Chapter 137: Departure to Zhoujia County
“Mutated plant? What kind?” This caught Lu Weiyi’s attention.
“It was an ivy plant. The vines were spreading everywhere, blocking the road completely,” Li Qing explained. “At that time, we didn’t realize. There were dead plants everywhere, but the whole mountain was covered in green.”
“No one expected plants to mutate. So, I led the team over, and at first, the vines didn’t react. But when all three trucks entered the area covered by the vines, they came alive, surrounding us completely. They started attacking immediately. Many of our soldiers were tightly bound, and some even had their necks snapped.”
“That’s when I saw the bodies of animals and plants hidden beneath the thick vines. The south side hadn’t had any new refugees recently, so I think they were all lost there.”
“Don’t you have fire-type ability users? Plants should be afraid of fire, right?” Gu Qingji asked, recalling that the plants he had created couldn’t withstand Liu Rui’s flames, even with constant energy input.
“We used fire, but it only scared them off. It didn’t cause much damage. In the end, we lost seven or eight people and barely managed to escape,” Li Qing said with a grim expression. “Later, I realized that B-level wood-type ability users can’t be harmed by C-level fire-type abilities. I wondered if the mutated plant was already B-level, which is why our fire-type abilities didn’t work on it.”
“That’s possible,” Lu Weiyi agreed, thinking there were level restrictions.
“I saw Liu Rui use a fireball before,” Li Qing paused. “I was thinking, would you guys want to come with us to Zhoujia County? We can share whatever we find.”
While others were still considering it, Lu Weiyi immediately agreed, “Sure. We’ll deal with the mutated plant, and the crystal cores will be ours.”
Zhuang Mingxu gave him a surprised look, then immediately laid out the conditions. “Although we’re few in number, we have many level-one ability users, so we’re naturally strong. If you want to bring a lot of people, all the supplies we get will be split 80-20.”
Li Qing felt that the share was too much, but after some thought, he agreed to an 80-20 split.
“Deal,” Li Qing said, though he wasn’t sure how many level-one ability users they had, but guessed it couldn’t be few. After all, their team had five ability users before most others had even awakened, and after such a long time, they must have upgraded by now.
After Li Qing left, Zhuang Mingxu asked Lu Weiyi why he was so eager to go, especially since their group was small, and their salt consumption was low. They wouldn’t run out for another two years.
“I want to see if I can use the mutated plant, just like this one,” Lu Weiyi said, waving a small green twig. “Gu Qingji uses these vine plants for combat every day. He needs to constantly generate them.”
“If we can find a mutated plant, we can use it like this one, wrapping it around our hands, and it’ll always be ready for combat. Plus, it might retain some of the plant’s unique abilities,” Lu Weiyi added, showing a bracelet-like plant around his wrist.
“This is a mutated plant? I thought it was some kind of jewelry,” Wu Yue said, curious, reaching out to flick the leaves. “Does it live?”
“Yes,” Lu Weiyi nodded, not answering whether it was the first or second question.
Lu Weiyi nodded and looked around. “Liu Rui wants to go. Who else wants to join?”
“I’ve researched the way to Zhoujia County,” Zhuang Mingxu said, pulling out a hand-drawn map. “Zhoujia County is not part of Qingyuan City. It used to be close, but now the roads have changed. We’ll need to go around Xianing County, so the round trip will take at least seven days, not counting any unexpected situations. Think carefully.”
“I’ll go. Bro, I want to see,” Lu Xi said, having been killing zombies and practicing his abilities with them recently.
“I’ll go too,” Gu Qingji said, as it was for his own benefit, and whatever happened, he had to go.
Li Zhuang raised his hand, counting himself in.
Antonio glanced at Dean, hesitated for a moment, then decided to go.
“I…”
“Just the six of them. Quality over quantity,” Zhuang Mingxu cut in before Xu Sa could finish. “We need people to stay at the base in case anyone comes looking for trouble.”
With that, no one else objected.
After a hearty meal, everyone collapsed in exhaustion. Normally, at this time, most people would retreat to their rooms to absorb crystal cores and enhance their abilities. But after Li Qing’s news, all the ability users were holding their crystal cores, uncertain whether they should absorb them all.
Lu Weiyi, however, had no particular thoughts on the matter. After reminding Zhuang Ai Yi to rest early, he planned to return to his room to absorb his daily crystal cores.
“Yiyi, Li Qing said we shouldn’t absorb more than five crystals a day. Do you think we can still absorb all of these?” Wu Yue asked first.
“I’m not sure,” Lu Weiyi replied. Although he could sense that the energy in the crystals that had been soaked in snow had calmed a bit, he couldn’t guarantee whether they were completely safe. “You’ll have to decide for yourselves.”
“What do you all think?” Wu Yue asked the others.
“The mutated plants have all leveled up, and my level is so low. If I don’t absorb the crystals properly, I might get killed just going outside. Fortune favors the bold,” Xu Sa said, holding his ten crystals and dragging Liu Rui back to his room.
Those who had already leveled up were not worried, and the others exchanged glances. Finally, they decided that they would rather die from being too strong than from being weak and bullied.
*
A few days later, Li Qing’s team told them they could leave.
Li Qing had brought over thirty people, driving three trucks. When he saw Lu Weiyi had only brought six people, he was a bit surprised. “Aren’t you bringing your whole team? My dad will take care of things at the base.”
“No need, six is enough,” Lu Weiyi said. If the six of them couldn’t handle it, sending more people wouldn’t help. Besides, he had explosives in his space, and if they couldn’t win, he would just blow them up. This was also what Zhuang Mingxu had advised earlier.
“If you can’t win, just run. Safety is the most important thing,” Zhuang Mingxu said as he came out with the others to see them off. He grabbed Lu Weiyi’s hand, reluctant to let go, and finally said, “I’ll wait for you to come back.”
“Mm, be careful at the base,” Lu Weiyi said, feeling a bit regretful when he saw Zhuang Mingxu’s leg.
“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of things at the base. We’ll wait for you to return safely,” Ning Yuan reassured them, looking at the others who were reluctant to part.
The six of them boarded a military truck with Li Qing’s team. They were all familiar faces, and compared to the rough, malnourished men, the six of them looked so clean and neat that people felt embarrassed to let them sit on the ground.
Li Qing rummaged through a corner and handed them a few sheets of paper, smiling, “I’m starting to think we didn’t go through the same apocalypse.”
The six of them were not delicate, and since they had already sat down, offering them a cushion was considered a high standard of treatment. They took the paper, sat down, and waved at the people seeing them off.
“Your team really has good relationships,” Li Qing said. He was in the army himself, and although there were many scheming people around, there was still a bond of camaraderie that prevented conflicts over small matters.
Now, at the base, surrounded by people, he had become used to seeing teams scheming and even using their own people to block zombies. This kind of loyalty among the six of them felt precious.
“Relationships are mutual. We’ve been together for a long time, and in this world, teammates are your back. You’ve got to take care of your back,” Lu Weiyi said. He rarely engaged in small talk, Antonio and Li Zhuang weren’t people to chat for no reason, and Gu Qingji and Liu Rui were even less noticeable. So, it was left to Lu Xi, this half-grown child, to handle the diplomacy.
“Li Qing, have you figured out the route to Zhoujia County? Where exactly is the mutated plant?”
“We’ve already gone through the first part of the route. Besides some zombies, there’s not much danger. We’ll just wait in the truck until we get there. No need to fight. The mutated plant is in a village near Xiangning City. We should be there in two days,” Li Qing replied.
“A village? Isn’t it supposed to be in the wilderness?” Lu Xi asked.
“No, it’s in a village. The plant has spread all over the village. I’m not sure if there are any survivors left, but some of the trees there are growing unusually well, especially the fruit trees. They have no signs of freezing and are even bearing fruit,” Li Qing said, still feeling regretful about underestimating the plant.
“What kind of fruit?” Lu Weiyi asked, intrigued. After the heavy snow, there were no ordinary fruits in the wild, unless they were mutated.
If they were mutated fruits, Zhuang Ai Yi and Zhuang Mingxu could eat more when they brought them back. The energy from peaceful plants was very beneficial for regular people.
“…I saw two trees,” Li Qing thought for a moment. “You might not believe me, but one was a peach tree, a red-skinned oil peach the size of a fist. It looked really delicious. The other… I don’t recognize it.”
Li Qing thought for a while, trying to describe it. “The fruit was about the size of a small ball, green and swollen. I’ve never seen it before, so I’m not sure if it’s edible.”
“Oil peach… It should be a fruit from May or June, right?” Gu Qingji asked, uncertainly, looking at the others.
Liu Rui nodded. “Yeah.”
“When I told people back at the base, they didn’t believe me. But we definitely saw it,” Lei Jun shrugged. The others nodded, confirming their story.
Off-season fruit was a clear sign of mutated fruit. Lu Weiyi was secretly pleased. “How many people did you bring?”
“Thirty-six. I didn’t bring you guys,” Li Qing answered.
“We’ll handle the mutated plants, you guys don’t need to do anything. The fruits and mutated plants will be ours,” Lu Weiyi made a condition.
“…That mutated plant is pretty powerful,” Lei Jun wasn’t unwilling to share, but he was worried that Lu Weiyi’s greed would cause them harm, especially since they owed their lives to him.
“Mm, if anything happens, we’ll take responsibility,” Lu Weiyi said.
Lei Jun looked at Li Qing, then turned to the other five. Seeing that none of them were objecting, he opened his mouth and said, “Alright.” He thought to himself that if they needed help, they wouldn’t stand by and watch.
