Chapter Fifty-Five: The Chicken and the Fruit Tree

Chapter Fifty-Five

Mo Chen and Ye Jingxuan did not return until the afternoon. Though the two appeared a bit disheveled, there were no visible injuries on them, clearly having encountered little genuine danger.

“Is everything alright now?” Mo Chen, upon sitting down, first scrutinized Mei from head to toe before asking.

“Yes, everything’s fine! What about you two? How’s the situation at the farmstead? Are there any more mutated plants?”

“We didn’t find any mutated plants, but we did come across quite a few mutated animals—something I guarantee will make you very happy!”

“What kind of animals?” Mei asked eagerly, her curiosity piqued.

“A flock of mutated chickens! Well? Aren’t you drooling already?” Mo Chen teased.

Ignoring his jest, Mei turned to look at Ye Jingxuan, a hint of urgency in her voice. “What did you find out? How many mutated chickens are there? What kind of attacks do they have? Are they all in one place or scattered throughout the farm?”

Seeing the bright anticipation in her eyes, Ye Jingxuan’s usually cold expression softened, an almost imperceptible joy warming his deep voice as he replied, “Most of the mutated chickens are in the vegetable garden, with a few in the coops nearby. There are over two hundred adult chickens, and the coops hold dozens of chicks guarded by more than a dozen adults. There are also plenty of eggs in the nests. As for their attacks, these chickens have awakened fire abilities and can shoot small fireballs. The power is about level one, but they’re numerous—a single chicken can shoot around thirty fireballs, which is equivalent to a level two fire ability user. Their beaks and claws are also extremely sharp, able to pierce five centimeters of steel. If they get close, they’re quite troublesome.”

Ye Jingxuan’s detailed explanation made it clear their time had been well spent.

“In addition,” Mo Chen added, “the corn at this farm is ready to harvest, though the rice and wheat aren’t. Many of the vegetables are ripe as well, but a lot have over-ripened and spoiled in the fields, which is a real pity.”

“So, does that mean our mission is complete?” Mei asked.

“Yes, this information is more than enough to fulfill the mission requirements,” Mo Chen nodded. Their goal for today had been to collect all the necessary information and, if possible, gather anything useful.

“What do you plan to do, Ah Ye? Leave the rest for the base, or take a share for ourselves?” Though Mei was practically salivating at the thought of those chickens—her mind filled with honey-glazed wings, crispy drumsticks, and fried chicken—she hadn’t forgotten to ask for Ye Jingxuan’s opinion.

Their objective was clear: the mission was secondary, helping the Ye family was primary, so his view mattered most.

Ye Jingxuan, seeing her longing gaze that barely concealed her impatience to go in and slaughter those chickens, felt his heart soften. Meeting her expectant eyes, he said, “We’ll take all the chickens. The chicks will be brought back to see if we can tame them. If we succeed, we’ll turn half over to the base. As for vegetables, we’ll take a third and leave the rest for the base. Aside from those few mutated pomegranate trees, the farm is mostly safe now. It can be incorporated into the base and staffed later.”

Given that their next two missions would also be resource collection, and while the base didn’t tally the exact amount, they couldn’t afford to be too greedy, Ye Jingxuan had decided early on to focus their collecting efforts on this mission.

“When should we go and get the chickens? Should we go now?” Mei could hardly sit still after hearing this.

Even though they might not get to eat the chickens tonight, she was eager to claim them as her own—the sense of security only came when the spoils were in hand.

“I knew you’d be impatient. We just got back, haven’t eaten or had a drop to drink, and you can’t even let us rest a bit?” Mo Chen put on a pitiful face as he looked at Mei’s barely contained excitement.

Mei flushed, realizing she was indeed a little too hasty, but unwilling to admit it, she shot Mo Chen a glare and argued, “Who’s stopping you from resting? Aren’t you resting right now? No one’s keeping you from eating or drinking—you have food and water in your own space, don’t you? Or do you want me to cook for you?”

Her feigned sincerity was clear—she began pulling ingredients from her own spatial storage to prove it.

“Forget it! I wouldn’t dare eat your cooking! I’m a level four ability user, and while zombies haven’t managed to take me down, I’m afraid your food would be the death of me! Fine, let’s go now, alright? Little ancestor!” Mo Chen sprang up at once, seeing her about to prepare a meal.

His exaggerated fear amused Mei and the others, and even Ye Jingxuan’s lips quirked up a little.

But seeing that Mo Chen’s terror was not entirely an act, the others couldn’t help but wonder—was Mei’s cooking truly that dreadful? For someone as fearless as Mo Chen to be so wary?

Mo Chen offered no further explanation. Unless one had personally suffered through Mei’s “dark cuisine,” it was impossible to understand its horrors—especially when the appearance was utterly misleading compared to the taste. A few more experiences would be enough to make anyone lose all faith in food.

Since the farmstead was now relatively safe and their goals clear, everyone agreed to yield to Mei’s wishes and headed back to the farm to catch chickens.

Entering the farm by another route, they soon saw, from a distance, a dozen or so mutated chickens—each three times their original size—strutting around the vegetable garden. With their leisurely pecking at leaves, they looked as harmless as in pre-apocalypse times, if one ignored their metallic beaks and talons.

There were too many chickens to catch all at once, and they couldn’t be herded like ducks, so to avoid being overwhelmed, the six decided to split up and tackle them in batches.

Like pulling aggro in a game, Mei, who had the longest attack range, would lure the chickens, and the others would ambush them.

Standing several hundred meters away, Mei nocked her bow and dropped a chicken with a single arrow. The rest instantly fluttered toward her in a frenzy. Calmly, she loosed several more arrows, bringing down a few more. Once the remaining chickens entered range, the others unleashed their abilities.

With An Ziyou’s enhancements, even Qu Wenyuan could now kill a mutated chicken in two blows; the others had it even easier. In one round, before the chickens could even spit fireballs, they were all felled.

Meanwhile, An Ziyou, boosted for speed, cleaned up the battlefield, storing all the spoils in her space and making room for the next round.

In this way, Mei would lure a dozen or two at a time, ensuring everyone could kill them in a single round, and soon the entire flock of over two hundred mutated chickens in the vegetable patch was eliminated.

Only the adults and chicks in the coops remained.

Since the chicks needed to be captured alive, they discussed a new approach: this time, someone else would attract the adult chickens’ attention. With the adults drawn away, Mei would quickly scoop the chicks into her spatial storage.

Of the six, only Mei’s space could hold living creatures, so she alone could do this job.

With their plan set, Lin Shaojie volunteered to play decoy, and no one objected to his enthusiasm.

After assigning roles, Lin Shaojie carefully crept toward the coop while Mei hid on the other side, ensuring the chickens wouldn’t spot her but ready to move in as soon as the adults were lured away.

However, since the wind blade’s range was shorter than the chickens’ alert distance, the mutated chickens spotted him before he could act. At once, they screeched loudly—several charged at Lin Shaojie, while most stayed behind to guard the chicks.

This was not what they had expected.

Seeing this, the rest of the team abandoned stealth and joined the attack. Sensing they were outnumbered, and perhaps fearing the chicks would suffer if they died, the adult chickens suddenly began killing the chicks themselves.

One by one, the adult chickens snapped up the chicks. Mei fired arrows as quickly as she could, dropping the adults with lightning efficiency, but even so, over twenty chicks were pecked to death.

Mei hurriedly swept the surviving chicks into her space before they scattered, setting up a separate area to keep them. She looked regretfully at the lost chicks—such a waste, so much meat gone before it had a chance to grow.

“Alright, don’t be too upset. We’ve already gained plenty, and besides, chicks taste much better than adults. We’ll have someone cook them for you when we get back.” Mo Chen, easily guessing her thoughts, patted her head.

“You’re right!” With that, Mei’s disappointment quickly faded.

After gathering a share of vegetables from the field, the six began to withdraw.

“Oh, by the way, Chen, Ye—did you check out the orchard when you went in earlier?” Mei suddenly remembered the farm had a sizeable orchard.

“We didn’t go in, just looked from a distance,” Mo Chen replied, shaking his head.

“Why not?” Mei asked, puzzled.

“Because the trees are all bearing fruit, and you can see the heavy clusters from far away. But more importantly, many of those trees shouldn’t be fruiting in this season at all. Those few pomegranate trees are already more than enough trouble—if the whole orchard is mutated, we’d all be trapped here.”

With this explanation, Mei understood their caution, though she remained curious. “What do you think that smoke released by the pomegranates actually does?”

“I have no guess,” came the unanimous reply.

No one dared to experiment with such unknowns—if it was an anesthetic or a hallucinogen, that was one thing, but if it was deadly poison, a single test could mean death.

Knowing they couldn’t possibly answer, Mei didn’t expect any input and instead began pondering how she might get her hands on those fruit trees.

If she could bring them back for Xirui, he would surely be pleased.