CH 61

Generally speaking, during these special times, two migrating groups won’t get too close. When they discover each other, most will tacitly avoid one another.

Because in the extremely scarce resources of winter, the danger isn’t just from mutated creatures but from humans themselves.

In extreme environments, humans are far more unpredictable than animals and plants. At least in a frenzied state, mutated creatures lack reason and attack mindlessly. But humans possess thoughts and intelligence.

A convoy might not be wiped out by a group of mutated creatures, but it’s very possible to be annihilated or assimilated by another convoy.

If two groups clash, in most cases, there won’t be any survivors. On Cang Zhan Star, everyone is well aware of the concept of eradicating the roots. This is also one of the reasons why Hu Sichen and Fei Luo would migrate together with the Gu Langu Base.

The approach of the other convoy heightened everyone’s alertness. People from the base instinctively moved closer to each other, assuming defensive postures.

“The surroundings are all plains, there’s no shelter from the wind. Only this small town can serve as a resting place. I reckon they also want to set up camp in the town.” Nan Fang stuffed a large piece of roasted meat into his mouth. While it was satisfying, the taste was still far from good enough.

“Still, Shui Shui’s cooking is so delicious.” Nan Fang felt like his appetite had been spoiled by Shu Shuishui’s braised meat. Even though it was incredibly luxurious meat, he always felt like something was missing.

“Hey! If you don’t like it, don’t eat it. Roast your own!” Yu Jin kicked Nan Fang discontentedly. “Besides, can I and Shui Shui even be compared? Shui Shui’s meat is stewed delicately, piece by piece. Did you see Shui Shui measuring the seasonings with his own little paws, precise to milligrams? If I can just roast it until it’s cooked, that’s already a success, you know?”

“Brother Yu is right, and we only have salt. Unfortunately, Shui Shui’s seasonings are only a little bit. We can’t bear to ask for them.” Xie Feng remembered the time when they went to ask Shu Shuishui about the amount of seasonings.

As a result, the little mouse proudly extended its little arm and drew a big circle. “It’s this big, like a small mountain, even a bit bigger than Shui Shui.”

After that, Xie Feng and the others gave up on asking Shuishui for some “small mountain”-sized seasonings.

While the three were eating roasted meat, the other migrating convoy took a detour to the other side of the town. Although the town wasn’t large, it could still comfortably accommodate several thousand people.

The two convoys tacitly divided the town into east and west sides, with the central street as the boundary.

It wasn’t until the people from the three bases were settled and had taken out their portions of meat, steamed, stewed, and roasted them, that the cooking methods, though rudimentary, still brought satisfaction.

The rich aroma of meat spread with the wind and drifted over to where the other convoy was stationed.

On the upper floor of one of the two-story buildings, a man with a scar across his face couldn’t help but deeply inhale several times.

“Boss Dong! They’re eating meat over there! It smells so good! Shouldn’t we…” Due to arriving in town later, the convoy was still settling in at this time. Although the faint aroma of meat had been dispersed by the wind, after many years without a taste of meat, almost everyone had become like dogs, still able to accurately detect the scent of meat.

“Call over the two brothers to take a look, don’t act recklessly.” Dong Shijun’s heart also couldn’t help but stir upon smelling the scent of meat, but the fact that the other side was daring to eat meat so openly indicated their confidence in their strength.

“What’s there to be afraid of? It seems they don’t have as many people as us. Even combined, they’re only a thousand people. You can smell it from two streets away. They’re collectively eating meat, but where did they get so much meat?”

“Do as I said,” Dong Shijun’s attitude was very firm.

The scar-faced strong man immediately complied with an obedient acknowledgment and eagerly sent someone to check the situation.

In fact, there was no need to give orders. Someone couldn’t help but run to the vicinity of the central street to look across and see what was going on. It didn’t take long before the scar-faced man returned with a pair of binoculars, his expression somewhat puzzled.

“Boss Dong, they really are all eating meat, but the meat they’re eating doesn’t look like the flesh of ordinary creatures. It’s more like mutant creature meat.”

“Mutant creature meat?” Dong Shijun’s eyebrows raised, clearly surprised. Could it be that they ran out of food? It couldn’t be, when they passed by that base earlier, everyone there had a guarded expression, and their bodies were strong, especially their mental state, which was clearly much better than their convoy’s.

“Have they gone mad from wanting to eat meat? They even dare to eat mutant creature meat!” The scar-faced man had temporarily abandoned his plan to do something. There was no point in communicating with a group of lunatics, and he had no intention of eating mutant creature meat either. He wouldn’t eat it even if he were forced.

“They’re either mad or… they’ve learned how to deal with mutant creatures,” Dong Shijun’s eyes held obvious interest. “No need to rush. If nothing unexpected happens, their general direction of migration is similar to ours. We’re not far apart, just a few days’ journey. If they haven’t gone crazy, then it’s likely the latter.”

“Is there such a method? It’s impossible, isn’t it? The Galactic Alliance hasn’t heard of any breakthroughs in dealing with mutant creatures. They’ve been researching all along, but nothing substantial has come out.”

“The talents on Cang Zhan Star are far more abundant than you imagine, and they might not necessarily be inferior to the Galactic Alliance.”

The scar-faced man’s eyes instantly lit up. “If that’s the case! We could capture that talent and then we’d have meat to eat! That’s fantastic! We could kidnap someone someday, find out the situation…”

The scar-faced man’s words were interrupted by Dong Shijun before he could finish. “Without my orders, don’t act recklessly. Do you really think a convoy that can all eat mutant creatures is lacking in strength?”

Hearing this, the scar-faced man couldn’t help but hesitate. Indeed, looking at that convoy’s appearance, everyone had meat to eat. How many mutant creatures must they have killed? “If it’s true, that’s infuriating! We’ve been struggling all the way, afraid of encountering mutant creatures. I must capture the person who knows how to deal with them!”

In the end, the two reached a consensus: they decided not to act recklessly but to maintain a certain distance and follow the other convoy. Slowly gather information, including their strength and the likely individual who had mastered the method to deal with mutant creatures.

Both of them felt that knowing oneself and the opponent was the most prudent approach. They decided not to rush into action until everything was thoroughly understood.

It wasn’t until much later that Dong Shijun and Huang Dao realized they had dug themselves into a big hole, especially when they learned more and more about the situation and found themselves pleading to team up and join the other side.

That night, many people didn’t sleep well. Everyone was alert to the possibility of a surprise attack from the other side. However, as the night passed, both groups remained unharmed.

As usual, Shu Shuishui packed up his small tent and greeted Gu Langu with a wave of his paw while Gu Langu stared at him. “Good morning, Gu Gu.”

Satisfied with the morning greeting, Gu Langu responded, “Good morning, Shui Shui.”

The small and large figures left the tent to freshen up. Shu Shuishui held his little cup; he didn’t bother finding water himself. Instead, he waited until Gu Lanbone came over with a cup full of water and scooped some water from Gu Langu’s cup directly into his own. “Thank you, Gu Gu. You’ve worked hard.”

Gu Langu watched as just a few drops of water were transferred to Shu Shuishui’s cup and thought about how polite Shu Shuishui was. “Later, Shui Shui, let’s go make snowmen. Breakfast is prepared by Nan Ge, it’s sweet potato porridge. You’ll like it.”

Because of the presence of the micro-farm, sweet potatoes were no longer a scarce item within the convoy. Although many people were still reluctant to eat them and saved them for spring planting, as the storage grew, they gradually started taking them out occasionally for a meal or two.

“Sure, building snowmen. If we have time, should we have a snowball fight?” Shu Shuishui had always been looking forward to snowball fights as a form of entertainment, but it had never been successfully carried out because nobody wanted to join him. This made Shu Shuishui a little melancholic as he remembered the days of playing in the snow and watching auroras with Shu Bao in Antarctica.

Gu Langu opened his mouth, then finally relented under the weight of Shu Shuishui’s eager, frosty eyes. “Alright.”

Passing by nearby, Yu Jin suddenly slipped and hurriedly went to find Xie Feng and Nan Fang to share the news. He contemplated whether to provide close protection to Shu Shuishui. Not too much effort is needed—just one snowball could flatten Shu Shuishui.

Unexpectedly, neither Nan Fang nor Xie Feng showed any interest, leaving Yu Jin quite anxious. He sneaked back and watched the scene of Gu Langu and Shu Shuishui playing in the snow.

Eventually, Yu Jin left in waning interest, realizing that there was truly nothing to worry about. It was completely Gu Langu on the receiving end of snowball hits, and moreover, they were pea-sized snowballs. Seriously, this was a snowball fight—was he kidding?

However, Shu Shuishui was having a great time, thinking he skillfully dodged all of Gu Langu’s attacks, oblivious to the fact that Gu Langu had once been a person who could catch bullets with his hands.

During breakfast, Shu Shuishui formed another snowball the size of a yellow bean and placed it in Gu Langu’s palm. “This snowball is for Gu Gu. I’ll stand still, and Gu Gu can throw it. This way, you’ll manage to hit me once.”

Gu Langu looked at the “snowball,” which was visibly larger than before, nodded, aimed, and threw!

In the end, the snowball grazed Shu Shuishui’s whiskers as it flew by.

Gu Langu sighed with regret. “It seems I need to practice my aim. Can we have snowball fights more often in the future?”

Shu Shuishui nodded his small head. “Of course, we can, until the day when Gu Gu manages to hit me.”

Xie Feng, who came to call them for a meal, thought to himself: “…” Gu Langue’s clever tricks were truly something.

Gu Langu smiled without saying a word, but he knew deep down that that day would never come. However, during the subsequent journey of migration, members of the convoy often witnessed scenes of the big and small playing in the snow and building snowmen. This led to other people in the convoy also building snowmen when they had spare time.

When others heard that building snowmen was Shu Shuishui’s hobby, they all joined in. After years, a kind of fanatical behavior, akin to idol worship, was revived. This resulted in various forms of snowmen, big and small, being left behind wherever the convoy passed, in addition to sweeping away the mutant creatures.

The convoy that followed Gu Langu’s team also often discovered different kinds of surprises.