Bai Zemin, Cai Jingyi, Fu Xuefeng, and Zhong De followed Shangguan Bing Xue back to the pharmacy building where the group of survivors was.
When the group of five arrived at the site, there were already many people sitting casually on large rubble rocks eating in wide mouthfuls and others coming out with their food from inside the building before sitting down and starting to eat just like the rest.
Bai Zemin could notice the look of surprise on the students' faces when they saw the black-furred tiger being dragged by him with one hand.
"Look, they even hunt a tiger."
"Isn't it a panther?"
"Idiot, it's obviously a tiger that mutated!"
"Shut up and eat before you have to go back to work."
He ignored all this and left the Shadow Tiger's body near where the Blazing Beetle was.
Currently, the Blazing Beetle had lost much of its protective shell and the survivors had also begun cutting up the meat and were packing it in plastic bags to be taken to the refrigerators later.
Although it was still uncertain whether the meat was edible or not as it had not yet been long enough for everyone to feel safe enough, Shangguan Bing Xue decided that it was better to work on it beforehand to save time and, since the survivors were not doing anything productive, her idea was immediately approved by everyone.
Bai Zemin received his bowl of rice as well as a large piece of red meat, a smaller piece of white meat, and a steamed bun.
After nodding to the people in the kitchen he simply went to the roof of the building and sat there with the beautiful Lilith a short distance away. However, this did not last long as Wu Yujin soon appeared on the spot and started chatting with him.
As she didn't seem to have any bad intentions nor did she seem to want to ask him for anything, Bai Zemin casually chatted with her about insignificant things during the slightly late lunch.
After finishing his meal, he excused himself and returned to the place where he was before to continue cleaning the area. This time he told Fu Xuefeng and the other two that one of them would switch places with Kang Lan and take her to level up.
* * *
The whole day passed exactly the same way as it started.
Bai Zemin cleared small groups and considerably large groups of zombies while practicing his control over Mana and adapting to the use of Blood Manipulation in different circumstances. Slowly but surely he could notice steady improvement in his control over magic as well as imagining and solidifying blood to form spears.
When the sun went down, he finally decided to call it a day and returned to the gym, casually meeting up with Chen He's group and the rest who had returned several minutes earlier.
Surprisingly, Shangguan Bing Xue's group had also not been dawdling while the other survivors worked as they had brought even more mattresses and clothes from the female dormitory. Now, thanks to the large movement of female students the day before, practically everyone had a place to lie down to sleep and while it was not as comfortable as a bed it was countless times more comfortable than the cold hard ground.
Little by little the living conditions of the survivors improved, which made the heavy and gloomy atmosphere slowly lighten thanks to the new comforts as well as the power demonstrated by Bai Zemin and the other evolved ones.
…
"From about 7:30 in the morning until now more than fourteen hours have passed but there hasn't been the slightest sign of adverse effect on the three scum who ate the beetle meat." Shangguan Bing Xue was sitting on a chair next to a table inside the cafeteria and began to announce the results of the experiment conducted today.
"Basically… Can meat be eaten or not?" Liang Peng asked in confusion.
Shangguan Bing Xue looked at him before looking at the rest and continuing, "During all this time, if something bad were to happen, at least there should have already been a minor indication. However, there is no change in skin color, no fever, the pupils did not dilate in any way nor does there seem to be any kind of mental change… I think it is correct to assume that the flesh of mutated monsters is not harmful to the human body."
Bai Zemin chuckled and said in a considerably cheerful tone, "That means that from today onwards we have another source of food, doesn't it?"
"That's right." Shangguan Bing Xue nodded as she looked at everyone. Even her icy attitude was somewhat warmer at this moment, which proved how cheerful she was.
The evolved animals and insects were from a certain point of view more terrifying than the zombies since only one of them could devastate large groups of people in a short time. However, now they had also become an indispensable food source!
Bai Zemin and the rest still didn't know how the Mana had affected the land of the world in general, but Lilith had told him that it was possible for the crops to stop growing as it was not something strange by any means. Therefore, if that happened, every meal they consumed was one less meal that could not be replenished.
With the current situation in the world, the production factories would naturally cease to function, so they could not count on that kind of food either. Therefore, the most natural food was the meat of other species.
Now that it had been confirmed that the meat of the First Order Blazing Beetle was edible, the joy and relief they felt was simply too great as a heavy burden had been lifted from their shoulders.
Without food people would not be willing to work, would not obey, and chaos would soon break out everywhere; which considering the current situation of the world would mean the destruction of the human race. But now that they knew they could get a safe food source from other animals, the problem had at least been alleviated a little more and while it was not a long term solution at least for the moment it was better than nothing.
"By the way, what happened to those three guys?" Bai Zemin asked casually.
"As promised, I let them go." Shangguan Bing Xue replied indifferently.
Bai Zemin looked at her and asked in a strange tone, "… They left at this time?"
"That's right. Any problem?" She looked at him and asked in confusion.
Any problem? Bai Zemin didn't know what to say so he simply shook his head as he sneered at the three poor pitiful guys.
While it was true that he had cleared the southeast of the northern area and his three subordinates had partially cleared the southwest area, at night the dangers abounded much more. Bai Zemin knew that three normal people without even the courage to fight would definitely not be able to survive during the night unless they were lucky.
But even if they survived the night danger, considering that there was no food around it was only a matter of time before they died in one way or another.
