From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 62 - 57: Someone Is Dead

That afternoon, Wei Heng found Gu Xi just as she was waking up. "Huang Er sent a reply."

"What did he say?" Gu Xi asked, cradling a bowl of rice porridge and sipping it slowly.

Wei Heng opened his personal terminal and tapped the screen. "He agreed to your terms... And as a show of good faith, he threw in a piece of information for free..."

"Oh?" Gu Xi looked up, raising an eyebrow.

Wei Heng turned the Light Screen to face her. "Huang Er said that the three wanted criminals who were taken away yesterday were locked up in 176 this morning..."

From the tone of his voice, Gu Xi guessed there was more to this "176."

After a moment’s thought, she asked, "What is this place, 176?"

Wei Heng lowered his gaze slightly. "Every large base has a 176. It’s a place for locking up... monsters."

Gu Xi paused mid-sip.

Yesterday at the South City Restaurant, she hadn’t sensed any sign of mutation on those three...

’They were human. Why would they be sent there?’

’Something’s wrong with this.’

Gu Xi finished her porridge at a leisurely pace, set the empty bowl aside, and tapped her fingers on the edge of the table.

After a long moment, she looked up. "Ask Huang Er if he can find out the identities of those three wanted criminals, and the reason they were wanted."

Wei Heng nodded and began typing rapidly on the Light Screen.

A reply from Huang Er came quickly.

"Huang Er says he already looked into it yesterday. The three wanted criminals aren’t locals, and their origins are a mystery, but from their accents, they’re likely from the Southwest. As for why they were wanted... the warrant was issued directly by the Abnormal Ability Research Institute..."

Wei Heng paused. After Huang Er’s next message came through, he added:

"Huang Er also said that South City Base’s top brass knew nothing about the arrest beforehand. However, they considered the three criminals extremely important—so much so that they clashed with the Abnormal Ability Research Institute over them..."

"And this time, South City’s attitude toward the Abnormal Ability Research Institute has been unprecedentedly firm," Wei Heng finished, reading the last message from Huang Er verbatim.

’Unprecedentedly firm... The choice of words was deliberate, thought-provoking.’

An idea sparked in Gu Xi’s mind.

’Perhaps this is an opportunity?’

At some point, a small green sprout had emerged from her fingertip and was now twirling around her wrist.

Gu Xi gazed down at the small sprout, habitually pressing a knuckle on her left index finger.

After a long silence, she looked up at Wei Heng. "Tell Huang Er I want to know who those three met and what was said after they were taken to 176... Basically, the more detail, the better."

Wei Heng nodded. Without asking any questions, he relayed her request.

This time, it took over ten minutes for Huang Er to reply.

He had sent a long block of text. Wei Heng’s brow furrowed as he read it.

"What does it say?" Gu Xi asked, too lazy to look at the Light Screen herself.

Wei Heng’s expression was grim.

This time, Huang Er had sent a lot of evasive fluff. Wei Heng distilled it down and summarized, "He says 176 is the most secure facility in the entire base, and that your request puts him in a very difficult position..."

Gu Xi raised an eyebrow. ’Difficult? That just meant it was possible.’

’It was just a matter of offering the right price...’

Gu Xi rested her hand on the edge of the table and looked up. "Ask him if one million pounds of sweet potatoes with a mutation coefficient below 1 is enough!"

In this day and age, it was an astronomical price that was impossible to refuse.

As expected, Huang Er didn’t even try to haggle this time. He agreed instantly.

By that evening, Huang Er had sent an update.

"Dead?" Gu Xi asked in surprise, setting down the dictionary she was holding and looking up.

"Yeah, dead," Wei Heng confirmed, his eyes fixed on the Light Screen as he relayed Huang Er’s message. "He said they actually died shortly after arriving at 176 this morning. The base command deliberately concealed it; he just found out himself..."

"So, they were already dead this morning?" Gu Xi asked.

"It seems so." Wei Heng’s expression was grave. "But Huang Er can’t confirm the exact time of death yet. The only thing he’s sure of is that they’re dead. They died inside 176."

"All three of them?" Gu Xi asked, raising an eyebrow. "What was the cause of death?"

"All three," Wei Heng confirmed, nodding as he slowly met her gaze. "The official cause was... sudden death."

’Sudden death?’

’All three at once?’

’That explanation was way too flimsy.’

Gu Xi frowned. ’Something is wrong. For three people to just drop dead at the same time, so quickly... It was as good as announcing that something was fishy.’

’So who was behind this?’

’They acted so fast. Was it South City?’

’Or the Abnormal Ability Research Institute?’

’Or... was it the oriole hiding in the shadows? Or even a Hunter?’

Gu Xi discreetly pressed a knuckle on the hand hanging at her side.

After a long moment, she slowly looked up and asked Wei Heng, "What about South City Base? What was their reaction?"

"Their reaction was strange."

Wei Heng quickly scanned Huang Er’s latest message. "According to him, it was less than three hours between them being locked up in 176 and all of them dropping dead. It might have been even shorter..."

"But after they died, the base command did nothing. They didn’t even question the staff at 176. It was as if... a few insignificant prisoners had died, and that was it."

And yet, just yesterday, South City had clashed with the Abnormal Ability Research Institute over these very same criminals.

Clearly, the base’s leadership had considered them extremely important.

The whole thing was strange, and the situation was growing more and more baffling.

"Who did they meet after being taken to 176?" Gu Xi asked after a moment’s thought.

"Huang Er is still looking into that," Wei Heng said. "But he can’t guarantee how much useful information he’ll be able to find. Also..."

Wei Heng frowned. He hesitated for a moment before looking at Gu Xi. "Huang Er... he gave us a veiled warning. He said it would be best if we didn’t get involved in this." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

’So that meant... he’d already found something useful, but he wasn’t willing to share it?’ Gu Xi frowned.

The small sprout poked at her fingertip, but Gu Xi pushed it back down, her expression cold.

’Information that a million pounds of low-mutation sweet potatoes couldn’t buy... you could imagine how important it must be.’

’But it also indirectly confirmed one thing...’

Seeing her lost in thought, Wei Heng fell silent.

After some thought, he decided to send a message to Ye Junhan.

Gu Xi sat by the stone table, her eyes slightly lowered. After a long silence, she looked up and asked, "What about the Abnormal Ability Research Institute? The men are dead, what’s their reaction?"

Wei Heng shook his head. "I don’t know. I just asked. Huang Er said his network is rooted in South City. He can’t reach as far as the Central Base."

"I know about that."

Just then, Shen Yue walked into the small courtyard, bringing his cousin Yang Chi with him.

"Gu Xi, I’m here!" Yang Chi said, his eyes lighting up the moment he saw her. He shouldered past his cousin, hurried over to her, and grinned like a sycophant.

Shen Yue felt a wave of secondhand embarrassment and slapped a hand to his forehead. ’My cousin is a man in his early twenties,’ he thought, ’and just for a bite to eat, he’s acting this deferential to a young woman like Gu Xi...’

Wei Heng shot him a tight-lipped smile. ’You’re already a freeloader, and now you have the nerve to bring a plus-one? You think you’re not eating enough of our food as it is?’

Gu Xi, however, didn’t mind.

She had dealt with Yang Chi before at the experimental fields, and Shen Yue had vaguely mentioned they were related.

However, this was the first time Shen Yue had brought him here.

So... Gu Xi looked up at Shen Yue, waiting for an explanation.

Shen Yue shot his cousin a glare, exasperated by his behavior. ’So embarrassing. Just get to the point already!’

Too bad his cousin was too busy staring at the large bowl of strawberries on the stone table, practically drooling.

He completely missed his older cousin’s signal.

Shen Yue: ’Exhausted.’

Finally, Gu Xi couldn’t take it anymore and pushed the large bowl of strawberries toward Yang Chi. "Go on, eat." ’This kid is practically starving,’ she thought. ’Even Da Hong is giving him a look of disgust.’

"Thank you, Gu Xi!" Yang Chi said, his voice muffled by a large strawberry. "From this day on, you’re my biological sister from another mother!"

Shen Yue: "..."

Wei Heng: "..."

Da Hong: "..."