When Xiao Sheng brought the mutated plant's core, the deceased plant heart, out of the ground, the Ability Administration no longer had any reason to stay in Siberia. Qiu Ming had been destroyed, and oil extraction was impossible.
Therefore, Xiao Sheng took the opportunity to propose returning to China. The Ability Administration had been on a mission abroad for two years. After such a long time away, everyone's longing for home was intense. While they hadn't expressed it during normal times, at this juncture, there was no other choice but to go back.
Xu Xing and Qi Yunfang were the most delighted to hear this news. Although they had only known each other for about ten days, the two felt like close friends who hadn't seen each other for years. Upon learning they would be together on the upcoming journey, they became overjoyed.
Qi Yunfang picked up a piece of roasted meat with her chopsticks and offered it to Xu Xing's mouth, saying, "Hurry and try the meat I roasted myself. It will definitely explode your taste buds."
Xu Xing quickly took a bite and praised, "Thank you, Sister Qi. Your cooking is truly excellent. You should try the soup I stewed too!"
Seeing the intimate actions of the two women who had recently met, Lu Xian couldn't help but speculate. Their relationship was too close; they could feed each other. If it continued to develop, it would become a forbidden love.
A night passed. Shen Feng packed his belongings and prepared to return. Packing, in reality, only involved gathering his luggage. The most important item was Zhang Jue's remains. Zhang Jue, who died in the explosion, was almost reduced to dust. The only things left were a few bone fragments that were picked up. These meager fragments were retrieved by soldiers who fought desperately.
As for Xiao Sheng, he had initially wanted to find a vehicle. However, even with a vehicle, it would be useless without roads suitable for travel. The Little Ice Age had arrived, making the north colder and the south hotter. In Siberia, this manifested as continuous heavy snowfall, covering all roads. In such terrain, finding a vehicle was easy, but driving it was not.
Finally, Zhang Zi, upon seeing Shen Feng's sled, had an idea. She used her ability to manipulate ice to create a sled, but they lacked animals to pull it.
"Go hunt quickly. It's best to find a few wild deer to pull the sled," Zhang Zi urged Jin Zijue.
Jin Zijue looked at the others helplessly, realizing that none of them had any hunting skills. He had to take action himself.
Subsequently, Jin Zijue hunted over a dozen roe deer in the forest. He only needed to control an electric current to hit these roe deer, and once struck, they became completely immobile, allowing Jin Zijue to bring them back to the camp.
Jin Zijue had assumed that these roe deer, being deer and capable of moving in winter, could naturally be used to pull a sled. However, when he presented the roe deer to everyone, Zhang Zi began to question him.
"Are you alright? I asked you to find animals that can pull a sled, and you brought me these roe deer. Do you think these bouncing creatures can pull a sled?" Zhang Zi directly asked.
The so-called "silly roe deer" were actually roe deer, so called because they were incredibly foolish. While they were indeed deer, their foolishness was genuine. Experienced hunters would not chase after a roe deer if they missed their shot, because the roe deer would soon return on its own to investigate what happened. Their intelligence was so low that they could even freeze to death in snowy weather.
Therefore, Zhang Zi was very dissatisfied with Jin Zijue bringing back over a dozen roe deer. These creatures were so foolish that using them to pull a sled was a joke.
An image had long been circulating online: a roe deer bouncing in a wetland under the setting sun. The scene was incredibly beautiful, a roe deer hopping under the sunset, perfectly embodying the saying that ignorance is bliss.
After being reprimanded by Zhang Zi, Jin Zijue could only turn and go hunting again, thinking, "They are small deer, and reindeer can pull carts. Why can't roe deer?"
With Xiao Sheng extremely weak and Jin Zijue out hunting, Zhang Zi directly began to direct everyone. "You few, go tidy up the pots and pans. You few, find animal skins to lay on the sled for insulation. You few, put the food on the vehicle."
Shen Feng, after packing his belongings, began to wait. They had agreed to travel together, and leaving first would be ungentlemanly.
Snow was still falling intermittently from the sky. Although it wasn't the blizzard they had encountered before, any snowfall combined with howling winds was still very cold. Shen Feng was wearing two down jackets but still felt extremely cold all over.
Seeing a group of people scrambling to pack their belongings, Shen Feng couldn't help but shake his head. "People nowadays just don't think ahead. They only consider using sleds now, and they still need to catch animals to pull them. At this rate, they won't be able to depart until nightfall."
Upon hearing Shen Feng's sarcastic remark, Zhang Zi retorted, "If you think we're slow, then you can leave on your own. It's not like we can't survive without you, acting as if we owe you a favor."
Shen Feng shrugged and said, "I'm magnanimous and don't stoop to the level of a mere woman. We'll go rest in the cellar and wait for you to call us when you're ready."
In fact, Shen Feng could have simply left. These people wouldn't cease to exist without him. However, he remembered that they had already waited for some time, so he might as well wait a bit longer. After all, traveling by sled meant they wouldn't be able to return to China anytime soon, especially when passing through grasslands, where they had to be wary of wolf packs. More people meant greater strength.
When Shen Feng and the other three returned to the cellar, they started a fire for warmth. Fireplaces were indeed good things; they provided warmth conveniently and didn't take up too much indoor space.
At this moment, Zhang Zi noticed the black longsword on Shen Feng's sled. According to Shen Feng, this longsword was forged from meteorite iron he had found. It was incredibly hard and could cut through iron like mud. There were originally two, but one was hit by an aluminum thermite missile during a battle. In the chaos of escape, he didn't have time to bring it along and it was lost.
Zhang Zi's mind raced. She directly drew the longsword and walked towards the plant heart. Upon reaching the plant heart, she found the cut on the back and inserted the longsword into it. It fit perfectly. Seeing this, Zhang Zi immediately felt confident. "Didn't you say that without evidence, there can be no reckoning? Now I have found the evidence."
Then, Zhang Zi took the longsword and found Xiao Sheng, who was lying on the sled. She explained her discovery and said, "Now that the evidence is conclusive, this matter was indeed done by Shen Feng. Let's take the longsword and confront Shen Feng."
After hearing Zhang Zi's description, Xiao Sheng continued, "A single cut doesn't prove anything. Shen Feng could easily say it was a frame-up. Let's just forget it. We can report it to headquarters after returning to the country."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Zi became angry and accused Xiao Sheng, "I see clearly now. You're betraying us and protecting your future brother-in-law. You dismissed all the doubts Jin Zijue raised earlier. Now that I've presented evidence, you still say it proves nothing. I think you're siding with outsiders."
When Xiao Sheng heard this accusation, he was at a loss for words. He never expected to be accused of betrayal; this was the first time something like this had happened to him, leaving him speechless.
However, after accusing Xiao Sheng, Zhang Zi did not insist on using this evidence to confront Shen Feng because she clearly knew that such meager evidence was insufficient to prove the facts. She thought to herself, "When we return to the country, I must report this matter to Qin Ke Wei and let Qin Ke Wei teach Xiao Sheng a lesson."
In Zhang Zi's view, Xiao Sheng was only the deputy captain, and Qin Ke Wei was the actual captain. On important matters, Xiao Sheng still had to obey Qin Ke Wei's orders.
By the afternoon, Jin Zijue finally returned, dragging several wolves. Generally, animals used to pull sleds were dogs and reindeer. Ultimately, dogs evolved from wolves, so if dogs could pull sleds, wolves could too.
Wolves had strong wildness compared to dogs, but under Jin Zijue's electric shock therapy, these wolves became obedient. They did whatever they were told, becoming like docile dogs. This success validated a famous saying.
A professor named Yang in China once said, "If children are disobedient, a shock will fix them."
In fact, the results were indeed good. Students sent to his school for internet addiction treatment would generally become well-behaved after being shocked. Shocked students would experience incontinence and convulsions, making life worse than death. This Professor Yang was known in the martial world as the Thunderclap Master.
After using Professor Yang's method, these wolves became as obedient as could be. After all, a method that could bring rebellious teenagers under control was naturally effective in treating wolves.
As for the suffering of the shocked subjects, it was considered insignificant by others.
Now that they had animals to pull the cart, Zhang Zi announced that they were ready to depart. Shen Feng emerged from the cellar and looked at the sky. It was two hours until dark. It would have been better to depart tomorrow.
Zhang Zi threw the black longsword to Shen Feng and said faintly, "If you don't want others to know, don't do it."
When Shen Feng saw Zhang Zi throw the longsword, his heart sank. He thought, "Did Zhang Zi use my sword to compare with the wound? This is not good. I should have chosen a more reliable method."
Despite his apprehension, Shen Feng put on an expression of confusion and asked, "What are you talking about? I don't understand."
Zhang Zi did not reply further but announced their departure. They would head directly south, reaching the grasslands of Kazakhstan. From there, the terrain would be flat, allowing them to gallop directly to the Great Wall. As for accommodation, as long as there was ice and snow, they could create ice houses anytime, so there was no need to worry about lodging.
Shen Feng did not know that during his half-month in Siberia, the world had descended into chaos.
For a long time, everyone had focused their attention on zombies and mutated beasts, as these were the direct threats to humanity. The methods humans could think of to deal with zombies and mutated beasts were simple: building city walls. After the city walls were built, it became difficult for zombies and mutated beasts to attack humans.
However, in places humans had not noticed, mutated birds had been breeding. When food was abundant, mutated birds did not attack humans because they could find food in the wild and did not need to risk confronting humans. But three years later, the number of mutated birds had increased to an unimaginable extent. The food in the wild was no longer enough to satisfy the appetite of the mutated birds. Coincidentally, winter arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, and migratory birds flew south, coinciding with the autumn harvest in the southern regions.
Thus, the mutated birds began their attack on humans.