Chapter 17: Companions

Chapter 17: Companion

After satisfying her cravings, Xia Qing sprayed disinfectant into the cracks of the doors and windows, as well as the drains in the bathroom and kitchen, sealing them tight. She then spread out a sleeping bag on the other side of the campfire to prepare for sleep.

The soothing effect of the capsules lasted ten hours on an ordinary person, but on a weakened evolved sheep, it would likely last at most six hours. Fearing that the drug would wear off and the sheep would ram several large holes into her house, Xia Qing felt uneasy if she didn't keep watch.

Xia Qing was drifting in and out of sleep when the campfire gradually faded from bright to dim. The leader of the sheep on the opposite side opened its eyes, its limbs twitching slightly. It stood up, shook its fluffy, curly wool, and took two steps back to distance itself from the fire.

Xia Qing’s eyes snapped open immediately. She scrambled out of her sleeping bag and stood up, staring at the sheep.

"Baa."

Although the sheep's bleat was weak, it sounded like a normal sheep. Xia Qing breathed a sigh of relief. "Want to go out?"

The sheep squinted and tilted its head up, sniffing the air. Then, its hooves went *da-da-da* against the floor tiles as it trotted into the kitchen to eat.

Great, the food she prepared was going to be a free meal for the sheep. Xia Qing followed it and leaned against the doorframe, letting out a lazy yawn. "Once you're full, go back to your pen."

After finishing the vegetables in the basket, the sheep trotted back and chose a spot slightly further from the fire to lie down, squinting its eyes and remaining still.

Seeing that it had no intention of picking a fight, Xia Qing agreed. "Sleeping here tonight is fine, but if you dare to poop or pee in the house, I'll slaughter you for meat."

The sheep squinted and remained motionless.

"After that one bout of losing control and going berserk, the meat probably wouldn't be edible anyway. Plus, I even gave you a bath and drove out the parasites; you've basically turned a misfortune into a blessing." Xia Qing yawned and slowly closed her eyes.

After lying on its side for a while, the sheep changed its posture.

Hearing the movement, Xia Qing immediately opened her eyes. She saw it stretch its two front legs forward, its head and neck slowly sinking until it rested on its forelegs. Not counting the weight of its head, those two large horns alone must weigh ten pounds; it didn't seem to fear numbing its slender legs. Xia Qing smiled silently and closed her eyes to sleep.

The sheep stared at Xia Qing for a while, then at the fire, before finally closing its eyes.

The human and the sheep slept until dawn. The sheep was the first to wake. As soon as it stood up, Xia Qing, hearing the movement, woke up immediately, got up, and opened the door to let it out.

After relieving itself in the yard, the sheep turned to eat the evolved perilla Xia Qing had placed on the sheep pen rack.

The weeds in the yard had grown wildly overnight, now taller than Xia Qing's calves. However, judging by the sheep's reaction, there seemed to be no danger in the yard.

Xia Qing made herself two fragrant toasted cornmeal pancakes with Chinese toon for breakfast; they tasted quite good.

After finishing the pancakes, thinking of the sheep—which looked stout but was actually all bone and no meat—Xia Qing pulled out the book on sheep farming she had collected. By comparing the illustrations and text in the book, Xia Qing confirmed that the sheep belonged to the Fat-tailed Mutton breed. After carefully reading about the habits of Fat-tailed Mutton, she couldn't help but laugh.

A large portion of the book described how delicious the meat was, how fast they reproduced, and how high the quality of their wool was, ending with a brief mention that this breed was highly adaptable to environments.

It was indeed very adaptable; otherwise, the sheep wouldn't have survived ten years into the apocalypse, and its height and weight wouldn't be 1.5 times that of an adult ram in the book.

After evolution, the size of many creatures increased, and humans were no exception.

During the Great Evolution of Blue Star, the dividing line for human evolutionary traits was age 25. Those over 25 would not see significant changes in body size after evolving, but those under 25 would experience a noticeable increase. When Xia Qing evolved at sixteen, she was only 1.61 meters tall; now at twenty-five, she had grown to 1.77 meters. She had a strange feeling she might still grow taller.

Because the broadcasts said that after human evolution, not only did height increase, but lifespan also extended. Of course, that was just research data; under the harsh conditions of natural disasters, how many people could live to a natural death?

"Concentrated feed?" Xia Qing flipped to the page on raising Fat-tailed Mutton and found that several concentrated feed formulas included corn and salt. "Sheep need salt too?"

Xia Qing's gaze turned toward her grain bin. She had cornmeal, but...

...she couldn't bring herself to part with it...

She would deal with that once her life improved.

Xia Qing then flipped to several types of forage with high nutritional value for sheep and memorized their names and appearances.

After eating, Xia Qing put on her protective suit and pulled all the weeds in the yard. Grass that grew wildly in the "Rain of Destruction" had to be pulled out by the roots and burned; otherwise, the root systems would continue to grow and damage the environment.

After exterminating a nest of highly destructive evolved ants, it began to rain again. Xia Qing used half a basin of purified water kept under the eaves to rinse the mud off her jumpsuit. Just as she was about to open the door to go inside, the sheep came trotting over.

Xia Qing didn't move, staring at its dirty hooves.

Only when the sheep began to impatiently scratch the ground with its front hooves did Xia Qing sigh and open the door to let it in. If she didn't let it in, what would happen? Would they fight again and end up covered in mud?

She didn't want to waste the effort. Besides, the sheep didn't defecate or urinate everywhere, and it didn't have any strange smell, so it was fine to let it in.

Seeing the sheep enter and lie down by the extinguished fire, squinting its eyes while ruminating, Xia Qing sprayed some insect repellent, shut the door tight, and took off her protective suit and mask, hanging them on a homemade hanger by the door.

Turning around, she found the sheep staring at her protective suit while chewing the grass it had regurgitated from its stomach, looking as if it wanted to take a bite to taste it. Xia Qing immediately glared to intimidate it. "What are you looking at? You absolutely cannot bite this, or I'll stew you."

The sheep squinted, continued staring, and continued ruminating.

Xia Qing used a broom to sweep away the wood ash from the stone floor, then set up dry wood to start a fire. The main purpose of lighting a fire indoors was not for warmth, but to use the smoke to drive out the moisture and repel evolved insects.

Once the fire was lit, Xia Qing noticed the sheep was still staring at the protective suit while fiddling with the grass in its mouth. She began to mutter while poking at the fire, "Don't look at this suit like that; even though it has several patches, it's worth 1,500 points. It's the best protective suit I could buy in the Safe Zone. Without this skin, I don't know how many times I would have died. Boss, can you even understand what I'm saying?"

"You definitely can't. Even though your ancestors were domesticated, you are purely wild. You've barely seen humans; how could you possibly understand human speech? How old are you?" Xia Qing warmed her hands by the rising flames, continuing her monologue. "It's a pity there are no sweet potatoes, chestnuts, or peanuts, otherwise we could roast them and eat them."

Since her father died, Xia Qing rarely engaged in idle chatter. Listening to the rain outside today while keeping watch over a fire with the sheep, she suddenly felt a strong urge to vent. "Have you ever seen a sweet potato in the Evolved Forest? They are so delicious."

The sheep squinted at the dancing flames. Although it didn't dare get close, it didn't seem to fear the fire very much.

After warming up, Xia Qing took out a half-finished chair from the tool room and continued her work. Although the "Destruction Element" content in this rain wasn't high enough to make her as irritable as yesterday, she might as well stay busy.

Once the chair was finished, Xia Qing sat on it to test it. It was very sturdy and excellent; she finally had her first decent piece of furniture.

Seeing the sheep staring at her chair again, Xia Qing said happily, "How is it? Not bad, right? I learned this from a carpenter in the construction team back in the Safe Zone. It doesn't use a single nail."

Xia Qing stood up, went to the window to check the yard, and couldn't help but curse. "I just pulled them all, and they've already grown back!"