Chapter 33: Chapter 33 Is Mutation Evolution? Liang Yuan took a deep breath, suppressing his worries. He then started handling the fish. When the kitchen knife began to scrape the scales, the grating sound made him change color again. The fish scales had considerable defense power as well. However, it wasn’t so much that the knife couldn’t scrape them off, just that it took a lot of effort. Once the scales were removed, and he cut open the fish’s belly, the process was surprisingly smooth. This sardine had tough scales, but its flesh was tender and smooth. No abnormalities were found during the gutting process. After cleaning the fish, Liang Yuan looked at Ding Yan and Cai Zhi. Both of them had different expressions, clearly deep in thought. Liang Yuan said, "You all saw that this fish is clearly different from the sardines before the big flood." "Its teeth are sharp, its scales are hard, it has great strength and its life force is very strong. The most critical thing is, it possesses a certain level of intelligence, knowing how to play dead to trick me." Cai Zhi’s face changed slightly and said, "How could this be?" Ding Yan looked equally grim and asked, "Is this even a sardine?" Liang Yuan nodded, "It’s definitely a sardine. Its appearance hasn’t changed much, but its size has grown significantly, and it has evolved teeth." "The key point is, it now eats meat!" Upon hearing this, the two of them looked even more troubled. Ding Yan couldn’t help but look at Cai Zhi and ask, "Are there many such fish in the water outside?" Cai Zhi gulped and nodded, "There should be quite a lot. The fishermen sometimes catch them even without bait." Liang Yuan said directly, "No need to ask. Sardines are schooling, migratory fish. They usually stay at depths of 25-100 meters during the day and rise to 5-10 meters at night." "However, their habits have probably changed in unknown ways now, but considering how easily they are caught, their schooling nature should remain unchanged." He finally understood why the sardines would mistakenly eat his iron nails. Corpses with his iron nails would be completely devoured by countless sardines the moment they hit the water. These sardines are practically oceanic piranhas. Cai Zhi and Ding Yan apparently thought of this too, and both shivered instantly. Ding Yan was the first to react, saying, "Does this mean we’ll be trapped in this building forever?" Liang Yuan glanced at her, "If we had a boat, we might be able to row around. But if you think about going directly into the water, dismiss that idea quickly." Cai Zhi fell silent, and it was then that Old Ma appeared. Old Ma had been listening to the three analyze the situation, and his expression was not much better. He couldn’t help but say, "We had initially planned to organize a group to search for food once we dealt with Liu Erlong. What should we do now?" Cai Zhi also said, "The food in the building will run out eventually. Are we just going to rely on these fish from now on?" Liang Yuan couldn’t answer this question, so he only said, "Let’s solve the problem with Liu Erlong first and then think of a way together. Perhaps we can use the wooden boards from wardrobes to make a boat for short-distance rowing. It’s not impossible." "Yes, the immediate priority is to deal with the scourge that is Liu Erlong. If we don’t get rid of that group, this building will never be peaceful," Cai Zhi agreed immediately. Ding Yan and Old Ma both nodded and stopped dwelling on the mutant fish. But each had their secret worries. Liang Yuan squatted and dealt with the other two sea bass. The sea bass had stronger bite force and sharper teeth than the sardines. Its scales were more delicate, its strength greater, but its intelligence was clearly inferior to that of the sardines, making it clumsy. After killing these two sea bass, Liang Yuan gained another 12 points. One sea bass contributed 6 points. This was even more than killing a mutant human. Liang Yuan couldn’t figure out the scoring mechanism. "Life force?" "It shouldn’t be. Human life force should be much higher than that of these fish." "Even mutant fish can’t compare to human life force." "What is it related to then?" Liang Yuan pondered and made a guess. "Mutation level?" "Looking at the organisms I’ve killed, those that earned points all had the word ’mutant’ in their names." "Whether it’s mutant fish or mutant humans, it seems to be related to mutation." "Perhaps the higher the level of mutation, the more points are gained after killing." The more Liang Yuan thought about it, the more it made sense. He suddenly thought of something. He processed the fish and handed them to Cai Zhi, instructing, "If we get fish again, give them to me to kill." Cai Zhi was stunned and hurriedly said, "That won’t do. Such dirty work should be done by Sister Wu and the others." Liang Yuan could only say helplessly, "I want to understand the mutations in these sea creatures, to get first-hand information." "Oh, in that case, alright, I will call you next time I kill fish." Liang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn’t miss out on points for killing fish. After washing his hands, Liang Yuan found Yang Mei, who was talking with Granny Li. "Sister Mei, I have something to ask you." Yang Mei hurriedly stood up and followed him to the side, asking, "Little brother, what’s the matter?" "Have you and Li Zhiqiang eaten this fish before?" "No." Yang Mei shook her head. "We don’t dare to go out. Living on the thirty-second floor, it’s impossible to fish." Liang Yuan frowned. How did Li Zhiqiang become a mutant, then? His eyes shifted and he suddenly asked, "How do you solve the problem of drinking water normally?" "We just collect rainwater." "Rainwater?" Liang Yuan’s heart skipped a beat and he quickly asked, "Do you drink it directly?" Yang Mei nodded and sighed, "At first, when we had natural gas, we would boil the water." "But later, when the natural gas ran out, we hardly had anything that could be used to make a fire. We had to save it for cooking, so we could only drink it raw." "Luckily, the rainwater seemed relatively clean. Drinking it didn’t make us ill." Liang Yuan instantly understood how Li Zhiqiang mutated. It’s the water! He drank the rainwater raw. This rainwater could cause human mutation! And if the mutated fish consumed this rainwater, they might also mutate. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞 Liang Yuan was uncertain whether the mutations were good or bad. But it was enough to make him cautious. "Should we still eat the fish tonight?" He pondered, what does mutation mean? Images of Liu Erlong using just his bare hands, causing his anti-theft door to slightly deform, flashed through his mind. Does this mean that once humans mutate, their strength increases? Thinking back to the sardines and sea bass he had just killed, it seemed that these mutated sardines and sea bass had also experienced various degrees of enhancement. Is mutation just another word for evolution? Liang Yuan couldn’t confirm it, so how should he choose? Should he continue to maintain his pure human state, or should he embrace the new era and join the evolutionary mutation? The key point was to determine whether mutation had any risks! If it was merely about strengthening the individual, that might not be a problem. But would mutations have unknown risks? This was what Liang Yuan was genuinely concerned about.