Early in the morning, Wei Xuan, who had just gotten out of bed, sat in silence by the bedside. At this moment, he had no mood to eat breakfast at all. Of course, in this situation, how could he possibly have the appetite to enjoy a pleasant breakfast?
“The events of the past few days…”
Out of habit, Wei Xuan would write and draw something when he tried to calm himself down. So, he took out a notebook and began organizing his jumbled thoughts by writing them down.
“The main events of the past few days are that outsiders have come to the vicinity, zombies from the neighborhood wanted to go for a picnic, I stopped them, headache, weakness. And then today… no, yesterday, I had spicy stir-fried meat.”
After a bit of organization, Wei Xuan frowned as he looked at the content on the page. Among the events of the past few days, there were two things that were most likely to have caused changes in his body. One was being hit by the mental attacks from those little underlings, which nearly exhausted him. The other was eating spicy food yesterday.
Without other evidence, Wei Xuan leaned toward the idea that the zombies’ mental attacks had caused his body temperature to drop. Although it was also possible that the spicy food was the cause, he usually ate mutated potatoes and mutated bird meat. If it were an issue caused by mutated food, then his body temperature should have gradually decreased. But at least from this observation, his temperature suddenly plummeted, rather than gradually decreasing.
Apart from that, there was also the issue of being hit by mental attacks. While Wei Xuan hadn’t specifically measured his body temperature before, he wasn’t sure if his body temperature decreased every time he experienced a mental attack. But thinking back now, the amount of “snowflakes” he “ate” seemed to be increasing. The trigger for this increase seemed to be every time he experienced a mental attack, his “appetite” would grow!
However, since snowflakes didn’t have any negative effects on him even if he didn’t consume them, he subconsciously overlooked this situation and mistakenly thought that the absorption quantity was gradually increasing!
Taking a deep breath, he placed the pen on the notebook: “Well, I’ll know after conducting an experiment.” Wei Xuan got up with a serious expression and walked to where he usually stored the snowflakes, taking out a small bag.
Du Hang confirmed that he only walked to the cabinet and returned, so he didn’t immediately follow. Wei Xuan would sometimes take a short walk around the room, but he wouldn’t go far or do anything dangerous, so Du Hang was used to it and knew he should assess the situation before taking action.
Taking back the snowflakes, Wei Xuan sat next to Du Hang, holding a piece in his hand. He fed some to Du Hang and slowly absorbed some himself.
This absorption surprised Wei Xuan once again. The amount he could absorb each day was limited, and recently, it had increased to around five pieces per day. The amount he absorbed in the morning wasn’t more than one or two pieces, but now… he had actually increased to three pieces!
“I’ll try something else later…”
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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If this change in body temperature was sudden, caused by external stimuli, and rapidly changed after consuming mutated plants, then this experiment wouldn’t be successful. On the contrary, his temperature would continue to drop today.
Wei Xuan was especially quiet in his actions today due to his preoccupation with his thoughts. He needed to figure out where his problem actually lay. So, he changed his usual eating habits today, skipping easily digestible food in the morning and opting for the leftover spicy stir-fried meat from yesterday, eating a heavy meal early in the morning.
After breakfast, he went to where he had dried the grains yesterday. He picked out a few of each type and returned to the kitchen, peeling and preparing each one to be cooked and tasted… Yes, his current approach was similar to that of the legendary Emperor Shennong, who tasted a hundred herbs. The only difference was that Emperor Shennong might not have known the effects of each thing he consumed.
But Wei Xuan was different, after all, these were mutated variants of normal crops. There should be clues to follow, and there was an original taste to reference. Even if the taste changed somewhat, the difference wouldn’t be too extreme.
The pot bubbled as various grains and beans were cooked. Wei Xuan was afraid that the flavors would mix and he wouldn’t be able to distinguish the real taste, so he had to cook each one separately with water. But this not only wasted time and energy, but also wasted water resources, no matter how little water he used each time, it still had to be consumed many times for slow cooking!
When he started to taste these things after they were cooked, Wei Xuan realized another problem that gave him a headache, aside from all the wastage, these things were quite filling!
If he just scooped out the cooked beans and grains, there weren’t that many, but he often had to taste the soup they were cooked in, to see if it had any flavor. But the problem was, he had just finished breakfast!
“… If I had known, I wouldn’t have eaten breakfast, or maybe I should have waited until after digestion to experiment.” Wei Xuan grimaced and finished off another serving of cooked beans.
After eating, he suddenly put his hand to his forehead with a frustrated look… “Have I really become less intelligent?” Otherwise, how could he not have thought ahead about the issue of eating and getting full?
No way! He had to find a way to maintain his intelligence!
Body temperature dropping doesn’t worry him; even if he were to turn into a zombie directly or turn into a virus-infected zombie prematurely, that’s fine. But he can’t let his intelligence flow away like a river while human memories still exist. Even if he becomes a zombie, he must be a zombie with ideals, goals, and intelligence!
Thinking of this, Wei Xuan decided to calm down and digest for a while. Then, he would measure his body temperature to verify his idea, and after that, he could embark on his “intelligence enhancement” journey.
After a meal, Wei Xuan rested for half an hour, making notes of the taste of the beans. Then, he dragged Du Hang up to the sixth floor with a telescope to observe the surroundings and ensure that there were no abnormalities in the neighborhood. Finally, he brought out all the puzzle toys at home. Recently, with all the things happening, Wei Xuan and Du Hang hadn’t found time to play games together.
Wei Xuan selected a game where they took turns pulling out wooden sticks to see whose move would cause the tower of blocks to collapse. So, the two grown men huddled around the big table, one by one…
With a crash, Wei Xuan stared at Du Hang on the opposite side, who had an expressionless face.
“… Let’s change the game.” His hand shook just now, so this round couldn’t count as his loss!
So, Wei Xuan cleared the wooden pieces from the table and replaced them with memory chess… About three minutes later, looking at the empty circular board that Du Hang had picked clean, Wei Xuan decided, “Let’s try another game!”
Without having lunch, Wei Xuan lay on the bed, deeply affected. In the afternoon, when the sun only shone on a corner of the large bed, he felt an even stronger sense of loneliness. Fortunately, Du Hang had been patiently keeping him company.
“Is it that I taught you to be too smart?” Wei Xuan raised his hand and touched Du Hang’s face. The feeling of internal injury still lingered in his heart, making it hard for him to let go.
Du Hang lowered his head and kissed him.
“Yes, it must be because I taught you to be too smart!” Wei Xuan forcefully boosted his ego. After all, besides Du Hang, there was no one else here now. So, there was no one to mock him for putting on an act.
“Tomorrow, let’s go out. When it gets dark, head over to the two crazies’ place and ask them if they encountered anything when that group of people came in earlier. Then, bring back some cans that can spray foam.”
The incident a few days ago, when that group of people entered the city, prompted Wei Xuan to want to collect those things in advance. After all, if those people frequent the city and affect his movements, or if someone else has their eyes on that place’s items, it’s not a good situation for him. He needs to be prepared in advance.
The material of the foam is the best and most convenient for building ice cellars. If the ice cellar he’s building this year proves effective, he shouldn’t wait until next year to find out that all those factories have been emptied, right?
Thinking this through, Wei Xuan temporarily set aside the blow to his confidence caused by Du Hang’s skill in games. He decided to take a long nap and start his operation at midnight.
After a nap, he woke up when the sky was getting dim. After having a meal that he couldn’t decide whether to call lunch or dinner, Wei Xuan took Du Hang and strolled around the neighborhood to confirm that everything was fine. Then, he packed up and waited for nightfall. At around four or five in the morning, Du Hang carried Wei Xuan out of the neighborhood, heading towards the meeting point with the two crazies.
The relatively open room didn’t have anything extra. After exchanging notebooks, Wei Xuan patiently waited for daylight and then had Du Hang carry him straight to their destination.
“Potato, potato has arrived!” Bai Guangnan, who had rushed over at the sound, shouted excitedly, and Wei Xuan could faintly hear Cheng Ma’s voice responding from inside.
His lips twitched, and he looked at Bai Guangnan, who was full of energy and had a bright light on his face. Wei Xuan finally felt relieved.
It’s not that he was very worried about these two, but seeing the silly look on his face, Wei Xuan instantly regained his confidence (who asked him to play ten different games with Du Hang yesterday and not win a single round?).
Having no idea that his intelligence was being compared to others, Bai Guangnan proudly talked about how his girlfriend had become more considerate and gentle lately. As he spoke, he led Wei Xuan and Du Hang toward the living room they usually used.
At this moment, Cheng Ma was wearing a large robe, rubbing her eyes and yawning. Upon seeing Wei Xuan and Du Hang enter, she waved at them and said, “We thought you got blown up or something.”
Wei Xuan’s lips twitched twice, and he stopped at the entrance as if he wanted to turn and leave. But as long as he thought about how Cheng Ma would say something like this, indicating that her intelligence and emotional quotient were still worryingly low, Wei Xuan decided to forgive her, there’s no point in arguing with people with low intelligence!
Translator’s Note –
In regards to the two lunatics, they are always referred to as “Fire Woman” and “Healing Man”, however, I don’t think that translates well into English. I remember that their names have come up a few times, so after going back and skimming through past chapters, I found it in chapter 76. The woman is called “sister Ma” by the healer, so I’ll refer to her as Cheng Ma. The healer is sometimes referred to as “白光男” which translates to “white light man” or what I’ll be calling him, “Bai Guangnan”. So I’ll go back and change how they are referred to in past chapters, for it to flow better.
I saw “Bai Guangnan” and thought “the guy has a name?” Cause it feels like it was mentioned before, but I can’t remember, but it’s also okay to give him a name stand-in. Makes it seem less like the author couldn’t be bothered to find proper names for the insane duo.
Thank you for the chapter!
Yeah Potatoe works but the other two would be weird. I mean I don’t particularly mind but it is better for flow
Maybe put parenthesis/something to indicate that they’re placeholders for clarity.
Worries increase on the IQ front, pfft! Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🤣🌶️
Who told you to compare to your genius zombie husband? You already know he is better than you at physical things. Why would you even try Jenga?
Also you have to pick wether to test the food or the ❄️ if you do both you won’t be able to tell which is responsible.