Collecting herbs

After Ray and others reached the scenic spot, he found that except for some fallen buildings and broken bamboo trees, the scene was as beautiful as before.

But Ray didn't take any chances since he knew that there were aquatic animals that were bred by the government to beautify the place.

There were probably nefarious demon beasts right now!

The artificial lake was full of different kinds of lotus swaying with the breeze. Their colours were richer and brighter than normal flowers and more beautiful. They had such a pleasant smell that for some seconds, Ray and his friends were in a trance as they blankly stood to appreciate their beauty.

*snort*

*Wake up fool!* chided the system harshly.

Ray was jolted awoke.

"What happened?" he asked confused as he saw his friends were still staring blankly at the distance.

*Blood orchid! It's blood orchid l! It produces potent hallucinogens!*

With a brief explanation, Ray understood. He quickly woke up everyone and cleared their confusion.

He glanced at the blood coloured orchids at the sides of the lake and found them immensely beautiful. He cast inferior level god eyes to see their data.

*Plant name: Blood Orchid

Level: 5

Speciality: Produces hallucinogens to confuse the enemy and lure them into a trap.

Benefits: It is one of the main ingredients for the "Truth pill" *

"Truth pill? What's that?"

*As the name says, it can be used to extort the truth from your enemies. Harvest it, it will come in handy later!*

Ray nodded as he carefully stored the blood orchids in jade boxes. In total, he harvested 50 blood orchids from level 2 to 5 while leaving the poorer ones alone!

He cast inferior level god eyes to see their data.

*Plant name: White lotus

Level: 2-5

Speciality: Its root essence has healing properties.

Benefits: It is one of the main ingredients for the Healing potion *

*Plant name: Pink lotus

Level: 1-3

Speciality: Its essence is very good for reducing ageing.

Benefits: It is one of the main ingredients for the Beauty pill. *

*Plant name: Yellow lotus

Level: 2-3

Speciality: Its root essence has calming and stress-relieving properties.

Benefits: Can be consumed directly. Helps in calming the mind for cultivation.*

Ray was speechless seeing the use of pink lotus.

Maybe it would have been a great market value before the apocalypse. He still decided to harvest it. Who knew it might come in handy in future!

Kai took out! the electric fishing net he specifically bought for fishing. He cast the net to gather the lotus.

But as soon he was going to retract the net, with a loud splash a large head popped up from the lake. It opened its large mouth and tore the net and swallowed the lotus harvested along with a part of the net.

"Crunch crunch"

Ray and others were shell shocked and they stood with their mouth agape. It was a giant black tortoise that had squinted its eyes and chewed on its harvested lotus with pleasure.

Leo was furious and was on the verge of the way to attack when Ray hurriedly stopped him. His back was drenched with cold sweat. Even though his heart ached to see two-thirds of the lotuses being devoured by that tortoise but life still came first.

He also wanted revenge but he freaked out as soon as he glanced at its info.

*Animal name: Mutated black tortoise

Bloodline: Has faint Xuanwu bloodline, which is one of the divine beasts.

Level: 9

Benefits: Its shell can be used to make defensive armours. Its blood can treat hidden ailments and slightly increase the lifespan by 5 years(the higher the bloodline of Xuanwu, the more it can induce lifespan). Its flesh is delicious and juicy and one of the best delicacies of the ancients.

"Don't attack it. It's level 9. Wait for it to leave and then check the situation." warned Ray quickly.

"Mama!! I wanna go home!!" mumbled Leo while wiping his sweats.

"Relax. Tortoise has docile characters. It probably won't attack us if don't attack it at first." said Nathan calmly.

Other nodded. Well, he was right!

As soon as it finished relishing on the lotuses, it ignored them and submerged underwater. It was too lazy to spare a glance at them who were ant to it!

Ray and others sighed with relief. They could use sticks to harvest the lotus flowers. They didn't dare to jump to the lake after witnessing the tortoise before.

Ray counted that there were around forty sets of the lotus of each type. They were satisfied with the harvest and were going to return when they encountered trouble!

They were going to search for vermillion bamboo shoots when they met a crime scene on their way. A crowd of goons were brutally slaughtering poor residents who permanently lived to take care of that place. Old people and children were already killed while young women and men were chained as they dragged them away.

"Hahahaa... such a great harvest today. I bet boss will be very happy with them."

" Yeah... they will be fine labourers. Say shall we f*ck some of those beauties?"

"Hehe...look at that young girl with white legs..ahaha..I really want a bit from them.."

"Don't think about it if you wanna die. Boss needs virgin for more strength, we can play all we want after that hahaaaaha!!"

"Move fast you wretches!!!" yelled a fat goon as he mercilessly whipped them.

All of them had a clear look of desperation on their faces. They struggled to break free only to get whipped till their skin got bloody!

Ray and others fumed when they saw it. Even though they didn't want to be a busybody, they still couldn't ignore the sad plight of humans.

It was pathetic but human lives already degraded to such a level on a few days since the apocalypse struck!

"Stop!!"

"Stop I said!"

The goons were astonished but later simply laughed seeing the defenseless boys.

"Hahahaa another wave of harvest is here!!"