Chapter 127: Motherly Love
Really, we can't even eat a meal in peace!
Although it was a very soft noise, practically all of them heard it. They couldn't help noticing the sound. After all, it was very easy for something to go wrong if they weren't more alert in New Zealand now. Bai Yi had wanted to question Momo and Sharpei about what going on just now, but he was interrupted suddenly and focused his attention diagonally behind him.
Slowly, a large animal walked out from that direction. They were all immediately taken aback when they saw the animal…Tiger? No, that's not right, it wasn't a tiger. It only looked like a tiger, but it should be a cat-like creature, or rather, it was actually a cat. There weren't any more pure animals left in New Zealand, and they couldn't be bothered to identify every gene that every animal had fused with by now. It was fine as long as they identified the base lifeform correctly.
Sharpei stood up, but Bai Yi raised his right hand.
Strange!
This giant cat was more than 2 meters in length. It didn't seem to be hostile, but rather seemed to be carrying some hope and caution with it. The big cat tensed slightly just from Bai Yi turning his head, and released a rough meow. The big cat slowly and carefully walked toward Bai Yi, and everyone realized that there was a deep wound on its waist. It was so severe that they could almost see the bone. The wound practically stretched all the way to its back leg, causing the big cat's walking posture to be awkward.
So it was like this. This was why they had heard that slight incoordinate sound just now.
"You want something to eat?" Suddenly, Bai Yi had a mysterious feeling in his heart. Although this big cat was quite wary, it didn't have any hostility toward them. Moreover, he got a vibe similar to a real house cat meowing cutely to humans. From this action, Bai Yi could immediately tell that this big cat was searching for food.
"Meow~!"
Bai Yi found a basin and filled it up with the caterpillar meat, putting it in front of this big cat. This big cat immediately bit the basin and ran away, carrying the basin with its mouth. This big cat was a bit awkward while running due to its injuries, but it still disappeared before their eyes very quickly.
"This is?"
"It probably smelled the aroma of the food and wanted to ask for some of it. This cat should be a cat raised by humans in the past, so it's still quite amiable to humans," Bai Yi slowly explained.
"It's really strange, we met quite a few domesticated animals in the past too, but this is the first time we saw one that was still quite amiable to humans."
"You guys saw it too, the giant wound on its body probably affected its normal hunting greatly. It was probably its last resort to come here, I think it hasn't eaten for a long time. The aroma of the food and its memories of getting fed by humans in the past attracted it here, but actually, when it first appeared, there was more wariness than amiableness," Bai Yi explained.
"Oh really, but why didn't it just eat here? It still brought the food basin away," Woolf said.
"It probably brought the food to its other companions," Heloise said as well.
"En, probably." Bai Yi nodded.
Bai Yi didn't keep this big cat on his mind. In truth, this actually wasn't anything worth mentioning to him. Although they would hunt for prey, they never killed needlessly or for enjoyment. They especially wouldn't harm something that didn't have any hostility toward them and was previously a house pet.
"Momo!"
"Here!" Momo immediately jolted upon hearing Bai Yi's voice.
"Just what are you and Sharpei playing at?" Bai Yi's voice wasn't loud, but on the contrary Momo felt very scared. Little kids always had some sort of fear toward their elders, especially when they were hiding something.
"That is, that is…" Momo's eyes shifted continuously. That is why they said that Momo was still too tender, it was totally obvious that she had something to hide from how she looked. Momo's brain kept turning at this time, trying to find an excuse to muddle her daddy, but her simple head just couldn't think of a solution. Woolf and Heloise would definitely not help her out, they were just prepared to watch a show.
"Daddy, a sound, a sound!" Momo suddenly said.
"Don't try to change the topic."
"Really, sound!" Momo said and pointed her little finger toward the direction the big cat had left in.
At this time, they didn't continue to pay attention to this thing but seriously tried to hear anything coming from that direction. Sure enough, just like Momo had said, the sound was very soft, but it was indeed a rough and mournful cry of a cat. Almost instantly, all of them thought of the big cat that left just now.
"Let's go take a look." Bai Yi saw all of them looking at himself and couldn't help but say this.
Momo immediately grabbed a hold of Sharpei's bone spike and landed on his back with a flip. "I'll go," Momo said hurriedly. At this time, Momo completely seemed like she was running away, fearing that Bai Yi might stop her. Heloise couldn't help but laugh seeing Momo's actions. No matter what, they couldn't let Momo go alone. All of them immediately followed, running toward the sound's location.
They really didn't expect that the big cat ran such a long distance in such a short period of time, and they only found the big cat more than a kilometer away.
Apparently, this was a lair, the big cat's lair. However, the lair was now stained with blood, and the big cat was facing off with another animal.
This lifeform had a very thick neck, and was also more than 3 meters in length. Its body looked very streamlined and slim, but its legs and neck bulged with muscles. They couldn't identify what animal this thing used to be, but it looked rather like a creeper (TN: I assume this is the creeper from Minecraft). The creature's mouth was stained with blood, and there were still a few leftover corpse parts of small cats on the ground.
They knew with a look why the big cat would suddenly try to get close to them, and tried to bring the food back.
It wasn't convenient for it to hunt due to its injuries, so it suddenly recalled the memories in its body of it relying on humans. Even if it knew that approaching humans now was very dangerous, and that it could be hunted down, it still approached them because it was a mother cat. It apparently brought the food back to feed its own children.
In the end, when this mother cat returned, it actually witnessed its own children getting eaten by this creature.
Woolf immediately grabbed his greatsword and wanted to charge in to help. However, at this time, the mother cat suddenly turned its head and roared loudly at Bai Yi's team; this cry seemed both mournful and resolute. Bai Yi immediately stopped Woolf, and sure enough after Bai Yi did this, the mother cat once against charged toward the killer of its children.
"MEO-RAROW!" At this moment, the big cat completely displayed its aura, an aura of viciousness and massacre. Cats had always been predators on Earth. This evolved cat was even more powerful, and the scene of it being so tame in front of Bai Yi's team just now seemed like an illusion.
However, the other unknown creature was also very strong, and it wasn't at a disadvantage facing the mother cat. Since the mother cat was already injuried, it very quickly fell into a disadvantageous state.
"Daddy!" Momo looked at her daddy, not knowing why Bai Yi wasn't helping when it knew that the mother cat wasn't the creature's match.
"Just look, this is a mother's final struggle." Bai Yi's eyes were very serious.
The Momo who didn't understand Bai Yi's words much initially became stunned. Momo never had a mother, so she didn't know motherly love, but it was enough for her to have a daddy. At this time, looking at the mother cat that was still struggling despite being at a disadvantage, something was touched in the depths of Momo's heart for a reason she couldn't understand.
A battle between wild beasts had always been very bloody. The big cat fought with this unknown creature, and displayed this point to the utmost. Even if it was them, they couldn't help but feel shaken at this scene. So this is the most primordial way of fighting in the wild.
The big cat's life force gradually got weaker and weaker, and it fell into a further disadvantage. Bai Yi held the fang sword in his hands, but he didn't act. Bai Yi knew that this big cat did not wish for somebody else to interfere in this battle, because this was her last duty and struggle for its children.
Suddenly, nobody saw clearly what had happened, but the mother cat's body suddenly twisted and bit toward the creature's neck at an impossible angle. After it managed to clamp its jaws onto the creature, the mother cat never released its jaws again; there was only the sound of it wrestling and rolling around on the ground with that creature.
After more than 10 minutes, the struggling finally stopped, only leaving behind a ruined ground in the surrounding area.
Suddenly, Momo rushed toward the buried lair. In front of everyone's shocked eyes, Momo dug open the collapsed lair and everyone realized that in that corner, there was a weak little cat that was stuck under a rock. The cat was only as big as a palm; it seemed adorable yet pitiful.
This little cat had apparently suffered from some injuries, but it still struggled vigorously in Momo's hand until it managed to break free. After landing on the ground, the little guy ran toward the mother cat clumsily. This small cat ran to its mother's side, continuously licking away the blood on its mother's body, and releasing a soft and weak 'meow'. The mother cat that they all initially thought had died suddenly moved again, its eyes opened painfully as it slowly stretched out its tongue to lick the little cat's face again.
This little cat seemed to enjoy its mother's doting very much, and immediately closed its eyes as it showered in the motherly love.
Bai Yi's team weren't emotional people, but at this time they still couldn't help but feel their eyes getting wet.
"Meow?"
"Meow…Meoooww!" The little cat's puzzled voice gradually turned to sadness then to mournful. Apparently, the mother cat that had always loved it and its siblings had really died like that.
"Daddy, can we keep this little cat?" Momo suddenly said to Bai Yi.
"Ok." Bai Yi nodded without any hesitation.
Chapter 128: Chinchilla
After realizing that the mother cat wasn't moving anymore, the little cat's feelings turned from its initial puzzlement to grieving, before it eventually became mournful. Its tender and sharp cries made everyone want to look away. It was really too regretful, none of them had realized that there was still a little cat alive just now. Otherwise, the mother cat wouldn't have tried to kill the enemy at all costs, eventually dying together with it.
After Momo got Bai Yi's approval, she immediately wanted to pick the little cat up, but it suddenly bared its teeth at her extremely viciously. It blocked them from the mother cat behind it.
"MEOW!" The little cat shouted as if it was protecting the mother cat. It was very young yet stubborn.
"Sigh~!" Bai Yi sighed lightly, and his Reverse Flower Eyes appeared as he looked at the cat. Slowly, the little cat calmed down and fell on the floor. "Although it's an animal, death is still too cruel to a baby cat like this. Let it calm down a bit first," Bai Yi slowly explained.
Momo ran over and carefully stroked the little cat's head and picked it up in her arms. This little cat was also as big as a palm; it wasn't too different from the normal little cats you would commonly see. In New Zealand now, this was actually a rare sight. No matter what, the mother cat could be considered to have created a benign fate with Bai Yi's team, so they were fated with this little cat as well. They only didn't expect that they would adopt a little cat when they just said they wanted to add new members to their team.
Bai Yi and the rest of them buried the mother cat's corpse, while the corpse of that other unknown creature naturally became their food. New Zealand now didn't have any specific cattle for them to feed on, and there weren't so many animals to waste like that either.
……
This little cat was a female, and after getting affected by Bai Yi's Reverse Flower Eyes, it slowly fell into a deep sleep. However, Bai Yi was more concerned about the form of this little cat. This little cat was completely like a house cat, and there weren't any changes to its physical form at all. One must know that the mother cat's form had changed greatly, and it only still roughly looked like a cat.
Seeing Momo carefully looking after the little cat, Bai Yi couldn't help but think about how the activated cells had influenced various lifeforms.
Don't tell me that it's not hereditary?
Bai Yi looked at the little cat and slowly thought about it. It was good news if that was really the case, even if they couldn't find a good solution for the problem caused by the activated cells, their future generations could still return to normal human society. However, Bai Yi didn't think that this was too possible. Forget about it, leave it as a question in his heart for now. For now, he would slowly observe the little cat's changes in the future. The most important thing now was, just what was Momo and Sharpei hiding?
"Momo!" Bai Yi's tone wasn't heavy, but Momo's body instantly tensed.
"Oh daddy, is there something? Ah! I suddenly remembered that this little cat should be very hungry, the mummy cat was looking for food for it just now," Momo immediately said as she thought of a way to change the topic. She immediately tried to carry the little cat away as she spoke.
"Momo." Bai Yi's tone became slightly heavier.
Momo's body immediately stopped; she lowered her head, not daring to look at Bai Yi. If Bai Yi also had some suspicions before, then he could be sure that something had definitely happened to Sharpei. Momo's actions were too obvious. Really, she didn't even the have the basic idea of how to deal with things. However, that was how a little kid should be like.
"Speak, what are you and Sharpei hiding."
"Actually, it isn't anything much either…" Momo replied softly, but she didn't seem convincing at all like this.
"Raise your head, look at me, and answer me seriously." Bai Yi was starting to get unhappy. It wasn't because of Momo hiding things from him, but how she was being so timid and scared.
"Yes!" Momo replied on reflex and raised her head.
After calming her emotions, Momo started to tell them about Sharpei's recent changes. At the start, Momo was still somewhat scared and uneasy, but she slowly became calmer afterward and talked about everything in an objective way. This was exactly what he wanted Momo to develop from now on. He wanted her to have a broad and level-headed personality.
"Sharpei, let me see," Bai Yi said to Sharpei.
Bai Yi didn't get angry and blow his top like how Momo had imagined, but still maintained a calm look on his face. Even if Sharpei was eating humans, he still didn't seem to be angry. Indeed, he wasn't angry. Why should he be angry in the first place? Sharpei's change could be said to be completely due to them. Even if things really became very bad, the fault shouldn't lie with Sharpei either. This kind of baseless accusation and blaming before getting things clear was the worst thing to do.
Sharpei heard him and walked two steps to come beside Bai Yi, waiting for his inspection.
Bai Yi slowly observed Sharpei. They were always together usually, so Bai Yi didn't notice the small continuous changes that happened to Sharpei. However, now that he looked carefully, he suddenly realized that Sharpei's appearance had changed a lot.
Sharpei was now roughly 4 meters long, excluding his long tail. His left shoulder blade grew out of his left shoulder, forming a white bone armour around half of his body. On the outside of this bone armor were some sharp bone spikes that would cause people to feel intimidated with just a look. There was not much fur on the upper half of Sharpei's body, and ever since that time where his skin was ripped off by the Tentacle Slug, his skin didn't regrow again. His muscles were revealed on the outside, sturdy and very tough. However, even with such a tough surface, many scars could still be seen on it.
Bai Yi slowly touched Sharpei's tough skin, this was all evidence of the countless battles they had been through.
Although the primary ability of Bai Yi's eyes was hypnosis, his observation abilities were also very strong when he opened his eyes completely. Bai Yi carefully observed Sharpei, checking the changes on his body. However, at the end, Bai Yi had to admit that Sharpei's skin looked very normal. If only Mavis was here, she was the real doctor and the specialist in this area.
"I can't see anything special, Sharpei how do you feel?" Bai Yi asked.
"Woof!" Sharpei immediately barked.
"I'm sorry but I don't understand you." Bai Yi heard Sharpei's bark but felt very helpless. Perhaps it was because Sharpei had heard a lot of human speech, so he could now basically understand their words, and this was the case for Pupu as well. However, Bai Yi and the rest couldn't understand Sharpei and Pupu's 'language' at all. At this moment, Bai Yi suddenly had the strange idea to let Sharpei and Pupu learn to speak human words as well.
"Momo, you ask him," Bai Yi said to Momo. Only Momo could vaguely understand Sharpei's words here, but the meaning would basically be correct.
Under Bai Yi's instructions, she asked Sharpei a few questions. After that, they found out that Sharpei himself didn't know what had happened. He only felt that the left side of his neck was aching a lot, and at the same time his body felt very restless. He also wanted to eat corpses, and it wasn't like carcasses of animals for food or even fresh corpses, but the kind of corpses that got affected and changed by the energy field of the underworld like in Wellington.
The part about the energy field of the underworld was their guess, but after Momo's questioning, they discovered that there were actually some changes on the left side of Sharpei's neck.
Cracks appeared on the initially hard bone armor, and it also bulged outward by a bit. Bai Yi had thought that this was how Sharpei looked like all along. However, he realized now that something seemed to be growing underneath. Unfortunately, Bai Yi's eyes did not have x-ray vision; he couldn't see what was happening under that thick bone armor.
"Let's leave it at this. Sharpei you can eat whatever you want, but you mustn't let people outside of our team see you doing this. Also, do not attack other people recklessly," Bai Yi patted Sharpei's head and said.
"Really?" Momo looked at Bai Yi in surprise. Not only Momo was surprised, but Woolf and Heloise were similarly very surprised. Bai Yi actually didn't blame Sharpei at all and on the contrary implicitly agreed to his actions.
"Really." Bai Yi nodded.
"But I hope that in the future, nobody will hide things from me and tell me earlier, no matter what changes you may have. You guys must know, no matter what you guys become, we are family!" Bai Yi said seriously.
"Family huh!" Heloise said softly. The family that Bai Yi talked about was obviously different from the family that people normally referred to. But based on their relationships, after going through so many things together, they had become a true, big family.
"However, we need to find other people soon, whether to invite them to join our team or just to help us temporarily. We must at least know what exactly is going on with Sharpei." Although Bai Yi implicitly agreed to Sharpei's actions, he still had to be clear on Sharpei's changes. If it wasn't a benign change, then he definitely had to deal with it early.
At this time, they finally felt the lack in their team, from the looks of it, they really had to find new additions to their team now. As for whether there would be any barriers between the new members and them after they joined, that was something to worry about it in the future.
Opening the map, Bai Yi took a look and decided on a target.
Wairarapa Snow Valley!
This was a new snow valley found in the Wairarapa Mountain Range to the east of Wellington, and it had become a gathering point for a portion of the evolved humans now. The reason people gathered here was because of a certain mutated plant someone found in this snow valley - Ice Peppermint. This was a plant that they found to be able to be grown in a large volume, and it also had the ability to calm the mind.
Due to the dangers of the Brutal Phase, many evolved humans gathered around this area with this snow valley as the heart after discovering this Ice Peppermint. The reason was of course to make it more convenient to acquire these Ice Peppermints and suppress the berserk state.
"We will go to Wairarapa Snow Valley," Bai Yi said. They should be able to find quite a few evolved humans at that gathering point. Then, they could see if there were any decent individuals there and try to invite them to the team.
None of them had any objections and after finishing their preparations, they headed off for Wairarapa Snow Valley.
Along the way, Momo wanted to give a name to the baby cat. After Momo's suggestions of dough, furball and other similar names that were rejected, Heloise finally said a name.
"Let's call him Chinchilla."
"Why?"
"Because the species of this baby cat is a Chinchilla! Isn't Sharpei a Shar-pei dog?" Heloise said teasingly. However, she never expected that both Bai Yi and Momo would nod their head seriously. Heloise couldn't help but facepalm herself. So it was like this, Bai Yi and Momo both had absolutely no talent for naming things.
Just like this, the name of this little cat was set - Chinchilla!
Chapter 129: Arriving At The Snow Valley
Wairarapa Snow Valley was located at the Tararua mountain ranges. It was close to Wairarapa, hence the name. Bai Yi's team spent nearly half a month to get this snow valley. After losing the convenient vehicles, humans had to revert to using their feet like in ancient times. Moreover, New Zealand didn't even have any decent roads left now, and they met strange and varied monsters all the time, so it was very troublesome.
Nobody wished to live in an environment like this, but they had no choice but to struggle in this environment.
Before entering the snow valley, they had already seen quite a few traces of human activities, and they rarely saw any large-sized monsters nearby anymore. Humans were social lifeforms, when a large group gathered at the snow valley simultaneously, the weaker monsters nearby were all hunted down together and became their food.
Of course, the surrounding area where they hunted wasn't too big either; the power of humans now was far from before. In this kind of environment, having a small area to themselves was already very good.
……
"Chard again, urgh it's really so damn disgusting." In the distance, Bai Yi could already hear some grumbling. Then, they saw three more than 2 meters tall 'human-like lifeforms'. These people were busy around a big pile of foliage beetroot.
Chard - a variant of the foliage beetroot. It had fat and thick leaves, stem and looked somewhat like a palm leaf fan. Before New Zealand had changed, this was originally used as feed for cattle. This kind of plant could be harvested multiple times, as long as it grew in the soil. As such, they could continuously cut off the outer layer of the leaves. As long as they did not damage the roots, it basically wouldn't die.
A large patch of mutated chard grew right outside Wairarapa Snow Valley. Due to the activated cells, these chards became extremely huge, and the biggest among them was almost 4 meters tall. The re-harvestable characteristics of the chard, in addition to how quickly vegetation grew now, caused this chard to become the staple food for many people.
"Stop complaining, if you don't like then go hunt some monsters outside," the other voice retorted.
"Forget about it then. Although chard tastes bad, at least my life wouldn't be in danger. Did you hear? Battle God team was practically wiped out, 7 or 8 of them died."
"Of course I heard, I heard that they met an early-stage experimental monster and 5 of them died. The other 3 died because of falling into the berserk state and clashing head on with the monster; the rest of them could only escape because of that. Those that escaped were all injured as well, they would already be very lucky if they managed to live. The team leader of Battle God Bree managed to return to the snow valley as well, but he died before he could receive emergency treatment. This team is already as good as gone."
"I also heard that the Medicinal Maker in that team is getting invitations from other teams now," the remaining guy added in.
"It's still better to be a Medicinal Maker, they just have to hide at the back of the team and the people in front would automatically protect them."
"Just too bad you have no talent, hahaha!" The other two immediately started laughing.
In New Zealand now, a Medicinal Maker was the most lucrative profession. Unfortunately, this job was still in process of development, so there wasn't even a way to learn it properly. Every Medicinal Maker depended on their talent, and not on studying to do their job. Those Medicinal Makers who managed to find a formula for making certain potions through extraction of compounds from plants would treat these formulas as secrets as well. Very few would reveal their formulas so generously.
These people chatted as they sliced off the upper layer of the chard, this was their food now.
Suddenly, the ears of one the guys pricked up, and he looked toward Bai Yi's direction.
"Bell?" One of the other guys looked at Bell's actions and immediately asked nervously. Bell had fused with the genes of a bat. Although the genes caused his eyesight to become very bad, it also let him obtain a very powerful hearing ability.
"Shh, there's something coming."
"That's not possible, all the monsters around here have basically been hunted down, there shouldn't be any more monsters appearing!" The last guy said in fear. This guy was the tallest here. He was more than 3 meters tall and appeared to be very plump.
"It may not be monsters, maybe it's humans…Fuck!" One of them just wanted to say that maybe it was humans, but suddenly he saw the figure of Sharpei walking in.
Sharpei now was more than 2 meters tall. He was huge, sinister looking, and absolutely intimidating. With Sharpei walking at the front, he immediately made the few of them freeze from fear. With just a look, it was obvious that this thing evolved from a dog, but it was definitely not to be provoked. After they saw Sharpei, they immediately abandoned the chard on the floor and ran away as quickly as they can.
"Meow, meow meow!" A tender meow came from Sharpei's head suddenly, almost as if it was trying to intimidate them.
A meow?
Even if the few of them who were frightened by Sharpei, they couldn't help but feel a bit of doubt inside and looked over.
At this time, Chinchilla was jumping around on Sharpei's head with its body arched, showing off its power to the 3 of them. However, Chinchilla's palm-sized body had absolutely no intimidating power, and it just seemed adorable. Perhaps it was jumping too happily, but it suddenly slid off Sharpei's head and landed on his nose. The little cat grabbed onto Sharpei's nose and looked into Sharpei's eyes that was even bigger than its body.
A dog's nose was a very sensitive part of the body, so even though Sharpei had evolved and mutated, this didn't change. In fact, its nose actually became even more important. At this time, with a little claw hooking onto the top of his nose, even though he wouldn't be hurt by it, the itchy feeling made Sharpei want to eat this little guy in one mouth.
Seemingly knowing that it got into trouble, Chinchilla immediately cried out, "Meow~!"
Was there a use to act cute now? Sharpei's eyes shined with a fierce light as he raised his right paw, slapping it toward his own nose. However, before Sharpei had the chance to teach Chinchilla a lesson, the wind pressure from his swing sent Chinchilla flying toward Pupu. Chinchilla spun a few rounds in the air before agilely hanging from Pupu's body again.
"Oink oink oink~!" Pupu immediately oinked a few times, seemingly complaining about something.
Pupu was also tormented quite a bit by this little cat lately. Chinchilla absolutely seemed like it had ADHD, causing this lazy and slovenly Pupu to be unable to have a good rest. However, Pupu still felt that he was quite lucky, the one who had it worst was Sharpei. He didn't know if it was because cats and dogs were natural enemies, but Chinchilla loved to bother Sharpei, no matter if it was attacking him or playing around.
At this time, the 3 people who were running away realized that this was a team. The one walking at the front was Sharpei, and there were a few people walking beside Sharpei along with a huge fat pig.
What team is this?
There were still people rearing pets now, but it was mostly some battle pets that could help them in fights. However, what was the deal with this pig? It didn't seem like prey either.
"Sorry to disturb, but can I check how far it is to the snow valley from here?" Bai Yi asked.
This wasn't just asking for directions, it was also to inform the few of them that they were humans and could be communicated with. One must know, most of the humans in New Zealand looked like monsters now. Nobody could be sure if a creature they met was an evolved human or a monster outside. If they were unable to prove themselves, then they could only blame themselves if somebody took them to be a monster and hunted them for food. Even so, there were still incidents of evolved humans hunting each other, just that nobody wanted to talk about it.
"It's a short distance in front!" Somebody immediately responded after hearing Bai Yi's question.
"Oh really, thanks a lot then." Bai Yi nodded and thanked them casually.
"You're welcome." The few of them replied, and looked at the giant carcass on Woolf and Sharpei's back with envy. Although they didn't know what this animal was, they could tell that it should be very powerful from its enormous size.
At this moment, Momo suddenly charged toward the 3 of them. Her petite body rapidly dashed in front and she drew her short sword in a flash, before sheathing it back with a 'shing!' shortly after. In their shocked eyes, they realized that below Momo's short sword was a green thumb-sized nematode worm that got split into 4 parts.
Green Nematode Worm!
The 3 of them instantly got a fright, this was a lifeform that lived inside the chard. Although it was usually herbivorous, it would still attack humans if it received a shock. Its tensed body was very hard, and it could shoot out at a high-speed to pierce into the human body.
"Th-thank you!" The 3 of them didn't know how to thank her.
"It's nothing much." Momo smiled and waved her hand.
The weird team with 4 humans and 3 pets walked along the small road toward Wairarapa Snow Valley. While walking past them, Chinchilla looked at the 3 of them and meowed again, seemingly very curious toward all things and people. Since Chinchilla had just started following Bai Yi, it had only just begun to see this wide world and was indeed very active and curious toward many things.
"Chinchilla, stop playing around." Momo stopped Chinchilla.
Only when Bai Yi's team had walked far away did the 3 of them return to their senses. They felt an especially bitter taste in their mouths when they saw Momo, who was not even a meter tall, carrying a short sword. She even looked to be very proficient and skilled with it.
At this time, the few of them looked at the chard leaves piled on the floor, and suddenly felt incredibly disgusted by it. It was indeed disgusting, not just because this thing didn't taste good, but also because of the disgust they felt toward themselves.
Humans were indeed intelligent, but it was this intelligence that made humans weak naturally. It's fine as long I can survive, all I need to do is to survive. So when they found these edible plants, many people chose to endure eating this plain food that was like pig feed, rather than going out to hunt.
In reality, evolved humans and evolved lifeforms started evolving at the same time. However, many were like these 3 people, rarely fighting with their own bodies.
"I've had enough!" One of them muttered.
"Why don't we join some team too? Then we can go out and hunt as well, I don't want to live this life like a farm cattle anymore. The only thing different between us and a farm animal is that we have to prepare the pig feed ourselves," the other guy looked at chard on the floor and said.
"But we might die!"
"Then so be it, I've had enough of days like this anyway. Unless you guys are inferior to even a little girl?!"
Bai Yi's team completely didn't expect that the 3 of them would think so much after seeing Momo, thinking that they were inferior to a little girl. Perhaps these people already had some thoughts in their hearts, just that they were enduring it all along before. Seeing Momo's actions just happened to give them the trigger to change their lives.
Chapter 127: Motherly Love
Really, we can't even eat a meal in peace!
Although it was a very soft noise, practically all of them heard it. They couldn't help noticing the sound. After all, it was very easy for something to go wrong if they weren't more alert in New Zealand now. Bai Yi had wanted to question Momo and Sharpei about what going on just now, but he was interrupted suddenly and focused his attention diagonally behind him.
Slowly, a large animal walked out from that direction. They were all immediately taken aback when they saw the animal…Tiger? No, that's not right, it wasn't a tiger. It only looked like a tiger, but it should be a cat-like creature, or rather, it was actually a cat. There weren't any more pure animals left in New Zealand, and they couldn't be bothered to identify every gene that every animal had fused with by now. It was fine as long as they identified the base lifeform correctly.
Sharpei stood up, but Bai Yi raised his right hand.
Strange!
This giant cat was more than 2 meters in length. It didn't seem to be hostile, but rather seemed to be carrying some hope and caution with it. The big cat tensed slightly just from Bai Yi turning his head, and released a rough meow. The big cat slowly and carefully walked toward Bai Yi, and everyone realized that there was a deep wound on its waist. It was so severe that they could almost see the bone. The wound practically stretched all the way to its back leg, causing the big cat's walking posture to be awkward.
So it was like this. This was why they had heard that slight incoordinate sound just now.
"You want something to eat?" Suddenly, Bai Yi had a mysterious feeling in his heart. Although this big cat was quite wary, it didn't have any hostility toward them. Moreover, he got a vibe similar to a real house cat meowing cutely to humans. From this action, Bai Yi could immediately tell that this big cat was searching for food.
"Meow~!"
Bai Yi found a basin and filled it up with the caterpillar meat, putting it in front of this big cat. This big cat immediately bit the basin and ran away, carrying the basin with its mouth. This big cat was a bit awkward while running due to its injuries, but it still disappeared before their eyes very quickly.
"This is?"
"It probably smelled the aroma of the food and wanted to ask for some of it. This cat should be a cat raised by humans in the past, so it's still quite amiable to humans," Bai Yi slowly explained.
"It's really strange, we met quite a few domesticated animals in the past too, but this is the first time we saw one that was still quite amiable to humans."
"You guys saw it too, the giant wound on its body probably affected its normal hunting greatly. It was probably its last resort to come here, I think it hasn't eaten for a long time. The aroma of the food and its memories of getting fed by humans in the past attracted it here, but actually, when it first appeared, there was more wariness than amiableness," Bai Yi explained.
"Oh really, but why didn't it just eat here? It still brought the food basin away," Woolf said.
"It probably brought the food to its other companions," Heloise said as well.
"En, probably." Bai Yi nodded.
Bai Yi didn't keep this big cat on his mind. In truth, this actually wasn't anything worth mentioning to him. Although they would hunt for prey, they never killed needlessly or for enjoyment. They especially wouldn't harm something that didn't have any hostility toward them and was previously a house pet.
"Momo!"
"Here!" Momo immediately jolted upon hearing Bai Yi's voice.
"Just what are you and Sharpei playing at?" Bai Yi's voice wasn't loud, but on the contrary Momo felt very scared. Little kids always had some sort of fear toward their elders, especially when they were hiding something.
"That is, that is…" Momo's eyes shifted continuously. That is why they said that Momo was still too tender, it was totally obvious that she had something to hide from how she looked. Momo's brain kept turning at this time, trying to find an excuse to muddle her daddy, but her simple head just couldn't think of a solution. Woolf and Heloise would definitely not help her out, they were just prepared to watch a show.
"Daddy, a sound, a sound!" Momo suddenly said.
"Don't try to change the topic."
"Really, sound!" Momo said and pointed her little finger toward the direction the big cat had left in.
At this time, they didn't continue to pay attention to this thing but seriously tried to hear anything coming from that direction. Sure enough, just like Momo had said, the sound was very soft, but it was indeed a rough and mournful cry of a cat. Almost instantly, all of them thought of the big cat that left just now.
"Let's go take a look." Bai Yi saw all of them looking at himself and couldn't help but say this.
Momo immediately grabbed a hold of Sharpei's bone spike and landed on his back with a flip. "I'll go," Momo said hurriedly. At this time, Momo completely seemed like she was running away, fearing that Bai Yi might stop her. Heloise couldn't help but laugh seeing Momo's actions. No matter what, they couldn't let Momo go alone. All of them immediately followed, running toward the sound's location.
They really didn't expect that the big cat ran such a long distance in such a short period of time, and they only found the big cat more than a kilometer away.
Apparently, this was a lair, the big cat's lair. However, the lair was now stained with blood, and the big cat was facing off with another animal.
This lifeform had a very thick neck, and was also more than 3 meters in length. Its body looked very streamlined and slim, but its legs and neck bulged with muscles. They couldn't identify what animal this thing used to be, but it looked rather like a creeper (TN: I assume this is the creeper from Minecraft). The creature's mouth was stained with blood, and there were still a few leftover corpse parts of small cats on the ground.
They knew with a look why the big cat would suddenly try to get close to them, and tried to bring the food back.
It wasn't convenient for it to hunt due to its injuries, so it suddenly recalled the memories in its body of it relying on humans. Even if it knew that approaching humans now was very dangerous, and that it could be hunted down, it still approached them because it was a mother cat. It apparently brought the food back to feed its own children.
In the end, when this mother cat returned, it actually witnessed its own children getting eaten by this creature.
Woolf immediately grabbed his greatsword and wanted to charge in to help. However, at this time, the mother cat suddenly turned its head and roared loudly at Bai Yi's team; this cry seemed both mournful and resolute. Bai Yi immediately stopped Woolf, and sure enough after Bai Yi did this, the mother cat once against charged toward the killer of its children.
"MEO-RAROW!" At this moment, the big cat completely displayed its aura, an aura of viciousness and massacre. Cats had always been predators on Earth. This evolved cat was even more powerful, and the scene of it being so tame in front of Bai Yi's team just now seemed like an illusion.
However, the other unknown creature was also very strong, and it wasn't at a disadvantage facing the mother cat. Since the mother cat was already injuried, it very quickly fell into a disadvantageous state.
"Daddy!" Momo looked at her daddy, not knowing why Bai Yi wasn't helping when it knew that the mother cat wasn't the creature's match.
"Just look, this is a mother's final struggle." Bai Yi's eyes were very serious.
The Momo who didn't understand Bai Yi's words much initially became stunned. Momo never had a mother, so she didn't know motherly love, but it was enough for her to have a daddy. At this time, looking at the mother cat that was still struggling despite being at a disadvantage, something was touched in the depths of Momo's heart for a reason she couldn't understand.
A battle between wild beasts had always been very bloody. The big cat fought with this unknown creature, and displayed this point to the utmost. Even if it was them, they couldn't help but feel shaken at this scene. So this is the most primordial way of fighting in the wild.
The big cat's life force gradually got weaker and weaker, and it fell into a further disadvantage. Bai Yi held the fang sword in his hands, but he didn't act. Bai Yi knew that this big cat did not wish for somebody else to interfere in this battle, because this was her last duty and struggle for its children.
Suddenly, nobody saw clearly what had happened, but the mother cat's body suddenly twisted and bit toward the creature's neck at an impossible angle. After it managed to clamp its jaws onto the creature, the mother cat never released its jaws again; there was only the sound of it wrestling and rolling around on the ground with that creature.
After more than 10 minutes, the struggling finally stopped, only leaving behind a ruined ground in the surrounding area.
Suddenly, Momo rushed toward the buried lair. In front of everyone's shocked eyes, Momo dug open the collapsed lair and everyone realized that in that corner, there was a weak little cat that was stuck under a rock. The cat was only as big as a palm; it seemed adorable yet pitiful.
This little cat had apparently suffered from some injuries, but it still struggled vigorously in Momo's hand until it managed to break free. After landing on the ground, the little guy ran toward the mother cat clumsily. This small cat ran to its mother's side, continuously licking away the blood on its mother's body, and releasing a soft and weak 'meow'. The mother cat that they all initially thought had died suddenly moved again, its eyes opened painfully as it slowly stretched out its tongue to lick the little cat's face again.
This little cat seemed to enjoy its mother's doting very much, and immediately closed its eyes as it showered in the motherly love.
Bai Yi's team weren't emotional people, but at this time they still couldn't help but feel their eyes getting wet.
"Meow?"
"Meow…Meoooww!" The little cat's puzzled voice gradually turned to sadness then to mournful. Apparently, the mother cat that had always loved it and its siblings had really died like that.
"Daddy, can we keep this little cat?" Momo suddenly said to Bai Yi.
"Ok." Bai Yi nodded without any hesitation.
Chapter 128: Chinchilla
After realizing that the mother cat wasn't moving anymore, the little cat's feelings turned from its initial puzzlement to grieving, before it eventually became mournful. Its tender and sharp cries made everyone want to look away. It was really too regretful, none of them had realized that there was still a little cat alive just now. Otherwise, the mother cat wouldn't have tried to kill the enemy at all costs, eventually dying together with it.
After Momo got Bai Yi's approval, she immediately wanted to pick the little cat up, but it suddenly bared its teeth at her extremely viciously. It blocked them from the mother cat behind it.
"MEOW!" The little cat shouted as if it was protecting the mother cat. It was very young yet stubborn.
"Sigh~!" Bai Yi sighed lightly, and his Reverse Flower Eyes appeared as he looked at the cat. Slowly, the little cat calmed down and fell on the floor. "Although it's an animal, death is still too cruel to a baby cat like this. Let it calm down a bit first," Bai Yi slowly explained.
Momo ran over and carefully stroked the little cat's head and picked it up in her arms. This little cat was also as big as a palm; it wasn't too different from the normal little cats you would commonly see. In New Zealand now, this was actually a rare sight. No matter what, the mother cat could be considered to have created a benign fate with Bai Yi's team, so they were fated with this little cat as well. They only didn't expect that they would adopt a little cat when they just said they wanted to add new members to their team.
Bai Yi and the rest of them buried the mother cat's corpse, while the corpse of that other unknown creature naturally became their food. New Zealand now didn't have any specific cattle for them to feed on, and there weren't so many animals to waste like that either.
……
This little cat was a female, and after getting affected by Bai Yi's Reverse Flower Eyes, it slowly fell into a deep sleep. However, Bai Yi was more concerned about the form of this little cat. This little cat was completely like a house cat, and there weren't any changes to its physical form at all. One must know that the mother cat's form had changed greatly, and it only still roughly looked like a cat.
Seeing Momo carefully looking after the little cat, Bai Yi couldn't help but think about how the activated cells had influenced various lifeforms.
Don't tell me that it's not hereditary?
Bai Yi looked at the little cat and slowly thought about it. It was good news if that was really the case, even if they couldn't find a good solution for the problem caused by the activated cells, their future generations could still return to normal human society. However, Bai Yi didn't think that this was too possible. Forget about it, leave it as a question in his heart for now. For now, he would slowly observe the little cat's changes in the future. The most important thing now was, just what was Momo and Sharpei hiding?
"Momo!" Bai Yi's tone wasn't heavy, but Momo's body instantly tensed.
"Oh daddy, is there something? Ah! I suddenly remembered that this little cat should be very hungry, the mummy cat was looking for food for it just now," Momo immediately said as she thought of a way to change the topic. She immediately tried to carry the little cat away as she spoke.
"Momo." Bai Yi's tone became slightly heavier.
Momo's body immediately stopped; she lowered her head, not daring to look at Bai Yi. If Bai Yi also had some suspicions before, then he could be sure that something had definitely happened to Sharpei. Momo's actions were too obvious. Really, she didn't even the have the basic idea of how to deal with things. However, that was how a little kid should be like.
"Speak, what are you and Sharpei hiding."
"Actually, it isn't anything much either…" Momo replied softly, but she didn't seem convincing at all like this.
"Raise your head, look at me, and answer me seriously." Bai Yi was starting to get unhappy. It wasn't because of Momo hiding things from him, but how she was being so timid and scared.
"Yes!" Momo replied on reflex and raised her head.
After calming her emotions, Momo started to tell them about Sharpei's recent changes. At the start, Momo was still somewhat scared and uneasy, but she slowly became calmer afterward and talked about everything in an objective way. This was exactly what he wanted Momo to develop from now on. He wanted her to have a broad and level-headed personality.
"Sharpei, let me see," Bai Yi said to Sharpei.
Bai Yi didn't get angry and blow his top like how Momo had imagined, but still maintained a calm look on his face. Even if Sharpei was eating humans, he still didn't seem to be angry. Indeed, he wasn't angry. Why should he be angry in the first place? Sharpei's change could be said to be completely due to them. Even if things really became very bad, the fault shouldn't lie with Sharpei either. This kind of baseless accusation and blaming before getting things clear was the worst thing to do.
Sharpei heard him and walked two steps to come beside Bai Yi, waiting for his inspection.
Bai Yi slowly observed Sharpei. They were always together usually, so Bai Yi didn't notice the small continuous changes that happened to Sharpei. However, now that he looked carefully, he suddenly realized that Sharpei's appearance had changed a lot.
Sharpei was now roughly 4 meters long, excluding his long tail. His left shoulder blade grew out of his left shoulder, forming a white bone armour around half of his body. On the outside of this bone armor were some sharp bone spikes that would cause people to feel intimidated with just a look. There was not much fur on the upper half of Sharpei's body, and ever since that time where his skin was ripped off by the Tentacle Slug, his skin didn't regrow again. His muscles were revealed on the outside, sturdy and very tough. However, even with such a tough surface, many scars could still be seen on it.
Bai Yi slowly touched Sharpei's tough skin, this was all evidence of the countless battles they had been through.
Although the primary ability of Bai Yi's eyes was hypnosis, his observation abilities were also very strong when he opened his eyes completely. Bai Yi carefully observed Sharpei, checking the changes on his body. However, at the end, Bai Yi had to admit that Sharpei's skin looked very normal. If only Mavis was here, she was the real doctor and the specialist in this area.
"I can't see anything special, Sharpei how do you feel?" Bai Yi asked.
"Woof!" Sharpei immediately barked.
"I'm sorry but I don't understand you." Bai Yi heard Sharpei's bark but felt very helpless. Perhaps it was because Sharpei had heard a lot of human speech, so he could now basically understand their words, and this was the case for Pupu as well. However, Bai Yi and the rest couldn't understand Sharpei and Pupu's 'language' at all. At this moment, Bai Yi suddenly had the strange idea to let Sharpei and Pupu learn to speak human words as well.
"Momo, you ask him," Bai Yi said to Momo. Only Momo could vaguely understand Sharpei's words here, but the meaning would basically be correct.
Under Bai Yi's instructions, she asked Sharpei a few questions. After that, they found out that Sharpei himself didn't know what had happened. He only felt that the left side of his neck was aching a lot, and at the same time his body felt very restless. He also wanted to eat corpses, and it wasn't like carcasses of animals for food or even fresh corpses, but the kind of corpses that got affected and changed by the energy field of the underworld like in Wellington.
The part about the energy field of the underworld was their guess, but after Momo's questioning, they discovered that there were actually some changes on the left side of Sharpei's neck.
Cracks appeared on the initially hard bone armor, and it also bulged outward by a bit. Bai Yi had thought that this was how Sharpei looked like all along. However, he realized now that something seemed to be growing underneath. Unfortunately, Bai Yi's eyes did not have x-ray vision; he couldn't see what was happening under that thick bone armor.
"Let's leave it at this. Sharpei you can eat whatever you want, but you mustn't let people outside of our team see you doing this. Also, do not attack other people recklessly," Bai Yi patted Sharpei's head and said.
"Really?" Momo looked at Bai Yi in surprise. Not only Momo was surprised, but Woolf and Heloise were similarly very surprised. Bai Yi actually didn't blame Sharpei at all and on the contrary implicitly agreed to his actions.
"Really." Bai Yi nodded.
"But I hope that in the future, nobody will hide things from me and tell me earlier, no matter what changes you may have. You guys must know, no matter what you guys become, we are family!" Bai Yi said seriously.
"Family huh!" Heloise said softly. The family that Bai Yi talked about was obviously different from the family that people normally referred to. But based on their relationships, after going through so many things together, they had become a true, big family.
"However, we need to find other people soon, whether to invite them to join our team or just to help us temporarily. We must at least know what exactly is going on with Sharpei." Although Bai Yi implicitly agreed to Sharpei's actions, he still had to be clear on Sharpei's changes. If it wasn't a benign change, then he definitely had to deal with it early.
At this time, they finally felt the lack in their team, from the looks of it, they really had to find new additions to their team now. As for whether there would be any barriers between the new members and them after they joined, that was something to worry about it in the future.
Opening the map, Bai Yi took a look and decided on a target.
Wairarapa Snow Valley!
This was a new snow valley found in the Wairarapa Mountain Range to the east of Wellington, and it had become a gathering point for a portion of the evolved humans now. The reason people gathered here was because of a certain mutated plant someone found in this snow valley - Ice Peppermint. This was a plant that they found to be able to be grown in a large volume, and it also had the ability to calm the mind.
Due to the dangers of the Brutal Phase, many evolved humans gathered around this area with this snow valley as the heart after discovering this Ice Peppermint. The reason was of course to make it more convenient to acquire these Ice Peppermints and suppress the berserk state.
"We will go to Wairarapa Snow Valley," Bai Yi said. They should be able to find quite a few evolved humans at that gathering point. Then, they could see if there were any decent individuals there and try to invite them to the team.
None of them had any objections and after finishing their preparations, they headed off for Wairarapa Snow Valley.
Along the way, Momo wanted to give a name to the baby cat. After Momo's suggestions of dough, furball and other similar names that were rejected, Heloise finally said a name.
"Let's call him Chinchilla."
"Why?"
"Because the species of this baby cat is a Chinchilla! Isn't Sharpei a Shar-pei dog?" Heloise said teasingly. However, she never expected that both Bai Yi and Momo would nod their head seriously. Heloise couldn't help but facepalm herself. So it was like this, Bai Yi and Momo both had absolutely no talent for naming things.
Just like this, the name of this little cat was set - Chinchilla!
Chapter 129: Arriving At The Snow Valley
Wairarapa Snow Valley was located at the Tararua mountain ranges. It was close to Wairarapa, hence the name. Bai Yi's team spent nearly half a month to get this snow valley. After losing the convenient vehicles, humans had to revert to using their feet like in ancient times. Moreover, New Zealand didn't even have any decent roads left now, and they met strange and varied monsters all the time, so it was very troublesome.
Nobody wished to live in an environment like this, but they had no choice but to struggle in this environment.
Before entering the snow valley, they had already seen quite a few traces of human activities, and they rarely saw any large-sized monsters nearby anymore. Humans were social lifeforms, when a large group gathered at the snow valley simultaneously, the weaker monsters nearby were all hunted down together and became their food.
Of course, the surrounding area where they hunted wasn't too big either; the power of humans now was far from before. In this kind of environment, having a small area to themselves was already very good.
……
"Chard again, urgh it's really so damn disgusting." In the distance, Bai Yi could already hear some grumbling. Then, they saw three more than 2 meters tall 'human-like lifeforms'. These people were busy around a big pile of foliage beetroot.
Chard - a variant of the foliage beetroot. It had fat and thick leaves, stem and looked somewhat like a palm leaf fan. Before New Zealand had changed, this was originally used as feed for cattle. This kind of plant could be harvested multiple times, as long as it grew in the soil. As such, they could continuously cut off the outer layer of the leaves. As long as they did not damage the roots, it basically wouldn't die.
A large patch of mutated chard grew right outside Wairarapa Snow Valley. Due to the activated cells, these chards became extremely huge, and the biggest among them was almost 4 meters tall. The re-harvestable characteristics of the chard, in addition to how quickly vegetation grew now, caused this chard to become the staple food for many people.
"Stop complaining, if you don't like then go hunt some monsters outside," the other voice retorted.
"Forget about it then. Although chard tastes bad, at least my life wouldn't be in danger. Did you hear? Battle God team was practically wiped out, 7 or 8 of them died."
"Of course I heard, I heard that they met an early-stage experimental monster and 5 of them died. The other 3 died because of falling into the berserk state and clashing head on with the monster; the rest of them could only escape because of that. Those that escaped were all injured as well, they would already be very lucky if they managed to live. The team leader of Battle God Bree managed to return to the snow valley as well, but he died before he could receive emergency treatment. This team is already as good as gone."
"I also heard that the Medicinal Maker in that team is getting invitations from other teams now," the remaining guy added in.
"It's still better to be a Medicinal Maker, they just have to hide at the back of the team and the people in front would automatically protect them."
"Just too bad you have no talent, hahaha!" The other two immediately started laughing.
In New Zealand now, a Medicinal Maker was the most lucrative profession. Unfortunately, this job was still in process of development, so there wasn't even a way to learn it properly. Every Medicinal Maker depended on their talent, and not on studying to do their job. Those Medicinal Makers who managed to find a formula for making certain potions through extraction of compounds from plants would treat these formulas as secrets as well. Very few would reveal their formulas so generously.
These people chatted as they sliced off the upper layer of the chard, this was their food now.
Suddenly, the ears of one the guys pricked up, and he looked toward Bai Yi's direction.
"Bell?" One of the other guys looked at Bell's actions and immediately asked nervously. Bell had fused with the genes of a bat. Although the genes caused his eyesight to become very bad, it also let him obtain a very powerful hearing ability.
"Shh, there's something coming."
"That's not possible, all the monsters around here have basically been hunted down, there shouldn't be any more monsters appearing!" The last guy said in fear. This guy was the tallest here. He was more than 3 meters tall and appeared to be very plump.
"It may not be monsters, maybe it's humans…Fuck!" One of them just wanted to say that maybe it was humans, but suddenly he saw the figure of Sharpei walking in.
Sharpei now was more than 2 meters tall. He was huge, sinister looking, and absolutely intimidating. With Sharpei walking at the front, he immediately made the few of them freeze from fear. With just a look, it was obvious that this thing evolved from a dog, but it was definitely not to be provoked. After they saw Sharpei, they immediately abandoned the chard on the floor and ran away as quickly as they can.
"Meow, meow meow!" A tender meow came from Sharpei's head suddenly, almost as if it was trying to intimidate them.
A meow?
Even if the few of them who were frightened by Sharpei, they couldn't help but feel a bit of doubt inside and looked over.
At this time, Chinchilla was jumping around on Sharpei's head with its body arched, showing off its power to the 3 of them. However, Chinchilla's palm-sized body had absolutely no intimidating power, and it just seemed adorable. Perhaps it was jumping too happily, but it suddenly slid off Sharpei's head and landed on his nose. The little cat grabbed onto Sharpei's nose and looked into Sharpei's eyes that was even bigger than its body.
A dog's nose was a very sensitive part of the body, so even though Sharpei had evolved and mutated, this didn't change. In fact, its nose actually became even more important. At this time, with a little claw hooking onto the top of his nose, even though he wouldn't be hurt by it, the itchy feeling made Sharpei want to eat this little guy in one mouth.
Seemingly knowing that it got into trouble, Chinchilla immediately cried out, "Meow~!"
Was there a use to act cute now? Sharpei's eyes shined with a fierce light as he raised his right paw, slapping it toward his own nose. However, before Sharpei had the chance to teach Chinchilla a lesson, the wind pressure from his swing sent Chinchilla flying toward Pupu. Chinchilla spun a few rounds in the air before agilely hanging from Pupu's body again.
"Oink oink oink~!" Pupu immediately oinked a few times, seemingly complaining about something.
Pupu was also tormented quite a bit by this little cat lately. Chinchilla absolutely seemed like it had ADHD, causing this lazy and slovenly Pupu to be unable to have a good rest. However, Pupu still felt that he was quite lucky, the one who had it worst was Sharpei. He didn't know if it was because cats and dogs were natural enemies, but Chinchilla loved to bother Sharpei, no matter if it was attacking him or playing around.
At this time, the 3 people who were running away realized that this was a team. The one walking at the front was Sharpei, and there were a few people walking beside Sharpei along with a huge fat pig.
What team is this?
There were still people rearing pets now, but it was mostly some battle pets that could help them in fights. However, what was the deal with this pig? It didn't seem like prey either.
"Sorry to disturb, but can I check how far it is to the snow valley from here?" Bai Yi asked.
This wasn't just asking for directions, it was also to inform the few of them that they were humans and could be communicated with. One must know, most of the humans in New Zealand looked like monsters now. Nobody could be sure if a creature they met was an evolved human or a monster outside. If they were unable to prove themselves, then they could only blame themselves if somebody took them to be a monster and hunted them for food. Even so, there were still incidents of evolved humans hunting each other, just that nobody wanted to talk about it.
"It's a short distance in front!" Somebody immediately responded after hearing Bai Yi's question.
"Oh really, thanks a lot then." Bai Yi nodded and thanked them casually.
"You're welcome." The few of them replied, and looked at the giant carcass on Woolf and Sharpei's back with envy. Although they didn't know what this animal was, they could tell that it should be very powerful from its enormous size.
At this moment, Momo suddenly charged toward the 3 of them. Her petite body rapidly dashed in front and she drew her short sword in a flash, before sheathing it back with a 'shing!' shortly after. In their shocked eyes, they realized that below Momo's short sword was a green thumb-sized nematode worm that got split into 4 parts.
Green Nematode Worm!
The 3 of them instantly got a fright, this was a lifeform that lived inside the chard. Although it was usually herbivorous, it would still attack humans if it received a shock. Its tensed body was very hard, and it could shoot out at a high-speed to pierce into the human body.
"Th-thank you!" The 3 of them didn't know how to thank her.
"It's nothing much." Momo smiled and waved her hand.
The weird team with 4 humans and 3 pets walked along the small road toward Wairarapa Snow Valley. While walking past them, Chinchilla looked at the 3 of them and meowed again, seemingly very curious toward all things and people. Since Chinchilla had just started following Bai Yi, it had only just begun to see this wide world and was indeed very active and curious toward many things.
"Chinchilla, stop playing around." Momo stopped Chinchilla.
Only when Bai Yi's team had walked far away did the 3 of them return to their senses. They felt an especially bitter taste in their mouths when they saw Momo, who was not even a meter tall, carrying a short sword. She even looked to be very proficient and skilled with it.
At this time, the few of them looked at the chard leaves piled on the floor, and suddenly felt incredibly disgusted by it. It was indeed disgusting, not just because this thing didn't taste good, but also because of the disgust they felt toward themselves.
Humans were indeed intelligent, but it was this intelligence that made humans weak naturally. It's fine as long I can survive, all I need to do is to survive. So when they found these edible plants, many people chose to endure eating this plain food that was like pig feed, rather than going out to hunt.
In reality, evolved humans and evolved lifeforms started evolving at the same time. However, many were like these 3 people, rarely fighting with their own bodies.
"I've had enough!" One of them muttered.
"Why don't we join some team too? Then we can go out and hunt as well, I don't want to live this life like a farm cattle anymore. The only thing different between us and a farm animal is that we have to prepare the pig feed ourselves," the other guy looked at chard on the floor and said.
"But we might die!"
"Then so be it, I've had enough of days like this anyway. Unless you guys are inferior to even a little girl?!"
Bai Yi's team completely didn't expect that the 3 of them would think so much after seeing Momo, thinking that they were inferior to a little girl. Perhaps these people already had some thoughts in their hearts, just that they were enduring it all along before. Seeing Momo's actions just happened to give them the trigger to change their lives.
