From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 208 - 199: A Medical Question
The Qin sisters exchanged a look. Who would be out stealing watermelons in the middle of the night?
Gu Xi didn’t explain. She leaned quietly against a tree, closed her eyes to rest, and simultaneously released her spiritual power to blanket the entire camp.
But the little thief was smarter and more patient than she had imagined.
The moon climbed to its zenith, but the little thief remained hidden in the shadows, not moving a muscle.
Like the most patient of hunters in the dead of night.
Gu Xi wasn’t worried, either. She even intentionally concealed her aura.
Seeing this, Qi Xiang and the other two tactfully withdrew to the side.
Time ticked by. In the thick of the night, an unknown presence was closing in, silent and unseen.
Suddenly, the wind rose, and a vine twitched.
Gu Xi remained leaning against the tree trunk with her eyes closed, seemingly oblivious. But Bud suddenly shot out, weaving through the watermelon patch like a swimming dragon before flying back dejectedly to wrap around its master’s finger.
The little thief was too fast. It hadn’t been able to catch it.
No, it wasn’t that it couldn’t catch up, but rather... Bud didn’t know where to chase it.
It could sense the other’s presence, yet it couldn’t lock onto it. The feeling the little thief gave off was like... a void.
It was a little strange.
Gu Xi’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly as her spiritual power slowly extended toward the camp’s perimeter.
To the east, Ye Junhan had already led his people to defeat the first wave of attacking beastified mutants and was now heading this way.
He was dragging a special metal net behind him, and inside it was something that looked like an oversized hedgehog.
Gu Xi’s eyes snapped open.
Soon, Ye Junhan had dragged the creature in front of her.
"Something’s not right." With a flick of his finger, Ye Junhan sent a bolt of purple lightning striking the thing in the net. Jolted awake, it snapped its eyes open to reveal a pair of terrifying, scarlet orbs and began to roar viciously at them.
Gu Xi narrowed her eyes slightly and said with certainty, "It’s completely lost its mind." This was completely different from the Pangolin-shaped mutant they had encountered before.
This was now a fully bestial monster.
Gu Xi thought for a moment, then nudged the little green sprout.
Bud instantly shot out, circled the hedgehog-like mutant’s body, and finally disappeared into its abdomen.
The massive beast, which had just been roaring ferociously at them, suddenly went limp and fell unconscious again.
Only then did Qi Xiang and the other two walk over, circling it curiously and whispering among themselves.
Ye Junhan looked up toward the watermelon patch and asked Gu Xi, "These watermelons..."
"They’re bait." Gu Xi walked over to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ye Junhan, her gaze fixed on the distance. "But now, I’m not so sure... That thing is smarter than I thought."
Ye Junhan understood at once. The being that had been secretly watching them was nearby.
"I suspect," Gu Xi said once Ye Junhan looked at her, "that the malignant plants in the valley from before, and this..." She pointed at the creature in the net. "They were probably all its doing."
"You’re saying," Ye Junhan frowned slightly, "that thing can not only make plants turn malignant, but it can also command and control beastified mutants, even making them lose their minds completely and enter a berserk state?"
"There’s more." Gu Xi’s expression was grave. "I even suspect it can devour superpowers."
She looked at the large, human-faced hedgehog in the net. Its body showed signs of its superpower having been devoured.
But it clearly wasn’t Bud’s doing.
Ye Junhan’s expression changed slightly. He pressed his walkie-talkie and told Yang Liu to prepare the camp for immediate evacuation.
Gu Xi tilted her head and asked him, "When will the planes from the base get here?"
"Before dawn." Ye Junhan opened his personal terminal. He had submitted a request to headquarters several hours ago, asking them to send planes to evacuate the survivors here back to the base first.
The base had already approved it; the planes would arrive before dawn.
However, at the same time, they had also been issued a mission: while completing the task of clearing out the mutant plants, they must eliminate the mutants appearing in the YY7749 region to remove all threats to the surrounding safe zones.
The entire camp bustled with activity due to the urgent evacuation.
Gu Xi glanced at the watermelon patch, which remained quiet. Amidst the roar of the helicopters, she resignedly gathered up the large watermelons.
’Since the little thief isn’t coming, I’ll just save them for juicing to go with hotpot tomorrow.’
...
After the planes from headquarters arrived, Ye Junhan arranged for the survivors to be transferred onto them and sent back to a nearby base. As for the bodies of the deceased, they could only be cremated and buried on-site.
With the survivors gone, the camp suddenly felt much emptier.
Gu Xi noticed that although the wounded from the base’s Guard Team had also been evacuated, He Yue had stayed behind, and he had several new faces with him.
They were all high-level ability users. It was clear that whoever was backing him had spared no expense.
And the tension between the Guard Team and the research institute had become palpable.
Qi Xiang walked up to Gu Xi, followed her gaze, and said with a light sneer, "Our dear Mr. He is certainly resolute despite his disability, isn’t he? I heard he even went to see Ye Nan privately last night..."
Too bad that no matter how amazing the Healing System is, it can’t get back the family jewels he lost.
At this point, a gossipy glint appeared in Qi Xiang’s eyes. She leaned closer to Gu Xi and said, "And you know how it is, men always care a lot about their ’assets’. I heard from the research institute people that when He Yue went looking for Ye Nan last night, he even vaguely hinted that he wanted a ’big one’..."
Gu Xi: "..."
’No, I don’t.’
The topic was too wild. Gu Xi was speechless.
Qi Xiang continued her gossip, "Our dear Miss Ye was so embarrassed she could have died. She kept waving her hands, saying she couldn’t heal that kind of injury. He Yue’s face went cold on the spot. He even said something like, ’I haven’t even taken my pants off yet. How could Miss Ye know you can’t fix it without even looking?’"
Even though she wasn’t there to see it, as Qi Xiang reached this part of the story, she let out a long, drawn-out, and deeply meaningful "Tsk."
Gu Xi thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "Actually, it’s not impossible to heal, as long as the balls are still there..."
Huh?! Qi Xiang instantly perked up, her eyes shining as she looked over.
’This medical problem... I like it.’
’Can we discuss this in depth?’
Just then, in the distance, Ye Junhan suddenly turned and glanced in their direction.
Gu Xi: ...?
"Gu Xi?" Qi Xiang leaned in and waved a hand in front of her face, looking puzzled. "How could you get distracted in the middle of talking? And at such a crucial point!"
"It’s nothing," Gu Xi said, slowly shaking her head as she started walking toward the convoy. "Come on, the convoy is about to leave."
But Qi Xiang clearly wanted to continue their previous medical discussion. "Gu Xi, you were saying, ’as long as the balls are still there...’"
Gu Xi discreetly glanced at a certain someone in the distance and decisively changed the subject. "Ye Nan’s team will probably be moving with us from now on..."
Just as she’d hoped, Qi Xiang’s attention was successfully diverted.
She chuckled and cast a scornful glance toward the research institute’s group. "The higher-ups said that this area is too dangerous now, so for safety’s sake, Ye Nan’s team will be temporarily operating with them."
But everyone knew what "temporarily" really meant.
Before getting in the vehicle, Gu Xi suddenly looked back toward the distance. She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but she felt that the watermelon patch from before seemed... a little different.
But when she looked closely, it was exactly the same as before.
Even the watermelon vines she had intentionally left behind were just as they had been when she left during the night, lying quietly on the ground with no discernible abnormalities.
