Chapter 19: She Was Just Showing Off!

"I have a Waste Recycling Station near the next town over. Seeing as you're so pitiful, come back with us first. If you're willing, I'll find someone tomorrow to send you to the military's rescue station; there should be doctors there."

"The military has arrived?" Li Gang stretched out his injured leg; the road surface was hardly level, and every jolt added another layer of pain.

"They have. Keep your eyes open on the road and try to accept reality as soon as possible." Liu Mu discovered that her strength had truly increased by quite a bit; the tricycle carrying a person was pedaled by her as if it were flying, without the slightest bit of the effort it took when she arrived.

Feeling in high spirits, she ignored the kind of torture the excessive speed was putting that fellow behind her through.

Niu Boyi was even happier, running around and frolicking everywhere. The thing Liu Mu was worried about still happened: Gouzi, unable to accurately gauge its own weight, stepped through a floorboard and fell into a hole.

But by the time Liu Mu noticed it was missing, it had already scrambled and jumped back out on its own.

That jumping height truly gave the two humans a shock.

"That was at least ten meters high, right?" Liu Gang was so envious his eyes turned red. Who wouldn't want a dog like that!

"Hey, it's normal. It could jump three meters before, so it has to jump higher now, right?" Liu Mu couldn't suppress the corners of her mouth; her humble words sounded just like she was deliberately showing off.

That's right, she was showing off!

If she didn't have to go to the Steel Rolling Mill tomorrow, she would have wanted to lead Niu Boyi into the city to show off a bit. If she didn't manifest her power in front of others now, once there were more Mutated Animals later, would there even be a place for her?

"This size, you could even ride it," Li Gang almost said he would go ride the dog; this damn tricycle wasn't worth sitting in anyway.

"Oh! Brother, you've got some ideas!" It was as if Liu Mu's Ren and Du meridians had been cleared; she couldn't stop herself from wanting to ride the dog into the city. That image would surely surpass even Mu Guiying from the storytelling books!

How could one word—'cool'—even begin to describe it? Just as Liu Mu was crazily imagining this, Niu Boyi began barking in the distance, meaning it had discovered a giant rat!

Speaking of giant rats, Liu Mu immediately calmed down. "Don't go catch it, get back here! It's poisonous, be careful not to get a stomachache!"

What time did it think it was? The dog didn't know danger at all. People had to wear masks when going out; at a time like this, wouldn't a rat be full of toxins?

Seeing what Niu Boyi was carrying in its mouth when it returned, Liu Mu almost beat it.

"This is... a rat?"

Li Gang almost jumped up too. That black, blob-like thing as big as a rooster—looking closely, it really was a rat with a long tail and a pointed snout.

He felt like he didn't even recognize this world anymore. "No way, even the rats have mutated? Can humans even survive?"

"Damn it, let's go!" Liu Mu's face turned black. "Don't you dare go over there again. This thing comes in nests; you'd be gnawed down to a bare skeleton in less than ten minutes."

Niu Boyi understood and immediately became obedient, running to the front to lead the way.

Looking at the rat with its neck bitten through in one snap, Liu Gang hurriedly said, "Bring it along. Find a place to study it; it's best if the Survivors can know the situation, otherwise more people will die."

Leaving the Steel Rolling Mill, although Liu Mu chose roads with fewer people, the situation already left him shocked beyond description. He didn't see a single person; nine out of ten houses were empty. He didn't dare imagine how many people had died.

"If you want to bring it, handle it yourself. If you get infected with a virus, don't blame me for not saving you," Liu Mu threw him a rope. "Drag it behind you, don't put it on my vehicle."

Li Gang didn't dare touch that thing either; he tied a slipknot and threw it, and it actually caught it.

Whether it was because the road conditions were more familiar or because Liu Mu's physical fitness had improved, the return trip actually only took two hours.

Before entering the Waste Recycling Station, she still magnanimously let Niu Boyi dig a hole and bury that giant rat a hundred meters away.

Expecting that the temperature wouldn't rise again, Liu Mu placed Li Gang in the small building. "You'll stay here tonight. I'll have someone bring you things in a while."

After speaking, she turned and left the small building, taking Niu Boyi through the outside entrance into the basement.

Niu Boyi's size was too large; the elevator couldn't accommodate it, so it had to go down through the vehicle entrance. To let it live underground, Liu Mu even moved her beloved car into the space; the garage was barely enough to make a dog kennel.

"See this? This is to open the door, and this is to close it. Don't press them blindly when you're bored, especially at night. If you let a thief in, I'll beat you to death." Liu Mu patiently explained the garage door buttons to Niu Boyi, admonishing it to learn them itself. "The air conditioning function here can only maintain 18 to 28 degrees. If the temperature drops suddenly, come over and scratch the door; don't freeze yourself stupid."

"Woof woof, understood Master, hungry, meat!"

"Hungry again after eating so much this afternoon?" Liu Mu began to feel sorry for her food supplies; she was truly afraid they wouldn't last until they found a new source of food.

Of course, she was just being stingy. In terms of storage, let alone Niu Boyi, even if there were ten more people, they could eat for a year—it just might not be very fresh.

In the apocalypse, pursuing freshness was a luxury. After settling Niu Boyi, Liu Mu went to the temperature-controlled room.

Xu Xiaofeng and Zhang Xiaoyong had seen them return early on, but they didn't come out to greet them because there was an extra stranger. Of course, they were even more surprised by Niu Boyi's size.

As soon as the door opened, Zhang Xiaoyong rushed over. "Second Sister, Second Sister, is that Niu Boyi? What did it eat outside? How did it suddenly grow so big? It grows even faster than steamed buns!"

"Wait, wait, wait, don't come near me. I need to disinfect first," Liu Mu stopped the two from approaching her from afar. "I ran into some things today; I'll explain it to you in detail after I get organized. Sister, you first send some food and water to the person upstairs. Oh right, get a quilt too... and get some medicine; his leg is broken."

Xu Xiaofeng was of course more worried that the stranger would be detrimental to them, but seeing Liu Mu covered in dust, she couldn't rush to ask questions and could only agree to go prepare the things.

Liu Mu went to wash up, and Zhang Xiaoyong immediately slipped into the garage. He first cautiously poked his head out to look at Niu Boyi, and seeing the dog wagging its huge tail at him, he confirmed that the dog was still the same dog and immediately pounced on it, completely forgetting what Liu Mu had said about them being unclean.

However, the red substance on Niu Boyi's body had already been completely digested by it; apart from a bit of dust, there really wasn't much danger.

Then, Xu Xiaofeng finished preparing the items, changed into a tightly wrapped set of clothes, and went up to the ground floor, her mood somewhat agitated.

After Liu Mu's constant reminders during this period, she was still cautious. She only took a single dose of anti-inflammatory and pain-relief medication, and only a small 100ml bottle of iodine for external wounds.

After leaving the elevator shed, she pulled up her mask before walking toward the small building.

"Hello." Liu Mu hadn't mentioned the young man's name. Xu Xiaofeng nodded distantly and placed the covered tray on the marble coffee table on the first floor.

Although the small building's doors and windows were tightly shut, there was still a layer of obvious dust on the furniture and floor. It looked like the young man had already wiped the coffee table, just not very cleanly.

"Hello," Li Gang could tell from the voice and figure that this wasn't Liu Mu, and he leaned against the sofa somewhat reservedly. "My name is Li Gang, twenty-eight years old, male."

This introduction left Xu Xiaofeng stunned for a moment. "Oh, this is food and water, and some medicine. With the natural disaster now, we don't have much in stock; please make do."

Seeing that the other party didn't intend to introduce herself, Li Gang, who was living under someone else's roof, didn't press for more. "Thank you, sorry for the trouble."

Xu Xiaofeng saw that his pant leg had several holes; although the broken leg was fixed with a Steel Pipe, the bent shape was still quite frightening, and she couldn't help but feel a bit worried.

She had originally planned to leave after putting the things down, but her footsteps stopped abruptly. "You can eat something first, then take the pain medication. Sorry, none of us know medicine. I'll send a quilt up in a while; you stay the night, and tomorrow we'll see if we can send you into the city."

As she was about to leave, Li Gang suddenly called out to her, "Miss, may I ask, is it really... like, is there really no one left nearby outside?"

So this person didn't understand the situation outside? Xu Xiaofeng remembered how she herself had felt miserable for several days watching the disaster outside, and she didn't have the heart to describe the situation as too terrible.

"There should still be people, Mr. Li. If your home is nearby, you can go back and look for them after your leg is healed. The Rescue Team was calling out nearby today; almost all the Survivors have gone to the rescue base in the city, so you don't have to be too pessimistic."

"I, my home isn't here, it's just..." Li Gang wanted to say that he found it hard to accept the current situation, but the words reached his lips and he felt that as a grown man, he couldn't talk about it with a young girl, so he could only smile reluctantly. "I'm not a local. Thank you all."