Mutant Farmer in The Apocalypse

"Oh? What is it, Ivy? You want to have this peony?" Yang Zhang was a bit surprised to see Little Ivy, who had been hiding the whole time, finally open her mouth.

"Vii…" Little Ivy nodded meekly while staring at the peony attentively.

Honestly, Yang Zhang was still annoyed that Little Ivy was so scared of zombies she turned completely useless during a clutch situation, but he couldn't just force Little Ivy to overcome her fear.

Because she came from Xiao Mei Jie's Brain bead, and her life hiding inside that attic, getting surrounded by zombies before turning into zombies herself must've been terrifying to the point that it affected her subconsciousness.

"Well, you should ask Mudan first. She is the one who gave it to me," Yang Zhang instructed. He looked at Xi Feng and suggested, "Mudan and Ivy are shy little girls. I think they can be good friends. Let's just put them on the couch together, so they can talk."

"I agree, Brother Zhang! I also want Mudan to have a friend similar to herself," Xi Feng nodded. They carefully put Mudan and Little Ivy on the couch.

"Muu?"

"Vii?"

"Her name is Mudan. We met her before, right?" Yang Zhang said to Little Ivy. He gave the peony to Little Ivy, which she quickly grabbed with her vine.

"You should ask for her permission to get the peony."

"Vii…" Little Ivy hesitated. She approached Mudan first. Mudan was even shyer than Little Ivy since she never left her big brother.

"Vii…"

"Muu?"

"Vii, Vii!"

Little Ivy showed the peony originally intended for Yang Zhang, and she asked Mudan if she could keep it for her.

Mudan asked why she wanted it, and Little Ivy said the scent calmed her mind.

Mudan looked at Yang Zhang, "Mudan?"

"Well, I like it, Mudan. But it seems that Little Ivy loves it so much. It seems that you make it with love, right? Because the scent is so calming. You're doing good, Mudan."

"Muudan~," Mudan looked so happy and a little shy to be praised by Big brother Zhang and emanated a stronger flowery scent from inside her body.

Mudan looked at Little Ivy and then approached her willingly, "Muuu… dan!"

"Vii?"

"Mudan! Muu… dan!"

Mudan said that Little Ivy could keep the peony. She also said that the peony lasted forever because her feelings of Big brother Zhang also lasted forever!

"Aww, so sweet!" Yang Zhang couldn't help pat Mudan's head gently, making Mudan twirl out of joy.

Xi Feng smiled and glanced at the other living pets around Yang Zhang, "Brother Zhang, you have lots of pets now!"

"Hehe, yep! I have plenty now, and there are two more in my hut!" Yang Zhang boasted. "You still remember Little Ivy and Chestnut, right?"

"Yep! But I didn't know that your squirrel has evolved."

"Yes, he is now a flying squirrel!"

"Squeak!" Chestnut jumped from Yang Zhang's shoulder and blew a strong gust to the ground, propelling him up as he started gliding.

"Woah, that's so cool!" Xi Feng commented.

"Hehe, this one is Lt. Spicy Wing!" Yang Zhang pointed at the little chick on top of his head.

"Chirp!" Spicy Wing gave out his salute to Xi Feng.

"This one is Daniella. She is the newest!"

"Dii!" Daniella jumped from Yang Zhang's pocket and asked Yang Zhang if she could join Ivy and Mudan.

Yang Zhang put her between Mudan and Little Ivy, who seemed to be busy chatting, and they three were having a girl talk right now.

"Okay, Xi Feng, you should tell me now. What the hell happened in this place? Why are those zombies waiting outside of the village to ambush? Why are you living in one of the houses inside the village now?"

"Something happened about a week days ago. Only a few days after you left, Brother Zhang. It was a usual day. I hunted for meat and fruits until I heard a commotion in the village."

"I thought it's another massacre of those ability users getting eaten clean by the zombie villagers, which is… kind of true, actually," Xi Feng reported. "I saw another group of ability users, consist of 4 people, including a hooded man. They looked around and got ambushed when they found the half-destroyed bronze cow."

"But while 3 of them got mauled to the bone by the zombies, the hooded man was untouchable. The zombies ate the three until there was nothing left in them, but the hooded man sat under the destroyed bronze cow and then commanded them to hide outside instead."

"Huh?" Yang Zhang blinked a few times upon hearing that. "Did I hear it wrong? That hooded man told the zombies to hide outside?" Yang Zhang asked.

"Yep, and strangely, the zombies obeyed him. Everyone left the village and hid behind the trees and rocks outside the village instead. They have been getting more success because they are literally surrounding the area outside of the village. So if there is any group who came to the village, the zombies will block their exit from outside, trapping those wandering ability user groups before feasting on them."

Yang Zhang was still stunned. This was the first time he heard someone commanding mindless zombies, and the zombies actually obeyed him!

"What kind of ability does that hooded guy have? It must've been some overpowered anime ability to control zombies!" Yang Zhang theorized.

"Perhaps, but the zombies living around my previous cave had forced me to move out because they're too dangerous at night," Xi Feng said.

"So that's why you're living here?"

"Yep, the village is empty now. I can live inside this house freely. Sadly. I can't live in my old home because it's big, so it stands out compared to other houses here. Those ability users' first target for looting will be my real house."

"Well, it doesn't matter, though. At least now Mudan and I can have a proper house with a bed, and even a kitchen, so I don't need to worry about storing my food, hehe~."

"Oh, talking about food—" Xi Feng got up and went to the kitchen. He returned with a bag filled with smoked meat, "Here's smoked meat I make this morning, Brother Zhang! Don't worry, the meat is mutated, but it didn't come from weird animals!"

Yang Zhang peered suspiciously, Xi Feng seemed to understand that Yang Zhang had certain disgust for eating animals that were too grotesquely mutated.

Yang Zhang accepted the smoked meat, "Thank you so much, Xi Feng. I just visited because I want to check your wellbeing."

"You know, my hut is a lot safer. We can live together if you want," Yang Zhang offered. He already saw Xi Feng like his little brother. But again, Xi Feng shook his head to refuse.

"I don't think so, Brother Zhang. I got used to living here. I don't think I want to leave," Xi Feng refused.

"But it's not safe here," Yang Zhang said. "There are many ability user groups that came here, right?"

"Yep, but it's okay. I can always hide in my house or outside. I know this village in the back of my head, haha!" Xi Feng said. "You have to kill me first if you want to force me to live with you, hahahahah!"

Yang Zhang frowned. He certainly didn't want Xi Feng to get hurt, so he just ruffled Xi Feng's hair and sighed, "Just don't get hurt, okay? You're also my family."

Xi Feng froze when Brother Zhang ruffled his head and called him a family. It had been more than a year since his family turned into zombies. The only family he had right now was Mudan.

So he felt joyous when Brother Zhang called him a family, maybe because he always wanted a big brother figure since he was forced to mature when he was only a teen. He wanted to have a big brother to rely on.

He nodded slowly, not sure of what to say in response. Luckily, Yang Zhang got distracted easily when his stomach growled.

"Ah, I think I'll eat this smoked beef right now," Yang Zhang said. He started snacking on the smoked beef and asked Xi Feng, "Do you need any medicine? I got plenty in my hut. I can give you a few if you want."

"Ah, no, Brother Zhang. I'm perfectly healthy," Xi Feng said.

…

…

The situation became silent between them since there was nothing to talk about. Yang Zhang only came here to check on Xi Feng, and he was glad that Xi Feng was in good health, though he still constantly worried about him since Xi Feng was still a teenage boy, and he had no power. He was just a normal human with immunity, just like Yang Zhang.

It made him wonder if he should tell Xi Feng about the secret behind his pets, so he could do the same as well.

'Should I tell him? I feel it's dangerous to tell Xi Feng about the effect of Brain Bead and Mana bead for mutation because I don't know what he will do with it. Besides, nobody has been successfully controlling the mutated plants other than the old woman in human settlement. And she has a powerful ability to forcefully control the plants to do that.'

'But at the same time, I just can't see him living a dangerous life like this,' Yang Zhang thought. He ought to give Xi Feng a weapon.

'At least a weapon, something like my gauntlet gun.. Maybe I can give him something to arm himself.'