Everyone subconsciously held their breath in suspense.
But soon, that terrifying, abyss-like feeling vanished.
At the sa ti, the strange sll in the air also began to mysteriously fade.
Gu Xi grew thoughtful. ’So that’s why I couldn’t find the culprit anywhere nearby,’ she mused. ’It had latched onto Ye Junhan as a host.’
’It hid itself quite well.’
Gu Xi’s gaze fell on Ye Junhan. At the sa mont, a small green sprout from Yabao silently disappeared from the palm of his hand.
After a mont, Gu Xi looked away.
’No wonder that little thief coveting my Xidao targeted Ye Junhan and secretly latched onto him. It turns out Ye Junhan had unintentionally absorbed the little green sprout I left for him that day...’
That sprout carried a trace of Yabao’s origin power, which was identical to the aura she had imbued into her Xidao.
’No wonder it was targeted by that thing.’
A mont later, Yabao let out a little burp and coiled back around Gu Xi’s fingertip.
anwhile, the people who had been unconscious were already showing signs of waking up. Zhang Wen and Zhao Li exchanged a look, both seeing the shock in the other’s eyes:
’Holy crap, was that the Group Healing Skill that every Healing System user dreams of? Or was it the legendary Devouring Superpower?’
’So, just what level of a backer is this Miss Gu?!’
The two of them looked at Ye Junhan, who was being sniffed over and over by the Mutated Rat King, and fought back the urge to wrap up their captain and present him to Gu Xi right then and there.
’We’re mature n. We have to be reserved. Composed.’
Gu Xi looked up and saw the overly dramatic expressions on Zhang Wen and Zhao Li’s faces. She raised an eyebrow slightly. "What’s with you two?" ’Their gazes are so strange.’
Zhao Li and Zhang Wen looked at her with sincere (and fawning) expressions. Just as they were about to speak, Qi Xiang let out a soft chuckle from the side. "Them? They’re just thinking about how to latch onto a powerful backer." She’d seen right through their little sche.
Gu Xi: "..."
Zhang Wen and Zhao Li: "..." ’Why does she have to say the quiet part out loud?’
...
Seeing that his teammates were out of danger, Zhang Wen finally rembered there was another vehicle.
They worked together to bring the second vehicle over. Inside, seven mbers of the Guard Team lay neatly arranged. The iron chains binding them were clearly Liu Hao’s handiwork.
Zhao Li recalled what Zhao Qingxiao had said before he lost consciousness and looked up at the others. "The captain and the others had found the Guard Team’s vehicle earlier. They saw these people passed out inside, thought sothing was wrong, and chased after it..."
From the looks of it, these people must have already been affected by sothing. Otherwise, Liu Hao wouldn’t have tied them up for no reason.
Zhao Li looked up at Gu Xi.
The vehicle’s cabin was too cramped to work in. Gu Xi simply flicked out a vine and dragged all of them out.
It was still pouring rain outside, making travel impossible for the ti being. Wei Heng built an earthen shelter nearby and moved Ye Junhan and the others inside. anwhile, Zhao Li and Zhang Wen set up a tarp over the two vehicles, and Qin Yi helped start a bonfire.
Soon, a simple, temporary campsite was established.
After tying down the waterproof tarp, Zhang Wen looked at the unconscious Guard Team mbers lying in puddles of water, then at his own teammates who had long since been moved into the shelter to rest. He then glanced over at Gu Xi, who was roasting sweet potatoes by the fire, and a sense of pride swelled within him.
’Having a powerful backer really is important.’
’Look at that. Our teammates were treated right away and are now resting comfortably in a warm, sheltered structure. But these guys from the Guard Team are still lying in the water, soaked to the bone, and Miss Gu hasn’t even spared them a glance.’
’This preferential treatnt... why do I like it so much?’
Zhang Wen gleefully exchanged a look with Zhao Li.
"Gu Xi, were those guys parasitized too?" Qin Yi asked, poking the fire and glancing at the Guard Team mbers lying in the puddles.
"No, they weren’t. Their unconsciousness is likely due to another reason." Through the curtain of rain, Gu Xi raised a pair of binoculars and looked to the southeast.
Before the apocalypse, that area was ho to a massive reservoir, one of City A’s most important sources of drinking water.
But now, the reservoir on the map was long gone. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but hills and fields covered in mutant plants.
Her spiritual power silently reached out, and Gu Xi quickly sensed a strong aura of water.
It was different from the aura of the rain pervading the air; it seed to contain so other kind of energy.
Gu Xi frowned slightly.
For so reason, she really disliked that aura.
After settling his teammates, Wei Heng ca out of the stone shelter, sat down next to Gu Xi, and tossed a few branches into the fire. "What are you looking at?"
"The A City Reservoir." Gu Xi handed the binoculars to Wei Heng. "I suspect it has now beco a Death Swamp."
Wei Heng took the binoculars and stared for a long while before speaking slowly. "My last mission with the Special Service Team was in City A."
Gu Xi had heard him ntion this before.
The others knew about it as well.
"Our original mission objective was near the old A City Reservoir. But later..." Wei Heng poked the fire with a stick, turning over the sweet potatoes inside. His gaze lowered. "After we arrived in City A, we discovered the mission location was wrong..."
"How is that possible?" Qin Yi was shocked. "No matter how incompetent A City Base is, they wouldn’t make a mistake like that."
Beside them, Qi Xiang suddenly asked, "Was that mission related to the research institute?"
"There was a connection," Wei Heng nodded. "Zhou Jinyu was supposed to be the liaison between the military and us for that mission. Later, after we found the correct location and were preparing to return to the Central Base, we suddenly received news about a mutant plant attacking people..."
That was the first incident of a mutant plant turning hostile and injuring soone.
After that, with everything else that happened... everyone’s attention was focused on the issue of hostile mutant plants. As for what the Special Service Team’s original mission in City A was, who even cared anymore?
Even Wei Heng himself had forgotten about it.
Until now...
Wei Heng looked up at Gu Xi. "I suspect the original mission location wasn’t wrong at all. It was deliberately changed because it involved the A City Reservoir, and soone didn’t want us going near there."
Qi Xiang rested her chin on her hand, analyzing. "So, if what you’re saying is true, does that an the subsequent hostile mutant plant incident could have been orchestrated by soone?"
Qin Yi leaned in and added, "With the goal of distracting everyone?"
As far as she knew, every mission the Special Service Team undertook was debriefed and archived. A mistake with the mission location in City A would, under normal procedure, certainly be questioned by the higher-ups after Wei Heng and his team returned.
An investigation like that could have easily uncovered sothing.
Soone was clearly scared.
So, before Wei Heng and his team could return, soone deliberately manufactured the incident with the hostile mutant plant to create a diversion.
The incident caused a huge uproar at the ti. Of all the people who participated in that mission, so died and others were wounded. Even Wei Heng, dissatisfied with the decisions from above, voluntarily resigned from the Special Service Team shortly after...
With all that going on, who would still pay attention to whether their previous mission had an error? Or if sothing had gone wrong along the way?
No one.
And so, the matter of the mission location being changed mid-course was logically and conveniently swept under the rug...
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