Apocalyptic Crazy Kitty

Chapter 16: I Crawled Out of the Drawer

He wanted to eat a cucumber, too! But even if he couldn’t eat the cucumber, just smelling the aroma of braised spare ribs made it all worth it. As he thought this, he sniffed deeply, inhaling even more of the fragrance. At the same time, the scent of steamed rice wafted over from the other side. Although it was frozen, stale rice, it was still genuine steamed rice, and Xiaohei immediately took another deep breath. He sniffed the aroma of the rice, then the aroma of the spare ribs, and immediately felt as if he were eating braised spare ribs with rice, a satisfied smile spreading across his face. After a little over half an hour, Zuo Chen had finished his cucumbers. Figuring the spare ribs were nearly done, he jumped down from the cucumber trellis, poured in the prepared potato cubes, stir-fried them briefly, then buried them in the broth before replacing the lid. By this time, Erzi had already taken Xiaohei down to the revolving restaurant below. He dragged a chair and a small table from behind the counter, then respectfully wiped them down and set them up. A little while later, seeing that the potatoes had stewed until tender and the broth had reduced considerably, Zuo Chen immediately turned off the heat. Without Zuo Chen having to say a word, Erzi had already grabbed two large bowls and poured the finished braised pork ribs and potatoes into them, his throat moving constantly as he swallowed. “Serve the rice,” the Orange Cat ordered from his seat. A bowl of steaming, fragrant rice was placed in front of him. Since he couldn’t use chopsticks, he had to make do with a knife and fork for now. He then wrapped his tail around a fork, speared a piece of spare rib and a chunk of potato, placed them on top of the rice, and ladled a spoonful of broth over them. He took a bite of the spare rib first, then popped a piece of potato and a spoonful of rice soaked in broth into his mouth. “Meow, meow, so good, so good.” A smile spread across the Orange Cat’s face—this taste was absolutely spot-on! Come to think of it, this dish wasn’t the result of a master chef’s skills—it was actually Zuo Chen’s own favorite way to eat. Vegetables and rice—now that’s a proper meal! “Gulp, gulp…” The sound of swallowing came from beside him. “Go ahead,” Zuo Chen instructed Erzi. “Yes, thank you, Great King!” Erzi hurriedly picked up his bowl and began serving himself rice, while setting aside a small plate of pork ribs and potatoes to show he wouldn’t dare share a dish with the Great King. Xiaohei’s eyes were already shining with envy. “Give him some too,” Zuo Chen said, pointing at Xiaohei. Xiaohei’s eyes widened instantly; he could hardly believe his ears and shouted, “Thank you, Great King! Thank you, Great King!” Tears were already streaming down his face. Coming out here was definitely the right move. Even though he’d nearly been chopped into mincemeat by the zombie head chef, getting to eat a bowl of braised pork ribs and potatoes with rice made it all worth it! Erzi looked at Xiaohei’s gaunt, emaciated appearance. Although he didn’t have much regard for the bandits, he still served him a bowl of rice. Xiaohei thanked him repeatedly, picked up a piece of spare rib, and popped it into his mouth. It smelled so good he almost swallowed his tongue—it felt like the happiest moment since the apocalypse began. The taste was completely different from the smell—just smelling it without being able to eat it had nearly driven him crazy. Erzi also began to tuck into the food with big bites—it smelled so good! “Beep… Host detected cooking food. Measuring diners’ pleasure levels… Diners No. 1 and No. 2 have pleasure levels of Level 6 and Level 8, respectively. The highest level applies. Since it exceeds Level 5, the conditions for reward distribution are met. Recording food molecular composition. Initiating random distribution of Level 8 rewards.” It worked! Zuo Chen happily clenched his paw in delight. One reason he had let Xiaohei eat was to test how the Gourmet System would determine the level when multiple people were dining at the same time. It now appears that the system selects the highest level for evaluation, so there’s no need to worry about not receiving a reward due to an insufficient level. A green light shot out from the bell, forming a void wormhole in front of him. “Please don’t give me cash this time—I hope it’s something useful…” Zuo Chen stared at the wormhole, thinking to himself. Soon, a golden metal cube the size of a fingernail floated out of it and landed in front of Zuo Chen. “Reward dispensed. One Multidimensional Information Communicator, compatible with the Gourmet System.” No sooner had the words been spoken than the metal cube attached itself to the bell, seemingly merging with it. Not cash—thank goodness. But what exactly is this Multidimensional Information Communicator? “Activate the Multidimensional Information Communicator,” Zuo Chen commanded in his mind. A beam of light shot out from the bell, forming a light screen the size of a computer monitor in the air ahead. Various strange characters flickered across it before finally settling on the Chinese character option. “Initiate information connection,” Zuo Chen commanded again. “Host energy is low. Only the nearby Earth network has been detected. Proceed with connection?” Connect. Immediately, the information on the light screen changed again; this time, it transformed into a series of tiny light spots. Each spot was, to his surprise, a small screen displaying a vast amount of content. Upon closer inspection, Zuo Chen immediately realized that these specks were all entry points to world-renowned portal websites! This thing was actually directly connected to the internet! Clearly, it was connected to the internet preserved by the existing human society. It was truly cutting-edge technology! However, Zuo Chen was already used to this; he simply clicked on a portal site and began browsing the news. Come to think of it, he’d been cut off from human society for far too long. Though buried deep within his heart, that feeling of being abandoned stirred a longing for connection. “UN Special Envoy Patocchi visited today…” “The Energy Monitoring Department of the Academy of Sciences has announced that a new Abyssal has emerged from the ruins of Bao City; all defending forces in the nearby city of Si have retreated…” “The First Army Group recaptured Pu City yesterday, and the surviving residents of Pu City gave them a warm welcome…” “The Academy of Sciences is currently conducting a recruitment drive; a large number of potential Evolvers are eagerly signing up and undergoing physical tests…” “Yesterday, the Tianyuan Hunting Squad brought back high-energy meteorite fragments from the ruins of Luo City; scientists are working around the clock to study them…” “Shocking! He was once betrayed by his lover because of his poverty, but has now made a comeback as an Evolver…” “The blockbuster *Doomsday Romance*, backed by a billion-yuan investment, is set to premiere soon…” One news item after another flashed by, and before Zuo Chen’s eyes unfolded a picture of a world that had survived the apocalypse and was thriving despite the hardships of the disaster. Clearly, human society hadn’t collapsed completely; after struggling to survive, it was striving to adapt to the new world. Although only a few years had passed, the entire social structure and mindset had been completely transformed! What concerned Zuo Chen most was the existence of “Evolvers.” He immediately began scouring various websites and search engines for information about them. Mutants had actually emerged within human society! However, these mutated individuals were different from the mutated zombies; they all emerged from among those immune to the zombie virus. Moreover, the probability of immune individuals mutating is extremely high—as high as one in every ten or so people. Of course, in human society, these people are referred to as “Evolvers.” The extent of evolution varies greatly among different Evolvers. Most merely gain abilities slightly stronger than those of ordinary people—similar to mutated zombies—while the strongest few possess earth-shattering power, rivaling that of the Abyss Walkers among the zombies; they are known as Super-Evolvers! At the same time, with the development of various new genetic and energy weapons, the fundamental sciences of human society have undergone earth-shattering changes—a phenomenon known as the Fifth Industrial Revolution! It is precisely because of the emergence of these new technologies and the existence of Evolvers that human society has been able to establish powerful strongholds and survive while surrounded by terrifying zombie beasts and zombies. In fact, some experts believe that after undergoing this apocalyptic trial, once humanity recovers and grows again, it will emerge as a civilization even more powerful than before! However, this applies only to those living within the strongholds. Regarding the future of the fallen zones outside the strongholds, human society has split into two factions, giving rise to deep divisions. Some self-serving individuals refer to the areas outside the strongholds—which have been completely overrun by zombies—as “no-man’s-lands,” clearly intending to abandon those outside entirely. Others, however, strongly demand the use of force to wipe out the zombies and reclaim the fallen zones. Of course, human society currently has only enough strength to defend itself, so all of this is merely wishful thinking… That sounds pretty interesting… Zuo Chen licked his paw and narrowed his eyes. By this time, Erzi and Xiaohei had finished their meal and were licking their bowls clean. Ever since Zuo Chen had activated the light screen, they’d been craning their necks to read the information displayed there. The more they looked, the more alarmed they became—they practically wanted to stick their heads right into the screen. During their time living in the ruins, they’d only been able to get news from the outside world via the radio, but it was nowhere near as comprehensive as what was available online. Of the three, Xiaohei was the most stunned. He never would have imagined that after risking his life to reach the Bihai Grand Hotel in hopes of connecting to the internet, the Orange Cat standing before him would casually display a level of high technology he couldn’t even begin to comprehend. “Your Majesty, are you… are you from the 22nd century?” Xiaohei asked cautiously. It was just too similar! The bell around its neck, the storage space capable of producing all sorts of things—the only difference was that this was an Orange Cat, not a robotic cat. Zuo Chen didn’t even glance at him as he said, “Four, I crawled out of a drawer.” Xiaohei shuddered and muttered, “It’s… it’s actually true! Doraemon really exists!” “Bullshit,” Erzi said, slapping Xiaohei on the head so hard that he staggered. Had this kid been scared out of his wits by the adults? Did he really think the Great King was Doraemon? Then Erzi rubbed his hands together and said to Zuo Chen, “Big Boss, do you think you could let me…” By this point, Zuo Chen had finished reviewing the information he needed and closed the communicator. Seeing Erzi’s expression, he immediately understood what the other was up to: “Go ahead and play with it.” With a wave of his paw, the fingernail-sized communicator landed in Erzi’s hand. Erzi was overjoyed and thanked him repeatedly. Then, to his amazement, he discovered that as soon as he thought about it, the communicator automatically opened a virtual screen that allowed him to access the internet. After voraciously scanning the latest news and getting a grasp of the current social situation, Erzi typed in the URL for the cockfighting livestreaming platform. To his surprise, he found he could actually log in, so he immediately retrieved his old account and signed in. He used to be a somewhat well-known pet streamer, but in recent years, surviving the apocalypse had left him with neither the time nor the means to pursue it—yet now he simply couldn’t resist giving it a try. To his astonishment, there were actually a huge number of zombie-related live streams currently underway on the Douji Live platform!