Returning to the main storyline.
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In front of the hotel room door.
Faced with Raymond's sudden invitation, Miss Rabbit lifted a chubby paw, scratched her mouth, and quietly stood at the door thinking for ten seconds. Her fluffy long ears twitched imperceptibly: "Okay."
Her words were simple and plain, but her voice remained as sweet as ever.
Even though she was a rabbit.
Returning to his room, Raymond rubbed his chin and looked at Ben Mao: "I realized something."
"?"
"Long-eared rabbits are quite cute."
"Especially their ears, I kind of want to touch them."
In the morning, the sun was scorching.
In August, it was too hot to go outside.
After walking out of the hotel door for one meter, five meters, seven meters… Raymond couldn't help but want to retreat: "I think I've walked far enough today. How about we go back to the room and enjoy the air conditioning? As the saying goes, everywhere outside of air conditioning is a distant place."
"Air conditioning?" Miss Rabbit asked. She seemed unfamiliar with the term.
Raymond looked surprised: "You don't know? Your room has it too."
"Does it?" Miss Rabbit replied calmly.
Raymond and Ben Mao exchanged glances and then looked at her: "In such hot weather, how have you been coping for the past month?"
Miss Rabbit pondered for a moment and said, "There's a strange box in the room. If I put water in it, it turns into ice after a while. I use the ice to cool down."
"..." Raymond, "That's a refrigerator…."
"Meow meow!" Ben Mao chimed in with two meows, looking quite proud as if boasting about his ability to operate the air conditioning.
Raymond briefly explained to Miss Rabbit what an air conditioner was and what it was used for. As for his earlier comment about going back to the room to enjoy the air conditioning, it was naturally a joke. After all, today wasn't just an ordinary outing for hunting; he wanted to explore further and see if he could encounter any other special individuals.
Leaving the vicinity of the hotel, Raymond, perhaps feeling that the silence was awkward, struck up a conversation with Miss Rabbit: "Although it might seem strange to ask now, I still want to ask, Miss Rabbit, do you have a name?"
"A name? That's something only humans have, right?" Miss Rabbit said flatly, "I don't have a name."
Raymond smiled: "That's a pity."
"Why?" Miss Rabbit asked.
"A name is a great invention of human society!" Faced with these unknown evolved beings, Raymond enthusiastically became a lecturer, saying, "It distinctly differentiates one individual from another. For example, I am Raymond, not John Doe or Jane Doe, just Raymond. A name is a crystallization of self-awareness in intelligent life forms. It makes one strongly aware of their existence, recognizing that they are an independent individual distinct from their surroundings and the world. So I think it's a pity that Miss Rabbit doesn't have a name."
"Well…" Miss Rabbit showed some interest, "You make some good points."
"Of course!" Seeing this, Raymond continued with a serious tone, "Moreover, without a name, it's quite inconvenient for communication, isn't it? How about this, why don't you call yourself Carrot?"
Without a moment's hesitation, Miss Rabbit refused: "No! Is that a name you copied from somewhere?"
"How did you know?!" Raymond was astonished.
Miss Rabbit said calmly, "Instinct."
What the hell, what kind of instinct is that?! That's too much!!
"Besides, did I ever say I wanted a name?" Miss Rabbit said, "I certainly don't need you to name me."
Raymond: "Hmph!"
Taking back his earlier words, this rabbit is really not cute at all!
After moving past the topic of names, Raymond briefly mentioned the purpose of their outing. "If we keep walking east, there's a large wholesale market for agricultural products. Before the evolution began, ordinary animals generally didn't have the ability to break through the roller shutters and burglar bars there. And since the evolution started, it's only been a bit over a month. Not too short, but not too long either. If there are no surprises, we should be able to find some well-preserved seeds there. It's a wholesale market, so the variety should be quite comprehensive."
Although they could also go to the countryside to find ready-to-eat fruits and vegetables to transplant, the city center where they lived was too far from the rural areas. In the past, Raymond could have driven there, enjoying a drive, but now, with evolved creatures everywhere, and even more terrifying mutant swarms, it was impossible to provoke them. Driving would make too much noise, essentially asking for trouble.
More importantly, judging by his past hunting experiences before the evolution in rural areas, the ecosystem there was much more diverse than in the city. Going there now with his hatred aura would be like marching into a battlefield alone.
With such high risks, it's better to obediently go to the wholesale market to find seeds.
Additionally, while there were certainly some private small vegetable gardens in the city, for one, Raymond didn't know where to find them, so blindly searching would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Secondly, over a year, a vegetable garden isn't a locked supermarket and was likely already raided. Even if by luck it wasn't visited by animals, as an ecosystem, a small vegetable garden is too fragile and likely overgrown without care.
Therefore, Raymond directly excluded this option.
"Looking for seeds?!" This time, Miss Rabbit showed some surprise. She thought they were just going out to find something to eat.
"Yes." Raymond sighed, "Look at me. Besides hunting every day, I have to practice writing, watch TV, watch movies, play games, and pet the cat… I'm very busy."
"So you're planning to grow vegetables yourself?" Miss Rabbit gave him a strange look, "Do you know how to grow vegetables?!"
"Hey!" Raymond didn't like her tone, "You're underestimating me. I'm good at gardening!"
Miss Rabbit: "..."
"Let me tell you, in human society, gardening is an essential skill for men!"
"?!"
"For example, if a man and a woman go on a blind date, and the woman asks, 'Do you have a car?' The man says yes, 'A Red Flag with a microphone.' The woman asks, 'Do you have a house?' The man says, 'Yes, a manor with a hunting ground.' The woman then asks, 'Can you garden?' The man shamefully lowers his head. Then the woman would say, 'Sorry, we're not suitable.' This is the so-called 'Two haves and one can' in blind dates, understand?"
Raymond earnestly instilled in Miss Rabbit the chaotic knowledge of human society.
"I wouldn't believe a single punctuation mark of what you said."
Thus, Miss Rabbit's face showed such an expression.
Meanwhile, Ben Mao, who had been silent by Raymond's feet, showed an expression of realization as if it finally made sense.
The difference in intelligence was so brutal!
Raymond's plan was well thought out. This trip, though not as far as going to the countryside, wasn't exactly close either. There would certainly be numerous battles along the way, big and small. Bringing Miss Rabbit along was akin to having a super bodyguard.
Unfortunately, the ideal was beautiful, but reality was cruel.
Not long after leaving familiar territory, in just over half an hour, the group encountered five waves of enemies one after another. Without exception, all of them ignored Miss Rabbit and charged straight at Raymond.
The power of the hatred aura was beyond imagination!
Huff….
After struggling to kill a feline evolver with the combined efforts of man and cat, Ben Mao went to retrieve the mysterious liquid while Raymond, disregarding his image, sat on the ground and kept shaking his already soaked clothes. Still feeling hot, he decided to take off his T-shirt, exposing his bare torso.
On such a scorching day, going out was a punishment. After five consecutive battles, his physical strength was greatly depleted.
Especially the most recent fight, the feline evolver wasn't particularly strong in attack, but it was incredibly fast and agile, making it extremely troublesome. Although they won in the end, it was only by trading injuries that he found an opening.
It's worth noting that only two out of the five battles turned into deadly fights. The other three retreated after finding it too tough to handle, showing some sense of reason.
It was clear that if Ben Mao had looked more intimidating, those three fights might not have happened at all.
"My cat doesn't look fierce enough!" Raymond thought regretfully.
Of course, if Miss Rabbit had shown any killing intent, those evolvers probably wouldn't have dared to approach. But today, this damned rabbit looked utterly harmless, which was really bad. Raymond couldn't help but secretly curse her in his heart.
Five waves of enemies, not even counting those lurking in the dark who didn't face them. Today's outing was indeed unfortunate. But this was also because he was unfamiliar with the area, as it was no longer his usual hunting ground.
Raymond estimated that at this rate, they wouldn't reach the wholesale market at all!
Not unless their spectator stepped in.
He looked at Miss Rabbit and said, "Sometimes, I really have to admire my ability to attract hatred."
"Is that so?" Miss Rabbit said blandly.
"Isn't it? We've just left for a short while! And did you notice, they all came at me. Even though you were right there, they completely ignored you. Do you think they're disrespecting you?"
"This means they respect you more," Miss Rabbit said.
"This isn't working; there are too many enemies," Raymond said.
"I think there are too few," Miss Rabbit smiled.
Raymond was speechless: "Are you cursing me?!"
This rabbit's heart was really bad. He was about to say more when a sharp whistling sound came from above.
Raymond instinctively looked up, but the sunlight was too strong. As soon as he raised his head, the blinding light robbed him of all his vision, making him unable to see anything. He vaguely sensed something extremely sharp coming at him at high speed, almost upon him in the blink of an eye.
An ambush!
Even though he couldn't see, Raymond immediately realized it!
But it was too late to dodge. In his haste, he only had time to raise his hand to block!
However, the expected impact didn't occur. The assailant was suddenly swatted away.
What happened?
Hmm? Why is my face wet…?
Raymond touched his face and saw bright red blood.
It was blood.
"Meow! Meow!!" As he was in a daze, Ben Mao had already stood in front of him, growling menacingly at the attacker.
Raymond's eyes locked onto Ben Mao's right foreleg, which had a deep gash, with blood gushing out!
This wound wasn't there just moments ago.
The blood on Raymond's face was Ben Mao's.
On the other side, the attacker, after being swatted away, shook its head and glared fiercely at Ben Mao.
It was a jade-white sparrow hawk, with sharp black beak and claws, looking extremely powerful. Apart from a strange serrated tail, it was very similar to its pre-evolution form, clearly an evolved version.
After circling in the air, it asked hatefully, "Why… help… him!"
"Meow!" Ben Mao answered.
"Damn! He's… damn!!"
"Meow?"
"You… don't… think so?!" The sparrow hawk screeched before suddenly flapping its wings, soaring straight into the sky. It became a black dot before rapidly diving down again, "Then… die!"
With the force of its descent, its speed was incredible. The cold, black claws scraped the hot air, making a piercing sound. The sparrow hawk's speed increased again as its wings spread and flapped!
In just two breaths, the black dot accelerated multiple times using the same method, changing its flight trajectory continuously, appearing suddenly near Ben Mao!
The tremendous wind pressure lifted all the dust on the ground!
Dust blinded their eyes!
A flash of fierce light appeared in the sparrow hawk's eyes. It folded its wings and then suddenly spread them, blending into the rising dust, preparing to change its attack direction. However, at this moment, a slender green bamboo suddenly appeared and lightly struck its left wing.
The bamboo appeared so suddenly, as if out of thin air!
And then it disappeared just as suddenly!
It was only then that the sparrow hawk realized it had been hit!
"Damn!" A bad thought flashed through its mind, but something unexpected happened!
The expected pain didn't come, and its left wing didn't feel injured at all. In fact, it felt stronger!
"No injury?! Hahaha! Too weak!!"
In that instant, everything happened in a flash!
As these thoughts raced through the sparrow hawk's mind, it instinctively continued to flap its wings and flew forcefully. In the next moment….
Suddenly, the world spun!
The sparrow hawk tumbled and crashed into a nearby wall with such force that the thick wall caved in. Several exposed steel bars pierced its abdomen, blood gushing out, while fragments of the wall fell on it.
At the same time, an even more excruciating pain surged from its left wing, engulfing it like a tidal wave!
At that moment, its nearly destroyed mind was left with only one thought:
What happened?!