Chapter 34: The Iron Pot and the Scapegoat

"Honk?" Didn't you say you were taking me?

Tieguo tilted its head, a look of confusion flashing in its eyes.

Qin Xiaoyu gave it a kick. "Are you hungry for fish?"

Tieguo nodded without hesitation. "Honk!"

The buck-passing was a success.

"See? That's what it wants," Qin Xiaoyu said, then abruptly changed the subject. "Dad, what are you standing there for? Hurry up and drive! If we don't go now, we won't even be able to see the cars in front of us."

Qin Baisong said, "Be a good girl, get out of the car and go home. It's too dangerous out there."

Qin Xiaoyu countered, "If you don't take me, I'll ride on Tieguo and go myself. Besides, I may be young, but my abilities aren't. That Level 2 olive tree on the back mountain was split by me. If it were you, could you do that?"

She then looked at Qin Bainian. "Or can you, Uncle?"

The Qin brothers: ...

Having been outdone by a brat, they were left speechless.

Tieguo looked at her in shock. *Do you even hear what you're saying? I'm so big and heavy, and you actually want to ride on me?*

It looked at its own feet, then at Qin Xiaoyu's, and the entire goose felt instantly miserable.

To Qin Baisong, it looked as if Tieguo was indeed restless and eager to go. After a brief hesitation, he stopped trying to persuade her and simply started the car.

"I need to figure out a training method. I wonder if Tai Chi is any use; that's the only thing I know," Qin Bainian said, his expression complex. A man in his early forties, yet he couldn't even compare to an eight-year-old girl.

Qin Baisong said, "I know the Five Animal Frolics. Would that work?"

The brothers exchanged a look. If all else failed, they would just have to learn the brat's training methods.

But it was normal for children to roughhouse; was it appropriate for them?

Forget it. Isn't it just about training more, eating more, and breaking through one's limits?

If they put their minds to it, how could grown men say they couldn't do it?

As the pickup truck drove along the road, many of the roadside ornamental trees trembled slightly, their leaves rustling.

Qin Bainian was startled at the sight and remarked, "It's only been a few days, and so many plants have mutated. Won't there be even more in a few days' time?"

Qin Xiaoyu, sitting in the truck bed, heard this and immediately replied, "That's not even the half of it. Starting in July, there will be more and more Level 2 mutated plants. By then, passing through here won't be so simple."

Still, she figured there would be organizations formed to clear them out.

Fortunately, no matter how powerful the mutated plants were, they were rooted in the ground and could hardly move; at most, they could only claim territory as their own.

Of course, there were rare exceptions, like high-level mutated ginseng.

But that stuff was incredibly nourishing, and it usually avoided people. The kind of blood ginseng she had encountered in her previous life was truly rare.

As it turned out, fighting with people was risky, wasn't it? She had ended up gnawing on it, hadn't she?

When the pickup passed by a lotus pond, Qin Xiaoyu leaned against the side of the truck and looked out. She spotted some things emitting a green glow, and a massive lotus seed pod was half-hidden in the greenery.

Thinking of sweet lotus seed soup, she felt a bit hungry.

"Dad, on the way back, can we stop at the lotus pond we just passed and pick some lotus seeds?" Qin Xiaoyu asked.

"That's someone else's lotus pond; we can't just go picking things," Qin Baisong said instinctively.

They said the world had changed, but with the loss of satellites, signals, and even electricity, it currently remained just a rumor.

The plants had mutated, but the people were still fine, and order hadn't collapsed yet.

Taking something without asking was stealing.

Qin Xiaoyu said "oh," but she didn't intend to give up. She glanced at Tieguo; when they came back, she would just let Tieguo pick them and say the goose did it on its own.

Such a big person surely wouldn't hold a grudge against a small animal, right?

"Honk!"

Tieguo stared at the receding lotus pond, its eyes bright and alert.

It recognized this plant. Beneath it, there were crunchy, sweet roots that tasted quite good.

It wasn't until the lotus pond was out of sight that the girl and the goose withdrew their gazes.

At the foot of Huashi Mountain, there was a large stretch of beach. Compared to the riverbanks covered in plants, it looked quite abrupt, with a vast area at the foot of the mountain where not a blade of grass grew.

The river water in this area was large and shallow, and one could clearly see the fish at the bottom.

Although no grass grew there, the fish seemed to dislike it too, and there didn't seem to be many of them.

"Honk!"

Before the car could even come to a complete stop, Tieguo jumped out, impatient, and dashed toward the river.

The villagers were startled and quickly stepped aside.

"Whoa, what a huge goose!"

"If this goose keeps growing, it'll be as big as an ostrich, right?"

"Speaking of which, my chickens have grown huge too, bigger than turkeys."

"My old dog has become so energetic. It used to eat one meal a day and couldn't finish a few bites, but now it eats three times a day, a whole basin each time."

"Why have all the animals and plants changed in this apocalypse, but we humans haven't?"

"We'd better build that perimeter wall quickly. Last night, when I was picking vegetables in my yard, I got smacked by my own crops."

"..."

Speaking of the vegetables in their own yards, a group of men, both old and young, couldn't help but complain. They didn't know until they started talking, but quite a few of them had been hit by the vegetables they had planted themselves.

In the end, those aggressive vegetables were all removed; no one was going to leave such a dangerous thing behind.

Just as everyone was discussing this, Tieguo passed by them and suddenly leaped into the river.

*Bang!*

Most of the goose's body went into the water, but its tail feathers remained visible.

Whether the river was too shallow or Tieguo had forgotten it had grown larger, its head slammed directly into a rock at the bottom.

After a long while, it flipped over, its head wobbling as if it were dizzy.

Qin Xiaoyu covered her face, unable to bear looking.

The villagers were in the middle of their discussion when they suddenly saw a child get out of the Qin family's pickup, and many of their expressions soured immediately.

The Qin brothers were truly shameless. Yesterday, they went to another village to buy supplies, and today, they brought their children along to "check the situation" at Huashi Mountain.

The Qin brothers didn't care about that at all. None of these people could put up a fight; their little Xiaoyu could smack any one of them away with a single slap.

*Splash!*

Tieguo emerged from the other side of the river, where the plants were growing, holding a massive fish in its beak, and excitedly sprinted toward Qin Xiaoyu.

"Wow, such a big fish! Tieguo, you're amazing!"

Seeing Tieguo bring the fish to her, Qin Xiaoyu didn't reach out to take it, but instead hid behind her father.

"Dad, you take the fish."

"Didn't you say you were strong? The fish isn't even that big, and you can't carry it?" Qin Baisong muttered, though his actions were anything but slow as he nimbly took the large fish.

Qin Bainian twitched his lips, thinking: *Is it possible that my niece isn't complaining that the fish is too heavy, but that it's too slimy, and she doesn't want to get her hands dirty?*

As it turned out, he guessed correctly.

Seeing him take it, Tieguo turned and rushed back into the river.

Qin Baisong weighed it in his hand, thinking the fish must weigh at least ten pounds.

The river wasn't that big—oh, wait, it had become very large, but the biggest fish before had been the size of a palm. How could there be such a big fish after only a few days?

He glanced at Tieguo, feeling strange.