After exchanging a meaningful glance with Sun Wenhao and chatting for a while, Fu Erdie finally understood what was going on.
Sun Wenhao had been a first-year graduate student before the apocalypse, also working as a teaching assistant for a professor. His major was in engineering, but his professor’s wife, who taught biology in the adjacent department, sometimes needed his assistance to fetch materials from the biology laboratory. It was in this laboratory that they used rabbits, frogs, and mice for experiments.
As a student from a family involved in sports-related industries, Sun Wenhao naturally didn’t know where to find chicks or ducklings, only the rabbits in the laboratory.
However, in the university city…
Fu Erdie felt that both she and Sun Wenhao probably couldn’t handle such a situation. Venturing into the university city like the netherworld just to find out whether the rabbits had survived or not was just too much of a risk.
Fu Erdie sighed and sincerely said, “It’s alright. Whether it’s raising chicks, ducklings, or any other small animals, let’s leave it to fate. Once we finish clearing out the zombies in the neighbourhood, we can think about how to go outside and find livestock.”
“Okay.”
With her head bowed in contemplation, Fu Erdie didn’t notice the thoughtful expression on the man in front of her.
After finishing their meal, they began officially clearing out the zombies.
Sun Wenhao started by using metal parts to attract zombies downwards from the top floor of Building 8, gradually drawing them outside to the open space.
Fu Erdie took over at the ground level of Building 8, leading the zombies towards Building 7.
While the plants at Building 7 dealt with the first batch of zombies, Sun Wenhao moved to Building 9 and employed the same method to draw the zombies there. By the time the zombies were gathered at Building 9, Building 7 had already handled the previous batch, ready to take on the new ones.
Sun Wenhao continued to Building 10.
In this manner, with seamless cooperation between the two and the plants at Building 7, they cleared out the zombies from Buildings 8 to 10, then proceeded to Buildings 5 to 1. Before the sun set in the afternoon, they had miraculously cleared out all the zombies in the neighbourhood.
Upon returning, they showered, had dinner, and assigned rooms.
Sun Wenhao chose 16-2 adjacent to Fu Erdie’s initial cabin. It was spacious and conveniently close to the host, making communication easier when needed.
Fu Erdie then proceeded to tidy up Room 15-1, where the potatoes she had brought back had already grown significantly.
A 30-meter extension cord hung from Room 16-1 to 15-1, and the unfamiliar room appeared desolate under the dim yellow desk lamp.
Room 15-1 was furnished with a space-saving sofa on one side, narrow enough that sleeping on it felt somewhat uncomfortable. Next to it, on a beige tea table, were the seeds brought back from Building 6 today.
These seeds, so far, had not yet entered the realm of the house. If they had stayed in Building 6 for so long without mutating but could mutate in just two days in Fu Erdie’s possession, it suggested that her ability was indeed related to promoting mutations.
The sofa was narrow, leaving no room for the dog to sleep, so it lay down on a nearby pet mat.
The spider plant seemed to sense Fu Erdie’s unease and extended a large leaf, almost like a blanket, covering her. The familiar scent and touch of the spider plant gradually calmed her, and she watched the spider plant, the dog, and the potato seedlings slowly fall asleep.
The next day, the sun shone through the window without any obstruction, waking Fu Erdie up.
Her first thought upon waking was to ask the spider plant if the seeds had mutated.
The spider plant shook its head.
Undeterred, Fu Erdie changed into her workout clothes and began her rounds and exercises up and down the stairs.
After completing the entire building’s run, it was not yet seven o’clock. Sun Wenhao had not yet woken up, so she decided to experiment with the succulents.
Reflecting on her previous attempt to apply blood to the potato seedlings and being rejected by them, Fu Erdie decided not to scratch her finger in front of the succulents this time. Instead, she pretended to cut herself on a sharp stone that she had cleaned, then went to find the succulents.
The spider plant acted like a small bodyguard and followed closely behind her, offering no objections.
The succulents were delighted to see Fu Erdie, but upon seeing the fresh blood, they did not rush forward to cover it up. Instead, they stood still, seeming stunned in place.
Fu Erdie was puzzled. She walked over and rubbed the cut on her arm against the succulent’s flesh leaf.
Fu Erdie then brought the succulent, which had been silently trailing behind, and gently pulled out a leaf from the spider plant to cover the wound on her arm.
The cut was short and shallow, so the faint healing properties of the spider plant’s leaf were sufficient to treat it.
However, for some reason, the spider plant did not come over to apply the leaf directly. Instead, it used its “backhand” to press the succulent’s fleshy leaf against the wound.
Fu Erdie: … Are you guys polite? Shouldn’t you yield to each other like Kong Rong?
The succulent, with its thick fleshy leaf, couldn’t resist the delicate spider plant leaf, and absorbed Fu Erdie’s blood before turning around to gently tap her other intact hand, as if reprimanding her.
Then… the spider plant slapped the succulent on its leaf, which promptly quieted down.
Fu Erdie: …
Frowning, she realized that the situation with the blood might not be as she had expected.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the succulent had evolved. She started planning for the day, writing a note for the spider plant to place on the dining table in Room 16-2, before hurrying off.
Her plan was to select mutated dandelions from the building and transplant them to several other buildings.
Dandelions had unique characteristics: they possessed wind attributes and could communicate with each other. If one dandelion sensed something, others would know as well. Moreover, they reproduced quickly, with each floor now covered in numerous dandelion seeds, making them ideal for creating what appeared to be harmless security lines across most floors of the complex.
Aside from dandelions, Fu Erdie also planned to transplant cucumber and tomato plants.
Typically, these plants would be harvested and their mutated fruits planted once they matured in Room 16-1. However, cucumbers and tomatoes were among the few plants with mutation-prone fruits that hadn’t been planted yet.
Why? Because they loved to fight!
The two belligerent plants had already disrupted the peace within the building, with skirmishes breaking out wherever they were. If Fu Erdie planted more of them, Room 7 might not even be needed anymore!
Counting them, there are now over thirty mutated tomato and cucumber fruits under the supervision of the green ivy. Each building has one, and there are a few left, so they are planted in the same building with their siblings of the same species.
Hopefully, they can be a bit self-aware and not start fights where they ignore even their own kind.
After finishing these tasks, the morning passed.
Returning home, Fu Erdie put the experimental seeds in 15-1, then went back to the 16th floor to catch up with the old lady preparing lunch.
Standing up to wait for her to sit down, Sang Wenhao said, “I’ve come up with a way to get rabbits or other surviving edible livestock.”
Because he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in the last half year of the apocalypse, Sang Wenhao had been here for two days and slept deeply each day. When he woke up today, it was almost ten o’clock.
Fu Erdie left a note telling him to rest well and that they would go out together tomorrow to look for livestock.
Together.
Fu Erdie still felt it wasn’t good to let Sang Wenhao, whom she had just met, do tasks alone. She wanted to explore the surroundings with him.
The residential area is in a relatively remote part of the city. Normally, it takes half an hour by car along the road to leave C City.
Before the city expanded to this area, it was surrounded by rural cottages. Although there are now many high-rise residential areas, there are still some fields and wastelands left from the past farmers’ cultivation.
Naturally, there are many chickens, ducks, and geese kept there, and there might be some surviving livestock.
The note didn’t write much detail, and Sang Wenhao hadn’t observed the surroundings yet. However, people tend to start thinking about how to obtain resources from familiar places.
If he wants to stay here for a long time, he needs to take a more proactive attitude.
So he said, “We can project information leaflets to the university city or any nearby possible livestock farms, chicken and duck places, as long as they can get live chickens, ducks, and fish, and exchange them at a designated point for us. We’ll provide food and water far beyond the value of these livestock.”
Fu Erdie’s mind moved, “Tell me more.”
**Nomad: I don’t think that’s a good idea…**
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