From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 88 - 82: The Wind Rises

An alarm immediately went off in Qi Xiang’s head.

’Who is Zhou Jinyu, really?’

In her adoptive father Dr. Qi’s own words: "That man, Zhou Jinyu... he’s so full of schemes, even his eyelashes are hollow."

Why would a man her adoptive father was so wary of suddenly take an interest in her friendships for no reason?

Unless... he was fishing for information!

Though alarm bells were ringing in her head, Qi Xiang just smiled sweetly. "You must mean the young lady with Mr. Wei, right? We do get along very well."

’Wei Heng’s little girl? What a strange way to put it.’ Nearby, Ye Junhan frowned imperceptibly.

Zhou Jinyu raised an eyebrow and smiled. He looked up at Wei Heng and asked gently, "We haven’t seen each other in a year, Wei. You’ve changed quite a bit. Is it because of that young lady?"

As he spoke, a hint of curiosity touched his face, and he made no attempt to hide his interest in Gu Xi.

The tension in Qi Xiang’s mind was stretched to its breaking point.

The tips of Wei Heng’s fingers, hanging by his leg, twitched. With a helpless expression, he said, "Xiaoxi is a simple girl. Just a few days ago, Shen Yue convinced her to go visit the Southwest Military Region for fun. I was just..."

Nearby, Ye Junhan glanced down at his wrist. A message had just arrived on his personal terminal.

It was from Wei Heng.

Ye Junhan’s eyes paused for a moment. His two fingers, resting on the scabbard at his waist, tapped lightly.

’Why would Wei Heng message me now?’

A moment later, he opened his personal terminal, his expression unchanged. He activated privacy mode.

Nearby, Ye Nan instinctively glanced over.

Just then.

"Jun Han." Zhou Jinyu suddenly stood and walked over. "What is it?" he asked gently. "Is there a problem over at the NX1984 ruin site...?"

Ye Junhan closed the Light Screen without a change in expression. He looked up and said, "Yes, Mr. Zhou. The situation has changed. I have to head over immediately."

Zhou Jinyu arched an eyebrow, his gaze sweeping over Ye Junhan’s wrist before he smiled warmly. "I see. You should hurry, then. Don’t worry about things here. After all, Shen Yue and Wei Heng are still around, aren’t they?"

Wei Heng frowned slightly. Everyone knew he was basically a cripple now. ’What is Zhou Jinyu implying?’

...

Half an hour later, Qi Xiang boarded a helicopter right behind Ye Junhan.

The NX1984 ruin site wasn’t too far away. Soon, the helicopter was hovering over its destination.

Ye Junhan looked up at Qi Xiang, who sat opposite him, his handsome face cold and detached. "Do you know how to fast-rope?"

The terrain here was too complex for the helicopter to land. They could only fast-rope down.

Qi Xiang arched an eyebrow. "And if I said I didn’t, would Mr. Ye carry me down?"

Ye Junhan looked away, his face an impassive mask. He unhooked his harness with one hand, his flawlessly handsome face turning frosty.

Qi Xiang clicked her tongue, then jumped from the helicopter right after him.

Her movements were fluid and efficient, every bit as good as the Special Service Team members behind her.

Besides Qi Xiang, six other members of the Special Service Team had come with Ye Junhan to the NX1984 ruin site, and every one of them was an expert.

Once on the ground, they all raised their weapons and took up defensive positions.

Qi Xiang’s heart skipped a beat. ’This formation... something’s not right.’

After a moment’s thought, she decided to ask Ye Junhan directly, "What exactly are we looking for here?" The place was a total ruin. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but mutant plants.

Ye Junhan’s expression was distant as he gave her a particularly cold look. "You don’t know?"

Qi Xiang had to laugh. "...What am I supposed to know?"

’It seems Dr. Qi didn’t tell her the truth.’

Ye Junhan frowned slightly, then opened his personal terminal and projected the Light Screen in front of Qi Xiang.

Qi Xiang looked up.

It appeared to be a satellite image.

It was somewhat blurry, showing only the vague shape of a strange-looking red mutant plant.

The image on the Light Screen quickly cycled through several more pictures. The subject of each one was the red mutant plant, but the backgrounds... were all completely different!

Realization dawned on Qi Xiang. She whipped her head around to face the man beside her. "A mobile mutant plant?"

She’d heard her adoptive father talk about these before. They had appeared during the early days of the apocalypse.

But thirty years ago, when the zombie virus suddenly vanished, these mobile mutant plants had also disappeared overnight, as if they had all gone missing at once.

’So why has it reappeared now?’

’And why, of all places, did it have to appear in the NX1984 ruin site?’

Qi Xiang suddenly had a thought: Gu Xiaoxi was found by Wei Heng right around here.

’So, could these two events be connected?’

The thought startled Qi Xiang.

Ye Junhan glanced at her, his expression unreadable, then tapped a spot on the Light Screen to magnify it.

Qi Xiang stared intently. Her gaze remained fixed on that spot for a long time before she noticed something seemed to be wrapped in the top of the red mutant plant.

But the image had been taken during the day, and the object was dazzling in the sunlight. The glare made the photo extremely blurry, impossible to make out clearly.

"What is that?" Qi Xiang couldn’t be bothered to guess, so she turned and asked Ye Junhan directly. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Ye Junhan tapped his personal terminal, and the image on the Light Screen was replaced by a live feed from the drone they had just deployed.

He stated coolly, "A Crystal Core." It was suspected to be the one that had disappeared thirty years ago... the Crystal Core of the Zombie Emperor.

"A Crystal Core?" Qi Xiang arched an eyebrow. ’What kind of Crystal Core could be so important that it would make the higher-ups go to all this trouble?’

But from the look on Ye Junhan’s face, he clearly had no intention of explaining.

Qi Xiang sighed and gazed into the distance.

This place was said to have been a bustling commercial town before the apocalypse, filled with countless high-rises. Now, only a landscape of devastation remained. All traces of human civilization had long been completely covered by the mutant plants swarming over the mountains and plains.

After a long moment, Qi Xiang pulled her gaze back and said softly, "The wind’s picking up."

’Things are about to change.’

The six Special Service Team members formed a combat diamond, protecting Qi Xiang in the center as they advanced into the depths of the ruins.

The surrounding vegetation was too thick, severely obstructing their line of sight. Fortunately, the drone was airborne, transmitting a live feed of the area ahead to the personal terminals of Ye Junhan and his team.

The journey was uneventful, but Qi Xiang felt that something was wrong.

She stole a glance at the drone’s video feed and her scalp prickled. Maybe it was the influence of the earlier satellite images, but she felt that the mutant plants swaying in the wind all looked... odd.

It was as if they were living things, watching their prey and waiting for them to walk right into a trap.

The image her mind conjured scared her, and she quickly looked away, not daring to watch anymore.

Just then.

"Stop." Ye Junhan’s eyes were fixed on the drone feed. He suddenly raised a hand. "Full alert."

Qi Xiang was startled.

She saw the Special Service Team member to her left nudge the man operating the drone with his foot. "Yang, what’s happening?"

Only then did Qi Xiang realize that all the team members’ screens had gone dark.

’Did the drone malfunction? Or...’

"Hold on," Yang Liu, the drone operator, said without looking up, his eyes glued to the control screen. "Troubleshooting a mechanical failure."

"Captain, I have a bad feeling," said Zhao Qingxiao, the team’s only Spiritual Skill user, rubbing the bridge of his tired nose.

He had just used his spiritual power to scan a five-kilometer radius and found nothing out of the ordinary.

But... for some reason, he felt an inexplicable sense of agitation.

"It is strange," another team member, Dongfang Yu, added with a frown. "There’s definitely a breeze, but it feels so hot and stuffy..."

’Wind?’

Qi Xiang suddenly realized something and looked up sharply.

The surrounding mutant plants were still swaying as if in the wind, but why couldn’t she feel the slightest breeze?

’So, were the plants really swaying in the wind?’

At the same time, Ye Junhan, walking at the head of the formation, narrowed his eyes and made a hand signal to the team behind him.

Everyone immediately fell silent, their senses on high alert.