Wasteland Farming, Manual for Raising Human Cubs

Chapter 22 Let It Go
I slept for less than three hours and it was already dawn.

The early morning after the rain on Mount Yi was surrounded by white fog. All the mutated plants and animals had not yet awakened. The mountain was so quiet that the only sound was the rustling of leaves in the wind.

Because the two Meng brothers were sleeping next door, Zhao Gang did not wrap up Zhao Xiaoxiu this time.

She slept alone on a single bed in the duty room, surrounded by fences that Zhao Gang had built with quilts.

The little one curled up and slept inside, like a baby animal sleeping in a nest.

Zhao Gang didn't sleep all night, and he didn't need to sleep.

He sat quietly at the table, sorting the things in his backpack, and took out a colorful rubber band from Shanyuan's bag. He gestured stealthily for a long time towards the cub sleeping on the bed with his hair frizzy.

Finally, tie the frizzy hair into a small bun on top of your head.

Zhao Xiaoxiu was awakened by the noise of the Meng brothers cleaning up the Buddhist temple next door. She sat on the bed, touching the little bun on her head repeatedly with her little hands, her eyes gradually becoming dull.

Hmm. Very weird.

I feel a little happy again.

The naughty hair that always flew everywhere and got on the face and eyes has now been quiet.

Zhao Gang carried a basket of vegetables and waved to the cub to follow him.

The father and daughter came to the temple vegetable garden and picked a basket full of fresh vegetables.

Some of it was cooked for breakfast, and some was packed in sacks and taken back to the base for personal consumption.

While eating the sweet and sticky steamed pumpkin, Zhao Xiaoxiu was surprised to find that her father's cooking skills were unexpectedly good.

No, to be precise, he seemed to have suddenly mastered superb cooking skills.

Not only that, overnight, he learned how to deal with the vegetables in the garden.

He is also very familiar with the collected evolved fruit and vegetable seeds.

Zhao Gang scooped the softest and sweetest part of the pumpkin into his cub's bowl with a spoon, saying:

"When we get back to the base, we can use flower pots, foam boxes and the like to try to grow our own vegetables."

Boss Meng looked over in surprise and said, "Brother Gangzi, do you know how to grow those evolved fruits and vegetables?"

Zhao Gang nodded. All of Shanyuan’s more than ten years of experience in growing evolved fruits and vegetables was in his mind, just like his own memory.

When it comes to growing vegetables, no one in this room knows more than him!
Zhao Gang was very happy because his cubs especially liked to eat these things.

Look, Pumpkin has eaten two big bowls of food, holding the bowl in one hand and the spoon in the other, and putting the food into his mouth in big mouthfuls. It smells very delicious.

After the delicious breakfast, it was only seven o'clock in the morning.

Zhao Gang and the Meng brothers packed up and prepared to go down the mountain.

Pick all the vegetables that the few people can from the vegetable garden and take them away.

But even so, most of the vegetables are still left unharvested.

They need to recuperate after returning to the base. In addition, the weather has been bad recently, so it is impossible for them to come back in a short time, so these vegetables can only be left behind.

Meng Laoer only regretted that he didn’t have a hoverboard, otherwise he would have pulled back all these precious and delicious evolved vegetables.

Even if you can't eat that much, you can still get a lot of points by selling it.

"Oh, what a pity."

Before leaving the temple, Meng Laoer was still feeling pain and reluctant to leave.

Boss Meng glanced at his younger brother and thought that it was lucky that he was able to go back alive, but he was still thinking about these trivial things.

Old Meng's thigh was seriously injured, and the two mutant hyenas were carried by Zhao Gang and Meng Laoer, who walked in front.

Zhao Xiaoxiu carried the hatchet and walked in the middle.

Boss Meng was holding a stick with one hand as a crutch and was responsible for keeping watch. He felt a little reluctant to let such a young child walk alone, so he suggested:
"How about I carry Xiaoxiu down the mountain? The road is slippery and there are a lot of grass. We'll have to save her from falling." Zhao Xiaoxiu said seriously, "Uncle Meng, just take care of yourself. I can do it myself."

Zhao Gang also said: "She can do it."

With his father's affirmation, Zhao Xiaoxiu became more motivated. He walked forward with great effort, and from time to time he helped the adults cut the mutated weeds that blocked the way. Surprisingly, his speed was not much slower than that of the adults.

Occasionally I would slip and fall, but I would get up by myself, pat my butt and continue walking.

Zhao Gang had no intention of helping the cub the whole time, and just let it stumble and slide down the slope.

Seeing that she had learned her lesson and knew to look at her next step before taking a step, she looked very proud.

After seeing this, Boss Meng never mentioned carrying her on his back again.

After walking for half an hour, the three adults and one child passed by the observation deck where they had previously taken shelter from the rain.

Suddenly, Zhao Xiaoxiu, who had already rushed to the front, slammed on the brakes and stopped abruptly.

The three adults looked up and saw that the evolved macaque that had not been seen all night had appeared in the pavilion at some point.

There were traces of ashes on its limbs. It must have gone back to the temple to dig up the fire that burned the Shanyuan father and daughter, and then ran to the observation deck to wait for them to pass by.

As soon as the little monkey saw Zhao Xiaoxiu and the others, it immediately bared its teeth and let out sharp screams at them.

The Meng brothers felt a tightness in their hearts.

Boss Meng immediately raised his detection gun and aimed it at the monkey.

Zhao Gang's tentacles also flew out at a rapid speed in an instant, with fleshy buds blooming on the top and opening its bloody mouth to swallow the evolved macaque in an instant.

"Daddy don't want it!"

Zhao Xiaoxiu hurriedly grabbed the blood-red tentacle that Zhao Gang threw out.

The fleshy bud, which had opened wide enough to devour the evolved macaque, suddenly closed and hovered in front of the screaming macaque.

It was obviously stunned for a moment, and then it realized how powerful and terrifying the "human" in front of it was. The monkey blinked its eyes quickly, turned around and wanted to run out of the pavilion and jump off the cliff.

Unfortunately, as soon as it turned around, the meat bud immediately turned around and cut it off, preventing it from moving forward.

The macaque was shocked and frightened, and kept baring its teeth. Its head turned backwards frequently, and it looked at these humans helplessly and terrified.

It was as if the monkey that had just bared its teeth and screamed at them was not it.

"Dad, let it go." Zhao Xiaoxiu frowned and requested in a low voice.

She didn't know what was wrong with her.

When the macaque screamed just now, she clearly felt its anger and sadness, but she didn't feel that it wanted to retaliate or hurt them.

The cub said he wanted to let it go, so Zhao Gang immediately retracted his tentacles.

Without any obstruction, the macaque immediately jumped off the cliff, swinging on the pine branches and vines, and disappeared into the forest at an extremely fast speed.

Meng Laoer slapped his thigh and said, "This is a huge amount of points. Ah!" He forgot that his hand was injured and immediately broke out in a cold sweat from the pain. He howled for a long time.

Boss Meng couldn't bear to watch, "What kind of person have you become? Don't you know what's wrong with you?"

Looking at Zhao Xiaoxiu again, it is understandable that children are reluctant to hurt small animals.

Zhao Xiaoxiu was not reluctant to let it go, she just felt that this evolved macaque was too intelligent.

Just by looking into its eyes, she could sense its emotions.

Killing it would make her feel like she was killing a child who was still ignorant of the world's good and evil.

Zhao Gang didn't care. As long as the cubs wouldn't be harmed, everything would be fine.

Nodding to the two Meng brothers, the three adults and one child continued down the mountain.

(End of this chapter)