I Am Also An Extraordinary Creature
Chapter 102 - 100 Different Paths_1

Chapter 102: Chapter 100 Different Paths_1

Early the next morning, Zheng Yichen opened his eyes and rubbed his stomach, wondering if the feedback he had received from the Alien Phenomenon creature was actually an enhancement of stomach function.

If so, that would be too absurd, better to give him bigger muscles.

Zheng Yichen pinched his arm and couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows; okay, his muscles had indeed grown. Although it wasn’t obvious, he could feel that the toughness of his skin had greatly improved.

After leaving his sleeping area, he saw the transmigrators gathered together eating instant noodles, while the nearby grill was still in use. The constitution of the Alien Phenomenon behemoth was strong, which meant the meat had a long shelf life even in normal conditions.

However, nearly half of the Alien Phenomenon behemoth’s body had been divided up, with some people dressed in post-apocalyptic wasteland style busily working, rushing to process the meat – some preparing to make it into smoked meat, others into jerky.

On another cleared ground, a large amount of supplies was placed, including drinking water, bagged salt and sugar, flour bags, rice bags, and so on.

The face of every person busily working here was filled with uncontrollable joy, and in the distance, some people wearing simple armor were patrolling with weapons in hand.

"There are quite a few of you," Zheng Yichen commented as he approached Liu Haipeng, who was busy directing and arranging things.

Liu Haipeng’s eyes were a little red, obviously from a sleepless night. "This isn’t even one-tenth of the town’s population. The rest are taking apart everything they can from the town."

He rubbed his eyes – the workload faced by their settlement was enormous. Although they were abandoning the town, they wouldn’t give it up entirely, keeping it as a supply point or a possible future foothold, or even gradually transforming it into a trading spot.

Moving here completely would take at least half a month, and that was under the premise of giving up some things, which was fine because the Alien Phenomenon Remnant Zone offered better options.

Beyond that was the matter of Zheng Yichen’s impending departure. One week’s time was too pressing; they needed to organize as many usable vehicles as they could during this period, combining them into a sort of train formation. Slow speed was okay; the key was to get them moving.

Otherwise, just thinking about the Alien Phenomenon Remnant Zone over a hundred kilometers away falling into someone else’s hands made him so heartbroken he felt like dying. Not just him – Li Yun was also incredibly anxious upon hearing this, cursing why they didn’t have a single ground-travelling train?

They had to move! Even moving a little less made them feel as if they were being sliced up.

"After all, our town has developed for over ten years; there are definitely not a few people," Liu Haipeng said with a smile.

"How powerful is the strongest among you?" Zheng Yichen asked.

"Well..." Liu Haipeng scratched his cheek, "We do have some Evolvers in our town. Not half-measures like me, but real Evolvers. But to talk about fighting prowess..."

He glanced at the Alien Phenomenon behemoth that had been dealt with by Zheng Yichen, "There’s really no one more impressive than you."

The first group of people to come here included specialists, although they were all quasi-graduates – before the apocalypse, some were still studying or worried about their dissertations. After the apocalypse, they didn’t need to worry about those things; finding a professor would likely be for delivering food rather than papers.

Of course, there were some specialists who had graduated, but most of them were over sixty years old with poor physical conditions, so they wouldn’t come here first.

But those with professional knowledge who did come first confirmed that as long as the behemoth’s skin wasn’t charred or abnormally dry and cracked,

Armor made from its hide could actually be bulletproof. Even just processing those well-preserved parts could produce high-quality armor, though in limited quantities.

And the strength of the behemoth’s bones could be compared to some metals.

Liu Haipeng thought about a discovery a town member had made more than an hour ago regarding the behemoth’s body, which had sustained severe damage, the cooked parts aside. The issue was that in the parts of the behemoth that hadn’t been cooked, they couldn’t find much residual blood.

The behemoth’s brain was also withered, not eaten, but rather shriveled due to dehydration. The state of the behemoth’s muscles was the same, and even within the bones, they couldn’t find much marrow.

The behemoth still retained its body, but essentially, it had already been ’eaten’ almost entirely.

Zheng Yichen was the one who had killed the Alien Phenomenon behemoth, such discoveries were truly disquieting.

As for the behemoth’s anomalies, Liu Haipeng didn’t dare ask, and he even refrained from immediately bringing people from the town, especially the powerful Evolvers. With the Evolvers preserved, at least there was assurance that if something happened, the town could continue on.

Of course, if Zheng Yichen had no problems, then everything would wait until they departed seven days later. After that, the town’s Evolvers would move here with the rest of the convoy and firmly take root here.

"I’m just a bit curious about what makes Evolvers so special." He had seen Zombie Evolvers before. The ones he had encountered yesterday were just small fry, and having seen them, they didn’t seem that impressive; Zheng Yichen hadn’t noticed them using any special powers.

"Uh, this is actually pretty similar to Zombie Evolvers," Liu Haipeng described simply the difference between Zombie Evolvers and normal human Evolvers. Human Evolvers ’digest’ the virus, completely transforming the changes brought by the virus into self-improvement.

Therefore, human Evolvers aren’t infectious, nor will they infect others through close contact.

Zombie Evolvers, on the other hand, fully accept the virus’s changes.

Comparing the two is like comparing a nonvenomous snake with a venomous one; two branches, where the nonvenomous can eat the venomous, but the venomous can also kill the nonvenomous.

The paths of improvement are different, which also leads to most Zombie Evolvers advancing faster. They just have to accept the virus and consume a sufficient amount of the same kind or other strong flesh to improve, while human Evolvers need to train or absorb and digest the virus in risky ways.

While training, Evolvers’ speed of improvement far exceeds that of ordinary people. What would take others months to achieve, Evolvers might reach in days, and that’s why they are called Evolvers, because they’ve unlocked the door that ordinary people haven’t been able to open.

"What you’re saying makes me want to try those viruses,"

Liu Haipeng’s hair stood on end, "Don’t! You’re already strong enough; there’s no need to take such risks!"

He couldn’t imagine Zheng Yichen actually taking the risk to try that virus and failing. One who could take down an Alien Phenomenon behemoth going mad, they might as well wait for a group wipe-out, although it is said that one with a strong enough constitution could completely ignore the effects of the virus. But that’s just something people say.

They hadn’t seen it happen. Even the Evolvers in the town, when they encountered powerful Zombie Evolvers and got overly infected with the virus from those Zombie Evolvers, would go mad all the same.

"I’m just saying, even if I really wanted to try, I wouldn’t do it here," Zheng Yichen smiled. If he were really to try, that would wait until he returned to Dusk Cathedral.

The nun vowed that over there, as long as you didn’t die, any physical ailment could be cured, and a virus infection is also an ailment that affects the body, right?

Time passed quickly, and the people from Liu Haipeng’s town arrived here one after another. Meanwhile, some Zombie Evolvers also came here. There weren’t many of them, and before Zheng Yichen could take action, they were taken care of from a distance by some people from the town.

In just five days, the remnant zone had changed drastically. Many cluttered areas had been tidied up, and as for those dangerous buildings that looked like they might collapse any minute, Liu Haipeng mentioned they’d look for an opportunity to demolish them later. If they were going to collapse, better to do it soon rather than teeter precariously and frighten people.

The areas that had been organized had many tents serving as temporary warehouses. The resources of the remnant zone still weren’t completely scavenged. The resources they were looking for weren’t limited to food, drink, and useable items; anything useful was a resource. Just the variety of mobile phones filled up a warehouse.

Liu Haipeng, Li Yun, and the other big fellows nearly cried when they got a computer working to play Spider Solitaire.

Beyond that were the vehicles. In just a few short days, they had forcibly brought out a few ’trains’, rough and ready as could be, but these were the result of the town’s people toiling for several days, working overtime, and yet they weren’t satisfied and wanted to continue increasing their transporting capacity.

Zheng Yichen found it hard to empathize with the survivors’ need for resources because he hadn’t truly experienced the apocalypse.

"Right, on my way here, I passed through a city," Zheng Yichen found Liu Haipeng and voiced his own doubts. Since the post-apocalyptic population had such a high demand for resources, in thirty years, people must have searched each house for every usable resource, right?

He had spent a night in a small city where things had been well preserved.

"What about it?"

"I found a house there, and the things inside were well-preserved, just a bit worn out, but no other changes."

"Eh?" Liu Haipeng’s face showed surprise, "Really?"

"Yes."

He hesitated for a moment before saying, "After becoming Zombie Evolvers, they can recover their original residual memories. Some zombies will guard specific places, and those places are often significant to them, that they highly value them even though they are no longer human..."

"I have heard about an old gravedigger while trading with people in some places. The guy is a Zombie Evolver, always guarding a tomb. As long as you don’t get too close, there are no problems, and you can even greet each other from a distance or exchange items."

"But once you get close to that tomb, it’s a different story. He becomes very dangerous, and even powerful Zombie Evolvers don’t dare to provoke him."

"The place you stayed at could very likely be guarded by such a Zombie Evolver."

"Is that so?" Zheng Yichen pondered whether to revisit that small city on his way back.