Chapter 33: Rare Tree Species

Chapter 33: Rare Tree Species

The mutated bees temporarily delayed their plan to clean up the residential area that day.

But Zhou Yun was thrilled and spent several days hovering around the beehive, observing the bees and searching for the queen.

Guan Yuanfeng found Zhou Yun’s obsession with the mutated bees amusing. He even went so far as to transplant flowering plants from the neighborhood into the backyard to support the beekeeping, putting the herb garden on the rooftop on hold for the time being.

Lately, they spent most of their time in the lower part of the neighborhood. Guan Yuanfeng took the opportunity to collect gasoline from the abandoned vehicles and brought it back. He activated the generator and connected it to the villa’s power system, restoring electricity and cooking meals for Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun commented on Guan Yuanfeng's cooking: "It’s edible, with generous portions, and it’s all in one pot."

The one-pot stew was pork meatballs braised with napa cabbage, to which some dried bamboo shoots, wood ear mushrooms, daylily buds, vermicelli, bacon, and sausage slices were added. Although it didn’t look great, the taste was quite decent.

Zhou Yun stored sausages, fish balls, and beef balls in the villa’s refrigerator. During their search of the neighborhood, they also collected and stored food in the villa. With the vegetables in the backyard now ready for harvest, there was a sufficient, albeit miscellaneous, supply of food in the villa.

Guan Yuanfeng handed Zhou Yun a chive egg pancake and said, "I’m really not that good at cooking."

Zhou Yun, however, asked, "How many crystal cores did you collect today?"

Guan Yuanfeng replied, "Sixty-seven. They’re all stored there. You can check them later."

"You’re really a crystal core harvesting machine!" Zhou Yun thought, impressed by the efficiency, though Guan Yuanfeng needed a lot of crystal cores for his upgrades. Zhou Yun asked, "When I select some for you to absorb, how many can you absorb daily now?"

Guan Yuanfeng said, "Fifteen." He then added, "I estimate we need to go to the downtown area to deal with some zombies. The neighborhood here is almost cleared out."

"Moreover," he frowned, "the zombies in this neighborhood are relatively weak."

Zhou Yun said, "That’s true. The zombies in the downtown area should be stronger. However, mutated cores are rarer there. We should still head to Qingyun Reservoir first. Otherwise, once it gets cold, the mutated fish in the water will become difficult to handle."

"Also, in the mountain forest next to the reservoir, there are many wild animals. There should be opportunities to find some mutated plants and animals there."

Guan Yuanfeng nodded, "Alright."

Zhou Yun continued, "But we should first go to the mall in the city to get some fishing rods, inflatable boats, and other fishing and lifesaving equipment. With you as the strongest combatant, even the zombie-packed and perilous mall seems within reach now."

Zhou Yun chuckled, feeling a bit emboldened by Guan Yuanfeng’s strength.

Seeing Zhou Yun’s smile, Guan Yuanfeng, infected by his cheerful mood, added, "We can also look for more photovoltaic equipment, power generation equipment, water pumps, filtration equipment, and automatic sprinkler systems. That way, you won’t have to water the backyard by yourself all the time."

Watching Zhou Yun tirelessly planting non-stop, he suspected that if this continued, Zhou Yun would eventually turn over and plant everything in the nearby area.

Zhou Yun nodded.

The next day, the two of them fully armed themselves early in the morning. Even Comet changed into a protective suit and reinforced armor. Zhou Yun personally placed two pieces of mutated snapping turtle fish scales, impervious to water and fire, on Comet's abdominal armor.

The two humans and one dog got into the car and headed to the most bustling department store in Danlin City.

As expected, the store was swarming with zombies, but when Guan Yuanfeng’s lightning struck, many of them fled instantly.

Zhou Yun sighed once again, thinking how incredibly useful lightning psychic abilities were.

They smoothly cleared the mall, collecting useful inflatable boats, fishing rods, life jackets from the sports section, and choosing several sturdy solid baseball bats and solid metal rods as backup weapons. They also picked a few lightweight and sturdy suitcases from the luggage section and placed them in the shopping cart. Zhou Yun then dragged Guan Yuanfeng to the men’s clothing section.

He selected many clothes for Guan Yuanfeng, ranging from thermal underwear, insulated leather gloves, leather hats, down jackets, leather jackets, cold-weather gear, footwear, and more, filling two suitcases. He even grabbed high-quality goose down comforters, silk quilts, and bedding sets, preparing two of each.

Knowing how minimalistic Guan Yuanfeng’s belongings were, Zhou Yun figured he might not like using family or other people’s things, so he took this opportunity to prepare a set for him, choosing lightweight and thin items that wouldn’t take up much space.

Guan Yuanfeng was left speechless, "If we need more, we can always come back. There are plenty of stores nearby."

Zhou Yun shook his head. "As the psychics from each survivor base gradually develop, they will definitely start going out to search for supplies." Just as having Guan Yuanfeng, my lightning-empowered companion, allows me to travel more freely and expand my range of activities.

Once each base stabilizes and the psychics develop, discovering that crystal cores can boost psychic powers, they will begin forming teams to hunt zombies and gather supplies. Each base will collect crystal cores and supplies in exchange for points.

Guan Yuanfeng frowned. "They likely won’t come here anytime soon. After all, there’s the Linghe River blocking the way. Before the broadcasts stopped, they said the cross-river bridge was filled with zombie hordes, advising survivors to wait for rescue boats. Plus, this place is near the woods and it’s not a major industrial city. It’s too small to be worth coming to."

Zhou Yun nodded, knowing Guan Yuanfeng was right. There were no survivor camps in the provincial capital either. Nearby, only one military survivor camp existed among the three provinces, and the rest were small private camps that lacked the capability to clear the area.

Guan Yuanfeng furrowed his brow. "I don’t know which camp is the closest. I heard survivors were called to gather in the provincial capital."

Zhou Yun picked a few high-quality leather belts and put them in the suitcase, casually saying, "Beiming."

Guan Yuanfeng raised his thick eyebrows. "Beiming City? Isn’t that a port city? Why do you think it would be there?"

Zhou Yun explained concisely, "This province has always been a land of fierce folk and martial spirit. The strait city of Beiming is known as the 'First Fierce City.'"

"At a time like this, the underworld factions and families by the port must be organizing fishermen to protect their families."

Guan Yuanfeng nodded. "Beiming City is nestled between mountains and the sea. It’s easy to defend and hard to attack. As long as the zombies inside the city are cleared, it would be easy to hold."

Zhou Yun nodded and didn’t continue the conversation, picking a pair of sunglasses for Guan Yuanfeng to try on.

Guan Yuanfeng held the sunglasses. "You should pick some clothes too."

Zhou Yun had stocked up before the apocalypse, but under Guan Yuanfeng’s watchful eye, he picked up a down jacket anyway. "I have enough at home. There’s no more space."

Guan Yuanfeng glanced at a luxury shirt brand nearby. Although he didn’t understand brands, he knew it was high-end. He picked a few linen shirts for Zhou Yun. "I see you like wearing shirts. Take these. They’ll just go to waste here."

It had been six months since the apocalypse began, and a thick layer of dust had settled everywhere, along with the smell of zombies. Before the apocalypse, these luxury counters were out of reach, but now they sat abandoned and dusty.

Zhou Yun thought of something else. "It’s going to get cold. Let’s get some heating appliances and then head to the watch counters to pick a couple of waterproof, durable, self-winding watches."

Guan Yuanfeng had no objections. He let Comet follow Zhou Yun for protection while he cleared the way with lightning, heading first to the small appliances section to grab some electric heaters, electric blankets, heaters, hand warmers, and hot water bottles. Then they went down to the first floor's watch and jewelry counters.

Danlin City was small, so the watches weren’t particularly exorbitantly priced, but the array of expensive watches in the display cases was of a grade that, before the apocalypse, their salary class could never afford.

Zhou Yun picked two solar-powered waterproof watches with perpetual calendars, astronomical charts, and moon phase functions. He handed one to Guan Yuanfeng and put the remaining watches into the suitcase. These watches are valuable pieces of technology that will be useful in this new world.

Guan Yuanfeng looked at the astonishing price on the watch box, raised his eyebrows, and put the watch on his wrist. He saw Zhou Yun lift the black cloth covering the glass counters of the nearby jewelry section and inspect carefully. Guan Yuanfeng asked, "In the apocalypse, will these still be useful?"

Zhou Yun said, "Precious metals are non-renewable on Earth. Gold is still a valuable material for scientific research and medicine. However, there aren’t any valuable metal items here. Most of them are low-purity colored gold and inlaid jewelry. The really valuable pieces are likely stored in safes. We don’t need them now, so there’s no point in wasting effort."

Guan Yuanfeng nodded. "Is there anything else you want?"

Zhou Yun looked at the cosmetics and perfume section and said, "Let’s get some perfume."

Guan Yuanfeng asked, "Perfume?"

Zhou Yun explained, "It seems to help deter zombies. Spraying it around the house and on people might help mask the smell of blood and human scent, reducing the chance of being discovered by zombies. Further experimentation is needed."

Guan Yuanfeng nodded, and they pushed the shopping cart over, collecting a suitcase full of perfume. Checking the time, Guan Yuanfeng asked, "The basement level is a supermarket. Should we go?"

Zhou Yun shook his head. "There’s nothing particularly needed for now. The basement level connects to the parking lot, so there must be a lot of zombies. It would be a waste of time. Let’s go to the agricultural equipment store."

Guan Yuanfeng nodded. "Alright."

Guan Yuanfeng noticed Zhou Yun’s smirk and asked, "What’s on your mind?"

Zhou Yun explained, "I’m looking for a good fishing net. We should also grab some winter farming gear, like insulation film, greenhouse frames, and automatic sprinklers."

Guan Yuanfeng found Zhou Yun's serious demeanor to be charmingly earnest.

The two left the department store, and another group of zombies had gathered at the entrance. Guan Yuanfeng dispatched them with a lightning strike. They quickly loaded the gathered supplies into the car and set off for the outskirts of the city, where a forest farm, nursery, agricultural equipment stores, and seed shops were concentrated.

Guan Yuanfeng's car was indeed sturdy. With its high wheels, it sped down the roads, and even when encountering a zombie horde, it charged through without flinching. They soon arrived at the outskirts, where the number of zombies suddenly decreased.

They first visited several agricultural equipment stores and found a variety of sturdy nets, handheld net scoops, electric nets, underwater fishing cages, fish bait, and more. They also picked out a few small devices, such as small reel-type sprinklers, self-propelled irrigation systems for greenhouses, and several large rolls of greenhouse film. Additionally, they loaded several boxes of pesticides and bags of fertilizer.

Standing in front of the stores, Zhou Yun spotted the sign for the forest farm and felt an urge to explore. "The forest farm... I want to see if there are any good fruit or flower trees there—but we've already loaded a lot of things today."

Guan Yuanfeng said, "Let's go take a look. If you find something you want, we can set it aside and I'll come back tomorrow to fetch it."

Considering the possibility of finding mutated seedlings, Zhou Yun agreed and got back in the car.

Guan Yuanfeng drove directly into the forest farm and straight into the nursery area.

There were very few zombies here, and the area was filled with rows of nursery plants, mostly common landscape species such as banyan trees, crape myrtles, yellow bell trees, flame trees, jacarandas, silk trees, osmanthus, and small-leaf camphor trees.

Guan Yuanfeng drove slowly, lowering the windows so Zhou Yun could look out for anything he wanted.

Zhou Yun, his eyes fixed on the passing scenery outside the window, suddenly said, "It's Huanghuali (Dalbergia odorifera)! Such a precious tree species, and they have it here!"

Guan Yuanfeng stopped the car. "Should we go down and get some seedlings to take back?"

Zhou Yun nodded. "Yes."

Guan Yuanfeng watched Zhou Yun walk through the nursery. The Huanghuali seedlings were likely introduced from elsewhere, as there were only about thirty or forty small seedlings planted in black nutrient soil bags. They all looked similar, but Zhou Yun examined each one carefully and finally selected one to put in the car.

Guan Yuanfeng was surprised. "Not picking more?" He looked at the seedling, which seemed similar to the others, but its leaves had some silver veins.

Zhou Yun said, "We've already loaded a lot of things today, so I'll just pick a few useful ones. While valuable, this tree takes years to mature and is mainly used for making furniture, which has limited use in the apocalypse. Additionally, rosewood oil has some medicinal value for warming the stomach, stopping vomiting, and promoting blood circulation."

With his experience from the future, he knew that rare ancient tree species were more likely to mutate. So, he searched carefully and indeed found a mutated seedling.

Once mutated, the tree would grow larger and be easier to cultivate. If nurtured using psychic abilities, the seeds would likely grow into mutated tree species.

Although it was the apocalypse, the demand for luxury goods among the elite was endless. Huanghuali wood was a precious furniture material, and being able to introduce such an economically valuable tree species was a good thing.

If he could find even better mutated tree species, it would be even better.

Thinking this, he moved to a nearby nursery area. He also realized that this area was likely for rare tree species. He saw agarwood, golden nanmu (Phoebe zhennan), red sandalwood, podocarpus, qinan, golden camellia, and red maple, but none were mutated.

He soon made a new discovery—a patch of Taxus chinensis seedlings. Among them, he found a mutated seedling and, suppressing his excitement, carefully picked it out.

The roots, stems, leaves, and bark of Taxus chinensis contained high levels of paclitaxel, an expensive clinical drug for cancer treatment and a "star chemotherapy drug." Originally slow-growing and difficult to cultivate, this mutated species would grow faster, significantly increasing its medicinal value.

Discovering these two rare, mutated tree species made the day's efforts truly worthwhile.

He returned to the car and asked Guan Yuanfeng to continue driving. Soon, they reached the medicinal plant nursery area, where a batch of notoginseng, schisandra, eucommia, goji berries, licorice, sidebark, forsythia, and other common medicinal plants were grown. He only picked a few that he didn't already have but found no mutated seedlings.

Next, they reached the fruit tree nursery area, where he selected a few rare fruit tree seedlings such as dragon fruit, mango, sugar apple, wax apple, and walnut, and loaded them into the car.

Without proper care, how many of these trees would survive the harsh winter?

Seeing Zhou Yun's regret, Guan Yuanfeng said, "If you want any seedlings, pick them out, and I'll come back tomorrow to fetch them for you."

Zhou Yun shook his head, a bit of melancholy in his expression. "It's all fate. Winter is coming soon. I can save this seedling but not that one. There are so many nursery plants in this entire forest farm. How many can the two of us take care of? I still have plenty in my greenhouse."

Guan Yuanfeng was unaware of the impending harsh winter, but Zhou Yun knew that with temperatures expected to drop to an unprecedented minus thirty degrees, they had already stockpiled a lot of food and gasoline.

However, we should still try to collect more diesel, just as a precaution. The water and wind power generation oil drums on the rooftop can hold ten cubic meters each, so let’s fill them up for now.

He then comforted Guan Yuanfeng, "Once we survive the winter, the plants that make it to next year might have mutated."

Guan Yuanfeng was surprised, "Can plants mutate too?"

Zhou Yun vaguely replied, "It feels like they might. They seem a bit off."

Guan Yuanfeng thought about it and figured it made sense. Humans and animals can mutate, so why not plants?

He remembered Zhou Yun planting prickly pear cacti on mutated fish intestines and how Zhou had transplanted jasmine from the neighborhood into the front and back yards of his villa. Jasmine was so ordinary and unremarkable that most neighborhoods used it for their flower beds, but no one would plant such a common potted plant at home.

But as Zhou Yun mentioned it, he also recalled that most of the landscape plants in the flower beds had withered under the scorching sun. Yet, the jasmine Zhou Yun transplanted was blooming with white flowers all over its branches, smelling really strong.

Zhou Yun had already placed the seedlings properly and closed the car door, "Let's go and check out the back area." He was happy to have found two mutated plants at the beginning, but after finding none later, he felt a bit disappointed. Plant mutations were rare and slow in the early stages of the apocalypse, mostly occurring in wild plants, but they became more frequent later on.

Now thinking about it, it seemed that as mutated animals, zombies, and mutated individuals died, returning to dust, their energy returned to the earth, nourishing and giving rise to mutated plants.

Zhou Yun was lost in thought, so Guan Yuanfeng didn’t disturb him, simply driving the car around the end of the forest farm. There, they saw chickens running all over the hillside, along with a zombie caught in the barbed wire.

The zombie was presumably impaled on the collapsed barbed wire and, lacking intelligence, couldn’t free itself, blindly howling there.

Guan Yuanfeng stopped the car and took a knife to behead the zombie in one stroke.

Zhou Yun, along with Comet, got out of the car and looked at the barbed wire fence combined with the fishing net enclosure. He realized, "These are free-range chickens under the forest, raised by the forest farm."

Guan Yuanfeng nodded, looking at the damaged part of the fence, "A lot of them must have escaped."

Zhou Yun looked at the native chickens, "They are pure local chickens, raised for so long, free-range under the forest. They must be delicious... let's catch them all."

Boiled chicken, stewed native chicken with mushrooms, crystal steamed chicken, honey-roasted chicken, and chicken soup hotpot for the upcoming long winter... This winter would last a long time, and with both of them being mutated along with their dog, they needed a lot of food. Now that Guan Yuanfeng had set up his place, they could keep all these chickens.

With no markets left, getting meat to eat during the cold days would be hard.

Guan Yuanfeng nodded, and Zhou Yun was about to go in when Guan Yuanfeng grabbed his arm, "Wait here."

Guan Yuanfeng then went back to the car to pull down a fishing net, scattering some fish feed at the gap in the fence, creating a deep net pocket.

Zhou Yun thought Guan Yuanfeng would let Comet chase the chickens, but instead, Guan Yuanfeng raised his hand, and suddenly, over a dozen little whirlwinds rose from the hillside, driving the chickens. Although wind-based abilities were less rare than lightning abilities, they were still uncommon.

The wind-based abilities Zhou Yun had seen in his previous life rarely mastered the skill of tornadoes so early. Most only managed gentle breezes and single-target blades of wind.

Seeing Guan Yuanfeng handle over a dozen whirlwinds while hiding lightning within them and hiding electricity within the wind blades was a first for Zhou Yun.

Comet joyfully howled and rushed up the forest slope to join in the chicken chase.

These free-range chickens hadn’t been fed well and were mostly lean with long feathers and fast legs, running swiftly with wings flapping. Some were attracted by the feed and ran over to peck at it, while others were herded by Comet and the swirling winds into the net.

Guan Yuanfeng efficiently tightened the net, completing the capture of a full bag of free-range chickens.

Zhou Yun was impressed, "Impressive, chicken-catching expert."

Guan Yuanfeng casually replied, "Not as good as your frog-killing skills."

They smiled at each other.

Initially, Zhou Yun only wanted to catch a few chickens to put in the back compartment, which was already filled with a rubber boat, agricultural equipment, and goods. The two back rows of seats were packed solid with suitcases from Zhou Yun's earlier looting at the department store, leaving no space in the aisle, which was already filled with seedlings. Even Comet had to squeeze in.

With Guan Yuanfeng's high efficiency, catching dozens of lively chickens, Zhou Yun wondered how to manage it. If the chickens pooped a few times inside the car, the smell would make it unusable.

Zhou Yun looked somewhat troubled, but saw Guan Yuanfeng open the rear compartment and nimbly climbed onto the roof with a quick motion. He first laid out the prepared mesh bag on the roof and then reached out to Zhou Yun, saying, "Give me the net bag."

In no time, Guan Yuanfeng effortlessly lifted the entire bag of farm-raised chickens onto the roof and secured it onto the roof rack with luggage straps.

This was supposed to be the roof of a fancy off-road SUV, perfect for mounting drones or solar panels. Now, however, it was tied up with a bag of clucking chickens, creating a totally different vibe, turning it into a rustic pickup truck for hauling cargo.

Zhou Yun stood below, watching Guan Yuanfeng secure the chicken bag with the luggage straps and a rope he had taken from the department store earlier. His movements were swift and steady.

Considering his usual calm and commanding presence, and his impressive lightning abilities, Zhou Yun couldn't stop laughing seeing him handle a few flapping chickens.

From up on the roof, Guan Yuanfeng saw Zhou Yun's bright smile and could tell he was in a great mood. He thought to himself, "It's just a little thing, but it seems like it really made his day."