Chapter Fifty-One: Meat Is on the Menu Again

Chapter Fifty-One

After the apocalypse, people had already encountered mutated animals moving in packs. The snakes they met in the valley were a small mutated group, and those bees they hadn't had time to deal with had mutated en masse as well. But compared to the zombies that roamed everywhere, animals rarely appeared before humans, giving the illusion that they were less likely to mutate.

Now, reality once again proved to humanity that the number of mutated animals far surpassed that of humans!

Everyone present wore grim expressions.

Mutated animals were already difficult to handle, and now, seeing so many of them, didn’t it mean that humanity’s living space was shrinking even further?

Of course, there was one exception—Mei. At the sound of countless ducks and geese, her eyes lit up instantly. When she caught sight of the fish pond through the branches, teeming with ducks and not a few white geese, she couldn’t help but call out softly.

“With so many, how long will they last us for food?”

Then she turned eagerly to An Ziyou, eyes full of hope. “Xiao You, do you know how to make roast duck, konjac-cured duck, charcoal-grilled duck? I really want to eat them!”

Her words left the others both amused and exasperated. The grave mood about the fate of humankind evaporated instantly, and they even found her idea appealing. Mutated animals grew much larger, and wasn’t that just perfect for supplementing the human food supply?

Lin Shaojie, in particular, began salivating at the mention of those dishes. Looking at the enormous ducks in the pond, his eyes turned positively green with longing.

An Ziyou, caught by Mei’s expectant gaze, wanted to agree, but unfortunately, he only knew how to cook a handful of dishes, and none of them were what she wanted.

Seeing him shake his head, Mei was a little disappointed, but only a little. After all, An Ziyou had been a celebrity, not a chef—it would have been strange if he could cook everything.

“Don’t worry, Uncle Yu knows how to make them. Once this mission is over, we’ll ask him to cook them for you!” Unable to bear her disappointment, Ye Jingxuan quickly offered comfort.

At those words, Mei’s fleeting disappointment vanished. She turned impatiently to Mo Chen. “A’Chen, hurry, use your power—stun them all!”

“All right, all right, I know. Stop tugging at my sleeve!” Mo Chen helplessly rescued his sleeve from her grasp, then silently moved forward.

Although Mei was preoccupied with food, she hadn’t forgotten to be on guard. She drew her bow to its limit, ready to shoot at any danger that might emerge.

The others also watched their surroundings carefully, especially the trees—they hadn’t forgotten that these plants were likely the greatest threat here. Lin Shaojie channeled his wind ability to his feet, ready to back up Mo Chen at any moment.

To avoid alerting their prey, Mo Chen circled to the edge of the pond. Seeing nothing else in the water, he dipped his hand in and released his power.

A layer of violet light flashed across the water’s surface—instantly, all the ducks and geese fell over in large numbers. The few still standing flapped their wings frantically and attacked Mo Chen. Countless jets of water shot toward him, but as he dodged, he unleashed another bolt of lightning, finally bringing down all of the remaining ducks and geese.

“Looks like even mutated, these ducks haven’t learned to fly. Otherwise, we’d have had a much harder time,” Mo Chen said, a little breathless after using up nearly all his internal energy with two discharges.

Indeed, if these ducks and geese could fly, his lightning ability would have been far less effective, and since even poultry now had abilities, even if they managed to deal with all of them, someone would likely have been hurt.

“So, how are we going to fish these ducks out?” Qu Wenyuan looked around—there didn’t seem to be a boat. Did they have to swim?

“Leave that to me!” Mei walked to the pond’s edge, and with a wave of her hand, a large boat appeared before them.

The boat was huge, taking up half the pond as soon as it materialized. A surge of water spilled out, carrying many ducks to the bank—albeit the far side of the pond.

“Isn’t this an ocean-going vessel? How did you get something like that in your inventory?” Mo Chen stared at the distinctive, ancient-looking ship, unable to identify what country’s style it might be. Such wooden, somewhat vintage ships could only be found in museums anywhere in the world. Had she robbed a museum?

“I just thought it might come in handy someday, so I kept it in my space!” Mei gave a vague explanation, then leaped eagerly aboard and lowered the soft ladder for those who couldn’t jump up.

The ship was about three stories high. An Ziyou and Qu Wenyuan, untrained and without wind abilities, couldn’t have gotten aboard without help—even Ye Jingxuan, with nowhere to put his feet, would have struggled without assistance.

But Mo Chen and Lin Shaojie, using wind abilities, vaulted aboard with ease.

There were nets on the boat. They cast one, and with a single haul, brought up over a dozen ducks and geese. To prevent any poultry from waking up, Mei, Qu Wenyuan, and An Ziyou each took a knife and swiftly decapitated the birds before storing them away.

Mo Chen, Ye Jingxuan, and Lin Shaojie cast the net together, and it seemed they would finish quickly, but trouble struck with the third net. Something in the water pulled with such force that it nearly dragged the three of them in; realizing the danger, they let go immediately.

Part of the net was fixed to the boat, and the massive force made the ship shudder.

“Looks like the fish in this water have mutated, too!” Mei approached the rail and peered into the water.

Something in the net was thrashing violently, trying to break free, and from the size of the splashes, it was no small fish. Only because their boat was so large had they avoided being capsized.

“This isn’t going to work. The net won’t break, but we can’t haul it up, either!” Mei frowned.

The net was made from a blend of alchemical materials—even in her previous world, not even a beast below grade eight could break free. This fish didn’t stand a chance. But dragging it out would take too much time.

“Should I try another electric shock?” Mo Chen suggested. He was low on energy, but could probably manage one more round.

Mei shook her head. “This net insulates against energy—you can’t reach it. And you already shocked it twice, but it’s still alive; clearly, it’s immune to electricity.”

“So what now? Wait until it tires itself out?” Lin Shaojie scratched his head. They could fight on land, but in the water, they’d only be delivering themselves as food.

“Let me think!” Mei tilted her head, then suddenly clapped her hands, took out a small bottle, and carefully dripped a single drop of its contents into the pond before sealing it and putting it away.

“What is that, Mei’er?” Lin Shaojie asked curiously.

Just then, the boat stopped rocking and the water calmed.

The others were equally astonished. Whatever it was, a single drop had subdued everything in the water—it was incredible!

“It’s a potent sedative—the effect is so strong that just one drop can knock out every creature in a body of water ten times this size. But because it’s so powerful, once it enters any living thing, if there’s no antidote, it’s nearly impossible to wake up again. Fortunately, it evaporates quickly; within half an hour, its effects in the water will fade.”

“So we have to wait half an hour before we can touch the water? And after being exposed to it, is anything in the water safe to eat?” Mo Chen asked.

“No need to worry. Just keep these leaves in your mouth and you’ll be immune to the drug in the water. And as for eating—it’s even less of a problem. Once the drug enters an organism, it’s rapidly broken down; nothing will be left in their bodies. Back then—” Mei stopped abruptly.

“What’s wrong? Why did you stop? What happened back then?” Lin Shaojie pressed, sensing she was about to reveal the drug’s origin.

“It’s nothing. Back then, I just wanted to taste what creatures from deep water were like, so I invented this drug. There’s no problem with eating them!” Mei finished, glossing over the name she’d nearly let slip.

The others all stared speechlessly. What kind of glutton would invent a drug just for the sake of eating?

“Don’t tell me you forced someone to invent this just because you wanted to eat?” Remembering her insistence on him using his power earlier, Mo Chen felt he’d discovered the truth.

Sure enough, as soon as he spoke, Mei looked at him in wide-eyed astonishment, silently asking, “How did you know?”

“Glutton!” Mo Chen rolled his eyes. Only she could come up with something like this.

At his remark, Mei puffed up her cheeks in annoyance, while the others stifled their laughter.

Though Mo Chen called her a glutton, no one could deny that it was precisely this quirk that made the others feel she was just an ordinary person, someone approachable and real.

“What a huge fish!”

When they finally hauled up the net, everyone’s attention was drawn to the catch—a massive, blue-black fish over ten meters long, lying quietly on the deck.

“Let’s see what kind of core this one has,” Mo Chen said, stabbing the fish’s head with a knife. After some effort, he found a hard lump.

With a twist, a crystal stone fell onto the deck.

“Purple! It’s a lightning-element core! No wonder it wasn’t afraid of electricity!” Mo Chen exclaimed in excitement. Lightning-element crystals were exceedingly rare!

“If this fish is lightning-element, why were those ducks and geese still in the water? Shouldn’t it have electrocuted them?” An Ziyou asked, puzzled.

Mei took the core and examined it. “This fish must have just awakened its ability and hadn’t had a chance to unleash it before we killed it.”

“Just awakened? That can’t be. Judging by the core, it’s at least level three—how could it have just awakened?” Mo Chen said in surprise.

“It’s possible. Abilities can only be activated once a certain threshold is reached. If the innate starting point is high but accumulation never reaches the threshold, awakening is difficult. But once enough energy is gathered, it won’t start at level one. This fish likely absorbed your energy and awakened, so the ducks and geese were never in danger,” Mei explained.

“Does this possibility apply to humans as well?” Ye Jingxuan, who had been silent, spoke up suddenly, his eyes a mix of nervousness and anticipation, fixed intently on Mei as he awaited her answer.