From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 108 - 99: Useful

Qi Xiang pretended to mull it over, then raised an eyebrow and said with absolute certainty, "Nope!"

"Because from the very beginning, we were just using each other," Qi Xiang stated bluntly.

Zhou Jing hadn’t expected Qi Xiang to be so direct, and her brow furrowed slightly.

Qi Xiang’s unwillingness to play along any longer was a clear sign... ’Gu Xi must have suspected me for a long time. And now, as far as she’s concerned, I’m completely out of the picture.’

Zhou Jing was relieved. ’It looks like I made the right choice coming here,’ she thought.

’At least I’ll have something to report back to Jinyu. He probably won’t keep forcing me to come and curry favor with Qi Xiang anymore...’

’As for City A...’ Zhou Jing’s gaze drifted past Qi Xiang, trying to see into the room, but she couldn’t make anything out.

’It looked like Gu Xi wasn’t here.’

’Could it be...’

An idea suddenly struck Zhou Jing.

She took a deep breath, her eyes welling with tears as she looked at Qi Xiang. "I really thought we were friends."

"I can’t believe it... Qi Xiang, I was so wrong about you!"

With that, Zhou Jing turned and strode away, her ramrod-straight back an image of loneliness and wronged pride.

Qi Xiang clicked her tongue. ’That Zhou Jing... she’s got the schemes and the methods, and her acting is pretty good too. What a shame...’

Shaking her head, Qi Xiang slammed the door shut.

...

「Meanwhile, deep in the woods outside the city.」

After tilling the entire patch of ground beneath his feet, Wei Heng trudged over to Gu Xi, looking completely dead inside. "Gu Xiaoxi, let’s make a deal, huh?"

Gu Xi tilted her head. "?"

"Next time, can you bring Shen Yue along for this stuff?" Wei Heng asked, pinching his nose, the look of despair returning to his face. "It stinks way too much."

This place appeared to be a private farm, hidden deep in the forest. Without any professional deodorizing equipment, the stench was indeed overwhelming.

Especially tonight, with the reek of blood mingling with the farm’s usual foul odor... never mind Wei Heng; even Gu Xi herself was finding it hard to bear.

Gu Xi thought for a moment, then looked up at Wei Heng and said, earnestly but tactfully, "Shen Yue can’t handle the... disposal of bodies and evidence. An Earth Ability is more suitable."

Wei Heng was speechless. "...Yeah, fine."

’At least I’m more useful than a certain someone who’s just dead weight,’ he thought.

Covering his mouth and nose, Wei Heng scanned the area. "So what’s the plan for all this?"

The private farm wasn’t too far from the South City base, and its scale was considerable.

It wasn’t housing ordinary poultry like chickens, ducks, or geese, but rather bizarre, misshapen creatures. There were many that even Gu Xi couldn’t identify.

Clearly, whoever was raising these mutated animals wasn’t doing it for the meat.

Gu Xi didn’t speak, only tapping the two tender leaves at the tip of the little green sprout with a cold, detached air.

A moment later, Sprouty reluctantly shot out.

Soon, the long vine returned, threaded with a long string of multicolored Crystal Cores. Under the cold moonlight, the sight was both bizarre and beautiful.

Wei Heng knew what to do next without Gu Xi having to say a word.

He covered his mouth and nose and activated his Earth Ability, burying the remains and erasing all traces. As he worked, he frowned and asked in a muffled voice, "Gu Xi, why do you think Zhang Cheng deliberately led us to this place? What was his goal? This private farm..."

Something suddenly occurred to Wei Heng, and he looked up. "...Could it have something to do with Liou Zhenyuan?"

Gu Xi rinsed the Crystal Cores that the little green sprout had brought back several times before storing them away in her pocket dimension.

She kept the largest one, turning it over carefully in her hand for a moment before slowly shaking her head. "I don’t think so."

"The Crystal Cores from these mutated animals look like they’re high-level, but the energy they contain is severely diminished."

"In other words, these Crystal Cores aren’t valuable enough to make the leader of a major base go to such lengths."

Wei Heng leaned in for a closer look, his brow furrowing. "Yeah, there’s something off about these Crystal Cores..."

Wei Heng had handled his fair share of Crystal Cores from mutated animals.

For one, the ability-based weapons used by members of the Special Service Team used Crystal Cores as a power source.

For another, every team member carried a certain number of Crystal Cores on missions in case of an emergency.

But the one in Gu Xi’s hand... it was large and looked right, but in reality... the energy inside was impure, almost like it was a cheap imitation.

A sudden realization hit Wei Heng, and he looked up in shock. "Gu Xi, you don’t think... these are the byproducts of some kind of experiment, do you?"

’Like, they were created artificially but are low on power?’

Gu Xi was pondering the same thing.

The animals at this private farm were all bizarre; they certainly didn’t seem like normal mutated animals. Like that dog with a pair of fleshy wings growing out of its back?

Gu Xi hadn’t been able to identify what it was.

Moreover, judging from their fight earlier, the actual strength of these mutated animals didn’t match their apparent level at all.

They were supposed to be high-level mutated animals, but their strength... was seriously lacking.

Their ability levels seemed to have been artificially inflated.

For some reason, Gu Xi’s thoughts drifted to the regenerative rice that Mr. Zhao was researching...

’If rice could be harvested crop after crop, then what about the Crystal Cores inside mutated animals? Could they, after some sort of modification, also be generated over and over again?’

The idea was bold and absurd, seemingly fantastical and divorced from reality.

But Li Ming had once said that most genius scientists were also obsessive fanatics... some of their ideas were often too audacious for an ordinary person to even conceive.

Besides, Zhang Cheng must have been hinting at something by deliberately leading them to this place.

Gu Xi’s thoughts suddenly jumped to the NX1984 ruin site...

...

「Meanwhile, in a temporary camp deep within the Heng Mountain Range.」 Ye Nan finally mustered her courage and walked toward the man standing alone under a tree. "Jun Han."

Ye Junhan discreetly lifted his fingers from his personal terminal and looked up. "Is there a problem?"

The hand hanging at Ye Nan’s side clenched tightly. "Jun Han, why are we here? Didn’t the transfer orders from command tell us to return to the Central Base as soon as possible?"

"Where did you see those orders?" Ye Junhan asked, his expression cold. "We are currently carrying out a top-secret mission, and I don’t recall announcing the contents of this mission to the squad..."

Ye Nan pressed her lips together, the color draining from her face in an instant.

Ye Junhan coolly withdrew his gaze and turned to leave.

Watching his cold, retreating back, Ye Nan suddenly felt a chill seep into her bones, making it hard to breathe.

Ye Junhan’s attitude said it all.

’Without my knowledge, had something... quietly changed?’

’And I was completely in the dark.’