Wei Heng had already walked over to the tiller, planning to clear out the remaining sweet potato vines in the field.
A thought struck Gu Xi, and she specifically asked him to leave a few vines.
Wei Heng asked, a little confused, "What are you keeping these for?"
Gu Xi, preoccupied, replied offhandedly, "Didn't you say these sweet potato leaves can be eaten as vegetables?"
That made sense to Wei Heng, so he deliberately left the few healthiest-looking vines.
As for whether these remaining sweet potato vines would continue to mutate? Only God knew...
After finishing up in the sweet potato patch, Wei Heng saw it was still early and was about to clear out the rest of the nearby land.
When he turned around, however, he saw Gu Xi squatting in the field, spacing out.
He thought for a moment, then walked over. "Gu Xi, it's still early. Why don't you go out and pick some wildflowers? I can make a vase for you later..."
'The house made from shipping containers is still a little too plain,' he thought. 'Decorating it with fresh flowers should liven it up a bit.'
Gu Xi stood up, brushed the grass clippings off her pants, and glanced at him. "You've got some refined tastes..." 'It's just a shame your sense of aesthetics might be a little off.'
"Right?" Wei Heng said proudly. "The room I tidied up for you is pretty nice, huh?"
Gu Xi gave him a look without saying a word, then picked up her large cloth bag and headed toward the mountain forest.
After crossing a small hill, she soon arrived at the little slope where she had stopped that morning.
Gu Xi narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze fixed on the patch of mutant plants she had plundered that morning.
In the sunlight, the greenery covering the mountainside looked vibrant, yet utterly bizarre.
'The mutation level of this patch of wild mutant plants I plundered has increased!'
'It's clearly more than a whole level higher than the surrounding mutant plants!'
After a moment of thought, Gu Xi took a portable Abnormality Detector from her cloth bag—it was one of the essential pieces of basic equipment the base provided to every pioneer.
After running a scan, Gu Xi discovered that the patch of mutant plants she had plundered had mutation coefficients generally above 8, while the surrounding, untouched mutant plants had coefficients of around 6.5.
Thinking of the rapidly mutating sweet potato vines back in the field, Gu Xi lowered her gaze to the little green sprout on her fingertip, which was now noticeably more lively. She was lost in thought.
'My ability... does it enhance a plant's capacity to hold that bizarre energy?'
After some thought, Gu Xi faced the patch of mutant plants and released her ability again, but she deliberately restricted the plundering range to half the area she'd covered that morning.
On the way back, remembering what Wei Heng had said, she took a detour and picked some wildflowers after all.
Half an hour later, Wei Heng fell silent as he looked at the wildflowers she brought back.
He had no idea how to tell the girl in front of him that the jet-black wild chrysanthemums she'd brought back—with blossoms over a meter in diameter—were the kind of flowers people typically used for visiting graves...
Recalling that Gu Xi had always lived alone in the ruins, he figured no one had ever taught her these things. Wei Heng opened his mouth, but in the end, said nothing and just silently took the flowers from her arms.
'Well, fine,' he thought. 'I'll just make a bigger vase and put it...'
Just then, Gu Xi suddenly nudged him with her foot, motioning for him to look across the small stream. "Someone's coming."
Wei Heng peeked around the giant bouquet in his arms and looked up.
In the distance, an SUV and a large truck were bumping and jostling along, one after the other, heading straight for them.
With a harsh screech of tires grinding on dirt, both vehicles stopped on the opposite bank of the stream.
A young woman with a round face got out of the lead SUV and started walking toward them.
"Hello," the young woman said as she reached them, introducing herself. "My name is Qin Yi. I'm a pioneer from South City Base, too."
She was adorable, with two sweet dimples that appeared when she smiled. Pointing to the mountain on the other side of the stream, she said, "My sister and I have claimed that mountain over there..."
Gu Xi saw another young woman with short hair, dressed all in black, jump down from the large truck. She gave them an impassive nod.
Just then, Qin Yi pulled a small packet of compressed biscuits from her large backpack and pressed it into Gu Xi's hand. "I guess we're neighbors now..."
Gu Xi stared down at the compressed biscuits in her hand, momentarily stunned.
She knew that it was customary to bring a gift when meeting new neighbors for the first time.
She also knew that she was expected to give one in return...
Gu Xi looked up at Wei Heng.
When Wei Heng saw her gaze land ominously on the giant bouquet of black flowers in his arms, he froze in horror.
'No way, absolutely not! They'll kill us!'
Wei Heng silently took a step back.
Gu Xi: "..."
Perhaps because Wei Heng's objection was so vehement, she gave in after a moment. Resigned, she turned and strode over to the shipping container, grabbed a bag of sweet potatoes, and thrust it into the hands of the girl who had introduced herself as Qin Yi. "Gu Xi."
"Thank you for the compressed biscuits. This is a return gift."
Qin Yi's eyes lit up as she looked at the sweet potatoes. "Gu Xi, did you grow these yourself...?" 'These sweet potatoes look nothing like the starters the base hands out.'
'Not only are they much bigger, but their mutation level doesn't seem high... No wonder the higher-ups sent us over in such a rush.'
Gu Xi nodded silently.
Just then, Wei Heng stepped forward and pulled up his personal terminal. "I'm Wei Heng. Since we're neighbors, let's add each other as friends..."
After they added each other, Qin Yi turned to Gu Xi, her two dimples making for an irresistibly sweet smile.
Gu Xi opened her personal terminal and displayed her ID.
Qin Yi looked at the brand-new string of digits on the screen with some surprise, but she didn't ask any questions. After adding Gu Xi as a friend, she simply hefted the bag of sweet potatoes and smiled. "Gu Xi, are you growing anything besides sweet potatoes?"
"My sister and I have been eating dry rations for two days on the road. We'd love to have some fresh vegetable soup tonight..."
For some reason, Gu Xi shot an expressionless glance at Wei Heng before shaking her head. "Only sweet potatoes."
Qin Yi seemed a little surprised. "Oh? You're so skilled to have grown such good sweet potatoes. Why not plant some other crops?"
Gu Xi paused for a moment before saying, "...The leaves can be eaten as vegetables, too." 'As for being too poor to buy seeds for any other crops... she would absolutely never admit that.'
'The shame would be too much to bear.'
"Uh," Wei Heng said, jumping in as a strange sense of foreboding washed over him. "It's getting late. Why don't I head over and help you two unload? It'll be a pain to do it after dark..."
He turned to Gu Xi. "You should stay here. With those skinny arms and legs, you wouldn't be much help anyway..."
As he spoke, he thrust the giant bouquet back into Gu Xi's arms. "It looks like the sisters have a lot of things. I might be late coming back to make dinner for you."
"There are leftover sweet potatoes from lunch in the pot. If you get hungry, just eat some of those to tide you over..."
Gu Xi gave the giant bouquet in her arms a strange, silent look and nodded.
After thanking him with a smile, Qin Yi said goodbye to Gu Xi and led Wei Heng to the other side of the stream.
On the other side of the stream, the somewhat cold-looking, short-haired girl in black was slowly pushing an oversized shipping container toward an empty plot of land at the base of the slope.
'A strength-type ability user?'
'Doesn't quite seem like it...'
Gu Xi stood there for a while, holding the huge bouquet of black chrysanthemums, before slowly turning to head back.
As she passed the few sweet potato vines that had been deliberately left near the entrance, she paused for a moment.