With the Mutated Rat King, Wei Heng, and the others around, Gu Xi didn’t have to worry about harvesting the vegetables at all.

She found a deserted spot, casually leaned against a large rock, and squinted in the direction of City A.

After a while, Gu Xi took an old radio out of her storage space and started tinkering with it.

She knew her teammate. Since Ye Xin had revived their old contact code in the letter, it meant she would very likely use it again to pass on intelligence.

And the best way to do that, naturally, was via radio broadcast.

Gu Xi fiddled with the radio for a moment, but only a crackling static came through.

’No signal?’

Gu Xi frowned slightly. This place wasn’t too far from A City Base, and with other safe camps nearby, she should logically be able to get a signal.

’But why...’

Gu Xi really didn’t understand this kind of scientific stuff. After a moment’s thought, she turned and went back to the temporary camp in the Miasma Forest to find Feng Xiao.

Feng Xiao was tinkering with his underwater robot. After hearing why Gu Xi had come, he took the radio from her and inspected it. The radio was fine; the inability to receive a broadcast signal meant there was a problem with the signal itself.

But that was an easy problem to solve.

There was a safe camp just over fifty kilometers away, and these camps usually had signal towers nearby with personnel assigned to regular maintenance. Logically, they should have been able to receive a broadcast signal from their current position.

Since they couldn’t get a signal, it most likely meant the nearby signal tower was malfunctioning.

Ye Junhan was returning from his patrol in the depths of the swamp when he saw Feng Xiao and Gu Xi huddled together from a distance. He was too far away to hear what Feng Xiao said, but he saw Gu Xi frown slightly.

Ye Junhan’s steps faltered for a moment, then he strode over. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

When Feng Xiao saw his captain approaching, his eyes darted around as a brilliant idea suddenly popped into his head.

With a serious expression, he suggested to Gu Xi, "Miss Gu, we’re going to be held up here for a few more days, and we’re idle anyway. Why don’t you have the captain take you to check out the nearby signal tower?"

’Who knows, you two might hit it off. After all, you know...’

Feng Xiao thought gleefully, frantically signaling his captain with his eyes. ’Captain, I’ve already secured you a chance for a private date with Miss Gu. You’d better not mess this up.’

Ye Junhan: "..."

His gaze fell on Gu Xi. "Alright."

Unexpectedly, Gu Xi shook her head and refused. "I can’t get away." ’This swamp gives me a strange feeling. I have to stay here and watch over it.’

Besides, the range of her ability was limited. If she went too far away, it would be difficult to maintain the safety of their temporary camp in the Miasma Forest.

Feng Xiao was a bit disappointed. ’What a great opportunity for a date. Such a shame.’

After some discussion, since Feng Xiao needed to hurry and finish his underwater robot, it was decided that Ye Junhan would take Liu Hao and the almost-recovered Gao to check on the nearest signal tower.

Yang Liu thought for a moment and decided to go along as well, bringing his drone.

There was no time to lose, so Ye Junhan decided they should leave and return as quickly as possible.

The group drove out of the Miasma Forest. As they passed the main camp outside, they saw a large crowd gathered in the vegetable patch from a distance, though they couldn’t tell what they were doing.

Yang Liu, feeling curious, casually launched a drone.

The drone wobbled its way toward the vegetable patch. Yang Liu placed his hands on the control panel, activated the display’s Light Screen, and then... fell silent.

In the driver’s seat, Gao saw Yang Liu’s peculiar expression in the rearview mirror and couldn’t help but ask, "What’s wrong?"

Yang Liu was silent for a moment, then said with a complicated look, "Do you have any idea what those brutes are up to?"

With his hands on the steering wheel, Gao carefully maneuvered around a fissure in the ground ahead. "What are they doing?"

Yang Liu didn’t answer, simply sharing the footage from the drone.

Gao was driving, so it wasn’t convenient for him to look. However, Ye Junhan, sitting in the passenger seat, opened the Light Screen for reasons even he couldn’t quite explain.

Beside him, Gao glanced curiously at his captain’s Light Screen and saw a large golden rat grunting with effort as it pulled up a radish. The radish was coming out of the ground section by section, while a crowd of people around them placed bets.

"I bet three dried sweet potatoes it’ll get to ten sections without breaking!"

"Nine sections! A pack of compressed biscuits on it!"

"Eight sections, two coarse grain biscuits."

Everyone stared at the Mutated Rat King pulling the radish, placing their bets one after another.

Finally, Liu Hao’s booming voice cut in. "Seven sections! I’m betting a can of braised pork!"

Hearing this, Yang Liu couldn’t hold back and shouted down through the drone’s speaker, "Liu Hao, where did you get a can of braised pork?" He remembered that Liu Hao had already given his share of the canned meat they’d "robbed" from Feng Xiao to curry favor with Ouyang.

’How could that kid still have any canned meat?’

Hearing Yang Liu’s words, the others all looked up and glared at Liu Hao. Was this kid trying to make a bet with nothing to back it up?

Liu Hao raised his head, puffed out his chest, and declared smugly, "Miss Gu gave it to me specially." ’Heh heh heh, I’m the only one who got one. Talk about special treatment!’

’The kind of treatment even the captain doesn’t get.’

Seeing Liu Hao’s punchable, smug grin, the others were instantly green with envy.

Even Yang Liu, who was silently watching this unfold through the drone’s camera, subconsciously glanced toward Ye Junhan in the passenger seat. He saw that Ye Junhan’s gaze was also fixed on the Light Screen, his hand, resting on the open window, tapping lightly.

"She’s certainly generous."

A flash of insight hit Yang Liu, and he instantly understood. He silently lit a candle for Liu Hao in his heart. ’Serves you right for showing off when you’ve got nothing.’

Meanwhile, by the vegetable patch, Lin Yuan and a few others exchanged a look. They were just about to pounce on Liu Hao when Gu Xi happened to walk out of the Miasma Forest. The would-be attackers could only sit back down in silence.

But Liu Hao was sharp. He knew those brutes were jealous and about to jump him, so seeing his opportunity, he scrambled to his feet and shouted to Gu Xi, "Miss Gu, look how hard this little guy is working! It hasn’t broken a single section of this lotus root."

Lin Yuan, standing nearby, shot him a contemptuous look and stressed, "It’s a radish. Lotus roots grow in water."

"What kind of radish grows in sections? This is clearly a mutated, land-growing variety of lotus root," Liu Hao insisted.

Seeing that the two were about to start arguing again over whether it was a radish or a lotus root, Qi Xiang quickly stepped in and waved to Gu Xi. "Gu Xi, watching this little guy work is actually pretty interesting. Why don’t you make a guess, too?"

Gu Xi glanced at the five connected sections of the radish that had already been pulled out and had a rough idea of what was happening. She thought for a moment. ’Alright, a little bet won’t hurt.’

She walked over, glanced at the Mutated Rat King straining with the radish, and said calmly, "My guess is five sections."

The moment she finished speaking, everyone heard a—CRACK!

The radish in the Mutated Rat King’s paws snapped in two.

And the part that had been pulled from the ground had exactly five sections.

No more, no less.

Everyone’s gazes shifted from the Mutated Rat King, which had turned to look at them with an innocent ’who, me?’ expression, to Gu Xi, who was patting its head. They all had the same thought. ’It’s one thing for this creature to have become sentient, but now it even knows math!’

’This is just damn ridiculous.’