Apocalyptic Crazy Kitty

Chapter 28: I Am the Rainbow

At Zuo Chen’s instruction, Erzi, Bai Biao, and the others dug vigorously for a moment and immediately uncovered a large quantity of green tubers buried deep underground. These tubers were about the size of a fist, as green as jade, with numerous black spots on their surface—they looked just like fruit. However, the black spots on their surfaces made it clear that these things were highly poisonous. Zuo Chen held a green tuber in his paw and examined it for a moment, muttering to himself, “This is a mutant potato, meow…” Ordinary potatoes become highly toxic as soon as they turn green and sprout, but this “Emerald Potato” was entirely emerald green, and its interior was covered with black spots—it was impossible to tell just how toxic it was. He even suspected that just one bite could be fatal. Yet, according to the Gourmet System, this was a Level 2 Dark Energy ingredient—apparently quite a fine food. The key to this likely lay in the “system completion” the Gourmet System had mentioned earlier—acquiring that Dark Energy recipe book. Otherwise, these ingredients would be completely inedible. Suddenly, the Gourmet System’s voice rang out again: “System fragments detected within a 13-kilometer radius to the southwest.” Zuo Chen immediately leaped onto a tree and headed southwest. It’s truly a case of searching high and low to no avail, only to find it when you least expect it. Several human attendants followed closely behind. This was the wilderness—the highways were swarming with zombies, and this primeval forest was sure to be home to zombie beasts. They dared not stray too far from His Majesty the Beast King. Although many harbored a lingering suspicion that Zuo Chen might not actually be the Beast King after witnessing the Kun Whale’s power, it didn’t really matter either way—after all, his strength was far beyond what a handful of Evolvers like them could ever hope to match. Besides, the Beast King was actually quite a nice cat. The group raced through the forest; the further they strayed from the highway and delved into the woods, the more astonishing the things they encountered became. Row upon row of straight shrubs, nearly two meters tall, bore heavy, drooping spikes covered with “fruits” the size of fists. A closer look revealed that this was, in fact, a field of wheat—wheat standing two meters tall, with grains larger than apples! Every grain bore a faint black line—clearly another mutant species resulting from a viral infection. As they continued onward, they also encountered eggplant and cotton plants as tall as three-story buildings, giant ivy vines ready to entangle anyone at any moment, watermelons as big as millstones, and so on. The areas on either side of this highway had originally been farmland, but now all these plants had undergone massive mutations, becoming things humans could no longer recognize. Amid these “farmlands,” now transformed into primeval forests, there were also numerous zombies and corpse beasts wandering about—clearly former villagers. Meanwhile, Zuo Chen’s Gourmet System was beeping nonstop, flashing one notification after another about Dark Energy ingredients. “Dark Energy Ingredient Detected—Ironwire Wheat, Ingredient Level—Level 1. Dark Energy Ingredient Detected—Cracked-Mouth Rat, Ingredient Level—Level 3. Dark Energy Ingredient Detected—Blood-Striped Melon, Ingredient Level—Level 2…” Zuo Chen weaved through the treetops of these towering plants, showing no intention of stopping, casually dispatching only a mutated rat that had tried to attack him. Who cares about ingredients? If they can’t be processed, they’re all poison. After passing through another thicket, the scene suddenly opened up before him, revealing a massive meteor crater. The crater was over a hundred meters in diameter, surrounded by scorched marks and numerous collapsed houses. The vegetation along the rim wasn’t as dense, but he could see plenty of plants growing inside, creating a lush, green expanse. This must be the place! This gourmet system must have fallen from the sky along with the meteorite, so its fragments would naturally be inside the crater. Erzi and the others had already emerged from the thicket and were looking toward the crater. But just as they looked over, a burst of multicolored light suddenly flared up on one side of the crater. As they looked, they saw a rainbow-like glow appear among the bushes on one side of the crater. The light kept shifting shapes—at times swirling like a vortex, at others undulating like waves. The rainbow-colored light flickered constantly, appearing dazzling and beautiful to everyone’s eyes. “So beautiful… so beautiful…” Bai Biao and the others murmured as they began walking toward the light. Zuo Chen remained unaffected. The moment the light appeared, he sensed a surge of psychic energy and immediately activated his own psychic power to form a protective barrier. Seeing that Bai Biao and the others had fallen victim to it, he immediately synchronized with the vibrations of his spiritual energy and let out a piercing cry: “Meow!” Their bodies jolted, and they snapped back to their senses, quickly lowering their eyes, afraid to look directly at the light again. As Evolvers who had been injected with the Evolution Serum, they already understood they’d been tricked. “Put on your sunglasses,” Zuo Chen said, staring at the rainbow glow. He hadn’t taken off his sunglasses the entire time. Once everyone put on their sunglasses and observed the rainbow glow out of the corner of their eyes, they felt much better—after all, they were powerful Evolvers themselves. Only then did they see that the source of the rainbow glow was actually a zombie! This zombie looked like a bald middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, standing there with a bulging belly. Colorful patterns constantly shifted across his entire body, emitting a dazzling glow. His belly was nearly as big as his body; he looked like a giant squash crouching there. And all around him lay layer upon layer of white bones! Judging by their build and the remnants of their clothing, these remains included humans, zombies, and even quite a few wild beasts. Clearly, these creatures—now completely gnawed clean—had all been drawn to this mutated zombie by the patterns and glow on its body. Its iridescent patterns served as bait to lure prey! Even with their sunglasses on and their full concentration, Erzi and the others still found themselves unconsciously drawn toward the mutated zombie. “It’s just too beautiful, Big Boss. This thing is way too eerie…” Erzi said to Zuo Chen with a wry smile. “Even though we know deep down that it’s hunting, we still find it beautiful, we like it, and we want to walk over there…” “That’s mental attraction—similar to the skeleton zombies we encountered earlier, except one controls, while the other attracts,” Zuo Chen said with a nod. “I’ll go first and use my tail to block its patterns and glow. You guys close in and attack immediately!” Zuo Chen ordered. “Yes, sir!” With the Great King leading the charge, the others’ confidence soared. Still, they remained extremely cautious deep down—after all, with so many bones surrounding this rainbow zombie, its combat power was bound to be extremely formidable. Zuo Chen hesitated no longer. He expanded his psychic field and charged toward the rainbow glow. In the blink of an eye, he was within five meters. He lashed out with his tail, sweeping it in a circle one meter around the Rainbow Zombie to form a furry barrier that blocked its glow, leaving only its legs exposed beneath it. The advancing Evolvers immediately opened fire. Having undergone evolution, their eyesight and accuracy had greatly improved, turning them all into sharpshooters; bullets rained down on the Rainbow Zombie’s legs. Suddenly, the Rainbow Zombie’s body arched slightly, then it leaped more than three meters into the air as if plucked from the ground, dodging the bullets and Zuo Chen’s block. Mid-air, it burst into a blinding glow, once again hypnotizing everyone. “Meow!” Zuo Chen roared furiously, wrapping his tail tightly around the rainbow zombie’s legs and yanking it down with all his might. It crashed to the ground with a “thud.” He then lunged forward, swinging his claws. With a “thwack,” he actually chopped the rainbow zombie’s head right off! The glow and rainbow patterns vanished instantly. The headless corpse of the rainbow zombie collapsed to the ground, its head rolling off to the side. This left Zuo Chen stunned. “You’re way too weak!” He’d thought it might have some special abilities, but it turned out to be no match for the skeleton zombies he’d encountered before. Clearly, this mutated zombie’s greatest ability was mental hypnosis. Several humans gathered around, clearly astonished that Zuo Chen had disposed of it so easily. But upon further reflection, Zuo Chen understood. This mind-control mutation was truly powerful; if it hadn’t encountered someone like him with such strong mental power, even an ordinary mutated zombie would likely have been devoured without a fight. Precisely for this reason, the Rainbow Zombie didn’t need particularly strong combat abilities—all it needed was the ability to hypnotize. Its hypnotic ability was its combat strength. Looking at its head, it was indeed a full size larger than that of an ordinary zombie. With a flick of its tail, the bone spikes once again pierced through its eye sockets, and Zuo Chen began to absorb the mutated zombie’s brain. Filtering out a vast amount of irrelevant information, Zuo Chen quickly obtained what he was after. Amid the astonished stares of the crowd, the Orange Cat’s fur, like a chameleon’s, rapidly shifted into a rainbow of colors, with streaks of iridescent ripples flashing and emitting a dazzling glow. Rainbow Cat!