The Reborn Otaku’s Code of Practice for the Apocalypse – CH121

Chapter 121 — Harvest

In an instant, everyone—including the usually calm Zhang Su—looked eagerly at Luo Xun.

Luo Xun, however, looked unusually composed, speaking as if it were nothing. “As long as the blood color at the wounds hasn’t changed, and the meat looks normal, it can be eaten.”

Yes—mutated animals don’t turn into zombies. Even if bitten, they won’t become zombie beasts. While wounds might carry some zombie virus, as long as those parts are cleaned thoroughly—or simply cut away—the remaining meat is safe once cooked.

After all, even water sources now were contaminated with the virus, yet processed water was still drinkable. Mutated plants also carried trace amounts of the virus, but people could still eat them without issue.

So it seemed that as long as the concentration stayed below a certain level, the virus was harmless.

Everyone erupted in cheers, practically moved to tears. It wasn’t that they were inexperienced—it was just that, ever since the early days of the apocalypse, when they still ate in the military canteen, how long had it been since they’d had fresh meat?!

This bird was huge—there was no way they were letting it go to waste!!

At this moment, the zombies outside had already been wiped out. Compared to this foolish giant duck, even zombie crystals had lost their appeal. Meat—this was meat!!

A group of wolf-eyed people dragged the poor, decapitated duck into the metal enclosure…

Actually, the duck only looked enormous with its wings spread. Once dragged inside, it didn’t even feel that big in the space.

Wang Duo stood by its chest, shamelessly stroking the feathers with a greasy grin. “These feathers aren’t bad. Let’s keep some and make you a down quilt for winter?”

Queen Zhang gave him a disgusted look. “A duck this big must have coarse feathers. You want to get stabbed all night? Then you use it yourself!”

Meanwhile, He Qiankun hugged one of the duck’s legs tightly. “I want the leg! I want the leg!!”

Wu Xin tried to persuade him. “The breast is good too. That leg you’re holding even has a burned hole… probably from that blast earlier.”

He Qiankun refused to let go. “It’s fine! Except for that spot, the rest is still good!”

On the other side, Yan Fei and Luo Xun were studying the duck’s head—tapping here and checking there. Finally, Yan Fei formed a sharp blade and began a “craniotomy.”

“Look! There’s a crystal here too—and it’s this big!” Luo Xun held up a crystal nearly the size of three fists, delighted.

“But… none of us can use it. And does the base even have this kind of ability user?” someone muttered.

This duck’s ability was something none of them had ever seen before, and the crystal’s color was unfamiliar as well. If it were something common—like fire or water—even if they didn’t use it, they could sell it for a high price. But now…

It was clearly a treasure, yet completely useless.

Luo Xun’s lips twitched before he reluctantly put it away. “Forget it. We’ll keep it as decoration. Let’s butcher the duck!”

Though not as massive as they first imagined, the amount of meat was still astonishing. There was no way they could take it all—after all, they had only three vehicles, and those had been crushed.

After circling the duck, Luo Xun made a quick decision. “Debone it. Leave the organs and bones—take as much meat as possible!”

“…But duck gizzards, hearts, and intestines are all delicious…” He Qiankun drooled, looking pitiful.

Luo Xun stepped back awkwardly under his pleading gaze. “We won’t be back until tomorrow. The meat might spoil… and we didn’t bring much salt.” Without salt, they couldn’t process it properly on-site.

“…Brother Luo is right.” Li Tie hesitated but agreed.

Wu Xin nodded. “Better some than none.”

Xu Mei added, “We can eat some tonight and tomorrow morning. The rest we’ll have to leave.”

Though they all agreed, their eyes betrayed their reluctance. After all—it had been so long since they’d seen fresh meat.

Suddenly, Yan Fei pointed at the vehicles. “I can restore everything except the glass. While fixing them, I can also modify the structure—make them bigger, taller, and create more space to carry meat…”

Before he even finished, everyone’s eyes lit up and they shouted in unison:

“Great idea!!”

Clearly, no one wanted to leave any meat behind.

As for the duck’s blood—it could’ve been edible, but it had already lost too much during the fight. Without proper tools to process it, it had to be wasted.

One thing worth noting—mutated animal blood had almost zero attraction to zombies. Compared to human blood, it was like dried salted fish—completely unappealing. Unfortunately, even after research in their past life, no one had found a way to make human blood behave the same way. Even ability users’ blood still attracted zombies strongly—but mutated animals’ blood did not.

With Zhang Su, Xu Mei, and Song Lingling around, they could directly use their abilities to produce boiling hot water. Then, using wind ability, they guided the scalding water over the entire duck to blanch it and pluck the feathers clean.

Once the feathers were gone, the rest of them picked up the metal knives Yan Fei had just modified, sharpening them eagerly as they set upon the dead duck—time to butcher it!

Fortunately, the weather had already started to cool, especially in the early mornings and evenings. As long as the duck meat was properly handled, it should keep overnight without spoiling. If they left early the next morning, this haul would be more than worthwhile.

Chunk after chunk of fresh duck meat was cut down. Seeing everyone so fired up, Luo Xun thought for a moment, then called over the ever-calm Yan Fei and Xiao Xinran, who had no idea what everyone was so excited about. The three of them checked the situation outside before heading out together—after all, outside their defensive structure lay the battlefield where the duck and zombies had fought. How many zombies had died there?

That foolish duck had practically drawn in every zombie within range. Its deafening cries and earth-shaking battle noises had a much wider pull than anything Luo Xun’s team had ever used to lure enemies. With such overwhelming combat power, it had left behind a massive field of dead zombies—just waiting for them to collect!

“Xinran, gather all the zombie corpses and fragments into one spot. Make a sand pit here.”

At Level 3, Xiao Xinran’s sand ability was practically like a third hand (and not in a bad way)—and one that didn’t even require her to get close. Anything turned into sand fell completely under her control. If she were older and more battle-aware, she could silently suffocate someone, drag them into a sand pit, and bury them without a trace—no one would ever know unless they dug it up.

Xinran nodded, eyes shining, and quickly sandified the ground around nearby zombies, dragging them all into a large pit she created.

Yan Fei had been brought along as protection—after all, with so many “dead” zombies around, who knew which ones weren’t fully dead?

And indeed, some weren’t. Those half-alive zombies were swiftly finished off by Yan Fei using metal, then dragged by Xinran into the massive pit.

Once all visible zombies had been gathered, Luo Xun and Yan Fei poured a generous amount of gasoline into the pit before calling Xu Mei to ignite it. Letting the pit burn slowly, they returned to their metal shelter for the night.

“While clearing the zombies, I saw some zombie animal corpses too,” Luo Xun said quietly to Yan Fei as they sat in a corner. “That duck probably attracted every zombie—human and animal—in the area. If we’re lucky, we won’t see zombie rats tonight. Still, better stay alert.”

Yan Fei nodded slightly. “We’ll keep the usual routine—take turns on night watch.”

Even if tonight might be relatively safe, they couldn’t afford to relax their guard.

“Mm. Looks like they’re almost done over there. Let’s hang all the duck meat up for now—we’ll load it into the vehicles tomorrow.” Hearing the cheerful chatter from the others, Luo Xun stood up and walked over.

Xu Mei and the others had deliberately set aside a large piece of duck meat to add to dinner.

With Yan Fei’s help, Luo Xun and the group hung nearly all the remaining meat beneath the metal ceiling to air it out, preventing it from spoiling overnight. Xu Mei and Song Lingling also scalded the duck’s internal organs with boiling water and cleaned them thoroughly, making them more resistant to spoilage.

Zhang Su, thinking about the pile of meat that could last them for quite a long time, volunteered to stay up overnight to keep the space ventilated and preserve the freshness as much as possible. The others also declared that they would guard the place carefully through the night, not allowing even the slightest accident to ruin everything.

It had to be said—when it came to eating meat, and eating it for a long time, they were truly giving it their all.

Xu Mei and Song Lingling took out the small amount of seasonings they had brought and began preparing the duck meat.

Since they had only planned to be out for one or two days, they hadn’t brought many supplies. They did carry some salt for emergencies, but as for other seasonings—none at all. After all, they had already brought prepared food, and salt plus long-lasting provisions were enough.

But even with just salt, they could still make something delicious!

After a unanimous vote, everyone decided—grill it!

With barbecue, a little salt was enough to bring out the purest, freshest flavor of the meat.

When the first piece of meat began releasing that unmistakable aroma, every single person inside the metal shelter turned their gaze toward Xu Mei and the others. Soon, Li Tie and his group crowded around, staring eagerly as the slices of red meat gradually turned golden on the hot plate.

As the fragrance grew richer, even the more composed ones like Luo Xun couldn’t sit still anymore. One by one, they got up, claiming to help—when in fact they just wanted a closer look and to be ready to snatch meat at any moment…

Compared to beef or lamb, duck didn’t have such a strong aroma, nor did it release as much oil as pork belly or chicken wings. Even roast duck usually required various seasonings to taste truly good. But here, now—nearly a year into the apocalypse—this otherwise ordinary duck had become an absolute delicacy.

“This is what real meat tastes like!!”

“Mm—mmhmm!”

“I never thought duck could be this good… what was I even doing the past twenty years?”

“Mm, so good, really fragrant.”

“If only we had cumin and chili powder…”

“Be content! Having meat at all is already lucky!”

The golden surface sizzled on the iron plate, the duck’s own fat producing that irresistible sound. The whole team gathered around, each with a plate of sliced meat—deciding it was faster to grill for themselves rather than wait. Besides, having the two women cook while everyone stared was a bit too much pressure. As for the food they brought from the base… wait, where did that go again?

When Zhang Su once again snatched a cooked slice from Luo Xun, Luo Xun finally snapped. “Will you die if you grill your own?! Why are you always stealing mine? Didn’t you steal enough at the celebration banquet?!”

Zhang Su raised an eyebrow, calmly blowing on the meat before popping it into his mouth, speaking lazily, “Haven’t you heard? Bottoms don’t kiss each other. If I don’t steal from you, who should I steal from?”

Luo Xun nearly choked, coughing hard before pointing at him, face flushed. “There are plenty of bottoms in the base! If you’ve got the guts, why not go steal from them?!”

Zhang Su glanced at him with a teasing smile. “None of them are as close as you. And none of them are as cute as our little Captain Luo.”

Being called “cute,” Captain Luo practically started smoking with rage. “I’m a man! A MAN! You’re the cute one—your whole family is cute!!”

Zhang Su smiled sweetly. “Thanks for the compliment.”

Yan Fei swiftly rescued Luo Xun’s grilled meat before Zhang Su could grab it again and placed it into his bowl. “Eat. Don’t bother with him—he’s just showing off.”

Luo Xun shot Zhang Su another glare and lowered his head to eat. Arguing with him would go on for three days and nights—it was better to protect his meat.

Usually, everyone would laugh while watching them bicker, but now? Everyone kept their heads down and ate fiercely. Watching the drama could wait—meat came first.

Everyone ate until their stomachs were round and full, yet the rows of hanging duck meat above didn’t seem any less.

They took turns on night watch while lying around like corpses, deeply satisfied. Being able to eat meat until full and then sleep peacefully—what a luxury in the apocalypse…

—

Early the next morning around six, everyone got up. Xu Mei, Song Lingling, and Xiao Xinran collected the crystal cores from the burned zombie pit, while the others, under Yan Fei’s control, handled the meat and loaded the vehicles.

It seemed the duck really had attracted all nearby zombies—there had been no attacks all night.

Each vehicle had been expanded by Yan Fei. The duck meat was taken down piece by piece and placed into clean metal containers he had made. In the end, they even added storage space on the roofs just to fit everything.

All the meat was stored in thin, gray metal boxes that looked inconspicuous from the outside—reducing unnecessary trouble when entering the base. After all, inspections only checked for infection, not every item in the vehicle.

Outside, the three women quickly gathered all the crystal cores. The pile looked quite impressive.

After loading everything, they decided to head back immediately to prevent spoilage. The required crystals were set aside for the mission; the rest would be sorted later.

They hid the metal plates and drove toward the base, everyone feeling a bit uneasy.

Luo Xun was especially concerned. He knew mutated animal meat was edible—but did anyone in the base know that yet? Mutated animals wouldn’t become common until next spring. Though some had appeared, he wasn’t sure if anyone had hunted or eaten them.

Entering the base itself wasn’t stressful—no detailed inspections—but cooking at home was another matter. If the smell spread, it could attract attention—and possibly greed.

Fortunately, entry went smoothly. After a quick scan for infection, they were waved through. They turned in their mission items and returned to their residential area.

Since the meat was in metal boxes, Yan Fei could simply control them to float beside them as they carried everything upstairs. After a few trips, all the duck meat was safely transported up!

“Fridges… do we even have enough?” someone asked nervously.

Luo Xun remained calm. “Put everything in an empty room. Go get the salt we used for pickling.”

Not enough fridge space? No problem—he had other methods.

Some meat was portioned and stored in freezers. The rest…

Only now did everyone realize—meat could be preserved like this too.

Cut into long strips, rubbed with salt, and hung in a cool, ventilated place—it could be air-dried for long-term storage.

For cured meat, it was more complicated: fry peppercorns with salt, cool it, rub it into the meat with sugar, store it in jars, turn it daily, then hang and smoke until golden before long-term storage.

Though tastier, smoking required more tools. Since most of the meat was already frozen or air-dried, Luo Xun only set aside a small portion for curing—and taught Xu Mei and Song Lingling how to do it, so they could handle it later during the day.

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