Published: February 11, 2025
"Just got back from attending a classmate's wedding out of town. Starting tomorrow until the end of the month, I need to catch up on what I missed this month~~"
"You two, why did it take so long?" Le Da Yuan smiled as he wiped the water droplets from his hands with his apron, having seen Liu Zhenghong and Ye Zhongming approach through the window.
Not only could he create magic crystal weapons, but he also excelled in cooking. Le Da Yuan mentioned that he honed these culinary skills during the time he was idling at home while the factory was barely surviving.
"I could smell the delicious aroma from far away," Ye Zhongming said with a grin as he entered the house. The living room already had a large table set up, with at least ten dishes on it, all looking and smelling wonderful. Of course, these dishes had a distinct apocalypse style, with ingredients, especially the meat, predominantly from mutated animals.
However, the cooking methods were still those from Earth and had nothing to do with Cloud Summit Delicacies.
Not long after the three of them sat down, Xia Lei, Liang Chuyin, and Miya arrived together, followed by Xia Bai and Red Hair.
These individuals were all closely related to Ye Zhongming, and they were nearly inseparable from one another.
Everyone quickly began to eat, but although Red Hair currently appeared almost indistinguishable from humans, she did not enjoy this kind of food. She also never needed to drink water; she just sat for a bit, smiled, and left the table. Seeing this, Xia Bai followed her out, as they were both not accustomed to such gatherings.
During the meal, most of the conversation was among the women, while Le Da Yuan and Ye Zhongming just listened with smiles until the topic turned serious, prompting everyone to engage in discussion.
"The mutated rats in Ying City will reach their peak breeding period?" Le Da Yuan put down his wine glass and thought deeply, "That means, in the coming year or even two, the number of mutated rats will surge to an alarming level, and their breeding speed will continue to increase as the next generation grows."
After speaking, Le Da Yuan paused and looked at the people around him, "Can I understand this to mean that this Rat King is playing us?"
Ye Zhongming lowered his head, took a bite of food, and chewed slowly before replying, "At the very least, it's hiding something from us. As for the purpose of this concealment, it doesn't necessarily mean it's trying to harm us; perhaps it's merely trying to protect itself."
"Naturally, if one day their strength surpasses ours, it will be us who need to protect ourselves."
Upon hearing Ye Zhongming's words, Liu Zhenghong also put down her chopsticks.
"I have a different perspective. That Rat King is far smarter than we imagine. Since it believes in our technology at Cloud Summit, it should be able to guess that I can identify this pattern. However, even though it hasn't explicitly stated it, it has still sent us a large number of test subjects. Perhaps this is just its silent protest; it's not a warning, but simply a means to make me wary. After all, based on current observations, we at Cloud Summit are quite strong and haven't shown any signs of being surpassed."
"Sister Hong, you have an idea, don't you?" Miya gazed adoringly at this woman whom she felt was almost akin to a creator.
"Hehe." Sister Hong chuckled, "Although I'm not certain yet, due to having ample test subjects, the matter of these mutated rats might become the gene source that I can analyze and understand most thoroughly in the laboratory."
Everyone waited for her to continue, but Sister Hong abruptly stopped.
The group was momentarily taken aback, but Le Da Yuan, knowing his wife well, shook his head in amusement, "What are you keeping from these kids?"
"Yeah, Sister Hong, we don't understand your stuff; are you bullying us for being uneducated?" Xia Lei chimed in, pretending to be dissatisfied.
Liu Zhenghong laughed and began to explain.
"Since I understand it best, it means I can use them proficiently. Perhaps right now, I can't create an army of mutated rats for Cloud Summit, but reasonably utilizing their genes to manifest certain abilities in other lifeforms we can control isn't an issue."