Chapter 33

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Question: How did Mutated Green-headed Fly 1 and Mutated Green-headed Fly 2 live together in the glass bottle?

Answer: Mutated Green-headed Fly 1 survived with one wing gone, and Mutated Green-headed Fly 2 ended up as a pile of fly poop.

2Once Shen Cong finished watching the video, he understood the entire process.

Before their mutation, the green-headed flies could coexist harmoniously, but after their mutation, they became incredibly aggressive. In the beginning, they ate the Activity-laced pork together, but after they finished eating it, they started eating each other, ignoring the fact that they were of the same kind.

In the fight, Mutated Green-headed Fly 2 bit off Mutated Green-headed Fly 1’s wing, and Mutated Green-headed Fly 1 stabbed Mutated Green-headed Fly 2’s head with its proboscis.

1As of then, the only mutated creatures Shen Cong noticed that could coexist were the fanged wolves and the ant colony.

He believed that the ant colony was created by the queen ant, so they were second generation mutated creatures. With the queen ant ruling over them, they could coexist in harmony. But he did not understand how the fanged wolves could live together in peace.

Shen Cong thought of a possibility. ‘They might be from the same litter.’

All seven fanged wolves had the same mutated form, making it clear that they were the mutated forms of the same type of dog breed. There was a high possibility that they were truly from the same litter.

While thinking about it, Shen Cong cast his gaze at the mesh food cover.

The fly eggs that had not reacted to the world for two days finally hatched. A few large, white larvae crawled about the rotten meat.

‘Their size is much larger than that of normal larvae. They must have mutated. The larvae given birth by a normal green-headed fly have also mutated after being exposed to Activity.

‘Normal first-generation green-headed flies can mutate, and their children can also mutate. Mutation is truly everywhere.

‘I wonder what differences there will be between Mutated Green-headed Fly 1 and the second generation mutated larvae after they grow into flies.’

The smell of the rotten meat was disgusting, so when Shen Cong finished observing Mutated Green-headed Fly 1 and the second generation fly larvae, he left and tightly shut the door of the cubicle so that he could prevent the smell from spreading through the entire compartment and polluting the air inside.

No matter what, having only one container would definitely lead to some inconveniences. His living area, dining area, and research area were not separated, so there were bound to be peculiar smells around.

It would be much better if he had a full trailer.

1*****

The next day was a cloudy day. It was, in fact, rather foggy.

The fugly cat hanging outside seemed to have woken up. When it saw Shen Cong, it immediately started meowing.

Shen Cong ignored it. He inspected the area, as he always did. Once he was certain there were no dangers around, he went back and removed the fugly cat’s chains. Then, he led the fugly cat to the poisoned peach tree.

‘It’s time to conduct the final experiment.’

He threw half of a poisonous peach to the fugly cat, and right after it finished eating it, it fell to the ground. Its breathing became slow and long; it had fallen into deep sleep.

Shen Cong ignored the fugly cat and walked around the peach tree to record some of his observations as well as take some pictures.

Ten minutes later, he went back to the fugly cat and lifted it slightly. He found no abnormalities on the ground when he looked at it.

Twenty minutes later, Shen Cong picked up the fugly cat again and looked at the ground.

Still no abnormalities.

Thirty minutes later, no abnormalities.

Forty minutes later, no abnormalities.

Eventually, when fifty minutes passed, Shen Cong picked up the fugly cat again, and this time, he saw something strange!

The ground was once empty, but now, a large number of fine white threads popped out from among the powdered stones. They were the thread-like roots from the peach tree!

Some of the roots had already entered the fugly cat’s skin.

Shen Cong moved the fugly cat away. Then, with the entrenching tool, he dug the powdered stone. Just as he expected, the thread-like roots went straight back to the peach tree’s primary root. They were the roots that the peach tree had extended within a short fifty minutes.

‘Looks like my inference was correct.’

Shen Cong had thought about many things last night, and one of his many thoughts had helped him form the connection between carrion and thread-like roots from the peach tree.

He deduced that the Activity-stuffed poisoned peach were not actually poisonous, but had a lot of Activity in them, so the mutated animals who ate them fell unconscious for at least a few hours to digest the Activity.

That was the reason behind why there were many mutated animals lying around the peach tree. Once they stopped moving, the thread-like roots from the peach tree would stretch to them based on their Activity radiation.

The roots pierced the mutated animals’ bodies and killed them off, which reduced them to a nutrient source for the peach tree.

Now, Shen Cong was sure of his theory. The peach tree had used a different method to kill the mutated animals than he expected at first. The fruits it bore were not actually poisonous.

He should change the peach tree’s name from poisonous peach tree to murderous peach tree, and the Activity-laced poisonous peach should be renamed Activity-laced nectarine.

1Once he understood everything, the murderous peach tree was no longer as valuable as before. It might still have a lot of secrets that he had not managed to dig out, but he was just a passerby, not a specialist who researched other things for a living.

Hence, after Shen Cong had his lunch, he picked all of the remaining twenty-seven nectarines, plucked a large number of leaves from the murderous peach tree, packed them up, and brought them back. The Activity-laced nectarines had already been proven to not be poisonous, so Shen Cong would naturally only eat them himself. As for the leaves, he wanted to observe them for a while to see whether he could use them as vegetables.

It had been days since he had any vegetables. The leaves he collected were mutated, but his physical constitution had become stronger, and his digestive system had also become relatively stronger. He should try digesting the leaves.

If he could not, he would just throw them away.

Shen Cong originally had one more idea—to cut down the murderous peach tree and search for its Activity core. But in the end, he hesitated. The Activity-laced nectarines from the murderous peach tree provided great help in terms of mutation. If he let it stay where it was, it would bear fruit again after some time.

At that time, Shen Cong could look for a chance to come back. If he did not cut down the tree, he would reserve a treasure for himself.

That was, if he had the chance to come back.

He tied the fugly cat—now awake—at the back of the truck compartment, because he had already decided to rear it as a food source. Shen Cong looked at the foggy sky above him and came up with the firm decision to turn Titan’s ignition.

After casting a final glance at the murderous peach tree, he headed north on the road built by the government.

The sizzling sounds from the radio were accompanied by Xu Wei’s songs [1] playing from the laptop. They gave a leisurely but sad feeling to Shen Cong’s quiet and bleak journey.

“The setting sun in the horizon illuminates my face once more,

“It, too, casts its rays on my uneasy heart.

“What is this place? Why is it still so bleak?

“This endless journey is so long.

“I am forever a wanderer traveling alone into the distance.

“And you are the woman of my dreams among the sea of people…”

The bumpy road prevented Shen Cong from being able to divide his attention to guide Titan into absorbing Activity, but it did not stop him from singing out loud with the song.

And no one cared whether he sounded terrible or not.

It was fine as long as he was happy.

“In my dreams, I always see myself walking down the road to home.

“And you stand under the sun, so tender and beautiful.

“And you are beautiful when your dress flies,

“When your gentleness flows out of you like water.”

*****

When night fell, Shen Cong parked his trunk and set up camp.

Based on the estimation he made based on the image from the radar and the map, once he got to the provincial highway after he got out of the road made by the government, he should be on Provincial Highway 208. He was heading to Dagu Village, which was located at the northernmost section of Wuwei County.

The journey might have been arduous, but after loads of hiccups, Shen Cong managed to cover around 8 km. He was now less than 20 km away from Chaohu.

He fed the fugly cat some food and added Activity-laced meat to the second generation larvae while he observed how Mutated Green-headed Fly 1 increased in size.

Then, he seized the time to absorb Activity and repair Titan.

The night went by quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was 1:00 A.M., 30th of July.

Titan’s Activity had increased to 25.3%. They did not run into any dangers, and everything was progressing well.

It was getting late.

Before Shen Cong slept, he made preparations, sucked in a deep breath, brought out an Activity-laced nectarine, and ate it in a few bites.

Then, he quickly laid down.

The next moment, a heat wave spread out from his stomach with an explosive force. It quickly rushed to his head.

His mind was in a daze for a short moment, then immediately after, Shen Cong fainted.

When he woke up, the sun was already shining brightly in the sky.

It was a new day.

Shen Cong raised his hand and noticed that his physical constitution had improved once more.

If he had the strength of two bulls before, he now had the strength of at least two and a half bulls.

1He felt as if he had an endless supply of Activity in his body, and it made him feel incredibly energetic. He had the desire to immediately use up some of his energy.

After sensing Titan, he noticed that its Activity had reached 27.1%, even though it only had 25.3% Activity the night before. It had increased by 1.8%.

Usually, when Titan absorbed Activity on its own, it needed at least two and a half days to absorb this much Activity. Even if the sky was cloudy and the wandering Activity in the world had increased, it would still need to absorb Activity on its own for two days before it could obtain this amount. But now, in just one night that lasted around eight hours, it had gained 1.8% Activity.

Shen Cong smiled, which was something he rarely did. ‘It’s all thanks to the Activity-laced nectarine.’

Titan could give him Activity, and he could do the same as well. Since their bodies were one, it was only par for the course that Activity could be shared between them as if they were one.