The fruit saplings for South City arrived on the evening of the third day, accompanied by the roar of a large transport plane.
Amidst the cheers of several thousand people at the farm, Gu Xi and her small group of friends got into a vehicle heading back to A City Base.
"Mr. Zhou, the base will be sending over the first batch of superhumans in a few days. I’ll have to trouble you with everything after that." Before getting into the car, Gu Xi fished an old-fashioned communicator out of so forgotten corner of her space and said to Mr. Zhou, "If you run into any problems you can’t handle, you can use this to contact ."
This old-fashioned communicator was a model from over thirty years ago. It had been obsolete for many years, ever since personal terminals ca onto the market. Mr. Zhou was taken aback for a mont after accepting it, seemingly confused as to why Gu Xi wanted him to use this to contact her.
"Does this thing still work?" he asked, looking at the small gadget in his hand, not entirely sure.
Qi Xiang, leaning lazily against a nearby off-road pickup truck, spoke up to explain. "Mr. Zhou, it might be a bit old, but it uses a completely different signal frequency than modern personal terminals. Yang Chi applied a special encryption to it... Don’t worry, it’ll definitely work."
"Alright then." Mr. Zhou nodded, put the device away, and only turned back toward the farm after Gu Xi’s group had gotten into the pickup and driven out of sight.
In the departing pickup truck, Yang Chi kept staring at Qi Xiang, looking like he wanted to say sothing but holding back.
Qi Xiang finally couldn’t take it anymore. She shot him an annoyed glance. "If you have sothing to say, just say it." ’What’s with all the hesitation?’
’You’re the one who said it,’ Yang Chi thought to himself. So... "Qi Xiang, have you noticed your head is a little green lately?" he said, staring at her face.
Qi Xiang was stunned. Everyone knew the thing she cared about most was her face—her pride and joy.
She shot Yang Chi a cold glare and said with a humorless smile, "What did you say?"
Yang Chi pointed at her face. Qi Xiang quickly pulled out the small mirror she always carried and examined herself from left to right...
"Where is it green?" she asked, looking up at Yang Chi coldly. Her intimidating aura made it clear she was not to be trifled with.
Yang Chi was frightened and didn’t dare to speak, so he dragged the nearby Qin Yi into it. "If you don’t believe , ask Qin Yi..."
Qi Xiang turned her head and stared ominously at Qin Yi.
Qin Yi secretly pinched Yang Chi, but her eyes were the very picture of innocence. "Um... it’s probably a side effect of your superpower advancing. It’ll likely go away in a few days..."
Qi Xiang was shocked. ’So, my face really has turned green? That can’t be right. I look in the mirror every day, at least ten tis.’
With that thought, Qi Xiang picked up her mirror again. She looked down at her reflection, raised a hand to her face, and looked closely. ’Sothing does seem a little... off?’
Qi Xiang imdiately looked pitifully toward Gu Xi, who was sitting in the front passenger seat. Her voice was laced with an obviously fake panic. "Gu Xi, if I lose this gorgeous face of mine... how will I ever go on~"
Gu Xi thought for a mont, then pulled out a handful of green Crystal Cores from her space and handed them to Qi Xiang. "Don’t worry, that day will never co."
Qi Xiang’s current situation was more or less as Qin Yi had described. By a stroke of luck, she had already fused with so plant genes. On top of that, she had forced her superpower to advance that one night, which resulted in a small side effect—the hidden plant-like traits had surfaced.
It was similar to a side effect from multi-species gene fusion.
It wasn’t a big deal, though. Once her superpower stabilized, she would be able to control the plant-like parts of her traits herself. That was why, even though they had all noticed the problem these past few days, no one had ntioned it in front of her.
After all, everyone knew how much Qi Xiang cared about her face.
They had all originally thought it would resolve itself in a few days. Unexpectedly, after being forced to grow mushrooms for several days, Yang Chi just couldn’t hold it in any longer...
Qi Xiang delightedly accepted the Crystal Cores and began absorbing them on the spot.
Watching from the side, Yang Chi was overco with jealousy. He whispered to Qin Yi, "She’s already green, and now she’s absorbing so many green Crystal Cores. Is that really okay?"
Qi Xiang shot him a cold glance. "Hmph."
She puffed out her chest, held her head high, and looked at the others smugly, cradling the handful of sparkling, translucent green Crystal Cores. ’I knew it. They’re all jealous of . Jealous that Gu Xi dotes on the most in our group!’
Wei Heng hadn’t planned on getting involved. He was a mature man; how could he be as childish as them?
But now that Qi Xiang was flaunting her prize in front of him, Wei Heng simply tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "Sorry, I have so too."
As he spoke, he kept one hand on the steering wheel and pulled open the large cloth bag he carried with him.
There was a loud RATTLE...
"...How do you have so many?" Qi Xiang was shocked, unable to hide her jealousy.
Wei Heng glanced at her in the rearview mirror and said unhurriedly, "Because my superpower level is higher than yours."
Qi Xiang fell silent, calming down and quietly absorbing the Crystal Cores in her hand.
The car instantly grew quiet.
Yang Chi glanced at the hard-at-work Qi Xiang and felt he couldn’t fall behind. So he also opened his personal terminal and started tapping away at sothing.
Qin Yi tilted her head and watched for a mont, but she couldn’t understand a thing. Still, seeing everyone grinding, she felt that if she didn’t join in, she’d be killing the team vibe. But in their current environnt, she didn’t dare to grind.
—Qin Yi’s superpower was already on the verge of a breakthrough; she could advance at any mont.
The commotion from a superpower advancent was usually quite large, and they were in a car right now. With Gu Xi present, she wasn’t worried about the safety of everyone in the vehicle, but... resources were scarce these days. It would be a real sha to destroy a car just like that.
Qin Yi thought for a mont, then leaned forward to look at Wei Heng up front. "Speaking of which, what’s Mr. Zhou’s actual first na? Back at the camp, I heard even the older folks calling him Mr. Zhou."
It just felt a little strange.
Gu Xi paused when she heard this, and a thought suddenly popped into her head.
She turned her head to look at Wei Heng to her left.
Wei Heng’s expression was a little strange. He coughed twice. "Actually, Mr. Zhou’s real na is Zhou Shu. The ’Shu’ from ’calligraphy’."
"Oh," Qin Yi lowered her voice, a look of surprise on her face. "His parents really knew how to pick a na." ’Imagine calling your own son ’uncle’ from a young age... I wonder what they were thinking?’
Just then, Qi Xiang finished absorbing her first Crystal Core. She leaned over the back of Gu Xi’s seat and chid in, "Actually, I get a decent vibe from Mr. Zhou. It’s that Yan on his team who looks shifty-eyed..."
Speaking of shifty-eyed, Qi Xiang suddenly rembered sothing and asked Gu Xi, "Hasn’t Bai woken up yet?"
Gu Xi thought of the little mouse that had been snoozing soundly in her space for the past few days, clutching the Superpower Seed. After a mont, she lifted it out.
Qi Xiang looked at the sleek and glossy Bai in her hand and couldn’t help but frown. "Why do I feel like Bai has shrunk a size?" Although it still looked chubby, its overall fra just seed smaller.
At that mont, Yang Chi and Qin Yi also leaned in for a closer look.
After a careful look, Qin Yi nodded in agreent. "It has shrunk a size." But it hadn’t lost any weight.
How strange.
"Why is its fur all puffed up while it’s sleeping?" Yang Chi reached out and gently flicked Bai’s little ear, which twitched with each breath.
Even Wei Heng turned his head to glance over. "It’s been sleeping for days. Has it not woken up at all?"
Gu Xi slowly shook her head. Ever since they encountered Yun Ye in the mountains that day, Bai seed to have gotten a huge fright. When they got back, it had desperately wheedled her to let it into her space.
Once Gu Xi sent it into her space, the little thing made a beeline for the Superpower Seed, hugged it tight, and imdiately fell into a deep sleep.
"Is it really okay for it to keep sleeping like this?" As she spoke, Qin Yi put her hand under Bai’s nose. Good, its breathing was long and steady. It was clearly sleeping soundly.
Gu Xi stared at the little golden mouse in front of her and slowly shook her head. She had already checked the little guy over that day. There was nothing physically wrong with it, but it didn’t seem to be in the process of advancing, either.
It was a bit strange.
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