Ren Yuanyang couldn’t be sure if there were more.
He immediately notified Lu Jiamei, who was on duty for the first half of the night. "Jiamei, mutated fish have appeared near our base. You must be careful on your patrol. They might leap out of the water and attack you!"
Lu Jiamei, who was currently on patrol, was taken aback for a moment. "Don’t we have dizzy fish grass?"
"Mutated fish can’t be considered normal fish anymore. Our dizzy fish grass might not work on them!" Ren Yuanyang explained simply.
"Besides Evolutionary Fish, there are mutated fish, too?" Lu Jiamei was even more surprised.
"That’s right. So you have to be extra careful. And when Haonan takes over your shift, don’t forget to remind him," Ren Yuanyang instructed.
"Okay, you can count on me, Leader!" Lu Jiamei nodded.
"Go find Jin Ziyu. I’ll drag the two mutated fish that are tangled in the weeds to the east side. Have her make two iron cages to trap them," Ren Yuanyang continued.
"Yes!" Lu Jiamei immediately hurried toward Jin Ziyu’s bamboo house.
After fetching Jin Ziyu, Lu Jiamei went to the eastern edge of the Banyan Forest.
The two mutated fish thrashed about, sending sheets of water splashing everywhere.
Jin Ziyu immediately used the metal she had on hand to form iron cages, trapping the two mutated fish inside.
"The Leader’s Superpower is so strong. I couldn’t even hit that mutated fish with my Flying Sword, but he managed to catch two at once!" Jin Ziyu exclaimed, impressed.
"It goes without saying that the Leader is powerful, but you’re not bad either. You just need to think about how you can better use your own Superpower," Lu Jiamei replied with a smile.
Jin Ziyu nodded slightly, then furrowed her brow. "I’m just good for doing work and eating. As for thinking... let’s leave that to the Leader. As long as I do what he tells me, isn’t that good enough?"
Lu Jiamei felt a bit helpless but didn’t press the issue. Instead, she nodded. "You’re not wrong. As long as you do what the Leader says, everything will be fine."
"It’s simpler that way!" Jin Ziyu giggled.
"All right, you can go get some rest," Lu Jiamei said with a wave of her hand, then continued her patrol.
Jin Ziyu skipped happily back to her bamboo house.
"Leader, the two mutated fish have been caught," Lu Jiamei reported succinctly.
"Good. We’ll study them when we have time. For now, just leave them be," Ren Yuanyang replied.
After a moment of thought, he decided to post a warning in the regional channel.
"The water doesn’t just have Evolutionary Fish, there are also mutated fish. Everyone be on your guard!"
After Ren Yuanyang’s message appeared, the regional channel went quiet for a moment before erupting with activity.
"Mutated fish? What’s that mean?"
"Are they different from Evolutionary Fish?"
"Is Peach Blossom Base just trying to get attention? Did they make up a new term?"
"The expert wouldn’t say this for no reason. Explanation, please?"
Ren Yuanyang edited the system notification into a message and sent it. The other survivors had a moment of realization as they read it.
"So, to put it simply, Evolutionary Fish at least look normal, while mutated fish look... not so normal."
"Holy crap, the thing I just ran into was a mutated fish? I thought it was an Evolutionary Fish!"
"So does this mean we can eat Evolutionary Fish, but we can’t just eat any mutated fish?"
"Based on the expert’s explanation, that seems to be the case!"
"No way... I think I just ate a weird-looking fish. I’m not going to mutate, am I?"
"If it’s that easy to mutate, I might actually give it a try!"
Ren Yuanyang shook his head and emphasized again, "I advise against it. Those fish mutated because of things like radiation and toxic chemicals. Those things are just as harmful to the human body!"
"Thanks for the warning, expert! We’ll keep that in mind!"
"I understand this world less and less. Sigh... it’s so hard to stay alive."
"I don’t know, it makes sense to me. The evolution is caused by the endless rain, but the mutation is caused by our own stuff. Think about it—radiation, toxic chemicals... didn’t we humans make all that?"
"Now that you mention it, that actually makes a lot of sense."
"So, in the end, all these disasters are our own damn fault. We should all repent and pray God forgives us."
"Sorry, I don’t believe in God. My fate is my own to decide!"
Wang Jun also saw Ren Yuanyang’s posts. After a moment of consideration, he sent a direct message to Ren Yuanyang.
"Did your base get attacked by mutated fish? Do you need support?"
Ren Yuanyang smiled upon receiving Wang Jun’s message and replied, "We did run into a few mutated fish, but they weren’t much of a threat."
"That’s good. Have you made any progress with the Evolution Potion?" Wang Jun asked.
"It’s going okay. We’re making steady progress," Ren Yuanyang replied, his tone very formal.
To Wang Jun, an answer like that basically meant ’no progress’.
Before Wang Jun could respond, Ren Yuanyang asked, "How did your trade with Dawn Base go?"
"It’s done. We’re studying the research data they sent over," Wang Jun replied truthfully.
"Has the Han Jin Association Fleet’s research made significant progress?" Ren Yuanyang asked, a bit curious. "You don’t have to answer if it’s inconvenient."
"It’s not a problem. They’ve actually made huge progress. They managed to increase the success rate of the Evolution Potion to 10%, which is a lot better than the previous 1%," Wang Jun didn’t hide the facts.
"That’s a huge improvement!" Ren Yuanyang remarked. "You must have paid a steep price for it, didn’t you?"
"We did. One hundred and twenty tons of grain, plus five hundred liters of diesel," Wang Jun replied with a shrug.
Ren Yuanyang froze when he saw the message, then laughed. "Looks like I sold mine for way too cheap!"
"We can compensate you," Wang Jun replied immediately.
Ren Yuanyang shook his head slightly. "No need. A deal is a deal. Whether we lost out or not, Peach Blossom Base will honor it."
Wang Jun praised, "Peach Blossom Base certainly keeps its word!"
"It’s getting late. You should get some rest, Captain Wang," Ren Yuanyang said, ending the conversation.
"You too," Wang Jun replied.
Ren Yuanyang was admittedly annoyed to hear that Dawn Base had traded their research data for so much grain, but he quickly talked himself out of it.
His previous trade with the Aircraft Carrier Base had been influenced by the sacrifice of that heroine. It was more about patriotism. So many of his compatriots had died to get that data out; his conscience wouldn’t allow him to get rich off it.
Of course, he couldn’t just give it away for free either, which was why he sold it to the Aircraft Carrier Base for a pittance.
’More importantly, the Aircraft Carrier Base mostly had old military rations. With my seeds and my Enhancement System, I can grow fresh food every day. There’s no need to go after their stale grain.
’Besides, we only have one military speedboat and the custom one from Xin Wan. Even with both boats, we couldn’t transport that much grain.
’If the speedboats were fully loaded with grain, their speed would suffer. They could be easily tracked by the Aircraft Carrier Base, exposing our own location.
’Considering all that, asking for crop seeds was the best choice.
’As for other people trying to profit off a national disaster, that has nothing to do with me. No need to dwell on it.
’Besides, my Evolution Potion is almost ready. The Aircraft Carrier Base’s hundred-plus tons of grain are probably going to be a complete waste!’
’I hope this incident helps you realize which base is truly worthy of your cooperation,’ Ren Yuanyang thought with a slight smile.
Just as the clock struck midnight, Hua Lingfang hurried over.
"Leader, you can go rest now."
Ren Yuanyang nodded and stood up. "Everything was quiet during the first half of the night."
"Understood," Hua Lingfang replied.
Meanwhile, Lu Jiamei was handing over patrol duty to Qin Haonan.
When Qin Haonan heard that mutated fish had appeared near the base, he was stunned. "There are fish that aren’t afraid of dizzy fish grass?"
"Yep. For the details, you can check the Leader’s posts in the regional channel. I already sent you a screenshot," Lu Jiamei replied.
"Got it," Qin Haonan replied and headed for the perimeter. He decided to make a full patrol circuit first before checking the information on the mutated fish.
During the second half of the night, aside from the usual wind and rain, Qin Haonan didn’t encounter any attacks from mutated fish. If he hadn’t seen the two that had been captured, he would have thought the Leader and the others were just pulling his leg.
At six in the morning, Ren Yuanyang and the others got up on time to practice the Five Animals Qigong.
After they finished, Ren Yuanyang gave an order, "Jiamei, go bring over the two mutated fish we caught yesterday. I want to get a good look at them and figure out what we’re dealing with."
"Yes, sir!" Lu Jiamei replied, turning to leave.
"I will!" Lu Jiamei’s voice drifted back from the distance.

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