Super Gene Hunting Ground

Chapter 12: Chapter 12 Girls Rekindle Courage

The eel fish, for whatever reason, had fallen onto the grass. Locking eyes with Yang Xiao, it opened its wide mouth and bared its sharp teeth as though it wanted to attack but was less dominant on land than in water.

This was undoubtedly the most ferocious eel Yang Xiao had ever seen in his life.

”Damn it, you scared the crap outta me. Today, I’m gonna stew you and drink your soup.”

Yang Xiao brandished the foot-long watermelon knife in his hand, eager to pounce on the eel.

Huang Wen was arguably the bravest of them all. She came over with a shovel, and upon seeing the eel as thick as an arm, she was visibly surprised.

Seeing her, Yang Xiao hurriedly took the shovel from Huang Wen’s hands and smacked it down directly onto the eel on the grass.

The eel seemed to sense the danger and swiftly turned to swim back to the pond.

”Think you can run? No such luck.”

Yang Xiao missed with the shovel, took a leap forward, and struck down hard again.

Bang!

This blow was solid, hitting directly on the back of the eel, who let out a squeak and turned around to bite at Yang Xiao.

Yang Xiao hastily stepped back, bringing the shovel down once more, and with a loud bang, it landed squarely on the eel’s head.

With that hit, the eel’s head was smashed flat, twitching on the grass.

Yang Xiao, holding the shovel vertically, chopped down on the head of the eel, severing half of it. Blood gushed out, and the giant eel finally met its end.

Yang Xiao was excited and surprised, jubilant even, and sat down on the grass, his heart pounding fiercely as he breathed heavily.

Huang Wen and the other girls were shaken, none daring to step forward.

Just then, Chen Lu suddenly screamed:

”Yang Xiao, run, another monster from the pond is coming out.”

Startled, Yang Xiao looked up to see that dozens of meters away, the pond water was splashing, a massive fin emerging and quickly heading their way.

Yang Xiao didn’t dare linger by the shore and scrambled up the slope, while the girls screamed and ran even farther.

After running several dozen meters, not feeling pursued by any monster, Yang Xiao reasoned that since it was an aquatic monster, it probably wouldn’t leave the pond.

Turning back, he saw the massive fin had stopped some ten meters away from the shore, churning the water wildly.

Yang Xiao took a deep breath, calming himself down, and felt much more at ease seeing that the gigantic creature hadn’t leaped ashore but was just swimming back and forth by the bank.

Huang Wen and the others had run quite a distance. Noticing Yang Xiao wasn’t with them, they turned back and saw him standing on the shore as if stunned, so they all stopped.

”Yang Xiao!”

Huang Wen yelled out loud.

Yang Xiao turned back and waved at them, ”It’s okay, come back.”

”Really? It’s safe?”

”You dizzy or what? Since when have you seen fish that can walk on land?”

The girls were taken aback; this seemed to make some sense.

Seeing Yang Xiao indeed standing safely on the shore, they encouraged each other and slowly made their way back.

They were all scared witless and just stood far off on the shore, unwilling to step down to the grass by the pond.

Yang Xiao asked Huang Wen,

”How much taro have you dug out?”

”Probably around fifteen pounds?”

”Is there more?”

”Yeah, but...?”

”Scared?”

Huang Wen and the others nodded, it would be a lie to say they weren’t afraid.

Yang Xiao didn’t want to deputize for them. If these girls couldn’t even cope with this, how were they supposed to survive once these creatures had completed their mutation, becoming more aggressive?

He had no intention of taking care of them for life; they weren’t his wives.

”Today is the fourth day since the great disaster. According to old man Gu Bo, all living beings will complete their mutation in seven days. By then, it’s likely we won’t be able to come up to these hills anymore. Now, while these creatures haven’t completed their mutation and are relatively weak, is the time for you to stock up on food. Otherwise, in a few days, you’ll really be left waiting for death.”

Huang Wen and the others, upon hearing this, looked at each other, gradually gathering courage in their hearts to face the threat of future death.

”Whether you dig or not is up to you, I have food to eat anyway. Besides, if you only dig the taro on the shore, the monsters in the water can’t hurt you, right? You know how Xiao Zhe and his group treat you, would you rather endure that humiliation?”

One sentence set Huang Wen and the others ablaze.

Huang Wen, Chen Lu and the others nodded to each other, and finally said firmly:

”Sisters, it’s better to die at the mouth of a monster than to be humiliated by Xiao Zhe and those bastards, right?”

”Yes, we’re all in this together!”

”Alright, all together!”

A dozen girls suddenly surged with courage, leaving two to collect the filled water bottles, while the rest went to dig for taro.

The three buckets of water Yang Xiao brought, along with the ample water left on the shore from yesterday, filled everyone’s water bottles.

Yang Xiao cautiously went to the grass, picked up the giant eel and put it into an iron bucket, weighing it at about 30 pounds.

Before the cataclysm, this eel could probably have set a record.

Yang Xiao covered the iron bucket with several large taro leaves and brought it ashore.

The giant monsters in the pool did not reappear.

Huang Wen and the dozen girls worked together and dug up dozens of pounds of taro.

While digging, everyone also saw various mutated creatures, such as earthworms, which had become as long as eels, reaching tens of centimeters, and various reptiles in the bushes, which had obviously increased in size several times.

If it wasn’t for the threat of starvation, these girls would have dropped their shovels and run away long ago.

Now they were digging individually, with three others helping to clear away the various mutated insects, fortunate that these mutated insects didn’t seem aggressive for the time being.

However, Yang Xiao was thinking that perhaps these creatures were in the midst of their mutation, and once the mutation was complete, they probably wouldn’t be so docile anymore.

”The stems of the taro are edible too, let’s drag them to the shore of the pool first and process them there.”

Yang Xiao instructed.

Coming from a rural area, Yang Xiao naturally knew that taro stems were edible, and a few girls from rural areas also knew this. Seeing food, everyone suddenly felt energized. Moments later, they dragged all the dug-up taro, along with the leaves, to the shore.

”Everybody, don’t mind the hardship. First separate the taro and the stems, put the taro in the bags; these stems can be taken back to dry, and can be cooked later.”

Yang Xiao said and distributed his two watermelon knives to Huang Wen and the others - the knives were finally put to use.

Soon, the taro and stems were separately packed.

A sack was filled with taro, estimated to be around a hundred pounds, and carried by four girls down the mountain.

Three sacks were filled with taro stems.

There were also dozens of bottles of water, and everyone shouldered or carried the water, walking down the mountain with songs and laughter, dispelling the previous gloom.

Yang Xiao walked behind carrying the iron bucket.

Huang Wen saw the taro leaves covering the iron bucket and asked:

”What’s in the bucket?”

”Something delicious.”

Yang Xiao smiled mysteriously.

Huang Wen was taken aback, her face changing.

”It’s not that what...is it?”

Yang Xiao nodded.

With lingering fear, Huang Wen asked in a low voice:

”Is it edible?”

”It should be.”

What animal couldn’t be eaten by the food-loving people of Xuanming Country?

Of course, Yang Xiao still planned to ask Gu Bo from the Genetic Store if the mutated eel was edible. If it was, he wouldn’t miss the chance to enjoy such a delicacy.