novel
| ← Ch.167 | Ch.169 → |
The brown shell opened, revealing a solid, milky white substance... like coconut meat. Luo Xun touched it only to find that it quivered like jelly before flowing downwards... So what was this?
The two men put the fruit into a metal bowl. Yan Fei used his knife on the other fruit where thick white liquid slowly flowed out.
This was also put into a separate bowl and the two compared them - the two fruits had different colored seeds and the only difference between the insides was consistency. The gray one had almost completely condensed while the other was still flowing.
"This stuff seems like... milk? Coconuts?" Luo Xun uncertainly looked at Yan Fei.
The latter pulled down his mask for a sniff before turning to Luo Xun."You smell."
The couple took off their masks that were supposed for avoiding'poison'. Luo Xun smelled and immediately said, "It not only looks but also smells incredibly similar! This actually has the smell of milk... wait a minute! I remember hearing about special plants producing milk, but never seen!"
This was obviously legends and rumors. After all, after the end, ordinary people had no fruit at home, not to mention sweet strawberries. Luo Xun had not seen with his own eyes, only heard people speak about it during the apocalypse so it was likely misinformed. But he did not expect that this thing was actually a variant strawberry?!
Yan Fei looked at the fruit carefully while frowning, "We can't test it now..."
Yes, they could only judge by appearance and scent. They could only experiment on living things since they were not sure if it was as Luo Xun thought.
Three porr quails were caught by Luo Xun and placed in a small cage. He mixed the thick juice of the fruits together with a certain ratio of boiling water before feeding it to the little quails... They were not sure that quails needed milk, but this thing was from a strawberry. In general it was still a plant, so it should not be a problem?
Their heart was not as sure and could only wait for the results to appear. The two men moved the experiment to the table and packed up everything. They returned to the living room with the crib.
Inside the baby was still weak, could not open his eyes, even waving his arms was very rare. At this time he was asleep while weakly breathing.
Luo Xun reached out and poked the baby's cheek."If that fruit can used for milk, we'll have food for..."
If the fruit was really what he had heard about, a fruit with milk... then the baby would have the perfect food. After all, they were not lacking rice soup, but the nutritional content was worse than any type of milk.
Yan Fei stood on the sidelines and looked down at the crib. He honestly felt that the boy's luck was surprisingly good. It was his misfortune to be abandoned by his parent, but he met Luo Xun while crying. After coming here, the strawberry mutations had matured and the fruit had milk inside. If Luo Xun was correct about the fruit being a replacement for milk... what baby would grow up as well as him?
But when it came to this, Luo Xun was his and the child's savior.
He lifted a hand and started to rub Luo Xun's hair. The latter who was poking the child's face was surprised. Why was Yan Fei rubbing his hair? Wasn't it the time to play with the child?
Luo Xun accidentally put more force behind his poke so the baby's face wrinkled up as he snorted. Luo Xun quickly lifted his hand to see the baby continued to sleep after tilting his head away...
"This baby is easy to care for..." Luo Xun checked the diaper before busying himself with other things.
After one night, the three hapless quails who were used as experiments were still alive and seemed to enjoy the strange'dairy product' and drank a lot in one night. After Luo Xun confirmed the situation, he went to the 15th floor with the little ones. Song Lingling was left behind this time, after all there were children and a dog at home, it was best to leave housekeeping to someone experienced.
Yan Fei was also carrying a cage containing quails as well two new fruit. Luo Xun explained the fruits to Song Lingling and the test with the quails."If this thing can replace milk, it can support the baby's and Yu Xinran's nutrition."
The yield of the fruit was less than regular strawberries but the growth period was the same. Once grown, the variant fruits would continue producing each month!
So there were greenhouses at home, the only problem was that they were afraid that there was not enough space to plant these things.
"It would be great of this can take the place of milk!" Xu Mei and Song Lingling nodded their heads in support."Leave these quails to me! I'll put all my effort towards their care these next few days!"
Song Lingling and Yu Xinran looked after the baby... they seemed to have forgotten to let them know that he was Yan Fei's unnamed half brother. Since the baby's body was so weak... his fate after birth was precarious, so the team decided to wait until he grew stronger before giving him a name.
The group of people arrived at the mission hall early in the morning. Similar to the last time, the staff were dressed well and were shocked about the group wearing a mix of styles.
"What kind of business do you have?"
Luo Xun promptly responded, "We are here to do team tasks."
"Did you get a text message on your phone?"
"Yes."
"Over here please."
The group of people quickly accepted the task and rushed towards their destination. There were not many people accepting missions in the mission hall. The Otaku squad only met one team, although they saw some somewhat angry people passing though. There seemed to be two different worlds, one was a snowy winter wonderland while the other was an industrial city in ruins.
Luo Xun and company arrived at their target led by two garbage trucks. They parked their cars in places that would not affect traffic and began to use their shovels in tandem.
A full two days of work, this task seemed to be more troublesome than last time. Their last mission was near their neighborhood and since their response was pretty quick - everyone sent some people to clean the roads. The only thing was the increased amount of rubbish on the road.
Perhaps people were more scattered outside of base, until now no one had offered to come clear out the road. Thus Luo Xun found that the snow had been trampled and frozen - they would need a chisel of something...
Thankfully they had Yan Fei on their team! He transformed the shovels into hoes so that everyone had a tool to use.
Two days later, the group of people with waist and leg pain returned home to rest. As captain, Luo Xun had to report the mission and any news he might hear. Not that he would take initiative to ask but the hall was lively. A lot of people were walking around gossiping about news they heard through the grapevine.
"I heard that a lot of teams have received missions for clearing out snow outside the base and many are protesting. Some teams have been ordered to find certain supplies in the city within a month. Not many have picked up the task and are watching the situation."
Luo Xun rubbed his sore arms, these past two days have exceeded his usual amount of exercise. The rest of the group were slumped in their seats.
"How come the mission is not the same." Li Tie asked in surprise. They thought that everyone was supposed to clear snow, but unexpectedly there are people with missions outside?
Luo Xun shrugged, "We aren't sure either. Some people heard that some teams are protesting the missions of clearing snow and rubbish." They just listened as they walked past and were not clear on the details.
"Maybe the more difficult the task, the more rewards?" Xu Mei said.
"If the tasks were graded, it should be known when you choose at the mission hall. Best to the among the first to choose. The best ones would have long been taken, plus there are mandatory missions." Zhang Yi yawned and went towards the door."Why think so much? Anyway, we have finished and tomorrow can rest before our next trip... I'm going back to bed first since I have to get up early tomorrow." The man disappeared.
The couple picked up their children. Yan Fei held the quails that ate the milk fruit for two days. There was no sign of any adverse effects. If there was nothing tomorrow, there would be no problem having the adults try some to taste the flavor and decide if it should be fed to the young ones.
| ← Ch. 167 | Ch. 169 → |