Chapter 353: Chapter 338: Stay Away From Me

Wei Heng looked up at Tang You, a sarcastic curve tugging at his lips. "Mr. Tang, shouldn’t you give us an explanation for this?"

Tang You sighed and smiled bitterly. "I really can’t explain this. But Miss Gu, you know as well as I do what the situation in City A is like... I may be the head of City A’s base, but it’s in name only."

Qi Xiang glanced at him, her lips curving into a smirk. "So, Mr. Tang, you gave all the supplies to the Liu Family. Was your plan to get something for nothing? Did you expect our Gu Xiaoxi to single-handedly feed the hundreds of thousands of people in City A?"

’Trying to take advantage of us while testing Gu Xi’s limits at the same time?’

’They’ve really got it all figured out, haven’t they?’

Tang You met Qi Xiang’s gaze and immediately declared in a self-righteous tone, "That’s not it. I’m definitely on Miss Gu’s side."

He paused, then added, "But the Liu Family has men and guns. There was nothing I could do."

After he finished, he glanced cautiously at Gu Xi.

Gu Xi toyed with the tiny green sprout at her fingertip and let out a silent laugh.

’They messed with my slice of the pie, and now they expect me to clean up their mess?’

’Heh. Do they really think that just because I was asleep for thirty years, my blade has grown dull?’

Seeing Gu Xi remain silent, Tang You grew even more terrified. He could only pray silently in his heart, ’Please don’t let certain people do something stupid later. And if they do, please don’t let them drag me down with them...’

Farm 0101 was enormous. The vehicle moved at a relaxed pace, taking over an hour to reach the administration area.

By the time they arrived and stepped out of the vehicle, Farm Manager Huo Changzhou, having already been notified, was waiting for them at the entrance.

"Mr. Tang." The moment the car stopped, Huo Changzhou strode forward to greet them.

To his surprise, however, the first person to step out was Qi Xiang.

Huo Changzhou had spent a few years at the research institute and was one of Dr. Qi’s students, so of course he recognized Qi Xiang.

Seeing Qi Xiang emerge first, Huo Changzhou froze for a second. "Xiaoxiang?"

A smile touched Qi Xiang’s lips. "Mr. Huo, the last time we saw each other was three years ago, wasn’t it? I never thought we’d meet again here..."

As they spoke, Gu Xi and the others also exited the vehicle.

Upon seeing the rest of the group, Huo Changzhou quickly recovered. A smile spreading across his face, he hurried over to shake each of their hands. "Welcome, esteemed leaders, to Farm 0101 for your inspection..."

After greeting them, Huo Changzhou smiled and inquired, "Esteemed leaders, should we head to the guest house for a short rest, or go directly to the experimental breeding plots?"

"Let’s go straight to the breeding plots," Tang You suggested, glancing at Gu Xi.

Gu Xi nodded.

Huo Changzhou quickly arranged for an electric farm cart and invited them aboard. "Esteemed leaders, let’s take this. The seedling plots are still a ways off. The farm roads are quite narrow, so your SUVs won’t be convenient."

He certainly looked the part of a decisive man of action.

"Your timing is quite fortunate, esteemed leaders," Huo Changzhou said with a smile, turning back from the passenger seat to face them. "Just this morning, our farm succeeded in independently cultivating a reverse-evolved chili seedling."

Hearing him deliberately emphasize the words "independently cultivating," Qi Xiang raised an eyebrow at him, smiled, and said nothing.

"Chili peppers are nice. Essential for hot pot, you know," Yang Chi, sitting behind her, said with a shy smile. "I love hot pot."

He turned to look at Gu Xi, who was in the back row. "Gu Xi, it looks like this farm has plenty of vegetables. Why don’t we have hot pot tonight?"

Gu Xi rested a hand on the armrest of the cart and said coolly, "We can."

Qi Xiang chimed in, "In that case, I want to add beef meatballs, boneless chicken feet, and a pot of braised pork intestines—no, make that two pots." ’One pot is obviously not enough for a certain someone. His stomach is just like his cousin’s—a bottomless pit!’

Wei Heng chimed in as well, "Mutated fish would be good too. And I think we still have some of that cured meat left over..."

Seeing them all enthusiastically discussing what to have for hot pot that evening, Huo Changzhou was taken aback and instinctively glanced toward Tang You.

Tang You stared straight ahead with a deadpan expression, completely ignoring the signal Huo Changzhou was sending.

Huo Changzhou: "...?"

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before the cart reached its destination, stopping in front of a greenhouse that seemed to tower into the clouds.

’A greenhouse this tall... it doesn’t seem like it’s for growing chili seedlings.’

Qi Xiang couldn’t help but give Mr. Huo a meaningful look.

Huo Changzhou stepped out first and turned to the group. "This is it. Our farm built this greenhouse a month ago specifically for cultivating new seeds..."

Gu Xi and her group followed him out, stopping before the experimental greenhouse.

Huo Changzhou walked over to a Light Screen by the greenhouse entrance and tapped it a few times. He then turned back to Gu Xi’s group. "Esteemed leaders, the farm has a rule: anyone entering this greenhouse must first verify their identity."

As if to show he was no exception, Huo Changzhou was the first to verify his own identity.

Tang You’s expression darkened. He knew exactly what little game Huo Changzhou was playing, but now... He stole a glance at Gu Xi.

Her expression unchanging, Gu Xi stepped forward. Her identity verification passed quickly.

Huo Changzhou feigned a casual glance at the administrative access code on the verification info, a flicker of surprise flashing in his eyes.

He shot Tang You a meaningful look.

Tang You silently shuffled a step closer to Wei Heng, a living embodiment of the sentiment: "Don’t you dare come near me."

Huo Changzhou: "..." ’Did Tang You catch some sort of serious disease since we last met?’

After everyone had verified their identity in turn, they entered the greenhouse, led by Huo Changzhou.

Inside, quite a few staff members were bustling about. When they saw Huo Changzhou leading a group in, they merely glanced up indifferently before returning to their work.

Qi Xiang sensed something was off about the staff’s attitude and quietly exchanged a look with Yang Chi.

Meanwhile, Huo Changzhou had already begun his presentation on the greenhouse’s cultivation efforts.

The greenhouse contained a total of 37 different crop seedlings, 13 of which were new varieties that had successfully undergone reverse evolution.

’That wasn’t a low success rate.’

After touring the experimental breeding greenhouse, Huo Changzhou led them on a tour of the farm’s other areas. As evening approached, he suggested taking Gu Xi’s group to the guest house to rest.

On the way, Gu Xi suddenly asked him, "Mr. Huo, is everyone at Farm 0101 an ordinary person?"

Huo Changzhou paused, taken aback. Gu Xi had been exceptionally quiet throughout the tour, barely saying a word, and he hadn’t expected this to be her first question.

’He had thought she would ask about the farm’s output and sales.’

’After all, a portion of it was supposed to be hers. But she didn’t...’

"Well..." Huo Changzhou quickly recovered, a bitter look on his face. "To be honest with you, esteemed leaders, our farm does have ability users."

The employee records for Farm 0101 were readily available on the intranet, so Huo Changzhou didn’t try to hide it. "Our farm has a total of 17 ability users: eight with the Wood Element, four with the Water Element, four with the Earth Element, and one with the Wind Element..."

After listening to his explanation, Gu Xi frowned slightly. "Then where are they?"

They had toured the whole farm and had only seen ordinary people, not a single ability user.

Gu Xi had even scanned the area with her spiritual power but hadn’t detected the slightest spiritual fluctuation.

In other words, besides their own group, everyone currently on the entire farm was an ordinary person.

Including the man standing right in front of them, Huo Changzhou!

’This was clearly not normal.’