Chapter 42: Found a New Monster?

Obviously, Liu Mu is not the type of person who will listen if you tell her not to do something.

However, she does not intend to go to the docks for the time being. After leaving the Base, she went straight to the Steel Rolling Mill in the neighboring county; she wants to thoroughly scavenge the place before the Base starts collecting steel from there.

Originally, she also wanted to get a few Containers back, but that stuff takes up too much space, so it can only wait until next time.

By the time she returned to the Scrap Station, it was already dark. The Truck had just exited the Food Street when Niu Boyi ran out, barking and wagging his tail at the large vehicle.

"You knew I was back?"

Seeing Gouzi, Liu Mu finally relaxed a bit after two days and two nights of exhaustion. She reached her hand out of the driver's cab, and Niu Boyi immediately ran over, sticking out his tongue to lick her, letting out a whimper mixed with joy, asking where Liu Mu had been for so long.

"I went to make money. Let's go, let's go home!"

After entering the Scrap Station, Xu Xiaofeng and Zhang Xiaoyong were indeed waiting on the first floor, watching eagerly as the Truck pulled to a stop, and Liu Mu jumped down from the driver's cab.

Seeing that Liu Mu was only a bit tired and not injured, Xu Xiaofeng breathed a sigh of relief, came out to greet her, and asked, "On this trip, did those people not recognize the map? Why did they only let you come back now?"

Liu Mu only said that she had finished her business earlier and that she had gone to look around other places today.

She backed the Truck into the garage again and showed them a batch of brand-new Rain Gear inside, "Once it starts raining, these can all be traded out. In a few days, I'll make a trip to the city. I heard from Chief Yang that he sent people there for rescue, so I'll follow along and see."

Although the Rain Gear were just ordinary things, Xu Xiaofeng knew that once the heavy rain started, these would be worth a fortune.

However, she was more concerned about another matter.

After Liu Mu finished washing up and came out, she saw hot rice and dishes, and the anxiety of the past two or three days slowly subsided.

The three of them sat around the table eating, and Xu Xiaofeng brought up her own idea, "I saw there is a lot of flour in the warehouse. Should we make some steamed buns and pancakes to send out and trade for things? The Compressed Biscuits have a long shelf life and can be kept. Does Liu Mu think it's okay?"

She spoke cautiously, feeling that it wasn't good for her to rummage through the warehouse while Liu Mu was away, "I just took a look; it's fine if you don't agree."

"Hmm?" Liu Mu was thinking about how to strengthen the Scrap Station's defenses, "Fine, you handle it."

The rice, flour, grain, and oil in the warehouse were only a part of it; in fact, there was quite a lot in the freezer, including fresh, tender vegetables and meat, as well as some ingredients that could be stored for a long time.

Liu Mu thought for a moment and decided to open a freezer so that Xu Xiaofeng could easily get vegetables; for the past ten days or so, they had basically been eating pre-made meals.

Although Xu Xiaofeng tried her best to make them taste better, that was all it was; it always lacked the taste of normal food.

The door to the freezer was not on the corridor leading from the livable constant-temperature room to the outside, but rather required going out through another door. It was also an 'L'-shaped corridor with eight doors opened on both sides, but not every door had an underground room behind it; some were... traps.

When it was built, Hu Xing said that in case someone broke in, there had to be places to kill the enemy and save their own lives.

Liu Mu pointed out the freezer containing fresh vegetables and the rest of the rice, flour, grain, and oil, and pointed to several of the doors, instructing Xu Xiaofeng not to enter them, "These are for anti-theft. In case the Scrap Station is broken into one day, you must see clearly that these rooms cannot be entered."

Xu Xiaofeng did not doubt her at all. Her eyes were filled with the ingredients Liu Mu had stored; she only noted the locations of a few doors and then asked nothing more.

Compared to why Liu Mu hadn't told them about having such inventory before, she was more concerned about what good food she could make next and how much scrap she could trade for.

As for why Liu Mu was obsessed with trading for scrap, Xu Xiaofeng didn't understand but supported it. In fact, she had her own thoughts, thinking that Liu Mu was just trying to find a way to help those Survivors, but a little kindness can lead to resentment; she had seen people return kindness with enmity for many years.

No matter what the item is, it is always better to have others trade something valuable for it.

Thinking of this, Xu Xiaofeng told Liu Mu that next time they should trade for more valuable things; they couldn't really just do charity.

Liu Mu didn't explain to her that steel would have great use in the future, only saying that she didn't know what was more valuable for now, since they weren't lacking anything for the time being.

That was what she said, but Liu Mu still went out to the Steel Rolling Mill. This time, she could be considered to have cleared out all the steel from the edges and corners that could be taken.

She had the system calculate all the steel she currently possessed, and adding in what she had collected for show before the end of the world, it had actually accumulated to five thousand tons. This quantity was something the pre-apocalypse Liu Mu wouldn't have dared to imagine, but it was still a long way from her goal.

To build a real Doomsday Barrier is like building a new city; the steel required would be in the hundreds of thousands of tons.

After calculating, she decided to be a bit bolder and make a trip to the Steel Mill.

Since the military hadn't made a move yet, she couldn't be blamed for getting there first.

Today, she deliberately drove the Truck and loaded out a portion of the Rain Gear from the system. Before going to the Steel Factory, she needed to clear out the system space.

The amount of steel at the Steel Mill is not comparable to a county-level Steel Rolling Mill. If necessary, she also wanted to bring Li Gang to help. Anyway, this person already knew some of her secrets, and taking him along could be considered a test of his trust value.

It would be best if Li Gang could keep her secrets. If he couldn't hold his tongue and spoke out, almost no one would believe it under the current circumstances. Even if Xing Tianyang heard it, he would only think it was the effect of the 'Giant Sun' and wouldn't be able to associate it with anything more.

Over the next two days, Liu Mu hauled Rain Gear to the Scrap Station one truckload at a time. Xu Xiaofeng and Zhang Xiaoyong were responsible for sorting and stacking them. Although very tired, the siblings felt an unprecedented sense of stability from this hard work.

Although Liu Mu already treated them like family, if they didn't do something for the Scrap Station and couldn't help Liu Mu, they wouldn't have enough sense of participation and would always feel that one day they wouldn't be able to keep up with Liu Mu's pace and would be left behind.

Of course, this was more of Xu Xiaofeng's feeling. As for Zhang Xiaoyong, he was at that age where even dogs would dislike him for being restless; children naturally also especially hope to be able to help adults, and this was also a kind of 'growing up' in their eyes.

What child doesn't want to be treated like an adult?

The three of them were busy for three full days, and the fourth day was supposed to be busy too... Xing Tianyang arrived.

Liu Mu looked at the person being threatened by Niu Boyi, walked over, and patted the dog, "Go play somewhere else."

Gouzi gave a contemptuous 'pfft' sound at the person outside the iron gate, then walked away proudly on his four strong legs.

Liu Mu was a bit puzzled. She didn't rush to open the lock on the gate, but stared at Xing Tianyang through the door window for a while and asked, "Did you talk bad about me in front of my dog?"

With Niu Boyi's current intelligence, he could not only understand human speech but even read expressions and distinguish whether a person was friendly or looking for trouble.

Xing Tianyang looked confused and asked his assistant, "Did I?"

The assistant who came along was one of his students, Jiang Xue. Seeing that Liu Mu actually dared to question Xing Tianyang, she immediately pulled a long face, "What is your attitude? How dare you say that others are talking bad behind your back? Teacher is not a person like you!"

Liu Mu hadn't remembered who this woman was, but as soon as the other party spoke, the flavor came through, "Is that so? But my dog doesn't think so. If you have business, speak; if not, get lost!"

She and her dog didn't owe these people anything. These two were asking to be scolded, but unfortunately, she was very busy and didn't have the time.

As she said this, Liu Mu was about to close the small door window. Seeing that she was really going to leave, Xing Tianyang hurriedly said, "How are you? Have there been any changes in your body? It has been several days since you absorbed the Black Stone, that is, the 'Giant Sun'. I need to record your situation."

Liu Mu rolled her eyes right in front of him. She was not only tall, but her eyes were also not small, and the corners of her lips pulled back very sharply, "You need to, but I don't, heh!"

"Liu Mu, wait a moment," Xing Tianyang reached out, colliding with the closing door window. Not only did it hurt, but he also heard the sound of it being locked.

"Teacher, we shouldn't care about the life or death of such a person. The situation is so critical now, it's hard for us to even apply to come out, why come here..."

"Shut up!" Xing Tianyang was already having a massive headache from Jiang Xue's complaining along the way. This student was the granddaughter of his mentor; if it weren't for the sake of his mentor, he wouldn't have accepted her at all.

"She is the most valuable observation subject for this incident. Those who went down together all had some degree of pathological changes, but they were very slight. Only she has value! If you hinder my research again, get back to the Research Institute!"

No matter what others said, Xing Tianyang still insisted that he saw the Fragment of the 'Giant Sun' being absorbed by Liu Mu. He didn't believe that what he saw with his own eyes could be an illusion; otherwise, where did such a huge Giant Sun go?

Usually, Jiang Xue relied on her grandfather being one of the vice-deans of the Research Institute and looked down on everyone. Even the senior brothers and sisters who followed Xing Tianyang were people she would confront whenever she wanted, thinking that no one was as professional as her or as valued by Xing Tianyang as her.

Plus, Xing Tianyang was a person focused on his own research and didn't care about other things at all, so he didn't notice these things.

Now that Jiang Xue had offended the research subject right in front of him, she naturally wouldn't get any good out of it. After being scolded, she could only shut up aggrievedly, and tears soon flowed from behind her thick spectacle lenses. Yet, she didn't think she had a problem and stared at Xing Tianyang unwillingly without turning her eyes away.

Even Xing Tianyang, who was indifferent to human affairs, felt uncomfortable being stared at, and thus became even more annoyed, "We don't need people here who cry and wail; if you want to cry, go further away!"

Jiang Xue let out a "wah" and ran off covering her face.

Another Researcher standing slightly further away wanted to say that the direction she headed was the Food Street where the rat swarm appeared last time, but he raised his hand and then remembered Jiang Xue's usual arrogance, so he never said it out loud. He only thought that since all the Mutated Rats had been killed last time, there shouldn't be any danger.

Of course, he was even less willing to plead for her with Xing Tianyang; was he crazy? Why would he help a spoiled young lady who bullied them?

Xing Tianyang, however, hadn't noticed the direction Jiang Xue ran at all; he just stared at the gate and frowned. A piece of paper was pasted on the iron gate, with black characters on a white background reading: "The iron gate is electrified, don't touch it if you don't want to die!"

He did not doubt the truth of this statement, but he really needed to open this gate to ask Liu Mu about the situation.

Just as Xing Tianyang was hesitating, Lv Ping, who was responsible for protecting their group, stepped forward. As for why Tan Ziyan wasn't leading the team, it was because this Captain had also been injured in the canyon last time.

"Doctor Xing, you aren't going in?" Lv Ping had of course seen what happened, but he had no fondness for these Researchers at all. Even though his temper was better than Tan Ziyan's, he was in no mood to do anything extra. "You see, it's getting late. If you aren't going in, why don't we head back? It's not safe outside at night now."

In recent days, the Base had received reports of animals hurting people, and many Survivors who were originally unwilling to leave their homes had come to the Base one after another to seek shelter.

Xing Tianyang looked at Lv Ping, his brows knitted in worry, "I said Liu Mu was a research subject, and it seems to have made her dog very dissatisfied; it might be a bit troublesome."

This... Lv Ping really wanted to ask if they had offended Niu Boyi or Liu Mu; why did it sound so convoluted? "How about I help you call out?"

Lv Ping just wanted to finish the mission quickly; he was still thinking about going back to join the night patrol. There were fewer Mutated Animals out during the day, and they were mostly encountered at night. As a member of the Special Action Team, he really needed combat experience against Mutated Animals.

Xing Tianyang nodded, but before he could offer a reminder, he saw Lv Ping reach out and pat the iron gate.

Bang, bang, bang—

After a few times, not only did the man not get electrocuted, but he actually shouted loudly, "Little sister, Little sister Liu Mu, your own brother asked me to bring some things to check on you. How have you been these past few days?"

Since Xing Tianyang couldn't get any favor from Liu Mu, Lv Ping naturally had to switch to someone else to strike up a rapport. Besides, before they set off, Tan Ziyan had indeed asked him to help check on Liu Mu's situation and lend a hand if she was in any difficulty.

Sure enough, after just two shouts, the iron gate rattled. This time it wasn't the small window on the gate; the lock of the main gate opened.

Liu Mu pulled open the heavy gate with one hand and immediately revealed a big smile upon seeing Lv Ping, "Lv Ge, you've come too! Oh my, you should have spoken up earlier; I would have invited you in for tea directly!"

As she spoke, she cleared the way and invited Lv Ping in, adding, "Let the other brothers come in for a drink of water too; it's strangely hot during the day now." Lv Ping didn't stand on ceremony; he turned back to beckon his teammates and then strode into the courtyard, "Whoa! Your territory is big enough. I heard from Brother Sanlin before that you built a Duiduichang before the disaster and poured all your savings into it; it looks like you're really out of luck now!"

"What do you mean by that? At least my territory is big; I can even run laps around it for morning exercise," Liu Mu replied without thinking, then caught sight of Xing Tianyang sneaking in behind the soldiers.

"That's true," Lv Ping glanced at the various piles of clutter built in a mess, seeing some old window frames and broken bricks from the corners, which made him feel even more sympathetic. "Exercising is good too. When I go back, I'll have the people at the Base pick up some good things to trade with you. Don't trade for those pots and pans anymore; they're useless."

Liu Mu didn't refuse. Fortunately, they had covered them up when they were sorting and stacking them. "That would be great. Lv Ge, come inside and sit. You all come too."

This was addressed to Xing Tianyang; if she didn't deal with this person, she feared the other party wouldn't give up easily.

Xu Xiaofeng and her younger brother hadn't had contact with people for a long time, and suddenly seeing so many people enter, they were actually a bit shy for a moment.

Following Liu Mu's instructions, Xu Xiaofeng brewed a pot of tea for the group.

The group had originally thought that Liu Mu's mention of tea was just a polite remark, but when they saw the golden-yellow tea in their cups, everyone except Xing Tianyang was surprised.

"You have tea here?" Lv Ping himself wasn't keen on tea, but he had a Captain who was obsessed with drinking it; that's right, it was Tan Ziyan.

Don't let Tan Ziyan's rough appearance fool you; he was very knowledgeable about tea. When not on missions, he would hold a cup of tea and watch them train at his leisure... the dog-hearted bastard, he was wicked to the core!

Based on past grudges, Lv Ping decided not to tell Tan Ziyan that he could get tea leaves from Liu Mu; he would let him crave it to death.

Liu Mu herself didn't actually like drinking tea, but she loved eating tea eggs, especially the tea eggs boiled by Xu Xiaofeng; they were delicious, mellow, and fragrant, a must-have for breakfast.

"It's just some left over from before. Lv Ge, since you like tea, take some when you leave later..."

"No need, no need. A rough guy like me wouldn't know how to drink this stuff; I just think it has a bit more flavor than plain water. You keep it for yourself," Lv Ping hurriedly refused. If he took it back and Tan Ziyan found out, wouldn't that be benefiting that dog of a man?!

Regarding gift-giving, Liu Mu never forced it. If she could avoid giving, she wouldn't; wasn't it better to keep it for herself?

The group exchanged a few more polite words, and just as Xing Tianyang couldn't hold back and was about to interject, Lv Ping asked with a look of concern, "Little Sister Liu, what exactly happened in the canyon that day? We couldn't see clearly from up above."

Liu Mu thought to herself, who said Lv Ping was a rough guy? He even knew how to build rapport before asking questions. It would be worse not to answer now.

So she recounted the first half of the incident in detail. When she reached the part where she approached the stone, she began to embellish, "I was actually scared too, brothers. It was obvious that I was going to lose my life. But then I thought, Doctor Xing and my Brother Tan are both people who serve the country and the people; they couldn't die in that little mountain gully. That's why I wondered if I could push that stone into the sea."

"By the way, didn't you notice there was a hole behind the big stone? If you walked close, you could even hear the sound of seawater below. I don't know if it was smashed out by the stone, or if the ground collapsed when the stone fell. Tsk, maybe it was there to begin with?"

Lv Ping didn't believe a word of this, but he still gave her face and hesitated for a moment. Before he could speak, Xing Tianyang asked, "Are you sure it was pushed into a hole? And that it connects directly to the sea below?"

Liu Mu was stunned, not knowing what expression to make. Wasn't this gentleman the one who swore up and down that he saw her absorb the Giant Sun with his own eyes? Could he believe such a crude lie?

"Yes," the next second, she didn't even blink, "Didn't you go to check afterwards? I don't know if that hole will collapse."

This part was true; when the Giant Sun's energy rioted, the surrounding stones were indeed like flour, crumbling at a touch.

Xing Tianyang, however, expressed with a serious expression that such a possibility existed, but he was more concerned about another matter, "Are you sure there are no changes to your body?"

Liu Mu asked, "Should there be?"

This question caught the few of them off guard.

That's right, the speculation that the Giant Sun would cause animal Mutation was something Liu Mu proposed based on the Mutated Rats, but until now, no one had directly confirmed that contact with the Giant Sun would definitely lead to Mutation.

Xing Tianyang was a rigorous person; without evidence, he could not give a definitive answer.

"I'm not sure, but I still hope you can go to the Base for a comprehensive check-up. It is both for the sake of your health and to provide real and effective data for our research."

As he said this, he remembered a sentence Yang Shuo had said before, so he added, "If you need certain conditions to agree, you can state them, and I will try my best to satisfy them."

Yang Shuo said that Liu Mu was a kind-hearted person who had indirectly provided many benefits to the Base, but one shouldn't take it for granted just because others were kind; that would chill the hearts of good people.

Trade things with Xing Tianyang?

Liu Mu couldn't really think of any good things to trade with a Researcher, so she put on a thoughtful look, pondered for half a minute, and said, "No, I don't want to have anything to do with your Laboratory. I hope you won't come to disturb me and my dog again in the future."

No matter what the other party brought to trade, once she agreed to cooperate, Niu Boyi would definitely be taken along too. She didn't care about herself, but she absolutely could not let them touch her dog.

Seeing Liu Mu's firm attitude, Lv Ping pressed his hand on Xing Tianyang's shoulder to stop him from saying anything extreme.

Lv Ping said, "Little sister, don't say that; even for us rough guys, just mentioning the Laboratory makes us shudder. Don't worry, as long as you aren't willing, we absolutely won't force you. But since you called us 'brother', there is one thing I, Lv Ge, still have to say: if you ever feel uncomfortable, you must come to the Base in time; don't try to tough it out."

Liu Mu naturally agreed readily and then unceremoniously saw them out.

As everyone knew, supplies were tight now, so Lv Ping naturally didn't intend to mooch a meal here. He immediately pulled the still-wanting-to-talk Xing Tianyang away, "Doctor Xing, don't you still have many experiments to finish today? Let's go. My little sister said there's nothing wrong, so just go back to work."

After sending them out of the Scrap Station, Liu Mu was just about to lock the gate when she suddenly heard a dog bark.

It was naturally Niu Boyi's voice, coming from afar, very urgent.

Liu Mu immediately whistled, and the dog barking over there grew louder, meaning someone had been bitten by a big rat, and Niu Boyi was asking Liu Mu if she wanted to save them.

"What's wrong?" Out of professional habit, Lv Ping was very sensitive to danger; his hand on the car door paused, "Did something happen?"

Liu Mu frowned slightly and looked at the seven or eight people who had come this time, "Are you missing someone?"

At this reminder, Lv Ping slapped his forehead, "Just my luck, I almost left that temperamental young lady behind. Where is she?"

"She was bitten by a Mutated Rat," Liu Mu said with a grave expression, pointing in a direction, "My dog saved her, you should go quickly."

The car started, carrying the team members as they rushed over there, and Liu Mu thought for a moment before stepping forward to follow. She was not worried about the injured person, but rather that these fellows might bully Niu Boyi.

Sure enough, having not walked far, she heard someone cursing Niu Boyi with hearing that exceeded that of an ordinary person.

"It's it, it's this dog that wants to kill me, hurry up and shoot it dead. It has already undergone Mutation, it will definitely eat people! ~"

Fine, it was that annoying female Researcher again.

Niu Boyi, who possessed sufficiently high intelligence, would naturally not allow people to frame it, and had already emitted a threatening sound, appearing ready to bite all these people to death at any moment.

It did not matter whether others died or not, but Lv Ping was a decent person, and there was no need to incur a penalty for this kind of mission.

Liu Mu started running, and in less than a minute, she burst into the middle of the standoff like a nimble motorcycle.

"Niu Boyi," she called out calmly, and the dog, which had been baring its teeth, instantly retracted its fierce look, trotted over, and pressed its head into Liu Mu's palm, whimpering with grievance; it was not cursing very politely.

"What are you afraid of? Stand your ground for me and explain things clearly," Liu Mu rubbed Niu Boyi's large head with amusement; although her tone was fierce, her expression was actually very doting.

"Your dog intentionally let the Mutated Rat attack me; you must hand it over immediately, we are going to execute this mad dog on the spot that doesn't even have an epidemic prevention registration!"