Mutant Farmer in The Apocalypse

Yang Zhang woke up groggily the following day. He slept for 12-14 hours since the last time he dropped dead. Yet, his energy hadn't fully recovered.

Opening his eyes, he looked around in a daze. He could see that all his mutant pets were already playing around. Chestnut was busy preparing its own breakfast by roasting a few chestnuts, and Spicy Wing was circling around it curiously.

"Chirp! Chirp!"

"Squeak?"

"Chirp!"

Chestnut then gave one roasted chestnut for Lt. Spicy Wing for breakfast. Meanwhile, Little Ivy was basking herself in the morning sun outside.

It seemed that Yang Zhang was the only one who hadn't recovered fully. However, he did understand what caused this.

"Ugh, two notes to self. First, don't mess with the chickens."

"Second, I can consume Mana Beads, but it seems the effect is not permanent since I will eventually puke it out no matter how much I try to swallow it. But at least, I've proven that I can use an ability, even though it's only for a limited amount of time," Yang Zhang said in a low voice. "But that also comes with a cost. My body feels like crap after consuming the Mana Bead."

Honestly, this was also the first time he ever experimented. It was a newfound idea to consume a Mana Bead to fight with his own power.

In his shelter, he was basically a shielded hamster in a cage. He knew nothing of the world outside right up until he got kicked out.

There were no experiments regarding Mana Beads or Brain Beads. People just crushed the Brain Bead once they slew the zombies, and they never really questioned what they could do with Mana Beads because everyone followed what the government said; brain Beads must be crushed, and Mana Beads should be buried.

Yang Zhang felt many more undiscovered ideas had been kept hidden because the government stopped anyone from experimenting, which was quite understandable from Yang Zhang's point of view.

"Imagine if everyone knew that you can create many amazing mutated plants and animals by using those beads. The world would become some crazy fantasy warzone," Yang Zhang mumbled. "At least, in a proper society, it would be a world where there will be gym leaders and elite four. But this is the apocalypse. That's not going to happen."

"Chirp! Chirp!"

"Ah, good morning, Lieutenant," Yang Zhang smiled when the little chick jumped onto his chest.

Lt. Spicy Wing puffed its chest out and acted as if it was a Lieutenant reporting to the Major General, "Chirp, chirp chirp!"

"Oh? You've been patrolling the whole night, and you saw no intruders? That's good. You may leave for your breakfast first, Lieutenant."

"Chirp!"

Lt. Spicy Wing jumped to the wooden floor and started pecking the roasted chestnut that Chestnut gave it just now.

Yang Zhang got up from the sofa and stretched his body. He ruffled his hair as he walked to the door leading to the backyard. He wanted to start boiling water to cook ramen.

When he opened the door, Yang Zhang was instantly greeted by the dancing rose that wiggled happily as he walked past.

"Wait a minute—" Yang Zhang stopped and turned around. He crouched right in front of the dancing rose and squinted. The rose stood straight instantly as if all the wiggling before was just Yang Zhang's illusion.

"Why do I feel like your wiggling has been upgraded to twerking? Hey, you can hear me, right? Did you twerk just now?"

The dancing rose stood straight with no sign of movement when received the suspicious squint from Yang Zhang.

Yang Zhang sighed and shrugged pitifully. He had expected the Brain bead with defect would do something extraordinary. Especially after he found out that Lt. Spicy Wing could still mutate even after eating the Mana Bead by cracking it in half.

But it seemed that Brain Beads worked differently.

"Oh well, it might only be me. I haven't washed my face today anyway."

Yang Zhang proceeded to do his morning routine, taking a bath near the well and boiling water for breakfast.

He still had one Brain Bead inside his jacket from before, but it had a defect, and based on his hypothesis after observing the dancing rose, it seemed that Brain Beads with imperfections wouldn't give him anything.

"Alright, I should probably start focusing on gathering food and finding better quality Brain beads in the nearby settlement." Yang Zhang planned out his day. He hadn't forgotten that he wanted to make a self-sufficient farm for himself, so he didn't need to hunt for food or fight against those powerful ability user groups.

But to make a farm in the apocalypse, you've got to find a way to defend yourself first because if you happened to find a good non-mutated animal, those ability user groups would start hunting you down.

Thus, Yang Zhang planned to arm himself first before starting a farm, and if he could find crops for farming or non-mutated animals along the way, that would be perfect.

**

Yang Zhang put on a fresh jacket and jeans in front of the hut. He was ready for another day.

"You guys ready?"

"Chirp!"

"Vii!"

"Squeak!"

"Alright, let's go!"

With Chestnut hiding inside his pocket, Little Ivy in his sleeve, and Lt. Spicy Wing nestling on top of his head, Yang Zhang put on his earbuds to play one of his favorite songs in his playlist: Super Idol.

"Super Idol de xiào róng, dōu méi nǐ de tián

bā yuè zhèng wǔ de yáng guāng, dōu méi nǐ yào yǎn~"

Yang Zhang joyously sang the song of his people while swinging from one tall branch to another. He had already decided on the next spot to explore.

He pinpointed that going south from his hut would bring him to that crazy village full of ambushing zombies, Xi Feng, and his new mutated little sister. Going northwest would lead him to the empty highway where he found the mini-market where he had gotten the Brain Bead for Little Ivy. Therefore he decided to go east for now.

"Alright, the first rule of surviving in a forest is to always chase the sun!"