Chapter 37

Chapter 37

To satisfy the wicked old landlord's unreasonable demand for meat, Jie Lin Yuan and Qin Yue went into the river to catch snails and unexpectedly also gathered a basket of fresh shrimp during a noon stop by the river.

Qin Yue drooled as she gathered, thinking if not for the lurkers nearby, she would have loved to live there permanently.

After the apocalypse, human population drastically decreased, and those who survived mostly lived in enclosed communities. With less human interference, the natural ecological environment improved significantly compared to three years ago, in terms of water quality, soil quality, and wild resources, all gradually recovering.

Three years ago, it would have been impossible to find so many types of river delicacies in just any small river as they did now.

However, the absence of humans also brought negative consequences. In some areas, invasive species, unchecked by natural predators, grew almost vindictively, devastating local ecosystems.

Of course, time always finds a way for life to adapt.

Jie Lin Yuan was still wading in the river when suddenly, a blood-curdling scream echoed. He turned around to see Old Hu scrambling out of the bushes, yelling frantically, "There's a mutant!"

Qin Yue trembled with fright, dropping the river clam she just caught back into the water.

This is why, even though nature offered abundant food, most humans preferred to stay in safe zones, gnawing on bark in hunger. Starvation was a slow process, and the bases tried to ensure they at least had bark to chew on.

But stepping outside the safe zone, encountering a horde of infected or a terrifying mutant, could mean instant death.

Jie Lin Yuan didn't bother putting on his shoes. He leaped to the bank, his bare feet on the sharp stones and muddy ground. As he passed Old Hu, he casually tossed the caught river delicacies beside him, then hurried towards Wuyin.

His reaction wasn't so much out of concern for Wuyin's safety, but fear that if Yang Mo's body was injured, Wuyin would have to choose between Old Hu and Qin Yue for a new host. Hosting Old Hu meant taking over driving; hosting Qin Yue left no one to do the work; and hosting Black Knight... could he even inhabit a mutant animal?

Jie Lin Yuan always had clear goals, adaptable for maximum benefit; capable of wielding a sword against zombies, yet also able to cross his legs to serve as a pillow.

The mutant Old Hu mentioned was ramming its elongated face against their van, attempting to gnaw off the door to reach the humans inside.

Wuyin, inside the van, swayed like a pendulum as the mutant's forceful ramming shook the vehicle.

Jie Lin Yuan wanted to enjoy Wuyin's rare disheveled state a bit longer, but fearing the van might break, he swiftly decapitated the mutant with a precise blade strike.

The mutant's horse-like head rolled on the ground, its multi-rowed teeth still gnashing in Wuyin's direction.

Wuyin emerged from the van, retching against a tree trunk. Seeing the head still menacingly mimicking chewing motions, he looked for a weapon in frustration. Jie Lin Yuan, ever the thoughtful assistant, detached his own arm and handed it to Wuyin, who angrily stabbed the mutant's head through.

When Qin Yue and a weakened Old Hu returned, they saw Wuyin kicking the mutant's head in fury. Old Hu almost fainted in fear, and Qin Yue nervously touched her jade pendant, silently praying for protection.

As they cooked the shrimp, snails, and clams in boiling water, Black Knight returned triumphantly with two large fish, proudly displaying its successful solo hunt.

Qin Yue and Old Hu stared at the fish with longing, their gazes as intense as the mutant's had been on Wuyin.

Surprisingly, Wuyin dismissed the fish with a wave of his hand, "Tired of fish, eat it yourself, Black Knight."

Qin Yue and Old Hu: "..."

The Black Knight, disappointed, let its tail droop but soon cheered up at the prospect of having two fish all to itself. Qin Yue and Old Hu watched as the Black Knight lowered its two heads, each head eating a fish in an extravagant and indulgent manner, making them envious enough to wish they could trade places with the dog.

After lunch, the journey resumed its dull monotony. Old Hu, having had his fill of normal food for once, drove with renewed vigor, contemplating that his new boss, though fierce, was truly capable. Aberrations were dealt with decisively, and a loyally devoted mutant hound followed without question. With such assets, surviving the apocalypse seemed a breeze.

Just a meal had radically transformed Old Hu's mindset. Driving for a leader and ensuring a full stomach every day made risking his neck seem trivial. After all, he reasoned, better to die on a full stomach.

Seated in the back of the business van, Wu Yin comfortably plugged in the Lin Yuan charger and spent the afternoon unsuccessfully attempting to beat the high scores on Tetris, not even surpassing his own previous records.

He begrudgingly believed that it wasn't his fault, blaming it on Jie Lin Yuan being a half-cyborg, surely having some compatibility issues with electronic devices, and then passed the gaming console to Qin Yue, asking her to give it a try.

Qin Yue, the epitome of someone who doesn't try to interpret hidden meanings, immediately showed Wu Yin a trick or two. Though she didn't break Lin Yuan's miraculous record, she scored three times as much as Wu Yin's record. And yet, when she returned the console, she did so with inherent modesty, adding fuel to the fire by saying: "I didn't play well."

"Oh?" Wu Yin asked emotionlessly, putting away the gaming console, with a cold smile gradually appearing at the corner of his mouth, "It's getting late, do you have an answer to my question from this morning?"

What a vile person... resorting to finding other reasons to vent his anger when he can't win a game. Jie Lin Yuan quickly leaned back in his chair, continuing to pretend to rest with his eyes closed, to avoid unwarranted anger.

Wu Yin's simple statement immediately made Qin Yue, who was originally in a good mood, tense up: "I, besides recognizing various crops, I can cook."

"That doesn't count, everyone can cook," Wu Yin clearly looking for trouble, lazily crossed his legs, one hand behind his back and the other flicking his fingernail, "Even I can cook, so how can that be considered your unique value."

Qin Yue, with her head down, muttered: "I can sew, play the guitar, draw..."

Seeing Wu Yin's dissatisfaction growing, Qin Yue even mentioned her elementary school skills of jumping rope and playing Chinese jump rope, but still failed to impress Wu Yin.

"What exactly do you want from me?!" Qin Jue, driven to her limit by fear, rebounds fiercely and engages in a defiant stance, "Unique skills? Isn't my gender the most unique aspect about me in front of you all? The unique skill of a woman, are you asking me about pregnancy? Are you suggesting I bear your child?"

Her outcry was so shocking that not only did the driver, Old Hu, involuntarily slow down the car, but even Jie Linyuan couldn't help but open his eyes.

Then they heard something even more horrifying—Wu Yin, frowning in confusion and with a sense of righteous indignation, asked, "What are you talking about? How could bearing children be a woman's exclusive ability? Isn't it something everyone can do?"

Looking at Qin Jue's face, filled with grievance and disbelief, and catching Old Hu's 'you're just being argumentative' look through the rearview mirror, he began to doubt himself, turning to Jie Linyuan for confirmation, "Isn't it? Can't you bear children?"

"Hmm..." Jie Linyuan, licking his teeth with the tip of his tongue, was torn between pleasing Wu Yin without thought and sticking to the truth. Ultimately, his conscience won over, not wishing to add to Wu Yin's misconceptions on top of other potential misunderstandings, "I cannot bear children, excluding some special circumstances like artificial wombs, cloning, external cultivation, etc. She is indeed correct."

"Is that so?" Wu Yin, again displaying his lack of common sense, excitedly turned to Qin Jue, "Then how about you bear one now for me to see?"

Qin Jue: "..."

Qin Jue angrily retorted, "Do you think I'm a hen, able to lay an egg whenever you say?"

Wu Yin's expression became stern, and he glanced at her emotionlessly. Qin Jue immediately deflated like a punctured ball, shrinking back into her seat and speaking cautiously, "Well... children aren't something you can just decide to have, right?"

"Then what do you need to do to bear one?" Wu Yin asked curiously, his expression serious and his eyes full of a desire to learn.

Since the calamity pollution swept across the globe, causing countless deaths and frequent mutations, what strange things haven't happened? With a two-headed mutant hellhound sleeping in the car and a robot that can charge game consoles with its fingers, Qin Jue wasn't surprised by Wu Yin's question. She would have been more shocked if someone told her Wu Yin was a normal person.

Qin Jue awkwardly diverted her gaze, "It requires a man and a woman to... to mate, and then, it's not guaranteed to result in pregnancy; it's a matter of chance. Then, the fetus needs to be in the mother's womb for about ten months before it's born."

"Sounds troublesome." Wu Yin, upon hearing it takes ten months and is a matter of chance, immediately lost interest, "Then never mind about you bearing one. Just stay put."

Qin Jue held her breath in terror for a while, waiting for what might come next. Realizing Wu Yin seemed to have let her off the hook... she had passed the test??

Confused, she feels fortunate to see another day's sun, but Jie Linyuan's ordeal is just beginning as Wu Yin, having finished tormenting others, slowly shifts his attention towards him.

"Hey, got a question for you." Wu Yin leans in, whispering into Jie Linyuan's ear, "What does mating mean?"

"..." Is it because parasites reproduce asexually that Wu Yin is so lacking in this knowledge, almost to the point of idiocy? Jie Linyuan rationalizes to himself, finding the logic surprisingly sound.

"Mating refers to," he pauses, under the intense gaze of the two in the front row, smiling as he explains, "the combination of reproductive cells in organisms, leading to fertilization and reproduction activities. There are five types: crossbreeding, selfing, test crossing, direct and reciprocal crosses, and backcrossing."

Wu Yin: "..."

Wu Yin's frown deepens into a knot: "What's all this mess?"

Old Hu, Qin Jue: "..."

For some reason, hearing Jie Linyuan's answer relieves them, yet also leaves them slightly disappointed.

"Is what he said true?" Wu Yin looks up at the two in the front, learning to seek help from the eager audience when doubting Jie Linyuan's honesty.

Old Hu and Qin Jue nod in unison, saying, "What he said is true," even if it doesn't quite sound human.

"..." Wu Yin, losing interest, leans back into the seat, "So boring."

Afterwards, Wu Yin finally falls silent, resting his chin on his hand, quietly watching the sunset through the window. The orange glow softens his features, casting a gentle yet melancholic hue over him, like a wealthy young master who has run away from home, lost in the face of this unknown world.

Unfortunately, the evening glow disappears unusually fast, and in the next moment, a sudden downpour breaks the contemplative atmosphere. Wu Yin clicks his tongue, reaching to close the window.

He can't see again.

Due to the heavy rain, he's blinded earlier than usual today.

Old Hu cursed several times, struggling to drive in the rain. After the catastrophe pollution outbreak worldwide, natural weather also became capriciously unpredictable, with sunny days turning into downpours in an instant.

The windshield wipers flailed wildly in the torrential rain until a contaminant suddenly crashed into their windshield, breaking one of the wipers. Old Hu screamed in terror, slamming on the brakes, taking a long time to recover.

Qin Jue was also frightened, her breathing quickened as she drew her feet up on the seat, fearing a zombie's sharp claws might suddenly reach out from under the seat.

With only one wiper left working stubbornly, Jie Linyuan glanced at the silent Wu Yin and made a decision: "Let's find a place to pull over and stop. We'll sleep in the car tonight."

Wu Yin, as expected, protested the idea of sleeping in the car: "Can't we find a spacious building nearby to shelter from the rain? We have tents in the trunk; sleeping on the ground would be more comfortable than squeezing in the car with so many people and a dog, right?"

But we need to be alive to drive there. Besides, it's pitch black outside, the car's high beams are instantly swallowed up, nothing is visible, how can we find a place?

These thoughts Old Hu and Qin Jue dared only murmur internally, not daring to voice them out loud.

Only Jie Linyuan calmly explained: "The rain is too heavy, we can't see anything, it's not safe to continue."

To Old Hu and Qin Jue, this seemed an obvious statement, visible to all, but Wu Yin actually calmed down at this explanation, still wary but no longer objecting.

Dinner consisted of three cans of beef from the trunk, left by the previous owner of the vehicle. According to Old Hu, they found six cans in total, cherished and consumed sparingly, lasting them months without finishing even one, and only the "upper class" or "officers" could eat the meat inside, while the kidnapped "sheep" could only sip water mixed with the remaining broth for a hint of meat flavor.

"Oh." Wu Yin generously opened all three cans, one for himself, one for the dog, and the remaining one for Jie Linyuan, Old Hu, and Qin Jue to share.

“……”