Chapter 189, exclusively published on Jinjiang Literature City: Chen Rong's life hangs by a thread
Li Tuo was stunned by Zhang Chengming's slap. What the heck? What brought the meat here?
Li Jing handed him another pair of binoculars, and when he could see clearly what those dark things in the distance were, Li Tuo was so excited that he almost jumped up on the spot.
"It's a herd of bison!!!"
It's like meat being delivered right to your door!
Potato stew with beef, stir-fried beef, tomato stew with beef brisket, and roasted beef bone marrow—thinking about all the different kinds of delicious food that beef could be made into, everyone present except Lu Xuan couldn't help but swallow their saliva.
Fighting other beast packs was a last resort, they had no choice but to fight, but this group was just there to give them freebies.
The audience was also excited when they heard them identify the types of animals.
【Bison, that's a real delicacy!】
[These bison are so polite, offering to deliver goods right to our door!]
[Host, how many bison came in total? Several hundred?]
[One cow can yield tons of meat; with hundreds of cows, wouldn't that be incredibly lucrative?!]
Lu Xuan said, "It's not that exaggerated, there are only forty or fifty."
That's still quite a lot!
There are definitely several hundred of them; even a hunting team probably couldn't handle them all, and the streamer would have to step in.
Ah, the others must have exhausted their abilities during the battle with the wild boars and the giant insects, right?
[This isn't the time to train your abilities; getting the meat is the most important thing.]
Lu Xuan meant the same thing.
Training superpowers can be done anytime, but beef is not always available.
However, the hunting team had not only exhausted their superpowers, but also their physical strength was almost depleted.
Before the bison herd arrived, Lu Xuan said to the others, "Hurry up and eat something to recover your strength."
Using the energy gun requires strength, and dodging a bison charge also requires strength.
If you're eyeing someone else's meat, but when the time comes you're too weak and end up getting beaten up instead, then your joy will turn to sorrow.
The others also realized this and quickly took out food from their storage space to restore their strength.
Meat buns, fried rice, dried meat, and even mutated fruits or milk tea.
After finishing their meal, seeing that the bison herd was still some distance away, Li Tuo took out a frozen pear and started slurping it up.
Live stream viewers: ...They really have no sense of crisis at all.
So, couldn't you have taken out a few more to eat? One isn't even enough to fill their teeth!
After eating and drinking for a while, the bison herd finally arrived.
The already ferocious bison appeared even more ferocious under the influence of the blood moon, but the hunting team, encountering a live bison for the first time, was equally excited.
Without the need for training, Lu Xuan didn't need to hold back and could easily handle more than a dozen cows by himself.
The others each took one head, and the tranquilizer guns and energy guns were fired at the bison's heads. In less than fifteen minutes, the bison, which were as big as small mountains, all fell down. The battle ended faster than ever before.
Live stream viewers: This is the power of a foodie!
To put it bluntly, the reason why the previous batches of beasts were slow to defeat was not only because of their low ability levels and insufficient strength, but also because the meat was not tasty and they lacked motivation!
Let's send a few more batches of bison; the hunting team will be energized every day.
Because of the harshness of the extreme cold season, the meat on the bison is mostly lean, and their size is much smaller than the ones Lu Xuan encountered on the grassland, and even smaller than the cows carefully raised by the village in the livestock shed.
However, it is estimated that each cow can still yield one ton of meat.
52 cows would yield 52,000 jin of meat, and the bones would weigh at least 20,000 jin.
After deducting Lu Xuan's share and public supplies, each member of the hunting team would easily receive about 500 jin of meat and bones.
For families with many members, this batch can yield over a thousand kilograms of beef and more than three hundred kilograms of bones.
This is what it means to become rich overnight!
After Zhang Chengming and the others, who were already exhausted, figured out the accounts, they were so excited when they got home that they could hardly sleep.
The result of their long and arduous journey to finally fall asleep was that, not long after dawn the next day, less than two hours after they had been underwater, a new wave of beasts arrived.
Hunting team: "..."
This time, a large herd of woolly sheep with huge horns arrived.
Judging from their appearance, these sheep are clearly not a species found in the surrounding area; they seem more like a species that would be found in the Tibetan region. It's a mystery how they ended up in such a far-off place.
The longhorned sheep were larger and more aggressive than the goats they had encountered before.
But the hunting party, having not had enough sleep, was even fiercer.
Eating a hot pot of mutton in winter is just perfect, you guys are risking your lives!
Without Lu Xuan needing to say much, the hunting team unleashed their superpowers and weapons as if facing their father's killer, slaughtering two hundred woolly horned sheep in one fell swoop, taking almost the same amount of time as killing a herd of bison.
Viewers in the live stream clicked their tongues in disbelief: "You can't mess with people who haven't had enough sleep."
The long-haired sheep are relatively small, and with more than two hundred sheep, the total yield was only about 10,000 jin of meat, which meant that each person only got about 100 or 200 jin.
However, this horned sheep meat, which they had never seen or eaten before, surprisingly had no gamey smell at all. The meat even had an indescribable aroma, making it much tastier than the goat meat they had hunted before. It did manage to soothe the hearts of the exhausted hunting team.
Even more surprisingly, after the attack by the woolly sheep, the continuous herds of animals suddenly disappeared and did not return for two consecutive days.
After several days of continuous hunting, the hunting team was finally able to catch their breath and get some rest, while also digesting the experience from the previous days.
In addition to continuing to process beef and mutton and handle beef and mutton hides, the women also helped harvest the fruit from the orchards that had been harvested again, and also picked a batch of mushrooms.
...
During this time, Huo Tiankuo came over in person and exchanged some of the meat they had obtained a few days earlier for two more vials of evolution fluid.
Lu Xuan was puzzled, "Is this meat brought by the beast herd? Aren't the disaster victims willing to exchange it for evolution fluid?"
Huo Tiankuo said, "This meat comes from the portion of public supplies that belongs to the Huo family army."
The disaster victims naturally couldn't complain about the distribution of supplies that were rightfully theirs.
Huo Tiankuo thanked Lu Xuan, saying, "Recently, there have been quite a few beasts attacking the camp. If it weren't for the weapons and medicines we got from you, I'm afraid we would have suffered a lot of casualties."
Although many soldiers and refugees who helped with the defense were injured, none of them were seriously injured.
With no worries about casualties, Huo Tiankuo actually hoped that the beast horde would continue to come, so he could take the opportunity to exchange for more evolution fluid.
But these past two days, not only has things calmed down in Yunlu Village, but the Huo family army's camp has also quieted down. Nobody knows when they will be able to gather enough supplies to exchange for the next batch of evolution fluid.
Lu Xuan waved his hand, "It's just a normal transaction, no need for thanks."
Huo Tiankuo thought to himself, "It was indeed a transaction, but it was also true that his supplies saved many of their lives. I will always remember this kindness."
Because he was worried about the situation at the camp, Huo Tiankuo did not stay in the village for long and soon left with the evolution fluid.
Another day passed, and the village remained unrealistically peaceful.
The snow was still falling, the polar night was still ongoing, the blood moon had not appeared, and the beast herds seemed to have completely disappeared.
People even began to speculate whether the beast attacks had ended.
After that, all they need to do is patiently wait for the polar night to pass, right?
Although the absence of animal attacks means the loss of a large source of meat, it would be good to be able to resume winter fishing.
With this mindset, the villagers relaxed and lowered their guard.
On the morning of the fourth day, a scream that pierced the sky suddenly broke the brief peace.
...
The villagers were used to getting up early, and they opened their doors one after another, yawning, to prepare to sweep the snow and cook. But as soon as they opened the door, they were terrified by the swarm of black insects covering the outside of the door.
"Ah—! So many bugs!"
The other villagers inside the house screamed in terror when they saw the insects, spiders, and even centipedes crawling into their homes.
The younger children, such as Fang Yuan and Wei Yunyun, were terrified and cried loudly, creating a chaotic scene.
On the Lu family's side, Lu Miaomiao was also covered in a swarm of insects and ants.
As a robot, she was naturally not afraid of insects, but Lu Qing was still in the living room. She shouted "There are so many insects!" while quickly shaking off the insects on her body, closing the door and rushing back to the living room.
Lu Qing, who was sipping hot tea to wake herself up, was startled when she saw countless black and red crawling insects swarming in from the doorway. She dropped the cup in her hand and instinctively tried to run away.
Before she could do anything, Lu Miaomiao picked her up and carried her in her arms.
Lei Yan, who rushed out of the bathroom a step too late, breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this, then his face darkened as he quickly used his supernatural ability to slash at the swarm of insects on the ground.
The smell of roasted insects soon filled the living room.
However, the swarm was too dense, and many of them were not killed. Some of the faster ones even climbed up to the upper floors.
Hearing the commotion, Lu Chen and Lu Xuan came out of their rooms at the same time. Lu Chen's room was close to the stairs, and he immediately saw the insects all over the ground downstairs, as well as centipedes as long as his arm and black and red spiders that had crawled up the stairs. He was so frightened that he instinctively used his superpower to levitate himself.
Lu Xuan looked at the insects around him, his face as dark as ink. He grabbed Lu Chen, who was in mid-air, opened the door, threw him back in, and said, "Don't come out." As he closed the door, his supernatural aura began to spread outwards.
The invisible yet heavy pressure not only terrified Lei Yan and Lu Qing downstairs, but also caused the swarming insects to freeze in place.
Then, Lu Xuan clenched his fist tightly, and the swarm of insects exploded one by one on the spot.
Because Lu Xuan had used his supernatural power to shield himself beforehand, the exploding insect blood didn't spray everywhere, but the blood and insect corpses all over the ground still looked disgusting.
Lu Xuan said to Lu Miaomiao, "Take Lu Qing back to her room."
Lu Qing originally wanted to get down and walk by herself, but seeing the insect corpses around her, she chose to continue being carried.
As soon as Lu Qing and Lu Miaomiao left, Lu Xuan took out a large amount of insect repellent and sprayed it in the house to lure out the insects that had escaped from hiding in the dark.
Afterwards, he blew them up as usual, and only after confirming that there were no other insects in the house did he signal Lei Yan to stay at home and guard the house. He then opened the door, quickly crushed the insects at the door, ignored the snow shelter that was riddled with holes from the insects, and walked outside the shelter.
Once outside, even Lu Xuan, who had seen many grand occasions, couldn't help but change his expression.
Looking around, all the safe houses were covered by all sorts of different insects, making them completely unrecognizable. All that could be seen were dark mountains of insects, spiders, and centipedes.
The viewers in the live stream were caught off guard by this scene and were completely taken aback.
【Aaaaaah! How can there be so many bugs?!】
【Mais! Mais!!!】
Why didn't the streamer give a warning beforehand? I screamed and my wife almost kicked me off the bed.
[This is disgusting, it's triggering my trypophobia!]
[Protected by bullet comments! Protected by gift effects!]
[I thought the beast attacks were over, but it turns out they've just changed tactics.]
[This is worse than a large wild animal! Insects are everywhere; there's no way to defend against them.]
I think I also saw what looks like snakes!
Lu Xuan also spotted the snake crawling among the insects, and his brows furrowed involuntarily.
Why are these snakes coming out to join the fun instead of staying in hibernation?
He could tell at a glance that many of the snakes had triangular heads, and that they were most likely venomous.
Not only snakes, but most scorpions and spiders are also venomous. If this is not dealt with quickly, the village may face its first major crisis.
With a cold face, Lu Xuan set off from his home and began sweeping around the village.
Wherever Lu Xuan went, all the insects and ants blocking the safe house were blown away by his wind-type ability and exploded into blood flowers in the air. The insects and ants on the road were compressed into slabs of insect cakes by his gravity ability.
Along the way, Lu Xuan found the night watchmen guarding the four directions of the village.
As expected, everyone fainted, their faces turning purple and green, clearly indicating severe poisoning.
Most of the time, the light was dim during the polar night, and the watchmen did not notice the swarm of insects immediately. The first wave was also poisonous, and after being bitten, they quickly became poisoned and fainted, thus losing the opportunity to notify the village.
Lu Xuan gave the group the antidote, and their complexions quickly returned to normal. Only Chen Rong, who happened to be on night watch that day, still looked ashen.
Lu Xuan took out the treatment device and quickly examined him, discovering that Chen Rong was poisoned by more than one type of poison, one of which was wasp venom.
This toxin can cause organ failure in a short period of time after being stung.
Chen Rong's organs were failing and his breathing was very weak, so he had to be treated in a medical pod.
While leading Chen Rong to the clinic, Lu Xuan contacted the village chief and the rest of the hunting team.
Upon learning that the insects outside had been dealt with, the elderly women hurriedly took the children bitten by the insects to the clinic, while the young men joined Lu Xuan.
When Zhang Chengming and the others saw blood everywhere on the road, they guessed that Lu Xuan had used his special ability. They were not surprised by this, but the sheer number of bloodstains and insect remains made them shudder.
Wu Yang couldn't help but ask Lu Xuan, "Didn't the blood-sucking vines keep these insects out? How could they have gotten in?"
Lu Xuan said with a stern face, "These insects are too low-level. They can't sense the pressure of the blood-sucking vine and we couldn't defend against them. The swarm is still entering the village. You should spray the insect repellent around the village as soon as possible."
The group was somewhat surprised, but now was not the time to think about such things. They quickly took the insect repellent and dispersed.
As the insect repellent was applied, not only were the insects hiding in the corners forced out, but the later swarms were also driven to the open space outside the village.
Lu Xuan and the others used their special abilities and pre-prepared fire sources to bombard the swarm of insects. The hunting team members attacked with a ferocity they hadn't shown when facing the beast horde before.
Because there were so many of them, it took a group of people almost an hour of chopping and burning to finally deal with the endless swarm of insects.
Snakes are edible, but the hot-tempered young men didn't bother to distinguish them and burned them all.
The ashes from the burned insect corpses on the open ground were piled up to half a meter thick, which showed just how terrifying the number of insects was.
If it weren't for the effectiveness of the Star Alliance's insect repellent and Lu Xuan's presence, who knows how much trouble so many poisonous insects would have caused by entering the village.
Once they were sure the swarm of insects was gone, no one had the heart to discuss anything emotionally. They hurried to the clinic to visit their relatives and children who had been bitten by the insects.
...
When Lu Xuan and the others arrived at the clinic, it was in complete disarray.
The sounds of children crying, women cursing, and Lin Qingfu trying to soothe them were all mixed together, making it painful to listen to.
Li Tie, who was checking on the patients back and forth, spotted them coming in and rushed over to ask, "How is it? Have you killed off all the insects?"
Lu Xuan nodded, watching the others rush to find their relatives, then glanced at the children whose eyes were swollen from crying, and asked, "How are the injured people in the village?"
Li Tie sighed and said, "The helpers living in the tents were more injured. Some were bitten by poisonous insects and were unconscious when they were brought here. But the medicine given by the gods was very effective, and they all woke up after taking it."
Some villagers were accidentally bitten by bloodsucking worms, and Dr. Lin gave them blood-tonifying medicine, so they were mostly fine. However, some worm bites are extremely painful; even after taking painkillers, the bitten children still cried out in pain. Then they couldn't help but cry.
Lu Xuan said knowingly, "The medicine is definitely fine. It's probably because the pain was too intense and the body remembers that kind of pain, so it can't get used to it right away. It will get better with time."
Li Tie nodded and said, "I guessed so. Sigh, who would have thought so many insects would suddenly appear, and they're not affected by the blood-sucking vines. It's really impossible to guard against them."
Lu Xuan hadn't expected this unexpected turn of events.
When he made a contract with the Vampire Vine, all the plants and animals in the apocalypse had already mutated, and those that hadn't mutated had all died long ago. Naturally, he couldn't understand why the original species of insects would be immune to the pressure of a level seven Vampire Vine.
Lu Xuan said, "Starting today, spray insect repellent in the village every day as a preventative measure. Also, from now on, before you go out, have the villagers check the outside situation through the windows before opening the door."
To avoid experiencing another "door-opening kill".
Li Tie said with a serious expression, "I have already reminded everyone. You were all scared enough today, so you dare not open the door casually again."
Lu Xuan hummed in agreement, then, remembering Chen Rong, asked, "How is Chen Rong?"
Li Tie sighed again, "She's still lying in the medical pod, with her mother and Mr. Ji watching over her."
Lu Xuan said, "I'll go take a look."
The medical pod at the clinic was drawn from the Black Gold Blind Box on the night the bison herd appeared. Since they already had one at home, Lu Xuan sent this one to the clinic.
These past few days, most people have been using the medical pods for beauty and skin whitening purposes; today is the first time a truly critically ill patient has actually lain in there.
When Lu Xuan arrived at the medical pod room on the second floor, Aunt Chen and Ji Xiuling were standing guard by the pod, with several other women from the village accompanying them, offering quiet words of comfort.
Upon hearing the door open, neither Aunt Chen nor Ji Xiuling moved at first.
The other women turned to look, and Wu Yinyin called out, "Lu Xuan is here."
Aunt Chen suddenly raised her head, rushed over excitedly, grabbed Lu Xuan's arm, and said with red eyes, "Xuan, my Chen Rong will be alright, won't he? The medical pod can definitely cure him, right?"
She knew that Wei Xiang's father's leg and Ge Yuan's face were restored thanks to the medical pod.
But when it comes to his own son, he can't help but worry that something might go wrong.
If anything were to happen to her son, how could she live?
Unlike Aunt Chen, Ji Xiuling was not as excited, but she also looked at Lu Xuan nervously, waiting for an answer.
Lu Xuan didn't rush to answer. He walked to the medical pod, checked the treatment status on the control screen, and then said, "Don't worry, the failing organs will be fully recovered in another half hour."
"That's good, that's good." Aunt Chen breathed a huge sigh of relief, her legs went weak and she almost collapsed to the ground.
It was only after Lu Xuan helped her sit down again that she calmed down a bit. Then she couldn't help but complain to Chen Rong, "This idiot, he doesn't even know how to be smart when he's on night watch. He's awakened his speed ability for nothing, can't he even run away!"
Although she was very panicked because her son was injured, she was also angry and felt guilty towards the village because she failed to notify everyone in time as the person on night watch, which caused many people in the village to get injured.
Lu Xuan said, "No one could have predicted the appearance of a swarm of insects, so it's not Chen Rong's fault."
When he found Chen Rong, he noticed that the other man's hand was on the communicator. It was clear that he wanted to notify the village before he was knocked unconscious by the poison, but unfortunately the poison spread too quickly and he didn't have time.
Speed ability does give you a better chance of survival when you're in danger, but when you're down on your luck, even drinking water can be dangerous. Just surviving is already a blessing.
Seeing that Aunt Chen had recovered her spirits, the other women didn't stay long. The shed in her house was riddled with holes from insects, and they still had to go back and clean it up.
Once he was sure Chen Rong was alright, Lu Xuan didn't linger either.
In the end, only Aunt Chen and Ji Xiuling were left.
As soon as Aunt Chen relaxed, she needed to use the restroom. After saying goodbye to Ji Xiuling, she went to the next room.
With no one else around, Ji Xiuling reached out and gently touched the hatch of the medical pod, sketching the face of Chen Rong, who was sleeping inside.
Previously, Aunt Chen came to talk to her about marriage, and they had already agreed to get married after she had completed a year of mourning for her deceased husband.
But now, she suddenly doesn't want to wait anymore.
Her previous husband was in poor health, and her marriage was intended to bring him good fortune. However, before they could develop any feelings for each other, he died of illness.
Her in-laws said she was cursed to kill their son, but that was just a way to manipulate her.
She has already done more than enough by leaving a bloodline for her deceased husband, but her in-laws didn't want to be a burden and abandoned her. Why should she keep getting caught up in worldly opinions and dragging her feet?
Anything can happen during a catastrophe; who knows what changes might occur a year from now?
The thought of Chen Rongzhen possibly dying, while she was still in mourning for her deceased husband and unable to do anything for him, filled Ji Xiuling's heart with a sense of emptiness and panic, as if a hole had been ripped out.
She couldn't help but lean down and say to Chen Rong, who was still unconscious, "Get well soon. When you wake up, we'll get married, and I'll be your wife, okay?"
"I want to marry you, the sooner the better."
Whether it was because he heard her voice or not, Chen Rong's eyelids suddenly trembled violently.
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