Chapter 44 Mature Mutant Bird

Cheng Zhiyu instantly woke up and quickly got up to go out and see, with Xiao Hei following closely behind on its short legs.

Tian Qiao and Tian Manman had obviously heard the commotion and were running downstairs.

The group rushed out and saw Zhou Min running in, covering his head and scrambling for his life. Cheng Zhiyu frowned and asked, "What happened?"

Zhou Min said weakly, "...Don't mention it."

He woke up early, thinking of making some porridge for everyone. Although his cooking wasn't great, making porridge was simple, and he knew how to do it.

Zhou Min figured he needed to show off more so he could keep following Cheng Zhiyu and the others; he was determined to stick with them anyway.

Just as he was busy pouring the rice into the pot and putting the lid on, a little bird fluttered over. The bird was colorful and looked gaudy, but it was actually quite cute.

Zhou Min couldn't help but look up, wanting to take a closer look, when suddenly the bird turned its rear end towards him, and then he felt a sharp pain in his arm as a thorn pierced his arm, causing him to cry out in pain.

He realized that this gaudy bird was probably a mutant, and he definitely couldn't handle it, so he quickly ran back.

Cheng Zhiyu looked at his arm and sure enough saw a thorn on it. Upon closer inspection, it was a barb. If he pulled it out roughly, it would only cause more serious injury.

"Damn it, how can a bird be so cunning? We didn't do anything to it!" Tian Qiao cursed at the bird in anger.

As Cheng Zhiyu examined Zhou Min's injuries, he said, "We provoked it while we were in its territory."

After he finished speaking, he frowned and said, "This thorn needs to be dealt with as soon as possible."

"Wait, I feel a little dizzy." Zhou Min's voice sounded weak.

"Oh my god, these thorns are probably poisonous!" Tian Qiao exclaimed in surprise.

No wonder these strange beasts are so difficult to deal with; just like this bird, a single thorn can take down an adult.

"Zhou Min, wake up! You're the only one here with healing abilities." Cheng Zhiyu's expression turned serious as he pressed on Zhou Min's other shoulder, calmly asking, "Can you still use your healing abilities now?"

Zhou Min roused himself, mainly because he didn't want to die. He tested his superpower and thankfully, it was still usable. Without Cheng Zhiyu's reminder, he quickly used his healing superpower on himself.

"How are you? Are you any more awake?" Tian Qiao asked anxiously.

Zhou Min breathed a sigh of relief: "Fortunately, I can cure this poison."

His voice was still weak, but this time it was because his superpowers were being used up.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, their healing abilities could cure the poison; otherwise, it would have been a real problem, since none of them knew what kind of poison the mutated bird carried.

Looking at Zhou Min, Cheng Zhiyu pursed his lips slightly: "I should have told everyone to move to another place after we discovered the mutated bird nests nearby yesterday."

Tian Qiao understands him. Cheng Zhiyu has always been like this, carrying an inexplicable sense of responsibility, which sometimes makes him live a very tiring life.

He said, "What are you talking about? How far away do we have to go to get out of the mutated bird's territory? What if we end up in the territory of another, even more dangerous beast?"

Before Cheng Zhiyu could say anything, Xiao Hei lightly patted his head with its paw: "Don't think so much."

Cheng Zhiyu was stunned; it was the first time he had ever seen Xiao Hei act so domineeringly.

Zhou Min said, "Brother Cheng, don't think too much about it..."

Cheng Zhiyu quickly recovered and exhaled, saying, "Let's deal with this thorn in our side first."

"How do we get this out? Do we need surgery?" Tian Qiao asked with a worried expression.

Zhou Min trembled, on the verge of tears: "No!"

Tian Manman looked at him with sympathy from the side.

Cheng Zhiyu reassured him, "No need. I don't think you can get it out with tweezers. It's not that deep."

Zhou Min breathed a sigh of relief; as long as surgery wasn't required, everything would be fine.

With a serious expression, Cheng Zhiyu found disinfectant iodine and tweezers in his spatial storage. After disinfecting them, he hesitated for a moment, afraid that the pain would cause Zhou Min to struggle.

He looked at Xiao Hei and asked, "Xiao Hei, can you make this area numb for a while?"

Cheng Zhiyu recalled that electric shocks could also have an anesthetic effect.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Hei conjured a small lightning bolt, and Zhou Min immediately felt less pain where he had been pricked by the thorn, replaced by a slightly numb sensation.

Cheng Zhiyu glanced at Tian Qiao and Tian Manman. Tian Qiao, having received instructions, spoke to Zhou Min: "By the way, how big is that bird you mentioned? What does it look like?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Min thought for a moment and said, "It's about the size of my palm, or maybe not that big. Its face is red, like a monkey's bottom, haha..."

Tian Qiao asked in confusion, "So small? How could it lay such a big egg?"

Zhou Min didn't quite understand either: "Exactly, I thought that mutated bird must be quite big, so when it appeared, I didn't even think of it as a mutated bird, otherwise I would have definitely run away!"

At this point, he regretted it and slapped his thigh hard with his uninjured arm.

A sigh of relief came from the side: "Phew... all done."

Zhou Min turned his head and saw that Cheng Zhiyu had a thorn in his tweezers, which was the thorn of that mutated bird.

Just as he was talking to Tian Qiao, Tian Manman came over and grabbed his arm, while Cheng Zhiyu took the opportunity to use tweezers to remove the barbs.

At this moment, only a small wound remained on his arm, which Zhou Min healed with his supernatural ability. He moved his arm, clenched one fist, and punched the palm of his other hand, exclaiming exaggeratedly, "Dr. Cheng's healing hands are truly miraculous!"

Seeing that he was full of energy again, Cheng Zhiyu smiled.

"By the way, what should we do with the mutated bird?" Tian Qiao asked.

Cheng Zhiyu: "Let's go take a look after we finish eating."

They came to clear out the strange beasts, so naturally they had to get rid of that bird as well.

With so many people at the base, an influx of alien beasts could easily threaten its safety.

The others had no objections, but Zhou Min suddenly shouted and ran out. Cheng Zhiyu and the others were puzzled and quickly followed. They saw Zhou Min standing in front of the pot, cursing and swearing: "It's all that wretched mutated bird's fault! My porridge was already cooked!"

Cheng Zhiyu and the others found it amusing, but Zhou Min's jumpy and startling manner was rather frightening.

Taking advantage of the cool weather, after they cooked porridge, Cheng Zhiyu simply stir-fried two dishes and ate them with the steamed buns from yesterday.

Perhaps because they outnumbered each other, the mutated bird didn't come over to attack them.

Zhou Min muttered to himself, "They're really cunning. They must have waited until we were alone before launching this sneak attack."

After dinner, they prepared to go check out the mutated bird's nest, only to find a bird half the size of a person.

Tian Qiao exclaimed in surprise: "Holy crap, there are other mutated birds?!"

After all, Zhou Min had said before that the mutated bird was only the size of a palm.

Zhou Min was also taken aback, but seeing the familiar feeling of the bird, he said with certainty, "It's still the same one!"

Cheng Zhiyu: "...It can grow bigger."

No sooner had she finished speaking than a poisonous stinger came flying at them. Tian Manman reacted the fastest, picked up her broadsword, and swung it, knocking the stinger to the ground.

At the same time, Xiao Hei erected a wall of water in front of everyone.

The mutated bird clearly hadn't expected its poisonous stinger to miss. It raised its head and let out a loud cry. Tian Qiao saw something and exclaimed, "Holy crap!"

Suddenly, countless palm-sized birds appeared, followed by a barrage of poisonous thorns shooting towards them.

The poisonous stinger was instantly pulverized upon contact with the water wall.

Cheng Zhiyu: "These birds themselves have poisonous thorns. The mutated bird's special ability is probably not poisonous thorns."

Just as Cheng Zhiyu had guessed, Tian Qiao suddenly screamed, "Holy crap, Zhou Min, are you crazy!"

Zhou Min gripped the dagger and stabbed at Tian Qiao!

Tian Qiao immediately dodged, but Zhou Min didn't give up. With a blank stare, he kept stabbing at Tian Qiao, muttering, "You dead bird, keep stabbing me! I'll stab you to death!"

Unable to attack him, Tian Qiao hid next to Cheng Zhiyu and said, "Damn, has this kid gone crazy?"

Cheng Zhiyu: "He's not crazy, he's probably being controlled by that mutated bird."

Tian Qiao shook her head: "Then why didn't I..."

Before he could finish speaking, he gave a strange smile, conjured an ice arrow, and stabbed it at Cheng Zhiyu.

Cheng Zhiyu reacted quickly, grabbing Xiao Hei and dodging away: "Tian Qiao Zhou Min!"

Tian Qiao muttered to himself, "You damn bird, you even turned into Orange! How many years have we been brothers? How could I not recognize him?"

Cheng Zhiyu: "..." Very good, there's still a plot to follow.

"Manman, are you alright?" Cheng Zhiyu asked while dodging Tian Qiao and Zhou Min's attacks. Fortunately, Zhou Min was relatively weak, and Tian Qiao's strength was also different from usual.

It's possible that the person affected by that mutated bird is unable to unleash their full potential, which is a good thing for him.

Tian Manman nodded: "I'm... okay, just a little dizzy..."

Xiao Hei frowned: "They're too weak!"

Helpless, Cheng Zhiyu summoned Xiao Er from his spatial storage. Xiao Er was not afraid of poisonous thorns, and wherever the fireball, which was half a person tall, went, those ordinary poisonous thorn birds were directly roasted and fell to the ground.

Zhou Min was completely under control, but he still sniffed and said, "What's that smell? It smells so good! Hehehe, after I kill you, I'm going to eat a whole roasted bird."

Cheng Zhiyu: "..."

Zhou Min and Tian Qiao were separated by the water wall, so there was no need to worry for the time being. However, while they were safe inside the water wall, the barrier was bidirectional, and he still couldn't deal with the bird.

Cheng Zhiyu looked at Xiao Hei, who received the signal and enveloped himself, Tian Manman, and others in a thin layer of mist.

Tian Manman wielded a large machete and swiftly chopped at the birds.

Xiao Hei struck down a large group of people with a single bolt of lightning, while Cheng Zhiyu took out a machine gun, but he hadn't yet tested its power.

The small metal plate machine gun is different from ordinary machine guns; it has an unlimited supply of bullets.

After a burst of fire, a large flock of birds fell. Although he hadn't practiced specifically and his aim wasn't great, the birds were so densely packed that good aim wasn't necessary.

Seeing that its minions were almost all dead, the mutated bird let out a mournful cry to the sky. Cheng Zhiyu suddenly felt dizzy, and then he saw Xiao Hei appear not far away, saying to him, "Be careful, that flock of birds is next to you!"

Cheng Zhiyu frowned, and sure enough, when he turned around, he saw the mutated bird very close to him.

"Stop spacing out! Kill it!" Little Black shouted.

For some reason, Cheng Zhiyu hesitated. Looking at the mutated bird, he found it hard to bring himself to kill it.

Seeing that he was hesitant to act, Tian Qiao said anxiously, "Chengzi, what are you standing there for? Kill it already!"

Zhou Min also said, "Brother Cheng, don't just stand there! Listen to Brother Hei!"

Cheng Zhiyu frowned, sensing something was wrong: "Can you hear Xiao Hei speaking?"

Tian Qiao replied matter-of-factly, "Sure!"

Cheng Zhiyu closed his eyes and looked at Xiao Hei: "How can you fly?"

Xiao Hei was stunned. Before it could react, Cheng Zhiyu suddenly raised the mechanical gun and fired it at it. The creature immediately fled in panic, clearly not expecting Cheng Zhiyu to attack it suddenly.

The other person exclaimed in shock, "Are you crazy!"

Cheng Zhiyu's eyes blurred, and the one frantically fleeing had become that mutated bird.

Unfortunately, his aim was poor; the bullet only grazed the mutated bird's wing.

"Zhiyu?" Xiao Hei, standing to the side, was filled with worry. Seeing that Cheng Zhiyu had regained consciousness, he breathed a sigh of relief: "I was even planning to knock you out with a single blow."

Cheng Zhiyu gently touched his forehead with her hand: "It's alright."

Xiao Hei said with disdain, "Your forehead is covered in sweat."

But he didn't dodge.

Xiao Hei asked, "What just happened?"

Cheng Zhiyu looked at the mutated bird that was already in a panic not far away. It probably couldn't understand why Cheng Zhiyu had suddenly come to his senses. He explained, "I feel like I've entered a place that looks like an illusion. It has turned into your appearance and is telling me to kill you."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Hei's face turned ugly. This ugly bird was actually impersonating him?

Taking advantage of the mutated bird's panic, a bolt of lightning as thick as an adult's arm struck it.

The mutated bird flapped its wings to dodge, but no sooner had it dodged than a bolt of lightning the size of a bowl appeared overhead. Little Black sneered, "This is the one that's going to strike you."

The mutated bird's wings were scratched, greatly reducing its flight speed. It couldn't dodge the lightning and was struck directly, its head charred, and it fell to the ground barely alive.

Cheng Zhiyu turned Xiao Tie into a crossbow and shot an arrow, killing the mutated bird instantly.

He ignored the mutated bird and quickly picked up Little Black, and sure enough, he could feel that Little Black was a little weak.

Cheng Zhiyu frowned and gently pressed his forehead against Xiao Hei's forehead.

The little black tail flicked gently, and it whispered, "I'm fine."

Cheng Zhiyu remained silent.

Little □□: "I'll grow faster this way."

Exhausting one's superpowers does indeed help to enhance them, and Xiao Hei is not a true cub; he needs to rely on his superpowers to grow up.

Cheng Zhiyu: "But you're in a lot of pain like this..."

Xiao Hei awkwardly buried her head in Cheng Zhiyu's arms: "Don't be so mushy."

Helpless, Cheng Zhiyu let him rest in his arms.

Tian Qiao and the others have regained consciousness and are dealing with the remaining Poisonous Birds. Without the mutated bird's leader, the Poisonous Birds have become panicked, but Tian Qiao and Tian Manman can handle them.

Although Zhou Min's ability is not offensive, he does have a crossbow, though it's a regular one, a little smaller than Cheng Zhiyu's, and can only fire five times before needing to reload.

However, his accuracy was surprisingly good; he missed once out of five attempts.

Tian Manman was responsible for wielding the knife to deflect the poisonous thorns for them.

With the help of several people, the remaining Poisonous Stingers were finally wiped out, and the ground was covered with them.

"What the heck? What just happened to me?" Tian Qiao came to her senses and realized that it was an illusion created by the mutated bird. Her expression turned sour.

He had previously said that Zhou Min lacked willpower, but when it came to himself, he wasn't much better.

"Now I finally understand why everyone avoids encountering mental beings; they're terrifying." Tian Qiao patted his chest. If it weren't for Cheng Zhiyu and Xiao Hei, they would have simply turned on each other, without the mutated bird even needing to lift a finger.

Cheng Zhiyu tucked Xiao Hei into his coat so he could rest.

Zhou Min felt a pang of guilt, then looked at the waiter and asked, "Wow, what's that?"

Tian Qiao explained to him, "This is Xiao Er; it can turn into a fireball."

As he spoke, he greeted the waiter.

As a result, Xiao Er was unusually aloof and disappeared from the spot, presumably returning to the system space.

Tian Qiao touched her nose, trying to change the subject: "Can we eat these birds? There are so many of them, it would be such a waste if we couldn't eat them."

Cheng Zhiyu walked up to the mutated bird and dug out the crystal core from its head. The crystal core was transparent and looked particularly beautiful in the sunlight.

Just what Xiao Huang needed.

This mutated bird should be level two. With this crystal core, Little Yellow should be able to level up to level two.

He wasn't sure if this mutated bird could shrink, but Zhou Min was certain that the one he had encountered before was this one: "Its eyes are different. Other ordinary birds don't look as clever as it. Anyway, it must be this one."

The mutated bird was half the size of a human before it died, and it didn't shrink after it died. I wonder if it could only control its size while it was alive.

They found a poisonous thorn on the bird's rear end, hidden among its beautiful feathers, not easily visible unless you looked closely.

Zhou Min was still thinking about food: "After the poisonous thorns are removed, the meat should be edible, right?"

Tian Qiao also muttered, "There's so much meat, it's such a waste to go to waste."

Little Black poked its head out and looked at it curiously: "Can this taste good?"

Tian Manman also stared longingly; in his eyes, these were all meat.

Cheng Zhiyu found it funny; the whole team was really full of foodies.

He said, "Remove the poisonous stinger and try it on an animal."

Zhou Min clapped his hands: "That's right!"

They cleaned several birds and then tested the meat on an animal; fortunately, the bird meat was not poisonous.

Besides the mutated birds, there were more than 300 ordinary birds. They cleaned them up and found a shady spot to process them. The ordinary venomous birds were about the size of a palm, similar to a pigeon, and didn't have much meat. So they processed them simply and roughly, leaving only the meatiest parts of their bodies.

There's no other way; dealing with each one carefully would waste too much time.

The group formed a makeshift assembly line: Cheng Zhiyu beheaded, Tian Qiao gutted and cleaned the internal organs, Tian Manman plucked the hair, and Zhou Min finally cleaned everything.

As for Xiao Hei... let Xiao Hei be the supervisor.

After finishing his work, Cheng Zhiyu prepared the seasonings, cut the birds into pieces, and put them in a pot to stew, making braised bird with potatoes.

He and Zhou Min looked at the pot, while Tian Qiao and Tian Manman used the communicator issued by the base to scan the territories of the nearby mutated birds.

The communicator also serves this purpose; after they have finished scanning their assigned area, the base will receive a notification and come to pick them up.

They now need to scan the areas that have been confirmed to be safe, although this cannot guarantee 100% safety, since mutated animals are not immobile.

But there was no other way. At least after a cleanup, the base would be safe for a while.

Tian Qiao and Tian Manman also took the opportunity to remove the nest of mutated bird eggs to prevent future trouble.

When they got back, they were greeted by a wonderful aroma. Zhou Min had already stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth and mumbled, "This bird meat is so tender, it's delicious! You guys should try it!"

Tian Qiao and Tian Manman immediately came over, each carrying a large bowl. After taking a bite, their eyes lit up, and they began to wolf down their food.

Xiao Hei looked disgusted and ate the meat slowly and gracefully. It would have been better if he hadn't been wearing a bib on his chest.

He looked at Cheng Zhiyu, who smiled at him and said, "So cute!"

Xiao Hei: "..." Never mind.

They ate ordinary poisonous birds, while Cheng Zhiyu put the mutated bird into his spatial storage. The meat of the exotic beast didn't taste good, but it had energy that ordinary meat didn't have, so they had to put in a lot of effort to process it properly.

In Cheng Zhiyu's view, since it's all meat, there's always a way to make it delicious.

The group decided to rest where they were that night. They had originally planned to set off early the next morning, but they encountered a mutated bird. After dealing with it, it was already late, so they decided to continue their journey the next day.

Cheng Zhiyu brought the mutated bird crystal core into the space and came to Xiao Huang's side. As if sensing something, Xiao Huang, who was usually not very active, became unusually lively today, constantly rubbing against Cheng Zhiyu with branches and leaves, acting like it was being affectionate.

Cheng Zhiyu's lips curled up at the sight of it, and he coughed lightly: "Don't worry, I'll bury the crystal core for you right away."

Xiao Huang paused for a moment, then gently patted Cheng Zhiyu, as if urging him on.

Cheng Zhiyu smiled and carefully buried the crystal core next to Xiao Huang's roots with a shovel. Xiao Huang swayed its branches comfortably, as if it had been electrocuted.

He reached out to touch Little Yellow, but Little Yellow, perhaps annoyed, impatiently pushed him away with its branches and leaves, as if to say: Go away.

Cheng Zhiyu: "..."

How can you have two faces?

He shook his head and decided to look at other plants. Apart from Xiao Er and the others, the ordinary plant he cared about most was wheat. The wheat planted next to Xiao Huang was already lush and green. However, to his surprise, the wheat planted next to Xiao Qiang was a head taller than the wheat planted next to Xiao Huang. Not only that, but the stalks were also particularly thick, now as thick as one of Cheng Zhiyu's fingers.

Are the plants planted next to cockroaches larger than ordinary plants? It seems so at present.

I wonder what it will look like when it grows out. Will the wheat ears become especially big? Cheng Zhiyu is looking forward to it.

The green beans next to Xiao Er and the eggplants next to Xiao Tie already need trellises. Cheng Zhiyu had prepared a lot of wooden sticks beforehand, so he used them to build trellises.

There weren't many vegetables, so it was done quickly.

The pumpkin next to Xiao Tie has already blossomed, and as for the lettuce next to Xiao Er, Cheng Zhiyu looked at the green leaves and then... reddish leaves, and felt a little tempted to eat them.

Lettuce leaves are at their best right now. As they grow longer, the leaves will become a bit bitter and won't taste good anymore.

But if you pinch off the leaves now, it will easily affect the growth of the lettuce...

In the end, Cheng Zhiyu couldn't resist the temptation. He hadn't eaten leafy greens in a long time, except for cabbage, so he was quite craving them. He picked a large handful of leaves, planning to make garlic lettuce leaves tomorrow, which should be delicious.

Cheng Zhiyu was in a good mood as he put the tender lettuce leaves into the storage space, planning to check on Xiao Juan again.

The succulents have entered their mature stage some time ago, and I estimate they should reach level one maturity soon.

He was pondering this when he heard a system notification: [Congratulations, host! The scroll has reached Level 1 maturity. The reward has been issued. Please check it yourself.]

Upon hearing this, Cheng Zhiyu raised an eyebrow slightly and quickly and happily walked over to Xiao Juan's side. He was curious about what kind of plant Xiao Juan was.

The moment it reached first-level maturity, the little curd changed.