Chapter 62: Obtaining the Mutated Plant: Black Roasted Bird

Those are not mutated birds at all; they are clearly animal mimicries formed after the mutation of plant roots, floating on the ground as bait to capture prey.

The Black Rain nourished them, and they covered almost the entire hilltop.

Liu Mu felt her scalp tingle.

Gouzi couldn't help but take a bite, only for his mouth to get stuck; if not for his immense strength while struggling, the vines would have swallowed him whole and bound him up.

Liu Mu's aim was very accurate now; she fired a few shots and severed the vine that was dragging Niu Boyi's head toward the ground.

"Don't swallow it! This thing will perform Parasitism!"

She wasn't sure if Niu Boyi's body could directly digest the parasite, but she didn't dare take the risk.

Once he gained his freedom, Niu Boyi ran frantically down the mountain, nearly crashing into the Truck.

Upon reaching the roadside, he stuck his claws into his mouth to scrape around and began to vomit.

Liu Fugui wanted to get out of the car to check the situation, but remembering Liu Mu's instructions, he could only ask what was going on through the window.

Li Gang was in the vehicle ahead with He Qizheng; he was closer and saw a scene he found hard to accept.

Niu Boyi used his front claws to mash the flesh and blood in his mouth, and mixed with the vomit, a black, wriggling mass was gouged out.

It pulled out countless tiny, twisting roots, resembling a giant blood-sucking horsefly covered in tentacles.

Niu Boyi vomited for quite a while, tears even streaming from Gouzi's eyes, and after whimpering for a bit, he turned back to seek comfort from his Master.

On the not-so-high summit, Liu Mu used a knife to dissect a piece of bait, only to see it was filled with white Seeds, which, as if alive, sprouted dense white roots the instant they touched the Black Rain.

Yet these roots did not dig into the ground; instead, they swayed frantically in the air, as if searching for the flesh and blood of some unlucky soul.

After asking the system if this plant could be isolated to make specimens, the system asked Liu Mu if she had nothing better to do.

But in the end, she still managed to get two of them, roots and vines included.

She walked around here and discovered that these things did not actively attack people; they were passive-trigger Mutated Plants.

If these were planted along the outer perimeter wall, anyone who got close would become their nourishment.

She even gave this black plant—which possessed bird-like bait that looked as if it had been roasted by fire, with small, emerald-green leaves and sturdy vines—a name: Black Roasted Bird.

With the alert lifted, Liu Mu went down the mountain to ask the others if they wanted to go see the Black Roasted Bird, but the three men who had witnessed Niu Boyi's self-mutilation and self-rescue shook their heads.

Just kidding; if that thing got on them, they didn't have the guts Niu Boyi had.

Liu Mu let Liu Fugui drive for a while, while she stayed in the truck bed under the rain tarp to clean the remaining plant Seeds from Niu Boyi's mouth and apply medicine.

The teary-eyed dog head was slapped several times, "See if you ever go biting things again! What era do you think this is? You could die without even knowing what happened! If you can't recite the danger levels of Mutated Plants from the system for me later, you're not getting any Dog Food for a month!"

"Wuru wuru, Big Sister, I want Big Sister..."

Niu Boyi had learned to read people now; in their whole family, only Xu Xiaofeng truly doted on him and would make delicious Dog Food.

As for the Dog Food made by his Master, Liu Mu, hmph, even a dog wouldn't want to eat it.

Without comparison, there is no better; Big Sister was his true sister.

Niu Boyi decided to help Big Sister more after returning; it would be best if he could hunt two Mutated Animals that humans could eat to take back—Big Sister would definitely be happy.

Liu Mu, unaware that her dog had already become biased, held tweezers in her hand and pulled out the Seeds one by one as they dug into his flesh.

Fortunately, the dog's recovery ability was astonishing; after pulling out a bit of flesh, it would heal in a few minutes.

The most troublesome ones were in the gaps between his teeth; the roots of the Seeds that had dug in had already entangled his teeth.

Liu Mu wasn't angry anymore, because she discovered that as long as the Seeds were pulled out, the roots that hadn't had time to dig deep would actually be dissolved by the blood flowing from Niu Boyi's wounds.

This gave her an idea; she pulled out a Seed with its roots and dripped a drop of her own blood onto it.

In less than a second, the blood acted like some kind of strong acid, dissolving it directly until not a trace remained.

"Damn, when did I evolve into Corpse Dissolving Water?"

Hearing this, Niu Boyi moved away silently, and the system expressed its speechlessness.

【Corpse Dissolving Water is one of the manifestations of detoxification ability in the circulatory system. Host, do you need to name this ability Corpse Dissolving Water?】

"Does that mean if venom enters my blood, it will be directly dissolved?" Liu Mu was amazed herself, "This ability is too heaven-defying. Fine, let's call it that from now on."

She immediately saw that a red name, 'Corpse Dissolving Water', had appeared under the detoxification ability in the Mutation ability column, and it even thoughtfully provided a description.

Liu Mu thought for a moment, "By that logic, the ability to revive even if the body is shattered should be called... 'Corpse Shatterer'."

【With all due respect, Host, there is no logic between the two.】

"That's where you don't understand; having the same character is their logic," Liu Mu didn't care about that, and thought, "Extrapolating further, give names to the manifestations of my detoxification skill in the various systems of my body."

Thus, she saw the following appear one after another: Corpse Digesting Path (digestive system), Corpse Immunity Art (immune system), Corpse Expelling Water (urinary system), Corpse Breathing Path (respiratory system)...

"It wasn't necessary to force the word 'corpse' into everything," Liu Mu regretted it; a real person truly had advantages that a system couldn't replace.

Continuing along the way, after circling the mountain road for four hours, they finally arrived at a small town.

Seven hours had passed since they set off.

To avoid dangerous road sections, the route they took was indeed a bit long, but there was no helping that.

The time was approaching dusk, and with the rain, the light and visibility were extremely limited.

This small town on the mountainside was not very large; no living people could be seen, and the damage to the houses was not particularly severe.

She didn't know if the people here had evacuated, or...

After entering the town, they switched to Liu Mu's vehicle in the lead, moving very slowly.

Niu Boyi didn't act recklessly anymore either; he just followed near the two vehicles, keeping an eye on the surrounding situation.

From the town, one could see the Mining Tunnel in the valley in the distance; perhaps because of the Coal Mine, the nearby mountains were all pitch black.

"Boss, it's getting late. Why don't we find a place to settle down first?"

Li Fugui discussed it with Liu Mu; one had to know that the risks of traveling mountain roads at night were indeed very high.

Liu Mu told them to go find a place to settle down, while she took Niu Boyi to the Mine first to check the situation.

Half an hour later, they arrived at the location.

After raining for so long, many places were actually still steaming, which indicated that the lower layers of the piled-up coal had not been extinguished.

Just as Liu Gang said, the coal here is piled up like a small mountain.

Liu Mu told Niu Boyi to be careful and try his best to find some usable coal.

This place is quite a distance from Haicheng, and it is in a completely different direction from Chaoxian, where the volcano erupted, so it was not affected by the energy released by the Anti-matter Engine.

In other words, the maximum temperature here during the Ten-Day Burning should not exceed seven hundred degrees Celsius.

However, even at this temperature, it is enough to ignite the coal in the open air.

After looking for a while, Liu Mu gave up on searching outside and went straight to the Mining Tunnel.