Chapter 72

Chapter 72

Zhou Min reacted quickly: "Brother Black!"

He remembered—Brother Black could briefly control animals.

Sure enough, the alpha wolf nodded slightly, urging Zhou Min to run, knowing it couldn’t hold on for long.

Zhou Min immediately tried to run, but one of the captives pleaded, "Little brother, take me with you!"

After a moment’s hesitation, Zhou Min cut their bindings. The conscious man quickly woke his companions, and the group stumbled downstairs.

Suddenly, Zhou Min sensed something and turned, parrying a vine attack with his dagger.

The head wolf’s eyes now looked completely different—ferociously bestial and terrifying, as if it were ready to devour them at any moment.

Zhou Min gulped and glanced at the three trembling strangers.

While fending off attacks, his arms wounded in several places, he yelled at them, "Run, now!"

But no one moved.

Zhou Min frowned. "Why aren’t you running?"

One of them replied helplessly, "We... we can’t!"

Wolves were blocking the staircase, battling Cheng Zhiyu and the others. If they went down now, they’d likely be torn to shreds.

"Shit!" Zhou Min was drenched in sweat, looking utterly exhausted. Just then, thorny vines, alive and predatory, burst from the flat ground and shot toward them.

"Don’t let those thorns pierce you, or they’ll suck you dry!" warned the woman among the three.

But the next moment, a thorn impaled her arm. Her skin rapidly desiccated like a mummy’s, and she let out a piercing shriek.

Her companion immediately hacked through the vine with a knife picked up from the ground, stopping the withering process.

Before they could catch their breath, more vines attacked, forcing them to scramble to evade.

Suddenly, dozens of small bursts of lightning struck the thorns, scorching them black and leaving them motionless.

The three strangers sighed in relief, drenched in sweat and trembling with exhaustion.

Zhou Min’s eyes lit up at the sight of the imposing figure. "Brother Black! Is the fight downstairs over?"

He glanced down—the wolves weren't all dead yet.

Zhou Min: "?"

Cheng Mo frowned. "Not yet. Zhi Yu sent me up to check on you."

He had awakened a new ability: blink teleportation. Though newly acquired, it was enough to get him upstairs.

Zhou Min didn’t know how Cheng Mo had gotten up, but Brother Black was formidable and surely had his ways.

With Cheng Mo’s arrival, Zhou Min instantly relaxed, feeling as if he had regained his footing.

Cheng Mo glanced at Zhou Min. "You're useless."

Zhou Min rubbed his nose, feeling unfairly judged—after all, his ability wasn’t combat-oriented.

The three strangers helped each other over to them.

The head wolf seemed enraged. Vines thick as a man's wrist lashed out, stirring up dust. Combined with the dim lighting, the dust blinded them momentarily.

Eyes narrowed against the dust, Cheng Mo looked at the three strangers and said to Zhou Min, "Take them downstairs."

Downstairs, Cheng Zhiyu had used Little Roll to weave a vine cage, trapping all the wolves inside.

The wolves frantically tore at the vines, quickly ripping a hole in it, but it was swiftly repaired. For now, they couldn’t break free.

Cheng Zhiyu could have torched the wolves with Xiao Er’s fire ability, but the building was already rickety—he feared it would collapse.

With the wolves contained, Tian Qiao’s ice arrows shot into the cage, quickly eliminating them.

Tian Manman followed up with his large blade, making sure each wolf was finished off.

Cheng Zhiyu stashed the wolf bodies in his spatial inventory. Seeing Zhou Min bringing three strangers downstairs, he didn’t ask questions and prepared to go help Cheng Mo.

But just then, Cheng Mo’s voice echoed from upstairs: "Get out of here!"

Cheng Zhiyu’s pupils constricted. He tried to rush up, but a bubble of water wrapped around them and hurled them clear of the villa.

A deafening roar echoed from inside the building as Cheng Mo, without restraint, shifted into his beast form.

The head wolf seemed bewildered—how had a human suddenly transformed into a beast even larger than itself?

Cheng Mo’s beast form had grown significantly recently, now even bigger than the wolf.

After a moment of confusion, the head wolf attacked.

Thrown outside, Cheng Zhiyu’s face went pale. He stood up, ready to charge back in, but before he could, a thunderous crash echoed—the building collapsed.

Dust billowed into the air. When it settled, only ruins remained.

Cheng Zhiyu’s face turned ashen. "Cheng Mo!"

He rushed forward frantically, clawing at the rubble with his hands.

Tian Qiao and the others hurried over to help.

Then, the rubble shifted, and Cheng Mo emerged from under a slab of reinforced concrete.

"I’m fine," Cheng Mo said, his heart swelling with affection and pain at Cheng Zhiyu’s distress.

Cheng Zhiyu immediately ran over and crushed him in a hug, gritting his teeth. "You scared me to death!"

Cheng Mo rubbed his nose. "You think a little rubble could take me out?"

"Don't you dare!" Cheng Zhiyu was furious.

Cheng Mo coughed lightly. "I'm filthy—haven’t had time to clean up."

Cheng Zhiyu didn’t care at all. He pulled Cheng Mo close, looking him over for injuries. Aside from being filthy, there wasn’t a single wound. Only then did he relax.

Tian Qiao and the others grinned with relief. "Glad you’re okay, glad you’re okay."

Cheng Mo gave an ingratiating smile and tugged Cheng Zhiyu’s sleeve. "Look, I got that pig out for you too."

Along with being flung out with the water sphere was that pig.

Cheng Zhiyu didn't know what to say for a moment. Cheng Mo really was...

Cheng Mo swung his arm. "You’re not mad anymore, right?"

Cheng Zhiyu glared at him. "Damn right I am! You scared the hell out of me."

"What can I do to make you not angry?" Cheng Mo pestered, sticking close behind Cheng Zhiyu.

Cheng Zhiyu pressed his lips together. "We'll talk about it when we get back."

Hearing this, Cheng Mo let out a sigh of relief. Good, it seemed he wasn’t too angry.

"It's a male pig," Zhou Min walked over and checked between its legs.

Tian Qiao was disappointed. "A male pig can’t produce offspring. We might as well just eat it."

The pig shivered fearfully.

After thinking it over, Cheng Zhiyu decided to keep it for now—it could be used as a breeding pig.

Perhaps hearing that it might be eaten, the pig squealed, trying to bolt, but was quickly hog-tied by Little Roll around its neck, not daring to struggle anymore.

Cheng Zhiyu said, "Let’s take it back for now."

The three strangers nearby quickly approached. They all looked middle-aged, with the youngest being the woman, who appeared to be in her forties, while the other two looked around fifty.

"Thank you, boys," the woman said with a smile.

Cheng Zhiyu replied, "No need to be polite, it was no trouble. We should get going now. You all should leave soon too."

Seeing that they were about to leave, the woman quickly added, "Wait, where are you headed? We’re headed to Small River Base—is that on your way?"

She spoke with some embarrassment.

The two men nodded in agreement.

Cheng Zhiyu arched a brow. Wasn’t Small River Base their base?

Their village used to be called Small River Village but was later renamed Small River Base.

Cheng Zhiyu and the others shared a look before asking, "Why are you going to Small River Base?"

The woman explained, "We’re from Chaoyang Base. Small River Base sent a message saying they had something of significant research value, so our base sent us to investigate."

Zhou Min’s eyes perked up. "You’re researchers sent by Chaoyang Base! Chaoyang Base is really coming through? They actually sent researchers over!"

The woman understood. "So you’re from Small River Base?"

Seeing them nod, she finally smiled. "What a coincidence! Could you give us a lift?"

The two superhumans who had been with them were killed by wolves. Relying on just the three researchers to get to Small River Base, though not far, would still be dangerous. It would be much better to go together.

They had been hesitant to ask earlier, but now that they knew these were people from Small River Base, it felt much more natural to request a ride.

Cheng Zhiyu smiled. "Of course."

After all, these were specifically sent researchers. Previously, he had thought it would be good enough if someone from Chaoyang Base came to take the blood sample for research—he had done everything he could.

He never expected they would actually send researchers specifically.

When Cheng Zhiyu had sent someone to deliver the message, he had been a bit worried that Chaoyang Base would write off Small River Base as some backwater village and not take the message seriously. It turned out he had sold them short.

However, what he didn’t know was that the message he sent hadn’t actually garnered much attention.

The reason these three researchers were sent was because they had been pushed out within the research institute.

Although the institute was full of scholars and experts, not everyone was solely focused on research, with their heads in the clouds.

The institute was temporarily established after the apocalypse and lacked the structured norms of pre-apocalypse research institutions.

Post-apocalypse, the institute was somewhat chaotic, with everyone jockeying for power. The educated were often arrogant, looking down on others, forming cliques, and engaging in constant infighting, leaving little room for actual research.

These three were the "outsiders" in the institute—not sociable, avoided office politics, not shrewd, and unwilling to take sides.

But staying neutral didn’t mean others would leave them alone. Sometimes, when factions fought fiercely, those who remained neutral became targets if they couldn’t be swayed.

Even they, despite their simplicity, could sense the cutthroat environment in the institute. It was frustrating—a place meant for quiet research had become a battleground for power struggles.

With impure intentions and little focus on research, how could any meaningful results be achieved?

In the apocalypse, as researchers, they cared more about developing vaccines to benefit humanity than engaging in power struggles.

The three kept their heads down. Perhaps because others couldn’t find fault with them, they managed to fly under the radar.

Then, the base officials received the message from Small River Base and decided to send someone to check it out.

They didn’t know the specifics—Cheng Zhiyu had instructed the messenger not to mention it was blood, fearing it might bring trouble to the fawn.

He figured that even if the blood were handed over later, they wouldn’t reveal its origin.

As expected, the message was largely ignored when it reached the institute.

"Small River Base? Never heard of it. Where is it?"

"I heard it’s a village—calling it a ‘base’ is generous."

"Tch, what could a village possibly have that’s of research value? They’re probably just trying to mooch off our base."

The self-important researchers chatted casually, dismissive of the news.

"Those suits in admin actually took it seriously. We can’t just ignore it completely."

"...Send a few people over."

"Who should we send?"

Unsurprisingly, the three researchers who stayed out of the infighting and focused on their work were picked.

They couldn’t say they weren’t angry, but they didn’t refuse—not that refusing would have made a difference.

However, they had their own thoughts about going to Small River Base. The research institute at Chaoyang Base was a lost cause. Unless the administration cracked down, nothing would change—no one was seriously committed to research, so how could any progress be made?

The three, being unsociable, had to deal with constant drama from all sides, leaving them drained day after day.

So, compared to Chaoyang Base, they were more willing to go to Small River Base. Either way, since they had specifically sent a message, they must be pretty committed to research, right?

And so, they set off from Chaoyang Base to Small River Base. Two of the three were ordinary people, while the other had only a Level 1 water-based ability. If they'd gone alone, there was no way they would have made it safely to Small River Base.

Fortunately, Chaoyang Base assigned two powerful superhumans to escort them. The journey was filled with close calls, but ultimately uneventful—until they unexpectedly fell prey to wolves.

Just when they thought they were done for, they got lucky and encountered Cheng Zhiyu and his group.

"We brought some small equipment with us and hid it. Let us go find it," the woman said.

These were actually devices the research institute had deemed obsolete, considering them outdated. They figured it was better to give them to these three, and they could report to the base officials to have superhumans secure better equipment later.

Even if the devices were a bit outdated, they were better than nothing. At least they could be of some use.

Before entering the dilapidated villa, they had hidden their vehicle out of caution. Now they retrieved it and drove over.

They didn’t ride back in Cheng Zhiyu’s vehicle but drove their own instead. To ensure their safety, Cheng Zhiyu and Cheng Mo rode with them.

Cheng Zhiyu had food prepared by Cheng’s mother before they left, stored in his space. If anyone got hungry, he could take it out anytime.

Seeing how skinny they all looked, and knowing they must be hungry after being trapped by the wolves without food, Cheng Zhiyu took out the meals from his space and offered them.

The woman salivated, a bit embarrassed, but she was indeed hungry. After thanking him, she accepted the food.

The other two men didn’t refuse either.

They couldn't refuse—it smelled amazing!

After eating, the three warmed up considerably. Through the woman’s introduction, Cheng Zhiyu learned their names.

The woman was called Chi Hongyi, the younger man Feng Wentao, and the older one Chu Mingda.

Cheng Zhiyu also introduced himself and Cheng Mo.

They drove back, with the pig encased in a water bubble by Cheng Mo, following behind the vehicle.

Chi Hongyi watched in amazement. She was the only one among the three with a water-based ability, but hers was too weak—barely enough to fill a cup, and no more.

Seeing Cheng Mo use his ability like this, she couldn’t help but marvel, "I never thought a water-based ability could be used this way! That Mr. Cheng is truly ingenious."

Cheng Zhiyu felt pleased hearing this. Though the praise was for Cheng Mo, he felt a sense of pride—Cheng Mo was indeed impressive.

The noticeable group returned to the base. The guards grinned at the sight of the large pig encased in a water bubble. It had been a long time since they’d seen such a normal, domestic pig.

In the post-apocalypse, many animals had mutated. Encountering normal, non-mutated animals was quite rare, as those without mutations struggled to survive.

Cheng Zhiyu escorted the group to Lin Kang, then took Cheng Mo to the pigpen to release the pig.

The alfalfa was nearly grown enough to harvest, so they had some cut and fed to the pig. They had worried it might not adapt to the new environment and refuse to eat, but surprisingly, the pig wasn’t shy at all—it had strong mental resilience and started chowing down on the alfalfa right away.

"Some people also caught chickens, ducks, and rabbits," said the livestock manager.

Those handling the breeding were mostly ordinary people. This work didn’t require superhumans, so assigning it to ordinary folks provided them with income-producing jobs and preserved the base’s scarce superhuman resources.

"Though these chickens, ducks, and rabbits haven’t mutated, they look much larger than before the apocalypse," remarked the breeder. As an ordinary person, he hadn't left the base much since it was established, so he found these animals quite remarkable.

Cheng Zhiyu had noticed this earlier. It wasn’t that the mutated creatures were different from pre-apocalypse times—other animals had changed too. They hadn't developed special abilities but had grown bigger and hardier, better adapting to the harsh environment.

Cheng Zhiyu and Cheng Mo went to take a look and indeed saw larger chickens and ducks, about twice the size of those before the apocalypse.

"These chickens and ducks look delicious. People used to love free-range chickens—just look at these, living outside the base, they look strong," the breeder said, his face lit up with an unstoppable smile. He truly loved breeding.

The eggs laid by these chickens and ducks were naturally much larger too. The fertilized eggs could be hatched into more chicks, promising more and more poultry—just thinking about it made him happy.

They went to see the rabbits next. These rabbits, having been brought back, had already started digging holes.

Rabbits were much cuter than chickens or ducks. Though rabbits were known to be timid, these were exceptionally bold. One even hopped over to Cheng Zhiyu’s feet, trying to bite him with its large front teeth to drive this human out of its new territory.

"These rabbits may not have special abilities, but we have to be careful when feeding them. They’re aggressive! They bite at the drop of a hat. One breeder already got bitten and bled profusely," the breeder quickly warned Cheng Zhiyu to be cautious and not let his guard down just because they were rabbits.

Before the apocalypse, rabbit teeth were already sharp, but rabbits were generally timid and wouldn’t attack humans unless provoked. Post-apocalypse rabbits, however, seemed to have lost their fear—maybe their teeth had become even more formidable?

According to the superhumans who caught this group of rabbits, they managed to find them because a snake had tried to hunt the rabbits but was discovered.

The rabbits attacked the snake, undeterred by its venom, and ended up biting it to death.

The rabbits were quick and avoided the snake’s fangs. After their "victory," they left the dead snake behind and happily went off to graze.

The superhumans took the opportunity to catch them, but it wasn’t easy—these rabbits were fierce and put up quite a fight.

After hearing this, Cheng Zhiyu moved his foot away. The rabbit, thinking it had scared him off with its big teeth, puffed up with pride and tried to chase and bite him again.

But the next second, it was grabbed by the nape of its neck and lifted up.

Besides its front teeth, a rabbit’s other weapon is its hind legs—powerfully muscular. It bent its legs and kicked hard at Cheng Mo, who was holding it.

Unfortunately for the rabbit, while that force might have been significant for an ordinary person, to Cheng Mo, it felt like a light tickle.

Cheng Mo held the rabbit and said, "This rabbit gets plenty of exercise; its meat must be tasty. Zhi Yu, can we have spicy rabbit stir-fry?"

"Oh, please don’t!" The breeder kept his distance, not daring to get close. Because Cheng Mo had caught one rabbit, the others weren’t scared either—they came over looking for revenge. As an ordinary person, he couldn’t handle being bitten and kicked, so he had to stay far away.

The breeder added, "This rabbit is pregnant! Please don’t! Let it go quickly."

He was distressed. Though the rabbit was fierce, rabbits breed quickly—multiple litters per year. That meant more meat!

As he spoke, he couldn’t help but salivate.

Hearing this, Cheng Zhiyu quickly told Cheng Mo to release the rabbit: "She’s pregnant. Cut her some slack."

Cheng Mo had no choice but to set the rabbit down.

But the rabbit bore a grudge. Instead of running away, it chomped on Cheng Mo’s leg.

Cheng Zhiyu quickly picked up the rabbit and tossed it further away, then crouched down worriedly to check on Cheng Mo.

Cheng Mo hissed, "Ouch... that hurts."

"Let me see. I hope it didn’t draw blood." Cheng Zhiyu hurriedly pulled up his pant leg to check. But after looking for a while, there wasn’t even a tooth mark left, let alone blood.

If that had been an ordinary person, the bite would definitely have drawn blood.

Annoyed, Cheng Zhiyu put the pant leg down. Seeing Cheng Mo still exaggerating his pain, he said impatiently, "Stop pretending. There isn’t even a mark left!"

Cheng Mo frowned: "It's my fault for being so tough." He had originally hoped to get some sympathy from Zhi Yu.

The breeder exclaimed in shock: "Holy crap, this rabbit's tooth actually chipped!"

Perhaps from the pain, it became much more docile, allowing the breeder to check its teeth without biting.

The breeder took the chance to pet its fur—no matter what, bunnies are adorable.

Once they had seen enough, Cheng Zhiyu and Cheng Mo left.

Cheng Zhiyu scolded: "How could you be so reckless? Do you have any idea how dangerous it was today?"

Though being reprimanded, Cheng Mo was in a rather good mood, feeling that Cheng Zhiyu cared deeply about him: "I wouldn't've done it if I weren't a hundred percent sure."

"Were you scared out of your wits?" Cheng Mo said this, clearly pleased with himself.

Infuriated, Cheng Zhiyu pinched him: "Be serious!"

Cheng Mo protested: "I am being serious."

Cheng Zhiyu said earnestly: "Don’t ever do that again, understand?"

Heavens, when he saw that villa collapse, his heart felt as if it were being wrenched tight. He forgot to breathe, his mind went blank—he simply couldn’t keep it together.

That feeling was something he never wanted to experience again.

Cheng Mo took Cheng Zhiyu’s hand and frowned: "When did you get this cut on your hand?"

It was a very shallow wound, not even bleeding, and Cheng Zhiyu hadn’t noticed it before.

Cheng Mo frowned deeply: "I won’t do that again from now on."

Zhi Yu had been so scared because of him that he started digging through the rubble bare-handed. That's how he got cut.