Upon the glass table, a basin of steaming hot water held a glass tumbler containing half a measure of strong liquor; beside it sat a large bowl heaped with sliced Jihua.

Ye Chen held a razor-sharp kitchen knife, his focus entirely fixed on Bailong’s wound, his voice low. "Bear with it."

Bailong was puzzled, but before he could respond, a heavy thud struck his head, and he plunged into unconsciousness.

With Bailong knocked out, Ye Chen moved with lightning speed. First, he poured the boiling water over the wound. The blood here had turned a deep, murky black, and the liquid carried a foul, fishy stench.

How agonizing must it be to pour scalding water onto a torn wound?

Yet, Bailong felt nothing. Catalyzed by the virus, his nervous system's sensitivity to pain had gradually dulled. Even a deep stab would feel no worse than a mosquito bite, and in his current state of stupor, he was entirely unresponsive.

Once the boiling water had washed away the blackened, coagulated blood from the laceration, Ye Chen used the kitchen knife to slice off the scalded tissue. Beneath it, blood that was already faintly darkening immediately began to well up.

"Grind the Jihua into a paste!" Ye Chen stated sternly to Ye Zhu beside him.

Ye Zhu hesitated but asked no further questions. She grabbed a wooden pestle, poured several dozen pieces of Jihua into an iron basin, and began to crush them.

Meanwhile, Ye Chen poured a spoonful of the nearly boiling strong liquor onto Bailong’s wound. Alcohol, with its intense burning quality, could be used to purge toxins.

Ye Chen went to the kitchen, retrieved garlic and vinegar, dropped the cloves into the iron basin, poured in half a bottle of white vinegar, and instructed Ye Zhu to mash it all together with the Jihua.

Ye Chen then used the strong liquor to cleanse Bailong’s wound again. When the Jihua, white vinegar, and garlic were pounded into a thick slurry—yielding about two bowls' worth—he poured the entire mixture down Bailong's throat.

"Will he really recover?" Ye Zhu sounded anxious.

Ye Chen shook his head. "It depends on luck. Thankfully, the infection period was short; otherwise, it would have been truly difficult to treat."

Ye Zhu fell silent.

Ye Chen patted her shoulder and pointed toward the corpse of the mutated dog lying on the floor nearby. "This monster’s blood is all usable, rich with energy. Dogs are naturally nourishing; if one person consumed the entirety of this mutated dog, they could gain the strength of five men! As for its hide, we’ll use that to make clothes!"

The nutritional value varied drastically between different animals; the sustenance from a tiger far surpassed that of a pig!

And this mutated dog was tens of times more precious than a tiger!

Ye Zhu finally noticed the creature, exclaiming in surprise, "Is this what you went out to hunt?"

Ye Chen nodded.

Ye Zhu frowned. "Next time you go on something this dangerous, you don't have to bring me along, but you must tell me!"

Ye Chen gave a wry smile and nodded.

Ye Zhu then moved to the mutated dog, squatting down for a closer look. She asked curiously, "Brother, can this entire creature be eaten? I thought only the Jihua was edible?"

Ye Chen shook his head. "On a Zombie, only the Jihua is safe; everything else contains the virus. Zombies are products of failed evolution! But this monster is a successful evolutionary product. Even if you were caught or bitten, you wouldn't contract the virus and turn into a Zombie."

"Jihua..."

"To put it simply, it’s high-grade blood. If we truly ranked them, the blood of cockroaches and rats would be Level 1; a normal human’s blood is Level 2; a tiger’s is Level 3, and Jihua is Level 10!"

"The higher the level, the richer the energy and nutrition contained within!"

"A normal person with Level 2 blood, by consuming Level 3 tiger blood, would become physically robust and strong! If they ate Level 10 Jihua, it would enhance strength, improve physique, leading to an evolutionary effect... This mutated dog, catalyzed by the virus, has evolved its blood to the equivalent of Level 7 blood. You can simply think of its entire body as secondary-grade Jihua."

Ye Chen continued slowly, "The virus isn't truly poison; it's more like a nutrient gas! Monsters evolve because they absorb the virus. Humans become Zombies because they fail to process this nutrient gas."

"It's like an ant trying to devour an elephant; it simply doesn't have a stomach large enough to contain it, so attempting to swallow it results only in bursting!"

Ye Zhu suddenly understood, a dawning realization in her mind.

Next, Ye Zhu picked up the fire axe and dragged the mutated dog into the kitchen. She first dismembered it, discarding inedible organs, then brought water to a boil to begin the butchering process.

Ye Chen, meanwhile, sat on the sofa, contemplating future matters.

A few hours later, Ye Zhu had chopped the lion-sized mutated dog into numerous portions, which she cooked in boiling water, sliced thinly, seasoned, and stir-fried.

As for the hide, she had hacked it off with the axe, cleaned it thoroughly to remove the stench of blood, and set it aside for clothing.

It was evening when they sat down to dinner.

On the table sat two massive bowls of sliced meat, flavored with spices until they smelled wonderfully aromatic. After days of practice, Ye Zhu’s cooking skills had become proficient; she no longer sliced potatoes into thick chunks.

Ye Chen nodded. "We should eat this mutated dog meat as quickly as possible; the nutrients will dissipate if we wait. For the next few days, we won't cook rice; we’ll eat this at every meal."

Ye Zhu smiled.

After consuming a large bowl of the mutated dog meat, Ye Chen felt his strength increase by several dozen jin—about half a person’s strength. If this bowl had been Jihua, it could have added the strength of two full people.

However, Ye Chen wasn't disappointed. The mutated dog was massive, enough to last them four or five days. At three meals a day, that meant an increase of one and a half people’s strength daily, plus the Jihua they acquired hunting Zombies, which could add an average of two, or even three, people’s strength daily!

"You go to the room and sleep; I'll watch him here," Ye Chen told his sister, Ye Zhu, after they finished eating.

Ye Zhu hesitated for a moment before nodding.

...

Through the night, Ye Chen maintained a state somewhere between sleeping and waking. This condition allowed his body to recover while also keeping him alert enough to prevent Bailong from turning into a Zombie and launching a sudden attack.

Yet, the night passed in perfect tranquility...

The next morning, Ye Chen woke up and glanced at Bailong. His skin had regained its color, his eye sockets were no longer sunken and dark; he looked indistinguishable from a normal person, which finally put Ye Chen at ease.

"My head is so fuzzy..." Bailong groaned as he awoke, feeling soreness in his back and limbs, his mind muddled. He sat up and reached for his forehead, just as a joyful voice sounded next to his ear: "You're awake?"

Bailong looked up to see Ye Zhu, clad in coarse homespun cloth, standing before him. Not far ahead, at the dining table, the black-haired man was still eating his breakfast.

Bailong instantly sobered up. He looked at his hands—his fingernails hadn't lengthened, and his thoughts were clear; he hadn't turned into a Zombie! A dull ache throbbed from his right arm. He looked down to see the wound neatly bandaged with white cloth.

"Why didn't I turn into a Zombie?" Bailong asked in astonishment.

Ye Zhu giggled, then turned and pointed toward Ye Chen at the dining table. "My brother treated your wound and cleansed the toxins."

Bailong stared, then turned his gaze to the black-haired man at the table. He vaguely recalled hearing this man’s voice just before he passed out. After a moment of stunned silence, an inexpressible wave of gratitude washed over him. He stood up, walked over to Ye Chen, and said with a faint smile, "Thank you for last night; if it weren't for you, I would be dead."

Ye Chen responded flatly, "It was nothing. Eat breakfast first; we need to go hunt Zombies afterward."

When Bailong heard Ye Chen tell him to eat, he had prepared to be polite, perhaps saying something like, "Thank you so much, I’m so indebted," but when he heard the next sentence, he froze, wondering if he had misheard. "You're going out to hunt Zombies?"

Ye Chen stated matter-of-factly, "Not just us—you too! You're coming along..."

Bailong felt a sudden dizziness, the world turning dim, sun and moon obscured. After a long pause, he whispered softly, "I’m injured. What can I possibly contribute? I don't want to drag you both down..."

A flash of understanding crossed Ye Chen's eyes. "Right. You're useless now. Fine, get out; you don't need to eat breakfast either."

Bailong: "..."

"Aren't you leaving?"

"Um... what did I just say? Oh, I have intermittent amnesia. What did you just say?"

"Sister, where did I put my knife?"

"Uh... in that case, I suddenly remembered. I'll go hunt Zombies with you after all!"

...

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