The Military Departnt must have been desperate for resources. Inside the planting zone, every ti Gu Xi planted a batch of crops, soone would bring over a large barrel of highly concentrated nutrient solution.
They were clearly trying to fleece this one sheep for all she was worth.
Gu Xi was speechless. ’I’m more than capable, but this patch of land won’t allow it.’
If they kept pouring this nutrient solution on, she was afraid the next batch of sweet potatoes she grew would reek of it.
Gu Xi shuddered at the thought.
So, after completing the first batch of crops stipulated in their agreent, she firmly waved them away.
The staff mber approaching with another large barrel could only give up, a look of regret on his face.
Gu Xi was about to leave the outdoor planting zone when, to her surprise, she looked up and saw Li Ming.
"Xiaoxi." In the distance, Li Ming sat in a wheelchair, beaming as he beckoned to her. "Co here."
Gu Xi glanced at the surrounding security caras, then walked over.
Only then did she realize that the surrounding staff mbers had withdrawn at so point. Even Shen Yue and Ye Junhan were nowhere to be found.
"Don’t worry, I’ve taken care of everything." Li Ming opened his personal terminal and said to Gu Xi with a smile, "Here, take a look at this."
Gu Xi walked to his side, and Li Ming enlarged the Light Screen in front of them.
Several n in black, restrained by special rings of light, were clutching their heads in agony, their faces twisted in pain.
They were the assassins from earlier.
"These people... are likely dead soldiers," Li Ming said. "The X Energy in their bodies is far beyond the safe limit. They should have mutated long ago, but soone implanted sothing in their brains to temporarily suppress the X Energy..."
Gu Xi understood imdiately. "Is this related to the G01 Project?"
"I’m not sure." Li Ming looked up at her. "However, the researchers also discovered another type of energy inside them, and this energy has been eating away at what was implanted in their brains..."
And incidentally, it was this process of consumption that unintentionally saved the dead soldiers’ lives.
"Oh," Gu Xi said nonchalantly, "that’s sothing I had my little sprout leave behind... ’After all, if you take my things, you have to return them, don’t you?’
’Even if I didn’t intend to take those things back, I couldn’t just let soone else benefit.’
Li Ming sighed helplessly. ’Just as I thought.’ It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing... but it ant that people with ulterior motives could easily notice that there was sothing unusual about Gu Xi’s ability.
But fortunately, he happened to be here today.
"Xiaoxi, what do you make of them deliberately sending these people to test you?" Li Ming asked, allowing a small green sprout to wrap around his wrist and slowly consu the tainted, mottled energy within his body.
Gu Xi sat down casually on a ridge of earth, tilting her head up to look at him as she mused, "The plants I grew before all had very low mutation rates. So, they probably wanted to see if that suppressive effect works on people, right?"
’And those dead soldiers they modified, who were on the verge of losing control, were naturally the perfect test subjects.’
Gu Xi’s gaze darkened.
She suddenly asked Li Ming, "Is Xiao Yu still refusing to see ?"
Li Ming simply smiled at her and said, "What you’re really asking is... how involved he was in today’s events, right?"
Gu Xi fell silent.
’Today’s events... If Xiao Yu hadn’t agreed, the Wood Elent ability users from the Abnormal Ability Research Institute would never have been able to enter the area.’
’Of course, she also guessed that Xiao Yu’s motive wasn’t entirely to fish out a mole; more than that, he wanted her to see the Abnormal Ability Research Institute’s current attitude and to be wary of Ye Xin and Zhou Jinyu.’
’One must act according to one’s position. She could understand Xiao Yu’s actions.’
’It just left a slightly bitter taste in her mouth.’
The setting sun sank in the west, bathing the sky in the colors of twilight.
Neither of them spoke.
As ti passed, the last rays of the setting sun were devoured by darkness, bit by bit.
The mont darkness enveloped the land, Li Ming suddenly spoke. "Xiaoxi, the night before the final battle with the Zombie Emperor... Xiao Yu and Yun Ye... they actually fought."
Gu Xi looked over in surprise.
’How could she not have known about this?’
’Besides, she rembered everyone being together that night... No, that’s not right. At one point, Lu Chenyuan had found her and taken her to his secret base.’
’Could it have happened then...?’
Li Ming nodded. "Do you know who finally broke them up and took Yun Ye away?"
A na suddenly leaped into Gu Xi’s mind.
—Qee Ran.
The only one in their squad back then who had remained silent when Yun Ye brought up another possibility.
After a long mont, Gu Xi lowered her gaze and sighed softly. "Qee Ran has made it into the base’s core leadership by now, hasn’t he?"
It was like waking from a drunken dream, only to find that though the world remained, its people were no longer the sa.
In truth, it wasn’t just Gu Xi who felt a complex anxiety, like that of returning ho only to fear what one might find. Her old comrades from back then likely felt it too.
That was why Ye Xin only dared to pass her small notes, why Xiao Yu didn’t dare to et her, and why Qee Ran remained hidden in the background...
The friends who had grown up and fought alongside her had likely made their choices a long, long ti ago.
’Perhaps when they beca certain she could slay the Zombie Emperor? Or... when her ability advanced to a divine level?’
’Or perhaps even earlier?’
Gu Xi wasn’t sure.
But Gu Xi wasn’t at all surprised that Qee Ran had reached his current position.
After all, the Qee Family had been a well-known influential family in the capital’s elite circles before the apocalypse, with several generations of politicians in their ancestry. With Qee Ran’s own monuntal contributions, once he returned to that world with his family’s backing, he would naturally be like a fish in water.
But the heights of power are cold.
’Qee Ran... he likely had his own battles to fight, his own powerlessness.’
Gu Xi let out a sigh.
In the heavy silence, points of light began to glitter in the distance.
Gu Xi suddenly looked up and said, "Ming, I still believe in you all."
’But whether or not you all can live up to this trust of mine... that remains to be seen.’
Li Ming said nothing, only lowering his gaze to watch the small green sprout dissolve into specks of green light before vanishing from his wrist.
...
By the ti Gu Xi finished her work in the fields and returned to the Shen Family’s small courtyard in the base’s Zone 2, it was already the wee hours of the morning.
Qi Xiang and Wei Heng were both still awake, waiting anxiously at the front gate. They had obviously heard about the attack on Gu Xi.
As soon as Gu Xi got out of the car, the pair rushed forward. "Are you all right?"
Gu Xi shook her head and looked around, a little surprised. "Qin Yi and the others aren’t back yet?"
Just after Gu Xi left at noon, Qin Yi had received a notice from the main Wood Elent Superpower Union, telling her to report there.
Qin Shi was worried, so she went with her.
Qin Yi had sent Gu Xi a ssage about it that afternoon, but since she still wasn’t back, Gu Xi couldn’t help but imagine the worst.
’It’s so late... Sothing didn’t happen to them, did it?’
Qi Xiang hesitated for a mont before saying, "She probably won’t be back for the next few days."
Gu Xi frowned, looking at her questioningly. "?"
Qi Xiang lowered her voice. "My adoptive father called this afternoon. He said the Abnormal Ability Research Institute made an urgent request to the Wood Elent Superpower Union to borrow a group of high-level Wood Ability Users..."
’What a coincidence.’
Gu Xi frowned slightly.
’Are they going to start picking off the people around , one by one?’
Just as Qi Xiang finished speaking, she rembered sothing else. "Oh, right. My adoptive father also said that Zhou Jinyu is planning to transfer Zhou Jing back from South City to be Mr. Ye’s assistant researcher."
Qi Xiang was completely baffled. "I honestly don’t know what he’s thinking. Zhou Jing is his illegitimate daughter, and the mother of his *other* daughter is married to Mr. Ye..."
What a ss.
"Maybe he’s doing it to provoke them on purpose?" Wei Heng chid in, stroking his chin.
"Provoke them? Zhou Jinyu climbed the ranks so quickly back in the day. If you said Mr. Ye had nothing to do with it, I doubt even he would believe you," Qi Xiang scoffed.
Because of the subtle friction between Dr. Qi and Ye Xin over the years, she’d grown up hearing all about the love, hate, and drama between these people. Was there anything she didn’t understand?
anwhile, Gu Xi listened to the gossip on the side as she sent a ssage to Qin Yi.
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