From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 137 - 128: Little Snacks and a Guessing Game
Not just anyone could enter Dr. Qi’s study.
Even Qi Xiang had to go through multiple security checks to get in.
Gu Xi followed Qi Xiang through the door, stood at the entrance of the living room, passed through various scanners, and finally arrived at the reception room outside the study, where she met one of Dr. Qi’s assistants—Liu.
"Miss Gu, please wait a moment. Dr. Qi is in a teleconference right now."
Gu Xi nodded, discreetly surveying her surroundings.
Compared to the past, this small reception room was now filled with many high-tech gadgets. Gu Xi had seen some of them on forums, but others were completely new to her. ’What are they for?’
The room was under surveillance from all sides. There were over a dozen visible cameras, and many more hidden red dots in the shadows.
But there probably weren’t any energy weapons.
The Energy Detector Shen Yue had secretly given her hadn’t heated up.
Besides the assistant who called himself Liu, there were three other young people in the reception room.
Judging by how familiarly Qi Xiang greeted them, they were probably all part of Dr. Qi’s staff.
Strangely, however, they were all ordinary people, and Gu Xi didn’t recognize any of them.
Gu Xi frowned imperceptibly. ’Where did Xiao Mao go?’
If she remembered correctly, back then, Xiao Mao had been Dr. Qi’s number one confidant.
Gu Xi found a random seat and sat down.
After a moment’s thought, she stored the Energy Detector Shen Yue had given her into her space.
Dr. Qi was fiendishly intelligent. She had to be on guard against some of his methods.
After all, an Energy Detector could be detected in turn.
Just then, Qi Xiang appeared from somewhere with tea and snacks. She whispered a reminder, "Outsiders rarely come here. If you’re hungry, feel free to have some..."
’Outsiders rarely come here? So, Dr. Qi specifically prepared these for me?’
Gu Xi nodded, casually picked up a small pastry, and then frowned slightly.
’Mint-flavored?’
’A little strange.’
Meanwhile, in the data control room of the Abnormal Ability Research Institute.
Ye Xin was watching Gu Xi eat the pastry through a remote surveillance feed.
"Mom..." Ye Nan, sitting beside her, looked up and asked hesitantly, "Is it really okay for us to just openly hack into Dr. Qi’s surveillance system?"
’If Dr. Qi looks into this later, I’m afraid...’
"You think that old fox doesn’t know?" Ye Xin chuckled, holding a pastry identical to the one Gu Xi was eating. Her eyes glinted. "What kind of place do you think the Qi Family residence is? If he hadn’t approved, do you think we could have hacked his surveillance?"
Ye Nan: "..." ’So just how many things are you all hiding from me?’
And that time in South City when she risked sending a small note to Gu Xi—Ye Nan still didn’t understand it.
’The relationship between my mother and Gu Xi...’
Ye Nan looked up at her mother. Ye Xin was gazing at the girl on the screen, her expression more complex than anything Ye Nan had ever seen before.
Ye Nan froze for a second, then instinctively turned back to the girl on the monitor. She didn’t seem to like the pastry in her hand, her brow slightly furrowed, but she continued to eat it in small bites.
’Is she just used to not wasting food?’
Remembering that the girl was a refugee who had only returned from the ruins a year ago, Ye Nan’s expression grew complicated.
Beside her, her mother, Ye Xin, suddenly let out a soft laugh.
She raised her hand, popped the pastry into her mouth, and after finishing it at a leisurely pace, said languidly, "We really should have had Zhou Jinyu come see this. Too bad..."
"I heard Mr. Zhou went to Zone 2 this morning," Ye Nan said. She had only just found out while chatting with her teammates.
In fact, ever since returning from South City, Zhou Jinyu’s contact with the military had clearly increased.
Ye Nan looked at her mother and said hesitantly, "Mr. Zhou seems to have been very active lately..."
Ye Xin pulled out a tissue and wiped her hands deliberately, making a noncommittal "tsk" sound. "Some people are just..."
Just then, Li Xiao burst in with his men. "Miss Ye, you’re a hard woman to find. Anyone who didn’t know better might think..."
As he spoke, his gaze inadvertently swept over the monitor in front of them and suddenly froze.
’Isn’t that...’
Li Xiao’s expression changed. He whipped his head around to look at Ye Xin, his face a mask of shock.
As if she hadn’t seen Li Xiao’s drastic change in expression, Ye Xin pulled out another tissue and dabbed the corner of her mouth. "What brings Mr. Li to my humble little patch of land today?"
Li Xiao’s face was grim as he sat down opposite her. He stared at the monitor, not answering her.
Originally, he had come today to watch the show.
Gu Xi had come to the Central Base, and rumor had it she’d done so through Zhou Jinyu’s connections.
And the relationship between Zhou Jinyu and Ye Xin was, one could say, known to all...
He hadn’t expected that this woman, Ye Xin, while hiding away at the Abnormal Ability Research Institute, had the means to get Dr. Qi to act on her behalf...
And now, she even had free control over the Qi Family’s surveillance system.
Then he remembered that Dr. Qi had sent his adopted daughter to South City long ago... and Li Xiao’s heart sank.
’Could it be that Dr. Qi and Ye Xin joined forces long ago? No wonder Ye Xin wasn’t the least bit anxious when that other party proposed to interfere with the "seed" matter...’
In an instant, a million thoughts raced through Li Xiao’s mind.
Ye Xin shot him a lazy glance, the corner of her lips curling into a scornful smile.
「The Qi Residence.」
Seeing no sign of Dr. Qi appearing, Gu Xi thought for a moment and picked up another identical pastry.
However... Gu Xi impassively swallowed the pastry, picked up a glass of water, and took a large gulp to wash down the taste.
When Qi Xiang saw her eat two in a row, she knew something was off.
The pastries at her house were decent, but they couldn’t compare to the ones Wei Heng made by hand. After all, the quality of the ingredients was worlds apart.
Never mind someone like Gu Xi, who was used to eating fine food; even Qi Xiang herself felt like she was suffering now when she ate the things from her own home.
Tasting one would have been one thing. But now, Gu Xi had eaten two in a row.
Qi Xiang glanced at Gu Xi, picked one up herself, and frowned after just one bite. "This pastry..." ’Why does it taste so strange?’
’It doesn’t seem like the work of our family’s chef.’
At the same time, when Ye Nan saw her mother also pick up a pastry and slowly put it in her mouth, she couldn’t help but frown slightly. ’Mom doesn’t usually like this kind of thing. Why today...?’
’Is it because of the girl on the monitor?’
Ye Nan looked up at the large central screen.
On the screen, the slender young woman picked up another pastry.
Ye Nan frowned slightly, feeling that something wasn’t quite right.
「The Qi Residence.」
Gu Xi, still unaware that she was being remotely monitored, looked down at the pastries in front of her.
’If my memory serves me right, this should be Ye Xin’s handiwork, shouldn’t it?’
In the past, whenever Ye Xin had free time, she loved to make little snacks. But Li Ming and the others never dared to touch anything she made...
Gu Xi, on the other hand, had eaten quite a lot of them.
So later on, Ye Xin would single her out for "poisoning"...
’Who else could she pick? My ability is special, I’m immune to all poisons.’
If it were the past, Gu Xi wouldn’t have been surprised at all to find pastries handmade by Ye Xin in Dr. Qi’s home.
After all, back then, everyone just assumed they were a couple.
But now... hadn’t it been said that the two of them hadn’t been on good terms for years? Why would pastries handmade by Ye Xin appear in Dr. Qi’s home?
Gu Xi lowered her eyes, lost in thought.
After a moment, she picked up another pastry and took a bite without a change in expression.
’Sure enough, the taste is different again.’
The same type of pastry, all mint-flavored, yet they encompassed sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy notes. Each one tasted completely different.
’Eight pastries in total, with subtle differences in taste...’
’This is a lot like a game we used to play as children.’
’So, what’s the answer to the puzzle?’
Gu Xi lowered her head and took another bite of the pastry in her hand.
At this moment, she had no idea that with every pastry she ate, the smile on Ye Xin’s face in the surveillance room grew a little wider.
Half an hour later, the plate of pastries in front of her was empty.
Only the one Qi Xiang had taken a bite out of remained.
Seeing Gu Xi look up, her gaze fixed directly on her hand, Qi Xiang was at a loss for words. "..."
’Should I... give this to you too?’
But she had already taken a bite out of it. Qi Xiang hesitated for a moment, but in the next instant, her expression changed drastically.
