Let me follow you (Chapter 86)
A newly hatched duckling was quite adorable.
It had pitch-black feathers, a flat beak, and brown eyes that blinked rapidly.
There was a touch of red on its forehead.
It didn't have the pointed beak of the Lynch Pointy-Billed Duck, and its feather color was different as well.
The Lynch Pointy-Billed Duck had a body covered in green feathers, looking almost like a vegetable come to life.
Now, this tiny duckling didn't seem threatening at all, which made Ye Sheng watch curiously for a while.
This was a rare moment of a mutated creature hatching!
No matter if others had seen it or not, it was Ye Sheng's first time seeing it!
The little black duckling didn't panic under Ye Sheng's gaze. Instead, it tried to stretch its wings and wobble out of the eggshell but lost most of its strength after hatching and ended up sitting back down.
'Quack'
It looked quite helpless!
"Hey, little duck, why are you different from other ducks?"
Ye Sheng looked at the cute duckling, summoned a small hoe, and poked it gently with the hoe's tip.
The little black duckling quacked in response, seemingly unhappy.
Ye Sheng chuckled and continued poking it, causing the duckling to turn around and present its backside in protest.
Just as Ye Sheng was about to poke it from another direction, there was another cracking sound. The egg beside the little black duckling also broke, and a second duckling emerged.
However, unlike the black duckling's clumsy appearance, this one was green and oily.
It had a pointy beak.
Clearly a young Lynch Pointy-Billed Duck.
Not very attractive.
Hmm... It seems that the little black duck might be an adopted egg...
But compared to the black duckling that couldn't even stand, the young Lynch Pointy-Billed Duck was much stronger. It not only quickly jumped out of the eggshell but also was quite aggressive, leaping towards Ye Sheng as soon as it hatched.
'Quack quack!'
The fierce quacking, along with the spiky beak, made Ye Sheng frown.
Without hesitation, she swatted the young Lynch Pointy-Billed Duck away with her hoe.
After landing, the young duck shrieked even louder, flapping its wings and attacking again. This time, Ye Sheng directly pulled out a hand crossbow and sent the young Lynch Pointy-Billed Duck to its end.
Ye Sheng had thought that newly hatched ducklings wouldn't be aggressive.
It turned out she was wrong; the young of mutated creatures were extremely fierce.
No wonder there are so few mutated creatures that can become pets. They are so aggressive right after hatching, taming them is no easy task.
When Ye Sheng first arrived in the wasteland world, she had only heard about mutated creatures from Zhou Lin and had always believed that they couldn't be kept as pets.
However, after she and Ah Mu entered the safe zone, Ye Sheng had seen some people accompanied by mutated creatures.
Upon asking Ah Mu, she learned that mutated creatures as pets were extremely expensive and rare, requiring special training. Compared to the outer city, the inner city of the safe zone had many tamed mutated creatures.
People took pride in owning such pets.
The city's construction in the inner city was more luxurious and comfortable, with its residents being wealthy and prestigious. It was like a paradise base, a place many people longed for!
However, when Ye Sheng inquired about the housing prices, she found that they started at tens of millions of credits, and even then, there were few properties available.
Hearing this astronomical number, Ye Sheng clicked her tongue, having no ambition to dream about it.
She just wanted a house in the outer city of the safe zone, where she wouldn't have to worry about being attacked by mutated creatures all the time and could safely leave her little darling at home. She wouldn't have to worry too much about what to eat either.
Thinking about her current credits, she was only three hundred thousand credits short.
With some effort, she could save up enough!
Returning to reality, Ye Sheng glanced at the little black duck, puzzled as to why it was so docile. Even when she poked it, it didn't attack but seemed to sulk silently.
It was still facing her with its back.
Before Ye Sheng could continue observing the little black duck, there were continuous cracking sounds as if planned.
The remaining three duck eggs started to crack open.
As the eggshells broke, three more green Lynch Pointy-Billed Ducklings emerged, just as aggressive. Upon seeing Ye Sheng, they immediately attacked her.
Ye Sheng had to swat them away with her hoe.
However, with three of them at once, she managed to swat away two but couldn't deal with the remaining one in time.
Seeing its sharp beak pecking toward her calf, Ye Sheng quickly moved a few steps to the left. The duckling's beak dug into the ground, leaving a small hole.
Wow!
Seeing the little Lynch Pointy-Billed Duckling's strong attack, Ye Sheng didn't dare take any chances. She didn't want to get injured by their beaks, so she quickly shot three arrows, taking down all three ducklings.
She then scanned them with her detector.
'Beep. High radiation detected in Lynch Pointy-Billed Duck. Not edible.'
'Beep. High radiation detected in Lynch Pointy-Billed Duck. Not edible.'
'Beep. Medium radiation detected in Lynch Pointy-Billed Duck. Edible in moderation.'
Huh?
Σ( ° △ °)
Among the four Lynch Pointy-Billed Ducklings, one was actually edible.
Although small, even a little bit counts, and maybe some food enthusiasts in the safe zone would appreciate it!
Ye Sheng took out a nylon bag, put the little Lynch Pointy-Billed Duckling in it, and stored it in her bag. Then she finally had some free time to take out her smart wristwatch and took a photo of the little black duck.
She began searching on the wasteland forum.
Soon, a lot of search results appeared, and Ye Sheng clicked on the first one.
She found that the picture was only similar to the little black duck.
After clicking on a few more, all she found were various birds that looked very similar, but none matched exactly. With thousands of results left, Ye Sheng decided to give up.
There's no task too difficult if you're willing to give up.
It didn't matter if she couldn't identify the little black duck; it wasn't her concern anyway.
However, after Ye Sheng curiously poked the little black duck's butt with the hoe again, the duck suddenly looked with a disdain, tumbled out of the eggshell and ran away.
Unlike its initial weakness, the duckling now ran quite quickly on its little legs.
In a flash, it disappeared into the grass.
Ye Sheng didn't chase after it, as the little black duck was pretty cute. It hadn't attacked her and didn't have much meat on it, so she let it go.
Although it seemed like she could capture it as a pet, Ye Sheng didn't have the patience to tame a mutated creature. For now, she was more interested in hunting the larger Lynch Pointy-Billed Ducks!
Meat and credits were the most important!
(???)
Before leaving, Ye Sheng used a dagger to cut open the stomach of a Lynch Spiky-billed Duck. Aside from a bunch of half-digested matter, there was no sign of any energy stones.
Standing up, Ye Sheng looked around and picked a direction to run in.
The Lynch Pointy-Billed Ducks weren't afraid of humans, so there was no need to worry about scaring them off. The main concern was not getting surrounded by them, as their sharp beaks could be quite dangerous.
So, when Ye Sheng soon spotted a group of a dozen Lynch Pointy-Billed Ducks, she activated her stealth effect.
She then aimed her hand crossbow at one of the ducks and calmly fired. Due to the distance, her accuracy wasn't perfect; she had aimed for the head for a quick kill but ended up hitting the neck.
The sudden attack agitated the ducks, and they began flapping their sharp wings, cutting through the surrounding grass. The flurry of grass and leaves stirred up chaos.
Ye Sheng remained crouched, aiming her crossbow at another Lynch Pointy-Billed Duck.
With a swift shot, she hit the mark this time!
A headshot, killing it instantly.
One by one, using her stealth cloak and hand crossbow, Ye Sheng managed to take down the entire group of Lynch Pointy-Billed Ducks.
After ensuring there were no more ducks around, Ye Sheng quickly stood up. The long period of crouching had made her calves tingle, and she grimaced as she walked briskly to shake off the numbness.
Then came the rewarding part: collecting the ducks.
'Beep. High radiation detected in Lynch Pointy-Billed Duck. Not edible.'
'Beep. Medium radiation detected in Lynch Pointy-Billed Duck. Edible in moderation.'...
Unlike the young ducks, these larger ones had more meat. Out of the dozen Lynch Pointy-Billed Ducks, three were found to have medium radiation levels and were safe to eat!
Ye Sheng lifted the ducks, estimating that they weighed at least ten pounds each, with the sharp feathers contributing a good portion of the weight.
Not bad!
With a few more, she could sell them in the safe zone for a good number of credits.
Excited by the haul of three edible ducks, Ye Sheng continued her guerrilla tactics, finding that the Lynch Pointy-Billed Ducks tended to move in groups, saving her the trouble of hunting them down one by one.
Previously, in a tavern, Ye Sheng overheard people at the next table discussing that Iron-beaked Ducks wouldn't have a gathering spot, but that didn't apply to other types of ducks.
Fortunately, Lynch Pointy-Billed Duck meat was decent and not difficult to eat, so selling it for 100 credits per pound was definitely feasible.
As they say, fortune favors the bold; this time, she reaped a substantial harvest!
However, the invisibility cloak's effect only lasted thirty minutes. To prevent any accidents on the way back, Ye Sheng had to keep ten minutes in reserve, so after twenty minutes of hunting, even if she wanted to continue, she couldn't.
What a pity!
Looking at the tall mutated plants and grass around, Ye Sheng knew there were likely more Lynch Pointy-Billed Duck flocks nearby, but she wasn't strong enough to take them all on, so she could only sigh and let them go.
This time, she had gotten lucky and found them first. She wouldn't be so lucky next time.
Once the information was posted and sold multiple times by Mo Lin, others would soon come in droves, and there might not even be a single feather left.
As for buying the information outright? That wasn't necessary.
Duck flocks' gathering spots weren't like wild vegetable patches, which could refresh the next day. Once enough Lynch Pointy-Billed Ducks were killed, they would start migrating elsewhere.
It's better to sell the information now; she only needed 2000 base credits to make a nice profit!
Ye Sheng counted the Lynch Pointy-Billed Ducks she had obtained: 15 medium-radiation ducks, 2 low-radiation ducks, and a bag of duck eggs.
And a small piece of E-grade energy stone, which, upon testing, only had 35 energy units.
The detector couldn't measure the radiation in eggs; that required other equipment. Ye Sheng didn't plan to go out of her way to test them again; she'd just sell them directly to a restaurant.
Whether or not the eggs had radiation, they would still fetch a good price!
After packing the duck meat into her magic bag, Ye Sheng took out her smart wristwatch and took photos of the last group of Lynch Pointy-Billed Ducks she had killed. She then uploaded them to the post she made last night and tagged "Wasteland Know-It-All."
\[fffw665\]: Back with a full haul. Picture.jpg/Picture.jpg/Picture.jpg
\[Wasteland Know-It-All\]: 666! Anyone wanting to buy the location of the duck flock, hurry up! The second sale information is only 3000 base credits, limited to ten slots, first come, first served.
As soon as Ye Sheng posted the pictures, Mo Lin responded.
Seeing the price for the second sale of the information, Ye Sheng fell silent. Sure enough, Mo Lin was even more ruthless!
Still, as the first to try, she had gotten the advantage.
Seeing Mo Lin busy making money, Ye Sheng transferred 1800 credits to him to cover the balance.
Today's wilderness adventure was a complete success; it was time to go home. Ye Sheng skillfully took out a nylon bag from her magic pouch and packed the high-radiation duck meat, planning to find a place to dispose of it on the way.
Leaving the duck carcasses there would attract other mutated creatures.
Ye Sheng and Mo Lin had agreed earlier that she would take the dead ducks away to avoid affecting the duck flock's location, ensuring that those who bought the information wouldn't come up empty-handed.
Just as Ye Sheng finished packing and was about to leave, she suddenly felt a tug on her pants leg.
As Ye Sheng looked down, she saw the little black duck, which had disappeared earlier, reappear and grab onto her pants with its beak to stop her from leaving.
"Huh?" Ye Sheng widened her eyes, holding her small hoe threateningly, "Go away, or I'll make roast duck!"
The little black duck was unfazed by her threat, instead clamping onto her pants with its beak and using its wings to climb up like a worm.
Ye Sheng was at a loss for words...
She really didn't have the patience to train mutated animals!
She remembered the stray cat her mom had adopted, which had peed on the bed and caused all sorts of chaos in the house, including knocking her figurines off the shelves. It was a nightmare!
Although the cat eventually became well-behaved, it never lost its mischievous streak, leaving Ye Sheng with mixed feelings.
But, if this little black duck turned out to be obedient, it might not be a bad idea.
It could keep her little one company at home, and she could have some fun with it too.
With this in mind, Ye Sheng tentatively reached out to touch the duck's head, always ready to dodge in case it tried to bite her. However, the little black duck was too focused on climbing up her leg to care about her hand.
What a silly little thing!
Gaining confidence, Ye Sheng started to gently stroke the duck's head. Its smooth feathers felt nice, but she didn't let it climb all the way up. Instead, she picked it up by its wings and placed it back on the ground.
"Little duck, if you can keep up with me, I'll take you in."
After saying that, Ye Sheng quickly set off in the direction of home. For over an hour, under the scorching sun, the little black duck stayed close to her, not falling behind.
But now, it seemed exhausted compared to its initial vigor.
Even mutated creatures aren't endless energy machines, especially newborns.
With the initial test over, the little duck had passed.
Ye Sheng took out a small basket from her magic pouch and put the little black duck inside. Then, she continued walking while checking her smart watch for information on how to care for pets in the wasteland world.
Though she planned to leave most of the care to Little one, she knew she'd still need to lend a hand from time to time.
In a way, this little black duck would be a shared responsibility for them... though calling it a "love child" felt a bit weird!
Anyway, the point was, they'd take good care of it together.
After all, once you've decided to adopt, you can't back out—you have to take responsibility!
Ye Sheng knew that mutated creatures weren't picky eaters and would eat anything, though they preferred low-radiation food. So, she realized she didn't need to throw away the high-radiation duck meat she had; she could dry it out and use it as pet food. She'd just need to buy a vacuum sealer to store it properly, or it wouldn't last long even if dried.
However, the poor girl's eyesight has already recovered, so she can't dry it at home.
The golden finger lottery space must remain a secret, and Ye Sheng has no intention of telling anyone.
She plans to keep it as her trump card.
This wasteland world has psychic abilities, so who knows if these ability users can steal other people's memories?
Just thinking about the possibility of someone discovering her lottery golden finger in the poor girl's mind, capturing her as a tool, and restricting her movement and freedom is terrifying!
Therefore, Ye Sheng decides to keep her mouth shut and let the secret rot in her heart.
Since she can't reveal the lottery space, she might as well buy a large dryer and a vacuum machine from the swap shop's Old Lin!
She can then find a secluded spot near the wilderness to quickly dry the duck meat.
Time flew by as Ye Sheng read the wasteland version of the pet-raising manual, staying vigilant against dangers. She eventually returned to the safe zone without incident.
Seeing more people around, Ye Sheng put away her super-intelligent wristwatch and took out a nylon bag from the Ruyi pouch.
Inside were five medium-radiation Lynch Pointy-Billed Duck.
She used them to make a show.
Carrying the nylon bag, Ye Sheng quickly walked home, alertly watching her surroundings. She noticed that most people hadn't returned from the wilderness yet, so she quickly unlocked the door.
She then pushed the door open, happily carried the basket inside, and approached Gu Luoyu, presenting her treasure by pulling out a small black duck.
Her black eyes sparkled as she shared with her friend, "Gu Luoyu, look, I caught a cute little duck."
Compared to Ye Sheng's simple happiness, Gu Luoyu frowned slightly.
She raised her left hand to touch the red mark on the small black duck's forehead, confirming it in her mind before looking up at Ye Sheng and saying, "This is not a duck."