Mutant Farmer in The Apocalypse

"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.

The other pets were terrified of the black bear, especially when it turned around and stared at the mutated pets with its shining white eyes. They were terrified and hugged each other out of fear.

"VII!"

"SQUEAK! SQUEAK!"

"CHIRRP!"

"PII! PII!"

The black bear had a mist coming out of its mouth, and it suddenly giggled when looking at the pets.

"Tee—hee—he-he-hee~."

Slowly, the black bear turned into a white mist that circled around the mutated pets. It looked playful and harmless around Poddie, who was the most naive and had no experience with this white mist ghost before.

"Pii?"

"Tee—he—he-he-he~" the white mist ghost continued giggling. It grabbed Poddie and flew around the room for fun.

"Piii~ Piii!" Poddie was excited as he flew around the room and landed safely on the bed. The white mist ghost giggled again, playfully teasing the pets and checking on Yang Zhang, who fainted on the bathroom floor.

"Vii! Vii!" Little Ivy panicked as she realized that her master was still there. She stretched her vines and carefully grabbed Yang Zhang. She dragged Yang Zhang to the bed and covered him with a blanket.

"Tee—he-he-he-he~" the white mist ghost circled around Yang Zhang's head before floating up and disappearing into the ceiling.

The mutated pets were looking up, making sure the mischievous white mist ghost had left, and then sat around Yang Zhang's face, hoping that their master would wake up soon.

It would take more than twenty minutes for Yang Zhang to regain consciousness. He was shocked when he saw his pets surrounding him with their concerned eyes.

"Vii! Vii!" Little Ivy hugged Yang Zhang immediately. She was scared that something might happen to her master.

But Yang Zhang was unresponsive for a while, still trying to process what just happened to him.

"W—Where is the ghost before? Is it gone?"

"Vii! Vii, Viii!"

"That ghost is the same ghost that scared us in the cave before?"

"Squeak!"

"Chirp! Chirp!"

"Damn, what is that thing?" Yang Zhang wondered. "Is it a ghost-type poke—I mean, ghost-type mutated animal? That's a bit too strange, though. All mutated animals would retain their Mana bead, but that ghost has no Mana bead and can pass through walls…."

This was the second time Yang Zhang was jumpscared until he fainted, and with the same method as well.

"Ugh, I will make sure to catch that ghost if we find it again! I'll go full ghostbuster on her ass!"

Yang Zhang spent the whole night disgruntled over that jump scare while his pets were all sleeping in peace.

**

Yang Zhang woke up when the sun from the window hit his face. He opened his eyes slowly and found his pets were all ready for the day.

Yang Zhang checked the window, and the sun was already rising. He yawned and briefed his mutated pets, "Okay, guys. We're going home today. Who's excited to sleep in our own hut? Raise your hands!"

Everyone raised their hands readily, especially Poddie, who was quite excited upon seeing his new home. He was raised in a greenhouse. He didn't move much, so he had to admit that he missed the security provided in a house.

Yang Zhang washed his face first and took anything valuable from Doctor Jun's room, though there was nothing much he could take anyway.

But at least, he got all he needed, especially the medicine and the beads.

He obtained 4 usable Brain beads and 1 good Mana bead.

Oh, speaking of Mana bead, Yang Zhang carefully grabbed Poddie to sit on his lap and asked, "Poddie, may I see the Mana bead now?"

"Pii!"

Poddie carried his bag full of pea bullets produced overnight and opened the zipper.

The Mana bead was still inside the pod safely. Yang Zhang sighed in relief, he picked the Mana bead to inspect it, but the other pea bullets fell out once he pulled the Mana bead.

"Ah, sorry, Poddie."

"Pii! Pii!"

"Huh? What do you mean? I should discard all of my previous bullets? But I think I still have enough in my gauntlet gun."

"Pii!"

Yang Zhang frowned when Poddie said that the pea bullet could rot. He checked his gauntlet gun on the table and then opened the magazine.

The pea bullets from yesterday fell to the floor, and all of them had turned brownish, and they turned mushy, just like a real pea.

"Ah, so the pea bullets only last for 24 hours?" Yang Zhang asked Poddie as he picked one rotten pea bullet and squished it.

"Pii!" Poddie nodded and shoved his pod bag to Yang Zhang, telling him to take all the new pea bullets.

Yang Zhang thanked Poddie and checked the new pea bullet. He then realized that there were plenty of different colored pea bullets.

At least around 20% of the pea bullets color had turned sky blue. It had the same shape but was lighter than a regular pea bullet.

"What is this, Poddie?"

"Pii! Pii!"

"Eh? This is the new variant of your pea bullets after putting that Mana bead inside your pod?"

"Pii!"

Yang Zhang got curious. He guessed that the sky blue bead must have a new effect. Since it had been imbued with the wind Mana bead. So he picked one sky blue bead and put it inside his gauntlet gun. He aimed at the drawer that blocked the door.

BANG!

WHOOSH!

Yang Zhang was shocked by the recoil from his gauntlet gun. The regular pea bullet wouldn't create such a strong recoil as if he had just used a shotgun.

The sky blue pea bullet launched towards the drawer, and it pierced through the wooden drawer straight to the door. Then, Yang Zhang could hear the pea bullet hit a few other things on its way out until he couldn't hear the sound anymore.

Everyone looked at the holes created by the sky blue pea bullet.

Yang Zhang inspected the whole in the drawer and a hole on the door.

He opened the door slowly and measured how the pea bullet launched after piercing the wooden door.

"Holy shit, that new pea bullet launched so strong!" Yang Zhang said.

He quickly returned to grab his gauntlet gun and filled it with another sky blue pea bullet.

He opened the window and aimed at the walking zombies in the back garden.

BANG!

WHOOSH!

Yang Zhang was more prepared with the recoil, and he watched how the sky blue pea bullet hit the head of one zombie and pierced straight without stopping. It continued hitting the rest of the zombies in the line until the pea bullet hit the ground, making a small, deep hole in it.

With only one pea bullet, Yang Zhang had killed two zombies instantly while wounding four more in the process.

"Holy shit, that is amazing!" Yang Zhang excitedly grabbed Poddie and asked, "Poddie, can you create as many of these sky blue pea bullets as possible?"

"Piii…" Poddie looked sad and shook his little head. "Pii, Pii…"

"Ah, so the amount of pea variant you produced is random?"

"Pii!"

"Okay, then how about the Mana bead. Do you need to use it constantly?"

"Pii, Piii!"

"Wait, you only need it one time inside your bag for at least one night, and your pod bag will continuously create a variant of it?"

"Piii!"

"WOW! Poddie, you're amazing!" Yang Zhang rubbed his cheek with Poddie. "That means I can still use this Mana bead to someone else. You're so useful, Poddie!"

"Pii! Piii!"

"Squeak!"

"Chirp!"

"Vii?"

"Hehe, all of you are all useful. Everyone here is helping me, except that wiggling rose in our hut," Yang Zhang said as he hugged everyone.

Yang Zhang decided to separate the sky blue pea bullet from the regular one. He wanted to keep the new pea bullet inside his pocket, so he could always use it on demand, while the rest of the regular pea bullet goes inside the gauntlet gun.

After he was prepared, he told everyone, "Okay, guys. We're going up!"

Yang Zhang shot the roof with his gauntlet gun a few times to make many obvious holes, so it would weaken the ceiling. Then, he asked Little Ivy, "Ivy, break the roof and climb up!"

"Vii!" Little Ivy wasn't that scared since she was far from any living zombies, so she easily broke the roof with her vines and pulled Yang Zhang up.

Yang Zhang stood on top of the highest building in this village, and he looked at a spot that was safe for him to use Little Ivy's vines to propel him directly out of the village. He wasn't in the mood to fight another wave of zombies.

"Let's see…."