Chapter 6: Plants vs. Zombies

Several tens of minutes after the ballistic missile flew past, there was first a harsh noise on the radio, and then a slight tremor.

Li Nian and the other two people did not see the mushroom cloud, which meant that they were indeed very lucky and very far away from the nuclear explosion.

The nuclear strike and nuclear counterattack lasted the whole day, and the next morning, there was still a harsh noise on the radio.

Emily was numb, like a doll without a soul. Her once radiant appearance was now like that of a dehydrated vegetable. She hadn't slept all night. As a normal person, an office worker, a cowboy, she could accept the crazily mutated animals snarling at her, the zombies-like monsters that often appeared in movies chasing after her, and even going to work in such an environment.

But Emily can't accept it no matter what. The world has become like this, why do humans still have to destroy each other.

And Li Nian is not in the mood to emoh.

Because he is boxing with a cabbage.

This cabbage is the boxing cabbage eaten yesterday. They have a very unique appearance, looking like a round, green cabbage with a thick root at the bottom, while the outer leaves on both sides have become extra long, curled up at the end like a fist. It was obviously planted as an ordinary cabbage, but now it looks like a highly alert boxer. Although it has no eyes or nose, this type of cabbage can judge Li Nian's position based on the fluctuations of the body hair on the leaves. It can even rotate its body 360° to always face Li Nian head-on.

Yesterday, when Li Nian came, the boxing cabbage was only the size of a palm. Although Li Nian was taken by surprise, he still managed to easily defeat it. But today, it has grown to the size of a pillow, making the battle exceptionally difficult.

Li Nian repeatedly measures the attacking range of the boxing cabbage. When the cabbage attacks, it vigorously swings the two outer leaves, which not only curl up into a ball, but are also exceptionally strong and even stretchable.

Suddenly, Li Nian picked it up sharply, holding a dog legged knife in his hand, and went straight for the top of the cabbage's head. But he saw the boxing cabbage lean back, and then a punch slammed into the top of Li Nian's dog legged knife. The tremendous force almost made Li Nian drop it. Then, while Li Nian was falling to the ground, the other fist went straight for Li Nian's abdomen.

Li Nian had been waiting for this moment. He suddenly used the dog-legged knife to block the attack of the boxing cabbage, and then suddenly lifted his knee, slamming it into the head of the boxing cabbage.

This move is even in military combat, a knee-lift is a very vicious attack, and the slightest carelessness can kill the opponent.

The boxing cabbage was also very humanized. After taking this blow, it was like it had been knocked unconscious, swaying around, and the entire cabbage fainted to the ground.

"Hmph, fight me?" Li Nian snorted, and went up to remove a piece of tissue from the boxing cabbage.

"It's incredible, the cell walls should obviously be hard, but how can they be as stretchable as animal muscle cells?"

"There are even cells similar to nerve cells. Is this a plant or an animal? It appeared a few days ago, and this thing can shake the foundations of modern biology!"

Unfortunately, there is no longer any biology, only organisms.

This type of cabbage looks and behaves a lot like the boxing cabbage in "Plants vs. Zombies", and Li Nian has also played this game.

This reminds Li Nian that maybe he can also cultivate a batch of boxing cabbages to protect his base.

He did as he said, and obtained an undergraduate degree in biology from Harvard University in the United States. Although his education level is only undergraduate, he still knows how to do basic breeding, screening, directional induction of mutations, and shape stabilization.

If human civilization still existed, these plant and animal mutations could only help human technology reach new heights. Forget about the fact that the most common mutations now are boxing, bone spurs, regeneration, and so on. What if they had the same superpowers as mutants? As long as human communication is restored, massive productivity can pile up and kill them, not to mention that these creatures do not have intelligence yet and only have instincts.

But human civilization has basically disappeared, with only a little spark left to flutter in the wind and rain.

...

After a month of research, Li Nian finally succeeded in cultivating this mutant cabbage. By spraying the mutant cabbage with a scent made from it, the cabbage will think it is one of its own kind and will no longer attack. Meanwhile, the cabbage has now become extraordinarily huge, reaching a height of two meters and an attack range of an astonishing seven meters. After testing, it was found to be so powerful that it could punch through 3 cm thick homogeneous steel plates.

Unfortunately, there is only one cabbage this big. The rest of the cabbages grow and reproduce very slowly. They are less than 60 cm tall and can at most break the bones of an adult.

However, Emily suggested that since there is no way to get huge, they should be deployed indoors and disguised as potted plants. A movable remote-controlled car should be installed under the potted plant. Normally, it is just an ordinary potted plant. When they encounter an enemy, they can command the remote-controlled car to pull the boxing cabbage and show the enemy what for.

After all, no matter what kind of creature it is, if its knees are broken, it will lose the ability to move.

While Li Nian was researching, Emily also recovered. After all, if you're not dead, you have to find a way to survive.

Although she looks like a girl with big breasts and no brains, she is actually a child of the poor who has to take care of herself at an early age. She is very good at basic home appliance maintenance and installation, and easily repaired many mechanical equipment in the fortress. Local tyrant Li Nian has stocked up on a large number of accessories, and the first thing to be repaired was the drone.

Using the drone, Emily noticed that there were almost no living people left in the entire town. The town itself only had 1,000 people, and when the human population mutated on a large scale, many people were going to work or school in the city, so it was understandable that there were no other survivors in the town.

Taking this opportunity, Emily observed the ecology of the entire town.

First, the plants. The plants in the entire community have undergone serious mutations. Several buildings that used to be covered in ivy have been completely surrounded by mutated ivy. Emily has seen the mutated ivy reach out and grab mutated creatures that got too close more than once. Then there are the weeds. Although many of them have not mutated as drastically, their hardness and vitality have undergone a qualitative change. Some have become extraordinarily hard, with a metallic sheen, while others have become extraordinarily rough and look like leather.

The creatures have also undergone huge changes. First of all, there are no longer any zombies to be seen in the town. Instead, there is a group of about 40 mutated stray dogs, some as big as calves and others three times the size of before. They hunt in packs, preying on the zombies and other creatures they see, and seem to have become the top of the food chain for the local mutated creatures.

Emily even observed on one occasion that the strongest stray dog in the pack was fighting a giant zombie and spitting out transparent air currents from its mouth, cutting the zombie, which could fire bone spurs, in half!

The mutant supervisor who had chased Emily at the beginning belonged to the bone spur zombies. Bullets could wound him, but they could not destroy him, because he recovered too quickly. Now he was beheaded by a dog that could spit out wind blades.

There were more than 100 zombies in the town, and they were the first to be eliminated by this group of stray dogs.

From observation, most of the mutated stray dogs can only say that they have more than enough self-protection if they fight ordinary zombies one-on-one, but the zombies have lost their intelligence and can only act according to their instincts. However, the intelligence of the stray dogs seems to have been enhanced.

Sometimes, when faced with a powerful zombie, they would even sacrifice themselves to destroy it. After destroying the zombies, they drove away the mutant wild boars and began to keep the rats in captivity on the side of the town near the square.

This discovery shocked Emily. In just one month, the stray dog group had developed to this extent. Knowing the danger, they began to raise animals. Isn't this what primitive humans did? Is the next step to start a fire of civilization?

What's more, the stray dogs even send out sentries every day to patrol and mark their territory, and in recent days they have been coming closer and closer to Li Nian's fortress.

Emily knows that she can't wait any longer, otherwise these mutated stray dogs will expand their territory and cause trouble.