Chapter 406 - 396: Transformation

Chapter 406: Chapter 396: Transformation

It had to be said, Tang Mo genuinely admired Yang Jie.

He wasn’t just an outstanding leader, but also a brilliant businessman.

One mutant beast could be made into twenty meatballs, but only five were offered for trade, leaving fifteen for themselves.

And that didn’t even count the bait made from the other parts of the mutant beasts.

A large amount of this bait was given out as an extra bonus for trades. This not only put waste to good use but also greatly increased people’s ability to protect themselves.

With enough bait on hand, the process of hunting mutant beasts became much simpler. Combined with Tang Mo’s destructive power, it was a devastatingly effective two-pronged attack.

While the public’s awakening would cost the base a highly profitable revenue stream, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

First, everyone now accepted that Exotic Beast Meat was edible. With this mental shift, hunger was no longer an insurmountable problem.

Second, in order to get more food, everyone would inevitably put in more effort. Tang Mo had noticed that the number of mutant beasts on the streets had clearly decreased recently.

Third, Yang Jie’s base was, after all, a military unit. They couldn’t run a public soup kitchen forever. They had other missions waiting for them.

After all, they were perhaps the last well-equipped, unified, and highly trained force left in this apocalypse.

"So that’s how it is..."

With things laid out so clearly, what was there for Yang Jie not to understand?

’So this girl hasn’t been slacking off all these days; she’s had her own plans all along.’

’When it comes to the current situation, she sees farther and more clearly than anyone else.’

Just as Tang Mo had predicted, the lines to trade for food at the Yang Family Base grew shorter and shorter.

Where there were once ten lines so long you couldn’t see the end, now, opening just three trading posts was more than enough.

And it wasn’t just in the city where the Yang Family Base was located. Tang Mo had visited several other cities and found the situation to be much the same.

The only difference was that the people there were too far from the Yang Family Base and had established their own trading points in their cities.

After all, the truth about Exotic Beast Meat couldn’t be hidden from clever people. For those who realized it first, anyone with a bit of business sense could make a fortune in no time.

The number of mutant beasts in the cities dwindled, decreasing at an extremely rapid pace.

Before, you couldn’t step outside without a whole street of red-eyed mutant beasts chasing you. Now, you could walk for five minutes and barely encounter a single one.

These days, everyone hoped to see mutant beasts when they went out. After all, in their eyes, those things were food.

With no vegetables or fruits to grow and no way to raise poultry, they were all relying on the meat of these mutant beasts to survive.

As citizens of a nation of foodies, people conducted constant research. They were not content with the simple method of making Exotic Beast Meat into meatballs. Instead, they developed new ways of cooking it, like grilling and boiling, liberating their taste buds and greatly enhancing their sense of well-being.

As life got better, more people appeared on the streets. They no longer barricaded themselves indoors with tense expressions. Instead, they would even stop for a bit of idle chatter when they met, a stark contrast to the dark times at the beginning of the apocalypse.

Everyone looked at the current changes with a sense of satisfaction. Although the bustling cities of the past were gone forever, wasn’t this self-sufficient life, free from constant fear, pretty good in its own right?

The human will to survive is incredibly tenacious. As long as there is a glimmer of hope, a reason to look forward, people can find a little sweetness even among shards of glass.

However, as the number of mutant beasts continued to decline, ordinary people grew happier, while the brows of Tang Mo, Yang Jie, and some of the base’s senior leaders grew tighter and tighter.

They had attempted hydroponic cultivation many times, and all attempts had failed.

Tang Mo didn’t know why. In her last life, hydroponic technology had been fully viable. Why wasn’t it working in this one?

A whole group of them were at their wits’ end, driving the research staff mad every day, but still, they couldn’t get any results.

Tang Mo continued her routine of going out every few days to check on the situation. On one of her routine returns to the base, she encountered a "madman" at the gate.

"I want to see Boss Yang! Let me in!"

The man at the gate had disheveled hair and looked to be in his forties. His face was covered in grime, and he didn’t seem to be in his right mind.

"Go back. Outsiders aren’t allowed in the base."

The soldier inside the main gate opened it for Tang Mo while blocking the man from entering.

The rules of the Yang Family Base were the same as always: no outsiders allowed.

After all, the space inside was limited, and rules, once established, could not be easily broken.

"Let me in! I really have something important to report!"

The man’s voice was hoarse and unpleasant, like someone who had cried themselves hoarse at a rural funeral, making listeners uncomfortable.

"How many times have you been here? Just go. This really isn’t a place for people like you. I see people like you every day. If you don’t leave now, I’ll have to get physical."

These soldiers were actually quite decent, to even bother saying so much.

"Those things are breeding! The world is ending, it’s ending!"

Seeing no more hope of entering the base, the man collapsed to his knees, looked up at the sky, and muttered to himself, his eyes filled with despair.

"What did you say?" Hearing the man’s words, Tang Mo immediately stopped in her tracks, just as she was about to enter the base.

"Say that again." Tang Mo wasn’t sure if the man meant what she thought he meant.

"The mutant beasts, they’re breeding. In litters. I saw it with my own eyes. They’re like rats. The world is going to end soon."

Seeing that someone was finally willing to listen to him, the man looked at Tang Mo and spoke.

"You’re coming with me."

Tang Mo knew in her heart that the solution she had been searching for all this time had finally appeared today.

Everyone knew Tang Mo’s status in the base. After all, she was currently the only person in the entire world who could fly through the sky at will.

Even though it was known that cultivating spiritual power to a certain level could enable flight, not a single Spiritual Attribute superpower user had managed to achieve it yet.

Since Tang Mo had spoken, no one dared to stop them. They watched as she led the man into the base.

Once inside, Tang Mo randomly grabbed a person in a uniform. She recognized his face; he seemed to be Yang Jie’s secretary or some other confidant.

"Go get Yang Jie and the other base leaders. Tell them to meet me in the conference room. We’re having a meeting in ten minutes."

"Yes, ma’am!"

The man Tang Mo had grabbed was clearly perceptive. Having participated in several major meetings before, he knew exactly who this girl was.