The Old Cat Catches Fish

It had looked pretty bristled when it was thrown into the water for the first time.

But the moment it heard about braised fish, its eyes lit up.

It looked at the fish on the ground and felt that it still wasn't enough. In fact, it wasn't against going into the water one more time.

So it circled its tail once, then picked up the rope from the ground and signaled to Jiang You to tie it up and throw it into the water again.

"Meow!!!"

Come on, come on! One more time!

I'm not afraid. Throw me down again so I can catch some fish!

This little bit of fish isn't enough to eat!

Although the cat couldn't speak human language, Jiang You somehow understood what it meant.

"Let's talk about it when we come back. Let's look around somewhere else first."

She clubbed the fish still flopping on the ground to death and stored it in her space.

For some reason, no mutated animals or plants could enter the space alive. They could only be put inside after being killed.

But then she thought about it and figured it might be caused by the space's exclusivity.

After all, if mutated animals were stored inside, they would directly destroy the space's original ecological balance.

Other ordinary living creatures could be slaughtered at will.

After storing the last carp in her space, Jiang You turned around and left with Da Zhuang.

All the koi in Bibo Lake had mutated. Just thinking about it made her scalp prickle.

Da Zhuang was tough and thick-skinned, but if a person had fallen in, they probably would have been eaten down to the last scrap of bone in minutes.

However, since she had dared to put Da Zhuang into the lake, she was fully confident that nothing would happen to him.

After all, during this period, Da Zhuang had often helped her catch Tier 2 zombies, and no one knew how many Tier 2 zombie brains he had eaten.

He had long since forged himself a body of bronze skin and iron bones.

Hadn't that carp that had bitten his head just now left nothing behind except saliva all over him—not even a tooth mark?

Still, who knew what this mutated fish had eaten to grow so huge.

It might have eaten quite a few zombies. After all, with the rising water, these fish must have swum everywhere.

She'd better find a separate pot to stew it in. From now on, she would use that pot exclusively to cook food for Da Zhuang.

The entire park was lush and green. Not only had the trees not withered, but perhaps it was just her imagination—she felt that these flowers, grass, and trees were even more verdant than ordinary plants.

For example, there was a pine tree beside the square covered in red ribbons. She had passed by it while stockpiling supplies before the apocalypse.

At the time, she hadn't thought it was this large.

Could it be a mutated plant?

Jiang You approached the tree and pressed her hand against its trunk, but she sensed no energy at all.

It probably wasn't a mutated plant.

Mutated animals and plants had special energy fluctuations. With careful sensing, they could be detected.

She looked at Da Zhuang. "Da Zhuang, do you think this tree looks like a mutated plant?"

Mutated animals had a much stronger ability than humans to identify certain things.

Da Zhuang climbed the tree in a few quick moves, darting up and down, sniffing here and pawing there. Then he jumped down and shook his head at Jiang You.

When he came down, he had even pulled off a handful of pine needles and chewed them.

Jiang You sighed in disappointment.

She followed the path inward. The farther in she went, the less verdant the plants became. Many had even withered completely.

It seemed that the plants growing best were those near the edge of Bibo Lake.

Jiang You used the map to find the botanical garden.

The botanical garden was easy to recognize. She followed the signs, and before long, she saw a large expanse of reflected light in the distance. She knew she had arrived.

The botanical garden was a vast simulated tropical-rainforest ecosystem. However, much of the glass in the greenhouse had now been shattered, and the glass atop the dome had been reduced to nothing but a frame.

Broken glass covered the ground.

Before she even got close, she smelled a foul odor accompanied by waves of heat.

The closer she got to the botanical garden, the stronger the stench became, until it even stung her eyes.

It was somewhat like the ammonia released by rotting meat, mixed with the decaying smell of fallen leaves and several other indescribable scents.

She couldn't put it into words, but it was disgusting.

Even Jiang You, who was used to seeing piles of corpses, felt physically uncomfortable.

"Yue~"

Da Zhuang made a retching motion and clung to the rack by the entrance, refusing to go in.

"Wait for me at the entrance. I'll go in and take a look."

Jiang You put on a pig-nose gas mask before stepping inside.

She would rather kill by mistake than let anything slip through.

The stench here was so unusual. What if there really was a mutated plant inside?

Her shoes crunched over the shards of broken glass, producing a steady series of clattering sounds.

The plants inside the botanical garden had not completely withered. Some heat-resistant plants had even grown taller and larger than before the apocalypse.

However, all the ponds inside had begun to stink. The soil had been soaked through with foul water, and every step sank one or two centimeters into the ground.

All kinds of insects, large and small, crawled through the soil.

Centipedes, pill bugs, white mustard bugs, millipedes, and other soft-bodied insects she couldn't identify.

Jiang You proceeded carefully, guarding against venomous snakes and other things that might emerge from the darkness.

She remembered that there had originally been pythons and venomous snakes in the botanical garden. But now, all the observation glass enclosing the animals had been destroyed, and the animals inside had disappeared without a trace.

They might have died, or they might be hiding in the shadow of one of the plants.

They could suddenly dart out and bite her as she passed.

Just then, her hand accidentally brushed across a broad leaf. The leaf swayed, and a patch of green on it shifted slightly, revealing a golden vertical pupil.

The chameleon moved only once before blending into the leaf's color again.

A palm-sized black scorpion crawled across the rotting soil in front of Jiang You.

Jiang You moved slightly, and it immediately changed direction and crawled toward her. Its long, stinger-tipped tail glinted coldly in the sunlight.

Jiang You drove the Miao Saber straight into the ground.

Squish~~

The scorpion's body split into two, while its tail continued twitching faintly.

Jiang You bent down, picked up the scorpion, and put it into her space.

This thing would taste good roasted. She could take it back as a snack for Da Zhuang.

A scorpion this big was hard to find.

After that, Jiang You searched the entire botanical garden but found no mutated plants.

She left directly and prepared to look elsewhere in the park.

She had walked through nearly half the park. Aside from occasionally encountering one or two zombies, she hadn't even seen half a leaf from a mutated plant.

When she reached a small path, her way forward was suddenly blocked.

Several sightseeing carts had been left across the road. It was obvious that someone had deliberately parked them there.

Jiang You was just preparing to climb over the artificial hill beside the road.

A man walked out from behind the carts.

"Stop. The road ahead is blocked. Take another route, friend."

The newcomer was a man in his thirties, of average build. He wore a vest and held an old-fashioned hunting rifle in his hands.

His appearance was extremely ordinary, the kind of face that would disappear into a crowd.

But his eyes were sharp as an eagle's. He was definitely no ordinary person.

Then again, what ordinary people would still dare remain in the city now?

The muzzle of the hunting rifle in his hands pointed directly at Jiang You.

It seemed that if she took even one step forward, he would pull the trigger without hesitation.

As he spoke, two little heads poked through the gaps between the vehicles behind him.

A boy and a girl, both watching Jiang You warily.

If she remembered correctly, there should be two air-raid shelters farther ahead in this direction.

These people had probably occupied the shelters and settled there.

The park was surrounded by lake water, forming a natural barrier, so few zombies wandered inside.

There was also the lake water, which solved their need for drinking water. It was indeed very suitable as a shelter.

Just then, another man pulled the two little heads aside and walked out holding a hunting rifle.

When he saw that Jiang You was alone, he first breathed a sigh of relief before speaking.

"Friend, we're already using the two air-raid shelters ahead. If you're looking for a shelter, you can go in that direction."

The man pointed somewhere.

"There are several more air-raid shelters over there."

At the request of our readers, the VIP member ad-free function is now available.

Click to view.