The Post-Apocalyptic Big Farm Owner

Chapter 33: Mutant Zombies

The door was a security door. It was covered in dried, blackened bloodstains, and scattered bones lay on the floor. If he was right, a survivor had died right here in this room. Li Ba casually kicked the bones blocking the doorway aside. This door led to the backyard, where there was definitely a room specifically for storing grain. The door was locked and bolted. Since the disaster struck at night, this family had likely turned off the lights and gone to bed early; they had good safety awareness and had kept the back door tightly shut. After unlocking and disengaging the safety latch, Li Ba gave the door a tug—but it wouldn’t budge. He took a closer look and realized why: the door was slightly warped, with its lower edge wedged into the door frame; it wouldn’t open without some effort. He casually leaned his steel spear against the wall, grabbed the doorknob with both hands, and gave it a mighty shove. Click! A shrill, strange sound rang out. The door swung open, and a gust of wind swept across his face, accompanied by a nauseating stench. In Li Ba’s eyes, a dark shadow lunged toward him—so fast that he couldn’t even make out what it was. “Oh no!” Instinctively, he raised the steel shield in his left hand to shield his chest. The next moment, Li Ba felt as if he’d been struck by a sledgehammer; his entire body was hurled high into the air, flying backward five or six meters before crashing to the ground. Every bone in his body felt as if it were about to shatter, the pain excruciating. Li Ba had no time to tend to it; his eyes widened as he looked toward the back door, where a humanoid creature had appeared. The creature was pitch black all over, its body gaunt and slender, crouching on the ground like a wild beast. A pair of fish-belly-white eyes stared intently at him, and a snarling roar erupted from its throat. “A… a mutated zombie!” The sight nearly scared the living daylights out of Li Ba. After the apocalypse and the cataclysm, human genes evolved, and abilities awoke. Similarly, zombies also had mutants, whose strength was more than ten times that of ordinary zombies. These mutant zombies were nothing short of a nightmare for ordinary people. Even for Evolvers, they were extremely difficult to deal with. Li Ba’s refugee group had once encountered two mutant zombies. It was these very two that inflicted heavy losses on their group, resulting in over a hundred casualties. Had they not been finally killed by several Evolvers working together, no number of ordinary people would have been able to help; they would have simply become prey under the claws of the mutant zombies. He never imagined his luck would be so terrible—at the very last moment today, he actually ran into a mutated zombie. Li Ba felt like crying but had no tears left. It was as if the mutant zombie could sense the fear emanating from its prey. It stuck out its jet-black tongue and licked its lips; a thick, foul-smelling liquid dripped down its tongue. Then, with a powerful push from its slender legs, it lunged forward with the agility of a cheetah. With danger upon him, it was too late to run. He might as well fight with all his might—it might be his only chance to survive. “Get the hell out of my way!” Li Ba roared and reached behind him with his other hand to grab his gun. But his hand came up empty. During the violent collision moments earlier, the gun had actually been knocked loose and flown out of his grip, landing in the corner of the room. What a disaster! Seeing the mutated zombie lunging toward him, Li Ba realized it was too late to dodge. With no other choice, he threw the steel shield with all his might. Without even glancing at the outcome, he rolled toward the corner of the wall. Thanks to the Spatial Spirit Spring, which had transformed his physique, Li Ba’s strength had greatly increased. In a desperate effort, the steel shield, accompanied by a piercing whistle, slammed violently into the mutated zombie. It actually knocked the mutated zombie to the ground. Having suffered a minor setback, the mutated zombie grew even more frenzied and lunged at Li Ba once more, moving even faster than before. Li Ba had just rolled to the corner of the wall; before his hand could even reach his gun, a foul stench was already closing in on him. It was already too late to grab his gun and fight back. At this critical moment, a stroke of inspiration struck Li Ba. With a flick of his left hand, he flung out a large number of supplies he’d previously stowed in the space within his bracelet. Pots, pans, bowls, spoons, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar—and even two genuine leather armchairs—suddenly appeared, piling up in front of Li Ba. The charging mutated zombie crashed into the armchairs and was stopped in its tracks. It let out a shriek and lashed out with its claws. In just a few seconds, it tore one of the leather armchairs to shreds. Taking advantage of the moment, Li Ba grabbed the ****** and stood up. “Die!” He let out a savage laugh and pulled the trigger. A fierce burst of fire spewed out, sending countless pellets hurtling forward, piercing the mutant zombie’s body. Five shots in a row—three hit its chest and abdomen, and two struck its face. Despite this fatal blow, the mutated zombie wasn’t dead yet; it pushed off with its feet and lunged forward once more. Li Ba was ready. With another sweep of his left hand, he hurled six or seven large cotton quilts, which landed squarely on the mutant zombie’s head, completely covering it. The zombie, devoid of consciousness and acting purely on instinct, let out a series of eerie screams as it frantically flailed its arms, trying to tear the quilts apart. Li Ba circled around to the back door, picked up a steel spear from the wall, and thrust it straight forward, piercing the mutant zombie’s head right through. Only then was the mutated zombie finally killed; it collapsed to the ground, motionless. As for Li Ba, the moment the spear tip was pulled out, all his strength seemed to drain from him, and he plopped down onto the ground. Glancing at the mutated zombie he’d killed, he was initially terrified, his whole body covered in cold sweat. Ten minutes later, he began to adjust; his emotions gradually settled, giving way to a sense of triumph. Finally, he let out a loud, triumphant shout: “So what if it’s a mutated zombie! It still died at my hands!” He scrambled to his feet, pulled out his dagger, and pried a crystal core from inside the mutant zombie’s skull. This crystal core was different from those of ordinary zombies—it was pale yellow and noticeably larger. After examining it for a moment, Li Ba stuffed the crystal core into his pocket instead of storing it in his bracelet’s storage space. A crystal core from a mutated zombie was certainly worth more than an ordinary one. He intended to keep it to study later; if he put it in the bracelet’s storage space now, it would surely be treated as fertilizer and consumed. After gathering the undamaged supplies from the ground, Li Ba turned his attention back to the mutated zombie. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that it appeared to have sustained injuries. Its left arm was severed at the elbow, and most of its right foot was missing—as if torn off by a wild beast. In addition to the countless bullet holes covering its body, there were also numerous lacerations. “Thank goodness it’s half-crippled—otherwise, my life would’ve been on the line!” Li Ba silently breathed a sigh of relief. After taking a closer look, Li Ba furrowed his brow. The wounds on this mutated zombie were clearly caused by a beast’s claws and fangs. And not just any ordinary beast—if he had to guess… it must be a mutated beast! At this thought, a cold sweat broke out on Li Ba’s forehead. He thought to himself, “I can’t be that unlucky, can I? I just encountered a mutated zombie, and now I’m going to run into a mutated beast too?” He quickly reloaded his ammunition, picked up his iron shield and steel spear, and went on full alert. If there were a mutated beast, it would definitely be in the backyard. But he’d made quite a commotion while fighting that mutated zombie. If there were a mutated beast, it would have come sniffing around long ago—it wouldn’t have waited this long without making a move. That left only one possibility: the mutated beast had already been killed by this mutated zombie. Li Ba nodded, silently praising himself for his sound analysis. His heart, which had been in his throat, finally settled, though he remained on high alert: shield in his left hand, ****** in his right, and the steel spear tucked behind his back, he cautiously made his way toward the backyard. The backyard of this household was completely enclosed. It was covered with transparent glass-steel tiles, which provided excellent lighting and were very sturdy—no wonder that mutated zombie hadn’t managed to escape. There were two rooms in the backyard, one to the south and one to the north. The southern one was a pigpen. As Li Ba walked past, he saw nothing inside but a pile of bones—not a single strand of pig hair in sight. Presumably, the livestock in the pen had long since been devoured by that mutant zombie. In the corner by the north wall stood a room that looked unremarkable but was fitted with security doors and windows. If he was correct, this was likely where the family stored their grain. Li Ba walked over, glanced around, shifted his body to the side, leaned against the corner, and then extended the barrel of his gun to fire a shot directly at the door lock. Boom! The lock was blown off. A fair amount of steel shot ricocheted off the steel door panel and bounced back. Fortunately, Li Ba had been prepared; leaning against the wall, he avoided any collateral damage. He turned around and kicked the door. He’d assumed that with the lock broken, a single kick would be enough to break it open. Unexpectedly, the security door didn’t budge an inch. Li Ba stepped forward and rammed it a few times with his body, realizing what was going on. Someone had definitely propped the door open from the inside with a heavy object. “Could there be a survivor?” His face filled with astonishment. After a moment’s thought, he shouted several times from outside the door: “Come out! I can see you… Don’t worry, I’m not a bad guy!” He shouted several times, but there was no response. Li Ba rubbed his bald head, drew his steel spear with a backhand motion, and began prying open the security grille. It took him a good half hour, and he was drenched in sweat by the time he managed to pry a gap in the grille just wide enough for him to squeeze through. Of course, he wasn’t going to act rashly. First, he smashed the glass and peered inside to assess the situation. The room was indeed a grain storage area. As far as the eye could see, sacks filled with grain were neatly stacked—there must have been over ten thousand jin. In addition, dozens of smoked hams hung from the walls. In the rural areas near Xibu, there was a custom of curing ham. During the twelfth lunar month, the legs of freshly slaughtered fat pigs were marinated with Chinese five-spice powder, then coated with a layer of wood ash and hung in a cool, shaded place to air-dry. They were taken down the following winter for consumption, with a rich and aromatic flavor. Each of these dozens of large hams weighed thirty to forty jin; together, they likely totaled over a thousand jin. If converted into grain coupons, they would be worth over ten thousand jin. Li Ba’s eyes lit up, his face brimming with surprise and delight. A moment later, he glanced over again and saw more than a dozen burlap sacks filled with grain piled up next to the door, completely blocking the entrance. Near the doorway, a corpse hung from the ceiling. And at the feet of the corpse lay a large yellow dog, sprawled out motionless. “A… a mutated dog!” Li Ba swallowed hard. He was certain this huge yellow dog was definitely a mutant dog. After all, in all his life, he had never seen such a massive dog—lying sprawled on the ground, it looked like a mule from a distance. “I’m going to die… My luck’s finally turned today—I’m in for a big stroke of fortune!” Facing the mutant dog, Li Ba wasn’t afraid; on the contrary, his face was full of excitement. After all, this was a mutant dog that had been dead for quite some time, its body already emitting a faint stench. Otherwise, given the power of this mutant dog’s claws and fangs, he was certain the security bars wouldn’t have been enough to stop it. Mutant dogs are far more powerful than zombies—or even mutated zombies!