At this moment, the crows in the sky had all flown away.
Last time, there were so many sparrows, over a hundred of them. Although the sparrow king died, they still dared to pursue Xiao Zhe and the others.
This time, there were only a little over twenty crows, and once the crow king was killed, they were immediately at a disadvantage. Especially since Yang Xiao had a powerful sparrow bow that could shoot thirty meters away, the crows didn’t dare to fight anymore.
With the crows flying away, the threat was temporarily lifted. Chen Fei and the others immediately felt relieved.
After Huang Wen took the small blood pill, her wounds gradually healed, and her Qi had recovered considerably.
At this moment, Qin Yu and Deng Xiao were still on guard in mid-air. The injured girls had been treated, but the girl who was shot dead couldn’t be saved. Everyone fell silent upon hearing the news.
Yang Xiao turned his head and saw Feifei sitting not far away, with Dai Yun helping Feifei remove the feathered arrows and bandage the wound.
Yang Xiao walked over and asked, "Feifei, how are you?"
Feifei had been hit by three arrows, but fortunately, his Magic Hair blocked them somewhat, penetrating only about 2 or 3 centimeters into his body. Since Feifei was chubby and had a thick layer of fat, his injuries weren’t severe.
Yang Xiao patted Feifei on the shoulder and said solemnly, "Thank you for saving me just now!"
Feifei grinned, showing a mouthful of white teeth, "Boss, saying thanks is too formal, hug me, will you?"
Yang Xiao was stunned for a moment, then laughed, opening his arms to hug Feifei, squeezing Feifei’s strong waist tightly. At this moment, Yang Xiao felt a sense of family.
Feifei suddenly choked up and said, "Boss, you can’t get hurt, and you certainly can’t die. Otherwise, what would we do?"
Yang Xiao nodded, "Don’t worry, I have a strong life and won’t die that easily. I will always protect you."
Dai Yun, standing nearby, felt warmth in his heart and turned away with slightly wet eyes.
Chen Fei came over, "Boss, we’ve killed a total of six crows, including the crow king. Here are three genetic disks dropped by the crow king."
Chen Fei handed three purple-glowing disks to Yang Xiao.
Yang Xiao took them and handed one each to Huang Wen and Feifei, keeping one for himself.
"This crow king was killed by me, so it should rightfully belong to me. But without the life-risking rescue and assistance from Huang Wen and Feifei, it wouldn’t have been so easy to kill the crow king. So each of them gets one, any objections?"
"No objections!" Chen Fei and the others responded in unison.
The crow king’s simultaneous shooting of a hundred feathered arrows completely caught Yang Xiao off guard. Although he anticipated someone might get injured during the battle, he didn’t expect the consequences to be so severe, resulting in a death.
Yang Xiao decided to head down the mountain first.
"Let’s call it a day. Everyone should go back and rest for a while. The fish in this pond have almost all been caught by the birds. I reckon in a few days the birds will fly away too. We’ll come back and collect those genetic fragments then."
Everyone nodded. Some carried the bodies of the six crows, while others helped the injured, slowly walking down the mountain.
They dug a pit by the mountainside to bury the body of the girl who died. In this post-apocalyptic world, there were bones of the dead everywhere, and few could be buried.
Back at the camp, Yang Xiao checked the injuries of the others. Two people were more seriously injured, so he gave them each a small blood pill.
The small blood pill was still quite expensive at present; it wasn’t given for minor injuries. Yang Xiao wanted to give Feifei a small blood pill, but Feifei refused.
"Boss, I’m fine, you should keep it."
Yang Xiao didn’t insist and instructed, "If the wound gets infected and doesn’t heal quickly, let me know. Don’t push yourself."
After the fierce battle and fright, it was only after coming down the mountain that everyone felt exhausted and hungry, so they began to light a fire and prepare to roast the crows for food.
Huang Wen and a few girls plucked the crow king’s feathers outright, then roasted it over the fire. The over a hundred-pound crow king had become quite manageable in Huang Wen and the others’ hands, easily turned above the flames. Before long, the aroma of the roasted meat filled the air.
Xiao Zhe and Xu Hua came over at some point.
The two suppressed their smug smiles, pretending to be concerned, "Yang Xiao, we heard your outing didn’t go well this time, some got hurt, and one died. I’ve always said, those mutated birds on the mountain are just too fierce. We’re not their match for now; it would be best to leave them alone. But you never listened, and see, something happened. Luckily, you’re okay."
Yang Xiao glanced over at the two and said indifferently, "You were hoping something would happen to me, now you see I’m fine, are you a bit disappointed?"
"Look at what you’re saying, are we that kind of people?" Xiao Zhe immediately retorted, but his eyes were fixated on Qin Yu, who was helping roast the crow not far away.
Yang Xiao chuckled lightly, "Talking of which, there are lots of genetic fragments in the pond, aren’t you going to lead people to collect them?"
Xu Hua sneered, "Yang Xiao, stop trying to trick us. You guys barely made it back today; we’re not so dumb as to go fight hundreds of mutated birds. In the nearby hillsides and fields outside the academy, there are mutated creatures everywhere. We can hunt genetic fragments there just the same, why bother clashing with those birds?"
Yang Xiao was speechless; Xu Hua’s words seemed to make a lot of sense.
In fact, most people in the playground were now afraid to go up to Biyun Mountain to hunt mutated creatures. They all went hunting mutated creatures in the valleys and fields outside the campus gate instead, where there were many small mutated insects that were easy to hunt. Although the probability of dropping genetic fragments was lower, the day’s harvest wouldn’t be too bad.
Especially when everyone went out in groups, they faced no immediate danger in the fields.
The crow meat roasted quickly, and Xiao Zhe and Xu Hua watched the sizzling roasted crow, swallowing saliva.
Huang Wen said bluntly, "This is our food, none for you."
Xiao Zhe laughed, "So stingy, it’s just crow meat. Next time, I’ll hunt one for you to see."
"I’m not interested in seeing it. If you do hunt a crow, you can eat it yourselves, don’t tell me."
Huang Wen said with a sneer.
Xiao Zhe and Xu Hua were a bit angry and were about to leave.
Just then, a commotion rose from the distant playground. Yang Xiao looked up and saw a dense group of people slowly entering the playground and approaching everyone.
There were at least 200 people, all wearing armor, which looked much sturdier and more impressive than Yang Xiao’s cloth armor.
Yang Xiao and the others stood up.
Everyone on the playground also stood up, watching this group of strangers nervously. This was the first time since Earth entered the cataclysm over a month ago that outsiders came to Kongming Academy.