Chapter 33: Duck Flock

The factory that Wen Jianfeng mentioned was quite far. It took almost two hours of paddling to reach it.

Xia Xiaoman didn’t have much hope for the factory. Normally, these kinds of places store timber on the first floor.

After a month of floods, the chances that the timber had been washed away were very high. She didn’t think there’d be any left inside.

The reason she tagged along was because Wen Jianfeng said the area was close to rural villages and mountains. Even if the factory was empty, they could probably gather some wood from the mountains.

Sure enough, the factory was completely empty. All the timber had been swept away. But the nearby mountain had blocked a lot of wood, which now floated along the shore.

“Look, what’s that? It’s white and chubby—could it be a pig?” Xiao Zheyu, with sharp eyes, pointed to a pale lump among the woodpile.

Thinking of fragrant pork belly, he got excited and dragged Su Ran along in the inflatable boat to go check it out.

Sun Qing pulled a face. “Even if it is a pig, it’s probably one that drowned. Why are you so hyped?”

Xiao Zheyu paddled hard while replying, “What if I’m lucky and it just drowned? If it’s recent, it should still be edible.”

He and Su Ran were sharing a boat. Two energetic teenagers, hyped-up to the point they could ignore sore arms, quickly reached the white blob.

Using a paddle to push away some floating wood, the full shape of the thing slowly came into view.

Xiao Zheyu’s pupils contracted, and the color drained from his face. He wanted to scream, but his throat felt blocked and no sound came out.

Seeing his silence, Su Ran leaned over his shoulder for a look—only to freeze in place too.

Sun Qing, who was gathering wood nearby, thought they were slacking off. She picked up a stick and threw it at them, about to scold them when suddenly both boys clung to each other and belted out high-pitched screams.

“AHHHHH!!! HELP!!!”

Xia Xiaoman thought something bad had happened. She paddled over quickly. “What happened? Water snake?”

The two boys’ eyes were red from fear. Su Ran, trembling, pointed at the white lump. “A-a-a-a corpse… there’s a dead body…”

Xia Xiaoman: “…”

“Can you two be normal for once? Haven’t we already hauled up seven or eight bodies? Still afraid of one drowned corpse?”

“Jie, this one’s different. It’s too scary. Jie, please help. My hands are numb—I can’t move!” Xiao Zheyu was about to cry. He was still underage—why should he have to see things like this?

Now Xia Xiaoman was curious. What could be so terrifying that it scared two teenage boys this much?

She used the paddle to move aside the wood, revealing a pale green-white bloated corpse that resembled the Hulk.

The entire body was massively swollen, like a 500 to 600 lb person. The lips were flipped out, tongue lolling, eyes bulging out of their sockets, staring straight ahead.

Even someone as used to corpses as Xia Xiaoman felt a chill up her spine.

Sun Qing took one look and her face changed drastically. “Stay away from it—that’s a ‘Giant View Corpse.’ It could explode.”

Explode?

Xia Xiaoman immediately paddled the boat to a safe distance.

Xiao Zheyu raised trembling hands, pleading, “Jie, don’t leave us! Help us! Don’t leave us here!”

Wen Jianfeng couldn’t bear to watch anymore. He used his paddle to push their boat away from danger.

After death, the bacteria inside a body multiply rapidly, producing gas that causes extreme bloating. If too much gas builds up, the skin can’t hold it in anymore and will rupture like a balloon.

Sun Qing, an avid reader of crime novels, gave them the full breakdown and warned: “So, if you see a corpse that’s swollen like a giant, keep away. When it explodes, the fluid sprays everywhere—and it’s full of bacteria. If it touches you, you could get seriously ill.”

“Qing-jie, should we still keep collecting wood here?” Xiao Zheyu now felt like the entire area was full of infectious corpse water.

Sun Qing gave him a side-eye. “What are you scared of? The bacteria are diluted in water. It’s not like it’ll kill you. Get moving and pick up wood! If I catch you slacking, I’ll beat you!”

Xiao Zheyu: “…”

That logic sounds so wrong. Bacteria in water multiply—they don’t get diluted. But still, her fists are stronger than his. Better to just quietly collect wood.

There was an endless supply of wood blocked by the mountain—two or three pieces could be gathered in one go.

“Xiaoman, did you bring binoculars? Look over there—what’s that white thing?” Sun Qing pointed in the distance.

As soon as he heard “white,” Xiao Zheyu instantly remembered the bloated corpse and quietly lowered his head to focus on gathering firewood.

Xia Xiaoman raised her binoculars and looked in the direction Sun Qing pointed. A few white dots darted through the bushes near the shore.

“They look like ducks! It’s ducks—a whole flock! Quick, stop gathering wood. Let’s go catch them!”

She tossed aside the binoculars, grabbed a paddle, and started rowing hard. The others, equally excited, followed her lead toward the white ducks.

The ducks were foraging and splashing around in the water, but when they noticed people approaching, they all scrambled onto shore.

Xia Xiaoman’s group followed them onto land, using their supply nets to trap the ducks. With one person blocking and another covering with the net, they easily caught dozens.

These ducks were clearly farm-raised, likely by local villagers. And there were definitely more than just a few dozen. The group spread out to search the hillside and found several more nests.

They worked until around 2 PM. After counting, they had caught over 300 ducks.

For a small-scale duck farm, five or six hundred birds is normal. Large-scale farms can have thousands. Xia Xiaoman figured there were still more ducks in the hills, but they didn’t have enough manpower or time, so they stopped at around 300.

“What are we going to do with all these ducks?” Sun Qing asked.

Su Ran offered, “They can swim, right? We can tie ropes around their necks and lead them back like a leash?”

Xia Xiaoman almost burst out laughing. “You think they’re puppies? Leashing ducks?”

“If we want to bring them all back, we’ll have to kill them. If anyone hears them quacking, we’ll attract unwanted attention.”

Sun Qing nodded. “That’s true. Duck noises carry. If we bring them back alive, we might not even make it to the 15th floor before someone robs us.”

“But should we keep a few alive with their beaks tied shut? We could raise them. Once they lay eggs and hatch ducklings, we’ll have a steady meat supply.”

“Don’t count on it. These are commercial white egg-laying ducks. Even if they lay eggs, they’re unfertilized. You can’t hatch ducklings from them,” Xia Xiaoman replied, ending Sun Qing’s poultry-farming dreams on the spot.

Sun Qing sighed. “Then forget it—let’s just kill them all.”