Chapter 163: Dead Black Chicken

Lin Chen was holding Tuan Tuan in front of the control console studying the map when Xia Nuan suddenly pointed to a mark on the screen: "It says 'Abandoned Farm' here, not far from the base, and it's marked as 'Low Risk' on the map. Should we go take a look?

Maybe we can find something useful." Lin Chen looked at the marked location, about 10 kilometers from the base, and nodded: "Sure, it's a good chance to test the state after energy recovery, and incidentally see if we can find more clues about the World Core."

The two poured cat food for Tuan Tuan, gave instructions to the guards, and then walked out of the base with their weapons.

The snow outside was thicker than yesterday, covering their ankles, and stepping on it made a

"crunch crunch" sound. The cold wind of several hundred degrees below zero scraped against their faces,

but because of the energy circulating in their bodies, they didn't feel much chill. Lin Chen mobilized Absolute Zero,

condensed ice boards under their feet, and slid along the ice boards, the speed twice as fast as walking.

After sliding for half an hour, a cluster of low houses appeared in the distance—the abandoned farm had arrived.

The farm's fence had collapsed, the roofs of several bungalows had caved in, and old farm tools were scattered in the courtyard,

with snow covering most of the ground, revealing only some black wood fragments.

"Let's search separately, be careful." Lin Chen said, walking towards the bungalow on the left, while Xia Nuan headed towards the warehouse on the right.

Lin Chen pushed open the door of a bungalow, which was full of dust and spider webs,

with several empty hemp bags scattered on the ground and rotting straw piled in the corner; there was nothing useful.

He checked the other two bungalows, which also only had abandoned debris,

and was just about to go to the warehouse to find Xia Nuan when he saw something black protruding from the snow in the middle of the courtyard, unlike a stone or wood.

He walked over and used his foot to push aside the snow on the surface, revealing a black chicken—the chicken's body was stiff,

clearly having been dead for a long time,

and its feathers were covered with a thin layer of ice, but it hadn't rotted; it should have been frozen by the low temperature.

"Xia Nuan,

come over and take a look quickly!"

Lin Chen shouted towards the warehouse. Xia Nuan ran over quickly,

saw the dead black chicken in the snow, and frowned: "This farm looks like it's been abandoned for a long time, how could there be a chicken carcass? And it hasn't rotted."

Lin Chen squatted down and carefully observed the dead black chicken's body, finding no obvious wounds,

and no traces of being gnawed. "Could it have been frozen to death?"

Xia Nuan guessed. Lin Chen shook his head: "Ordinary chickens would indeed freeze to death at this temperature,

but this chicken's size is a circle larger than an ordinary chicken; it might be a mutant chicken, with stronger cold resistance, so it's unlikely to freeze to death easily."

He said to the system: "Detect the cause of death of this dead black chicken."

【Detected that the dead black chicken contains trace toxins. The cause of death is poisoning, and the time of death was about 3 days ago. The source of the toxin is unknown, and no dangerous radiation was detected.】

Xia Nuan heard the word "poisoning" and took a step back: "Could there be poisonous mutant plants nearby? Or other poisonous mutant creatures?"

Lin Chen stood up and looked around; the area around the farm was empty snow,

and he saw no traces of plants or creatures. "Let's search the farm carefully again,

to see if there are any other clues." The two acted separately; Lin Chen checked the snow outside the farm,

while Xia Nuan searched inside the warehouse. The warehouse was piled with abandoned seed bags and farm tools,

and Xia Nuan found an open iron box in the corner, inside which were several bags of sealed seeds, with "Cold-Resistant Wheat" written on the packaging.

"Lin Chen,

there are cold-resistant wheat seeds here!"

Xia Nuan shouted. Lin Chen ran over, picked up the seed bag and looked at it; the packaging was intact,

with no damage. "These seeds might be plantable. There is idle open space in the base,

we can try planting them, and then we can grow our own food in the future." Lin Chen said. Xia Nuan nodded and put the seed bag into her backpack.

The two continued to search and found some traces near the farm's well—there were several trails of blurry footprints in the snow,

smaller than human footprints, as if left by some small animal, and the footprints extended towards the woods outside the farm.

"Could these footprints be related to the dead black chicken?" Xia Nuan pointed to the footprints and asked.

Lin Chen squatted down and observed the depth of the footprints: "The footprints are very fresh, they should have been left today. Let's follow the footprints and see."

The two followed the footprints into the woods, where the snow was thicker and ice crystals hung on the branches.

After walking about 500 meters, the footprints suddenly disappeared in an open space,

and the snow in the open space had traces of being turned over, with several black feathers scattered—the same as the dead black chicken's feathers. "It seems there are other black chickens here, or some creature is looking for them." Lin Chen said.

Xia Nuan suddenly pointed to a tree next to the open space: "Look, there's a bird's nest in the tree!" Lin Chen looked up and saw a bird's nest built with dry grass and branches on the tree fork,

which was empty, with only a few black feathers. "This should be that dead black chicken's nest. It seems it had been living here before." Xia Nuan guessed.

The two searched in the woods for a while longer, found no other clues, and decided to return to the farm.

Lin Chen put the dead black chicken into his backpack—although it was dead, it was frozen intact,

and perhaps more information could be analyzed through the system. Returning to the farm, the two checked again, confirmed there were no missed clues, and then slid back to the base on their ice boards.

On the way,

Xia Nuan looked at the seed bag in the backpack: "After we go back and plant the seeds,

maybe we can harvest wheat in a while, and then we can make steamed buns and noodles."

Lin Chen nodded, touched the dead black chicken in the backpack, and thought to himself—the cause of death of this chicken and the footprints around it might hide some information; he must have the system analyze it carefully after returning.

When they returned to the base, the guards had already finished their afternoon patrol. Seeing the two return,

they hurriedly greeted them: "Brother Lin Chen, Sister Xia Nuan, any harvest?" Xia Nuan held up the backpack: "Found cold-resistant wheat seeds, and also found a dead black chicken."

The guards showed surprised expressions: "Can still find seeds and chickens in this weather?

Too amazing!"

The two walked into the villa, and Tuan Tuan heard the movement, immediately ran over, and rubbed against their trouser legs.

Lin Chen placed the dead black chicken next to the control console and said to the system: "Analyze the source of the toxin in this dead black chicken in detail, and any possible related creatures." 【Analysis started, expected result in 1 hour.】 The system replied. Xia Nuan took the seed bag and went to the base's open space to check, preparing to find a suitable place to plant the seeds.

Lin Chen sat on the sofa, watching Tuan Tuan play, thinking about the discovery at the farm just now—could that dead black chicken and the footprints in the woods be related to the World Core? Or were they just traces of ordinary mutant creatures? He didn't know, but he knew that as long as he continued to look for clues, he would always find the answer. ===== CHAPTER 164 =====