Chapter 44

Cheng Zhiyu snapped awake and rushed outside to see, Little Black trotted after him on short legs.

Tian Qiao and Tian Manman had also heard the noise and were hurrying downstairs.

The group hurried outside and saw Zhou Min dashing inside, arms over his head in a panic. Cheng Zhiyu frowned and asked, "What happened?"

Zhou Min replied weakly, "...Don’t ask."

He had woken up early, thinking he’d make some congee for everyone. Though his cooking skills were average, congee is easy enough—he could handle that.

Zhou Min figured he needed to pull his weight so he could stick with Cheng Zhiyu’s crew. He was determined to stay with them.

But just as he finished pouring the rice into the pot and putting the lid on, a small bird fluttered over. The bird was vibrant and flashy, and honestly, pretty cute.

Zhou Min looked up to get a better look, but the bird suddenly turned its rear toward him. The next thing he knew, he felt a sharp pain in his arm—a spine had stabbed into him, and he yelled in pain.

He realized this colorful bird was probably a mutant bird, something he couldn’t handle, so he quickly ran back.

Cheng Zhiyu checked his arm and indeed found a spine stuck in it. Upon closer inspection, it was a barbed spine—if yanked out carelessly, it would cause more damage.

"Damn, since when are birds this sneaky? We didn’t even provoke it!" Tian Qiao cursed angrily.

Cheng Zhiyu, while checking Zhou Min’s injury, said, "Being in its territory is provocation enough."

He then frowned and added, "This spine needs to be taken care of fast."

"Wait, I feel a bit dizzy," Zhou Min said, his voice sounding weak.

"Whoa, this spine might be venomous!" Tian Qiao exclaimed.

No wonder mutant creatures were so hard to deal with. A single spine from this bird could take out a grown adult.

"Zhou Min, stay focused. You’re the only one here with Healing Power," Cheng Zhiyu said seriously, holding his other shoulder calmly. "Can you still use your Healing Power now?"

Zhou Min pulled himself together—he really didn’t want to die—and tested his power. Fortunately, it still worked. Without needing Cheng Zhiyu to remind him, he quickly used his Healing Power on himself.

"How is it? Feeling any clearer?" Tian Qiao asked anxiously.

Zhou Min let out a breath. "Thankfully, I can counter the venom."

His voice was still weak, but this time it was from draining his energy.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. It was good that Healing Power could handle the venom—otherwise, things would’ve been difficult, especially since they had no idea what kind of venom the mutant bird carried.

Cheng Zhiyu, looking at Zhou Min, pressed his lips together. "I should’ve had everyone relocate yesterday after finding that mutant bird nest nearby."

Tian Qiao knew him well—Cheng Zhiyu always carried this unnecessary sense of responsibility, which sometimes wore him down.

He said, "What are you talking about? How far out would we have to go to get out of the mutant bird’s territory? What if we ended up in another, even more dangerous mutant creature’s turf?"

Just as Cheng Zhiyu was about to respond, Little Black tapped his head with a paw. "Stop overthinking."

Cheng Zhiyu was surprised—it was the first time he’d seen Little Black act so bossy.

Zhou Min added, "Brother Cheng, don’t overthink it…"

Cheng Zhiyu quickly shook it off, letting out a breath. "Let’s deal with this spine first."

"How do we get it out? Do we need to make an incision?" Tian Qiao asked worriedly.

Zhou Min shuddered, almost crying. "No way!"

Tian Manman looked at him sympathetically.

Cheng Zhiyu calmed him, "No need. I think tweezers could do it—it’s not too deep."

Zhou Min breathed a sigh of relief. As long as no cutting was involved, he was fine.

Cheng Zhiyu seriously dug through his storage space for iodine disinfectant and tweezers. After disinfecting them, he hesitated, worried that the pain might make Zhou Min struggle.

He turned to Little Black. "Little Black, can you make this area numb for a while?"

Cheng Zhiyu remembered that electric shocks could have an anesthetic effect.

Little Black zapped him with a small lightning bolt, and Zhou Min immediately felt the stinging pain subside, replaced by a numb sensation.

Cheng Zhiyu glanced at Tian Qiao and Tian Manman. Tian Qiao took the cue and started talking to Zhou Min: "So, how big was that bird you mentioned? What did it look like?"

Zhou Min thought carefully. "About the size of my palm—not very big. Its face was red, like a monkey’s rear, haha…"

Tian Qiao was puzzled. "That small? How did it lay such a big egg?"

Zhou Min didn’t get it either. "Exactly! I thought the mutant bird would be huge, so when it showed up, I didn’t even consider it might be one. Otherwise, I would’ve run!"

As he said this, he regretfully smacked his thigh with his uninjured arm.

Just then, Cheng Zhiyu let out a relieved sigh. "Whew... done."

Zhou Min turned and saw Cheng Zhiyu holding the spine with the tweezers—the very spine from the mutant bird.

While Zhou Min had been talking to Tian Qiao, Tian Manman had held his arm still, and Cheng Zhiyu had taken the opportunity to remove the barbed spine with the tweezers.

Now, only a small wound remained on his arm. Zhou Min used his ability to heal it immediately, flexed his arm, and then dramatically punched one hand into the other, exclaiming, "Dr. Cheng is a miracle worker!"

Cheng Zhiyu smiled, seeing him full of energy again.

"By the way, what should we do about the mutant bird?" Tian Qiao asked.

Cheng Zhiyu replied, "We’ll check it out after eating."

They were here to clear out mutant creatures, so naturally, they had to deal with that bird too.

With so many people in the base, an increase in mutant creatures could easily threaten everyone’s safety.

No one objected. Suddenly, Zhou Min cried out and ran outside. Puzzled, Cheng Zhiyu and the others quickly followed and found Zhou Min standing guard by the pot, grumbling, "It’s all because of that damn mutant bird! My congee was just about done!"

Cheng Zhiyu and the others found it amusing, though Zhou Min’s sudden outbursts were a bit startling.

Taking advantage of the cool weather, they finished cooking the congee. Cheng Zhiyu quickly stir-fried two dishes to go with the steamed buns from yesterday.

Perhaps because their group was large, the mutant bird didn’t attack them.

Zhou Min muttered, "So sneaky. It’s probably waiting to catch one of us alone before striking."

After eating, they prepared to check out the mutant bird’s nest, only to encounter a bird as tall as half a person.

Tian Qiao exclaimed, "Whoa, there are other mutant birds?!"

After all, Zhou Min had said earlier that the mutant bird was only the size of a palm.

Zhou Min was also stunned, but upon sensing the familiar aura of the bird, he said with certainty, "It's still the same one!"

Cheng Zhiyu: "...It can get bigger."

As soon as he finished speaking, a poison spike shot toward them. Tian Manman reacted the fastest, grabbing his large blade and swinging it, knocking the spike to the ground.

At the same time, Little Black put up a water wall in front of everyone.

The mutant bird clearly hadn't expected its poison spike to miss. It raised its head and let out a high-pitched cry. Tian Qiao saw something and exclaimed, "Holy shit!"

Suddenly, a dense swarm of palm-sized birds appeared, followed by countless poison spikes shooting toward them.

The spikes shattered on contact with the water wall.

Cheng Zhiyu: "These birds naturally have poison spikes. The mutant bird's ability probably isn't the poison spikes."

Sure enough, as Cheng Zhiyu suspected, Tian Qiao suddenly screamed, "Damn, Zhou Min, are you crazy?!"

Zhou Min was holding a dagger, lunging at Tian Qiao!

Tian Qiao immediately dodged, but Zhou Min persisted, his eyes blank as he kept stabbing repeatedly, muttering, "You damn bird, still stabbing me? I'll stab you to death!"

Unable to fight back, Tian Qiao dodged to Cheng Zhiyu's side. "Damn, has this guy gone crazy?"

Cheng Zhiyu: "He's not crazy. He's probably being controlled by that mutant bird."

Tian Qiao shook his head: "Then why haven't I..."

Before he could finish, he gave a weird smile, summoned an Ice Arrow, and stabbed toward Cheng Zhiyu.

Cheng Zhiyu reacted swiftly, dodging while holding Little Black. "Tian Qiao! Zhou Min!"

Tian Qiao muttered, "You damn bird, even pretending to be Cheng? We've been brothers for years—you think I wouldn't recognize him?"

Cheng Zhiyu: "..." Great, there's even a plot.

"Manman, are you okay?" Cheng Zhiyu asked while dodging attacks from Tian Qiao and Zhou Min. Fortunately, Zhou Min was relatively weak, and Tian Qiao's strength wasn't at its usual level.

Perhaps those influenced by the mutant bird couldn't use their full abilities, which was a good thing for him.

Tian Manman nodded: "Still... okay, a bit dizzy..."

Little Black frowned: "They're too weak!"

Cheng Zhiyu sighed and called out Xiao Er from his space. Xiao Er wasn't afraid of the poison spikes. Wherever the person-sized fireball passed, the ordinary venomous birds turned into roasted birds and fell to the ground.

Even under control, Zhou Min sniffed the air: "What's that smell? So delicious! Hehehe, after I kill you, damn bird, I'm having roast whole bird."

Cheng Zhiyu: "..."

Zhou Min and Tian Qiao were separated by the water wall, so they weren't a worry for now. However, though safe inside the water wall, its protection worked both ways—he couldn't deal with the bird from there either.

Cheng Zhiyu looked at Little Black, who understood and covered himself, Cheng Zhiyu, and Tian Manman in a thin layer of water vapor.

Tian Manman wielded his large cleaver, swiftly chopping down birds.

Little Black zapped a huge group with lightning, while Cheng Zhiyu took out a machine gun. He hadn't tested its power yet.

The Little Iron machine gun was different from ordinary ones—it had unlimited ammunition.

After a round of firing, another large group of birds fell. Though he hadn't practiced aiming much and his accuracy was poor, the birds were so densely packed that precision wasn't necessary.

Seeing its minions almost all dead, the mutant bird let out a distressed cry. Cheng Zhiyu suddenly felt dizzy and saw Little Black appearing not far away, shouting, "Watch out! The birds are right beside you!"

Cheng Zhiyu frowned and turned to see the mutant bird extremely close to him.

"Don't zone out! Kill it now!" Little Black yelled.

For some reason, Cheng Zhiyu hesitated. Looking at the mutant bird, he found himself unable to strike.

Seeing him just standing there, Tian Qiao urged anxiously, "Dude, what are you doing? Kill it already!"

Zhou Min added, "Brother Cheng, stop hesitating! Listen to Brother Black!"

Cheng Zhiyu frowned, sensing something off. "Can you guys hear Little Black talking?"

Tian Qiao replied, "Yeah, of course!"

Cheng Zhiyu closed his eyes briefly, then looked at Little Black. "Since when do you fly?"

Little Black was taken aback. Before he could react, Cheng Zhiyu suddenly raised the machine gun and fired at him. The figure panickedly dodged, clearly not expecting Cheng Zhiyu to attack.

It cried out in shock, "Are you crazy?!"

Cheng Zhiyu's vision blurred, and the fleeing figure transformed into the mutant bird.

Unfortunately, his aim was poor, and the bullet only grazed the mutant bird's wing.

"Zhiyu?" Little Black nearby looked worried. Relieved to see Cheng Zhiyu snap out of it, he said, "I was about to zap you to knock you out."

Cheng Zhiyu gently touched foreheads with him. "I'm okay now."

Little Black complained, "Your forehead is all sweaty," but didn't pull away.

Little Black asked, "What happened just now?"

Cheng Zhiyu glanced at the panicked mutant bird in the distance—probably puzzled by his sudden clarity—and explained, "It felt like I was in an illusion. It took your shape and told me to kill you."

Little Black's expression darkened. That ugly bird dared impersonate him?

Seizing the moment while the mutant bird was disoriented, a lightning bolt as thick as an adult's arm struck toward it.

The mutant bird flapped wildly to dodge, but just as it evaded, another lightning bolt, bowl-sized, appeared above it. Little Black sneered, "This one's the real deal."

With its wing injured, the mutant bird's flying speed greatly reduced. It failed to dodge the lightning bolt, took a direct hit, its head charred, and fell to the ground barely alive.

Cheng Zhiyu made Little Iron transform into a crossbow, fired an arrow, and the mutant bird died.

Ignoring the bird, he quickly picked up Little Black and indeed felt his weakness.

Cheng Zhiyu frowned, gently pressing his forehead against Little Black's.

Little Black's tail flicked lightly as he whispered, "I'm fine."

Cheng Zhiyu stayed silent.

Little Black muttered, "I grow more quickly this way."

Exhausting his energy did help enhance his abilities, and since Little Black wasn't truly a young creature, his growth depended on advancing his powers.

Cheng Zhiyu said, "But you're uncomfortable like this..."

Little Black nuzzled his head awkwardly in Cheng Zhiyu's arms. "Stop being so sentimental."

Cheng Zhiyu sighed helplessly and let him rest in his embrace.

Tian Qiao and the others had regained consciousness and were dealing with the remaining poison-thorn birds. Without the mutant bird to lead them, the poison-thorn birds had become disorganized, and Tian Qiao and Tian Manman could handle them.

Although Zhou Min's ability wasn't offensive, he also had a crossbow—an ordinary one, smaller than Cheng Zhiyu's, capable of firing only five shots before needing reloading.

Surprisingly, his aim was quite good; he missed at most one out of every five shots.

Tian Manman, meanwhile, wielded a knife, blocking the poison thorns for the group.

Working together, they finished off the remaining poison-thorn birds until the ground was littered with them.

"Damn, what happened to me just now?" Tian Qiao, coming back to his senses, realized it had been an illusion created by the mutant bird, and his expression darkened.

He had previously criticized Zhou Min for lacking willpower, but when it came to himself, he hadn't fared much better.

"I finally understand why nobody wants to run into mental-type mutants—it's terrifying," Tian Qiao said, patting his chest. If it hadn't been for Cheng Zhiyu and Little Black, they would have ended up killing each other without the mutant bird even needing to lift a finger.

Cheng Zhiyu tucked Little Black inside his jacket to let him rest.

Zhou Min felt a pang of guilt, then turned his attention to Xiao Er. "Wow, what's that?"

Tian Qiao explained, "This is Xiao Er. It can turn into a fireball."

He waved at Xiao Er, but Xiao Er was unusually aloof and vanished into thin air, probably returning to the system space.

Tian Qiao rubbed his nose and changed the subject. "Can these birds be eaten? There are so many—it'd be a shame if we couldn't."

Cheng Zhiyu walked over to the mutant bird and dug out the energy core from its head. The core was transparent and sparkled beautifully under the sunlight.

It was perfect for Little Yellow.

The mutant bird was likely Level 2, and with this core, Little Yellow should be able to level up to Tier 2.

He wasn't sure if the mutant bird could change size, but Zhou Min was certain it was the same one he'd encountered before. "Its eyes were different. The ordinary birds didn't look as clever as this one—it's definitely the same."

Before dying, the mutant bird was half the size of a person, and it didn't shrink after death. It was unclear whether it could control its size only while alive.

They found the poison-thorn glands on the bird's rear, hidden beneath beautiful feathers and hard to notice unless looked at closely.

Zhou Min was still thinking about eating. "After removing the poison thorns, the meat should be edible, right?"

Tian Qiao chimed in, "There's so much meat here—it'd be a waste not to eat it."

Little Black popped his head out, curious. "Would it taste good?"

Tian Manman also looked on eagerly—in his eyes, it was all meat.

Cheng Zhiyu found it amusing; his team was full of foodies.

He said, "Remove the poison thorns and test it on an animal first."

Zhou Min snapped his fingers. "Right!"

They cleaned a few birds and tested the meat on an animal. Fortunately, the meat wasn't poisonous.

Aside from the mutant bird, there were over 300 ordinary birds. They tidied up, found a shady spot to process them. The ordinary poison-thorn birds were about the size of a palm, about as big as pigeons, with not much meat. Their processing method was quick and rough—they only kept the meatiest parts.

There was no other way; processing each one carefully would take too much time.

They set up a simple assembly line: Cheng Zhiyu chopped off the heads, Tian Qiao gutted and cleaned the innards, Tian Manman plucked the feathers, and Zhou Min did the final washing.

As for Little Black... Little Black acted as supervisor.

After finishing, Cheng Zhiyu prepared seasonings, cut the birds into pieces, and stewed them in a pot with potatoes to make potato-braised bird pieces.

He and Zhou Min watched the pot while Tian Qiao and Tian Manman used the base-issued comms to scan for mutant bird territory nearby.

The communicators had this function too. After scanning their assigned areas, the base would be notified and dispatch a pickup.

They needed to scan the areas confirmed as safe. Although this couldn't guarantee complete safety—after all, mutant animals could still move around—it was the best they could do. At least after clearing the area once, the base would be safer for a while.

Tian Qiao and Tian Manman also took the opportunity to raid the nest for mutant bird eggs to eliminate future threats.

When they returned, they were greeted by a rich aroma. Zhou Min was already chewing on a piece of meat, mumbling, "This bird meat is really tender and delicious! Come try it!"

Tian Qiao and Tian Manman hurried over, each grabbing a big bowl. After one bite, their eyes lit up, and they devoured the food ravenously.

Little Black looked on disdainfully, eating his meat slowly and elegantly—though it would have been more dignified without the bib around his neck.

He glanced at Cheng Zhiyu, who smiled at him and said, "So cute!"

Little Black: "..." Whatever.

They were eating the ordinary poison-thorn birds. Cheng Zhiyu had stored the mutant bird in his space. Mutant animal meat usually tastes bad but contained energy ordinary meat lacked, so it needs special preparation.

In Cheng Zhiyu's view, since it was still meat, there had to be a way to make it taste good.

The group decided to camp there for the night. They had originally planned to head out early that morning but ended up encountering the mutant bird. By the time they finished dealing with it, it was already late, so they decided to continue their journey the next day.

Cheng Zhiyu took the mutant bird energy core into his spatial storage and went to Little Yellow. As if sensing something, Little Yellow, usually not very active, became unusually lively today, constantly rubbing its branches and leaves against Cheng Zhiyu, acting affectionate.

Cheng Zhiyu couldn't help but smile. He cleared his throat and said, "Don't rush. I'll plant the core for you now."

Little Yellow paused, then gently patted Cheng Zhiyu as if urging him on.

Smiling, Cheng Zhiyu took a shovel and carefully planted the core near Little Yellow's roots. Little Yellow shuddered as if charged, swaying its branches contentedly.

He reached out to touch Little Yellow, but Little Yellow seemed annoyed and brushed him off impatiently with its branches, as if saying, "Shoo, shoo."

Cheng Zhiyu: "..."

Since when did it have a dual personality?

He shook his head and went to check on the other plants. Aside from Xiao Er and the others, the ordinary plant he cared most about was the wheat. The wheat planted near Little Yellow was already vibrant and green, but to his surprise, the wheat near Xiao Qiang was taller than that near Little Yellow. Not only that, its stalks were unusually thick—already as thick as Cheng Zhiyu's finger.

Did plants near Xiao Qiang grow bigger than ordinary ones? From the looks of it, it seemed so.

He just didn't know what they would look like when they grew. Would the wheat ears also become particularly large? Cheng Zhiyu was getting excited.

The green beans near Little Two and the eggplants near Little Iron already needed stakes. Cheng Zhiyu had set up a lot of wooden sticks earlier and directly used them to set up the supports.

There weren’t many plants, so it was done quickly.

The pumpkins near Little Iron had already bloomed. As for the lettuce near Little Two, Cheng Zhiyu looked at the vibrant green—wait, more like reddish-green leaves and was kinda craving them.

Lettuce leaves are at their most delicious at this stage. If left to grow further, the leaves would become somewhat bitter and less tasty.

But if he picked the leaves now, it could easily affect the lettuce’s growth…

In the end, Cheng Zhiyu couldn’t resist the temptation. It had been a while since he had eaten leafy greens—cabbage didn’t count—so he was quite eager. He went ahead and picked a large handful of leaves, planning to make garlic lettuce leaves tomorrow. It should be delicious.

After storing the tender lettuce leaves in his storage space, Cheng Zhiyu was feeling pretty good and decided to check on Little Roll.

Little Roll had entered its maturation period some time ago and was estimated to reach first-level maturity around this time.

Just as he was thinking this and before he could take a look, he heard the system notification: "Congratulations, host. Little Roll has reached first-level maturity. The reward has been issued. Please check whenever you're ready."

Hearing this, Cheng Zhiyu perked up and hurried happily over to Little Roll. He was curious about what kind of plant Little Roll would turn out to be.

The moment it reached first-level maturity, Little Roll started changing.