Chapter 903

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

"Evolution is truly terrifying," not giving people any chance to catch their breath at all.

Shen Chengyu's lament came from these tiny brain-eating worms; no one knew when these little worms would suddenly mutate and then take on forms they couldn't understand, crazily attacking humans.

Shen Chengning nodded thoughtfully, staring at the small bottle in Shen Chengyu's hand, which was packed full of brain-eating worms.

Because the worms' mouthparts were strong, under constant gnawing, the surface of this small bottle quickly became pitted and uneven; the most terrifying thing was that the bottle couldn't hold these brain-eating worms—if not for the outermost layer having a circle of water-type ability condensed by Shen Chengyu as a backup, those little worms just caught would probably have run out.

Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning planned to use these brain-eating worms for a few small experiments; not only did they do experiments, they also raised these brain-eating worms.

Shen Yao:...

Hmm

Could it be that the mission intensity outside is too high? To the point that the two children's spirits are somewhat unstable, so they want to do something extreme?

"Mom, we're just curious," curious about how far this kind of evolution can go.

Shen Chengyu stared solemnly at the already dead brain-eating worms; some had already been dissected, and the cores inside had been stripped clean.

Shen Chengning had been assisting Shen Chengyu; both felt brain-eating worms were terrifying, and they reported the little bit they had researched to the authorities. Next, they tidied up the brain-eating worm corpses and casually threw them into the trash bin beside them.

"Wait"

Shen Yao called out to the two of them, following by controlling her own mental ability.

The brain-eating worms that were originally dead moved again, crawling together densely and devouring one another.

Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning:...

Why were the two of them so uncomfortable? Not only were their whole bodies numb and tingly, but a layer of goosebumps had also appeared on their arms.

"This, this is what?" Shen Chengyu looked at Shen Yao, thinking to herself: Could it be that Mom's mental ability evolved again? But is this evolution a bit too terrifying? The brain-eating worms are already dead, yet they can still be controlled?!

Shen Chengning observed more carefully than Shen Chengyu, because she found that Shen Yao's control over these brain-eating worms hadn't changed much from before; then what was happening now had nothing to do with Shen Yao—it was the brain-eating worms themselves that had mutated.

Could it be that brain-eating worms can come back to life? Isn't that practically invincible?

"Can't reach them; the mental state of brain-eating worms is somewhat different," Shen Yao withdrew her mental control ability, and then they saw that the brain-eating worms that had been devouring each other so eagerly no longer moved, no different from before.

"Mental ability hasn't evolved; it's just that this kind of mutated creature adapts well to mental control," or rather, it adapts perfectly; they can even be utilized after death.

Shen Chengyu's expression was serious, "Does this mean the importance of mental ability has increased?"

Shen Chengning raised her hand and patted Shen Chengyu's shoulder, "Mental ability has always been a scarce ability; it's very important whether in the shelter or in the wild."

Although a few mental ability users had appeared within the shelter over the past year, those people's proficiency wasn't on the same level as Shen Yao's, let alone reaching Shen Yao's level of controlling things out of thin air.

"No, that's not what I mean," Shen Chengyu pointed to outside the door and then looked at themselves, "I mean outside, those mutated creatures."

Brain-eating worms are a type of mutated creature, and the previous mutant man-eating vines were too; the explosion of old matters hasn't been fully put to rest—who knows if even more powerful mutated creatures capable of using mental ability to control will appear in the wild.

Shen Chengning shrugged, "Even if there are, there's no good solution; these all require manpower to solve," Brain-eating worms are weak now so they're easy to deal with, but when brain-eating worms become powerful or are mentally controlled... "I've already reported this news to the authorities, hoping they can formulate good strategies to solve these problems as much as possible."

Shen Chengyu nodded; indeed so, they had already said everything they could say, and the rest couldn't help much.

Shen Yao raised her hand to signal the two not to be so pessimistic; for a while, the shelter wouldn't have any problems. After all, it had gone through the chaotic period and established a new order; whether ordinary people or anything else, everyone hoped the shelter could exist for a long time.

"You are official ability users; you should like the situation outside more than us."

"Other shelters' environments are said to be much better, but getting from here there is several times harder than last year's migration," many people couldn't walk that far.

"Don't look at how high the shelter's current alert level is toward wild ability users; but the shelter won't concentrate all its forces to deal with wild ability users until the last moment. Individual ability is strong with few weaknesses; the authorities can't make a losing deal."

"Yeah, nowadays most ordinary people who can survive are concentrated inside a few large shelters, among which the strongest is undoubtedly Jing City Shelter. It's said that whether technology or ability, it far surpasses other shelters," but correspondingly, it's very hard to stay in Jing City Shelter; ordinary people can only choose to compromise.

The end of days is not friendly to ordinary people, because the originally good order would be subverted; the new order has a teething period when established, during which the most miserable are still ordinary people. They are the objects of oppression—not just ability users, but also those mutated creatures.

Just like the shelter they were in, many ordinary people would go out to gather, with the purpose of exchanging for some special points to live. The wild is dangerous but also has good things; as long as they can come back alive, they can earn points for a day or even several days. But most go to fill the bellies of mutated creatures, and those who return are a tiny minority. Unless the family can't put food on the table, few ordinary people go out.

"Currently there are nine major shelters domestically, and some small and medium shelters are established relying on large shelters. They are clusters of large shelters and also the last retreat of large shelters."

Although the size of a shelter is related to population and even combat power, it similarly attracts mutated creatures. The larger the shelter, the more it will be attacked. A few days ago they heard that a large shelter located in the south was attacked by mutated creatures. Not only did the shelter's walls collapse, but large vine creatures also entered the shelter's interior, using vines to strangle many ordinary people and ability users.

Finally, they drove these mutated creatures away by bombarding them back and forth with stored weapons. But because the shelter suffered heavy losses, they had to choose a new site to build and settle.

This caused the shelter's ranking to drop from the top to the bottom, barely keeping the title of one of the nine major shelters.

Actually this title isn't very useful, but dropping out will affect things later. And once a large shelter can't suppress things itself, the small and medium shelters below will also become unstable.

Turmoil means danger. Ordinary people's lives are already very hard. Regardless, in such an environment, population is everything they pursue. Without a source of population, no matter how powerful, it's useless.

The three talked about other shelters for a while. To sum it up, it's not optimistic.

The brain-eating worm corpses were naturally destroyed to eliminate evidence. Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning also left home to go on a mission.

The authorities carried out a large-scale cleanup of the entire shelter with very fast means. Not only the currently active brain-eating worms, but also some other animals and plants—anything appearing inside the shelter was all removed.

This caused some people's planted things to suffer. Not everyone has a large amount of points to spend steadily. Some people usually get by saving here and there, but the authorities simply cut everything off at once. What about future living expenses? This is forcing them to die.

The authorities had no choice either. Afraid that terrifying creatures like brain-eating worms would appear again, they could only forcibly physically remove some animals and plants inside the shelter.

The two sides' purposes were inconsistent, so naturally many conflicts arose.

The few mutant fruit trees Shen Yao planted on the balcony naturally didn't escape the authorities' clutches. Except for the mutant apple tree that Shen Yao threw into her space in advance to avoid danger, the others were all taken away by the authorities.

Seeing Shen Yao cooperate so well, the authorities' expressions immediately improved a lot, and while giving compensation, they gave several extra special points.

Shen Yao:...

These few points aren't of much use, but they can buy some grain and fruits and vegetables produced by the laboratory. They are all new varieties cultivated by the laboratory, currently planted in a large greenhouse outside the laboratory.

Don't look at the greenhouse's small area, but who knows what the laboratory has researched. The grain and fruits and vegetables produced inside are several times those before the end of days, and each contains energy. They are daily food crops for ability users.

Shen Yao spent the points compensated by the authorities, and at the same time had two bags of food in her hand.

When passing by the bulletin board downstairs, she saw the content marked on it: recruitment for a planting field outside the shelter. There was no requirement on the number of people, but a certain self-preservation ability was needed, because the wild is dangerous. Even after clearing mutated creatures again and again, new mutated creatures will still appear.

Many people gathered around the bulletin board discussing with one another. They were basically all somewhat tempted. Not all ability users work for the authorities. Some civilian ability users are highly vigilant, uneasy about the authorities' operations, and choose to act on their own. These people are the main targets of the planting field—able to carry, fight, and run.

Leaving the bulletin board unhurriedly, she entered the building, pressed the elevator button, and returned to her residence.

Shen Yao first took the things she had bought to the kitchen, then opened the communication device and silently read the few notifications posted on it.

As expected.

News on the bulletin board had long been broadcast via the communication device, and when there was nothing on the bulletin board, the device issued a reminder; Shen Yao raised her finger and tapped it, finally fixing her gaze on the contact information below.

Tsk.

That old acquaintance still hadn't left; it seemed she truly wanted to put down roots at the shelter.

But there was no need to bother with him; both sides had already made things clear back at the old shelter—Shen Yao didn't stop the other party from climbing the high branch to rise up, and the other party wouldn't delay Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning, and guaranteed that nothing in the future would be dragged onto the two children.

Although Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning didn't quite believe it, after all, one couldn't ignore one's biological father, but that was merely the other party's only option with no way out; believing in the biological father's intelligence, he wouldn't fall into such a state.

After the official's sweeping cleanup of the plants and animals within the shelter, sign-ups for the planting fields began in full swing.

Shen Yao was naturally not on the list, but quite a few households in the building had received quotas; not only were wages settled daily, but there was also a promise of priority purchase of the planting fields' produce.

"The conditions offered by the planting fields are so good—is the danger around them not coming down?"

Shen Yao curiously asked Shen Chengyi; this person's return time was irregular, and being able to rest at home for a day and a half was already a rarity.

"Yes, the level of evolution there is very high," but the purpose of the planting fields was to grow edible crops, and if the level of evolution wasn't high enough, the yield wouldn't suffice.

Shen Chengyi had currently taken on missions related to it, lasting as long as one month.

Casually grabbing a few pieces of clothing she often used, Shen Chengyi mentioned that the official would gradually release such planting fields, and if Shen Yao was interested, she could sign up for the one located at Xi Mian.

"What's there?"

"A pond, and the fish inside are quite special," Shen Chengyi tilted her head, then said these fish weren't easy to catch; she suspected it was related to mental abilities, and ordinary ability users were even more toyed with.

"I understand," Shen Yao waved her hand, treating the pond as her next destination.

………

"Hurry, get on the bus."

Shen Yao queued up and moved forward; not far away was a large modified travel bus with many seats inside, and it would start once full.

These people were all sign-ups for the planting fields, most of them ability users; the official's planting field project had been very popular these days, and although people died or went missing from time to time, since the official truly kept its promises, no one shrank back in the face of death.

The planting field at Xi Mian that Shen Chengyi mentioned had also begun recruitment, and Shen Yao naturally chose to sign up, and not unexpectedly, she was successfully selected.

However, the planting field at Xi Mian was a real planting field, just located not far from the pond Shen Chengyi mentioned; after finishing the planting field work, people could move about freely, but life and death had nothing to do with the official, and the official took no responsibility.

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao rode the modified travel bus for less than half an hour before arriving at the planting field at Xi Mian.

It was truly a vast expanse of fields, the soil pitch-black enough to make one rejoice; someone who farmed touched the soil quality and sighed that such a place would yield a bountiful harvest no matter what grain was planted.

Queuing to receive their own tools and seeds, then assigned different fields according to their respective abilities, with official ability users patrolling and protecting nearby, Shen Yao just like that buried her head and seriously farmed until she used up all the seeds in her hand.

An ability user with sound-strengthening ability reminded everyone to rest at noon; everyone found their own shady spot to eat the food they brought, and Shen Yao was no exception—she ate energy meat jerky, which didn't look very appealing but tasted exceptionally fragrant and sweet.

After eating and drinking her fill, she said a word to the official ability user responsible for patrolling, then Shen Yao stood up and walked along the planting field toward the outside, her target being a pond not far away.