Chapter 339: Chapter 324: No One is Simple

"What’s wrong with these people?" Yang Xi stepped forward, pointing at the people lying on the ground and demanding aggressively.

Qi Xiang, holding Gu Xi’s arm, beat her to it. "And who might you be? Can’t you have a little self-awareness?" ’Who do you think you are, speaking up here? Are you picking on Gu Xi because she’s good-natured? Does every riffraff think they can just bark in front of Gu Xi now?’

Heh.

Yang Xi was stunned for a moment, then she reacted. "What do you mean by that?"

"What do I mean? Don’t you know?" Qi Xiang gave her a look that was not quite a smile, then her gaze fell on Tang You behind her.

"I say, Mr. Tang, your A City Base is a major base with hundreds of thousands of people, after all. How is it you can’t find a single person who understands plain language?"

’What kind of nonsense is she spouting?’ Yang Xi was furious, but Tang You held her back.

Faced with Qi Xiang’s sarcastic taunts, Tang You’s expression remained unchanged. Instead, he apologized sincerely, "Miss Gu, please don’t be angry. It’s just my subordinates who don’t know how to speak properly..."

Gu Xi frowned slightly. ’In her memory, Mr. Tang wasn’t like this...’

Just then, Ye Junhan suddenly spoke up. "These people are fine. They were just affected by the Superpower Seed..."

Hearing the term "Superpower Seed," Tang You and the others felt a jolt of excitement. But in the current situation... with so many people and prying eyes, it wasn’t a good time to ask detailed questions. They had to suppress their curiosity for now.

Ye Junhan wasn’t a man of many words. He explained the cause and effect in a couple of sentences and then fell silent.

As for his claim that the Superpower Seed had suddenly vanished in the end, everyone exchanged glances and fell silent for a moment. Clearly, no one believed him.

But the whereabouts of that Superpower Seed... Some looked at Gu Xi, some at Ye Junhan, some at Shen Yue, and some even looked at Qi Xiang.

Qi Xiang: "..."

’I mean, my luck is pretty good, but with all of you looking at me like that, I’m feeling a lot of pressure.’

The Research Institute’s helicopter arrived a moment too late.

As soon as Zhou Jinyu got off the helicopter, he saw the people lying all over the ground. He turned and gave a few instructions to the staff member beside him.

Soon, a middle-aged man walked over to the group.

A Healer.

Seeing the people from the Research Institute come over to help, Tang You gave Zhou Jinyu a deep look as he approached. ’Is he trying to win hearts and minds, or sow discord?’

But he said nothing, only holding back the restless Yang Xi.

Although Yang Xi was a bit impulsive, she wasn’t an idiot.

After nodding a greeting to Tang You, Zhou Jinyu walked straight to Gu Xi. He took a small box from his pocket and held it out. "Miss Gu, Ye Xin asked me to give this to you."

Liu Bo, having just finished dealing with the mess outside with his men, arrived just in time to see this. He paused, his gaze meaningful as he watched Zhou Jinyu’s actions. ’This Mr. Zhou is certainly a smooth operator.’

’Back at the base, he was subtly and not-so-subtly encouraging us to come here and reap the rewards. Now he’s trying to curry favor with *her*. Heh, so he’s the only good guy here?’

Liu Bo straightened his combat uniform, a cold, mocking sneer playing on his lips.

"Miss Gu, Mr. Ye." He strode over and gave a military salute.

At least in terms of attitude, he was impeccable.

Gu Xi glanced at him, took the box from Zhou Jinyu, and tossed it directly into her storage space without a second look.

...Ye Xin hadn’t come. That alone spoke volumes.

But outsiders didn’t know about the tacit understanding within their Doomsday Squad. They would only assume... that Ye Xin didn’t dare to come.

That she and Gu Xi had probably had a falling out long ago.

This made everyone even more certain of their previous judgments.

Seeing that Gu Xi had no intention of acknowledging him, Liu Bo went directly to Ye Junhan.

"Mr. Ye," he and Ye Junhan were of equal rank and had dealt with each other before, so they weren’t strangers. He stated his purpose as soon as he opened his mouth. "I heard a batch of old Hibernation Chambers were discovered in the Land of Death’s swamp. I’m under orders to take possession of them."

In his heart, Liu Bo was actually a little unsure if Ye Junhan and his group would hand things over to him. After all, several different factions were standing here right now.

And not a single one could be underestimated; they were all powerful rivals for his current mission.

Liu Bo was also a little frustrated.

Originally, his people from the Liu Family had been the first to arrive. But something went wrong along the way, and they were inexplicably attacked by those Hybrid Monsters. By the time he led his men to clean up the mess, they had lost their head start and ended up being the last group to get here.

’I wonder if the groups that came before me have...’ Liu Bo discreetly observed everyone present and suddenly noticed something very strange.

The once-very-active Mr. Li, Li Xiao, was now standing in a corner, with no presence at all.

It was too low-key. It was completely out of character for Li Xiao.

Something was definitely wrong.

Since Liu Bo was entrusted by the Liu Family to come here and secure these Hibernation Chambers, he was naturally no impulsive fool.

Although Liu Bo looked like an impulsive and straightforward rough-and-tumble military man on the surface, the fact that he was here representing the Liu Family meant he was actually quite a cunning individual.

After realizing something was amiss, Liu Bo calmed down and decided not to be the one to stick his neck out.

...In any case, Ye Junhan’s Special Service Team and he both belonged to the military. Although they were from different factions, compared to the others, they were on the same side.

Besides, his Liu Family members had been the ones to deal with all those Hybrid Monsters and mutants outside. It wasn’t that they wanted to—they had just been inexplicably tied up with them and had no choice. But no matter how you looked at it, they had still handled some trouble for *her*, right?

And from what he’d heard, *her* personality was one where she always repaid debts and settled scores, right?

’Compared to people like Tang You, who are purely here to reap the rewards, *she*... should have a more favorable impression of our Liu Family.’

With this in mind, Liu Bo became perfectly composed, ready to watch the others put on a show first.

Meanwhile, the people from the Research Institute had already revived several of the unconscious individuals. One of the staff members walked up to Zhou Jinyu and whispered a few words in his ear.

Zhou Jinyu frowned slightly, then looked up at Gu Xi. "Miss Gu, it seems there’s something wrong with their minds..."

Gu Xi didn’t seem surprised. Instead, she dropped an even more shocking piece of news—

"It’s likely due to the Superpower Seed’s influence. The Superpower Seed in the Land of Death can probably affect a person’s cerebral nerves, and even alter their biological genes in a very short amount of time... That’s what happened to the batch of guardians who were left here back then."

The guardians from back then? That was...

Everyone present, including Shen Yue, Wei Heng, and Ye Junhan standing beside her, turned to look at her.

Zhou Jinyu thought of the Starfire Plan from all those years ago. His heart skipped a beat, and he asked her, "Are those guardians from back then still alive? Didn’t the report say that the Hibernation Chambers below were all empty?"

This was the information Zhou Yue had sent back earlier; everyone present knew about it.

"They are empty," Gu Xi said slowly. "But one of the guardians is still alive."

"Miss Gu, what exactly is going on?" This time, even Liu Bo couldn’t help but ask. If the Hibernation Chambers below were empty, then the military could legitimately take them over. But if someone was still alive...

The Starfire Plan was, after all, a scientific research project. If someone was still alive, they could be someone from the Research Institute back then. In that case, the Research Institute would likely have a legitimate reason to intervene.

When that time came, the ownership of those Hibernation Chambers, and perhaps even the future of this entire Land of Death, would be up for debate.

It was crucial to remember that the Superpower Seed was, in all likelihood, still somewhere in this Land of Death...

As Liu Bo’s mind raced, he heard Gu Xi drop another bombshell.