Chapter 7
The door of the wooden house was open, and Lu Renshuang was staring at the fire in a daze beside the simple stove outside the door.
Her left hand hung limply and unconsciously. It had been more than a year since she was bitten on the left hand by a vicious beast on the battlefield. Although her hand was cut off immediately at that time, it was still contaminated. She was still a little uncomfortable with this new hand.
When she heard the approaching footsteps, her whole body trembled, and even her left hand jumped up.
Jiang Zihan came back carrying some freshly picked fruit and asked curiously, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with this hand?"
Lu Renshuang waved her hands repeatedly: "No, no, I'm just a little uncomfortable. It's fine like this now."
She is a researcher and her hands are extremely important to her, but in the face of the deformation, she chose to save her life first. However, the deformation did not stop because of the broken hand. Since then, her consciousness has been intermittent. I don’t know when she got here. I think she must have lost all her sanity at that time.
Being able to regain consciousness now is already a blessing, not to mention that there are newcomers.
Lu Renshuang's face was stiff: "Thank you for saving me, I will repay you."
Jiang Zihan: "I'm not helping you for free. You still have to pay back the medical bills you owe. But even if you have money, you can't use it here..."
Lu Renshuang caught a glimpse of the tomato seedlings swaying in the wind. "I know a little bit about planting. How about I help you look after those plants?"
Jiang Zihan raised an eyebrow. Working to pay off debts? She stroked her chin, thinking of the seeds that hadn't been planted yet, and nodded, "That's fine."
While Jiang Zihan was in the house, Lu Renshuang breathed a sigh of relief and turned to pick up the bucket of water placed next to the nursery. She discovered in the morning that this bucket was not ordinary pure water. Based on her experience in the laboratory, some nutrient solution or something should have been added to it.
But she said nothing. After all, she was doing work for others, so she had to protect their secrets.
After watering, she also collected the fruit peels, fish intestines and other things scattered on the ground. These can be used as fertilizer and can also cover up the effect of water.
Jiang Zihan returned to the wooden house and fished out the pile of seeds. He scanned them with the system with some concern. After making sure there was no distortion, he solemnly handed them to Lu Renshuang.
Jiang Zihan patted her hands and said, "Whether we can eat fresh fruits and vegetables in the future depends entirely on you."
When Lu Renshuang looked at the seeds mixed together, her first reaction was a bit of a headache. With her knowledge, she couldn't guarantee that she could recognize them all.
Let’s plant it first and see.
Lu Renshuang tied the bag again and said hesitantly, "There are only a few tools here, and my previous stuff is still at the gathering place... If you don't mind, come with me to take a look?"
A gathering place? Jiang Zihan's eyes flickered. So, there really are still people living here? She looked down at her thin shirt, thinking maybe she could find some changes of clothes there.
…
The two men struggled to cross a barren mountain. The land here had been dry for a long time and the surrounding scenery seemed extremely bleak.
Lu Renshuang looked down at the land beneath her feet. This place was once lush and green. A hint of nostalgia could not help but linger in her voice. "When I was first sent to the island, this was still a forest. It was similar to the dense forest, but the trees were not as huge."
As she spoke, she carefully walked down the steep slope. Suddenly, her left hand stretched out rapidly, like a flexible rubber band, making Jiang Zihan somewhat hallucinate a character from an anime.
She stretched out her left hand and firmly grasped a tree stump in the distance. After pulling hard to make sure it was safe, Lu Renshuang reached out to support Jiang Zihan and said with concern, "Be careful, the gravel is a bit slippery. Don't fall."
Jiang Zihan was led steadily and looked around. It was a sunken valley. Not far ahead was a dense network of fences. In the sunlight, the sharp fences flashed a cold light, which was frightening.
She sighed in her heart, these are what we call protective measures, they are much more solid than the shoddy projects she had built.
Jiang Zihan walked down carefully: "What happened next? How did this place become like this?"
Lu Renshuang sighed, "It's all because of the distortion. Those distorted plants have a huge demand for water, and in no time at all, they've sucked up almost all the surrounding streams. With the water source dried up, the more vulnerable plants simply can't survive, and the remaining alien plants are each stronger and larger than the other, desperately fighting for living space."
Jiang Zihan was silent. She knew this. She had cleared out a lot of strange and deformed plants on the outskirts of the dense forest, and the dangers in the inner area would be even greater. If the resources there were completely divided up, she was afraid that one day they would pull her out of the ground and move to another place to continue competing for nutrients.
She listened to Lu Renshuang talking about the past, and after pushing away the last layer of obstruction, she finally arrived at the depths of the valley.
There is a group of low huts here, with thick hay covering the roofs and a lot of camouflage, almost blending in with the natural environment.
Lu Renshuang introduced in a low voice: "This is where the Deviants are currently gathering. But don't worry, they haven't completely lost consciousness yet."
Jiang Zihan slowed down her pace. She had already seen many hunched figures working around, and a complex emotion surged in her chest.
She had never been a pushover, but seeing their plight reminded her of herself. If she hadn't found winter gear, she might not even make it to spring. Suddenly, she felt a pang of grief, a sense of loss.
This gathering place is not only a refuge for the deformed, but also their last bastion to fight against their fate.
Jiang Zihan touched his live broadcast bracelet, but found that the signal point on it had disappeared.
Lu Renshuang: "There are no live cameras here. At the beginning, there were people secretly monitoring us, but they were all dismantled by Cui Da."
There was a hint of bitterness on her lips. The highly distorted state was not beautiful. None of them wanted their last image in this world to be so ugly.
"There are patrolmen in the gathering area. Anyone who becomes distorted and loses their mind will be killed immediately." Lu Renshuang spread her hands. "My condition worsened while I was out looking for supplies, so I managed to escape. Normally, we don't go near where other people live, but your tomatoes are so fragrant, I just couldn't resist."
Jiang Zihan jokingly said, "So you paid the price. In the days to come, you'll have to take good care of those crops."
"Yes, yes, I will definitely make amends." Lu Renshuang walked to a small shed in the corner. "Please come in. This is my 'home' where I've lived for the past six months. It's a little small, so don't mind."
Jiang Zihan bent down and went in. Many people along the way had seen her. They looked at her with strange eyes. Although she knew that they were not evil beasts, she still felt a little uncomfortable.
Lu Renshuang began to pack up her tools.
Jiang Zihan's eyes began to wander. This shed was really small, only big enough to fit a folding camp bed and a table about the same size as the bed. The table was covered with draft papers full of formulas, and a pot of unknown plants that had sprouted.
Lu Renshuang zipped up her backpack, glanced over, and seemed to be hesitant to speak.
Jiang Zihan sat calmly on the camp bed: "Just say whatever you want to say. You didn't bring me here just to see the scenery, did you?"
If her guess was correct, this purpose should be related to those deformed people outside.
Lu Renshuang pursed her lips and said, "Actually, I wanted to ask you to see if you could help suppress their distortion values. They are really good people who took the initiative to accept me and protect me, but recently, more and more people have gone crazy..."
Jiang Zihan understood that the suppressed distortion value had probably reached a certain limit. Even if a person had a strong physique, if the distorted energy was not channeled out, going crazy was the inevitable result.
She was just about to elaborate on the risks of the operation when suddenly a string in her mind snapped, and a tense and dangerous atmosphere filled the air.
She quickly gestured: "Shh!"
As the room quieted down, the sounds outside began to become more pronounced. In the distance, a chaotic roar and growl could be heard, and a huge, invisible threat was gradually approaching.
Her heart tightened, and soon she heard footsteps outside, running towards the gathering place.
Lu Renshuang pushed the door open a crack, and the two of them stepped forward at the same time. The scene they saw made them both gasp.
Countless strange and ferocious beasts were crawling down the hillside, saliva dripping from their mouths, and the bloodthirsty red light in their eyes made people's scalp tingle.
With a clear goal in mind, they began to ram the fence erected at the gathering place frantically.
The mutants began to fight hard, but their physical fitness was far inferior to that of the evil beasts. Even with the fence blocking them, the situation took a turn for the worse.
Gradually, the bodies of several deformed people began to twist and swell uncontrollably, veins began to swell under their taut skin, and the clarity in their eyes gradually disappeared.
Jiang Zihan's heartbeat quickened: "Not good! Their distortion value is increasing!"
If they also lose their minds and turn into vicious beasts, then this gathering place will be completely destroyed.
The air was filled with the smell of blood and burning air, and screams, roars and roars of evil beasts were intertwined, like hell on earth.
"No, we can't let them go on like this." Jiang Zihan solemnly grabbed Lu Renshuang's shoulders, "Go and capture those people whose distortion values are out of control. I'll see if I can quickly suppress the abnormality!"
Lu Renshuang's pale face suddenly turned red: "You...are you really willing to help?"
Jiang Zihan frowned: "I'm doing this for myself too."
At this moment, a young mutant suddenly knelt down with his hands on his head. His violent screams of pain disturbed the conversation between the two. The blood vessels in his arms burst, and the skin was torn to reveal the flesh that began to wriggle wildly.
He glared with his scarlet eyes, like an ordinary wild beast, kicking his legs and wanting to pounce on the nearest target.
Jiang Zihan said anxiously, "Quick! Pull him over here!"
Lu Renshuang took a deep breath, stretched out his left hand again, like a flexible whip, quickly grabbed the young man's arm and pulled it back.
Facing the frantically struggling deformed person getting closer and closer, her eyes were extremely firm. She stood in front of Jiang Zihan and was determined not to let the doctor get hurt at any cost!
The mutant was dragged to the ground, jumped up, and suddenly wanted to punch Lu Renshuang.
Bang!
A piece of wood kissed the back of his head directly. The man's eyes widened and he fell to the ground in a daze.
Jiang Zihan threw the wooden board down, grabbed the man's legs, and dragged him into the shed. "Why are you standing there like an idiot? You have to find a quiet place to perform the operation. Otherwise, are you going to perform the autopsy in public?"
Lu Renshuang's left hand trembled a few times, and he suddenly remembered how he was hit last night.
How did she feel that this doctor was weak?
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