From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 197 - 188: Going Too Far

Qi Xiang’s intuition told her that staying here would lead to big trouble. She secretly tugged on Gu Xi’s sleeve.

Gu Xi looked up at the deep pit in the distance. ’Even if that thing comes back to life, it’s not like I can’t handle it. Yabao is already eager for a fight, its vines pulsing with battle intent.’

’But... the timing is wrong.’

She suspected that the group previously spotted by the drone might have come for the thing at the bottom of the pit.

’In other words, someone had already discovered that thing long ago...’

A thought suddenly struck Gu Xi. When the apocalypse first broke out, zombies roamed freely for years, and natural disasters struck annually. The entire world was plunged into misery. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

But ever since she killed the Zombie Emperor in the twenty-eighth year of the apocalypse, the world hadn’t experienced any major catastrophes for the past thirty years, aside from a massive mutation among the flora and fauna. It seemed to have suddenly become much more peaceful.

Of course, this wasn’t about whether the world was getting better or not. Rather, Gu Xi’s intuition told her that if the apocalypse truly was a form of nature’s self-evolution, then such an evolution probably wasn’t so simple.

’So, beneath this brief period of calm in the apocalypse, how many other changes are happening that the world doesn’t know about?’

’Perhaps the thing in the deep pit is one of them?’

And for someone to deliberately lure her here to find the thing in the pit, there could only be two motives: either to use her to deal with it, or to use her to fully awaken it.

But regardless of which it was, Gu Xi had no intention of letting them get their way.

Citing that time was tight, the mission was important, and the cleanup task could not be delayed, she demanded they break camp and leave immediately.

Ye Junhan and the others naturally had no objections.

But He Yue disagreed, insisting on staying behind to wait for reinforcements from the base.

Seeing that many ability users in her own group supported He Yue’s opinion, Gu Xi thought for a moment and proposed that the base’s Guard Team leave some people to stand guard while the rest continued forward to complete the scheduled cleanup mission.

But how could He Yue dare to let Gu Xi out of his sight?

Just as he was about to voice his opposition, he saw that the Special Service Team was already packing up the camp and taking inventory of their supplies, looking as if they were ready to leave at any moment, regardless of whether he agreed or not.

Ye Junhan hadn’t even consulted him about it from beginning to end.

’This is utterly outrageous.’

He Yue was seething with frustration.

’But what can I do?’

’I can’t beat them in a fight...’ Left with no choice, he had to leave a few men behind to guard the thing in the pit, while he took the rest and followed the convoy.

As for who to leave behind, there was no need to choose—the few Guard Team members who had been frozen along with the watermelons were the perfect candidates.

In another hour or two, the ice on them would melt.

Although they were ability users with tough bodies and wouldn’t die from being frozen for a bit, it was still a hindrance. In their current condition, they were clearly unfit to continue on in the wild. It was perfect for them to stay here and return to the base with the reinforcements to recover.

As for the watermelon patch, it obviously couldn’t be left behind. Wei Heng, with his quick eyes and hands, snatched the only edible frozen watermelon, while Ye Junhan ordered a Fire Ability user to go over...

Qi Xiang looked regretful. ’Such good watermelons, what a waste to feed them to bugs.’

The group got back into their vehicles and departed, with the Special Service Team’s off-road pickup trucks in the lead and the Guard Team’s heavy armored off-road vehicles bringing up the rear.

The convoy started moving slowly, fanning out in a staggered line to search as they advanced.

Because they needed to investigate plant mutations along the way, the convoy’s speed wasn’t very fast.

Gu Xi suddenly looked back at the former watermelon patch. The flames had died down, revealing the scorched earth. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the fire, but she felt that the soil’s color seemed a tiny bit whiter than before.

After much hesitation, she decided to tell Li Ming about it.

But Li Ming was probably busy and didn’t reply to her message right away.

Gu Xi sighed and met Ye Junhan’s gaze in the rearview mirror.

In the vehicle behind them, Qi Xiang opened the small group chat for their Farming Team and posted about what had just happened.

Shen Yue must have been busy with something and didn’t say a word, but the Qin Family sisters’ curiosity was piqued, and they started chatting animatedly with Qi Xiang.

Gu Xi glanced at it and closed her Light Screen. The convoy continued to move forward slowly. The temperature rose quickly, and just after twelve noon, the inside of the vehicles became as hot as a steam basket.

But due to the scarcity of energy, no one was willing to turn on the air conditioning. Before setting out, each vehicle was equipped with a fixed number of Energy Blocks. If they were used up before reaching the next supply point, they would have no choice but to wait in the wild.

And the longer they remained in the wild, the higher the risk.

After all, in the apocalypse, any kind of danger could happen.

In this god-awful weather, the pickup trucks were manageable, but those in the heavy armored vehicles were really suffering.

He Yue ripped open his shirt and lay sprawled on the back seat, drenched in sweat with a sullen expression.

The Guard Team’s only Ice Ability User had been frozen solid after greedily grabbing a watermelon. He was still standing like an ice sculpture back in the valley. Now, all of He Yue’s men were cooped up in the heavy armor, sweltering in the oppressive heat and utterly miserable.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought of asking other Ice Ability Users for some ice to cool down, but unfortunately, among the people his superiors had assigned to Gu Xi’s side this time, not a single one was an Ice Ability User.

And the only remaining Ice Ability User in the convoy was part of the Special Service Team.

He Yue had shamelessly gone to ask, but Ye Junhan’s people demanded an exorbitant price, telling him to trade one of the Guard Team’s heavy armored vehicles for it.

The heat wasn’t just a one or two-day thing. Over the long haul, how could he possibly afford that trade?

By the time he got back to the base, he wouldn’t even have his underwear left.

He knew full well that everyone on the inside knew that bunch of animals from the Special Service Team were black-hearted.

Qi Xiang’s luck was good; she happened to be in the same vehicle as the Ice Ability User.

She collapsed onto her seat and closed her eyes contentedly. She hadn’t slept well last night, and now, with a light breeze blowing and a cool aura surrounding her, she couldn’t help but feel a little sleepy.

"What are we having for lunch?" Qi Xiang yawned, turning her head to ask Wei Heng, who was beside her.

Because of those insect eggs, she had thrown up everything she’d eaten for breakfast. Now, her stomach was rumbling.

Wei Heng, preoccupied with his own thoughts, answered perfunctorily, "Watermelon."

Qi Xiang: "...BLECH!"

’Damn it, I can’t have this guy as a teammate anymore.’

Just then, the intercom crackled to life, and Ye Junhan’s voice came through: "Dongfang, go check over there."

’What’s wrong?’

Wei Heng subconsciously leaned out the window to look, while Qi Xiang also sat up and turned her head toward the other window. They saw that a heavy armored vehicle from the Guard Team on the convoy’s flank had stopped for some reason.

Qi Xiang pursed her lips. This god-awful weather was already making everyone irritable, and now the Guard Team guys had to stir up trouble.

Just then, Dongfang Yu’s voice came from the intercom: "Captain, the Guard Team says they can’t take the heat anymore. They want to rest here for a bit."

Qi Xiang couldn’t help but snort. ’Bullshit. We’re all ability users, how can they not take it?’

’He Yue didn’t want to leave in the first place, so now he’s just using this as an excuse to delay. After all, this place is only a little over ten kilometers from the valley where we camped last night.’

In the vehicle ahead, Ye Junhan rested one hand on the window frame and spoke into the intercom, "You handle it."

The Special Service Team’s convoy continued to drive forward. Dongfang Xiao stood by his vehicle with a smile. Not far away, the Guard Team members were smoking, urinating, and joking around, paying him no mind whatsoever.

Dongfang wasn’t in a hurry either. Instead, he took a straw hat from the vehicle, put it on, and leaned lazily against the car.

’Since someone is looking to die, why should I go out of my way to stop them?’