Chapter 67

Lin Tantan followed Ye Xiao out of the office area and found a crowd outside. Xu Qin and Xu Li were already there. When she asked, she learned they had rushed over right away with some people; Ye Xiao had been returning to the base at the time, and even the gate guard had heard she'd been taken away for "fighting." As soon as he heard, he came, in fact, he arrived fastest of all.
Lin Tantan felt like a criminal hauled into the station and bailed out by everyone; she offered them a somewhat embarrassed thanks.
Ye Xiao opened the car door. "Get in. I'll take you back to the villa."
"Villa? But I still have, "
"Take the afternoon off, your hand's still injured." Ye Xiao had always thought she packed her schedule too tightly, always busy from dawn to dusk. He didn't mind it for himself, but he didn't want Lin Tantan to push herself too hard, especially after today's incident. He now felt even less trusting of those hired bodyguards.
She glanced at her hand; the side effects from Zhou Li's lightning ability were still evident, her arm muscles twitched faintly. Wood-type powers weren't like others; they had to be used with precise care. In this state it really wasn't convenient for her to keep treating people.
She looked around. "But I don't really want to go back."
She suddenly noticed the car was splattered with blood and the hood had several dents, clear signs of a brutal fight. "This blood..."
"We found a pack of mutated goats. They rammed the front of the car."
"They're that strong? Did you catch them?"
Seeing her so excited, Ye Xiao smiled. "We did, quite a few. Want to go take a look?"
"Yes, yes! I'll tell Ming Ze."
She climbed in and sat in the passenger seat, took out her radio; her fingers were noticeably weak and shaking as she pressed the buttons. Ye Xiao got in and shut the door, glanced at her and tightened his lips, then suddenly reached over and ruffled her hair. "Wish I could keep you with me all the time."
"What?" His voice was low; Lin Tantan didn't catch it clearly, and at that moment Ming Ze's voice came through the radio. She hurried, "Ming Ze, I won't be coming over in a bit, keep an eye on things there... I'm out now. It's fine. Everything's okay."
After she hung up he asked again, "What did you just say?"
"I'm asking when the free clinic will be over." Ye Xiao started the car and reversed out.
"It should be soon. This shantytown was the last area assigned to me. Once this round's done, we'll go back and check the earlier neighborhoods for any severe cases. Those with tendencies toward zombification or awakening have basically been identified; most of the remaining patients should recover on their own."
"That's good." Ye Xiao didn't ask more and drove to the base's eastern sector, their territory.
Compared to yesterday, there were more dump trucks hauling in soil from elsewhere and dumping it to raise the ground. Nearby lay several large piles of rebar, some bundled neatly like they'd come from a factory, others bent and warped with chunks of cement clinging to them, as if pried from other buildings. There were steel plates and cylindrical beams.
All kinds, in huge quantities. Lin Tantan couldn't help but marvel, was all this really what they'd managed in a day? Was their efficiency too high?
Besides steel, there were other building materials, piles of red bricks and sacks of lime powder.
Most insane of all: two cement mixers.
Where on earth had they stolen those from? She couldn't help but look at Ye Xiao.
Besides that, a truck stood nearby and people were unloading sheep from it.
The mutated sheep came in white and brown, one to two times larger than regular sheep; their horns were thick and hefty, their hooves stout and powerful, more like small calves. Some were already dead, others had their legs bound and were bleating, their cries rougher than ordinary sheep.
A crowd had gathered, gawking at the hulking mutant sheep. Most of these people were barely fed; at the sight of meat their eyes lit up, but they doubted whether the meat was safe to eat.
"Can you really eat this?"
"You won't turn into a zombie from eating it, will you?"
"Are you stupid? If it was inedible, do you think they'd bring it back?"
As the chatter went on, a car pulled up and people made way. Two well-known figures stepped out, and the crowd stopped looking at the sheep and stared at Lin Tantan as if she were more of a curiosity than the mutated animals.
Lin Tantan felt odd under their gaze. When she looked back, people averted their eyes and edged away from her, as if she were some dangerous thing ready to strike at any moment, retreating step by step.
"..." All she had done was beat a lightning-type ability user, has that really made her so notorious?
Bai Cheng walked over. "Everything sorted out?" He looked at Lin Tantan and exclaimed, "I didn't expect you to be an earth-type ability user."
Lin Tantan was surprised. "Spreading that fast?"
"Of course. You have to understand how explosive that news is."
Lin Tantan thought, no wonder they looked at her like that, part awe, part curiosity. She was used to being the center of attention; after an initial discomfort she'd long adapted. When she walked to the sheep, the gamey, distinctly mammalian smell hit her.
She didn't mind crouching there to watch a man inspect each sheep with a grave expression. He placed a hand on a sheep's belly and felt for a moment, as if confirming something.
Lin Tantan watched, puzzled.
Ye Xiao explained to her. "His name's Liu Jian. His ability lets him tell whether food is poisonous and fit to eat."
The stern man called Liu Jian stopped his motions and, with a formal air, said to Lin Tantan, "Miss Lin, hello."
Lin Tantan hurried to her feet. "Oh, hi."
He then went to inspect the sheep, meticulous in his movements as if he’d been born to work in a laboratory.
"So these sheep are all safe to eat?"
"Yes, the ones we've checked are fine." Liu Jian replied succinctly.
Bai Cheng added, "We already checked some outside, the live ones are edible. We roasted and ate one, but these have been dead for an hour or two, so he wants to run another check."
Lin Tantan nodded. Animals that were edible before the end times generally remain so even after mutating, though there are exceptions. In the apocalypse many people died from mistakenly eating poisonous plants and animals, so such caution was warranted.
It made sense why Ye Xiao had been so confident attacking mutated flora and fauna, with a power-user like Liu Jian around, identifying safe food became a simple, reliable task.
People nearby overheard and someone shouted to try the mutated sheep's meat.
Bai Cheng had one of the confirmed-safe dead sheep skinned and cut into pieces, then put it on the fire to roast.
The water-ability users washed it, the fire-ability users did the roasting, and they sprinkled on some spices. Immediately the scent of meat filled the air, a hint of gaminess and fishiness, but not overpowering; the spices came through stronger, blending with the roast aroma. As the fat rendered and dripped enticingly into the flames, everyone there found their mouths watering.
Bai Cheng announced loudly, "This first sheep is free, one piece per person."
Those words made people’s eyes light up. Many were still cautious and afraid to try unfamiliar meat, but more were starving. Free meat? Who cared about poison, besides, an ability user had checked it, and they'd already eaten one themselves.
So many wanted a share; some ran back to fetch family and friends to line up, you don't pass up a free meal.
The crowd kept growing, so Bai Cheng told people to form a line. Seeing how many showed up, he had two more sheep slaughtered and chopped into a big pot to stew, warning that there were only three sheep in total, when they're gone, that's it.
Lin Tantan watched him set up the free tasting and the free testing and publicity for the mutton, with that done, a mutton trade could probably get started. She couldn't help giving him an approving mental thumbs-up.
Ye Xiao stayed with Lin Tantan for a while and asked, "Is your hand really all right? Are you sure you don't need to go back to the villa and rest?"
"No, no, I'm fine here. I'm a wood-type ability user, this little tremor will pass quickly."
"Then stay here with everyone, I'll be gone a little while," Ye Xiao said.
"Where are you going?"
"Outside the base, some people haven't come back yet." It was still early; he'd come back ahead of schedule because his space stash had been filled with building materials like steel, and he'd loaded a truck of mutated sheep. He planned to drop off Bai Cheng and the sheep and leave, but then he suddenly heard Lin Tantan had been taken.
He didn't know what had happened to those outside, but Ye Xiao wasn't too worried, if they couldn't hold things together for the short time he's gone, they weren't worth his worry.
Ye Xiao told Bai Cheng to keep an eye on Lin Tantan, then took Liu Jian and a few others with him.
Bai Cheng smiled at Lin Tantan. "All right, don't leave my side from now on, okay?"
Lin Tantan heard Ye Xiao's admonition and rubbed her nose. "Do I really give off the impression that if I'm not watched, I'll get into trouble?"
Not that, it's that he worries you'll be bullied the moment you're not looked after, Bai Cheng thought. That last look Ye Xiao gave made him want to tuck her in his pocket and take her along. If he didn't think the outside was even more dangerous and troublesome, he might actually have done exactly that.
The first sheep was quickly roasted and the distribution began. Those in line were mostly skin and bone, some empty-handed, some with bowls, staring at the meat on the fire with hungry, almost greedy eyes. Bai Cheng sighed and ordered that each person be given a palm-sized piece, or a half-piece if necessary; if a piece still had bone, give a bit more.
Those who received meat wolfed it down whether it was hot or not, hissing and exclaiming as they ate, their mouths greasy, not leaving a spice grain behind. Watching them, even people nearby who weren't very hungry and hadn't queued felt envious.
After the first roasted sheep was handed out, the stewed sheep was ready. The mutton soup had only a pinch of salt; it wasn't as flavorful as the roast, but as a broth the meat was looser and less cloying, the soup made you feel fuller, and people slurped it down.
Lin Tantan felt hungry too and wanted to eat, but Bai Cheng stopped her. "This just has salt, it doesn't taste good. Wait until we get back and the cook can prepare a few proper dishes for you."
"All right." Lin Tantan didn't press it. But watching others devour the food had lost its appeal. She looked toward the dozen-odd live sheep. "Are you going to keep these sheep alive?"
She saw people building a fence, the engineer crew she'd seen yesterday were hard at work filling the ground. With nothing else to do, they were putting together a sheep pen. Lin Tantan ran over, looked it over, and said these mutated sheep were large and strong; a pen made of wood and stone wouldn't hold them.
The engineers were excited, as if they'd finally got something useful to do and wouldn't be idle. They told Lin Tantan that the wooden posts and stones were just the foundation; they'd do this and that, and that and this, and they were sure they'd turn the pen into a super pen that was both pretty and sturdy.
"Oh, so you'll build mud on top of this foundation. No need for the complicated mixing, I can do it." Her earth power was already exposed; no point hiding it now.
Her hands were practically itching.
She stepped slightly apart, inhaled, stamped her foot, and the next moment the wooden and stone walls were covered from the base up by tawny earth. Dirt piled higher and spread sideways and upward until it wrapped the wood and stone completely, growing thicker and more solid. Within minutes, a ring of earthen walls, waist-to-shoulder height and thirty to forty centimeters thick, had risen before everyone's eyes.
Lin Tantan reined in her power and studied the work before her. Hmm, some lines aren’t perfectly straight; parts of the wall are a little thick, others a touch thin. Not exactly elegant, but all in all it will do.
She smiled at the engineers. “Is this the effect you wanted? Could it be a bit too low?”
The engineers looked baffled. They touched and tapped and prodded the earthen wall. It was hard and solid, nothing like ordinary dirt that crumbles at the slightest poke. The soil was fine-grained yet firm, as if it had been kneaded and pounded from the finest clay; the quality was undeniable.
J-Just... like that, and it’s finished?
They hadn’t not thought about hiring earth-type psychics, but those powers could fling clods, raise earth spikes, or dig and shift soil. At best they could conjure up a temporary stretch of wall; no one had imagined someone could, in one go, raise a neat, even ring of earth dozens of meters long.
Their eyes lit up instantly; they looked at Lin Tantan as if she were a peerless architectural genius, the kind who could plaster a wall to perfection.