Picking Up Special Marine Creatures While Going to the Sea [Apocalypse] - Chapter 4 PT1

Chapter 4 PT1 – The Aurora

Su Ran opened his mouth.

He raised his hand, rubbed his eyes, and looked again.

There was indeed a little hen in the chicken coop.

It sat upright. With Su Ran’s 5.3 vision, he could barely see the fluffy feathers on its chest and the small, soft, erect pink crest.

Zombies walked back and forth in front of its nest.

The hen didn’t move at all, except for a moment when she tilted her head slightly, causing the fleshy comb on top of her head to sway.

It was…alive!

Su Ran was startled.

If it crowed, the zombie would immediately pounce on it and bite it to death. However, the latter had been wandering back and forth for several times, but did not notice that there was a living creature behind it.

How many days has it been?

It’s been at least a week since Sister Zhao’s family turned into zombies, right? Had the hen remained like this?

Su Ran’s heart was in turmoil.

Is it scared silly, or is it cuddling?

Just at this moment, another skinny zombie staggered out of the house. He was wearing a navy blue down vest and holding a clothes fork in his hand. He looked aggressive and walked with vigorous steps. It was Aunt Zhao.

Su Ran quickly glanced at the second floor of the house again.

Uncle Zhao, who was originally “entertaining himself” in the bedroom, also turned around and walked out of the room. Two or three minutes later, the family of three reunited in the yard, spinning in circles together, as if they were playing some childish family game, and stepping on the dead chickens from time to time.

The little hen stood still in the dark.

Su Ran looked at it for a long time, pursed his lips tightly, and his heart was in turmoil.

He glanced at his hands – two bags of seafood. If he swung them, he would be lucky if he could use them as rewards, let alone knock out the zombies.

…He finally got down from the tree and returned home.

Xue Tuan came out to greet him. He put down his things, squatted down and hugged him, muttering, “It’s so powerful. Sister Zhao and the others have all turned into zombies. Its companions were bitten to death, but it’s still alive.”

“It’s as smart as you, Xue Tuan.”

Xue Tuan seemed to understand what he said and breathed in his ear, feeling quite proud.

Since the outbreak of the zombie virus, it has never crowed again, as it used to crow when excited.

“…But with three zombies, the risk is too great.”

Su Ran told himself not to think about it anymore.

Lately he’s been trying to stop himself from thinking about this or that, and there are always a lot of things in his mind that he wants to force himself to forget.

He went to the nursery to see the seedlings being grown.

This shed was built by his father himself. It is very simple, with a metal frame covered with a layer of transparent plastic cloth for insulation. When it is really cold in winter, equipment will be installed inside to increase the temperature.

But they didn’t use those devices this winter because the lowest temperature never dropped below 5 degrees Celsius.

At this moment, labeled square seedling pots are neatly arranged on the shelves, and seedlings of various crops are growing quietly and vigorously, including lettuce, celery, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, cauliflower, and cabbage.

Su Ran moved closer to observe.

Although he doesn’t work in the fields all day like his father, he has helped out since he was a child and has rich experience in farming. These seedlings were all grown by him.

Now, the lettuce and celery have grown a few tender green true leaves and can be transplanted, but the others will have to wait.

Transplanting is best done in the morning. It’s already afternoon today, so he decided to wait until tomorrow morning.

Su Ran suddenly thought that it was almost time to grow corn seedlings.

The rice at home and the potatoes in the fields will eventually run out, so he had to find a way to replenish the staple food.

He turned and went into the house.

His parents buy various seeds online all year round. His father only bought seeds that can be grown and eaten, while his mother liked to buy flower seeds.

However, the quality of seeds purchased online varies greatly, and it is common for them to fail to germinate after being planted, so his parents always throw away bags of seeds – into the ground and use them as fertilizer.

Su Ran rummaged through the kitchen cabinets and couldn’t help but sigh.

As early as half a month ago, he discovered that only a few seeds were left after being thrown away… The corn seeds were still there, and the remaining ones were the ones that were already in the nursery shed and in the fields. Besides lettuce and celery, the others were green onions, cilantro, leeks, spinach, and green vegetables…

It would be nice if he could find some other seeds.

After all, he didn’t know how long this situation would last, and it would be quite greasy if he kept eating these.

Su Ran poured out some corn seeds, wrapped them with wet paper towels, and germinated them.

Seeds that have been germinated are easier to plant.

The sky gradually darkened amid the busyness.

In the evening, Su Ran went to the field to pick some leeks.

The leeks are the most tender at this time. Chop them up and stir-fry them with eggs. They are fragrant and go well with rice.

He saved a crab, planning to cut it into pieces and stir-fry it with clams in chili sauce – although he was too lazy to cook complicated dishes alone, sometimes after eating steamed food for too long, he always wanted to eat something with a stronger flavor.

The rest of the crabs are planned to be cooked and frozen.

Su Ran has good cooking skills, which he learned from his grandmother since he was a child. According to Su Yixin, his cooking skills have long surpassed their parents and become the best in the family. Even a plate of stir-fried vegetables with mashed garlic can be made by him like a top-notch delicacy.

If Su Yixin were here now… When the spicy stir-fried crabs and clams came out of the pot, Su Ran turned around inadvertently and saw Xue Tuan sitting at the kitchen door drooling, and couldn’t help laughing.

Well, she would probably be the same as Xue Tuan.

As usual, he made some boiled meat for Xue Tuan and mixed it into the dog food.

After the man and the dog had eaten and drunk their fill, they sat on the steps in front of the door and were stunned for a long time. Su Ran got up to wash the dishes, sealed the remaining steamed crabs, and put them in the freezer.

At half past eight, turn off the lights and go upstairs.

•|•

In the bathroom, Su Ran was wiping his body carefully.

The young man in the mirror had a well-proportioned body, with a thin layer of muscle covering every part of his body just right. Even though he grew up by the sea, he did not have dark skin like his other neighbors.

On the contrary, he is very fair, but not crystal white. An elder once said that he is like a peeled egg, a warm white.

But Su Ran actually lives a very rough life. He doesn’t like to apply sunscreen because he feels it is sticky and not refreshing, but even so he can’t get tanned.

But he still gets sunburned. In previous summers, there were always a few days when his face would be sunburned and red, as if he had just been pulled out of boiling water. His mother was worried that he would disfigure himself.

“You’ve messed up your face like a shrimp!” his mother scolded him.

But in fact, when his skin healed, it turned back into the skin of a peeled egg, which made his mother speechless.

Su Ran wiped his body clean, put down the towel, put his hands on the sink, and looked at himself in the mirror.

His eyes swept across the young man’s eyebrows, nose, lips, and upper body in the mirror…

He touched his face.

There shouldn’t be any difference, right?

The evolution of the body seems to be reflected only in its functions, and there has been no change in appearance.

Su Ran secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, there was a sound of claws scratching at the door.

He came back to his senses and grabbed some clean underwear and put them on: “What are you doing, Xue Tuan?”

Xue Tuan was still scratching at the door, looking very anxious.

Su Ran frowned, quickly put on his pajamas, and walked over to open the door. Xue Tuan immediately put down his paws, turned around and ran forward, but stopped after two steps, turned around, and motioned for him to follow.

Could it be that zombies had broken in?

Su Ran frowned, grabbed a mop from the bathroom and followed.

However, Xue Tuan actually led him into the bedroom. After sitting down by the window, he raised his head and looked out the window with a focused gaze through the gap in the curtains.

Su Ran was stunned for a moment, then after realizing what was happening, he immediately raised his hand to turn off the light.

The light will attract zombies.

Although the curtains in the room were drawn at the moment, and observations over the past month had proven that zombies at night did not become manic whenever they encountered light, the current situation was clearly not right.

After it got dark in the bedroom, Su Ran quickly walked to the window and looked outside through the gap in the curtains like Xue Tuan. In an instant, his pupils constricted.

All the zombies came out.

The doors of every yard within sight were open, and zombies were wandering on the dark village roads, screaming one after another, like a group of extremely hungry beasts that followed their instinct to find food.

Su Ran held his breath, opened his eyes, and slowly looked up at the night sky.

…the magnificent aurora is flashing.

Red, green, purple, blue, the colorful colors turned into huge silk, pouring into the night sky, spectacular and psychedelic.

This strange phenomenon has occurred many times in the past month.

They didn’t know what to call it. After all, a true aurora couldn’t appear at this latitude, and no one knew what substance reacted in the atmosphere to emit light.

They could only call it “Aurora”.

Every time the aurora appears, the zombies become agitated.

No, not only zombies, but also animals and plants will become extremely strange.

At this moment, flocks of seagulls flew into the village and were gliding wildly in the sky – they have become very active even at night.

One of them dived down as if falling, and several zombies below raised their heads and jumped up in an instant. In the blink of an eye, the seagull was bitten by one of the zombies and torn into two halves, with its white feathers flying away.

Su Ran’s heart tightened.

…Evolution? Or just by chance?

The coriander, leeks, and green onions in the yard below were swaying slightly. Su Ran quietly opened the window a crack and reached out his hand, but he didn’t feel any wind.

Just like the previous times, it was automatic without wind.

He withdrew his hand, closed the window, pulled the curtains tight, turned around, slid down with his back against the wall, and hugged Xue Tuan in his arms.

Xue Tuan stamped his feet anxiously and nudged his face with his nose, as if he really wanted to discuss with him the strange phenomena happening outside.

Su Ran stroked its fur and lowered his voice: “Shh, shh, don’t make any noise.”

On nights like this, they would be as quiet as death.

Then, his thoughts gradually drifted away.

‘…I wonder what happened to the little hen.’

‘And there’s that weird mermaid.’