Chapter 370: Chapter 355: Calculated to This Extent

After ending her call with Dr. Qi, Gu Xi turned to see Wei Heng and the others on a ridge at the edge of the distant, empty fields. They were scattered about, some sitting, some lounging, all watching her from afar.

Seeing her friends, the irritation in her heart seemed to dissipate, and she walked over to them.

"Are they making things difficult for you again?" Wei Heng asked, frowning slightly.

Although Gu Xi’s face was unreadable, Qi Xiang’s sharp intuition told her something was off. She stepped forward, gave Gu Xi a hug, and whispered, "Gu Xiaoxi, don’t carry everything on your own shoulders. Sometimes, you just have to be a little more selfish."

"I’m fine." Gu Xi wasn’t used to such intimacy, and her body tensed slightly. She looked up at Qin Yi, who appeared drained and weak, slumped on the ground and staring blankly. "What’s wrong with her?"

"Ask her." Qin Yi lifted a limp finger and pointed at Qi Xiang, her face a mask of reproach. ’This young lady said she just wanted me to help her sense the aura of the plants, but she ended up working me like a mule.’

This afternoon alone, her superpower had been completely drained several times. Now, she didn’t have an ounce of strength left in her body, and even her meridians were aching faintly...

Qin Yi even felt like she was completely broken.

Qi Xiang looked a little guilty, but she quickly linked arms with Gu Xi and looked at Qin Yi self-righteously. "You make it sound like I’m the only one who benefited from it..."

Qin Yi fell silent. Even though she felt completely spent, she had to admit that after being pushed to her limits like this, her superpower—which had been stagnant for days—was actually showing faint signs of stirring.

’A few more sessions like this, and I might just have a chance at a breakthrough.’

After all, every breakthrough was incredibly difficult for high-rank superpower users. Some might go their entire lives without advancing a single level.

Qin Yi knew she probably had this opportunity thanks to Qi Xiang—after all, who could argue with the young lady’s extraordinarily good luck?

Otherwise, it wasn’t as if she hadn’t undergone such high-intensity training on the front lines before, but the threshold for advancement had remained stubbornly out of reach...

Qin Yi fell silent, a smile even appearing on her face, revealing two sweet dimples.

Wei Heng, however, quietly pursed his lips. When Qi Xiang glanced his way, he quickly composed himself and said with a straight face, "Gu Xi, we’re short-handed right now, and the situation in the mountains is unclear. Should we have Bai go in and scout things out?"

Although Bai was intelligent and could understand people, he was, after all, a Mutated Rat King.

To avoid scaring the ordinary people who came to help with the farm work, Bai had been staying inside Gu Xi’s pocket dimension. As a result, Wei Heng and the others hadn’t seen the little mouse in days.

Come to think of it, they kind of missed him.

Nearby, Qi Xiang stroked her chin. "Bai is quite the diplomat!"

Qin Yi nodded weakly from her spot. "They say appearance is everything. With Bai’s plump figure and his sleek, shiny golden fur, he’s more than enough to intimidate other beasts..."

Bai, who had just been let out: "?" ’The hell? Who are you calling fat?’

’Bunch of morons!’

Bai shot the group of two-legged beasts a contemptuous look, then instantly teleported, vanishing into the mountains dozens of miles away.

Nearby, Qi Xiang let out a soft chuckle. "That little guy sure runs fast."

Wei Heng glanced at her. ’If the little mouse didn’t run fast,’ he thought, ’is he supposed to wait for you to pet him bald?’

Qin Yi also chimed in, "Qi Xiang, Bai is a dignified Mouse King, you know. Next time, maybe don’t pet him in front of everyone. You have to let him save some face, right?"

Qi Xiang was speechless. ’Petting him in private would be fine, of course. The problem is, as soon as Gu Xi isn’t around, the little mouse just snarls at me the moment I try. It’s not like I have a choice.’

Qi Xiang felt she was completely innocent in this matter.

The corner of Wei Heng’s mouth twitched. He quickly smoothed his expression as Qi Xiang looked over, then turned his head up to Gu Xi. "Dr. Qi contacted you...?"

Gu Xi didn’t hide anything, giving them a brief summary of the situation.

When she finished, they all fell silent.

Finally, it was Qi Xiang who broke the silence. "What he said isn’t necessarily true..."

Qi Xiang had grown up with Dr. Qi, so it was safe to say she knew him better than anyone else there.

Seeing Wei Heng and the others turn to look at her, Qi Xiang explained, "From what I know of Dr. Qi, he’s not a selfless man." ’So even if everything he said is true, there must be something more to the story.’

Wei Heng frowned slightly. "I feel like there’s more to this than meets the eye."

Just then, Qin Yi pushed herself up from the ground, tilting her head. "Do you think this could also be about the Superpower Seed?"

Seeing everyone turn to look at her, Qin Yi propped her chin on her hands and blinked her large, innocent eyes. "Don’t all look at me like that. I just think... when faced with a treasure like the Superpower Seed, wouldn’t anyone’s first thought be to take it for themselves?"

"Only when they’re absolutely sure they can’t get it would they try to destroy it, just so no one else can have it either."

Yang Chi, who saw himself as the junior member of the group, had been staying quietly to the side, not daring to interrupt. But when he heard this, he suddenly slapped his forehead.

As the others looked over, he said, "I think we’ve all been trapped in a misconception..."

Because they had all implicitly accepted that the Superpower Seed belonged to Gu Xi and had never considered trying to take it, they had subconsciously overlooked one thing:

Right now, no matter what those people were doing, their primary objective was to get the Superpower Seed!

"I was wondering, is it possible that..."

Yang Chi spoke as he opened his personal terminal, his fingers flying across the light screen.

"Dr. Qi deliberately made everything sound so dire and urgent. Is it possible he’s trying to use a more roundabout method to force Gu Xi to hand over the Superpower Seed?"

Qi Xiang reacted instantly. "You mean that in their plan, solving this problem at its source requires the use of the Superpower Seed?"

Wei Heng frowned slightly. "That’s a definite possibility."

Qin Yi was still a little confused. "But the Hybrid Monsters and the Plant People..."

Qi Xiang said in a low voice, "The appearance of the Hybrid Monsters and the Plant People is a fact. In a way, it could indeed signal the third great mutation. But don’t forget..."

Qi Xiang looked at the others, her eyes narrowing slightly. "The Hybrid Monsters and the Plant People haven’t just appeared in the last day or two. The fact that my adoptive father, Dr. Qi, chose this specific moment to lay his cards on the table with Gu Xi is very telling."

Qin Yi understood. "So, he deliberately chose this exact moment..."

’The goal is to force Gu Xi to solve the problem as quickly as possible. And then... Gu Xi will discover that the only way to solve it is by using the Superpower Seed.’

’By that point, they would have already spread the news far and wide that Gu Xi possesses the Superpower Seed.’

’When that happens, everyone will be pressuring Gu Xi to hand over the Superpower Seed.’

’And regardless of whether Gu Xi succeeds in solving the problem, many people will probably take their anger out on her anyway.’

And in the apocalypse, there was no telling what an angry mob might do.

Because this was the apocalypse—the real, cruel apocalypse, where the hardships of life had worn away all kindness and tolerance, leaving only the twisted dregs of human nature.

All of humanity’s moral boundaries had ceased to exist.

’So, those people plan on making Gu Xi handle everything, while also forcing her to bear the worst of the consequences?’

’To think they would scheme against and manipulate Gu Xi to such an extent?!’

Qin Yi gasped, a sudden surge of anger rising in her heart.

She looked up at Gu Xi, only to find her expression was perfectly calm.