There were a lot of people, but the scene wasn’t chaotic. It seed they were organized into nurous small teams, each one setting up camp in unspoken agreent with the others.
Although Chi Wan couldn’t quite tell who had superpowers and who were just ordinary people, she knew the group guarding the outermost periter had to be all superpower users.
Just like Li Xingye himself, who was currently sitting with his legs bent, leaning lazily against a small, earthen slope a short distance away.
But a closer look revealed tiny vine tendrils dancing in the wind across the ground where all the base personnel were stationed.
"How did we get so many people all of a sudden? Speaking of which, you haven’t asked to stockpile supplies in a long ti. Is the base’s food supply stable now?"
Li Xingye smiled. "I discovered that the soil from the space can be brought out. While it’s not as effective as it is inside the space, it can slow down the rate of food spoilage. But most importantly... it can be used to grow food."
Hearing this, Chi Wan instinctively pictured the space, which at so point had beco completely covered in soil.
When she closed her eyes, a complete picture of the space appeared clearly in her mind.
On the verdant adows, naless little flowers blood everywhere. The "farm," which was originally tiny, had expanded to nearly ten tis its initial size. The chickens, ducks, fish, cows, sheep, and pigs inside had all grown into a considerable population.
The space was so large that Li Xingye was the one who mostly managed this area. Chi Wan usually stayed near the lotus pond, so she was only now noticing that the place where Li Xingye stored Crystal Cores held more and more of them, yet the space itself hadn’t grown in a long ti.
Chi Wan was delighted. "In that case, we won’t have to worry no matter how many more people join us in the future."
The reason food was so scarce in the apocalypse was, fundantally, because it could neither be produced nor preserved.
She didn’t know why the soil from the space was so magical, but if things continued to develop this way, then sooner or later, even with zombies still around, they at least wouldn’t fall into desperation again due to lack of food.
"I’ve gradually opened up the option for people to trade supplies for food, and a lot of people want to join our base." Li Xingye’s expression was filled with hope as he gazed at the bustling crowd. "Once we’ve integrated all the survivors in this area, maybe we can slowly expand our influence to places farther away."
The lands of Hua Country were vast. Even though order had collapsed, he thought, ’There must be other superpower users out there like , willing to protect ordinary people.’
’If I just move a little faster, I can pull even more people out of despair.’
"Oh, right, what about those people who ambushed you last ti?" Chi Wan opened her eyes and glanced around.
But it was too dark and there were too many people, so she couldn’t spot them. "But with more and more people joining, won’t... sothing bad happen again?"
When people’s bellies are full, their minds tend to wander.
Chi Wan knew that Li Xingye’s base had been fractured by internal strife once before. Even back when it was just a small base, it had attracted so many people with ulterior motives.
Now that the base was expanding so quickly, there were bound to be even more people like that.
Chi Wan’s concern always resonated with Li Xingye. He smiled. "Liang Yushuang and the others went to clear out the wandering zombies in the area. As our heavy hitter, her Fire Ability is really effective.
"More people ans more agendas, of course. But it doesn’t matter. None of them can beat , so they’ll have to think twice before trying anything."
He said it jokingly, but as more and more people flocked to him, it was only natural that so ca with ill intentions.
But with a growing number of High-level Superpower Users at his disposal, there were many things he no longer needed to handle personally.
As the highest-level Attack Ability User besides Li Xingye himself, Liang Yushuang had beco the de facto leader of the exploration team.
Li Xingye hadn’t broken up her established team. As for Xiao Liu, a precious Healing system user, their superpower was kept secret, and they lived in the base as an ordinary person.
However, a portion of every haul of High-level Crystal Cores was given to her to upgrade her superpower.
In gratitude, Liang Yushuang and her team had beco Li Xingye’s staunchest supporters. They did whatever he asked, no questions asked.
Not to ntion, Duan Qianyu’s creativity was even more astonishing than he had imagined, which was another reason he was in a hurry to relocate the base.
Li Xingye’s own strength was undoubtedly the bedrock of it all, but the people who had gathered around him were an equally indispensable source of support.
Chi Wan watched Li Xingye’s side profile, the corners of her lips turning up in an unconscious smile.
Following his gaze, she saw people who, though gaunt, had faces filled with smiles. The sight made Chi Wan’s heart grow warm.
’I guess I have a part to play in their happiness, too.’
’This is nice.’
*
They chatted for a little while longer before a sudden commotion broke out in the otherwise orderly crowd.
"What’s wrong?" Chi Wan had been talking to Li Xingye about their plans to rent an off-campus house, but she saw him suddenly stand up.
Li Xingye headed toward the commotion, not looking particularly surprised. "Looks like they’ve caught a rat."
Chi Wan frowned. Hearing that, she said no more and waited quietly for Li Xingye to handle it.
A man she didn’t recognize was surrounded by a crowd. He stood with his head bowed, cowering, while the faces of those around him were filled with clear indignation.
"Xu Zhuang, what the hell do you think you’re doing!" a middle-aged man who looked like a team leader roared. "Hand over what’s in your hand!"
Soone else spotted Li Xingye and called out, "Chief! We found Xu Zhuang acting suspiciously! It looks like he was passing a ssage to soone!"
At this, the man nad Xu Zhuang snapped his head up. His eyes, fixed on Li Xingye, were filled with hatred. "You clearly had so much food... Why didn’t you announce it sooner?! If you had, my wife wouldn’t have died!
"And you idiots! Have any of you ever stopped to think where Li Xingye’s food actually cos from?! You’re too scared to, because you all depend on that food to survive!
"But I’m different. I figured it out from the start! Li Xingye... he can absorb other people’s superpowers! All those superpower users and zombies he killed—he sucked them all dry!!
"Aren’t you afraid that one day you’ll be the ones sucked dry, turned into the raw materials he uses to get food?! If you don’t believe , just ask him! Ask him if he dares to reveal where his food cos from?!"
Everyone was stunned by his words.
And as Xu Zhuang spoke with brazen confidence, Li Xingye’s expression slowly darkened.
"That’s f**king bullshit!!" Qiangzi was hot-tempered and couldn’t stand hearing soone slander Li Xingye like that. He was about to charge forward but Li Xingye held him back.
But many of the newer mbers began to look at Li Xingye with expressions of shock and uncertainty.
After all, everyone had been curious about the source of Li Xingye’s seemingly inexhaustible food supply and the miraculous soil that could grow crops.
It was just that no one had ever dared to ask.
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