Chapter 366: Chapter 351: A Thief’s Heart Never Dies

Yang Chi was a smart young man.

He had always assumed his cousin had called Ye Junhan away as soon as they entered City A because his cousin had just taken charge of military affairs at the A City Base. With so many complicated matters to handle and not enough people, he was too swamped to get away. Since he couldn’t make his presence known to Gu Xi, he had Ye Junhan called away as well.

’He’d get a capable assistant and also reduce the time Ye Junhan spends with Gu Xi. Isn’t that killing two birds with one stone?’

’But looking at it now, maybe Ye Junhan’s departure was for another reason?’

Yang Chi felt he was a real genius. "Gu Xi, when you sent Mr. Ye to help my cousin, was it..." Thinking of the many prying eyes and ears around them, the genius promptly shut his mouth.

But the bright glint in his eyes couldn’t be hidden.

Gu Xi nodded slightly. "There were a few things I wanted to confirm."

Back when Yun Ye possessed Zhou Yue, she had noticed his attitude toward Ye Junhan was strange—he clearly disliked and looked down on Ye Junhan, but he hadn’t actually tried to kill him.

This didn’t fit Yun Ye’s style at all.

That was why after entering the city, Gu Xi had used the matter with Shen Yue as a pretext to separate from Ye Junhan, wanting to see if she could lure Yun Ye out.

’But it seems to have been useless so far?’

Gu Xi frowned slightly.

Just then, Huo Changzhou pushed through the crowd and walked over.

"Miss Gu, are you..." He glanced at the strange, high-level mutant plants all around, frowning slightly. "...planning to build the farm’s defense system right in the planting area?"

Gu Xi calmly met his gaze. "Is there something wrong with that?"

Yang Chi chimed in from the side. "Over a thousand people are living in the planting area now. Isn’t what Gu Xi is doing perfectly normal?"

’Normal my ass.’

Huo Changzhou couldn’t stop himself from cursing inwardly.

In his eyes, human lives were as worthless as weeds in the apocalypse. These thousand-plus refugees who came to help were just rabble with cheap lives, so what difference did it make if they died sooner or later?

’If they die early, they’ll have made their contribution to me and can even save the base a lot of rations.’

But no matter how arrogant he was, he knew he couldn’t say such things in front of a crowd.

Huo Changzhou thought for a moment, then said, "I wonder when Mr. Ye and his team will be able to make it. Those mutant animals in the mountains... who knows when they might..." He let out a sigh.

As he spoke, he shot a deliberately worried glance at Gu Xi. Seeing that she had no intention of replying, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue, "Miss Gu, I certainly have no objections to you putting all the defensive power here..."

Hearing this, Yang Chi, who was standing nearby, couldn’t help but shoot him a look. ’Isn’t this guy getting a little ahead of himself?’ he thought. ’Did you build this defense system? Who are you to have an opinion?’

’The nerve of some people.’

But Yang Chi considered himself a mature and composed man; unlike Qi Xiang, he didn’t have a reputation for being brutally honest. Besides, he figured this Mr. Huo had once contributed quite a few "short films" for his entertainment. So, in the end, he didn’t say the retort out loud.

Huo Changzhou, however, changed the subject. "But the warehouse is the most important part of our farm, after all..."

He looked at Gu Xi. "Miss Gu, why don’t you personally go take a look at the warehouse? If there’s anything you need, I can have my men send it over..."

At that, the look Yang Chi gave him grew even more peculiar.

’This Mr. Huo really never gives up,’ he thought. ’He’s still trying to subtly push that meteorite into Gu Xi’s hands.’

To be honest, Gu Xi was tempted by the meteorite. She did want to find out why those people were so insistent on getting it into her hands. But that didn’t mean she would let others use that same meteorite to plot against her.

So for now, Gu Xi would not be taking it.

But looking at Huo Changzhou’s determined expression, vowing not to rest until he achieved his goal...

Gu Xi was growing impatient and cut him off. "As the person in charge of this farm, you should be the one who knows the warehouse situation best, shouldn’t you? If anything needs to be moved, just make the call yourself."

With that, she turned and walked over to a cluster of mutant cactus trees, raising a hand and patting one casually.

Instantly, sharp cactus spines began to fall off in droves. They scattered through the air like a deadly storm of needles, then stopped, hanging eerily in place. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

In an instant, the entire space was enveloped by long, sharp cactus spines.

Huo Changzhou, who had been about to chase after her, was so frightened he broke out in a cold sweat. He froze in place, even stumbling back several steps.

’This Miss Gu’s temper... It’s too tyrannical, too violent!’

Nearby, Wei Heng saw him turn and leave with a dark expression. Guessing what Huo Changzhou was thinking, he couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. If Mr. Huo had ever seen the video footage of Gu Xi’s battles from back in the day, he would be feeling incredibly lucky right now.

...Gu Xi’s methods now were gentler by a thousand—no, a million—times.

If this had been back in the day... if Huo Changzhou had dared to drone on and on like that in front of the Blood-colored Asura, he would have been turned into a human pincushion by now!

"This single day was more tiring than leading a mission back in my Special Service Team days." Wei Heng walked over, collapsed onto the ground beside Gu Xi, and lay down, propping his head on his hands.

This group of ability users was too low-level. When training with them, he couldn’t be too soft or too hard; he had to strike the perfect balance to make them feel pressured enough to improve. Making Wei Heng, a primary damage-dealer, do this kind of work was truly difficult for him.

"Thanks for your hard work." Gu Xi recalled all the cactus spines from the air. She decided to keep them; they might be useful someday.

Lying on the ground, Wei Heng tilted his head to look at the mutant cactus, now almost half-bald. He raised an eyebrow. "Well, that looks pretty awkward."

Gu Xi followed his gaze and nodded. It did look a little strange.

After a moment’s thought, she called over the few Wood Element ability users who were resting nearby....

The ability users began the miserable task of forcing the cactus to grow new spines. Gu Xi watched for a moment, and seeing that everything was fine, she walked over to Wei Heng and sat down on a nearby ridge. "By the way," she asked, "how is the training going for Qi Xiang and Qin Yi?"

Earlier, after pondering in a corner by herself for a while without success, Qi Xiang had taken Qin Yi away. She said she wanted to go for a walk in the nearby forest and use his Wood Element ability to help her sense the auras of the mutant plants.

Wei Heng had just come from there. Hearing her question, he turned his head toward her. "The results are surprisingly good."

He had to admit, Miss Qi had a certain mystical talent. By the time he was heading back, Qi Xiang could already communicate with over a dozen mutant plants simultaneously.

At that speed, even Qin Yi, a Wood Element user himself, now looked at her with an expression filled with envy, jealousy, and hate.

Gu Xi nodded but didn’t press for more details.

Given Qi Xiang’s bizarrely good luck, she wasn’t the least bit worried on that front.

"Shouldn’t there be some movement on Tang You’s end by now?" she suddenly asked, looking up at the distant mountain forest as it was gradually swallowed by darkness.

Wei Heng gazed up at the sky, his eyes narrowing slightly. "I’d imagine so."

Although Gu Xi had taken over the A City Base, she had no patience for tedious and messy administrative affairs. A safe zone’s management system couldn’t function without someone in charge, however, so Gu Xi had sent Tang You back to City A the very next day.

For this reason, when Tang You left, he put on a reluctant and miserable-looking face, but inwardly he was actually quite smug.

’I knew it,’ he thought. ’My efforts these past few days weren’t for nothing. Otherwise, Miss Gu wouldn’t have been confident enough to leave the base’s administrative power in my hands.’

’Besides, with a towering mountain like Miss Gu backing me up, I no longer have to work with my hands tied. Who knows how many times more liberating this is than before?’

’Even if the higher-ups are displeased with my actions in the future, I can just push all the responsibility onto Miss Gu. Who would dare go against Miss Gu’s wishes?’

’I certainly wouldn’t.’

After returning to the A City Base, Tang You did indeed enjoy two very pleasant days.

That evening, Tang You had just finished a meeting and was heading back to his office to rest for a while. But when he pushed open the door, he saw someone sitting behind his desk, their back to him...