Ye Nan dejectedly retracted her ability, looking down at her slightly trembling hands.
'It's no use. It's still no use.'
Over the years, she had lost count of her attempts, having handled tens of thousands of mutant plant samples!
But every single time, it ended in failure.
She simply couldn't purify that violent and bizarre energy!
Ye Nan wearily closed her eyes.
Thinking of the look in her mother's eyes and the expectations of everyone at the base… Ye Nan felt so tired, and a sense of injustice welled up inside her.
She lifted her head, her eyes instinctively searching for his figure.
"Jun Han."
She stood and walked to his side. Glancing out the window, she asked quizzically, "What were you looking at just now?"
"Nothing." Ye Junhan had already averted his gaze. His eyes swept over to his teammates organizing their equipment, and he didn't ask about the results of her latest attempt.
Because the result was obvious.
Nor was Ye Junhan surprised.
Ye Nan glanced out the window again, then activated her wrist device. After tapping on the personal terminal a few times, she looked up at Ye Junhan. "Jun Han, my mom replied."
After a pause, she added with a frown, "She wants us to take the specimen from today's malignant mutant plant and return to the Central Base as soon as possible."
Hearing this, Ye Junhan's narrow eyes swept over the camp's leaders. His gaze rested on one person for a split second before he looked away and activated his own personal terminal.
His Superpower Special Team was part of the military. They only had a cooperative relationship with the Central Base's Abnormal Ability Research Institute.
In other words, the people from the Abnormal Ability Research Institute were not his superiors and had no authority to issue him orders. Not even Mr. Ye, the institute's deputy director.
Ye Junhan had led his team to South City this time on a mission: to patrol the surrounding wasteland, neutralize any threats, and prepare for the government's upcoming large-scale plan to reclaim lost territory.
Without direct orders from his superiors, he couldn't possibly lead his team back to the Central Base mid-mission.
After checking the message on his personal terminal, Ye Junhan finally looked up at the young woman beside him. "I'll lead a team for one more patrol in the vicinity this afternoon. If there are no further problems, we'll leave tomorrow morning and return to the Central Base."
...
Meanwhile, Gu Xi had finished signing the non-disclosure agreement and was slowly walking out of the government hall.
After parting ways with Wei Heng, she feigned curiosity and took a stroll around the camp.
As expected, the entire camp had been sealed off.
All the cameras on the high walls had been activated, and several drones were ascending into the sky above the camp...
Clearly, despite the camp's pressing energy shortage, the incident with the malignant mutant plant had thrown the entire area into a state of high alert. Every available piece of surveillance equipment had been deployed.
Given her current physical condition, slipping out of the camp unnoticed would be difficult, but not entirely impossible.
But after a moment's thought, Gu Xi decided against it.
First, she had just woken up and was completely in the dark about the outside world. Staying here would make it easier to understand her current circumstances.
Second, a powerful ability user was now in the camp. She was weak, her own powers were acting up, and she had no choice but to be more cautious.
'For now, the best option is to stay in the camp and quietly gather information about the outside world.'
Her gaze flickered back toward the government hall one last time before she slowly turned and headed for the temporary shelters in the northeast section of the camp.
When she entered, Wei Heng had his head lowered, gazing at an Asura mask in his hands with a nostalgic expression.
Gu Xi froze for a second but quickly composed herself.
She approached him without a word, glanced at the mask in his hands, and raised an eyebrow. "Didn't take you for a fan of these."
She'd once had a similar mask herself.
Ten years after the apocalypse began, pre-war resources were all but gone, and humanity was not yet capable of restoring production. The ever-increasing scarcity of supplies plunged the survivors into a state of deep depression.
Even in the Central Base, the survivors' faces gradually lost their vitality. Their eyes grew dull, leaving only the hollow, numb despair of those who had endured endless hardship with no hope in sight.
Everyone was struggling just to survive in the apocalypse...
It is said that a hopeful people cannot exist without heroes.
So, when Gu Xi was fourteen and her powers broke through to the tenth level, the base leadership decided to shape her into a hero of the apocalypse to stabilize the people and boost morale.
As humanity's top master and the only Divine Rank ability user to have broken through to the tenth level, Gu Xi's Combat Power was never in question.
But she was still young at the time, with a fair, delicate face that held no intimidation or persuasive power. So Li Ming, from who knows where, found a Blood-colored Asura mask for her.
It was incredibly intimidating and mysterious.
From then on, Gu Xi wore that mask all the time, never taking it off in front of others.
She never expected to see one so similar in Wei Heng's hands.
"...A gift from a friend," Wei Heng said softly, the nostalgia in his eyes vanishing as quickly as it appeared.
'A friend?' Gu Xi raised an eyebrow slightly. For some reason, the image of a man flashed through her mind...
Wei Heng, however, had already put the Asura mask away. He stood up and said, "I'm relieved to see you're back. You get some rest. I'll go find you something to eat."
After Wei Heng left, Gu Xi slowly lay back down on the bed and gently closed her eyes.
Gu Xi had no idea how long she had slept. She was jolted awake by the roar of a helicopter.
Gu Xi opened her eyes, frowning slightly.
She got out of bed and slowly walked to the window. The moment she pushed it open, she saw Wei Heng nearby, turning to walk toward her. "You're awake?"
"Just now. It's a bit noisy outside." Gu Xi glanced up at the helicopter receding in the distance, her eyes finally settling on his hands.
"Here, eat this." Wei Heng pressed a compressed biscuit into her hand and gestured toward the spot where she was standing.
"Thank you." Gu Xi stared at the object in her hand, stunned for a second. She took two steps back just as Wei Heng placed his hands on the sill and vaulted in through the window.
His movements were surprisingly smooth and agile.
"Don't mention it." Wei Heng waved a hand dismissively. "I just went to ask around. A supply drop is coming to the camp in three days. They'll be bringing seeds for crops with a relatively low mutation coefficient..."
As he spoke, Wei Heng tapped his wrist device, and a pale blue Light Screen materialized.
He enlarged the display and projected it in front of Gu Xi. "See if there's anything on here you'd want to plant."
Gu Xi's gaze, however, was fixed on his wrist device. Thirty years ago, someone at the Abnormal Ability Research Institute had proposed developing a smart-brain system that integrated information analysis and collection, communications, real-time monitoring, network services, and combat functions...
Seeing her stare at his wrist device, Wei Heng grew thoughtful.
Then he smiled. "This is a personal terminal issued by the base to pioneers. I've already put in an application for you, but the camp doesn't have any spares at the moment. Once the supplies arrive in a few days, you can just go register and pick one up..."
"Thank you." Gu Xi said her thanks calmly, then turned her attention to the contents of the projection: sweet potatoes, yams, potatoes, corn...
Gu Xi had never farmed before and wasn't familiar with these crops, so for a moment, she had no idea what to choose.
Just then, an icon in the lower-right corner of the screen flashed, and a dialog box popped up.
9527 South City Pioneer Alliance?
Gu Xi only glanced at it for a second before looking away. She had no habit of prying into others' privacy.
Besides, she couldn't be sure this wasn't another one of Wei Heng's tests.
Although she had never sensed the slightest bit of malice from the man, Gu Xi had survived for over twenty years in the darkest days of the apocalypse. Caution was etched into her very bones.
And yet, despite all that, she had ultimately fallen because of a single glass of wine.
Thinking of that glass of wine, and of the person who handed it to her, Gu Xi lowered her gaze, her left hand unconsciously kneading her knuckles.