"We realized the black pig were sick, but the knowledge we used to have about raising pigs is long gone. None of the old guidelines are applicable anymore, and the traits of these mutated black pigs are completely different. We really don’t know what to do."
"For now, we’ve been isolating the black pig that show symptoms in an attempt to save at least some of them. However, even with the isolation, it hasn’t fully controlled the spread—healthy black pig occasionally start showing signs of illness too."
"Mr. Kim, can you take a look?"
The pig currently in front of Kim Haru was in the mid-to-late stages of the disease.
Its legs were paralyzed, and large patches of its skin were red.
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Something about this condition felt familiar to him.
Kim Haru recalled seeing similar images in a book in his study during his spare time.
He immediately activated the system’s search function and confirmed his suspicion.
"It’s swine fever," Kim Haru declared with certainty.
"Mutated black pigs don’t typically get swine fever. Their bodies contain the mutagenic virus, which is already one of the most powerful viruses. That’s why you couldn’t identify this condition. However, the pigs we’re raising are different. Most of their food comes from non-mutated plants, and their meat lacks the mutagenic virus. Compared to fully mutated black pigs, these semi-mutated black pigs have much weaker immune systems."
"So, what do we do now?" Do Seungjin asked, his voice filled with concern.
He had heard of swine fever before.
Even before the apocalypse, farmers dreaded it, as it was a notoriously difficult disease to handle.
And now, with all the treatments for swine fever long gone, the situation was even more dire.
After all, the resource searching teams were already struggling to find medicine for humans, let alone for pigs.
Previously, humans hadn’t even been able to raise animals, so no one had considered stocking up on veterinary supplies.
Without medication, Do Seungjin and his team had no idea how to treat swine fever.
But Kim Haru had a solution.
The materials provided in the farming system’s study were incredibly comprehensive.
It had even accounted for the scarcity of resources in this world and included treatments based on ancient methods when introducing swine fever.
It even incorporated the reality of the apocalypse.
Kim Haru had praised the farming system more than once for being so thoughtful.
"First, replace all the pigs’ food. Add a large amount of radish leaves to their current feed. Chop the radish leaves into small pieces—there’s no need to cook them. Then add some pigweed, the mutated pigweed we planted earlier, also chopped up, and mix it with the radish leaves. After that, make a small incision on the tail of the sick pigs to let out the toxic blood. Then, we just have to wait," Kim Haru instructed.
Although this method was quite simple, pigs with strong resistance could recover in just a few days.
Kim Haru believed that the mutated black pigs’ resistance would not disappoint him.
However, Do Seungjin hesitated. "The logistics department doesn’t have any fresh radish leaves."
In fact, whether fresh or not, the logistics department didn’t have any radish leaves.
Kim Haru quickly realized that when he had treated his staff to hotpot earlier, he had added radishes.
He hadn’t thought to mention that only a small farm managed by a Ginseng Spirit had grown some white radishes, but they hadn’t had a chance to spread them to the Pyeongseong Safe Zone yet.
Moreover, the last batch of white radishes had been planted before the Ginseng Spirit had arrived at the small farm.
According to its preferences, it hadn’t let the radishes grow leaves.
As a result, there were no radish leaves available now.
It seemed he would have to rely on the leaves of those newly planted white radishes by the Ginseng Spirit.
Although the leaves were small and sparse, it was better than nothing.
But this still wasn’t enough.
"Mutated radish leaves will work too. Do you know where there are any mutated plants like this?" Kim Haru asked, finding a suitable alternative. "However, if we use mutated radish leaves, we’ll need to reduce the amount of mutated pigweed. If the mutated radish leaves have a high mutagenic virus levels, we might not even need to add mutated pigweed."
The reason for adding mutated pigweed was to slightly increase the degree of mutation in the black pigs’ bodies, helping to enhance their resilience.
At the same time, the mutagenic virus would combat the swine fever virus with toxicity.
However, if too much was added, it could cause problems.
If there were too many mutated plants in their stomachs, the resulting black pigs would lean more towards being fully mutated, with their meat containing mutagenic viruses.
The pigs would also begin to resemble wild mutated black pigs in strength, appearance, and temperament.
The research institute wouldn’t be able to control them at all.
If they broke out and destroyed the pigpen, that would be one thing, but if they injured someone, it would be much worse.
In the small farm, Little Snort and Big Snort hadn’t shown any issues.
With the farming system in control, Kim Haru only needed to take care of them casually, and it wasn’t much effort. He didn’t need to worry about illnesses or other problems.
But things were different in the Pyeongseong Safe Zone.
The pigs there were valuable assets to the safe zone, and Kim Haru’s farming system had no control over them.
All he could do was proceed cautiously and explore gradually.
Upon hearing Kim Haru’s advice, the members of the Animal Research Institute let out a sigh of relief.
At least now they had a solution, and mutated radish leaves were easy to find.
Before the apocalypse, many places had grown radishes, and after the mutation, there were quite a few.
There was no need to send people out specifically to hunt them; they could just be bought at the trading market.