Chapter 24

Comet’s limbs were fixed to the small bed, and its eyes, once bright, were now clouded, as if covered by frosted glass. Its back paw was bent and fractured, and its whole body trembled uncontrollably.

Zhou Yun was cleaning its wound, shaving off the fur around the injury, washing it with saline, spraying disinfectant and hemostatic medicine, and stabilizing the broken paw before turning his attention to the arrow.

The steel arrow had pierced through its abdomen, a brutal injury. After stopping the bleeding, Zhou Yun brought over a chainsaw, first sawing off the arrowhead, but he didn’t immediately pull the arrow out. Instead, he spoke to Guan Yuanfeng: “The heart is pierced, and the lungs have abrasions… pulling the arrow might make it worsen immediately, but if we don’t pull it out, the chances of survival are very low.”

If only his wood-type ability had reached level five, he might have been able to handle such a fatal injury.

But before reaching level five, the healing power of wood-type abilities was far inferior to even lower-level light-type abilities. That was why, in his previous life, light-type abilities were more popular than wood-type abilities.

Guan Yuanfeng stood silently, staring at Comet, reaching out to gently stroke its head. Comet weakly extended its tongue to lick Guan Yuanfeng, but its body continued to tremble.

After a moment of silence, Guan Yuanfeng spoke, “Pull it out. Try to lessen its pain as much as possible.” The sharp arrow had pierced through its body, and it must have been in intense pain. There was no point in dragging it out.

In his previous life, he had personally decapitated Comet, who had been infected with the zombie virus, with a similar expression on its face.

Zhou Yun stood silently for a moment, as if making a decision. He turned and went to the rooftop greenhouse, plucked a handful of purslanes, and quickly washed it clean.

This pot of mutated purslane, after the red mist arrived and the mutation occurred, was specifically nurtured with his ability. Now, the roots are particularly vigorous and thick, with fleshy leaves that are full and plump, and the patterns representing mutation gleam like silver threads, full of juice.

Originally, he had planned to find an opportunity to make a batch of ability testing strips, but he was concerned that the mutation was too recent, and the effects might not be ideal, so he had kept it for cultivation.

Now, although there is no time to purify it and make extract liquids for the testing strips, making a simple liquid reagent would suffice.

He simply placed the purslane into a food processor, crushed it, and divided the juice into several centrifuge tubes. He added a few types of polymerase, shook it, and placed it on the rack.

He then took a finger-pricking blood needle, drew a drop of blood from himself, and dropped it into the test tube, shaking it for a while and letting it sit.

Next, he found a tiny blood draw needle and drew some blood from Comet’s hind leg’s outer vein, dropping two drops into different centrifuge tubes to sit.

Guan Yuanfeng quietly observed him. Zhou Yun turned to meet his gaze for a moment and said, “Give me a few drops of your blood too. I need to confirm the effectiveness of this reagent.”

Although Guan Yuanfeng didn’t know what he was busy with, he still cooperated and extended his left hand. Zhou Yun used the finger-pricking blood tool, held his hand, and quickly drew several drops of blood, which were then added to the reagent.

After finishing everything, Zhou Yun started searching the medicine cabinet for anesthetics, adjusted the doses, and quickly prepared for surgery, getting the proper instruments and sterilizing them.

He didn’t let Guan Yuanfeng idle but instructed him to help sterilize the equipment.

Ten minutes later, the reagent changed color.

Zhou Yun picked up his own test tube. Without a doubt, two layers of blue and green crystals had formed, settling in the liquid, shining brightly like emerald gemstones.

The affinity for Water and Wood elements—this was to confirm the reagent’s accuracy.

He then took Guan Yuanfeng’s test tube, and to his surprise, there were two colors inside: light silver and light gold crystals, resembling fine sand.

Wind and Lightning affinities—Guan Yuanfeng had dual affinities.

His own reagent used mutated purslane, which produced more accurate results. The test strips used by the previous testing organizations were based on ordinary purslane and the method he had shared for free.

With dual affinities, the test results were unexpected. The previous group had foolishly transplanted a Fire element crystal nucleus into him, failing to match one of his actual abilities. He had thought Guan Yuanfeng only had Lightning affinity, so he had previously raised electric eels.

Wind and Lightning crystal nuclei were hard to obtain, but fortunately, this time…

Zhou Yun thought of the mutated Wind Eagle from today, which could already use wind blades, tornadoes, and strong winds, likely at a third-level or higher. In order to save Comet, he had not had time to extract the Wind crystal nucleus, so he had to freeze the mutated eagle temporarily.

Fate… Zhou Yun glanced at Guan Yuanfeng, who noticed his gaze and looked back in confusion, his expression heavy with worry.

Zhou Yun thought to himself, if there is indeed a divine being watching over, then surely Comet… can be saved.

He picked up the test tube with Comet’s sample, noticing the faint reddish crystals inside. This indicated Fire affinity. If a Fire ability user were to test this, the color would have been bright red.

Fire… fortunately.

Zhou Yun remembered the first zombie he and Guan Yuanfeng had shot down in the dome restaurant.

He placed the test tube down and quickly found his sealed glass jar, opened it, and took out the small Fire crystal nucleus.

Though small, about the size of a fingernail, it was bright red and of high purity. And since it was from an animal, if the crystal nucleus energy was too strong, it might not match.

So, was there really a divine being?

Was his rebirth the result of some kind-hearted god?

Zhou Yun held up the crystal nucleus to show Guan Yuanfeng. “Brother Guan, look at this.”

Guan Yuanfeng recognized it as a zombie’s crystal nucleus, looking at Zhou Yun. “Is this crystal nucleus useful?”

Zhou Yun replied, “This is a Fire crystal nucleus. I want to try and transplant it into Comet’s body. If it succeeds, the mutated animal’s constitution should greatly improve, and it should be able to survive this arrow extraction.”

“You also saw the eagle today. It should be a mutated eagle. Its strength, speed, and vitality are much higher than that of an ordinary eagle.”

Guan Yuanfeng opened his mouth, his voice hoarse. “How do you plan to transplant it?”

Zhou Yun said, “It’s hard to explain. It’s just a transfer of power. I can’t be sure it will work, but we have no other choice.”

The black lab used a light-based healing ability to forcibly implant crystal nuclei. Zhou Yun was now using grafting, and since the attributes matched, he thought the possibility was high.

Guan Yuanfeng looked at Zhou Yun. Zhou Yun did not avoid his gaze, speaking with sincerity and confidence. Guan Yuanfeng thought for a moment, then looked back at him. “Will it affect you?”

Zhou Yun shook his head. “Probably just from overusing the ability, but we’re in a safe place. No need to hold back.”

If it were the jungle society from his past life, ability users would be constantly facing threats from zombies and enemies lurking in the shadows, making it difficult to use their full power.

He had gone to great lengths to build this high-altitude safe island, hoping to buy more time to focus on cultivation once the apocalypse struck.

Guan Yuanfeng quickly made a decision. “Try it.”

Zhou Yun nodded, brought the anesthetic over, injected it into Comet, and waited for the anesthetic to take effect. He then instructed Guan Yuanfeng to hold the arrow wound in place and decisively remove the arrow.

His movements were steady and swift. After extracting the arrow, he immediately cleaned the wound and stopped the bleeding. Then, using a surgical knife, he carefully made an incision in the dog’s heart area and placed the Fire crystal nucleus inside.

Guan Yuanfeng watched as Zhou Yun’s palm suddenly emitted a gentle green light, enveloping the dog’s heart and the crystal nucleus. The dog’s heart was still beating, and gradually, the red crystal nucleus began to shine with warm light, pulsing rhythmically with the heart, and the blood miraculously stopped.

Zhou Yun put away the green light in his hand, took a needle and thread, and began stitching up the wound. His hands were steady, his movements light, fast, and skillful. He carefully aligned the muscles and skin, the needle and thread obediently following his hands, and soon the wound was stitched accurately. He applied an external gel and wrapped it in gauze, completing the wound treatment.

Zhou Yun then brought over an anti-inflammatory IV drip and inserted the infusion tube into Comet’s front leg, before saying, “Alright, observe for 72 hours. If you can get through it, you’ll be fine.”

Guan Yuanfeng looked at his pale face, noticing the fatigue in his features, and said, “You’ve worked hard, go rest now.”

Zhou Yun, however, grabbed a tube of external wound gel and said, “You have injuries on your face and arm, let me take care of it.”

Guan Yuanfeng replied, “It’s just small injuries, I can handle it myself.”

Zhou Yun insisted, “It’s hard to manage by yourself, let me do it.”

He took some alcohol swabs to disinfect the wounds and squeezed out the gel, then infused a bit of his wood-type ability into the wound. Such deep wind-blade injuries needed careful treatment to avoid leaving scars.

Guan Yuanfeng noticed that Zhou Yun was serious and focused, his brow furrowed and expression solemn as he treated the injuries on his face, neck, and arms with great care. Guan Yuanfeng felt a warmth in his heart; these minor injuries were usually treated casually with iodine and medicine… but Zhou Yun was so meticulous. He had no choice but to cooperate.

Once Zhou Yun finished treating the wounds, he left Comet in Guan Yuanfeng’s room and told him to call him if anything felt wrong, then returned to his own room. As soon as he lay down on his bed, his head throbbed with intense pain, his temples pulsing in pain. This was a symptom of overusing his abilities. Although he had upgraded to the third level with his past experience, his abilities were still not perfected. The feeling of exhaustion from overusing his powers was uncomfortable.

But he felt relieved.

The mutated wind-type eagle from today was at level three.

In his previous life, the apocalypse had come suddenly, and he hadn’t raised chickens on the balcony, so he hadn’t attracted mutated eagles.

Hearing the dog bark, he grabbed a knife and ran over, seeing that Guan Yuanfeng was almost attacked by the creature. His heart nearly stopped beating.

In that instant, he unleashed a barrage of ice arrows in anger, piercing the massive eagle like a sieve.

Fortunately, it was in time, and luckily Comet had blocked some of the attack.

Outside, a large number of zombies were being born, and animals were naturally dying off. The survivors were mostly mutated animals. After the floods came the droughts, and locusts would soon follow. He had neglected to set up a net on the balcony to prevent mutated birds and locusts from coming.

He still hadn’t dealt with that mutated eagle. Tomorrow, he would have to dig out its wind-type crystal core. The mutated wind-type eagle must have been strong to reach level three so quickly after the apocalypse.

The wind-type crystal core also resonated with Guan Yuanfeng’s attributes. The electric eel had been eating well recently and had consumed some mutated sea fish, so the crystal core should be of decent quality. With both wind and lightning crystal cores, Zhou Yun would have more confidence in triggering Guan Yuanfeng’s abilities.

If Comet’s grafting succeeded, he would have a better chance of awakening Guan Yuanfeng’s skills.

In his previous life, he was only held captive in the “Dark Valley” black laboratory. The experiments there sparked new ideas, but he had never tested them on humans. However, he had witnessed the professors at “Dark Valley” conducting experiments on animals and humans multiple times.

The powerful and wealthy feared for their lives and were reluctant to part with his precious dual-ability, fifth-level crystal core. They forced the laboratory to conduct repeated experiments before allowing the extraction of his core.

However, even then, the success rate of transferring abilities was only 30%. Most of the time, after the core was transplanted, it couldn’t be absorbed and would cause a rejection reaction, requiring surgery to remove the core.

In the end, they focused on him because they had already tested other types of crystal cores, like lightning, fire, and light, but none worked. They hoped to try his water-wood dual-core.

In his previous life, water and wood abilities were more common and easier to obtain, and were generally considered non-combative and better suited for logistical skills.

Guan Yuanfeng might have thought that Zhou Yun simply placed the crystal core into his heart. In reality, the timing, position, and the way the ability was used all required precision.

Zhou Yun had used wood-type abilities for grafting, which should be more reliable than the light healing abilities used by the “Dark Valley” lab.

Zhou Yun had thought about this during his previous life. While light healing abilities focused on healing wounds, wood abilities were more focused on promoting growth, often used in plants. When applied to the human body, wood abilities didn’t work well and were largely overlooked.

However, since this was an ability core transplant, he wondered if wood-type abilities could work like grafting branches of different tree varieties, allowing the body to grow and heal robustly.

He had privately experimented with this in his past life, though it had been a secret. Zhou Yun recalled a figure in his memory—someone who had jokingly said to him, “Doctor Zhou, once I finish my business, I’ll be at your disposal. My life is yours.”

At this moment… that person should have awakened by now, right? Of course, he had never seen him again in his past life. Zhou Yun’s reputation had been ruined, and he had vanished. That person likely couldn’t do anything on his own. In the future… perhaps he would find an opportunity to visit him.

Zhou Yun refocused on Comet. When he had performed the grafting earlier, he hadn’t felt any rejection reactions.

If no abilities manifested after observing further, he would find a chance to remove the crystal core from Comet.

As he thought about what needed to be done, Zhou Yun closed his eyes, forcing himself to sit up cross-legged and regulate his breathing. Slowly, he guided his abilities through the nearly exhausted meridians in his body.

He seemed to have completed an important task, and gradually, his heart became peaceful. His mind emptied, and he entered a deep state of meditation.

The next morning, Guan Yuanfeng woke up early, checked on Comet, and saw that it was still sleeping, but its temperature and breathing seemed normal. He sighed in relief.

After getting up and washing up, Guan Yuanfeng noticed the door to Zhou Yun’s room was closed, so he didn’t knock but went up to the rooftop.

The large chunks of ice were constantly melting under the scorching sunlight, leaving the balcony wet. However, even so, the central part hadn’t fully melted, and he could still see the eagle with broken wings suspended in the ice.

He wondered if the meat of mutated animals was edible. If it was, such a large eagle could feed Comet for a long time.

He suddenly realized: could it be that Zhou Yun froze this giant eagle to prevent the heat from spoiling the meat before it could be processed?

He also wondered whether Comet would recover, and whether burying the crystal core would be useful. Would Comet become a mutated animal too?

Lost in thought, he fed the chickens, ducks, and fish on the rooftop and suddenly noticed a bird perched on the banyan tree on the fish pond’s artificial hill.

He had just encountered the giant eagle yesterday, and seeing such a regular bird made him sensitive, so he focused on it for a while.

The bird was merely preening its feathers, and after realizing it was just an ordinary bird, he relaxed.

The balcony was often visited by butterflies, dragonflies, and small birds looking for food.

Relieved, he planned to get fish food to feed the electric eel but suddenly saw a blue arc of lightning flash across the sky. With a crackle, the bird fell straight into the water like a stone.

Guan Yuanfeng paused, moving his wheelchair over to see the electric eel swimming past the surface of the water, but the bird was already gone.

“Good morning, feeding the fish?” Zhou Yun came upstairs, greeting him with a “good morning” and holding a sharp knife in his hand. “The yam meat porridge is ready downstairs. Brother Guan, you should eat first. I’ve also prepared some nutritional meat paste porridge for Comet in the pressure cooker. You can take some to feed him. Once I finish dealing with the eagle, I’ll make stir-fried eagle meat with scallions.”

Guan Yuanfeng hesitated. “Is mutated meat safe to eat?”

Zhou Yun was confident. “It’s safe. I analyzed it with instruments last night; no problem.”

The meat of mutated animals was full of vitality, fresher than regular meat, tasty, and full of energy. It was especially beneficial for mutants.

He continued, “The medicinal effects of eagle meat are also obvious. It can dispel wind, remove moisture, and relieve muscle and joint pain. It’s effective for conditions like bone fractures and rheumatism. However, it has a lot of parasites, so it needs to be handled carefully. Its diet consists of snakes and mice, so it’s full of parasites. It should be stewed for a longer time or deep-fried at high temperatures.”

Guan Yuanfeng was speechless.

He watched as Zhou Yun pressed his hand against the ice, causing it to melt. The wet eagle fell to the ground, soaking its feathers.

Zhou Yun went to a nearby energy-efficient stove to boil water and prepare to pluck the feathers. He then took a knife and began to cut the eagle into pieces.

Guan Yuanfeng, itching to help, joined him. They swiftly butchered the giant eagle, and indeed, they found a crystal-like silver core in the heart of the eagle.

It was the largest crystal core they had ever seen since the zombie outbreak, the size of an egg, faintly glowing with silver threads inside.

Guan Yuanfeng held it in his hand, studying it. Thinking about the eagle’s powerful abilities, a thought crossed his mind… If Comet could successfully transplant a mutant ability, could he do it too?

The water boiled, and Zhou Yun carefully dipped the meat in hot water, skillfully plucking the feathers. Afterward, he cut the meat into chunks for marinating and put the rest in the freezer after salting and seasoning.

This was third-tier mutated meat, and even the marrow in the bones had great benefits. Once everything was processed, the eagle’s bones could be used to make weapons. The bones of mutated animals were exceptionally tough, ideal for crafting bone knives and daggers. The bones were lightweight, rust-resistant, and convenient to use. Not only the bones, but even the eagle feathers, after being cleaned and dried on the balcony, could be used for making protective clothing as they were durable, waterproof, and hard to ignite.

He extracted the marrow from the fresh bones, cooked it into soup, and skimmed off the fat, then mixed it with the yam meat porridge from the morning and handed it to Guan Yuanfeng. “Let it cool before you take it in to feed Comet. It will help with his recovery.”

The marinated eagle meat was half stir-fried with scallions and half braised in beer. The aroma of the scallion oil filled the house.

Guan Yuanfeng, feeding the weak Comet bone marrow, couldn’t help but wonder how Zhou Yun could make such a delicious-smelling dish.

Comet, eyes half-closed, weakly licked up the entire bowl of bone marrow porridge.

It was good that Comet was eating, Guan Yuanfeng thought as he stroked its head. Seeing Comet fall asleep again, he got up and went back inside. On the table, there were indeed several dishes that were still steaming.

The mutated eagle’s liver and meat were sliced thinly and stir-fried, with red and green chili peppers, filling the air with a fragrant aroma.

Another pot of braised eagle meat was stewing with potatoes, tender and delicious.

The vegetable dish was a simple bowl of pumpkin stew with cabbage, made with the broth from the old eagle meat, topped with dried shrimp and scallops. It was easy to make but rich in flavor.

Although Comet was not yet out of danger, Guan Yuanfeng felt more at ease seeing that Comet was alive and eating. Looking at the rich dishes on the table, he smiled. “Eating such heavy food so early?”

Zhou Yun explained, “I overused my powers yesterday, so I’m really hungry.” In fact, he had woken up extremely hungry and had eaten some monkey head mushroom cookies to fill his stomach before craving meat.

He knew it was from overusing his powers. Regular food didn’t suffice, and he needed to eat mutated food to replenish his energy. He had quickly made a pot of yam meat porridge for Guan Yuanfeng, then went to handle the giant eagle.

Even the potatoes and pumpkins were chosen from mutated crops, stewed to preserve the energy inside. Despite the simple preparation, the flavor was incredible.

Guan Yuanfeng nodded. Seeing Zhou Yun grab chopsticks and immediately dig into a large piece of eagle meat, his impatience was evident, so Guan Yuanfeng picked up his own chopsticks and began eating breakfast.

The eagle meat, although a bit tough, actually tasted quite good after being stewed. The potatoes were soft and sticky, and the pumpkin was sweet and fresh.

Guan Yuanfeng also had two bowls, but noticed that Zhou Yun kept his head down and ate intensely. Although he still ate with grace, his chopstick speed was fast, and his chewing seemed to have quickened as well.

He watched as Zhou Yun devoured an entire bowl of braised eagle meat, and when he finished, he even poured the remaining sauce into his bowl and finished his rice.

After eating so much, Zhou Yun finally felt the hunger subside, but his body still felt tired, as if his strength had been drained. His ability felt a bit sluggish, and when he looked up, he saw Guan Yuanfeng watching him with a complicated expression. Feeling a bit embarrassed, Zhou Yun said, “Yeah… I was pretty hungry… My appetite’s increased.”

Guan Yuanfeng thoughtfully replied, “I used to think we could rely on growing vegetables and raising livestock to be self-sufficient. But now, seeing your appetite, if Comet can also activate his powers, we might really run out of resources if we just sit back and do nothing.”

Zhou Yun: “…”