Chapter 49: What’s Wrong, Jie Chen, Didn’t You Eat Enough?

Chapter 49: What's going on, Jie Chen? Did you skip lunch or something?

Wu Yue sneaked a look around, checking the coast was clear, and decided to take the two chickens back to her dorm first.

Anyway, her dorm was spacious enough, and there were only two people on the entire floor. Her neighbor was like a ghost—she hadn’t even caught a glimpse of them in the half month since she joined Blaze.

Maybe she could just stash the mutant chickens in the common area for a few days?

Shen Que, a proper team captain, wouldn’t blow up over something this small, right?

No way, Wu Yue nodded solemnly.

The captain wasn’t that petty!

Sneaking open the cages of the two mutant chickens, she found that after purification, they had become much more docile and treated Wu Yue like their boss.

Under her direction, they stepped out of the cages one after the other and followed behind Wu Yue, led by the Little Golden Crow.

The whole way, they stuck to back alleys, moving like a bunch of burglars.

Back in the dormitory area, Wu Yue stashed the two chickens in the corner connecting her dorm and Shen Que’s.

That spot happened to link to the emergency exit, somewhere nobody ever went.

The two mutant chickens were obedient, following Wu Yue’s every word. She quickly set up a quick-and-dirty coop and locked the door.

After finishing the construction, Wu Yue felt satisfied but couldn’t shake the guilt.

Hijacking public space for unauthorized construction and raising poultry in a residential building—if discovered, would she get chewed out?

Wu Yue whispered-yelled to the two mutant chickens, "Keep it down, and whatever you do, don’t make noise. No disturbing the neighbors."

The two chickens looked at her like she was crazy, then clucked, "Cluck cluck!"

Just as Wu Yue was about to leave, the mutant chickens suddenly started clucking incessantly. She broke out in a cold sweat.

Wu Yue whisper-yelled, "What’s going on? Didn’t I just tell you to keep quiet?!"

Then she noticed the two mutant chickens beginning to rhythmically contract their bodies. After a few beats—

*Thud!*

Two oval eggs dropped to the ground. Unlike the dark, gray, pockmarked, almost toxic-looking eggs she’d seen in her past life, these were smooth-shelled and pale yellow, resembling the farm-fresh eggs described in ancient literature.

Given the mutant chickens’ massive size, each egg was as big as Wu Yue’s head.

Squatting down, Wu Yue stared at the two eggs in a daze for a long moment before finally snapping out of it and pulling out her scanning device:

"Scan target: Purified mutant chicken eggs

Egg quality: S+

Description: Uncontaminated mutant eggs (unfertilized), great fried, scrambled, or boiled.

Bonus effect: +1% constitution enhancement (effects do not stack within 24 hours)."

Wu Yue’s gaze lingered on the constitution enhancement for a long while, stunned. Meanwhile, the freshly laid-out mutant chickens flapped their wings, dusting her with feathers before hunkering down in the coop to sleep.

Drifting back to her dorm with two watermelon-sized eggs in hand, as if in a dream, Wu Yue slowly climbed into her treatment pod.

As she stepped inside, she remembered that Jian Suiyu had reminded her to make time to read the Celestial Master Manual?

Fine. She found the manual, which had blended into the floor in the corner, and brought it into the pod, placing it securely on herself.

Then, she coolly shut her eyes and pressed the pod's shutdown button.

Sharing the same pod—close enough—meant she’d basically read it.

After nightfall, the floor where Wu Yue resided was dead silent, with only the faintest sound of footsteps coming from the emergency stairwell.

The footsteps suddenly halted at the entrance of the passage. Hidden beneath a cloak, a pair of eyes gaped in disbelief at the two Mutant Chickens sleeping soundly.

Who... had the guts to raise chickens on his damn doorstep!?

"Wu Yue..."

....

"Wu Yue!"

Wu Yue opened her eyes in confusion.

"Wu Yue! Who let you wander off like this?!"

She looked around and realized she was in an orphanage, staring at her tiny hands—likely no older than three years old.

Her chubby, pale little hands resembled glutinous rice balls.

But the caretakers, long weary of the endless stream of children, showed not an ounce of warmth in their eyes.

"I just don’t get it. Why are we still taking in kids when the apocalypse is here?

Kids are dead weight. Adults can barely survive—why bother raising children?"

"Children are the future, the hope of our legacy."

"Spare me the saint act when you can't even take care of yourself first. Legacy of hope? If it weren’t for the food and shelter—and not getting abused by men—I wouldn’t be here!"

"Hey, haven’t you noticed? All the kids being sent here were born the year the apocalypse began."

"Now that you mention it, they’re all around three years old. Is there some significance?"

"I heard the brass are searching for children born at the start of the end. They say one of them carries a locked-away power."

"A locked-away power... The hell’s that mean...?"

The voices suddenly grew distant. Wu Yue jolted awake.

The moment she awoke, a streak of red flickered in her gaze.

She was stuck in a daze for a long time. A child born at the start of the end... a locked-away power...

Wu Yue recalled that Su Mo and Yi Na, who had been hauled out of the orphanage back then, were also children born at the start of the end.

Could the locked-away power lie within them?

If so, it made sense why Richard’s attempt to harm Su Mo had set off that nightmare.

At 7 a.m., Wu Yue opened the pod and began her morning combat prep.

Today was Jie Chen's beating lesson. As she rushed to the training ground, he hurled a staff at her.

Wu Yue caught the stick. "Same rules as last time? The session ends if I land a hit on you?"

Jie Chen sneered. "You think you can slack off every day like this? You’ve always been cutting corners, never bothering to build a solid foundation—not even worth a dog's spit.

Starting today, you’ll go back to the absolute basics.

Four hours of horse stance, four hours of punishment drills. If you dare rest for even a moment, I’ll show you what death feels like."

Wu Yue, "And what about you? Just gonna stand there and watch your lazy self?"

Jie Chen, "Hah, unlike you, I’ve been training since 4 a.m.

From now on, I’ll be training alongside you."

Good - at least he wouldn't slack off like those other losers.

Wu Yue nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, sir!"

Jie Chen was briefly pleased with her enthusiasm—

But then—

Wu Yue, "Jie Chen, ever thought about adding another 100KG to your dumbbells?

They look pathetically light. Won’t get the desired training effect."

Wu Yue, "Jie Chen, one whole hour and you're already winded?

Surely a beast like you can manage 30 more laps."

Wu Yue, "Jie Chen, a measly 200 pull-ups?

What’s wrong? Did baby skip breakfast today?"

Wu Yue, "Jie Chen,...."

Jie Chen, "SHUT UP!! or I'll kill you!!"