Chapter 872

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

"Call everyone over."

Shen Chengyi made a decisive decision, thinking that with so many wild chickens she couldn't handle them alone, and besides, who knew if there were other creatures inside this building besides the chicken flock; with just the two of them, the danger was still too high.

Wei Ran listened and didn't waste words, but hurriedly ran out with a *ceng ceng ceng* to fire her signal flare; team members nearby who had found nothing during their search quickly gathered upon seeing this, and by the time Wei Ran went back in, several armed team members were already following her.

"Everyone's here; those who didn't come must have run into trouble, after all, there's a large chicken farm nearby, and after this long in the apocalypse, who knows how many chickens ran out and bred — there's simply no count."

"Alright, take your weapons, stay alert," Shen Chengyi pointed at the bloodstains that had just appeared on the ground, signaling them to avoid getting any on their bodies if possible; wild chickens live together and know each other well, and they're highly aggressive toward outside creatures — they might redirect their anger at them because of their kin's death.

As her words fell, Shen Chengyi took the lead at the very front of the team; this building was a company office tower, the first floor spacious and vast, and they had just turned a corner when they heard chicken calls coming from ahead.

Very sharp and piercing, carrying a hint of wary panic; Shen Chengyi glanced back and made a quiet gesture, then drew the handgun that hadn't been used since it was issued to her, chambered a round, and slowly extended the muzzle out from behind the doorjamb beside her.

The dark muzzle aimed at a room originally abandoned then seized by the chicken flock; inside were rock fragments and weeds everywhere, and wild chickens standing half a person tall, with sharp claws and beaks, their feathers fluffy and soft — clearly the winter environment hadn't lowered their quality of life.

Shen Chengyi carefully observed the situation inside and identified several wild chickens that were clearly leaders; when she fired in a moment, she would target these chickens — only by eliminating them as fast as possible could the flock before them be defeated one by one.

She waited about five minutes, then Shen Chengyi seized an opportunity.

The loaded handgun smoothly fired its first bullet, instantly piercing a leader wild chicken's head; the sudden noise simultaneously triggered the flock's panic and indiscriminate attacks.

Wei Ran and the others behind Shen Chengyi increased their firepower; the sound of bullets tearing through the air instantly raked the entire room; large patches of wild chickens were hit, convulsed, and fell; many more sent feathers flying wildly, the thick smell of blood filling the whole room.

Shen Chengyi kept her eyes locked on her targets, dropping them one shot at a time.

During this, the chicken flock did have chances to counterattack, but because the room currently had only one exit and they held it firmly without yielding an inch, the flock was suppressed by gunfire before they could reach them.

After just a few such cycles, with all the leader wild chickens dead on the ground, the other ordinary wild chickens were scared out of their wits and simply gave up resistance, running everywhere to survive.

Too bad there were no corners for them to hide in; they ultimately lost their lives under Shen Chengyi and the others' guns, becoming the group's extra meal.

Once the chicken cries subsided, Shen Chengyi hurriedly waved her hand, "Quick, pick up the ones with intact bodies."

They couldn't stay here long, because the thick smell of blood would attract many hungry creatures to come forage.

They just wanted to earn a little extra and improve their meals, not use this as bait to deal with nearby trouble.

Shen Chengyi stowed the empty gun with no bullets, then joined the sorting crew; chickens with smashed heads were directly chopped off and discarded, intact bodies were all bagged and taken away; compared to chicken heads that couldn't be eaten, chicken blood contained gentle, non-irritating energy — unless they had to bleed them, the blood was also supplies they'd bring back.

The whole room reeked of blood, the ground covered in a thick layer of wild chicken feathers; Shen Chengyi also felt a few fresh eggs as large as goose eggs inside.

Perhaps mutated wild chickens no longer fear the severe cold; it's deep winter and they actually have eggs.

Taking advantage of the others not paying attention, she quietly pocketed them; Shen Chengyi stood up, circled the room once, confirmed there was no danger for now, then turned and told Wei Ran she was going upstairs to check the situation.

Wei Ran nodded, indicating Shen Chengyi was in charge here — do whatever she wanted.

After all, Wei Ran's combat strength truly wasn't as good as Shen Chengyi's; if there was a problem on the second floor, Shen Chengyi going alone could still escape easily, but if others went along, they'd most likely just drag Shen Chengyi down and delay things.

"When you're done here, leave directly; if upstairs needs help I'll notify you."

Afraid these people would wait in place, Shen Chengyi couldn't help but add a few more instructions.

Wei Ran hummed twice to show understanding; with so many wild chicken corpses needing to be taken back and processed, she certainly wouldn't foolishly wait in place.

"Quick, finish packing as fast as possible," Wei Ran urged the other team members in a low voice to hurry; every minute delayed here affected their extra income and rations.

Going up the walking stairs and turning left directly, Shen Chengyi opened each closed room door one by one.

This was like opening blind boxes; the first floor lobby and second floor were completely different structures — here there was no open-plan living room, just one partitioned room after another.

Shen Chengyi: ……

Expressionlessly closing the fifth room door she had smoothly opened, it was hard to imagine what Shen Chengyi had actually seen; only from her hurriedly turning and leaving footsteps could one infer the things inside were quite shocking.

Just when Shen Chengyi thought the entire second floor wouldn't have any discoveries, she ran into a nest of wild rabbits.

Hm?

The first floor has a chicken flock living there, the second floor actually has a rabbit family too?

The moment Shen Chengyi pushed open the room door, both sides discovered each other, and the rabbit family attacked first.

The wild rabbits revealed long buckteeth, their stout rabbit legs lifting fiercely and leaping, about to kick Shen Chengyi, but were blocked by the horizontally raised long blade and forcefully rebounded back.

Bang!

A dull heavy boom shook ceiling debris down; the rabbit family attacked in succession like cannonballs, but their moves were easily neutralized by Shen Chengyi.

Seeing they were no match, the rabbit family tried to flee through a rabbit hole dug to the side.

Shen Chengyi stepped forward a few steps to block the hole entrance, reached out and knocked unconscious the least dangerous baby rabbit, using it to threaten the fleeing rabbits to return.

Fact proved wild rabbits don't have much family concept; a lost baby rabbit is just lost — a litter of eight rabbits, two escaped, the remaining six were caught neatly by Shen Chengyi.

Two large, four small; the four small ones were born less than a month ago, their fur grew decently but their size showed they weren't fully grown.

The two large ones weren't very big either, but their fur was thick and cold-resistant; Shen Chengyi reached out and touched them, felt they were good, and simply slaughtered these two to throw into her space, while the four living small ones were re-tied, planning to take them back and sell to the Officials.

Next, Shen Chengyi carried a string of rabbits up to the third floor, fourth floor, all the way to the top floor.

Hm

The whole building was only eight stories, and the higher she went, the fewer mutated creatures there were; things like wild chickens and wild rabbits were all concentrated on the fourth floor and below.

Shen Chengyi walked a circle; besides the four baby rabbits in her hand, there were no other good gains, so she could only return to the car listlessly.

"Aiyo, these are rabbits? And alive?"

Wei Ran looked at the things in Shen Chengyi's hands, her eyes shining brighter and brighter.

These are rabbits, and newborn ones at that, and alive!

You have to know the Official Laboratory has always lacked various mutated animals for experiments; catching one could be exchanged for quite a lot of things.

Actually the Officials also tried breeding them themselves; sadly, mutated creatures after evolution are very hard to cultivate — even egg-laying wild chickens and wild ducks, let alone live-bearing wild rabbits — they basically all rely on people going out on missions to bring them back voluntarily or incidentally.

Wei Ran marveled that Shen Chengyi's ability was truly strong; these baby rabbits aren't easy to catch, because wild rabbits flee when in danger, and even if they can't escape they'll bite their babies to death first — only when the wild rabbits don't have time can they pick up the baby rabbits like a windfall.

Shen Chengyi was uninjured, carrying four rabbits back clean and fresh, showing Shen Chengyi's skill.

"Got lucky, there was a rabbit nest on the second floor, pity the adult rabbits had already run off."

"Normal, rabbits excel at digging burrows, and mutated rabbits are strong and very agile."

Wei Ran said the team had also seen rabbits, but their skill wasn't up to par, they couldn't catch them, and could only carry back dead wild chickens.

Compared to the agile rabbits, wild chickens were still a bit easier to catch; now the area around their entire truck was filled with the smell of wild chickens.

Perhaps this chicken-catching operation was very successful, Wei Ran even boasted that next time there was a chance, they could go catch a wave of wild ducks; after all, there was a duck farm nearby, only wild ducks mutated larger than wild chickens, and evolved wild ducks could still fly, their agility on par with rabbits.

"Wild duck tastes great, and what's more, wild duck eggs are even larger than chicken eggs," winter doesn't affect wild ducks laying eggs at all, and some wild ducks even hatch little wild ducks contrary to their nature.

A live wild duckling's purchase price isn't much lower than a wild rabbit kit's, Wei Ran found it hard to explain whether he truly wanted to eat wild duck meat or make money from wild ducklings, after all Shen Chengyi had already shown everyone her success.

"Let's go back first, with this many wild chickens, maybe we can earn some points early."

Not every squad has time to hunt wild chickens, and the quantity of wild chickens depends entirely on luck; their luck this trip was good, what they can't eat themselves can be traded.

These squads that came out aren't short on money, adhering to the principle of nearby transactions, Shen Chengyi had already thought of this trip's generous returns.

Sure enough, before they even returned to the temporary camp, Wei Ran's communication phone started ringing.

First was Cheng Nan caring about their situation, then other people at the temporary camp; Wei Ran didn't conceal his gains from Cheng Nan, Cheng Nan also understood Wei Ran's meaning, inadvertently revealing the large haul to others, so those needing wild chicken meat would actively contact Wei Ran, after all the early bird gets the worm, mutated animal meat has always been valuable, those not lacking these points would definitely reward themselves, and wild missions are dangerous, eating an extra bite now to improve themselves, maybe later when they encounter danger, they could rely on that bite to escape with their lives.

"Aiya, know know, certainly certainly, definitely leave you guys extra."

"Hmph, just good luck, we're old teammates who've cooperated many times, could forget anyone but couldn't forget you guys."

"Already put your squad's advance in place, will deliver when arrived."

"..."

One phone call after another, Wei Ran was busy spinning in circles after being disturbed.

Shen Chengyi watched Wei Ran, this call not yet hung up, another call came in, as if arriving at a noisy, bustling vegetable market, everyone wholeheartedly wanting to buy the best things, afraid late meant couldn't buy.

Shen Chengyi:...

Resting chin on hand silently watching Wei Ran bustle about, Shen Chengyi wanted to say something, but seeing Wei Ran seemingly enjoying it, hmm, indeed no need for more words, truly disliking has many ways to solve, in fact Wei Ran just enjoys being surrounded by everyone, as if proving something.

The truck beneath them swayed unsteadily back, including the cleared space all piled full of wild chicken corpses, because the outside temperature was too low, these wild chicken corpses had a natural refrigerator's freezing, no need to worry about spoilage or taste issues.

At Shen Chengyi's feet were the four live rabbit kits she brought back, because they were only knocked out, the rabbit kits' tenacious vitality was shaken awake by the truck's jolting.

Four limbs trembling rapidly, wanting to struggle free of their bindings, too bad Shen Chengyi had specially studied the situation when tying them, no matter how the rabbit kits struggled they couldn't escape.

Raised hand touching the rabbit kits' furry skin, Shen Chengyi poked and prodded back and forth, attracting the surrounding idle people to look over.

After all there were no entertainment activities on the vehicle, they had just finished the wild chicken business, waiting to return to the temporary camp to eat and rest.

"These few rabbit kits are really cute."

A female team member exclaimed, furry little things unexpectedly had good looks, before when she encountered a mutated wild cat she was also shocked by its looks, truly worthy of species perfectly matching human aesthetic modeling.

"Look at their teeth," Wei Ran replied in a spare moment.

Female team member:...

Silvery-shining large buck teeth exposed outside, occupying nearly one-third of the whole rabbit face, also because Shen Chengyi brought them back knocked out, two ears drooped down covering most of the view, otherwise the female team members would find it hard to praise mutated wild rabbits as cute.

"Wild rabbit's attack power besides rabbit legs is buck teeth, these buck teeth are very hard," Shen Chengyi took out her long blade and tapped them, the sound hearing somewhat like steel plate.

Female team member:...

She took back that previous word of cute, in this world filled everywhere with evolved creatures, the previous peace was long gone.

Shen Chengyi once again moved to knock the four rabbit kits unconscious and ignore them, this bit of meat wasn't enough to eat, she also couldn't raise them, bringing them back might as well sell to the Official, even exchanging for some evolution potions wouldn't be bad.