By the ti Gu Xi finished helping the Qin Family sisters with the cabbages in the field and returned to the other side of the creek, Wei Heng had already gone back ahead of her. He had stead the sweet potatoes and was now peeling tomatoes...
Wei Heng had long since discovered that Gu Xi wasn’t a picky eater; she usually ate whatever was available. However, among all the vegetables, she seed to have a particular fondness for big, sweet-and-sour tomatoes.
And when she ate them, she had a peculiar habit—she never ate the skin.
After the apocalypse, food had beco exceptionally precious. No one would waste it. Gu Xi was soone who would even eat the rind of a waterlon, yet she refused to eat tomato skins. This clearly wasn’t because she was picky...
Wei Heng was a very attentive person. After noticing this, he would always ticulously peel the tomatoes whenever he cooked with them...
This ti, however, Gu Xi frowned slightly as she stared at the peeled tomato in his hand.
"What’s wrong?" Wei Heng asked, looking up.
"Nothing." Gu Xi’s mind was on other things, so she gave a casual reply. "I just suddenly thought of a very famous dish from before the apocalypse—tomato and egg soup..."
At this, Wei Heng’s brow furrowed as well.
After the apocalypse, chickens had mutated, but they still laid eggs.
And those eggs were bigger than the mouth of a bowl.
It was just the taste... that was hard to put into words.
After being tricked into eating an egg once as a child, Wei Heng had never touched one again.
This was also why, despite always wanting to help Gu Xi get stronger, Wei Heng had never considered boiling her so eggs or making a pot of chicken soup—eating that stuff was practically a death sentence!
Now, hearing Gu Xi suddenly bring it up, he thought she might be curious to try it. After a mont’s thought, he gently tried to dissuade her. "Actually, tomato soup without eggs is also delicious..."
Just then, Shen Yue ca sauntering over, just in ti for the al.
Gu Xi glanced behind him and, sure enough, didn’t see that other person. Even Qi Xiang hadn’t returned.
’It seems Wei Heng knows that person well. His guess was spot on...’
"Is the food ready?" Shen Yue, acting right at ho, went to the kitchen to grab a bowl and chopsticks. He squatted down next to the two of them, a half-eaten sweet potato still in his mouth.
Wei Heng looked up at him, utterly speechless. "..."
But Shen Yue suddenly spoke up. "Ye Junhan is back in the woods from last night, protecting Ye Nan and the two professors..."
Although the two professors were ordinary people with little knowledge of X Energy, they were, after all, experts in botany. After Ye Nan analyzed the sample data from the Mutated Locust Tree they had brought back, the two professors imdiately showed great interest.
So much so that they couldn’t even be bothered to eat lunch, instead having Ye Junhan take them into the forest.
Gu Xi thought for a mont, then tilted her head and asked him, "Did Qi Xiang go too?"
Shen Yue nodded, tilting his head to look at her. "You seem... very interested in Qi Xiang?"
Gu Xi t his probing gaze without flinching. "Her ability is very interesting."
"Is that so?" Shen Yue shrugged. It seed like a casual comnt, but it was a blatant test. "I thought you were interested in that Dr. Qi..."
Gu Xi couldn’t help but give him a second look. ’This man’s perception is on par with Wei Heng’s.’
But she neither confird nor denied it, instead asking, "The two professors went into the forest. Why didn’t you go?"
Shen Yue had always been in charge of the professors’ security. It made no sense for them to enter the forest without him, their security officer.
Shen Yue stood up, swallowed the rest of his sweet potato, and leaned back lazily, glancing at Wei Heng. "With Ye Junhan there, I don’t need to go, do I..."
Wei Heng, head down, placed the peeled tomato in his hand into a nearby basin. He wiped his hands, then turned to add more firewood to the stove.
Gu Xi raised an eyebrow slightly. ’Why do I get the feeling the atmosphere between these two n is a little... strange?’
...
In the afternoon, with nothing better to do, a few of the young people went to the foot of a nearby unclaid, barren mountain and cleared a few acres of land. They decided to plant another crop of large waterlons to send to the Heng Mountain front lines.
During this ti, Mr. Zhao and the others never ca out of the forest.
Shen Yue kept giving Gu Xi aningful glances, his intentions blatantly obvious.
But Gu Xi acted as if she hadn’t noticed, her expression remaining completely unchanged.
Wei Heng, on the other hand, couldn’t stand it. As soon as they finished planting the waterlons, he didn’t even let her help clean up, hurriedly pushing Gu Xi to go back and rest.
Gu Xi didn’t argue.
The weather in the afternoon was pleasant. The sky was clear, and the sunlight was warm without being scorching.
Instead of going back inside, Gu Xi brought out a lounge chair. She leaned back against the corner of the wall, sunbathing while leisurely listening to the radio.
But her mind was on sothing else.
Seeing Wei Heng peel the tomato at noon had reminded her: the energy inside the Mutated Locust Tree was currently enveloped by her ability. It was like the skin on a tomato—as long as no one touched it, there wouldn’t be a problem.
But if soone were to peel that skin away, the strange energy that had been suppressed by her ability would erupt and grow explosively.
At that point, the Mutated Locust Tree would very likely turn malignant in a very short ti.
And that would be another major headache.
She knew from the information Xv Yiyisan had previously disclosed that the past few cases of mutant plant malignancy had all occurred in locations far from one another.
Yet, two such incidents had already occurred near Camp No. 9527 in a short period.
If another mutant plant were to turn malignant in this area now... Camp No. 9527 would likely beco the focus of everyone’s attention.
For Gu Xi—at least, for the current Gu Xi—this was definitely not a good thing.
So, this matter couldn’t be delayed.
’It needs to be dealt with as soon as possible.’
Just then, Shen Yue suddenly sauntered over.
Gu Xi raised an eyebrow slightly. ’Looks like Wei Heng failed to keep him away after all.’
Shen Yue glanced at her, then, acting right at ho, went inside to grab another lounge chair. He settled down comfortably next to Gu Xi and tilted his head to look at her. "Listening to the radio again?"
He’d noticed that this girl seed to have a particular fondness for listening to the radio. Ever since she bought this antique receiver, she’d listened to it for a while almost every day.
Gu Xi gave a noncommittal grunt in response.
Shen Yue’s gaze fell on the slightly worn dictionary in her hands. He raised an eyebrow. "Why are you reading that?"
Gu Xi said, "I didn’t get much schooling, and I never attended classes formally... Now that things have finally settled down and life is more leisurely, I have the ti and peace of mind... so I’m just browsing."
Back then, when Li Ming designated the dictionary as their codebook, Qee Ran had laughed at him, saying that these days, not even old-fashioned scholars lived with a dictionary glued to their hands.
After all, life after the apocalypse was just too hard. It was a struggle just to survive, so who would spend their days clinging to useless books?
A flicker of nostalgia and lancholy passed through Gu Xi’s eyes.
Watching her, Shen Yue suddenly sat up in his lounge chair, rubbing his chin with one hand. "Is that so... Well, I’ve had a few years of schooling. How about I teach you?"
Gu Xi raised her eyes slightly, staring at him for a mont. "...Alright."
With that, she directly handed the dictionary to him.
Shen Yue didn’t stand on ceremony. After taking the dictionary, he cleared his throat twice. In a rare move, he shed his usual lazy deanor and began to seriously flip through the "textbook" he’d just received.
Suddenly, the man’s page-flipping stopped. He pointed to a certain phrase on one of the pages and asked Gu Xi, "Do you know this phrase?"
Gu Xi followed his finger and raised an eyebrow. "’All manner of ghosts and demons’?"
Shen Yue let out an exaggerated gasp. "Gu Xiaoxi, you’re amazing! You even know such an obscure phrase..." His face held a teasing smile.
Gu Xi was speechless. With a deadpan expression, she said, "...I may not have had much schooling, but I’m not illiterate. I can read just fine."
After all, she had grown up in the Abnormal Ability Research Institute.
And what kind of place was the Abnormal Ability Research Institute? It was a place swarming with high-level intellectuals!
So, even though Gu Xi had little formal education, she had picked things up through osmosis since childhood. Recognizing a few words was no problem... not to ntion, Li Ming had taught her quite a bit when she was young.
However...
Gu Xi’s gaze fell once more upon the phrase beneath the man’s fingertip. ’All manner of ghosts and demons?’
’Is he trying to hint at sothing?’
’Thinking about it, Shen Yue has indeed been acting a bit strange today.’
He was the two professors’ security officer. Logically, if the professors went into the forest, he, the security officer, should have gone with them no matter what.
—Even if Ye Junhan was powerful, if sothing unexpected happened, he alone might not be able to protect so many people in a densely vegetated forest!
What’s more, the two professors were ordinary people, and elderly at that... If any accident were to happen, the responsibility would fall entirely on him, the security officer.
But he deliberately didn’t go.
Gu Xi recalled Shen Yue’s expression and tone when the matter was brought up at noon, and the glance he’d given Wei Heng...
Gu Xi retracted her gaze, looking down slightly. ’It seems Ye Junhan has another objective for this trip.’
’And this man before ... I’m afraid he reached so sort of tacit understanding with him long ago.’
Under the dappled sunlight, a cool breeze drifted by, carrying the distinct, fresh scent of grass and trees.
At the sa ti, the sweet voice of an announcer ca from the old radio: "Dear listeners, next, let’s enjoy an old song together..."
Gu Xi looked up, giving the man a deep, aningful look.
Then, eting his unwavering gaze, she reached out, took back her dictionary, flipped to a certain page, pushed it towards him, and tilted her head to ask earnestly, "I don’t really understand the explanation for this word..."
She began to recall how two of her devilish professors would grill students during their lessons, and then she activated copy-paste mode...
Ten minutes later, Shen Yue fled in disarray.
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