Mutant Farmer in The Apocalypse

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…."

Yang Zhang checked the north, east, south, and west. He checked all directions and found that the east of this building was the closest to the big tree outside of the tall wooden fence surrounding the village. The fence was made out of wood logs sharpened at the end, so it was pretty sturdy.

Now, the next question was…

"Can Little Ivy reach that tree with her vines?" Yang Zhang asked himself.

He looked at Little Ivy, who hid inside his arm, and patted her head gently, "Ivy, can you help me now?"

"Vii…"

Yang Zhang sighed. Of course, Little Ivy was scared. Yang Zhang raised his palm up to the sky and then commanded, "Okay, you can open your eyes now, Ivy. Don't look down. Just look at the big tree. Do you think you can reach that?"

Little Ivy opened her beady eyes slowly and stared at the big tree outside the tall fence.

"Vii!"

"Oh great! Your vine can reach that? Try to grab it then, and pull us quickly, so we don't lose momentum!"

"Vii! Vii!"

Little Ivy stretched two vines and grabbed the big branch of that tree.

"Okay, guys, hold tight!"

"VIIIII!"

"AAHHH—URK!" Yang Zhang screamed loudly when he was pulled towards the tree, he hit the trunk, and Little Ivy wrapped another vine around Yang Zhang's body tightly, so he wouldn't fall to the ground.

Yang Zhang shook his head. He sat on the branch and thanked Little Ivy, "Thank you, Ivy! You're always the lifesaver!"

"Vii! Vii!"

Yang Zhang checked his other pets. After making sure that everyone made it, he looked at the long way to return home.

Of course, he already marked the trees that he used to swing with Little Ivy's vines.

Before he got his gauntlet gun, he marked the tree by using asking Chestnut or Spicy Wing to make a mark on the trunk.

But now, all he needed to do was to shoot the trunk with his gauntlet gun. Little Ivy was also familiar with the forest. As long as she had wrapped her vines around the trees, she would be able to remember the route back.

"Okay, let's go home! Ivy!"

"Vii!"

Little Ivy started their journey by swinging from one tree to another. Yang Zhang tried to kill the boredom of a long swinging trip by singing one of his favorite songs.

Of course, it wasn't Chandelier by Sia. He sang that song so many times already. He started singing that very popular song when he was a child. Maybe not many people still remember that song, but he did!

He also taught his pets to sing with him, so they would make a choir full of mutated pets.

"Tsamina mina…"

"Chirp, chirp!"

Waka waka…"

"Squeak, squeak!"

"Pii!" Poddie suddenly popped out from the bag while complaining.

"Oh? Do you want to sing too? Okay!"

"Tsamina mina…"

"Pii, Pii!"

"Waka waka…"

"Vii! Vii!"

"Tsamina mina, zangalewa…

This time for Africa!"

Yang Zhang swung past Miss Kobra's human settlement. He wanted to stop by and ask the grandma about the medicine, but he decided to continue his trip instead.

Why? Because he missed his first hut. If he spent his time in that settlement, he would have to stay in an inn or somewhere for the night.

"Besides, I miss my home so much," Yang Zhang said, as he mentioned the first hut that became his base after he was kicked out of his old shelter.

Yang Zhang continued swinging until he could see the dark lake where Katarang usually took a bath. He wanted to meet Katarang to check whether she was alright since they had exchanged somewhat of friendly banter.

"Ivy, let's check the dark lake!"

"Vii!"

Little Ivy stopped swinging at the tree and helped Yang Zhang land softly on the ground. Yang Zhang walked towards the dark lake. He was also quite thirsty, so he scooped the water to drink it.

Like Katarang said before, this dark lake actually had the tastiest water in this forest because she purified it daily.

"Ash Ketchup?"

Yang Zhang looked up when he heard someone calling his fake name.

Katarang walked towards him from the other side of the dark lake. She was only wearing her towel that covered half of her boobs, down to his thigh.

She had her blue hair tied to a bun.

"Where have you been?" Katarang asked. She stepped on the lake, and the water magically turned crystal clear.

She strutted on the lake surface lightly and walked towards Yang Zhang.

Yang Zhang was enamored by Katarang's hourglass body shape. He was still a man in the end.

He swallowed his saliva hardly, and when Katarang stood right in front of him, she asked again, "Ash? Are you alright?"

"I—I'm alright. Are you here to take a bath? I—I will leave now."

"No, you don't need to leave," Katarang said with a smile. She made a small kick and turned the water into a dark lake again. She created a water bubble that wrapped around Yang Zhang's eyes, so Yang Zhang couldn't see anything while she dropped her towel.

Katarang took off her towel and dipped into the lake, only allowing her head and half of her chest on the surface as she snapped her finger, dispersing the water bubble around Yang Zhang's eyes.

Yang Zhang blinked a few times and saw that Katarang was swimming around in the dark lake. She returned to Yang Zhang after she was felt refreshed, putting her hands on the lakeside and staring at Yang Zhang with a smile on her face.

Yang Zhang sat on the lakeside, right in front of Katarang. They stared at each other for a while, and Katarang opened the conversation, "So where have you been? I've waited for your arrival since you said that you're heading to the east."

Yang Zhang felt that Katarang was a lot more relaxed than the first time he met. Which got him suspicious, "Uh… why are you so friendly at me now? You attacked me so harshly before…."

"Huh, I did it because you're peeking at me!" Katarang huffed. "Well, at least you didn't do anything wrong while I was unconscious. Besides, I'm just quite lonely, since I've been living in my hut alone. It'd be nice to have a chat with another human."

"So, tell me, what did you find in the east?"

"Well, I found a unique settlement," Yang Zhang replied.

"A unique settlement?"

"Yes, it's a settlement exclusive for humans with immunity. So there is no ability user into that place because there is an initiation method that is foolproof."

"Oh? What kind of initiation method?"

"It's using a mutated fruit. For us humans with immunity, any mutated fruit is basically the same. Well, they can have a weird taste, but they're not poisonous to us."

"But for ability users, any mutated fruits is deadly, right? That's why it is a foolproof method."

"And you passed that test?"

"Of course! I am a human with immunity, after all. Of course, I can pass the test easily, hehe," Yang Zhang grinned proudly.

But not with Katarang. She frowned as if something was wrong with Yang Zhang's claim just now.

"You can pass it? You can eat it without killing yourself?"

"Yep!"

"… but aren't you an ability user? You can speak to your mutated pets, right?" Katarang asked. "Ability can vary in many ways. Maybe that's yours."

"Eh, I think talking with my pets is just a natural thing to do. Once you heard them enough, you will understand them."

"They literally spoke one word over and over…." Katarang said.

"And you will still understand them, trust me!" Yang Zhang insisted. "Besides, if I'm an ability user, I would die since day 1 after I entered my previous shelter. Because the humans with immunity are forced to eat much weird mutated stuff, while all the normal thing was given to the ability users."

"That's correct…." Katarang was in doubt, but Yang Zhang's was correct. Any ability user would die after eating any mutated animal or plant. So they had to be extra careful of what they ate."

"Oh, I also brought a new friend," Yang Zhang said. He looked inside his tote bag and called, "Poddie, I have a friend here. Why don't you introduce yourself to her?"

"Pii!" Poddie excitedly went out of the tote bag and stared at the beautiful lady with blue hair.

Poddie was smitten when Katarang smiled at him, "Hello, little friend, your name is Poddie, right?"

"Pii!" Podio nodded happily. "Pii! Pii!"

Poddie jumped from the tote bag and held Katarang's little finger as a small handshake.