Chapter 76

The swimming pool, which was originally relatively well preserved, collapsed into a pitch-black hole on the southeast side.

The vines densely wrapped around the outer wall were cut into pieces by the hurricane, leaving only the upper part hanging and floating in the air.

Suddenly, the few remaining thin vines were pushed to one side by an invisible force, as if blown away by the wind, but soon fell down again.

The sun has set in the sky, and it seems that the persistent high temperature is beginning to subside.

Zhou Qi carried Tang Yu'an on his back and jumped out of the giant lizard's nest.

The dim evening sunlight shone obliquely on them, and the fresh air rushed towards them, dispelling all the stench of decay and making the two teenagers feel as if they had returned to the world again.

Looking at the broad view and scenery before them, although it was still a ruin with collapsed ground and buildings, it inexplicably gave them a sense of peace and joy.

The inside of the swimming pool is dark, damp, stuffy, hot and filled with a strong stench. It is completely different from the outside!

I really can’t imagine that there are creatures that can survive in such an environment.

"Ah... I'm alive..."

Tang Yu'an lay on Zhou Qi's shoulder and couldn't help but sigh in a low voice, "What kind of giant lizard nest is this? It's more like a stinking nest!"

Zhou Qi nodded with lingering fear.

He is a person who particularly likes cleanliness, even a little bit of mysophobia. After coming to this wasteland, he has tried very hard to control this problem.

However, the giant lizard's nest was really beyond his endurance limit.

Fortunately, they finally left.

At this moment, they were standing on a collapsed high-rise building next to the swimming pool. Looking up, they could vaguely see the center of the deserted city.

The very center of the city seemed to be shrouded in a dark cloud. As for the surroundings... it was just as Grandma Guo said, the closer to the center, the more lush the plants were.

The area below the dark clouds had become a forest.

The swimming pool is still on the edge of the center of the deserted city, but it already has powerful mutant creatures like the female lizard. I really can't imagine what the center of the deserted city will look like.

Tang Yu'an and Zhou Qi both thought of Chi Hao at the same time.

He was seriously injured, and the "Old Xie" who was traveling with him never showed up again. No one knew what happened to them in the center of the deserted city...

Zhou Qi withdrew his gaze and quickly ran back with Tang Yu'an on his back before any new dangerous creature appeared.

Tang Yu'an did not insist on untying the straps and walking down by himself. Although the previous battle did not require much exercise, he was a little tired after the high tension.

"I'll come and have a look tomorrow." Zhou Qi said.

If a new mutant creature really invades the swimming pool and the mother lizard can't transform back, I wonder if she can protect the remaining lizard eggs?

But it doesn’t matter if they can’t hold it, it doesn’t affect their mission.

"I must go with you." Tang Yu'an said, "We agreed to advance and retreat together!"

If there were no new dangerous creatures coming, all the lizard eggs could be moved away.

Although the grocery store's warehouse was running out of space, they had a super-sized container, so there was still room for it. As for that stinking swimming pool... well, just bear with it for a while.

Maybe I can find a few more mutant mushrooms tomorrow? That kind of mucus that can resist hallucinogenic effects is good stuff.

Hearing him say this, Zhou Qi had no objection, but a hint of worry appeared in his eyes.

He ran in the sunset with Tang Yu'an on his back, and the four-hour light body technique ended halfway.

Fortunately, there is only one last use of the light body technique left.

After receiving the blessing of Tang Yu'an's light body technique again, Zhou Qi continued on his journey.

Finally, the grocery store was right in front of them. Tang Yu'an and Zhou Qi, who had just experienced a life-and-death battle, felt a little dazed, and a strong sense of belonging rose in their hearts again.

It feels so good to be back home!

As soon as they pushed open the door of the grocery store, Silver Coin ran out of the house to greet them warmly.

However, the excited puppy soon stopped.

The nauseating stench of the two young men hit him head-on. Silver Coin, who already had a very sensitive sense of smell, took three steps back, and then...

yue——

It couldn't help but make a vomiting motion.

What happened to the masters? Did they fall into the pit?

Tang Yu'an approached it, and Silver Coin subconsciously smiled, and the big tail behind him began to shake rapidly, and then...

yue——

The poor puppy wagged its tail and couldn't help vomiting again, although nothing came out.

“Is it that smelly?”

Seeing its behavior, Tang Yu'an couldn't help but lower his head and sniff his clothes, and then he also made a "yue" sound.

"I'm going to take a shower!" Tang Yu'an shouted.

It stinks so much!

They didn’t get much contact with the dirty water, how could it be so smelly!

He took his clothes and hurried into the bathroom. Because his points balance had exceeded 8,000, Tang Yu'an decided to splurge.

Today, he chose to shower.

When the warm current poured over his head, he couldn't help but let out a comfortable sigh.

They use an electric water heater at home, so as long as they have fuel to generate electricity, they don’t have to worry about not having hot water.

After being in the wasteland for so many days, I finally took a shower. It was so comfortable!

Tang Yu'an exchanged 100 points for water at the grocery store. Although it felt a bit painful, he felt satisfied when he looked at the ample balance of points.

We work hard to earn points for a better life, but it’s okay to indulge occasionally!

When he came out of the shower, he found that Yuanbao, who had been out, had also returned. It and Yinbi were squatting in the corner, keeping a certain distance from Zhou Qi.

Zhou Qi took off his shirt, which might not have smelled so bad. The two dogs didn't make any sound, but just looked at him with strange eyes.

There was a humming sound coming from the bottom of Yinbi's throat, and no one knew what he was communicating with Yuanbao.

In short, Yuanbao looked at Zhou Qi with increasingly strange eyes.

Zhou Qi closed his eyes and endured it. When he saw Tang Yu'an coming out, he quickly got up and went into the bathroom.

Tang Yu'an interacted with Yuanbao for a while, then opened his portable warehouse and began to sort out today's harvest.

In the afternoon, when they were busy clearing out dangerous creatures, the grass continued to bring him a wave of points and experience points.

Even without counting the morning batch, she had made an additional 21 profitable trades, bringing him 49 experience points and 146 points.

In addition to the deal he made with Xiaoqi, his experience bar has reached level 8 (84/160) and his points balance has reached 8182.

Just as he said in the morning, Xiaocao successfully upgraded to a higher level by the evening, and the employee experience bar reached level 3 (8/40), which was really as fast as a rocket!

After she upgraded, Tang Yu'an also unlocked new merchandise for her to redeem, this time giving her hemostatic powder.

He has realized the importance of Xiaocao as an employee, and naturally hopes that she can be better protected so that she can earn him more points and experience points!

At least now he and Xiaoqige no longer have to worry about how to attract new customers every day——

After his level reached lv8, the number of daily tasks had reached the point where his scalp tingled just looking at them.

【Daily Task (4): Attract new customers (8/8)】

Yes, the task of attracting new customers has fallen on the terrifying eight people!

However, even so, with Xiaocao's joining, he was able to easily complete his daily tasks after leaving Jufeng Town.

The population of Jufeng Town is about several thousand people, and it can last for a while at this rate.

In order to motivate Xiaocao, Tang Yu'an gave her the 16 points he earned from recruiting new customers along with the upgrade rewards, bringing the girl's points balance to over 110 points.

As long as they keep up this momentum, the brother and sister will never have to worry about going hungry again.

After looking at the panel, Tang Yu'an turned his attention to the actual object.

Mud mixed with mutant mushroom mucus, lizard eggs wrapped in mucus and mud and emitting a disgusting stench, and...

Tang Yu'an thought of the corpse of the dark green spider.

Before going to the monitor lizard's nest, they sent the spider's corpse back to the grocery store warehouse.

At this time he noticed again...where is Wangcai?

When they came back just now, it seemed that only Silver Coin came out to greet them, but there was no sign of the little orange cat.

Now when he came out of the shower, he only saw gold ingots and silver coins.

Could it be that Wangcai also ran away like Hei Zhenzhu and was not planning to return to the grocery store?

Tang Yu'an opened the map and found that Wangcai was in the grocery store and did not run away.

He lowered his head, looked at the Samoyed who came over to cuddle with him after he washed it, and asked it, "Silver Coin, where's Wangcai?"

Hearing this, Silver Coin made two grunting sounds, then bit his clothes and dragged him towards the warehouse.

The door of the warehouse was not closed.

When Tang Yu'an walked in, the first thing he saw was the spider's corpse in a big red plastic basin. It was completely soaked in mud and sand stained with dark green liquid. The contrast between red, green and black made the scene look a bit scary.

Tang Yu'an shifted his gaze and saw the little orange cat lying in the corner.

It had its eyes tightly closed and remained motionless, and did not respond even when he turned on the lights in the warehouse.

Something happened to Wangcai?

Tang Yu'an was frightened and quickly walked over to pick it up.

The kitten's soft body was warm, and its breathing and heartbeat were normal. Tang Yu'an finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He opened the pet panel and saw a new status description added to Wangcai's information: [Energy digesting... 10%...]

Tang Yu'an blinked in confusion. What energy was being digested?

As soon as he looked carefully, bubbles of identification information popped up.

Dark Green Spider Blood

Wangcai's paws and the hair around his mouth were stained with some dark green marks.

So, Wangcai ate the blood of the mutant spider?

Tang Yu'an took a few more glances at the description in the pet's status bar. Energy is being digested... This should be a good thing for Wangcai?

Will Wangcai become stronger after digesting the energy?

He turned around holding Wangcai and saw the two little ones standing at the door looking out. He asked, "Do you want to eat too?"

Tang Yu'an pointed to the dark green spider in the plastic basin.

However, Silver Coin immediately shook his head and jumped back, his surprised and panicked eyes seemed to say: How can you let the puppy eat this kind of thing?

Yuanbao took a look at it, sniffed it, and then showed an expression of disgust.

It won’t eat it because it’s not fresh!

Tang Yu'an had no choice but to give up, and carried Wangcai out of the warehouse. He wiped its paws and mouth with a wet handkerchief, put it on the mat, and continued to do his own thing.

Hallucinogenic mushroom slime——

Lizard Eggs

Dark green spider blood——

All separated!

In the end, Tang Yu'an obtained five drops of mutant mushroom mucus, totaling about 2ml, 430ml of dark green spider blood, and four lizard eggs that were as smooth as new.

He held the lizard egg and looked at it curiously.

The eggshell is yellow-brown with shallow lines, about 20 to 30 centimeters long, and feels particularly heavy when held in the hand.

When Zhou Qi came out of the shower, he saw this scene.

He came over, picked one up, weighed it in his hand, and said, "How about trying one for dinner?"

"Okay, okay." Tang Yu'an nodded.

If you can’t finish it, save it for tomorrow. You have a portable storage to keep it fresh.

As for the remaining three, he temporarily stuffed them into the refrigerator - he had to organize the space in his portable storage first.

Zhou Qi went to make dinner while Tang Yu'an continued to be busy.

In addition to the data and various physical gains, there was also the valuable combat experience he had gained. As he recalled it, he carefully wrote it down in his notes.

First, the usage and power of the super mousetrap, and then the combination of the three props: happy marbles and cat, dog and mouse.

Finally, there are restrictions on the use of umbrellas.

Last night he had thought that he and Brother Xiaoqi could rely on the father and daughter's location to reach Linhai Town without a guide. This was all thanks to the confidence given by the shadow umbrella.

Now that he knew the limitations of the umbrella, he naturally wouldn't have such unrealistic ideas anymore.

"Fortunately, we figured it out before anything went wrong, and it didn't cause any danger."

While listening to Tang Yu'an's chatter, Zhou Qi cracked open the lizard eggs and poured the egg liquid into the basin, finally filling the whole basin.

This lizard egg is like an enlarged version of an egg, with a round yolk wrapped in sticky and transparent egg liquid.

He thought for a moment and finally listed the menu.

Fried rice with egg, scrambled eggs with sauce, egg drop soup, meat and egg pancakes, and finally some blanched wild vegetables, and their dinner is ready.

The aroma of lizard eggs was very strong, filling the small grocery store and diluting the not-so-pleasant experience of the afternoon's adventure in the swimming pool.

Tang Yu'an, who had finally organized his portable warehouse using the item list function, was now starving.

Looking at the whole table of high-protein, delicious whole egg feast, he couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

“It smells so good!”

After Zhou Qi sat down, he couldn't wait to pick up the bowl and start eating the egg fried rice in it.

Compared with ordinary eggs, lizard eggs have a more special egg flavor. They are fragrant and tender. When mixed with rice with a blend of salty and fragrant soy sauce, they are simply delicious.

Not to mention scrambled eggs with sauce and egg drop soup, meat and egg pancakes have also become Tang Yu'an's favorite.

The combination of carbohydrates and two high-protein ingredients with different tastes is very good, which is simply a perfect dish for children who are still growing and developing in adolescence.

Moreover, after eating, he felt warm all over, and the energy consumed during the day seemed to be replenished.

Yuanbao and Yinbi also got a portion of meat and egg pie. The two little ones ate one by one without saying a word, just concentrating on eating.

In the end, the two people and two dogs finished all the dinner and managed to finish the whole meal.

“Lizard eggs are so delicious!”

Tang Yu'an touched his bulging belly. His face was slightly red, probably because he ate too fast. He was slumped on the sofa, looking very satisfied and lazy, not wanting to move anymore.

"It's a pity that we only stole four."

Zhou Qi sat beside him and also had some free time, enjoying the rare quiet and comfortable time after dinner.

"Has the number of missions changed?" he asked.

Tang Yu'an shook his head.

"Maybe no other creatures entered the monitor lizard's nest after we left." Zhou Qi said, "Or maybe the mother lizard transformed back into her original form and drove the intruders away."

The test subject of the super mousetrap was a dark green spider, but we cannot draw any conclusions from it. It is possible that the spider's mutation level was too low, so it failed to change back to its original form at the critical moment.

The female lizard can use such a powerful hurricane, and its mutation level is probably intermediate. It should not be underestimated.

"I hope it doesn't change back..."

Tang Yu'an rubbed his eyes and yawned, then opened the lucky wheel and started the lottery.

What can I draw today?

He drank a sip of pure water from the automatic water storage thermos, breathed on his palm, and then started the lucky wheel.

The lucky wheel spun and spun, and finally the pointer stopped at...

[Congratulations! You've acquired the special skill "Purification Level 1"]

Tang Yu'an blinked. He was very happy to have drawn a new special skill after a long time. However...

What is purification?

He quickly opened the skill list to check.

Purification Level 1

Attributes: Magical skills.

Level 1 effect: Removes filth and purifies evil spirits.

Limit: Can be used 10 times per day.

Today's remaining: 10

Tang Yu'an tilted his head and thought for a moment, then looked at the gold ingots and silver coins lying at his feet.

Yuanbao raised his head first and looked at him with some confusion, while Yinbi turned over, revealing his hairy belly, and continued to sleep.

In order to save water, the silver coin has never been bathed, so...

Tang Yu'an stared at the silver coin, then cast a purification spell on it.

A soft light shone from his fingertips, then lightly fell on the silver coin, enveloping it completely.

Yuanbao has stood up vigilantly.

The silver coin that was subjected to the purification spell was stunned for a moment, and then closed its eyes comfortably.

The light lasted for more than ten seconds.

When the soft warm light faded away, the originally gray hair on the silver coin had turned shiny and snow-white, just like a newborn!

Tang Yu'an was a little surprised, "You are so white!"

"Woof woof!" Silver Coin barked happily twice, rubbed against Tang Yu'an, and then went to show off to Yuanbao.

Zhou Qi couldn't help but be surprised when he saw this scene.

"New skills?" he asked.

"right!"

Tang Yu stroked the dog's snow-white, fluffy fur, his face flushed. "It's a purification technique. It can remove filth and purify evil spirits."

“…”

Although I don't know what evil spirits are, being able to remove filth is definitely a very practical skill.

At least……

They don’t have to worry about running out of water to take a bath when they are in the wild!

Zhou Qi nodded. He felt that no matter what An An won in the future, he would not be surprised anymore.

He looked at Tang Yu'an and suddenly reached out to touch his forehead.

"Brother Xiaoqi?" Tang Yu'an looked at him in confusion.

Zhou Qi didn't say anything and took him to take his temperature.

37.8℃.

Sure enough, An An has a fever again!

He had been worried since he left the monitor lizard's nest in the afternoon. He saw his face was a little red just now, and he found that it was true after measuring it.

Fortunately, the temperature is not high.

"Oh, why do I have a fever again..." Tang Yu'an rubbed his eyes. No wonder he felt so sleepy after eating.

"I boiled some lantern grass and thatch roots. Drink it and go to sleep." Zhou Qi went to pour him some cold tea.

These two things can treat colds and fevers. Try them first and see if they work. As for the special cold medicine... although there are some left, I don't know if there are any side effects, so it's better to eat less.

Zhou Qi added rock sugar to the herbal tea, which tasted sweet and not bitter at all.

Tang Yu'an obediently drank a large bowl of it, wiped his forehead and behind his ears with alcohol, and was then tucked into bed by Zhou Qi.

"Today's message in a bottle hasn't been retrieved yet..." he said, forcing his eyelids open.

"I'll do it." Zhou Qi touched his head, "Go to sleep quickly, and you'll get better soon."

"Um……"

Tang Yu'an quickly became confused.

He felt groggy, as if there was a fire slowly burning inside his body, so his sleep was naturally restless.

I was chased by an ugly and scary giant lizard in my dream all night, and even fell into a swimming pool full of smelly mud. It was completely dark.

Fortunately, someone pulled him forward and led him forward firmly...

It was not until dawn that Tang Yu'an woke up slowly.

He blinked and turned his head to see Zhou Qi lying beside him, his arm at his side, clasped with his hand.

Tang Yu'an recalled the nightmare he had last night.

The person who had been with him and pulled him away was indeed Brother Xiaoqi!

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips.

The boy looked at Zhou Qi with sparkling eyes, full of love and dependence.

As if he had noticed something, Zhou Qi, who had his eyes closed, trembled his eyelashes slightly and opened his eyes.

Their eyes met.

Zhou Qi was stunned for a moment, then raised his hand and touched Tang Yu'an's forehead.

"The fever's gone." He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Uh-huh!"

Tang Yu'an held his hand, smiling softly, "Brother Xiaoqi, thank you for your hard work last night."

Zhou Qi shook his head and just as he was about to get up, he was pulled back by Tang Yu'an.

"Brother Xiaoqi, let's lie down for a while..."

This makes me want to stay in bed.

Zhou Qi didn't insist. The alarm clock hadn't rung yet in the morning, so it was probably around 5:30 now.

He lay down again as he was told, their heads leaning against each other, one with his eyes closed and the other looking at the ceiling.

"How do you feel? Are you still feeling uncomfortable?" Zhou Qi asked.

"It's not uncomfortable anymore."

Tang Yu'an shook his head, glanced at the small window on the wall, and asked quickly, "Did you find a new message in a bottle last night?"

Zhou Qi hummed, reached out and groped around, and soon found a glass bottle and handed it to him.

"It's the second day, and it hasn't disappeared yet?"

Tang Yu'an looked at the ball of light floating quietly in the transparent glass bottle, and then looked at the system message record.

"So, as long as the dream wisher hasn't woken up and we haven't helped them fulfill their wish, the dream bottle won't disappear?"

"That should be the case." Zhou Qi nodded.

After he fished out the bottle last night, he heard An An crying and talking in his sleep. He didn't bother to open it, so he just put it aside and went to take care of An An.

Tang Yu'an carefully opened the cork of the bottle.

The ball of light slowly floated into the air, and they heard a little boy's voice: "Candy... I want some candy..."

Tang Yu was happy.

Great! This time, it's finally a wish that doesn't make people feel uncomfortable! Since he knows about sugar, this kid must be living a relatively decent life, right?

"I can give you candy, but you have to exchange something for it." Tang Yu'an said to the ball of light.

"Change……"

"Exchange the leaves for..."