246

The land was full...not actually, just a few animals were larger and made it look exaggerated.

It was not just in front of them, inside and around the pond, there were dead mutant animals lying around.

"Oh my God, so much meat!" He Qiankun spoke what he and Zhang Yi's hearts were thinking.

"Oh my God! If two more days passed, it would have stunk!" That was Luo Xun thinking about future consequences.

The two people who had called out their hearts came forward to examine the bodies.

Was it possible to eat animal carcasses that were smashed to death in the wild, outside and washed in the rain for three days?

Some parts were fine, but they did not want to think about the wounded parts.

Some of them died early, directly from the hail. Some still lingered for a day or two before passing so they were better.

Fortunately, although most of the animal meat could not be eaten, they could dig out the crystal cores and peel off the animal skins. Even more fortunate, they did not feed the two wolves before letting them out so the two had food to eat.

Luo Xun picked, dug out the cores, skinned the fur and cut and cut some relatively fresh meat to bring back. The remaining bodies were piled to the side - after all, there were some carnivores in the area. They could not eat meat, but those other animals could. It would not affect them since they would pass through their base and it was far away enough that any smalls would not reach them either.

Once they were finished, they drove back with the harvested cores and meat. Luo Xun went near the pond to check the situation outside. He confirmed that there were no dangerous animals nearby or mutant plants. This was the first time they went to the pond's edge.

The original fields had been turned into ponds which had a few dead animals floating. Luo Xun and Song Lingling disucssed how to get those animals to shore. If they rotted, it would pollute the entire water source. Although they did not use that water, those two wolves may drink it. What would they do if they got stomach aches?

Suddenly, Yu Xinran jumped in excitement. "Fish, fish! There are fish in the water!"

At that, Luo Xun quickly looked at the water. He had previously speculated that there may be fish in the water, but with the number of mutant animals on the edge, they had not actively approached for safety reasons and put the matter aside.

"Try to see if they have any abilities." Luo Xun lit up and looked at the other ability users on the team.

Wind and water caused no abnormalities in the swimming fish. Xu Mei released a small fireball that floated on the water and found that none of the fish had anything.

Luo Xun had Song Lingling help grab them out - it was simple for water users to catch fish. She did not need to attack, only direct the fish and flat a belt of water in front of the team.

The fish out of water obviously panicked since it's space suddenly became a lot smaller. Zhang Yi solidified the air around the waterball so that the fish could not swim out.

The fish were in good shape...and normal. If the current body was already fully grown, then it would be fine, but there would be issues if it continued to grow.

"It's about two kilograms. Not large or small." Luo Xun touched his chin and looked around. "Kill one to see if there is a crystal core in the head."

He just finished speaking when Zhang Yi immediately created a wind blade and chopped off the fish's head.

Luo Xun said nothing and only raised an eyebrow while helplessly shook his head. He took the head and pulled out his knife to pry open the head. Sure enough, there was a crystal core, but it was small and transparent.

"Catch some to bring back for our indoor pond!" Luo Xun made up his mind and spoke to Song Lingling. "We can make the greenhouse pond a bit bigger and we have pebbles to spare."

"Yes! There's still some open space behind the house, enough to dig a small pool!" Li Tie and the others also added an idea.

"Luo Xun, what about this fish?" He Qiankun pointed at the fish Zhang Yi had sliced in half.

"Bring it back, we'll make boiled fish tonight!" They had many peppers at home! The plants were also growing well and it would not be long before another batch. They absolutely had enough!

Yan Fei and a few others came back in their cars to pick up the rest of the team. Yan Fei had just delivered the harvested meat and skin. They did not expect to come back and catch fish.

It was easy to have Song Lingling and Zhang Yi work together to catch fish. Luo Xun was even surprised to find that the water also had freshwater shrimp and small crabs! After a closer look, they found a bunch of crayfish near the water's edge.

Luo Xun suspected that these had been present with the original rice, but after the farm was abandoned along with heavy rain, they might have been mixed with the aquatic products.

After seeing these things, Luo Xu and the others ran to the other fields to check. Sure enough, there were many aquatic animals nearby. No wonder the water birds gathered more and more.

Just as they were busily transporting seafood inside, Puppy popped out from somewhere and rushed Luo Xun with a wagging tail. One side jumping around while also greeting the team.

Everyone saw that she must have found something since she was covered in mud. They all followed together.

Puppy took the team to the place with the two wolves. They saw the team and shook their tails. Next to them, the team found a few small sheep and deer.

The animals were obviously just babies since their shape was somewhat different from normal sheep and deer. During their collection, they had seen sheep and deer, but most of their meat had rotted, likely they were the babies' parents.

After checking and confirming that they were not dangerous, Luo Xun simply loaded them as well.

The electric car made four or five full runs before Luo Xun and the team could go home. As for the two wolves - they were left outside to celebrate. If they wanted to return, the door would be available. In the meantime, Puppy followed Yu Xinran to play around. When it was time to go home, she ran back and jumped in.

"I had thought she might have stayed outside." Luo Xun could not find Puppy for a while and was worried for half a day. He did not expect that she would come back.

Yan Fei knew that Luo Xun was actually soft-hearted, he just smiled and did say anything.

The caught fish were placed in a metal tank. After getting transported home, Luo Xun grabbed a glass cylinder that he had bought before and loaded some of the fish and shrimp.

As for the crayfish and crabs, they were left in straw baskets.

Now they were busy with the brook that had been intended to humidify the greenhouse. It had to be deepened and widened. Of course, the artificial stream would only be half a meter deep. The bottom would be sprinkled with pebbles to avoid the water becoming turbid. At the back of the house, they also dug a hole that would act as a moat out of the greenhouse.

The location of the vacant lot was below where they left the agricultural vehicles. But since there were several huge cars on top, there would be no problems but they were afraid to put anything underneath it ...So it had been empty all this time and was only now in use.

Built a pool and placed fish. After that work, they climbed the greenhouse and thoroughly cleaned the roof of the previously dried earth.

It was evening after all this was finished. They had been planning on letting the two wolves out and dealing with farmland. But in the end finding fish had eaten up half the day and their plans had changed unexpectedly.

However, everyone was excited despite the delay since they had a lot of gains today. Not to mention the three lambs and two small deer, even just the seafood was exciting enough.

With the first killed fish along with two extra ones, Luo Xun had enough to make two pots of boiled fish. Bright red chili oil, white fish and fresh soup. The team who had not eaten fish for two years nearly licked the plate clean!

Today's fish were basically carp, mackerel and other herbivorous fish. Luo Xun and the team already had a variety of vegetables available. Even more, Luo Xun also specially selected some plants from the roadside that could be used to feed rabbits. They brought back the whole plant to be planted underground. It could also be used to feed the sheep, fawns and even fish.

The sky was black by the time the team had eaten and drank their fill. They went up to wash and rest when suddenly they heard the wolves from outside.

Looking at each other and guessed that the two wolves should be in the direction of the tunnel entrance. They were likely coming back for the night.

"Alas...the base has become a zoo." Luo Xun sighed helplessly but could only open the door for the pair of wolves.

247

When the two familiar giant figures dashed over with wagging tails, Luo Xun and the others knew - they would stick to them like plaster. It was decided...these two were truly dogs.

Since the discovery of the seafood in the ponds, the food on the table greatly increased. They had boiled fish on the first day, the next they had sweet and sour fish fillets and the third day they had a plate of boiled shrimp. It was fortunate that their home was relatively close to the pond, if they did not feel like eating inside they could spend some of their free time relaxing while fishing.

The greenhouse river had been finished and the fish had been fed some of Luo Xun's vegetables and leaves. The feed was sprinkled into the water each day while waiting for the fish to grow up.

Over the past three days, the team had taken turns drying the newly dug sand which was moved back to the third basement. At this time the ventilation and lighting equipment had been installed. It was a relief to plant some of the crops that would feed the rabbits and worms once the soil was spread. It would be finished once it was properly irrigated.

The rabbits and quails did not have to be transferred for the time being. After all, there were not many so it was not a problem to keep them in the greenhouse cage. The quails could also be kept in their original housing.

As for the injured lambs and fawns from last time...they would have to wait for them to grow so the breeding would be slow going for now. Those five animals were now Yu Xinran's pets. Since they had been brought back, she played around every day with Puppy along with the two hawks. Who would dare to kill them after raising them? Yu Xinran would bring out her teary eyes. Even more surprising was that the two eagles that had not learned to fly, actually learned how to run around!

Fortunately, three were sheep. Even if they were not grown for meat, there would be wool to collect. Otherwise, the entire group would truly be a group of pets.

Once Luo Xun was done digging out the water channels and placing the fish and shrimp into their new homes, it was finally time for them to go out to collect metal in order to replenish their metal stores.

Putting together satellite photos and base messages, Li Tie organized the information and threw them into the computer. The team of people sat around the dining room table for a meeting.

Although everyone preferred to go to the second-floor game room for casual things, how would they have the mind to talk about serious things? From time to time, their eyes would wander over to the game machines.

"Cough, the zombies from the southern countries are in this area..." Li Tie checked and pointed at a large map he got from somewhere. "From the photos, they have been circling this place for four days, it seems like there is a large base nearby."

They already knew about this matter three days ago. They thought if was expected, but did not think the zombie siege would last this long.

"It's not known how long until the zombies retreat, or how clear if the base can continue..." Luo Xun frowned at his tablet. "So we have to plan ahead, we had good luck last time, the zombies all passed by and did not attack. But we must have enough metal on base to defend ourselves." He looked up at Yan Fei.

Yan Fei nodded in response. "I suggest that we can get more metal back, specifically before the zombie tide arrives."

"How to guard against it?" Han Li was not clear about the situation. Luo Xun and Yan Fei had discussed among themselves in their room.

"Traps." Yan Fei spoke while looking at Luo Xun. "I discussed with Luo Xun, although we have mutant plants that can help defend, the number of zombies this time is too high. With swarm tactics, the zombies can overwhelm the plants and attack the base inside. So we want to put a big trap from before and fill it with mushroom juice to deal with them."

Luo Xun added, "If we put it too early then people may notice it and some of the mutant animals may be injured by mistake." He looked out of the window. "Before the zombies come, I don't know if the animals will notice in advance. Once they have retreated we can set up the trap."

After saying that the team's eyes lit up. After all, it was troublesome extracting cores from the mutant plants. Setting up traps in advance would net them more!

Wu Xin suddenly had an idea. "Luo Xun, why don't we at least dig up the traps in advance! As long as we keep them covered and don't pour mushroom juice, wouldn't it fine for the animals?"

"That's a good idea!" Luo Xun laughed and complemented his eye for detail. They finalized the number and location of traps. The next two days would be spent outside.

This time, the goal was very simple - collecting metal.

At this time the market exchange between several bases was long over and each convoy had returned home. In particular, the various bases had long been informed that a large wave of zombies had entered the country. Its power was far greater than ones from before and bases would naturally shore up their defenses. The exchange was over as early as when Luo Xun's team got rid of their tails.

Now according to what Luo Xun had learned from the secret exchange between base channels, the north base area under siege had been evacuated.

The distance between the bases was too far and weapons production was limited. The zombie siege was too fierce so the base was not able to resist or seek help. In addition, the other bases could not send people to help, they could only stand on their own. After the information exchange, each base put aside some supplies and stepped up construction hoping to survive this round.

So Luo Xun assumed that their metal collecting journey would be relatively calm - the base had already gathered needed metal from the mining area. Naturally, they would let metal ability users to painstakingly wander through the city looking for metal. Coupled with the limited amount of material in the urban area and many things had already been scrapped, less and less people were now willing to explore the remote edges of the city.

Therefore, Luo Xun's team was driving along the roads collecting several days worth of metal and they had barely encountered any people.

After shipping the metal back to their homes and filling up one of the rooms designated for metal storage, they went out for a few more days. When September finally arrived, they were satisfied that their collection was almost over.

At this point, there was a change on base that delighted Luo Xun. The fruit trees that they had transplanted in spring were almost grown.

"It was not easy...but finally we have fruit to eat." Looking at the small half-sized apples on the tree.

"We still need to wait a bit for those, come and pick apricots with me." Luo Xun beckoned the people under the apple, pear and orange trees.

"Can apricots be eaten? Aren't they still green?" The team looked at the little fruits and wondered.

"Who says green apricots can't be eaten? You don't know?" Luo Xun grabbed one and took a bite - sweet and sour.

"It's sweet!"

"Why isn't it that sour?"

"It's delicious, I haven't eaten fresh apricots before."

Luo Xun looked at the group. "You can wait for the fruit to ripen but it will become soft. I like to eat them when crisp." While speaking he grabbed another. "The apricots could have been harvested already but their biological clock had been disrupted with the transplant, so it took until now.

"Can these be re-grown?" He Qiankun asked while eating.

"Yes, but wait until next year, we have too few now." They had only transplanted a few apricot trees and the action affected their flowering rate so naturally there was not a rich harvest. In addition, the fruits required pollination and a lot of hard work for harvest. Luo Xun looked at the group of people happily eating and laughing. He decided to wait until next year to remind them when the trees flowered again.

One should know, there were a lot of crops that needed artificial pollination. Do not underestimate that the work seemed insignificant...but the team always felt exhausted after the mind-numbing work. When the others would be told that the same was to be done for the tree flowers ...How would they feel?

248

The fruit at home was about to ripen and it was gratifying to know that some of the longer-cycle vegetables were beginning to mature. Fortunately, the vegetable and grain harvest periods were not at the same time. They could start now and the farm would get busy. The weather changed between cloudy and sunny every couple of days. The group of people had a headache trying to dry the harvested crops. If not for Song Lingling who could directly drain water in the vegetables, if they could only rely on the sun for drying, who knew how much would actually get done.

Of course, there was a difference in taste between ability dried and sun-dried vegetables. Luo Xun separated the two. If they had the chance they would sell the ones dried by Song Lingling at the exchange market. After the last experience, they would be more careful. These vegetables could also be used for fish and livestock food, so nothing would be wasted.

The weather in September was still sultry. Fortunately the greenhouse and other buildings had cooling equipment. Everyone comfortably nested themselves indoors. After the first wave of vegetable harvest, the team gathered to study the newly received satellite photos. The small bun was on the table mat near Luo Xun moving around.

Yes, Luo Xun and Yan Fei's "son" was now happily crawling around the table. The baby turned over much later than the average child, but from turning to sitting and crawling, he had rapid progress. He had turned into another creature since crawling and tired himself to sleep.

Yu Xinran took off her shoes and sat on the table to play with him. Of course, for their safety, Yan Fei had previously made metal railing on the edge along with placing a pile of cushions to avoid injury.

"The zombie wave finally left...There aren't any news from base yet, I don't know if it has been broken." The team of people looked at their tablets while discussing.