Mutant Farmer in The Apocalypse

"Hello, little friend, your name is Poddie, right?"

"Pii!" Poddie nodded happily. "Pii! Pii!"

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

Katarang chuckled when Poddie tried to shake her little finger. She patted the head of the mutated plant and asked Yang Zhang, "Ash, it makes me wonder, what kind of magic did you do to find all these friendly mutated creatures. Most of them hate humans, I won't lie. I had to kill plenty to survive in this forest."

"Well, uh… I guess I'm just friendly looking?" Yang Zhang gave out the dumbest answer, but Katarang chuckled and nodded.

"Well, that's not wrong either," Katarang smiled. "It's nice to find a friend. I've been living in the hut all alone."

"Well, I'll make sure to visit often. I travel around to find a supply for myself and find people that might help me. You know, the apocalypse is harsh, and it's not hard to make an enemy. But there are good people out there, at least that's what I believed," Yang Zhang said.

Katarang smiled mysteriously but said nothing while staring at Yang Zhang and his pets.

They stayed in silence for a while until Yang Zhang asked, "Oh, Katarang, are you familiar with medicine?"

Katarang's relaxed face sharpened instantly. She looked at Yang Zhang with an alert gaze, and she distanced herself from the lakeside, where Yang Zhang was sitting, "What about it? What do you want?"

"Oh, I'm just asking because of… uh…." Yang Zhang took a strip of pills from his tote bag and showed it to Katarang. "I found medicines from my expedition to a village. I took it all, just in case I need it. But I don't know what it's for. So… if you know medicine, would you mind telling me about the use of each medicine?"

Katarang peered at Yang Zhang suspiciously. She seemed to be very alert when Yang Zhang mentioned medicine.

'I guess I accidentally opened the pandora,' Yang Zhang thought.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing, it's just quite suspicious because you could easily obtain medicine. Medicine is really difficult to make and costly, especially in the apocalypse," Katarang said with a hint of suspicion in her tone. "Are you sure you accidentally found those medicine?"

"Wha—who said that I easily obtained it? I found these in an abandoned clinic in a village, invested with zombies. I had to fight my way through to get these!" Yang Zhang huffed. He didn't want to be looked down on by Katarang.

"Just say that you don't want to help! Hmph!"

"I—I will help, geez," Katarang pouted. "I'm just being careful here."

Katarang swam to approach the lakeside again and then grabbed the medicine in Yang Zhang's hand.

"This is for light headache, usually complimented with fever reduction pill. It's good if you get a high fever or stressed out over something. It has the side effect of making you drowsy."

"Ah, I see…." Yang Zhang nodded, Katarang returned the pills to Yang Zhang. The latter gave out another one for Katarang to identify.

"This is for stomach acid reflux, or simply GERD. It's really important for those who suffered from it. I actually need this for general use because I have bad acid reflux."

"Eh? You need it?! Then you should take it," Yang Zhang said.

"Oh, don't worry about me. I will only feel the acid reflux when I haven't eaten anything for the whole day. Otherwise, I'll be fine," Katarang said. She wanted to hand it back to Yang Zhang, but the latter refused.

"I think you should keep it for an emergency. I don't have that acid reflux thing, so I will be fine," Yang Zhang said.

Katarang stared at the medicine in her hand. Honestly, she had a lot of stomach problems. It was an illness before the apocalypse. The medicine was available in the shelter, but she wasn't there anymore.

So this medicine would help her so much.

But she didn't believe in free lunch. There was nothing free in this world. Katarang looked at Yang Zhang, who stared at her with such a kind gaze, and she quickly submerged her body inside the dark water until only her head was out of the water.

"What do you want in exchange for this?"

"What do I want? Eh…" Yang Zhang was confused by that question. Because he hadn't thought about trade between them.

"Uh… I don't think you need to trade for anything. I just gave it to you because you need it. Besides, you allowed me to drink the purified water of this lake. I felt like drinking those bottled mineral water in the pre-apocalypse world, haha!" Yang Zhang answered.

…

Katarang felt that Yang Zhang was just being callous, maybe he had something planned in the future for the exchange, and he did this in order to gain Katarang's trust.

"Just take it, alright? You can help me identify all of the medicines I got, so I wouldn't accidentally overdose on random pills," Yang Zhang said.

"Alright, that's fair, I guess…."

Yang Zhang and Katarang spent the whole afternoon identifying all the medicines he obtained. Yang Zhang tried to remember them one by one, so he wouldn't get it all mixed up in the future.

Little Ivy was also listening to Katarang's explanation of each medicine as if she actually understood and remembered all the medicines.

Meanwhile, Poddie, Chestnut, and Spicy Wing played around the lakeside. They didn't dare to jump in because the water was so dark, like a big pool of ink. But the water was indeed very refreshing!

After getting all the information he needed, Yang Zhang nodded and thanked Katarang, "Thank you so much, Katarang. I was glad that you could help. I don't know what would happen had it not been you who helped me identify each."

"W—Well, I also thank you for the acid reflux medicine. I do need it as well for an emergency situation."

"Hehe, you're welcome ah. We are now friends, right?" Yang Zhang asked while stretching his hand, waiting for a handshake.

"I guess…" Katarang shook Yang Zhang's hand reluctantly. She was still cautious of Yang Zhang since she never found someone that looked so carefree like Yang Zhang in this depressing apocalypse world.

"Why do you look so carefree, by the way? Don't you see that we're in the apocalypse, and many dangerous things are out there?" Katarang said. "Backstabbing between peers is very common, and killing for food is normalized."

"Giving medicine to a person you met twice will not help you curry good favor," Katarang said.

Yang Zhang was a tad surprised by Katarang's cynical statement.

It wasn't wrong, actually. Because that was just the reality that everyone faced in the apocalypse. But it was still damn depressing to think about.

Yang Zhang hummed for a second and shrugged, "Well, when I got kicked out of my shelter, I really thought that I would die getting eaten by zombies or probably die out of starvation."

"I was scared out of my guts until I found my very first mutated pet, Chestnut, that electric squirrel who defeated you before," Yang Zhang said while looking at Chestnut, who played tag with Spicy Wing right now.

"I befriended Chestnut, and we started searching for food, hunting for mutated fish to eat, and also killing zombies in the process. Then, I met Little Ivy, Lt. Spicy Wing, and also Poddie."

"I think, when you have friends by your side, you won't be scared at all, even in such a bleak world in the apocalypse," Yang Zhang said.

"Viii!" Little Ivy was happy to be mentioned and hugged Yang Zhang's hips with her vines.

"Hehe, just like Little Ivy. She is scared of zombies, and she feels safe when she's around me. In exchange for protection, I asked her with a lot of favor, mostly to transport me in this big forest."

Katarang looked at how harmonious Yang Zhang and his pets were. She didn't feel envy because she knew that she couldn't be like this man who could easily befriend these supposedly unnameable creatures.

She was a bit sad, knowing that she didn't have the privilege to have easier life like Yang Zhang, "You have such a childish way of thinking. This is the apocalypse. Your power of friendship won't help here."

"Well, I don't plan on befriending many people, just people that I think is safe enough to approach," Yang Zhang said. "I'm befriending you because you feel safe enough to approach, Katarang."

Katarang and Yang Zhang stared at each other for a while. Katarang's cheek reddened in the process, "S—Stop saying sappy stuff. You won't get anything from me!" Katarang said as she turned away.

"I will finish bathing today and return soon. You should go now if you don't want to be stuck in the forest late at night," Katarang said.

Yang Zhang nodded, "I think so too.. I will leave now. See you later, Katarang!"