Chapter 43 Animal Variation
Upon entering the house, Bai Tang first turned on the heating vents to warm the room.
As Lin Fan and his group entered the house and felt the warmth, they couldn't help but sigh, "There's no place like home."
Bai Jiyang retorted, "This isn't a doghouse, it's a golden den!"
With those guys around, Bai Tang doesn't need to do any work at all.
To celebrate moving into her new home, Bai Tang plans to have hot pot for lunch.
Bai Tang took out the ingredients needed for hot pot from her space: mutton, pork, shrimp paste, hot pot meatballs, lettuce, romaine lettuce, pea sprouts, various mushrooms, and so on.
Invite Gu Yanxu and the others over for dinner.
During the meal, Bai Tang said, "We've been at the base for so long, let's go out and explore the surrounding area another day."
She said this because, around this time in her previous life, animals outside the various bases and pets kept by some people inside the bases all underwent a certain degree of mutation.
Some animals have simply grown larger, while others have developed abnormal personalities and become aggressive towards humans. Sometimes, search teams from some bases are injured by these mutated animals.
Bai Tang thought of letting the canned food out so it could run around freely.
Not to mention canned food, even Bai Ji and Lin Fan were extremely restrained.
The sudden heavy snow disrupted their plans; they were originally going to exchange their fish for small yellow croakers at the old man's stall.
With such heavy snow, the base announced that setting up stalls was temporarily prohibited, so Bai Tang could only wait and see when she could go to the old man to exchange her items again.
After lunch, they rested for a while and then prepared to drive their two off-road vehicles out of the base for a spin.
The small courtyard that Bai Tang bought was not very close to the entrance of the base; it took them almost an hour to drive there.
There are different gates for entering and exiting the base. After swiping your card and registering, the staff at the gate will open the gate for you to pass through.
They had been inside the base for almost two weeks, and when they arrived at the base gate again, there were still many people outside preparing to enter the base for refuge.
I don't know if the base can manage to arrange the whereabouts of so many people. If it can't, the base might be in chaos for a while.
However, these are not things Bai Tang should worry about. Right now, she just wants to go out and run around with the canned food to clear her head.
Gu Yanxu drove an SUV with Bai Tang and Lin Fan, while Lin Feng drove another car with Bai Jiyang and Lin Zhou.
There always needs to be someone in the car to create a lively atmosphere, so let's separate Bai Jiyang and Lin Fan, these two clowns, into one car and one person in the other.
As the car drove out of the base, everything outside was a vast expanse of white.
Bai Tang said, "Let's go check out the gold shops in the high-rise buildings in the city center."
Gu Yanxu understood Bai Tang's meaning: she wanted to find some gold for Mu Mu so that it could absorb spiritual energy.
At this moment, Lin spoke up: "Sister-in-law, are you bored at home? The snow in the city center is probably still thick, and you won't be able to get into the building even if you go there."
Bai Tang smiled awkwardly and said, "Ah? I've been having such a comfortable time these past few days that I forgot the reason there's no thick snow layer near the base is because the base cleared it."
Gu Yanxu comforted her, saying, "Then let's go to the suburbs and let Guantou run around. It's just a little stray cat, but now its temper is almost like that of a domesticated cat."
Bai Tang thought to herself: My image of being clever!! Ahhh!! It's shattered.
However, Bai Tang remained calm on the surface and said, "Then let's go to the outskirts of the city for a look."
The car drove for about two hours with the snow on its back before finally reaching the outskirts of the city.
Bai Tang got out of the car and let the canned food out to run around. The canned food has now grown to half a meter long.
They've never kept stray cats before, so they don't know if Guanyu's size is normal for its age.
Unsure if the canned food had mutated, we could only let it run wild in the snow for a while to let it release its natural instincts.
While the canned food was running around like crazy after being unloaded from the truck, Bai Tang started eating again. Now that she's moved into her own home, Bai Tang wishes she could eat five meals a day.
Seeing this, Lin Fan and the others couldn't help but tease, "Sister-in-law, are you pregnant?"
Bai Tang secretly pinched Gu Yanxu with one hand, while keeping the pig's trotter in her hand with the other.
Gu Yanxu endured the pain of being pinched and then said, "No, your sister-in-law just has a big appetite. We're not planning to have a child right now."
Indeed, given the current external environment, pregnancy is not a wise move. Even those who have the financial means to stockpile goods dare not have children, let alone those in the base who are struggling to get enough to eat.
Even if those women get pregnant, the pregnant mothers don't get enough nutrition, and nine times out of ten, it's a case of both mother and child dying during childbirth.
Therefore, Bai Tang and Gu Yanxu have always taken precautions to avoid accidentally getting pregnant and having to worry about a newborn baby.
It's not that they don't like children, it's just that the timing isn't right.
While they were still discussing whether they wanted a boy or a girl, a man with something in his mouth, staggered towards them.
Bai Tang spotted the approaching canned goods immediately and hurriedly got out of the car.
Upon closer inspection, it appeared that what the can was biting looked like a dead rabbit, but the rabbit was almost as big as the can itself.
Gu Yanxu and the others also got out of the car. When they saw the half-meter-long rabbit, Lin Fan said:
"My God, how can this rabbit grow so big? Did it get hormones?"
Bai Tang explained, "Maybe the animals have mutated. With such harsh weather, they probably wouldn't survive if they didn't mutate. It's survival of the fittest."
Indeed, in the struggle for survival of the fittest, those animals are forced to mutate in order to survive the harsh winter.
The canned food seemed to be asking for credit: "Meow~ Meow! Meow!"
It seems to be showing off that it is very capable, that it can hunt, and that it can have meat to eat.
Bai Tang squatted down and patted the can's big head, praising it as she spoke:
"My canned food is so capable! It caught such a big rabbit. I have to give you extra food tonight."
When the canned food heard the words "extra meal," it meowed even more happily, wagging its fluffy tail smugly, just like a victorious cat king returning home.
Seeing how big the rabbits are now, Bai Tang became even more convinced that the canned food had also undergone a slight mutation.
Bai Jiyang and Lin Fan stood around the large rabbit and asked, "I wonder if this mutated rabbit is edible?"
The canned food glanced at them and then let out a meow.
Lin Zhou, standing nearby, said, "The canned food isn't saying it's edible, is it?"
Bai Tang said, "If it can't be eaten, the canned food won't catch it. We'll have a special meal tonight: roasted rabbit."
Gu Yanxu added, "I'll cook tonight when we get back."
As foodies, they were so excited when they heard that their leader was going to cook that they shouted wildly in the field.
Lin Feng put the big rabbit in the trunk of the SUV.
They had been out for quite some time, so they started preparing to return home, as it would be difficult to travel once it got dark.
They managed to get back to base just before the last glimmer of light disappeared on the horizon.
After swiping their cards to enter the base, they drove home.