Chapter 120 — Meat
At Luo Xun’s signal, Yan Fei lifted the metal tanks again. With a series of splashing sounds, gasoline was poured out across all sides of the wall.
Sweat formed on Luo Xun’s forehead. He worried whether all the gasoline had been emptied properly—and whether mixing it with the mushroom extract would cause some strange reaction.
Above them, the giant bird descended rapidly, wings beating, claws extended—about to land inside the metal enclosure.
Only now did they clearly see—its feet were webbed. It was a water bird.
Whether water bird or land bird made little difference—but if it had water-type abilities, that would greatly hinder their plan.
Yan Fei suddenly looked up, then nodded. “Ready.”
“Xu Mei! Ignite it! Zhang Su!” Luo Xun shouted.
A small fireball formed in front of Xu Mei. Zhang Su immediately controlled a gust of wind, sending it flying in an arc over the wall—
Boom! The gasoline ignited instantly.
Though the mushroom extract diluted it slightly, flames still erupted all around the perimeter.
The giant bird, already descending, was startled. It flapped its wings violently, trying to blow out the flames, letting out a sharp cry.
The sound hit like a shockwave—everyone’s heads throbbed, their chests tightened, and they slammed into the metal walls behind them.
After recovering slightly, they looked up again.
The bird clearly feared fire. It flapped desperately, rising slightly.
Luo Xun’s eyes lit up. “Zhang Su—use wind to feed the flames! Push them upward!”
The air surged, carrying the fire higher and stronger. Xu Mei added more flames, tossing fireballs to intimidate the bird. Meanwhile, Yan Fei rushed to seal the top of their enclosure.
Yes—seal it.
If the bird thought this was a nest, then they would close it off completely!
Distracted by the flames, the bird was driven higher. It circled angrily, crying out repeatedly.
Below, zombies ignored both the bird and the fire, continuing to rush forward. Some fell into traps and burned. Others launched ranged attacks.
Drawn by the noise, more zombies poured in from all directions.
Above, the bird noticed the “nest” was being sealed shut—its entrance shrinking rapidly.
Fury exploded.
“Jia—Jiaaa!!”
The deafening cry erupted just as the roof closed.
A crushing force slammed down.
Everyone collapsed to the ground, unable to move.
“Crack… creak…”
The metal dome above them began to deform.
Luo Xun forced out words through clenched teeth: “Gravity… ability… roof…”
Yan Fei understood instantly.
He gathered all his strength, raising one trembling arm. Veins bulged visibly as he resisted the pressure.
The metal roof groaned—and slowly began to recover!
Metal from outside flew in through firing ports, fusing together under immense pressure. At the same time, thick metal pillars rose inside, reinforcing the structure and supporting the collapsing roof!
Once the metal pillars fully supported the roof and additional reinforcement was added, everyone finally felt that the pressure was no longer as terrifying as before.
Only then could Luo Xun speak smoothly again: “Sister Xu, give it a compressed fireball! Try to ignite its feathers!”
The giant bird was still circling and screeching wildly. Each cry brought another wave of crushing pressure—clearly, its voice was the trigger for its ability.
Originally, they only wanted to drive away this bird that was trying to seize their “nest,” but who would have thought it would lash out in fury and attack them instead? If not it, then who should they hit?!
Xu Mei took a deep breath and stepped to the firing port, quickly forming a compressed fireball. Zhang Su pushed aside Wang Duo, who was still leaning on him and panting, compressed his wind, and fused it with the flame. The two worked together—
The fireball shot straight into the sky!
“Jia!” Another sharp cry rang out. The fireball hit the bird’s leg. The exact result couldn’t be seen because of the roof, and besides, everyone was busy dealing with another problem.
“Too hot! We’re burning up!”
Just moments ago, to avoid the bird and keep from being crushed by it, everyone had pressed themselves against the metal walls—but outside those walls were trenches filled with fire!
Pinned against the heated metal while still under pressure, they were nearly turned into human skewers on an iron grill. Now that the pressure had eased, everyone scrambled and rolled back toward the center, clutching their burned, reddened skin.
“Water! Water! Cool it down!”
To prevent further pressure attacks, Yan Fei had sealed the entire roof, leaving no ventilation at all. Now the temperature inside was rising rapidly—if they didn’t act soon, they would either be roasted alive or suffocated.
Yan Fei quickly opened a “chimney” above. Zhang Su drew fresh air in with wind, while Song Lingling created large amounts of water to circulate around them and lower the temperature.
Only then did everyone finally feel like they had come back to life.
“Boom—!”
A thunderous crash shook the ground. Those who had just gotten up were knocked flat again.
“Jia—!!”
A cry followed from the direction of the impact. The pressure wave slammed into them sideways, sending them tumbling across the ground, nearly throwing them against the burning metal wall on the other side.
“What happened?!”
“That bird crash-landed,” Luo Xun exhaled. The earlier impact had nearly made him spit blood—he was still dizzy and aching all over.
“Jia, jia!” The bird cried again, but this time not toward them, so the effect was much weaker.
Struggling to their feet, they saw that the giant bird had indeed landed not far away. It flapped its wings violently while letting out continuous cries, attacking something in all directions.
The wall of fire blocked their view, so they couldn’t see clearly what was happening. But the zombies that had been surrounding them had now all changed direction, rushing toward the bird. Even a fool could tell what was going on.
“The zombies are going to eat the bird?” Li Tie sounded excited.
Luo Xun shook his head slightly. “They’re just drawn by the commotion. They’ll fight, but generally they won’t eat it…”
“Why not? That bird has flesh and blood too, right?”
Luo Xun shook his head again. He didn’t really understand either. It seemed that whether zombie animals or zombies, they were only interested in their own kind. But the ridiculous thing was that zombie animals were just as interested in humans—as if after the apocalypse, humans had become the public enemy of the entire planet, something every creature wanted to kill.
As for mutated animals, zombies didn’t seem to regard them as prey. So even if zombies and mutated animals fought, zombies wouldn’t gnaw on them like they did with humans—they would try to kill them, but not eat them. Just like they wouldn’t eat stones or wood.
The metal roof, the flames in the traps, and the airflow brought in by Zhang Su from above all blocked the zombies’ ability to detect Luo Xun’s group. And since they hadn’t used blood packs to lure enemies, all the zombies were now gathering toward the giant bird, focusing all their strength on dealing with this restless creature.
The battle between zombies and the giant bird began.
At first, this made Luo Xun and the others breathe a sigh of relief. But just as they were about to relax, the damned bird let out another cry—and no one could smile anymore.
The zombies came from all directions, so every time the bird cried, it could be aimed in any direction—including theirs. Although there was some distance, the pressure waves that reached them were still unpleasant—like sitting in a car that keeps hitting the brakes at every red light, tossing everyone around like a boat in rough waves.
“This won’t work…” Luo Xun staggered and fell back into Yan Fei’s arms. Looking up at him helplessly, he said, “Add another wall on that side.”
Yan Fei immediately used the remaining metal to reinforce the side facing the bird, barely blocking part of the pressure.
“Brother Luo… do you think that’s gravity ability?” Li Tie asked, gripping the car for support, still shaken.
Luo Xun shook his head. “At first I thought so, but can gravity push sideways like that? Maybe it’s some kind of force or pressure… whichever direction it cries toward, that direction gets hit?”
That earlier shout had been instinctive—he wasn’t even sure himself. After all, in his previous life, although he had heard of many kinds of abilities, everyone knew that rumors among ordinary people were often exaggerated—people would say anything, mix in imagination, and pass it off as truth.
So for this kind of ability that Luo Xun had never personally witnessed, he didn’t dare to be certain.
“If it can alter the gravity field, then it’s not impossible,” Yan Fei said, glancing at Luo Xun. “Shall we wait for them to finish fighting?”
Luo Xun thought for a moment, then nodded. Even if they could slip away now, mutated animals weren’t part of the zombies’ “menu.” If that bird decided to chase them again… they would end up facing both zombies and a mutated creature at the same time. And don’t forget—that thing could fly!!
Song Lingling suddenly pointed toward the cars. “Even if we want to leave, I’m afraid we can’t right now. The cars… are all deformed.”
When the bird attacked earlier, it hadn’t just damaged the metal roof and the people—everything in the area had been struck by that pressure. Bricks, stones, debris… and their vehicles were now mostly… flattened.
Yan Fei’s expression darkened slightly. “I can fix the metal parts, but the glass windows…” That wasn’t something he could control or recreate.
Luo Xun glanced at the nearby vehicles. Sure enough… shattered glass everywhere, along with crushed frames. They should probably be grateful the pressure hadn’t blown out the tires completely.
“For now, seal part of it with metal and leave a section to observe outside…” At this point, there was no other choice. Where were they supposed to find replacement glass now? Most vehicles and buildings outside had already collapsed—whatever was left on the roadside had either been destroyed in earlier bombardments or stripped away by teams collecting materials.
Checking the time, it was almost mealtime. Yan Fei began repairing the vehicles. Zhang Su used his wind ability to circulate fresh air inside the metal enclosure while maintaining the flames in the outer traps. Xu Mei and Song Lingling started heating lunch. Li Tie and the others guarded the firing ports. Luo Xun listened carefully to the sounds from the bird’s direction, judging the situation outside in case of another attack.
The battle between the mutated beast and the zombies was undoubtedly intense—but unfortunately, hidden inside the metal dome, they could barely see anything. Still, sight wasn’t necessary; the constant crashing and banging outside told them how fierce the fight was.
Even after Luo Xun and the others finished lunch, the battle was still ongoing.
The gasoline in the traps burned out, the flames gradually died down—but the fighting continued.
In the afternoon, torrential rain poured down, washing over the entire city. Still, the battle went on.
Only after the rain slowed and darkness began to fall did the noise finally start to subside.
Luo Xun and the others quickly opened a small gap to look outside, wanting to see who had won.
The moment they opened it, they saw the giant bird—like an enormous duck—stretch its neck and shake its feathers.
And around it—
The ground was littered with zombies, mangled beyond recognition as if blasted apart!!
“Hiss—” Everyone sucked in a sharp breath. Even though they could also clear out that many zombies with effort, the key difference was—they had shelter, teamwork, and numbers. That bird had done it alone! Mutated animals were truly monstrous.
Its feathers were torn in many places, patches missing here and there, and blood flowed from several wounds. But although it looked badly injured, it was like ants biting an elephant—painful, yes, but not enough to threaten its life.
Just as everyone was watching, the bird suddenly let out a cry toward the sky. Its relatively small head snapped toward their direction!
Everyone froze.
Then they saw that duck-like creature flapping its wings and charging straight toward them!!
It still hadn’t given up on this place?!
Everyone quickly retreated as the ground trembled under its pounding steps—thump thump thump! Then—
BANG! Its flat beak slammed directly into the metal wall, denting it inward!
“Has it gone crazy?!”
“Brother Luo! Should we run?!”
Everyone looked at Luo Xun in panic.
The bird yanked its beak free, gathered strength, and stabbed at the exact same spot again! The top of the dent cracked open!!
Luo Xun had been knocked to the ground by the impact, but he scrambled up, grabbed Yan Fei’s arm, and shouted, “After this strike, its beak will definitely come through—trap it with metal immediately! Open a hole below! Zhang Su, Xu Mei—use compressed combo attacks on its neck! Break it!!”
Zombies had no intelligence—they only attacked blindly, striking whatever they could reach.
But they weren’t stupid.
That bird’s neck was long and thin—if they wanted to kill it, where else would they aim?!
BANG—!!
As expected—the same spot, the same strike—and the bird’s beak pierced through!
Before it could pull back—
Something instantly clamped down on its beak, locking it tightly in place!
It tried to yank free but couldn’t. It tried to open its beak to scream and attack, but it couldn’t open it at all!! All it could do was flap its wings wildly, shaking the ground around it.
Since mutating, relying on its massive size, this giant bird had rarely encountered any real opponent. After all, it could fly—if it couldn’t win, it could simply leave.
But ever since it came into the ruins of the old city, how many of those mindless, swarming creatures had it crushed and driven away?
Smooth sailing all the way had long since made this mutated bird, which relied on its massive size to crush everything, lose its vigilance. That was why, right after finishing its fight with the zombies, it immediately tried to drive out whatever was inside this “shell” that was blocking it from building a nest. Unfortunately for it—this time, it kicked a real iron plate.
The metal plate below clamped down on its beak while opening a gap. Xu Mei had already condensed a compressed fireball in advance, and Zhang Su compressed his wind ability and merged it into the flame. Together, they blasted it straight toward the bird’s neck!
With a loud boom, there was almost no blood splatter—the wound was instantly cauterized by the compressed flames. The massive body collapsed with a thunderous crash.
At such close range, with such a perfect angle—if Zhang Su still missed, he might as well just die.
Staring blankly at the opening and the enormous body outside with its neck clearly severed, Li Tie and the others couldn’t recover for a long time.
After a while, Han Li pointed outside. “That’s it… just like that?”
Luo Xun rolled his eyes. “That’s because it insisted on picking a fight with us and stuck its beak inside, letting us trap it. If we had gone out like those zombies and fought it head-on, do you think it would’ve been this easy? Just that pressure attack alone could’ve crushed us into meat paste before we even got close!”
From the very beginning, he never intended to take his team to fight this thing directly. But this stupid duck just had to clash with them—and even chose the worst possible way to fight.
If it had just stayed outside and kept screaming at them, sooner or later it could’ve worn them down. But instead, it rushed in and tried to stab through the wall with its beak—if it didn’t die, who would?
He Qiankun suddenly pointed outside, eyes shining so brightly that everyone instinctively took a step back. “Brother Luo… does this mean… we can eat meat now?!”
“Meat?”
“Meat…”
“MEAT!!!”
Thank you for reading 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
