Chapter 228 - 195: Mutant Animals

Chapter 228: Chapter 195: Mutant Animals

Huai Yu grew puzzled again. "I heard from Ms. Liang Zhu from the Construction Department that military academies nowadays only teach Superpowers. Can’t other people with Water Abilities do that?"

Zhou Qian was momentarily speechless. "It depends on both talent and individual capability. It’s like studying literature—some people can write masterpieces like the *Tengwang Pavilion Preface*, while others can’t even memorize them... Lin Xuefeng’s ability is just like that.

"Before he entered the military academy, Water Abilities had absolutely no combat power. Even rapidly dehydrating plants was incredibly difficult for them, so most were transferred to logistics. But after his rise to fame, five major categories of water-based attacks were added to the textbooks, all of which are highly lethal."

He paused, then added, "Perhaps, given enough time, an even more incredible genius will appear. But it has only been six years since the catastrophe began. In these six years, Lin Xuefeng alone has stood as the symbol of the Guard Army.

"Rumor has it that after he retired due to his injuries, he was originally slated to become the principal of the military academy. However, the entire Guard Army refused to submit to General Wu. They constantly talked about Lin Xuefeng..."

These were just fragments of information Zhou Qian had painstakingly gathered after Wu Yue destroyed Huai Yu’s house. But because transportation hadn’t fully recovered yet, and the internet was heavily restricted everywhere, he didn’t know much more than that. He also didn’t know if Lin Xuefeng had chosen to leave the Imperial Capital for Flower City’s Wilderness because of the capital’s political infighting, or if he was simply sick and tired of it all and only sought release.

Huai Yu, however, thought it made perfect sense. "That’s completely normal. Just like in ancient times—if you had someone like Emperor Taizong of Tang as your Emperor, nobody would want to be stuck with a coward like Wanyan Gou calling the shots, right?"

This comparison...

Zhou Qian couldn’t help but laugh. "It’s a bit crude, but the logic stands. Still, Wu Yue does have genuine capabilities." He pointed to the Rose Corridor in the distance. "The barrier he grew for Flower City is still protecting us to this day."

Huai Yu wrinkled her nose. "Why do I get the feeling he wasn’t the one who grew the Rose Corridor?"

Zhou Qian’s expression turned serious. "Without evidence to the contrary, it was him. He has made sacrifices for the country and its people. Unless there is concrete proof, no one can erase his contributions."

With that said, Zhou Qian softened his tone. "Even if the Rose Corridor has nothing to do with him, the Guard Army carries out extermination missions every year. The fact that he risks his life in the Wilderness is real. Even if he were just an ordinary soldier, we shouldn’t make baseless speculations like that."

Fine.

Huai Yu scoffed lightly, reluctantly accepting his point, before decisively changing the subject. "You still haven’t told me, what exactly are the dangers in other cities?"

Since these were matters of common knowledge, Zhou Qian answered quickly. "Haven’t you looked at a map? The border regions of our country all connect to extreme climates. The south generally has a hot and humid climate. Another type is high-altitude terrain, where plants have different characteristics but never grow very tall. Because those areas are vast and sparsely populated, carrying out extermination missions there is actually much easier.

"But inland cities like our Flower City are unique. We have vast plains as well as steep mountains, and the Wilderness sits right in the dead center, connecting in all directions to sixteen different cities, including ours. Therefore, as it stands now, the greatest threat to all the cities lies entirely within the Wilderness."

Huai Yu thought for a moment before summarizing, "So, right now we’re like a giant flatbread. The part in the middle with the filling is the Wilderness. No matter which city you start from or which direction you bite from, you’ll eventually hit the filling. Is that right?"

"..." Zhou Qian sighed. "You sure have a way with analogies."

Huai Yu grew smug. "Of course! I told you I used to be very smart. Didn’t you hear me earlier? I even know about ancient Emperors."

Zhou Qian was speechless. Yes, it was amazing that she even knew about ancient Emperors. He couldn’t even find the words to praise her. For now, he could only listen in silence to Huai Yu’s next question.

"The plants in the south are afraid of the cold. What about the ones in the north, and the ones here in the middle zone? Aren’t they afraid of the cold too?"

"They are." Zhou Qian said, "Of course they fear low temperatures. Except for a small fraction of plants that thrive in the cold, the vast majority enter a brief period of dormancy during the winter. They stop growing, lose their desire to attack, and no longer require many nutrients.

"However, when the following spring arrives, having undergone vernalization, they develop an exceptionally intense craving for nutrients. The pollution that accumulated in the soil during autumn and winter is rapidly extracted by them, and the entire plant becomes even stronger than before. That’s why, even though dealing with Wilderness plants remains incredibly difficult, the state still makes these arrangements for the long term. Not only are there multiple Wilderness exploration missions every year, but a massive extermination campaign is also launched during the winter."

He looked down at his leg. "If I hadn’t retired, I would have entered the Wilderness again this winter."

Huai Yu looked thoughtful. "Are winter extermination missions easier to carry out?"

Zhou Qian shook his head. "The casualty rate in winter is simply lower. Also, because plants and animals aren’t as active in the winter, the majority of the flora and fauna we eradicate can be brought back. This makes it easier for the research institutes to study them and figure out ways to integrate them into civilian life. The new quick-drying materials used for building houses now, the Virginia creeper on my leg, the bricks on my well platform... even the special chip materials in hospital medical pods—they are all closely tied to mutated plants."

But everything had its pros and cons.

"In reality, though, because it’s cold and the soil is frozen solid, it’s very hard to pull the mutated plants up by their roots when killing them. The missions might be easier to execute, but they only weaken a portion of the plants. We still can’t slowly push forward, zone by zone, and wipe them out completely."

Huai Yu had gained a lot of new knowledge today. Her brain was spinning wildly when a sudden burst of curiosity struck her again. "There are mutated plants everywhere, but what about animals? What about cats and dogs?" She hesitated slightly. "Were they all culled when the catastrophe began?"

"No," Zhou Qian laughed. "If the catastrophe had been localized, prioritizing human lives would have certainly meant controlling and culling animals. Once their mutations break past the critical threshold, their lethality is extremely high. But... the catastrophe started globally and abruptly. People, animals, and plants—the changes happened overnight.

"Furthermore, most companion animals had stable temperaments. In the early stages, they were actually protecting their owners and families. We had even less reason to actively make enemies of them. The reason you see so few of them now is that animals’ abilities increased very rapidly after mutating. Consequently, it became much easier for their Mutant Values to break past the critical threshold. Once they pass that threshold, they go mad and rabid, just like humans do, and ultimately die in a frenzy of slaughter.

"Because of this, ordinary households can no longer keep them. With their heightened intelligence and volatile emotions, normal people have no way of controlling mutated animals. So, they are all centrally housed at the Merit Institute. Flower City’s Merit Institute is located in an abandoned factory building by the highway in the West District. It’s been retrofitted with various filtration systems to minimize the absorption of pollution as much as possible.

"When teams set out for the Wilderness, they ask the animals for their consent and bring the willing ones along to assist in combat. If the families of these mutated animals want to maintain ownership, they have to pay a certain amount of Contribution Points every month and volunteer for two hours every day to take care of their fur babies."