poor road [end times]

Wang Che was taken aback by Feng Lin's answer - after being a classmate for so many years, he could tell that Feng Lin's answer was not a joke at all.

Feng Lin was very serious.

For a while, Wang Che even forgot to observe the cute kitten under his feet.He looked cautiously at Yang Yiqin, then at Feng Lin, and asked, "Brother, are you serious?"

Feng Lin only glanced at him.

well.

Wang Che thought, 100% seriously.

"So..." Wang Che slightly asked curiously, "What did you calculate?"

He had a bad impression of Huang Yuanqi, since his friends hated him, of course he hated him too.

Yang Yiqin: "..."

Not going to persuade at all, is it?

Feng Lin glanced at Wang Che: "There's no need to tell you."

"...Alright."

Wang Che accepted it calmly, knowing that the other party would not satisfy his curiosity.

Yang Yiqin lifted the black and white floret cat to the table, and let it trot to Wang Che's side, and then he spoke to ease the tense atmosphere in the room: "You two, calm down."

He didn't have any opinion on Huang Yuanqi, but he thought of Feng Lin, so he didn't want him to be impulsive.

And now is not the time to deal with Huang Yuanqi.

Hearing this, Wang Che quickly suppressed his curiosity, and followed Yang Yiqin to persuade him: "Although I don't know where that guy messed with you, we must have a better solution."

Feng Lin was silent for a moment, then silently accepted Yang Yiqin's persuasion.

Then bear with it.

After talking about Huang Yuanqi, the little cat "meowed" at the right time.

Wang Che touched the little milk cat's head, felt the touch of his hands, and brought the topic back with a satisfied face: "Brother Yang, when you go to find Dr. Liang, can you take me with you? Seriously, I I also care about these cats."

The little kitten in front of him is the eldest of the six kittens, with the calmest and most docile personality, who would let anyone pet him, and is the only kitten Wang Che can pet now.

The other ones were very slippery, so I could only look at them, and they disappeared after being teased a couple of times.

The charm of kittens is endless.

If the matter at hand is not in a hurry, he, Liao Wei, Li Qiao and Huang Ying will come over to Brother Yang occasionally to see Huahua and its children and feel the peace of mind.Moreover, Huahua is very smart, fully able to adapt to survival in the wild, and also trains her children's survival ability to forage for food alone.

Regardless of food and lodging, no one needs to take care of them, so it will not increase the burden on the survivors, and it is very worry-free in all aspects.

As a result, a rare sense of healing in the last days has been achieved.

Wang Che didn't want this sense of healing to disappear.

Yang Yiqin nodded and agreed, "Yes."

Two days later, Yang Yiqin picked a time for lunch and went to the laboratory on the fifth floor.

Dr. Liang held the lunch box and pushed his eyes: "You really know how to find time."

"I can't help it." Yang Yiqin said with a smile, "I've been too busy recently, so I can only squeeze in time for dinner."

The few of them had just finished their work in the morning, and after talking to the person in charge, they rushed over from the wasteland.In the middle, I went to the cafeteria to buy a few steamed buns, and I ate them all by the time I walked to the office building.

"It's fine, I've almost eaten enough." Dr. Liang put down the lunch box in his hand, "Come with me."

Yang Yiqin nodded.

Dr. Liang led them into the innermost laboratory.

This room is a large room with two connected rooms, which is much more spacious than other rooms.At this time, all kinds of experimental equipment were placed around the room, and several large and small glass cabinets covered with curtains were placed in the middle.

Dr. Liang raised the curtains of the first two glass cabinets.

The first glass cover at the fingertips is full of large rats about [-] centimeters in size, all crowded together in black, looking very intrusive.In the second glass enclosure, there were three zombie mice, one with its claws bitten off, one with its tail bitten off, and one with its ears bitten off.

"Zombie mice are hard to find. Captain Qian went out several times but couldn't find them. Only the number of mutated mice is increasing." Dr. Liang explained, "Rats can't transmit zombie virus to mice, so these three zombie mice , is the mouse that we specially let the zombies in the laboratory bite and then mutate."

Wang Che was dumbfounded: "... fierce, powerful."

It was the first time he had seen so many mice.

Dr. Liang put on the gloves: "Don't worry, the experiment process is very cautious, the base specially sent people to assist, so there will be no accidents."

As he spoke, he picked up the back of a zombie mouse and threw it into the glass cabinet of the mutated mouse: "Before we discovered that zombie mice would actively attack humans, but they were not highly aggressive towards other animals. Later After many experiments, we have another conjecture—zombie animals and mutated animals may repel each other, so there are groups of mutated mice in the field, but we didn’t find a single zombie mouse.”

At this time, the zombie mouse that was still in the glass cabinet was quickly repelled by other mutant mice and pushed to the corner of the cabinet.The zombie mouse wanted to fight back, but was almost trampled to death.

Dr. Liang explained: "The mutated mice also seem to know to attack the heads of the zombie mice."

Yang Yiqin touched the side of his face.

It seems that because of the virus, zombie mice and mutant mice have become hostile.

"Before we thought that zombie animals would not cause human mutations, because the protein structure of the virus has changed, and Hongjiahe did not mutate. Later, we did a lot of experiments in zombie animals." Dr. Liang fished out the zombie mice I got up, threw it back into the original glass cabinet, and continued, "Experiments have proved that no matter whether it is a zombie chicken or a zombie mouse, biting creatures of different species will not cause mutation. But biting the same kind of animal will lead to the chance of it mutating into a zombie animal." It is also very low, and only one mutation may occur in dozens of experiments."

"So—" Yang Yiqin continued, "This is a virus that specifically targets humans?"

"That's right, that's how we understand it." Dr. Liang said quietly, "You can guess, is this a natural virus, or a human-made virus?"

Thinking about it carefully, Wang Che trembled: "...forget it, I dare not guess."

Dr. Liang smiled meaningfully.

He didn't say the result, but his team has been researching for so long, and they already have some guesses in their minds.

Seeing that time was running out, Yang Yiqin asked straight to the point: "Dr. Liang asked Wang Che to come to me two days ago and said that you have something to say about my cat?"

"Come on, let's take a look at the glass cabinet below." Dr. Liang walked to the second table and pulled down the curtain, "This is the second experiment we have done recently."

I saw that there was also a large nest of mice in the glass cabinet.

This litter of mice is obviously different from the first litter. They are all just little mice that have not grown any hair, but they can already see the difference in their body shapes—some are as ordinary as peanuts; Huge lumps of flesh, with short limbs that can only wriggle.

Wang Che raised his hand to cover his eyes: "It's a little disgusting, I'm starting to feel uncomfortable."

Yang Yiqin frowned: "...is this?"

Dr. Liang simply explained: "The first litter of pups after mating of mutant mice."

Feng Lin pondered: "The character is unstable."

"Yes, mutant mice have a strong desire to reproduce. We have always separated the male and female, and only allowed one pair to breed. These are the dozen or so childish ones they gave birth to." Dr. Liang put on a new pair of gloves and reached into the In the glass cabinet, I picked up two of the strangest mice, "One of these two is too fat, and the other has too big ears, which are probably the result of mutation."

"Dr. Liang wants us to pay attention to the growth of the kittens?" Yang Yiqin said, "According to the age of the kittens, Huahua conceived them before the end of the world."

Therefore, their situation should be different from that of mice whose parents were fully mutated and then mated to give birth.

As a litter of cat cubs conceived by the black and white cat Huahua before it mutated, Yang Yiqin guessed that they should be normal in the womb of the cat mother at first.Later, due to the virus infection, the mutation was completed in the flower belly.

"But they haven't grown up yet, haven't they? These young mice are also under observation." Dr. Liang put the mouse back in his hand, "Now, rather than kittens, I want to remind you to be careful not to let the mother cat again Pregnant."

Because the situation is too uncontrollable, mutant animals may not be able to give birth to normal kittens.

Yang Yiqin said, "I think Huahua knows it well."

It can teach children and understand human language. The main daily life now is to live in the wild and teach the little milk cat to be completely independent.In fact, sometimes when Huahua encounters a bottleneck in teaching the little milk cat, she will show a somewhat parental look of disgust, with an expression of "Why did I give birth to so many idiots".

From this point of view, Huahua probably won't consider having another litter in the short term.

They should be more worried about mutated animals that have no intelligence and a short reproductive period. This kind of creature that reproduces quickly is the carrier of the crazy mutation of the virus.

Dr. Liang pushed his glasses: "So smart? You should let me meet it."

"Forget it." Yang Yiqin smiled, "I hope they don't have the chance to meet Dr. Liang."

Dr. Liang shrugged: "If plants want to get good traits, they need to be cross-breeding from generation to generation, and animals are the same. If your cat has abnormalities, I suggest you bring them here for us to have a look. You don't want a bunch of freaks in the base Is the cat running around?"

"If there is really a problem." Yang Yiqin only said, "When all animals become 'weird', the so-called 'weird' is normal."

Now the kittens are in a period of rapid growth, and their body shape changes day by day, a whole circle bigger than when they came, and finally comparable to the mutated adult mice.

Their claws are harder than knives. There are traces of cat claws everywhere on the cat climbing frames in the monitoring room and office, and each trace is a deep pit.Several kittens must be different from Huahua, and their offspring will continue to filter and deepen this "difference".

The virus will continue to mutate, so the external performance of the host must also mutate accordingly.

But from the current point of view, the cats including Huahua will not be weird, they will only continue to adapt to the environment of the end of the world.Viruses have changed the environment of the earth and accelerated the speed at which organisms adapt to the environment.

Before and after mutation can be regarded as two stages of species.

Cats grow steel-like claws, perhaps just as humans sacrificed the width of their pelvis in order to walk upright millions of years ago-it is precisely because of the "upright walking" that is completely superior to any other creature's walking method that human beings The body can make more subtle movements, which is convenient for using weapons and chasing and running.

From this point of view, the evolution of human beings from Homo erectus, to later Homo sapiens, and then to modern humans is not considered a gradual "weird".

As long as it is suitable for survival, it is the correct evolutionary strategy.

"I can't tell you, but I will tell you about the mouse." Dr. Liang nodded, "Also, don't let the big cat run around again, in case it gets caught by zombies."

"Zombies are not the most dangerous."

"why?"

"Don't underestimate them. When we are humans, we may not be able to catch a cat, let alone a zombie with slow and stiff body movements." After finishing speaking, Yang Yiqin joked, "Dr. It's not that you want to do experiments, but you just want to pet cats?"

Dr. Liang: "..."

Afterwards, Yang Yiqin told him about the current situation of the little milk cat, focusing on the steely claws.

Dr. Liang took notes.

Wang Che on the side was curious: "What is the last curtain?"

Dr. Liang put down his pen and said, "You will know when you open it."

Wang Che: "...Ah, well, forget it."

He was afraid of scaring himself.

What if it's the weird experimental subject in the movie?Although the existence of zombies is itself very weird.

Dr. Liang lifted the curtain, and there was a plant inside.

Feng Lin narrowed his eyes and said, "Is this the vine we brought here?"

"Yes, but not all of them." Dr. Liang explained, "There are two plants in here, one was brought by you, and the other was given to me by Qian Dui."

Yang Yiqin was puzzled: "Captain Qian?"

So, is there really something wrong with this plant?

"A few days ago, Team Qian came to me in a hurry and said that he found strange plants in the city. These plants grew out of various narrow gaps and covered almost all the brick walls and concrete exterior walls in the city. Climb to the third floor."

"It seems that overnight, the buildings in the whole city are covered with greenery."

After hearing Dr. Liang's words, Feng Lin frowned immediately: "Poisonous?"

Yang Yiqin took the plant with his bare hands.

Dr. Liang shook his head: "It's not poisonous, and it may be edible, but it grows extremely fast, and it doesn't belong to any of the vines we know."

But this is a signal, a signal that plants are also beginning to mutate.

Wang Che scratched his head, a little puzzled: "If this kind of vines grow everywhere, why haven't I seen them in the base?"

"That's the problem." Dr. Liang took off his glasses, "They only grow in places with dense buildings."

Wang Che: "...I'll go, it's amazing."

It was magical for a moment.

"Don't panic." Yang Yiqin glanced at him, "The problem is serious, and panic is useless."

Wang Che: "..."

"Now there are almost no definite conclusions. There are too few people in the laboratory, and many things are too late to study, so we can only do our best." At the end, Dr. Liang looked at Yang Yiqin, "I found that you can always find abnormalities the fastest. Animals and plants, is it luck?"

Yang Yiqin replied, "Maybe it's just the eyes."

"Anything is fine." Dr. Liang pinned his hopes on him, "I hope that next time you find something abnormal, you can report it to us immediately."

Yang Yiqin nodded: "No problem."

After lunch time.

The three of them left the laboratory and went to work on the wasteland.

Towards evening, Yang Yiqin saw Qian Guowei who came to look for him.

During the period of base expansion, Yang Yiqin and Feng Lin stayed at the base every day and hardly went out.Qian Guowei was just the opposite of them, going back and forth in chariots all day long to rescue survivors.

They haven't seen each other for many days.

Yang Yiqin put down the machete and said hello: "Captain Qian, long time no see."

"Long time no see." Qian Guowei stood up straight, "How are you doing?"

Yang Yiqin replied: "It's okay, there are a lot of things to do."

"Then..." Qian Guowei lowered his voice, "What about Huang Yuanqi?"

"He hasn't made any big moves recently, and has been making various attempts."

Except for the daily meetings and messing around.

"Really, he went to the prisoners." Qian Guowei couldn't help laughing and said, "I just met with the warden, and he said that Huang Yuanqi had something to do with the prisoners who were working."

Those prisoners committed all kinds of crimes before the end of the world, and they were strictly guarded after the end of the world.Every group of them has restricted their activities and is doing things under surveillance every day.

Therefore, the conversation between Huang Yuanqi and the prisoner reached the ears of the base not long after.

"That kid thought that the prison was the same as it was shown on TV. The prison bully was rampant with all kinds of prestige, and all the districts were obeyed by one person." Qian Guowei couldn't help laughing, "So I asked the prisoners and asked them Who is the boss of each cell, and how many people are under him?"

A long time ago, there might have been prison bullies, but now the control of prisons is getting stricter and stricter. There are no dead-angle cameras in all places, and multi-level management in the monitoring.Especially the No. [-] Prison, which is the benchmark, has practiced all kinds of rules to the extreme. Not to mention prison bullies, there are very few prisoners making trouble.

"He has been running into walls." Yang Yiqin pursed his lips, "After all, the base is too simple."

Qian Guowei deeply felt the same: "Who says it's not."

After all, they spent so much effort to make this safe zone take shape, so how could they not have thought of the loopholes that Huang Yuanqi was looking for?The opponent is still too young to play scheming, but things like encouraging the survivors to make trouble at the beginning made the base even more unable to resist.

Because no matter how much the survivors question and make noise, they will not do anything to each other.

"By the way." Yang Yiqin brought the topic back, "Then what is Captain Qian looking for us for?"

Yang Yiqin thought that Qian Guowei needed his help.

However, the base has encountered a lot of problems recently, including Huang Yuanqi and other restless people inside, and mutant animals that threaten humans outside.He and Feng Lin are only two people, and Wang Che can occasionally help out. The team is "single and weak", even if he is asked, he will not be able to spare so much energy for a while to help.

Captain Qian cut to the chase: "The reason why I'm looking for you is, on the one hand, to tell you Huang Yuanqi's situation in time, so that you can have a clear idea; on the other hand, I need to tell you right now—or to tell Feng Lin's situation .”

Yang Yiqin was slightly surprised: "Feng Lin?"

Feng Lin was also puzzled: "What does Captain Qian want to tell me?"

Qian Guowei said seriously, "About your father."

Feng Lin's face darkened.

"The matter of Feng Zheng has nothing to do with me."

"I know, I've seen that your relationship is average before." Qian Guowei explained in detail, "But he has also made some moves recently, so we want to confirm your position again."

"Stand?" Feng Lin said firmly, "My position is Brother Yang."

Yang Yiqin: "..."

Qian Guowei: "..."

The atmosphere was inexplicably a little weird.

Yang Yiqin shivered helplessly: "Don't, you must not call me Brother Yang, I'm so flustered. You might as well just call me by my first name, I can accept it no matter how bad my nickname is."

Feng Lin never called him "Brother Yang".

At first Yang Yiqin thought he was just rebellious when he was young, but he still didn't call him "brother" or "senior" when he was in college, and always called him "Yang Yiqin" and "Yang Yiqin" one by one with great persistence.

After they got together, Yang Yiqin asked Feng Lin the reason, and Feng Lin replied that he was afraid of reminding Yang Yiqin—reminding him that he was young, unreliable, and not suitable to be a boyfriend.

After being silent, Yang Yiqin accepted Feng Lin's stubbornness.

So now, Feng Lin called "Brother Yang" but made him feel uncomfortable all over, and he got goose bumps every time he heard it.It's better to be called "Qinqin", anyway, I'm almost immune.

Qian Guowei: ...Is this the point?

"You can't use a nickname." Feng Lin insisted, "It will be known by others."

Qian Guowei who is someone else: "..."

Yang Yiqin said, "Then it's called the full name."

Anyway, that's how he was called before, and he felt that his name was quite easy to pronounce, so there was no need to change it.

Feng Lin did not compromise: "Then others will think that we are not close."

Yang Yiqin: "..."

What's going on, could it be that you were stimulated by Huang Yuanqi's incident recently?

Forget it, business matters.

Yang Yiqin looked at Qian Guowei: "Is there something wrong with Feng Zheng?"

"You don't care about him, so you may not have heard about him." Qian Guowei straightened his expression and continued the topic just now, "The three wealthy businessmen headed by Feng Zheng have never done any missions since they came to the base. "

incredible.

Yang Yiqin asked: "Then what do they eat?"

"In the previous conditions of exchanging helicopters with the base, in addition to the right to live in a good place, the base also includes the base providing them with food and living supplies for a period of time."

"Then?"

"The deadline has come recently, and they seem to be going out to the base to find food."

"Go out to find food? Good reason, but it should be more than that simple." Yang Yiqin felt incredible, "But can they fight?"

Feng Lin shook his head: "Feng Zheng can't do it, he has already been emptied by wine."

"So they seem to want to use the helicopter as a premise to win over the survivors of the base, euphemistically calling it 'forming a survival team'." Qian Guowei looked at Feng Lin with heavy eyes, "Ordinary people are not good at finding relatives and friends ?"

That's why he came to ask Feng Lin's position.

Blood relationship is always a kind of fetter, and they are afraid that people like Feng Lin standing on the side of the rich businessman will definitely have an impact on the situation of the base.

Hearing this, Yang Yiqin sighed: "It's really a wave of ups and downs."

Whether it's Huang Yuanqi or Feng Zheng...why can't he be like him, live seriously and normally in the last days.

"With Feng Zheng as a person, when he lived on the second floor of the office building, he must have observed the people downstairs every day." Feng Lin asked calmly, "As his 'son', I often go in and out of the office building, but he Didn't Captain Qian find it strange that he didn't look for me?"

Qian Guowei felt strange for a long time: "Why?"

Feng Lin sneered.

"because--"

"He probably doesn't remember what I look like now."