From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 235 - 226: Bad Temper

The largest crooked-neck tree at the base of the cliff was the highest-level mutant plant Gu Xi had ever seen.

In the twenty-fifth year of the apocalypse, the Central Base analyzed intel from various sources and concluded that a highly intelligent zombie, suspected to be a Zombie Emperor, was likely entrenched outside City A.

Subsequently, Gu Xi was ordered to City A to investigate the claim.

That night, while tracking leads on the Zombie Emperor, she had come near this cliff and accidentally trespassed into the crooked-neck tree’s territory. A fight ensued.

As they fought, a faint sensation bloomed in Gu Xi’s mind... Back then, Gu Xi had suspected that the crooked-neck tree, much like her Sproutling, had developed a nascent consciousness.

Initially, she hadn’t gone for the kill. Besides being curious about it, she had also thought that if this truly was the Zombie Emperor’s territory, perhaps she could leave the tree here to keep the Zombie Emperor occupied.

After all, this crooked-neck tree’s strength was quite impressive.

The main reason Gu Xi could overpower it was because she had the advantage of it being immobile.

Though at the time, she hadn’t understood why such a high-level mutant plant couldn’t move.

Back then, mobile mutant plants were not uncommon.

So, during that period, when she wasn’t searching for the Zombie Emperor, Gu Xi came over to fight the crooked-neck tree almost every day. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Perhaps because it had taken so many beatings, she began to sense more and more emotions from it.

For example, after Gu Xi left, it would often brag to the surrounding plants: ’That thieving hag is just taking advantage of the fact that I don’t have legs. Otherwise, how could she possibly be my match?’

Gu Xi: "..."

They say you can’t get to know someone without a fight. And just like that, the crooked-neck tree became Gu Xi’s friend.

It was just that this friend had a bit of a bad temper.

Guided by the drone, the convoy drove slowly northwest. Gu Xi lowered her gaze, suppressing the complex emotions stirring within her.

After a moment of silence, she looked up at Ye Junhan in front of her. "This is fine."

Ye Junhan raised his eyes, meeting hers in the rearview mirror for a moment before pressing the intercom. "Yang Liu, find a suitable place to make camp nearby."

Yang Liu’s voice soon came through the intercom.

The campsite selected by the drone was only a ten-minute drive from their current location.

Ye Junhan looked up at Gu Xi.

Gu Xi said no more, slowly pressing the bone of her index finger with her left thumb.

’I have to find a chance to go back and see my old friend, and retrieve my blade while I’m at it.’

’So many years have passed. I wonder if my old friend survived nature’s second great mutation? Is its temper any better now?’

’And my blade...’

Since returning to the Central Base, Sproutling had made an appearance before every old acquaintance, but the scimitar that she never used to part with had yet to be seen.

Everyone assumed that Xidao—the blade forged through painstaking effort, using the combined strength of the entire base, countless high-grade materials, and the power of several high-level Gold Element ability users—was in her spatial storage.

But they didn’t know that Gu Xi had buried her blade with her own hands all those years ago.

But alas, fate is fickle.

Now... she had to personally retrieve the blade she had buried.

...

Half an hour later, the convoy stopped before an open woodland. They quickly cleared an area and set up a temporary camp.

The accompanying research staff discovered some novel mutant plants nearby, new species not yet recorded in the central database.

Liu Jia and the others were rather excited, eagerly beginning to wander around the area.

Ye Junhan called over Liu Hao and told him to take some men and follow the research team, ensuring everyone’s safety at all costs.

Gu Xi also trailed slowly behind the group.

’This forest feels... off.’

Shen Yue followed lazily behind her. Staring at the half-stalk of weed-like plant she had just snapped off, he asked, "Is there a problem with this thing?"

’Gu Xi has been staring at that thing for a while now, and she just plucked another piece. She can’t just be doing it out of boredom, right?’

Shen Yue arched a brow slightly.

Gu Xi didn’t answer, simply letting Sproutling out.

Ye Nan had come over at some point as well. She was very surprised to see the weed’s color change as soon as Sproutling got close. "It can still change color after being detached from the parent plant?"

"This type of grass...?" She looked up at Gu Xi, a flicker of doubt in her eyes.

Gu Xi remained silent. The grass’s mutation level was very low, but as for the specific details, she would have to ask the accompanying researchers.

After all, it was best to leave specialized matters to the specialists.

But Sproutling was clearly disgusted by the thing, unwilling to even get near it.

Gu Xi perfunctorily poked the tender shoot at Sproutling’s tip, giving it a casual pat.

Sproutling’s two tender leaves drooped pitifully.

Shen Yue watched in astonishment. Staring at Gu Xi’s hand, he chuckled. "Is it upset?"

Gu Xi said casually, "Or maybe it thinks the grass is dirty." With that, she tossed the grass from her hand.

Shen Yue: "..."

Ye Nan: "..."

...

On the outskirts of the temporary camp, Ye Junhan stood beside the command vehicle. He glanced in their direction, then opened his personal terminal.

Yang Liu waited nearby. Only after the captain closed the Light Screen did he step forward. "Captain, someone’s been here recently. Judging by the tracks, it was less than a week ago."

The mutant plants around here are relatively low-level, and low-level mutant plants grow rather slowly. A week isn’t enough time to cover up certain tracks.

Ye Junhan frowned slightly. "Which unit is responsible for the clearing mission in this area?"

"It wasn’t them." Yang Liu opened his personal terminal, circling and zooming in on a suspicious area from the previous drone footage. "Based on these tracks, the number of people who camped here doesn’t exceed twenty."

But frontline units carrying out clearing missions usually consist of over a hundred people. After all, you can run into any kind of dangerous situation in the wild. To avoid massive casualties, small units generally don’t perform missions alone.

Unless they had multiple ability users with them.

But ability users were rare these days. Even in frontline units, the ratio of ability users to ordinary soldiers wouldn’t exceed 1:50.

"Have Qian Shan go confirm it." Ye Junhan enlarged the screen and pointed to a spot. "And have a drone sweep this area."

Yang Liu glanced at it. It was an area their convoy had passed earlier. He recalled there was a cliff not far from there.

He looked down and piloted the drone, flying it back for a bit. Sure enough, he found a cliff beyond the dense forest.

"Go down and take a look," Ye Junhan ordered.

Below the cliff, ancient trees towered into the sky and the vegetation was dense. The bottom wasn’t visible from the drone’s perspective. Yang Liu maneuvered the drone, scraping it along the cliff face as it descended. On the way down, he found nothing but various plants.

"Captain, nothing unusual," Yang Liu reported after flying the drone back and forth at the base of the cliff.

Ye Junhan stood with his arms at his sides, staring at the screen with a frown, saying nothing.

Yang Liu couldn’t help but ask, "Captain, is something wrong?"

Ye Junhan suddenly spoke. "Pull the camera up."

Yang Liu pulled the drone’s camera up and panned around the area again.

"Stop." Ye Junhan stared at the crooked-neck tree on the screen for a long time before speaking again. "Send two cameras down. Keep an eye on this tree."

The tree gave him a strange feeling, as if... as you were staring at it through the drone’s lens, it was also staring back at you.

It was an indescribable, mysterious, and ethereal feeling.

Yang Liu didn’t understand. He stared intently at the crooked-neck tree on the screen for a long time but couldn’t see anything unusual.

But he trusted his captain’s intuition.

Over the years, the Special Service Team had taken on countless dangerous missions. So many times, they had been on the brink of life and death, and it was the captain’s sharp intuition, providing an early warning, that had allowed them to escape with their lives.

If the captain said there was a problem with this tree, then there was definitely a problem.