Super Gene Hunting Ground

Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Competing for Food

A night passed without incident, and Yang Xiao sat on the large rock halfway up the mountain until 5 a.m., when the darkness receded and dawn arrived, before lying on the rock to sleep.

He didn’t know how long he had slept when he was awakened by the glaring sunlight. He opened his eyes and sat up.

It was already noon, and the sun was shining straight down from the sky, casting rays on Yang Xiao through the gaps in the shrubbery.

Standing up, he walked about ten meters away to relieve himself and did a quick check of the surrounding forest environment to ensure there were no deadly poisonous insects like snakes before going back to the rock, opening his backpack, taking out a bottle of water, a pack of beef jerky, and the half-eaten packet of biscuits from yesterday.

As Yang Xiao ate, he peered through the gaps in the shrubs down at the playground below.

There were twice as many people gathered on the playground as yesterday, probably around seven or eight hundred.

They were all gathered around the orange Genetic Store, discussing something.

The clever ones started to bring food, asking to join Xiao Zhe’s team. Xiao Zhe only took in those who brought enough food, and his team had grown to around 150 people, with seventy percent being males.

Today was the second day after the catastrophe, and most people managed to find food and water. However, it was not as easy as yesterday, and more people began to feel fear, starting to collect food and water to carry with them.

However, these supplies were not enough to last seven days.

The government rescue team that everyone pinned their hopes on did not appear.

Some bold people began to leave the campus, but they came back with bad news: that the entire city was almost destroyed, and very few people had survived.

As for the mutation that would occur seven days later, as mentioned by the old man from the Genetic Store, Gu Bo, most people didn’t quite believe it; however, it still caused significant anxiety in everyone’s hearts.

For now, people were somewhat relieved that this was a city without large wild beasts, so even if mutations occurred, they would likely pose no threat to them.

On the second night, as Yang Xiao was looking up at the moon in the sky, a commotion suddenly erupted from the playground below.

Someone took advantage of the darkness to steal someone else’s food, and a fight broke out, which eventually was broken up by others.

This was the first conflict over food, which, like a pebble thrown into a still lake, caused ripples in people’s minds.

If no rescue team arrived, food would become increasingly scarce. Of the more than 2000 students surviving at Kongming Academy, less than half could last seven days, meaning more than half would starve to death.

Xiao Zhe had already sensitively sensed the looming crisis. Now, to join his team, one needed not only sufficient food but also had to be a physically strong male.

The rest of the people also started forming small groups, three or five acquaintances or people from the same department, forming small teams for mutual aid.

Food and physical strength became two crucial assessment factors.

Women became the vulnerable ones; of course, pretty women always had strong protectors who were willing to be chivalrous, leaving the remaining individuals as some weak males with little food and some average-looking females without food.

In the face of survival, humanity reverted to its primitive self-centered nature.

Discarded wood was everywhere, so Xiao Zhe had people light two campfires, for light and courage, and for warmth; September was autumn, and the nights were chilly at just over ten degrees.

Others followed suit, and dozens of campfires were lit on the playground.

Outside the Genetic Store was a huge light, unlike any human oil lamp or electric lamp, yet bright enough to illuminate about 30 meters around the Genetic Store.

Many small teams or individuals without a team gathered around the Genetic Store.

In the middle of the night, Yang Xiao ate another packet of chicken wings and drank half a bottle of water. As he finished the chicken wings, he felt a strange sensation in his body, like a faint electric current moving around inside, lasting for several minutes before fading away on its own.

What is happening?

Yang Xiao checked his own body in surprise, finding nothing particularly unusual.

Maybe he was just tired.

Suddenly, Yang Xiao remembered his parents.

He wondered how his hometown was now, whether it had also encountered a major disaster like this place?

Now with the city destroyed, and no suitable transport to go back and check, he could only pray for the safety of his parents and siblings.

As the sun rose, Yang Xiao fell asleep again.

”Kill, I’ll kill you!”

A sharp cry woke Yang Xiao.

He rolled over to sit up and grabbed the iron pipe next to him.

The shouting was coming from the playground at the foot of the mountain. Through the gaps in the bushes, he could see two people chasing each other on the playground.

This was the second food-snatching incident to occur, this time more severe. The stronger physically overpowered the other, knocking them to the ground, their head bleeding profusely.

Girls around were screaming and pleading, hoping the two would stop fighting.

Many boys simply watched from a distance, subconsciously protecting the food they carried.

In the end, the weaker boy was knocked down and his backpack was stolen. The thief gave a glance at the boy on the ground, threw down a bottle of water and a packet of biscuits, and left with the stolen backpack.

The onlookers were silent; the thing everyone feared inside had finally begun to happen. Even Xiao Zhe, currently the leader of the largest faction, was not without worry. Although he had a hundred or so people, including several dozen strong boys, the possibility of this group going mad with hunger, besieging them for food, was unthinkable.

Xiao Zhe subconsciously thought of Yang Xiao again.

Why had this guy suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving no trace? Had he already left the Academy?

Xiao Zhe left his team in the playground, like Yang Xiao, he had the same concern: there was a mysterious Genetic Store here. If a genetic mutation disaster really occurred after seven days, this Genetic Store would be their last refuge.

Yang Xiao sat on a rock, silently watching everything that happened on the playground below. Although he had anticipated the occurrence of fratricide, the sight still saddened him.

The ugliness of human nature would be displayed in the coming days even more vividly: selfishness, fear, greed, cruelty would all be exposed.

Yang Xiao drank half a bottle of water, ate a piece of chocolate, a few biscuits, then half a packet of beef jerky.

He kept the empty water bottles in his backpack for now, maybe they would be useful later. He had ten bottles of water in his backpack and had limited himself to drinking only one a day.

Since his backpack had enough food, he was not stingy at the moment. He needed to maintain his strength to face the even more brutal battles that were imminent.

After consuming a packet of beef jerky, that strange feeling from last night emerged again.

A current rose from within, spreading to every part of his body, continuing for several minutes before gradually subsiding.

This time the feeling was even stronger than last night.

”What on earth is this?”