Leaving the space, Lu Heng rode his electric scooter through the zoo, continuing his search.
He would not consider animals he had already contracted with. After all, the improvement of their special abilities after contracting relied on his own cultivation as the main body; Lu Heng was merely borrowing their attributes.
Lu Heng first went to the marine animal section in the north. Before long, after the power outage, the animals there would be the first to die.
This was because aquatic animals were kept in aquariums, and humans provided them with oxygen 24 hours a day.
Once the power went out, the oxygen supply equipment would stop working, and the aquatic animals, deprived of oxygen in the stagnant, uncirculated water, would quickly suffocate and die.
Lu Heng now possessed the attributes of wind and fire. He no longer needed to use firearms; after all, the best weapons against zombies and ability users were cold weapons and his own abilities.
In front of the aquarium.
Lu Heng found a rather cool-looking straight sword from his space. He tried to gather his wind ability on the blade and casually swung the sword towards the aquarium's entrance.
The wind blade, carrying immense power, smashed open the aquarium's main door. Lu Heng stepped inside, treading on the fallen door.
The power was indeed still on here; the aquarium's lights were still lit. Lu Heng found the aquarium's power distribution box, flipped the breaker, and the aquarium immediately became brighter.
Lu Heng bypassed the jellyfish display at the entrance and headed towards the larger marine animal section.
He didn't know if he could contract with aquatic creatures. After all, he wasn't sure if they would still need to be kept in water after contracting.
He had no place to keep these aquatic creatures, so he only took a brief look around. He did find two sea lions that had evolved water abilities, but he didn't dare to contract with them rashly.
After another fruitless circuit, Lu Heng got back on his electric scooter and continued his rounds.
As the day was drawing to a close, Lu Heng finally found a turtle with water abilities in the amphibian and reptile house in the west section.
This ability was a bit of a dud. Besides being able to summon water, it was probably only useful for countering fire ability users.
However, turtles were easy to raise; they wouldn't starve even if fed only once every few days.
Moreover, with water abilities in the future, he could create water in front of other survivors as a good cover.
After all, in his previous life, he had never heard of the existence of space ability users.
Lu Heng looked at his healed hand. He had broken it twice today. While contracting with ability animals was unavoidable, it hurt every time he contracted. He thought he was quite unfortunate.
He cut his finger again and, enduring the pain, reached out towards the turtle.
But...
Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!!!
Why are you biting my finger, you bastard?
Lu Heng quickly withdrew his hand, but the turtle was also pulled out of its enclosure.
Still not letting go?
Just as Lu Heng was about to find something to pry open the turtle's mouth, the turtle disappeared.
Alas!
Should he not bandage it for now?
What if he encountered some rare ability animal later and had to break his finger again to contract?
He took out a band-aid and simply bandaged the wound on his finger.
Activating his will, Lu Heng gradually condensed a rotating water ball in his uninjured left palm, which floated in mid-air.
Lu Heng glanced at the pool where he had found the turtle. The water had already drained. He used his will to fill the pool with water.
This could be considered a small favor for the turtle's brethren.
He had seen seven or eight ordinary turtles crawling in the pool earlier.
Resuming his search for ability animals, Lu Heng couldn't help but feel a bit excited. Coming to the zoo today was definitely the right decision. If the ability animals here had complete attributes, wouldn't he be invincible when he went out?
Lu Heng found a small rabbit with wood abilities in a small animal area near the reptile exhibit.
This was also good. The various vegetables in his space were inexhaustible and perfect for feeding rabbits.
Most importantly, rabbits were gentle. He probably wouldn't be bitten again.
He removed the band-aid from his finger and looked at the bleeding wound.
Damn it, that turtle bit so hard it went right through.
Lu Heng squatted down and reached out his broken finger towards the rabbit again.
"Be gentle, just a lick."
The rabbit remained unmoved and hopped a couple of steps away. "I don't eat meat."
"Just lick it first, and I'll get you a carrot later. You must be hungry too, having been here for a few days."
"No need, I can eat grass. The grass around me has been very lush these past few days."
Lu Heng... Right, this rabbit was a wood ability animal, and it could make the grass around it grow rapidly.
So, it wasn't hungry and didn't eat meat.
It wasn't interested in his blood.
Then he could only...
Lu Heng stood up, took a big step towards the rabbit, grabbed the rabbit by its ears, and forcibly shoved his broken finger into its mouth.
However, it really hurt!
Why did the rabbit bite him again?
Weren't rabbits said to be docile?
He quickly let go of the rabbit, and the rabbit also quickly released its mouth.
Then the rabbit activated its ability, and the grass around it instantly grew wildly, soon enveloping it in a green ball of grass.
Lu Heng looked at his finger and silently wrapped it with a band-aid.
However, after waiting for just a few minutes, the green wood ability did not appear in his mind.
This...
Lu Heng reached out and picked up the grass ball not far away. The rabbit was staring at him cautiously through the gaps in the grass, its red eyes glaring.
Was the contract unsuccessful?
How could this be?
Were there restrictions on this contract?
Lu Heng put down the rabbit and flashed back into his space to wait. He would wait a bit longer, perhaps he had contracted too many today, and this time he needed to wait longer.
But regardless, his fingers had been broken too many times today. He didn't want to contract with any more ability animals.
Fortunately, both his fire and wind abilities were area-of-effect, so he could afford not to contract with other animals for now.
Having made up his mind, Lu Heng took out a cup of ancient well water and soaked his finger.
As his finger entered the water, the burning pain instantly disappeared.
This ancient well water had the effect of healing wounds. He had tested it repeatedly when he contracted with the tiger and the eagle the previous two times.
After the wound completely healed, Lu Heng flashed back to the hospital in his space.
He needed to get himself a precautionary shot.
Lu Heng went to the hospital pharmacy and directly found the tetanus and rabies vaccines.
In the apartment within his space.
Lu Heng took off his upper clothing and looked in the mirror. The eagle tattoo was on his left shoulder, but after searching for a long time, he couldn't find the turtle tattoo on his upper body.
Could that tattoo be on... his leg?
He lifted his pant leg, and sure enough, the turtle tattoo was on the outer side of his left calf.
"Heh!" Lu Heng chuckled self-deprecatingly.
Fortunately, these tattoos were smaller than he expected. Even the white tiger's tattoo was only on his upper arm.
It was just that the rabbit had made him endure a bite for nothing. He couldn't contract today.