Due to the erosion of the black rain, most of the bamboo had withered and fallen to the ground. Of the once vast bamboo forest, only about a hundred stalks survived. Even before getting close, Wang Luo spotted one of the jet-black bamboos emitting a soft white glow from beneath its dark exterior.
"As expected, there are mutated bamboos here!" Wang Luo smiled. Although he hadn't been to this bamboo forest in his previous life, a place that Ah Bao favored and stayed in for so long couldn't possibly only contain ordinary bamboo! Moreover, back then, King Ma had fought with Ah Bao after stealing one of its bamboo stalks. Thinking about it now, King Ma had probably stolen a mutated bamboo. It wouldn't have caused such a commotion if it were just ordinary bamboo.
"Hee-haw~~~" As soon as it approached the mutated bamboo, King Ma's nostrils twitched. Its saliva began to flow uncontrollably. King Ma whinnied excitedly. "So fragrant! I really want to take a bite."
"You want to eat it?" Wang Luo asked. King Ma nodded vigorously. "Then you can eat some leaves, but don't be greedy. Later, we'll dig up all these bamboos and plant them near the villa. We'll have bamboo shoots next year!"
Wang Luo broke off a few branches from the bamboo stalk and fed them to King Ma.
"Hee-haw~~~" King Ma munched on them greedily. "So delicious, damn it! What right does that stupid cat have to enjoy such a delicacy?" However, after Wang Luo glared at him, King Ma quickly retracted its mouth, which was about to bite into the bamboo roots!
"Why can't you distinguish between eating one meal and eating every meal properly?" He finally understood why Ah Bao had fought with King Ma in his previous life; this fellow had probably dug up the entire root system!
"Think about it, when these mutated bamboos reproduce into a dense forest in the future, you'll be able to eat as much as you want, right?" Wang Luo patted King Ma's neck.
"Hee-haw~~~" King Ma whinnied. "Don't worry! When there are enough mutated bamboos in the future, I'll ask Ah Bao for you!" It seemed King Ma was worried that if these bamboos fell into Ah Bao's possession, they might never see the light of day again! After all, Ah Bao was very possessive. With Wang Luo's promise, King Ma finally gave up the idea of enjoying these mutated bamboos alone!
"Tsk, tsk, tsk! As expected of you, Ah Bao. This place is truly excellent, with over a dozen mutated bamboos!" Wang Luo was somewhat surprised. No wonder Ah Bao had stayed here and refused to leave in his previous life. Even when the "Butcher" Zhou Yiming had fought with it, Ah Bao hadn't abandoned this place. He wondered how many bamboo shoots these dozen-plus mutated bamboos would produce next year.
Afterward, Wang Luo directly dug up all the hundreds of bamboos in the area and placed them into the Eternal Space.
"Let's go and check out another orchard to see if there are any other mutated plants!" Wang Luo said to King Ma. He remembered there was an orchard in this direction, with many fruit trees. Although the fruits would have been harvested by this season, mutated fruit trees would stand out with their unusual appearance! Just like the mutated bamboos, they emanated a faint radiance all over. In his previous life, people had initially stayed away from the wilderness, and their exposure to such things came much later. In this life, because of Wang Luo, they were destined to appear in people's sight much earlier!
They moved quickly, and soon they arrived at the orchard Wang Luo remembered. Places like this had very few zombies. King Ma dispatched them all with a few hoof strikes, crushing their skulls. The orchard was vast, with various fruit trees planted in separate sections. There were apples, citrus, cherries, and more! However, most of them had withered under the black rain pollution, and only a few survived. Wang Luo, riding on King Ma's back, galloped through the orchard.
By the afternoon, Wang Luo returned, quite satisfied. He had obtained a total of several dozen mutated fruit trees.
"This post-apocalyptic world is truly becoming more hopeful!" "I'll go check out the surrounding farms another day to see if any pigs, cattle, or sheep survived!" Hoarding supplies was only for surviving the early stages. Otherwise, even if all the supplies in the entire Anluo City were collected, they would eventually run out. Sustainable development was the key.
When Wang Luo returned to the villa, Ah Bao was already waiting by the door.
"Ying ying ying~~~" Seeing Wang Luo return, Ah Bao scurried over and hugged Wang Luo's leg. Its round, clear eyes looked up at Wang Luo, melting the hearts of Yang Shu and the other two who had already returned.
"Don't worry, I've brought back your bamboo!" Wang Luo patted Ah Bao's head. As he spoke, he took out over a dozen mutated bamboos. Ah Bao's eyes lit up, and it hugged the bamboo, inhaling deeply. The scent emanating from these mutated plants was incredibly alluring to mutated beasts. However, Ah Bao only took one bite and stopped.
"What's wrong? Not to your taste?" Wang Luo asked, puzzled. Ah Bao could actually resist the temptation of mutated bamboo.
"Ying ying ying~~~" Ah Bao pointed at the bamboo, then at the ground. "It wants you to plant the bamboo!" Zhao Qingxuan patted Ah Bao's head and asked, "Is that right, Ah Bao?" Ah Bao nodded vigorously. Wang Luo glanced at King Ma. "See? This is foresight and awareness! Unlike you, old horse, who only thinks about eating the whole bamboo!" King Ma also looked surprised. This gluttonous lazy cat could resist the temptation of mutated bamboo? That was unexpected!
Wang Luo glanced at the sky and took out a hoe, planting all the dozen-plus mutated bamboo plants in the villa's courtyard.
"From now on, you're in charge of guarding this place. Don't let anyone steal your bamboo!" Wang Luo told Ah Bao.
"Ying ying ying~~~" Ah Bao patted its chest. From now on, it would fight anyone who dared to steal its bamboo. Its gaze flickered and landed on King Ma, who was staring at the mutated bamboo. Ah Bao immediately became vigilant.
"How was your harvest today?" In the living room, Wang Luo asked Zhao Qingxuan and the other two.
"We had a great harvest, clearing out a few supermarkets. However, we don't have any storage items, so we couldn't bring back much. We could only carry as much food as possible!" Yang Shu said with satisfaction.
"No storage items?" Wang Luo pondered. That was indeed quite troublesome. As for driving cars, it was completely impractical. The city traffic was completely paralyzed, with vehicles everywhere. Anluo City was a megacity with a population of tens of millions, so the number of vehicles was imaginable! It was impossible to move all those cars. Therefore, the best mode of transportation at the moment seemed to be motorcycles. But motorcycles couldn't carry much!
"Wang Luo, how about we go and get a helicopter?" Zhao Qingxuan said excitedly.
"Can you fly one?"
"No!"
Wang Luo thought for a moment. "How about this, tomorrow we'll go to the military base and see if we can find any surviving pilots. If we do, we can use helicopters to transport supplies from then on!"