Mutant Farmer in The Apocalypse

His pets were also happy by the good news, Spicy Wing and Chestnut returned to Yang Zhang with two brain beads each, so there were 4 good quality Brain beads for him!

Yang Zhang quickly put the Brain bead inside the tote bag.

"Okay, we got all we need in this hospital. It's time to go home and take a rest for a week or two, hehe. It's been quite a trip, right, guys?"

"Chirp!"

"Vii!"

"Squeak! Squeak!"

"Piii!"

"Hehe, let's return to our home. Maybe we can—URK!" Yang Zhang covered his mouth and realized that he was about to vomit the Mana bead out.

He felt his body slowly lose its strength and panicked, 'Shit, it will probably take me hours to recover after this. I need to find a safe space to rest. I'm afraid one of those zombies would find a way to the second floor.'

Yang Zhang looked around desperately and realized a door behind him. He hooked Little Ivy's vine in the door handle to climb up.

Yang Zhang tried to open the door, but it was locked. So he used his gauntlet gun and shot the door handle many times until it was broken.

He opened the door and found himself in a clean but dusty room. It was quite spacious, complete with a bathroom. Yang Zhang quickly closed the door and pushed a drawer to block the door.

The room had a window that showed the back garden—that was will with zombies, of course. But before Yang Zhang could check more, he dropped on the wooden floor and vomited the Mana bead out.

"URK! HUCK! URRKK!"

The Mana bead fell from his mouth to the floor, it was covered with his saliva, but it was still intact, thankfully.

Yang Zhang rested on the dusty wooden floor. He was numb all over, and he could only move his head around.

"Squeak?"

"Chirp?"

"Vii! Vii!"

Chestnut and Spicy Wing sat on his chest, looking at him curiously. Meanwhile, Little Ivy panicked when her master dropped to the ground.

While Poddie grabbed Yang Zhang's hair, trying to drag him to the bed to no avail.

"Haha, it's okay, guys. I just lost my strength because I swallowed the Mana bead. But we need to stay here for a while because I don't think I can recover for at least five hours," Yang Zhang said. "We cannot go out as well because by that time, it'll already be dusk, and the zombies are a lot more dangerous at night."

"So we're going to stay here for the night, do you guys agree?"

His mutated pets voiced their agreement at the same time. They didn't seem to be distressed by the zombies walking around the hospital, except Little Ivy, of course.

She was still terrified when she saw zombies and would grip Yang Zhang tightly if she heard a zombie lurking around.

"Squeak?"

"Chirp! Chirp!"

"Yes, you guys can look around. Just don't make too much noise, and don't burn anything. You will cook us all," Yang Zhang warned.

Chestnut and Spicy Wing started looking around, searching for something interesting to play around with. They had the habit of finding something good and playing with it or showing it to their master since their master loved searching for many weird things that they didn't understand.

Yang Zhang turned his head towards the Mana bead beside him and sighed in relief, "Well, I will think of a good animal that would fit this Mana bead. Since it's a wind type of ability, I think a bird would suffice?"

"Chirp?"

"Oh, no, not you, Lieutenant. I'm thinking of the flying one."

"Chirp! Chirp!" Spicy Wing wanted to prove that it could fly, so it jumped to the drawer and jumped.

"Chiiirpp—!!" Spicy Wing fell and hit the floor face first. Yang Zhang laughed at the little chick.

"You can't fly, but it's okay. You're still my reliable Lieutenant."

"Chirp!"

"Well, I still need to find a good animal to use this Mana bead. I wonder if we could find a good bird that would be friendly to us," Yang Zhang wondered. Unlike the plants, even after eating Mana bead, the animals seemed to have their own free idea. Like Chestnut and Spicy Wing, they decided to join Yang Zhang because they liked him.

But they could leave if they wanted to, so he had to find a good animal that would willingly join him in his adventure.

Poddie stopped pulling Yang Zhang's hair and checked the Mana bead. The bead was a perfect sphere that attracted Poddie, "Pii?"

"Hm? What do you want?"

"Pii! Pii!" Poddie opened his pea pod bag and showed an empty pod. He pointed at the Mana bead and to his pod. "Pii!"

"You want to keep it safe for now? Oh! Thank you, Poddie! Please keep it safe until we return home!"

"Pii!"

Poddie grabbed the Mana bead and then put it inside his pod bag. Yang Zhang rested while looking blankly at the ceiling for a while. Since he couldn't do anything right now.

Chestnut and Spicy Wing started to bring many things for Yang Zhang to examine.

"Squeak?"

"That's a pencil."

"Chirp!"

"Yeah, that's a small mirror. Where did you get that?"

Yang Zhang continued entertaining his pets to pass the time. Meanwhile, Little Ivy and Poddie seemed to be busy talking to each other, maybe because they originated from plants, so they had their own connection to one another.

Yang Zhang spent the house talking with his pets until five hours passed, and he slowly regained his strength. He got up after a while and cracked his tired body.

He looked around the room and commented, "This must be Doctor Jun's private bedroom."

It was a regular bedroom, complete with a bed with a flower motif and a wardrobe full of middle-aged men's outfits. Yang Zhang walked to the bathroom to check whether the water was still running.

He twisted the faucet, and much to his surprise, dirty water started flowing. But after about 10 seconds, the water turned into freshwater, so the water tank in this place must've been well preserved.

"Guys, come here!" Yang Zhang said excitedly. His pets entered the bathroom, and Yang Zhang pointed at the faucet, "We can drink and take a bath tonight, hurray!"

"Chirp!"

"Squeak! Squeak!"

"Vii!"

"Pii!"

Yang Zhang quickly filled the bathtub and the bathroom sink with water. He then helped his pets one by one first.

First, it was Spicy Wing which only needed a small dip because of its fire attribute.

Second, it was Poddie and Little Ivy. They scrubbed themselves clean and went out with Spicy Wing as Yang Zhang put Doctor Jun's shirt on the floor, so they could rub their bodies on the shirt to dry themselves.

The last was Chestnut.

Now, Chestnut was a little different than the rest. Yang Zhang knew that Chestnut actually liked bath. Yang Zhang would pour water in a bowl for Chestnut to bathe in most of the time because Yang Zhang would die by an electric shock if they bathed together.

Yang Zhang allowed Chestnut to use the bathroom sink as a pool. Then, Yang Zhang stripped his clothes and took a dip in the cold bathtub.

It might be cold, but it was still refreshing for Yang Zhang, knowing that he had to take a bath in the river when he wasn't in his hut most of the time.

The river water was fresh and all, but there was plenty of mutated fish that might actually kill him. He also had to watch for crocodiles, so he usually asked Chestnut to jump first and zapped the river to kill whatever was inside before taking a dip.

Yang Zhang checked the shampoo and soap that Doctor Jun had. Most of them were already expired, but fuck that, of course, he would use it. It had been three days since the last time he used shampoo and soap. He had them in his hut, thanks to the mini-market he plundered before. He also took all the bathroom necessities.

Yang Zhang started to get drowsy after he shampooed his hair. He saw that Chestnut finished the bath and rubbed its body around the shirt, just like the rest of his pets. They were sitting together on the bed, ready to rest.

So Yang Zhang cleaned his hair and was about to follow them.

Yang Zhang got up and dried himself with Doctor Jun's towel. Suddenly, he felt that something was touching his back. He turned his head and found nothing.

He continued drying himself until he saw a white hand on his left shoulder, just like before.

He gulped nervously, "I swear to god if this is another jumpscare, I would—"

Before Yang Zhang could finish his sentence, a big, black bear that he killed before suddenly appeared in front of him and roared, "GROARRH!"

"Ah—" Yang Zhang was stunned for a second before his eyes rolled up, and he fainted on the spot.