Chapter 12: The Best Test Subject

They drove all the way to the nearby town.

It was the first time Li Tianran had left the shelter since the advent of the Age of Destruction, so he couldn't help feeling a bit nervous.

The small town at night was very quiet, with every household's doors tightly closed.

Even the barking of dogs was absent.

The whole town was immersed in extreme oppression, even silence.

After the Age of Destruction, due to frequent mutation incidents, most of the domesticated cats and dogs were beaten to death. Even if they were allowed to survive, in the current situation of food shortage, when people couldn't even eat enough, who would be willing to allocate food for dogs and cats?

Li Tianran parked the truck in a remote corner and carried the provisions from the cargo box.

Due to the anomalies, some people in the town had accidentally consumed the radiation-contaminated vegetables, resulting in fatalities.

Therefore, there were yellow paper money flying in the streets, adding to the eerie atmosphere on this dark night.

Hanhan and Xiahei followed closely behind Li Tianran, both being very obedient and not making a sound.

Hanhan carried a small basket with some candies and cookies inside.

She remembered that Uncle Nan's son liked to eat these things, so she reluctantly gave up some of her own stash to contribute.

Her memory of this came from a year ago.

At that time, Uncle Nan's 18-year-old son, Xiaotian, came to the farm to help out.

Perhaps due to some psychological reason, he snatched a lollipop from Hanhan to eat.

Naive Hanhan didn't think that Xiaotian's somewhat rough behavior had any malicious intent. Instead, she thought he did it because he also loved candies and made that gesture. So she generously took out a new candy to offer him.

However, Xiahei was not happy about it. Being perceptive, it sensed a hint of "bullying" in the boy's actions, so it chased Xiaotian for hundreds of meters, finally biting him on the butt and leaving him bedridden for half a month.

At that time, Li Tianran appeared very angry in front of Uncle Nan, scolded Xiahei, and declared that he would starve it for three days to teach the disobedient creature a lesson!

Eventually, he gave Xiaotian 500 yuan to get him vaccinated against rabies and settled the matter.

But that night, not only was Xiahei not starved, but there were also a few delicious chicken drumsticks added to its food bowl.

Since then, Xiaotian had never been to the farm again.

But Hanhan had never forgotten the big brother at Uncle Nan's house who loved to eat candies…

Li Tianran walked quickly and stopped in front of an old residence.

Uncle Nan's house was one of those old rural houses, with low walls. Leaning over the wall, Li Tianran could see that the room was lit.

He silently lowered the rice, vegetables, and even the candies brought by Hanhan from the shoulder bag along the wall using a rope, placing them in the yard.

This way, as long as Uncle Nan came to the yard, he would see these things.

And due to the angle of view, even if someone passed by from the outside, they wouldn't be able to see the food under the wall.

It was very safe.

After doing all this, Li Tianran was about to leave when he suddenly heard a burst of sorrowful crying coming from Uncle Nan's room, heart-wrenching!

"Xiaotian, what happened to you? Don't scare Dad!" Uncle Nan's sobbing voice entered Li Tianran's ears, causing him to stop his footsteps, which he had initially planned to turn and leave.

"Cough cough cough!

Immediately, a violent coughing sound rang out.

Li Tianran held Hanhan in his arms and looked over the wall.

In the brightly lit room, the tall figure of Xiaotian was half-leaning on the bed, continuously coughing up blood, his face filled with a lifeless gray color!

Li Tianran's heart sank when he saw this, and he quickly took out his phone and compared Xiaotian's condition with the severe cases of radiation-contaminated vegetable poisoning reported in the news.

Continuous coughing up blood, difficulty breathing, dull skin with a grayish hue...

It matched completely!

Did Xiaotian also consume the radiation-contaminated vegetables?

"Son, it's not that Dad doesn't want to save you! It's those damn doctors at the hospital who said there were no available beds and even if there were, they couldn't cure you..." Uncle Nan squatted by the bedside, a man in his forties or fifties, crying like a child, "Dad could only bring you back home, helplessly watching you die!"

Xiaotian didn't reply, he just kept coughing, the veins on his face almost bursting.

Li Tianran quickly covered Hanhan's eyes.

Although many people had died because of this matter since the Age of Destruction began, seeing those cold numbers couldn't compare to the impact of witnessing a living life about to fade away right in front of oneself.

Li Tianran listened to Uncle Nan's wailing and Xiaotian's coughing, took a deep breath, and finally calmed his somewhat chaotic heartbeat.

"Big brother, Xiaotian has been coughing up a lot of blood..." Hanhan stammered, "Is he... going to die?"

"It's okay, it's okay." Li Tianran squatted down, hugging Hanhan tightly to comfort her.

Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind.

"Retrieve the ancient medicine-grade carrot?"

The pleasant notification sound rang out.

"Yes."

Li Tianran made a resolute choice.

The next second, a carrot emitting a faint medicinal fragrance appeared in Li Tianran's palm.

Because he often had to fill out documents when delivering goods to people, he would often carry paper and a pen in the pocket of his jacket. He took it out conveniently, wrote a line on the paper, and then wrapped the ancient medicine-grade carrot and an iron lighter together with the paper, crumpling them into a ball.

Yes.

He wanted to give this ancient medicine-grade carrot to Uncle Nan, to let him save Xiaotian!

Of course, to be honest, although Li Tianran had a previous connection with Uncle Nan, their relationship was far from being good to this extent.

The reason he was giving away an ancient medicine-grade carrot right now was just to verify his conjecture!

Li Tianran had been wanting to conduct an experiment to see if the ancient medicine-grade carrot could cure radiation-contaminated vegetable poisoning.

Originally, he planned to buy a piglet for the experiment, but now it seemed that the best test subject was right in front of him!

If the ancient medicine-grade carrot could turn the tide for Xiaotian and he obtained the result he wanted, while Xiaotian also survived, that would be the best outcome.

If it didn't work, then he wouldn't have any losses. Xiaotian was already a dying person, and there was no need for him to feel guilty.

"Whether you can survive or not, it's up to your destiny!" Li Tianran fell silent for a moment, then raised the crumpled paper ball in his hand and threw it with force at Uncle Nan's house window.

A loud crash!

The glass of Uncle Nan's bedroom instantly shattered, and the paper ball landed on Xiaotian's bed, bouncing three times before coming to a stop.

"Who's there!" Uncle Nan suddenly exploded in anger, rushing out hysterically, holding a kitchen knife in his hand, "I'll chop you up!"

However, there was no one in the yard at this time. In his anger, Uncle Nan suddenly saw a pile of things in the corner of the wall. With the faint light from the house, he took a closer look and froze.

"Food... food?"

At that moment, a weak cry came from the room…

Ignoring the details, Uncle Nan turned back and ran into the room.

He saw Xiaotian half-leaning on the bed, weakly pointing at the crumpled paper ball on the bed that had been partly undone due to the impact of breaking the glass. Xiaotian stammered, "Dad... there's something inside, and... words!"