The aroma of hot pot drifted far across the camp. Gu Xi found Feng Xiao. "Any signal yet?"

She figured that at the speed Ye Junhan’s group was moving, they should have reached their destination by now.

Feng Xiao took out a palm-sized device and tinkered with it briefly. "I’ve got something, but it’s weak. Miss Gu, how about you let me try the radio again?"

He guessed that the previous major earthquake had probably damaged the signal towers for the safe camps around City A. Meanwhile, City A itself was likely too overwhelmed to deal with its own problems, so they hadn’t sent anyone out for repairs in time. That was why the radio couldn’t pick up a signal.

Gu Xi handed it over directly. Feng Xiao took out a homemade signal-boosting receiver, connected it to the radio, and after a bit of tinkering, the radio finally worked.

But after scanning through the channels, they found they could only pick up a single local station from City A, which was broadcasting updates on post-earthquake disaster relief...

Gu Xi leaned against a wall with her arms crossed, listening for a while. When she didn’t hear what she was hoping for, her gaze fell to Feng Xiao’s hands, where a small underwater robot was already beginning to take shape.

The surrounding miasma flickered in and out of sight, but the smell of hot pot in the camp only grew stronger. Soon, Liu Hao’s booming voice carried over—"Time to eat!"

Gu Xi stood up and patted Feng Xiao’s shoulder. "Let’s go."

Feng Xiao was focused on adjusting the robot. Without looking up, he said, "You go ahead, Miss Gu. I’ll come after I finish this up..."

Gu Xi nodded and didn’t press him. After she left the Miasma Forest, she had someone prepare a small pot and brought a portion of the food in for him.

As the sun set in the west, the main camp outside was buzzing with activity.

Everyone gathered in twos and threes, cheerfully cooking their food in the bubbling hot pots.

A few people from the research team gathered around their own pot. Tian picked up a meatball for herself, then looked up at her team leader next to her. "Ms. Chen, just how big do you think Miss Gu’s dimensional space is? How can she have so much delicious food?"

Chen Jia shot her a glare. "With all this delicious food, you still can’t keep your mouth shut?"

Tian wasn’t afraid of her at all. She playfully stuck her tongue out, then placatingly put a piece of mutant bamboo shoot in Ms. Chen’s bowl, muttering as if to herself:

"I remember the Abnormal Ability Research Institute hasn’t started distributing these mutant bamboo shoots yet, right? I wonder who sent Miss Gu the seeds..."

They had all been nearby when Wei Heng returned with a large package for Gu Xi. They saw it, but they just didn’t know who had sent it.

Hearing this, Chen Jia gave Tian a deep look but said nothing.

The other researchers at the table now caught on as well. One of them looked up toward the Special Service Team’s area and said thoughtfully, "That’s right. Who could be so capable as to get their hands on so many seeds?"

They had also been there when Gu Xi was planting vegetables before, but they had only watched from a distance without getting close.

Still, they had seen very clearly what kinds of vegetables were planted in the field.

Over a hundred varieties, all of them new types of mutant plants. Some of them hadn’t even been announced to the public by the Research Institute yet.

Even they, as professionals, had only seen the data and never the actual specimens.

But now, these precious seeds had been given to Gu Xi.

Thinking about it this way, the members of the research team couldn’t help but glance over at Gu Xi’s group repeatedly.

Over there, Shen Yue snatched a large shrimp and placed it in Gu Xi’s bowl. With his mouth stuffed full of food, he mumbled indistinctly, "Want me to go take care of it?"

"No need." Gu Xi slowly cooked a slice of radish in her pot. The seeds Ye Xin sent were indeed conspicuous, but since she hadn’t bothered to hide them from the beginning, she naturally had her own plans.

Shen Yue was a sharp guy; after a moment’s thought, he understood her intentions.

"Are you planning to..." He deftly snatched a meatball from Qi Xiang’s chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth. Scooting closer to Gu Xi with his bowl, he lowered his voice. "...create a misdirection?"

Besides the Abnormal Ability Research Institute, there was only one other place that could procure so many types of seeds—the Superpower Union.

Most members of the Superpower Union were pioneers, so it wasn’t strange for them to be able to collect these seeds. Besides, the Union’s President Chen and the Abnormal Ability Research Institute’s Director Chen were biological sisters!

Wasn’t it perfectly normal for two sisters to share resources?

That point alone could be exploited to great effect.

And as it happened, the history between Gu Xi and those two Chens wasn’t much of a secret in the Central Base...

’But...’ Shen Yue glanced calmly over at the research team and muttered, "That person might not fall for it."

The spy had been hiding in the research team for so long without revealing anything unusual. The moment they started to get suspicious, that person had pushed Tian forward as a scapegoat. It showed they were an incredibly cunning individual.

’Someone like that won’t be easy to fool.’

That was indeed a problem.

Gu Xi thought for a moment. "What do you think about having Zhou Jing bring something with her next time she comes over?"

"That’s a good idea." Shen Yue nodded while continuing to snatch food. "As long as it’s arranged properly, it should at least be enough to muddy the waters."

Beside them, Qi Xiang tapped Shen Yue’s chopsticks and leaned in. "I think the research team is manageable. The real key is those other superpowered individuals..."

Everyone knew that none of the superpowered individuals who came out with Gu Xi this time had clean backgrounds. Every single one of them had powerful connections... They couldn’t just kill them all, but targeting even one could have far-reaching consequences.

Dealing with them would be extremely troublesome.

"If I’d known, I would have kept them on the hook for a few more days," Qin Yi also muttered quietly, a pair of sweet dimples appearing on her cheeks.

"No rush." Gu Xi lowered her gaze and slowly fished the slice of radish out of the pot. "Let’s wait and see."

...

The sky darkened bit by bit. Ye Junhan and his team had already repaired the signal towers near the outermost safe camps of City A. He had Yang Liu run a test; wireless communication was restored.

Down below, Gao looked up at Yang Liu, who was still on the tower, and asked Ye Junhan, "Captain, are we heading back?"

The camp was having hot pot tonight. He’d seen it when they were leaving; Miss Gu had taken out a lot of meat. He wondered if those animals back on the team had saved any for them.

Gao licked his chapped lips.

Before, when he’d never had that meat, he didn’t think much of it. But now that he’d tasted it... what was that saying? Something about getting a taste for it?

Gao hadn’t had much formal schooling and couldn’t describe the clawing, desperate feeling, but he knew one thing—he was craving meat.

"Captain?" Seeing that his captain hadn’t responded, he couldn’t help but turn his head to look.

Ye Junhan handed him a bottle of water. After Yang Liu came down, he looked at the signal tower ahead, contemplated for a moment, and asked Yang Liu, "Can we use these towers to contact the Central Base?"

Yang Liu frowned slightly. Satellite signals and wireless signals were two different things. However, A City Base could definitely contact the Central Base. If they could hack into City A’s database, get the information from there, and then transmit it back using the wireless signal...

"It’s worth a try," Yang Liu said after some thought. "But we’ll have to go to City A and find a way to get a personal terminal from one of the higher-ups..."

Yang Liu briefly explained the plan.

Ye Junhan thought it was feasible.

After contacting the camp via walkie-talkie to explain the situation, the three of them packed up, changed their clothes, put on some makeup for disguise, and planned to sneak into A City Base under the cover of night.