Everyone was extremely satisfied with the barbecue. The only thing missing was Wei Heng and his team.

Unexpectedly, Wei Heng and the others returned the next day at noon.

After putting down his walkie-talkie, Ye Junhan exchanged a look with Gu Xi.

The two of them walked out of the Miasma Forest. In the large camp outside, Wei Heng’s group had just gotten out of their vehicle when they were surrounded by a crowd.

Meanwhile, Chen Jia’s research team watched the commotion from a distance.

Seeing Ye Junhan approach, the crowd stepped aside.

"Captain." Zhao Qingxiao strode over to report, his expression somewhat grave.

When Wei Heng saw Gu Xi coming over, he turned, found a large package, and handed it to her. "Someone sent this for you."

Gu Xi was a little surprised. "For me?"

"Yeah, someone asked me to bring it to you." Wei Heng hadn’t slept for two days and two nights. He found a rock to lean against and rest. Seeing Gu Xi staring at the package in a daze, he explained, "I don’t know who sent it either. But the person said you’ll know once you open it."

Gu Xi looked up at him. Seeing his weary face and slightly chapped lips, she pulled a pre-apocalypse sports drink from her dimensional space and handed it to him.

It was the first time Wei Heng had ever seen such a thing. He found it novel and held it in his hands, examining it for a long while. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

He had seen people mention these kinds of drinks on the forums before, but after the apocalypse, they were no longer produced.

Now, Gu Xi was probably the only one who still had such things.

He twisted off the cap, took a sip, and squinted his eyes in satisfaction.

’Tastes really good.’

Wei Heng smacked his lips, savoring the taste. In his peripheral vision, he saw Gu Xi pull an envelope wrapped in plants from the opened package.

’What a peculiar way to send a letter.’

Wei Heng took another swig of the drink, shuffled over to Gu Xi, and stared at the letter in her hand, curious. "This letter..."

Gu Xi set the envelope aside. As she inspected the contents of the package, she asked Wei Heng, "How are things in City A?"

At the mention of City A, Wei Heng’s expression turned grave.

"From a distance, A City Base seemed to be in decent shape overall. Although the major earthquake caused some casualties, it was still within a controllable range. The buildings inside the base were largely unaffected. Only some of the peripheral safe zones suffered severe damage."

"As for the specific situation inside the base..."

"This time, we were stopped as soon as we reached a safe camp outside the base." Seeing Gu Xi look up at him, Wei Heng gave her a brief summary of their trip to City A.

Originally, Wei Heng’s group had planned to scout out the situation at A City Base and try to establish contact with the Central Base.

Unexpectedly, the group was stopped as soon as they arrived at a safe camp outside the base.

Hearing this, Gu Xi frowned and asked, "Is the situation in City A complicated?"

"It is." Wei Heng leaned against the rock, squeezing the plastic bottle in his hand. "According to that person, over at the Central Base, the military and the authorities have had a complete falling out over the self-destruction of the quarantine hospital..."

"Right now, the Central Base is relaxed on the outside but tense on the inside. People are allowed in but not out. On the surface, it has entered a state of wartime military control, with the military in full command. But the base’s administrative systems are still in the hands of the authorities, and that includes the communications system..."

At this point, he glanced at Gu Xi before continuing, "Currently, several of the base’s Commanders are stationed in the City Administration Building with the base’s defense forces."

The Administration Building was the Central Base’s center of power. All commands necessary for the city’s normal operations—including water, electricity, gas, and communications—were issued from there. In a sense, that building was the heart of the entire base.

Since the normal lives of several million people in the base were at stake, the military didn’t dare launch a direct assault. The two sides were now in a standoff, and the situation was extremely delicate.

A fight was unlikely to break out. After all, there were millions of ordinary people inside the base. Even just for the sake of public opinion, no one dared to fire the first shot openly.

But...

"That person also said," Wei Heng frowned slightly, "that Gu Yumin was assassinated. But in reality, it was likely the authorities themselves who were behind it..."

"And the military forces garrisoned in the city have also been facing frequent small-scale attacks recently. Although there haven’t been any major casualties, in the eyes of the common people, it’s a sign of poor public safety..."

Besides, as far as he knew, most of the base’s critical supplies are actually controlled by those few major families.

The military had guns, but they had no money and no supplies.

This was a major hidden danger.

Wei Heng was faintly worried. "The military is under immense pressure right now. The situation is extremely tense, and the higher-ups are at their wit’s end. I’m afraid they won’t be able to spare any attention for small teams like ours that are out in the field..."

’No wonder it’s been so long, and the higher-ups haven’t taken the initiative to contact their convoy.’

Gu Xi frowned slightly.

Wei Heng also sighed, his expression grave. "In short, the situation at the Central Base is chaotic right now, and this chaos will probably continue for a while."

He looked up at Gu Xi. "Things are bad at the Central Base, and City A has been affected as well. The situation in the city is very complicated at the moment. That person advised us not to contact the base for the time being, and especially not to get involved in the mess in City A."

After hearing what the person said, Wei Heng and Zhao Qingxiao had originally planned to sneak into A City Base anyway to investigate the situation on the ground.

After all, none of them knew that person, so how could they be sure if he was telling the truth?

But then, the person contacted Yang Chi right in front of them...

Gu Xi looked up and asked, "Is Yang Chi alright?"

Wei Heng: "Yang Chi is fine. That kid is sharp. Plus, the Shen Family has some influence in City A."

He paused, then said, "Two researchers studying comatose patients infiltrated City A a while ago. Yang Chi is currently tracking this matter..."

"Yang Chi gave us a brief rundown of the situation at A City Base and said that if anything new comes up, he’ll find a way to contact us..."

In the end, after discussing it, Zhao Qingxiao and Wei Heng decided to bring their people back.

Wei Heng stared at the large package in front of Gu Xi. "Before we left, that person gave this to me and told me I had to deliver it into your hands personally."

He and Zhao Qingxiao had been curious the entire trip, but since it was Gu Xi’s personal property, neither of them looked inside.

Now, seeing Gu Xi take out all sorts of plant seeds from the package, Wei Heng’s expression became a little strange.

He remembered Gu Xi saying that she had a lot of pre-apocalypse seeds in her dimensional space because she had cleaned out an entire supply depot during a mission.

It could be said that the one person in the world who wasn’t short on seeds was Gu Xi.

However, Gu Xi’s expression upon seeing these seeds surprised Wei Heng.

Gu Xi opened and inspected each packet of seeds from the package, discovering that they were all new varieties that had emerged after the second great mutation.

And there were quite a few different types.

’The person who could send her these...’ Gu Xi turned her head to look at the envelope she had set aside.

Beside her, Wei Heng followed her gaze. "You seem to know who wrote this."

"I do." Gu Xi tore open the envelope. Inside, a familiar handwriting leaped off the page.

"Xiaoxi, don’t worry about City A. Li Ming and I have already arranged everything. As for the Chens..."

It was concise and to the point, without a single word of pleasantry.

Looking at the letter in her hand, Gu Xi could almost see the Ye Xin of the past.

Who would have thought that the healing goddess of the Doomsday Squad, the one who appeared to outsiders as the gentlest, kindest, most charming, and most beautiful, was, in reality, a decisive and ruthless rose with thorns?

Thinking of her old companions, a hint of a smile appeared in Gu Xi’s eyes. Although this world was full of people who annoyed her and people who wanted to use her...

...it also had people who genuinely cared for her.

Like Li Ming, Ye Xin, Xiao Yu, Wei Heng, Shen Yue, Qi Xiang, the sisters from the Qin Family...

These were the people who made her willing to be shackled to this world.