Chapter 60 The Mutant Deer Wasn't Infected?

The crowd stirred for a moment. They had been thinking that since people were lining up to get rice, they could guess that each person would get at least one bowl.

I don't know how it got around, but it became a rule that each person could get a small bowl.

So even though they were told to bring bags, everyone just carried a plastic bag in their pocket. They didn't dare take a big one, so they just took a small one, which was enough.

Listen to what they heard: "Two pounds each?!"

Two pounds of rice! If we eat it sparingly, it can last a long time!

The contribution points you earn can be exchanged for water, so you can at least have a few more sips of water!

The woman holding her child was so moved that she burst into tears. They had originally planned to save the rice to cook for their child, but now that they knew each child could get two jin (1 kg), there was no need to save any. Two jin was enough for her child!

"I...I'll go home and find a bigger bag!" Her husband was the first to react and ran off immediately.

Others who didn't have enough bags also realized this and rushed home to get more.

When everyone returned with their bags, each person received two jin (1 kg) of rice. Some had family members' portions, which were all packed together. The white rice made up a large bag.

Thinking of the taste of rice, they swallowed hard. Those who received the rice didn't say a word to each other, and carried it home.

That evening, the aroma of rice wafted from almost every household.

The next day, everyone had smiles on their faces. Although there wasn't enough rice to fill them up, they were already quite happy to be able to eat until they were half full.

However, some people are worried: "Do you think that since the base has distributed so much this time, they won't stop distributing to us in the future?"

"I was scared, so I didn't dare to eat much, I only ate a little bit."

"Hey, haven't you heard? This rice will be distributed once a week from now on, and the amount will be the same as yesterday!"

"Really? But how long can the base provide so much? What if there's nothing left to eat when it all runs out?"

"You don't need to worry about that. Didn't you see it yesterday? Team Leader Lin and his men brought a whole truckload of rice."

"Even a whole truckload of food will eventually run out."

"What's the rush? I haven't finished speaking yet!" The speaker was speechless. He continued, "Team Leader Lin has already arranged for people to clear the land and start planting!"

"Farming? Isn't it said that seeds can't germinate?"

"Those are ordinary seeds; mutated seeds can grow them." Someone who knew a little quickly said, "Before, weren't those plant-type ability users always cultivating mutated seeds? Could it be that they cultivated them and they just appeared?"

"They've only managed to cultivate a tiny bit." Someone who knew the situation said, "My son is a superhuman, and he said that those plant-type superhumans who cultivate seeds only cultivate enough for themselves to eat."

"What's going on? Where did Captain Lin get the mutated seeds to plant?"

"You wouldn't know this, I heard it from my son." The woman, whose son was a superhuman, smiled mysteriously, deliberately keeping everyone in suspense.

The others were very curious and urged, "Just tell us already! You're just keeping us in suspense!"

"That's right, tell me quickly."

The woman's vanity was satisfied, and she slowly said, "This is all thanks to Old Cheng's son!"

"Old Cheng's son? Isn't he out of town and hasn't come back yet?"

"Your news is outdated. They've come back with Old Tian's son, all the way from City A, and they even brought several friends with superpowers!"

"What does this have to do with Old Cheng's son?"

"It's very important. I heard from my son that the rice we eat was all sourced by them!"

"Oh, we should thank them. I was wondering where the base got the rice from, and they gave us so much."

"Not only that!" Seeing that they were all discussing it and didn't care about what she was saying, the woman quickly coughed lightly to get their attention.

"What else is it? Tell me quickly."

"Exactly, if you don't say a word for ages, we're left to guess, aren't we?"

The old woman had no choice but to say, "Those mutated seeds were given to me by Old Cheng's son. Otherwise, why would I suddenly decide to plant them when I had no intention of doing so before?"

Amidst the shocked gazes of the crowd, the woman said, "I heard that after the land reclamation is completed, the base will expand outwards, and at that time the base will also recruit a group of skilled farmers to manage the fields."

Upon hearing this, everyone became excited. They were all farmers; who didn't know how to farm? If they didn't, they would be laughed at by the villagers.

Everyone thought they were experts at farming, and they all eagerly said, "I can do it! In the past, my family had the highest yield of all the crops grown in the village!"

"You're just bragging. You actually have nine acres of land, but you always report eight acres when it's harvest time."

In the village, crops are harvested by machine. If you underreport an acre, you'll pay less for that acre of harvest.

The person whose identity was exposed felt their face burn instantly, and after stammering for a long time, they finally said, "Then... even if my family has nine acres, the yield won't be bad!"

"Pshaw, my crops are growing much better."

"You have the nerve to say that? You're the laziest person in the whole area. The fields are overgrown with weeds, and you're too lazy to pull them out."

"I've already sprayed pesticides, why are you pulling it out?"

The lazybones in the village are now vying to prove themselves. Things are different now. Farming in the apocalypse is definitely a good job, since you're in charge of the village's food supply!

In the past, we could plant whatever we wanted, and the yield wouldn't be much different, so we wouldn't starve. But things are different now.

They argued heatedly until someone said, "What's the point of arguing now? It's like winning this argument will actually get you elected."

Everyone instantly came to their senses. Right, what was the point of arguing? They scattered like birds and beasts.

Alright, let's hurry up and get to work to earn contribution points. We have food to eat now, but we're still short of water.

Earning more contribution points means you can at least exchange them for more water.

——

As Cheng's mother walked down the street, she noticed that everyone was unusually enthusiastic towards her today. Several strangers came over and greeted her with smiles.

Cheng's mother was puzzled, but she still smiled and exchanged pleasantries with them.

When they got home, Cheng's father said, "Several people were talking to me, which made it take me ages to walk home."

Cheng's mother slapped her thigh: "Me too."

Later, I heard that Mr. and Mrs. Tian had also met several very enthusiastic people.

Everyone was completely bewildered and couldn't figure out what was going on.

Cheng Zhiyan explained the reason.

The group suddenly realized what was going on, and couldn't help but feel proud. "Wow, our son is really great!"

When Tian Qiao came back from outside, he noticed that his parents' gazes towards him had softened considerably, which gave him goosebumps. He rubbed his arms and said, "Mom and Dad, please don't do that, it's creepy."

Father and Mother Tian: "..."

Oh well, his son has always been like this, we're used to it.

Cheng Zhiyu also felt that his parents were treating him even better, but he didn't think much of it, mainly because his parents had always been good to him.

He is now thinking about something more important. Compared to clearing land for farming, the current water resource problem at the base is the top priority.

He had talked to Lin Kang and learned that the village's river was polluted and the water was undrinkable, making water use a real problem.

Xiahe Village is not at the very upstream of the river, but it is not far from the river mouth, and there are no villages upstream.

When Cheng Zhiyu was a child, he often went to play with his friends at the mouth of the river. There was a small spring there, which was probably groundwater, and water was flowing out of the spring continuously.

To be honest, everyone in Xiahe Village has an emotional attachment to this river, including Cheng Zhiyu. Now that the river's water is unusable, he feels a pang of sadness.

Moreover, the base is severely lacking in water.

Cheng Zhiyu made a decision to go and see the spring. After all, Lin Kang was in charge of the base, and he had to respect him, so he told him before taking action.

Upon hearing this, Lin Kang's expression was complicated: "Are you sure you want to go?"

Cheng Zhiyu nodded and asked, "Is there a problem?"

Lin Kang sighed: "Xiaohe Village has always relied on this river. Given the water shortage, how could everyone ignore it? I sent people there a few times before, but each time they returned empty-handed. Several times people were injured, so people stopped going."

Cheng Zhiyu wasn't surprised that someone had been to the base. After all, the base was so short of water, it was impossible that they hadn't taken any action. Looking at it this way, it was clear that they had encountered a difficult problem.

He asked, "What's there?"

Lin Kang said, "According to those who have been there, there is a powerful beast that attacks anyone who gets close to the spring. Now that the weather is hot and water is scarce everywhere, I reckon that beast is guarding the spring and treating it as its own private property."

The advantage is that it won't attack as long as people stay away from the spring, so only some people are injured, and no one's life is in danger.

That strange beast didn't sound like a violent creature.

Cheng Zhiyu decided to take a look anyway: "Since it won't attack unless we go near the spring, there's no harm in going to check it out."

Lin Kang was deeply moved upon hearing this and looked at Cheng Zhiyu with excitement: "Knowing there was danger, you were still willing to go. You truly put the base first. No matter the outcome, I thank you on behalf of everyone."

Cheng Zhiyu saw that Lin Kang's eyes were red with excitement and didn't know what to say. Ah... the other person is quite sentimental.

Lin Kang thought for a moment and said, "I'll send someone with you."

Cheng Zhiyu wanted to refuse, since Cheng Mo and the others would go with him, and there was really no need for more people. If they went, they wouldn't be able to solve the problem, so sending more people wouldn't help.

Before he could speak, Lin Kang said, "Don't be so quick to refuse. I'm sending this person because she has a purpose."

Cheng Zhiyu was puzzled.

Lin Kang smiled and said, "Her special ability is that she can communicate with strange beasts. I was thinking that the strange beast guarding the spring has a gentle personality, so maybe there's a way to resolve this peacefully."

Cheng Zhiyu hadn't expected such a superpower, but if the other party had such an ability, it was indeed necessary to bring them along.

He didn't refuse again and agreed.

Soon, Cheng Zhiyu met a superhuman who could communicate with alien beasts. The woman was in her thirties with short hair and looked very capable.

Because Xiahe Village is quite large, and Cheng Zhiyu often goes to school, and his wife married into Xiahe Village, he doesn't know her.

The woman's name was Lin Jiashu. When she saw Cheng Zhiyu and his group, she smiled and said, "I've heard about you before. It's great to finally meet you today."

Tian Qiao: "Have you heard of us? Are we famous?"

"You didn't know?" Lin Jiashu was a little surprised: "It's all over the village. People are saying that the rice this time was provided by you, and Mr. Cheng also provided the base with mutated seeds. Everyone was so happy to hear that the base can be farmed. Everyone felt that there was hope."

Lin Jiashu spoke seriously. She was the only person with superpowers in her family, and her superpower was not very useful, so her family did not have an easy life. The night after they received the rice was the most delicious meal she had eaten since the apocalypse.

"No, no, haha." Tian Qiao was quite embarrassed to be told that for the first time.

Zhou Min scratched his head. He hadn't thought much of it before, but now he felt a little... proud.

Tian Manman stood there in a daze, lost in thought. Everyone was used to him daydreaming.

Cheng Mo: My Zhiyu is so kind.

Without further delay, everyone took off-road vehicles to the spring in the stream.

To get a better look at the river, they followed the riverbed and found fallen leaves and other debris floating in the water. These were not a problem, but there were also animal carcasses in the river, which looked rotten and emitted a foul stench.

Fortunately, there were no zombie corpses.

If we want the river to be clean, we need to send someone to clean it up. But the key thing now is to go and check on the spring.

Lin Jiashu was startled when she encountered zombies on the road. Her superpower was functional and she had no combat ability, so she was still very afraid of zombies.

Fortunately, Cheng Zhiyu and his team easily dealt with the zombies, and Lin Jiashu breathed a sigh of relief as she watched them burn the zombies on the spot.

No wonder they were able to return all the way from City A; they're really impressive. Lin Jiashu had come out of the base at great risk, her nerves constantly on edge, but now she felt much more relaxed and at ease.

Tian Qiao chatted away with Lin Jiashu: "Sister Jiashu, your superpower allows you to communicate with strange beasts, isn't that amazing?"

Tian Qiao imagined: The beast was about to attack humans, so Lin Jiashu stepped forward and reasoned with the beast, successfully persuading it to leave and peacefully resolving the conflict.

However, Lin Jiashu gave a wry smile: "To be honest, my superpower is actually not very useful."

Cheng Zhiyu asked, puzzled, "How could that be?"

Lin Jiashu explained helplessly, "It's true, because although the beasts have evolved some intelligence, it doesn't mean they can communicate. Most of them are like children; they don't listen to me at all, and we can't communicate. Also, some beasts are very irritable; their only thought is to kill any enemy they encounter, and they haven't learned how to communicate at all."

Currently, I can only have some interaction with herbivorous beasts that are naturally gentle, but these kinds of beasts don't usually attack humans unprovoked.

After listening, Cheng Zhiyu finally understood: "So that's how it is. We were thinking too simply."

Cheng Mo held Cheng Zhiyu's hand in one hand and played with it, resting his chin on his hand as he looked at the other person.

Cheng Zhiyu wasn't used to being stared at so intensely before, but now he's gotten used to it.

Zhou Min had a sudden inspiration and said to Lin Jiashu, "Since you can communicate with strange beasts, I think this ability shouldn't be wasted. Why don't you tame one?"

Lin Jiashu said helplessly, "It's not that easy. Communication is a problem."

“Oh, we can find something that’s easy to tame, like a cat or a dog,” Zhou Min suggested.

Tian Qiao snapped his fingers: "You know what, it actually has some potential."

Cheng Zhiyu added, "If adult beasts cannot be tamed, perhaps we can try raising them from a young age."

Lin Jiashu was somewhat tempted. In the apocalypse, who wouldn't want to have the ability to protect themselves? If she could tame a strange beast, at least her safety would be guaranteed.

However, it's not that easy. To get your hands on a juvenile beast, you'd at least have to be able to defeat an adult beast, right?

Lin Jiashu gave a wry smile: "If I had the chance, I would be willing to give it a try."

As they were talking, they arrived at a place not far from the spring, and the group got out of the car.

"Huh? Where are the strange beasts?" Tian Qiao looked around, but there wasn't even a trace of them.

"Hidden, huh?" Zhou Min muttered.

Cheng Zhiyu glanced around. Near the spring, there was a patch of grass as tall as a person. Perhaps because it was close to the spring, the soil was moist, and the grass grew exceptionally lushly.

Tian Qiao saw clear water flowing continuously from the spring and couldn't resist going closer to wash his face. However, as soon as he got close, he felt a gust of wind.

Cheng Zhiyu: "Watch out!"

Tian Qiao immediately dodged, and seeing the tree that had been directly chopped down not far away, she patted her chest with lingering fear.

"Damn, why are they launching a sneak attack?" Tian Qiao muttered.

The group saw the bushes rustle, and a deer limped over, looking at them warily and emitting low warning growls.

It seems that Lin Kang was right; as long as they didn't get close to the spring, the deer wouldn't attack them.

"Dude, we mean no harm," Zhou Min waved his hand.

There were animal carcasses not far from the spring, soaking in it and polluting the river. This elk probably sensed the pollution of the water, so it stayed by the spring and only drank water from it.

But those who live downstream and need water are in a much worse situation.

Seeing that they were not leaving for a long time, the elk seemed a little impatient and tried to attack them several times.

Cheng Mo raised his hand to block the wind blade. Seeing Cheng Zhiyu frowning, he smiled and said, "I'll take care of it."

Cheng Zhiyu pressed him down: "Wait, let's see if there are any other ways."

Cheng Mo didn't want to upset him, so she withdrew her hand: "Okay, I know you're soft-hearted."

Lin Jiashu quickly tried to communicate with the deer, explaining that they meant no harm and just needed water.

Upon hearing this, the deer became even angrier and attacked them again. In its eyes, these people were trying to steal its water!

Competition for water resources is fierce in nature. Without water, there is no way to survive. How could nature possibly hand over its water resources to others?

Cheng Mo deflected the attack and looked at Lin Jiashu: "Can this deer communicate at all?"

If they can't communicate, they have to think of other ways. He didn't want Cheng Zhiyu to worry about the base's water shortage.

Lin Jiashu quickly replied, "I'll try again."

She quickly explained to the elk that they were not there to compete with it for the spring.

The deer hesitated upon hearing this, somewhat unwilling to believe them: "Then what are you doing here?"

Lin Jiashu breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was willing to communicate: "We want to clean this place up. We live downstream of the river, and the river is polluted, so we can't drink the water."

She tried to keep her language concise so that the deer wouldn't misunderstand her.

Upon hearing this, the deer stirred restlessly, seemingly struggling with whether they were trustworthy.

Its movements were not very fluid and looked somewhat awkward.

Cheng Mo narrowed his eyes: "It's injured."

Because of the distance, Cheng Zhiyu and his group only noticed that the deer was limping and didn't see anything else. Now, upon closer inspection, they discovered that the deer's right foreleg was somewhat rotten, looking like...

"Holy crap, it's infected with the zombie virus!" Zhou Min exclaimed, becoming alert at the same time.

Upon hearing this, Tian Manman immediately gripped her broadsword. While they could try to communicate with strange beasts, there was no room for communication when facing zombies.

Cheng Zhiyu was also a little nervous, but he noticed something was wrong: "The zombie virus spreads very quickly, but we've been here for so long and we haven't been infected."

As he spoke, he looked at Lin Jiashu, who nodded: "It can also communicate."

The fact that they can still communicate means they are still conscious.

It's important to understand that even humans infected by zombies are completely controlled by the zombie virus. The fact that this deer is conscious means that it hasn't been infected yet, or rather, it hasn't been completely infected.

When everyone first heard that the elk was infected with the zombie virus, they were quite nervous. But now they realized that the elk had actually survived the zombie virus infection!

"Is there something special about it?" Zhou Min's eyes lit up. "Is its ability rather unique?"

Cheng Zhiyu shook his head: "It's just the most ordinary wind-type ability, but its wind-type ability is very powerful."

This beast is of a high level.

"Could it be that if you reach a higher level, you won't be infected by the zombie virus?" Tian Qiao guessed. If that were the case, it would be good news.

"Maybe it's related to the deer itself?" Cheng Zhiyu was also puzzled: "I've never heard of a high level of superpowers guaranteeing immunity from infection."

No one dared to draw a conclusion immediately, but they had to admit that the deer was very valuable, and perhaps they could extract some of its blood for research.

I don't know if all high-level beasts have this ability, or if this deer is just special.

Cheng Zhiyu asked Zhou Min, "Can you cure its leg?"

Zhou Min scratched his head: "I don't know either."

The main problem is that I've never encountered this situation before.

Zhou Min was certain: "If I cut off its infected leg, I can make it grow back."

Everyone: "..."

What do you mean? We can treat your leg, but we need to cut it off first?

Uh... I hope this deer won't bite them after hearing that.

The atmosphere became tense for a moment, and the elk became agitated again, trying to drive them away.

Lin Jiashu tried to talk to it properly, but the deer was wary and unwilling to believe them.

She was sweating profusely with anxiety and said helplessly, "We can communicate, but it doesn't trust us."

The group of Cheng Zhiyu and his companions gave it a very powerful feeling, especially Cheng Mo, who was one of the few people it had ever encountered since it gained its superpowers, making it feel fear deep in its soul, so it dared not let them get close.

"Are we just going back like this?" Zhou Min asked, somewhat unwilling.

The drinking water problem at the base urgently needs to be solved, no matter what.

Tian Qiao: "What else can we do? Take a hard line? That definitely won't work. This elk has the ability to resist the zombie virus. Maybe... we can use it to develop a vaccine."

Although it sounds a bit far-fetched, what if? They can't take any risks if there's even the slightest possibility.

Lin Jiashu communicated with the deer again, and this time the deer directly warned them that if they didn't leave, it would attack them again.

Tian Qiao said helplessly, "How about we leave..."

Before he could finish speaking, Cheng Zhiyu pulled out a black... pumpkin.

Oh, it's a mutated pumpkin.

Cheng Zhiyu used a small iron to split open the pumpkin's outer shell, and instantly, the pumpkin's enticing aroma wafted out.

The elk, having grazed on wild grass for months, thought: "?"