From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 90 - 84: Something’s Amiss

Outside Yu City Base.

Lu Chenyuan suddenly received a message from Huang Er and slammed on the brakes almost instinctively.

Beside him, Gu Xi noticed his strange expression and raised an eyebrow. "What’s wrong?"

Lu Chenyuan didn’t speak, simply projecting the Light Screen in front of her.

Gu Xi frowned slightly after reading it.

After a moment of contemplation, she looked up at Lu Chenyuan. "What do you make of this?"

Lu Chenyuan’s expression was grim as well.

His fingertips tapped lightly on the steering wheel. "Zhou Jinyu’s sudden trip to South City is supposedly to investigate Incident 176, but in reality, I’m afraid it’s for that thing in the NX1984 ruins..."

Gu Xi subconsciously pressed the knuckles of her left hand. "Can they be sure it’s the Zombie Emperor’s Crystal Core?"

Lu Chenyuan slowly shook his head, his expression grave. "No. The higher-ups in the Military Department supposedly only have some satellite images, and they’re extremely blurry..."

He had actually caught wind of this a few days ago, but the timing of the news was too suspicious. Plus, the NX1984 ruins just so happened to be the place where Gu Xi had reappeared in the world...

Lu Chenyuan’s intuition told him it was a conspiracy—one aimed directly at Gu Xi.

’Someone is laying a false trail. They either want to lure Gu Xi there, or... they want to use this to draw everyone’s attention to her.’

But either scenario was something Lu Chenyuan was unwilling to see.

That was why he had deliberately kept this news from Gu Xi.

But now, it was clear he couldn’t hide it any longer.

Gu Xi’s fingertips slowly caressed the tender leaf at the tip of the little green sprout. After some thought, she said, "Can you find a way to get those images? I want to see for myself."

Although her intuition told her the Crystal Core in the NX1984 ruins wasn’t the Zombie Emperor’s, Gu Xi still wanted to confirm it with her own eyes.

There was one thing Gu Xi found very strange.

Back then, before the Zombie Emperor’s Crystal Core was ever officially revealed, her little Sprout had secretly taken it. Afterward, she had been taken out by that glass of wine, and her space had closed...

So, strictly speaking, she should be the only person in the world who had ever seen the true appearance of the Zombie Emperor’s Crystal Core.

’So how could people who had never even seen it determine that the Crystal Core in the NX1984 ruins was the Zombie Emperor’s?’

Gu Xi raised an eyebrow, lost in thought.

"Just a moment." Lu Chenyuan’s fingertips hovered over the Light Screen, moving rapidly as he worked. He didn’t forget to explain, "Those images have been classified as top secret by the military. I’ll need a little time..."

A series of commands streamed out from his end.

Just then, Gu Xi’s personal terminal suddenly beeped, and a new message popped up!

Miss Qi: [Mutant plants in NX1984 ruins undergoing mass malignant transformation]

The message from Qi Xiang didn’t even have any punctuation. One could only imagine the situation on her end was likely...

Gu Xi frowned slightly.

"What is it?" Lu Chenyuan asked, looking up.

...

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Qi Xiang was asking the same question.

"What’s wrong?"

Zhou Qian, who was in charge of the team’s external communications, snapped his head up to look at Ye Junhan. "Captain, South City Base is ordering us to retreat immediately! They’re planning to launch missiles and carry out a full-scale firestrike on this area in one hour!"

Hearing this, the faces of several other Special Service Team members paled.

It was true there were a lot of malignant mutant plants here, but with their abilities and sufficient logistical fire support, cleaning them all up was just a matter of time.

Besides, standard procedure required them to take samples back to the relevant departments after exterminating the malignant mutant plants. Then, the Abnormal Ability Research Institute would likely send specialists to investigate...

But now, South City Base suddenly wanted to launch missiles and blast this place to smithereens?

...Something was clearly wrong with this.

Even career soldiers like them knew what a serious matter a mass malignant transformation of mutant plants was.

At a time like this, even if they weren’t going to trace it to the source, shouldn’t they at least figure out what was going on with these mutant plants?

How could they just casually bomb the problem away!

It was almost as if South City Base was trying to cover something up.

"Captain?" Zhao Qingxiao looked up at Ye Junhan ahead of them. His Spirit Barrier seemed to have just sensed something.

Ye Junhan stood at the very front, his gaze fixed on the endless stream of mutant plants surging toward them. His curved blade reflected a cold light under the sun as he swept it in a circle before it returned to his hand.

Gripping the curved blade, Ye Junhan slightly rotated his wrist to adjust his stance. He had clearly sensed something as well, and without turning his head, he ordered the others, "Keep going!"

Launching a missile required a direct order from the military’s top brass; South City Base didn’t have that authority.

Ye Junhan guessed that Mr. Xiao was likely still unaware of the situation.

What he needed to do now was to continue clearing out the mutant plants and wait for orders!

Just then, a black mutant plant with a giant flower bud on its head, under the cover of the other malignant mutant plants, had quietly drawn near.

Suddenly, the massive plant leaped high over the surrounding mutant plants. Its ink-black bud burst open, shooting out a stream of highly corrosive black liquid.

A putrid, acidic stench washed over them.

Ye Junhan pivoted, twisting his upper body and dodging the incoming acid with an unfazed expression.

At the same time, arcs of electricity flashed at his feet. The Xidao that had left his grasp returned to his hand once more, and he slashed at the black mutant plant.

The giant bud fell to the ground, leaking a foul-smelling black acid that instantly corroded a hole more than a meter deep in the earth!

Meanwhile, under Ye Junhan’s lightning strike, the black plant itself was instantly reduced to black ash.

"Captain!"

Seeing that the mutant plants that had been frantically attacking them just moments ago were now suddenly receding like a tide, a few team members cautiously advanced.

Ye Junhan narrowed his eyes, the corners of his long, slender eyes sweeping over a spot in front of them. He raised a hand and made a signal.

Liu Hao and Yang Liu advanced with their guns raised.

"Wait," Qi Xiang suddenly said.

"Did you guys hear a strange sound?" she asked, looking up at the others.

Ye Junhan gripped his curved blade, his brow furrowing slightly.

It was completely silent. Not a sound could be heard.

Qi Xiang walked over to Ye Junhan. ’How strange,’ she thought, ’that weird sound just now vanished in an instant.’

Qi Xiang frowned slightly, discreetly pulling her fingertips away from her personal terminal.

Just then, countless vines suddenly burst from the ground.

And at almost the exact same moment, Ye Junhan’s curved blade, crackling with lightning, swept out in a horizontal slash along the ground.

In an instant, a huge swath of vines fell to the ground, but they continued to twitch violently, trying to attack Ye Junhan.

Ye Junhan tapped his foot lightly, soaring into the air wrapped in a maelstrom of lightning. He leaped up, snatching the spinning curved blade from mid-air. Like a flood dragon, he instantly shot past the countless fallen vines, charging toward a specific spot ahead.

So many malignant mutant plants, wave after wave, couldn’t stop him alone!

Perhaps sensing that this man was not to be trifled with, a small, red plant silently burrowed into the ground, concealed by the other plants.

At the same time, Ye Junhan broke through the remaining obstacles and landed on that very spot. A bolt of purple lightning immediately shot into the ground, fiercely pursuing the direction in which the red plant had vanished.