City base, more and more people sought refuge, leading to an increase in conflicts and disputes. Fortunately, the fact that they were all human beings created a sense of camaraderie, and despite the conflicts, most people temporarily endured them and took action as needed.
The base was expanding outward, with a new wall enclosing a large area of land. Several buildings for cultivation were being constructed, and details were being arranged.
Earth-based ability users had been quite busy lately. They were clearing all the plants from the newly expanded ground, tilling the land multiple times to make it firm and resistant to invasion by mutant plants.
In the original section of the base, a man with an expressionless face had been standing motionless on the ground under the sun for over twenty minutes.
“You think, what’s that guy doing? Just standing there under the sun like that?”
“I don’t know… since the higher-ups told us to keep an eye on him, there must be something strange about him.”
“But apart from standing like this for half an hour every day, he seems normal, doesn’t he?”
“Who said he’s normal? Not speaking, not smiling, expressionless… can that be considered normal?”
“Then he’s at most mentally challenged…”
“He moved! Let me check… twenty-six minutes, it’s about the same as the previous days.”
Two men, hiding in nearby buildings and observing the target through binoculars, also noted the duration of his recent absentmindedness. No one noticed that this man, standing with one foot on a manhole cover, had a long, slender brown object that had just retracted from the manhole’s eye and back to his foot.
The man remained expressionless, looking vacant. If Yue Zheng and Xu Song were here, they would undoubtedly recognize him as the man they had seen before leaving the base, the one with no heartbeat.
Similarly, if Yue Zheng were present, he would likely hear and even see that eerie thing retracting back into the man’s shoe.
At the same time, several individuals with similar expressionless faces were also in different locations within the base, either performing or having completed the same action—standing on manhole covers, daydreaming, and sunbathing.
The sound of waves crashing against the shore filled the air. The harsh winter had finally passed, and the vast icebergs that had formed on the sea due to the unusually cold winter were gradually melting.
Last autumn, the oceanic creatures that had invaded the land destroyed one human survival base after another. When winter arrived, they retreated from the land due to the harsh conditions, only to return to the coastal areas as spring arrived.
Why did these marine creatures come ashore? They had already dominated the oceans, so why did they need to encroach upon the less than 30% of the Earth’s surface that was land? The vast oceans should have been more than enough for their survival. Unfortunately, no one could answer these questions.
“Marine creatures are coming ashore again!!”
People who had barely managed to climb to higher ground and evade the marine creature invasion last year once again fell into despair upon discovering this fact.
Originally, when these creatures had retreated, they had returned to their former bases on the outskirts of the city, barely surviving the harsh winter. Who could have imagined that they would return again?!
Did this mean that they would have to face an annual invasion of marine creatures in the future? What a terrible joke!
“We can’t stay here; we need to escape!”
“Escape? Where can we go? The land is full of mutant animals, and with the marine creatures in the sea, how can we survive?”
“We should head inland!”
Living in the wilderness was particularly peaceful, especially when the neighboring groups adhered to certain rules.
The mutant beasts didn’t provoke them, and the newly sprouted plants, apart from a few highly aggressive ones, were cautious and didn’t test the group’s strength. After being roasted by Xu Song’s white flames, they were deemed inedible.
Now, everyone coexisted harmoniously, with most creatures keeping to themselves.
Is the base being invaded already? So many expressionless people that only need watering and sunlight with a suspicious activities with manholes….🤔
What are these dead guys doing!?!
plant attack on the base? does this mean little shu could get a human form ?