From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 40 - 37: There’s a Problem

Even though she had been kept up for most of the night, Gu Xi still woke up on time the next morning.

Qi Xiang, who had insisted on sleeping with her last night, rolled over, mumbled a few words, and fell back asleep.

Gu Xi rubbed the bridge of her nose. But as soon as she stepped outside, she saw Wei Heng standing at the door with a grim expression. He told her in a low voice that there was trouble at the test field.

After hearing this, Gu Xi turned around, went back into the container house, and woke Qi Xiang up.

Qi Xiang ruffled her messy hair and opened her eyes. She lifted her arm to check the time—it wasn’t even 7 a.m.

"Gu Xiaoxi..."

The great beauty sat up slowly, looking at her with sleepy eyes. Her languid charm was tinged with a sweet naivety.

Both innocent and seductive.

’Good thing I’m not a man,’ Gu Xi thought. ’Otherwise, who could possibly resist this?’

"There’s trouble at the test field. Shen Yue wants us to go over..." Gu Xi relayed what Wei Heng had told her.

Thinking about what happened yesterday, the sleepiness on Qi Xiang’s face instantly vanished.

By the time Gu Xi and the others arrived, nearly all the staff at the test field were already there.

Even the construction crew had stopped their work and were now all gathered in the open space in front of the lab building.

"Over here!" Qin Yi waved to them from a distance. Qin Shi was standing next to her, but Shen Yue was nowhere to be seen.

"Something happened in the lab," Qin Yi said in a low voice as she walked over. "Mr. Shen is still inside..."

Gu Xi’s gaze swept over the surroundings. Sure enough, she spotted several new faces in the crowd.

These newcomers appeared to be from the military. They were currently verifying the information of everyone present, one by one.

She wondered what on earth had happened at the test field.

Since Gu Xi’s group had arrived late and were considered unofficial personnel of the test field, they were placed at the very back.

Wei Heng handed a few sweet potatoes he had brought to the Qin sisters and asked in a low voice, "What exactly happened?"

Just then, the roar of a helicopter suddenly echoed from the distance.

The crowd in the open space suddenly began to stir.

"They’re here!"

Someone shouted, and everyone subconsciously looked up toward the lab.

Gu Xi looked up and saw Mr. Zhao and Shen Yue walking out, one after the other.

At the same time, the helicopter landed directly on the roof of the lab building. Several people in white lab coats and a squad of fully armed soldiers emerged from it.

Everyone was utterly astonished by this scene.

But Gu Xi noticed that a few people in the crowd had turned pale.

At the front, Mr. Zhao and Shen Yue exchanged a glance. Then, his gaze slowly swept over everyone present as he began to speak:

"Everyone, please be quiet. I’ve gathered you all here this morning because there is something I need to tell you."

"Last night, someone violated the rules, broke into the lab, and mistakenly ingested an experimental sample... and ended up mutating."

The moment Mr. Zhao finished speaking, the crowd below erupted into a commotion.

"Oh my god..."

"A monster!"

"Then are we still safe here...?"

"Mr. Zhao..."

Gu Xi looked at Mr. Zhao, who was surrounded by the crowd in the distance, and tilted her head to ask Qin Yi, "Who was it that mutated?"

Qi Xiang and Wei Heng exchanged a glance and also perked up their ears, curious to hear.

"It was a staff member who was just transferred to the base. Last night, under the cover of a Special Service Team member, he snuck into the core experimental zone..."

Qin Yi, who seemed to have gotten inside information long ago, explained in a low voice, "But we can’t be sure whose man he is yet. Mr. Shen and the others are still interrogating him..."

In reality, what happened last night was a trap set up by Shen Yue and Ye Junhan.

But unexpectedly, things went wrong.

Someone stole a tube of energy liquid that Ye Nan and the two professors had extracted overnight from the Mutated Locust Tree. After realizing he had been exposed, the person, in a panic, swallowed the entire tube in one gulp.

Then... under the watchful eyes of everyone present, the mutation was complete within a few short seconds.

It happened so fast that no one had time to stop it.

Fortunately, both Ye Junhan and Shen Yue were present and quickly subdued the person...

Originally, this matter was not supposed to be made public, but several other staff members were on the scene when the person mutated last night.

So there was no way to keep it a secret.

Besides, if they simply tried to cover it up and let rumors fly, it would be more likely to cause panic among the crowd, which would be detrimental to the construction of the test field.

So, after discussing it with Shen Yue, the two professors decided to just announce it openly.

For one, they could use this opportunity to re-emphasize the work discipline at the test field to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Secondly, it just so happened that Ye Junhan and Ye Nan were also here...

Qin Yi briefly recounted the events of last night, placing particular emphasis on the speed of the man’s mutation.

"Was it really that fast?" Qi Xiang was surprised. "Could it be that the person already showed signs of mutation beforehand?"

Qin Yi shook her head. "Probably not. Mr. Shen said..."

Gu Xi stood to the side listening, running through all the faces she had seen around the test field these past few days in her mind, and finally narrowed it down to a few suspects.

Just then, the crowd at the front suddenly fell silent.

Gu Xi subconsciously looked up and saw that the man with the cold, distant eyes and a piercing aura was now standing beside Mr. Zhao.

His gaze slowly swept over the crowd.

He hadn’t said a single word, but the sheer force of his presence was enough to silence everyone, leaving them frozen in fear.

Mr. Zhao wiped the sweat from his forehead. Seeing that everyone had quieted down, he caught his breath and announced loudly to the crowd, "Although a mutation incident occurred last night, as you can all see, we have Mr. Ye of the Special Service Team here..."

Ye Junhan’s name was indeed very effective. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Gu Xi noticed that ever since Mr. Zhao had introduced the man’s identity, the restless crowd had instantly fallen silent, and their tense expressions had eased somewhat.

"What’s going on with Shen Yue?" Gu Xi, however, frowned slightly and asked Qin Yi in a low voice.

In a scene like that, Shen Yue clearly had the ability to bring it under control, yet he just stood by and did nothing. Did he have to wait for Ye Junhan to make an appearance?

’Is he trying to build up the man’s prestige, or...?’

Qin Yi sighed. "Mr. Shen is in a bit of an inconvenient position right now, and besides, Mr. Ye’s reputation is greater..."

’Inconvenient?’

Gu Xi couldn’t help but recall the faint purple arc of light that had flashed deep within Shen Yue’s pupils on the day they first met...

She subconsciously looked up at him.

But she unexpectedly met another gaze—one that was sharp and profound.

Ye Junhan.

Gu Xi: ?

Just then, Shen Yue suddenly took half a step forward, perfectly blocking the man’s line of sight to her.

Shen Yue turned his head and whispered something to the man, who then nodded and walked away.

Gu Xi frowned. She then heard Mr. Zhao explaining loudly to the crowd, "I know that after an incident like this, everyone must feel a little uneasy."

"The reason I asked you all here so early this morning is also because of this matter."

Mr. Zhao looked up, slowly scanned the crowd, and said with a serious expression, "To prevent such accidents from happening again, I ask that everyone strictly adhere to the rules and regulations of the test field from now on..."

After once again sternly reiterating the access control policies for the lab and emphasizing the dangers, Mr. Zhao suddenly changed his tone and said:

"Also, I have some good news for everyone. Not only has Mr. Ye come to visit us, but the Special Service Team’s healer, Ye Nan, is also here. In a little while, she will be conducting a check-up for everyone..."

This time, before Mr. Zhao could even finish speaking, cries of excitement rang out one after another from all around.

When Ye Junhan appeared, escorting Ye Nan, Gu Xi noticed many people around them looking over with excited expressions. Some even had tears welling up in their eyes.

"It really is Miss Ye! I’ve seen her picture on the forums..."

"Miss Ye!"

"Miss Ye..."

Gu Xi was suddenly reminded of what Wei Heng had said at the camp that day—Ye Nan, the only daughter of Mr. Ye, the deputy director of the Abnormal Ability Research Institute. A member of the Healing System, she was known as the "Light of the Apocalypse" and had countless admirers...

Gu Xi raised her gaze and looked toward the girl in the crowd. She saw her take a deep breath and step out from behind Ye Junhan, slowly but resolutely.

"Hello, everyone. I am Ye Nan of the Special Service Team. Please quiet down for a moment and listen to me..."

The crowd instantly fell silent.

Ye Nan breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "I know what you’re all worried about... In a little while, I will check everyone’s physical condition one by one, and I will also help soothe the X Energy inside your bodies..."

"Is that true, Miss Ye?" one of the more impatient people in the crowd shouted before Ye Nan could finish. "Are you really here to save us?"

Ye Nan smiled and nodded. "It’s true. So now, please line up over here in an orderly fashion. Don’t rush and don’t push..."

"Thank you, Miss Ye."

Someone in the crowd shouted, and a moment later, the open space was filled with thunderous applause.

Soon, a long line formed in front of Ye Nan.

Gu Xi, however, quietly retreated to the side.

She lowered her gaze to the ground, a sudden thought occurring to her: right now, everyone’s body had more or less accumulated a certain amount of X Energy. But she was different.

The little green sprout was always domineering; any X Energy that entered her body had long since been completely devoured.

Therefore, there was no X Energy in her body...