Chapter 165: Armor Breaking
Zhou Qian also came over.
His gaze was sharp; with just a glance, he focused on that flat yet smooth hole, not even missing the debris scattered on the ground.
However…
It had been six years since the catastrophe. In most cases, plant and animal mutations followed certain logic.
Take this goose—was it a goose?
Since it was herbivorous, its combat ability should be weaker. But this hole…
“Big Cub, Little Two…” The name was long and awkward to say. He paused. “It pecked this?”
Huai Yu chuckled awkwardly. “How could it be pecking? It just poked it… lightly.”
As they spoke, Big Cub and Little Two seemed to think the two were praising it warmly, so while they weren’t paying attention, it poked at a crumbly piece on the ground again.
Coincidentally, the ceramic shard shattered completely.
Not so coincidentally, its beak went into the floor.
It slid in like a hot knife through butter.
Huai Yu quickly pulled it up. Zhou Qian noticed the sharp spikes all over its body instantly retracted backward, not scratching its owner at all. At the same time, its flat, rounded beak seemed perfectly normal.
Zhou Qian squatted down. “Has its beak always been this strong since it was little?”
Huai Yu nodded. “It broke glass the moment it was born. But it’s very well-behaved.”
The last sentence didn’t sound very convincing, considering the holes on the floor and wall. But Zhou Qian believed it. He even reached out to touch Big Cub and Little Two’s flat beak.
It was indeed smooth and rounded.
He nodded. “This mutant animal is raised well. If I’m not mistaken, its mutation is [Armor Breaker].”
“It’s not that its beak is particularly sharp. Its ability itself causes this effect—whether it attacks with any part of its body, it has this result. Is the other one the same?”
“Huh?” Huai Yu looked confused, then nodded. “Yes, both of them are the same.”
Now it was Zhou Qian’s turn to frown. “Even with identical twins, it’s rare for their mutation direction to be exactly the same…”
But Huai Yu suddenly remembered when she gave them abilities—because the shell looked so hard and the two goslings might not be able to hatch on their own, she admitted she was focusing on breaking the shell when she used her power…
But…
No way, right?!
Huai Yu stared at her palm, and suddenly Lin Xuefeng’s words echoed in her mind:
“You’re not Huai Yu, you’re basically Huai Bi (meaning ‘treasure jade’).”
She instantly hugged Big Cub and Little Two tightly, nervously asking, “Um… how do I compensate for this?”
Zhou Qian thought for a moment. “Go to the hospital entrance and find the security guard. I remember he’s an earth-type ability user, mutated in the direction of extreme compression.”
“He can compress some brickwork to patch it up, that should do.”
He made it sound simple. Huai Yu immediately let out a sigh of relief. “Will he compress the earth into ceramics?”
Zhou Qian shook his head. “If he had that skill, why would he be working as a security guard? He’ll just do a rough patch because the head nurse on day shift is fierce.”
“Discuss the compensation with the night shift later.”
Huai Yu: “…”
…
Yesterday, Zhou Qian absorbed too much energy, and the creeping vines on his leg were still mostly dormant. He soon lay back down on the bed.
Huai Yu cuddled Big Cub and Little Two, nagging them for a while, warning them not to damage public property again. Then she pulled out a raw sweet potato from her basket to comfort them.
While feeding, she kept reminding:
“Don’t poke the floor… small bites… oh! Come, come, I’ll feed you instead…”
After a while, she finally relaxed and stepped out, then checked the time—
“I brought you a super deluxe dinner today, we’ll eat later.”
Zhou Qian had already seen the fresh sweet potato she brought earlier, thinking it was indeed deluxe enough. But he was more curious and asked:
“Where did you get Big Cub and Little Two?”
“If they have a specific mutation direction, any eggs from formal channels should have been detected.”
The words “formal channels” were emphasized.
Huai Yu mumbled, “I bought them… bought them, okay…”
Zhou Qian didn’t press further. He knew Huai Yu wasn’t very guarded; if she wanted to say something, she’d blurt it out eventually. If she didn’t want to, asking was pointless.
So he changed the topic. “If one day you don’t want to keep them, these domesticated mutant animals with a specific mutation direction can be turned in.”
“Their [Armor Breaker] mutation is really useful in the wild.”
“The state will compensate generously—between 100 and 5000 points.”
Huai Yu shook her head. “I’ll never give them up.”
Big Cub and Little Two were so obedient, so sensible, even poking bamboo and weeds to block ginseng and vent her anger. How could she not keep such thoughtful little ones?
But [Armor Breaker] sounded so classy! Her babies were so considerate; Huai Yu decided to give them a special treat when they got back tomorrow!
Zhou Qian glanced at the time. “The nurses change shifts at 6:00. After that, remember to ask for bedding. There’s a pull-out bed under this hospital bed.”
“Go to bed early tonight.”
“Okay!” Huai Yu nodded and said matter-of-factly, “I still need to grow. I’ll sleep at 7, get up at 12:30…”
She calculated happily again: “That’s five hours of sleep, should be enough.”
If she got sleepy, she’d drink ginseng tea to refresh herself!
Zhou Qian: “…Alright, early to bed and early to rise.”
After all, there wasn’t much entertainment these days. He’d been in the hospital so long he’d read through almost every magazine at the nurses’ station.
…
And before bed, the most important thing was, of course, the deluxe dinner.
Huai Yu brought four sweet potatoes, all evenly sized and thick, the kind that could really fill you up. She gave Zhou Qian two raw ones. “Keep these for tomorrow’s snack. After we check the highway station tomorrow, I’ll head straight back.”
Thinking for a moment, she also gave him the two cooked ones. “If you get hungry at night, eat these.”
The fresh sweet potatoes felt heavy in the hand, their skins purplish-red, clearly freshly dug from the ground, still carrying a bit of “raw” smell.
Just by their look and size, the variety wasn’t rare, probably an old-fashioned type farmers used to grow…
But for such big, perfectly mature sweet potatoes to be ready this early in May… Zhou Qian didn’t know why, but he’d somehow become numb to it.
He put the sweet potatoes in the drawer, along with the peaches Huai Yu had given him—now only five left.
Turning around, he was suddenly faced with an oversized lunchbox!
Huai Yu proudly opened the lid—
Smashed cucumber, minced pork with eggplant, salted boiled peanuts, stir-fried sweet potato leaves with green peppers.
And a big solid bowl of rice.
Smelling the fragrant vegetables, Zhou Qian suddenly realized—they hadn’t eaten normal meals like this for six years.
“Well? Well? Pretty deluxe, right?”
Huai Yu’s expectant eyes brought his mind back, and she sighed again:
“Where can I even buy eggs? Or good meat?”
