When they returned, Lin Wenxue had already become a late-stage Level 3 wind-element ability user and was currently attempting to break through to Level 4.
The return of the three women was an unexpected and wonderful surprise for the members of the team. At the same time, however, they also brought back the news of Lin Ziqiang and Xiao Ming’s deaths, which left everyone sighing with sorrow.
That day, the two men had sacrificed themselves to protect the women, allowing them to survive the most difficult and darkest period.
After that heavy rain, all the monsters disappeared, and Lin Wenxue woke from her deep sleep. Just as Lin Ziqiang had predicted, she awakened a wind-type ability without any surprises. Afterward, she protected the other two girls, who were still ordinary people, all the way, searching everywhere for traces of the main group.
They first found Tianze Base and learned from the survivors that Shuguang Base existed. Only then did they make their way here.
They had no means of transportation and traveled entirely on foot. Relying on the supplies they had collected in the city earlier, as well as forcing themselves to be bold enough to eat the flesh of mutated beasts along the way, they finally managed to reach Shuguang Base.
Naturally, they encountered danger along the way. Fortunately, there was Lin Wenxue, a Level 3 wind-type ability user. This girl was tough and deeply loyal. She protected the other two without ever leaving them behind or complaining.
Even so, by the time the three arrived, they were dusty, exhausted, and in a sorry state.
Xiao Ziran immediately instructed them to rest and had Old Wu personally arrange everything for them.
Besides that, they had also brought back some extremely important news!
After Xiao Ziran and the others had left, they had no idea what had happened to the zombies and monsters inside the city. It was only after the three women returned that they learned that the heavy rain had killed the zombies.
Xiao Ziran no longer had the ability to think about or unravel the mystery behind that strange rain. What he immediately realized was—
Crystal cores!
A huge number of ready-made Level 3 zombie crystal cores!
And perhaps even some mutated beast crystal cores!
For ability users, this was an enormous fortune!
Furthermore, up until now, the secret of the crystal cores was still in the hands of the original members of their team. This meant that their side could monopolize this enormous fortune.
Therefore, Xiao Ziran had Ouyang Jing personally lead the operation, taking all the ability users from the original team, including Li Nan and Bai Mingxi. He even brought Pei Qianxing along. The group quietly headed back to J City once again.
Xiao Ziran himself remained behind to oversee Shuguang Base.
The final major event was Quan Xiaoyu’s departure.
Less than five days after everyone settled down in the small town, Quan Xiaoyu announced that he was leaving to search for Chu Tian.
Considering that the dangers on the road were greater than those within the base, he decided to leave alone, leaving Bai Mingxi and Li Nan behind.
During this time, he transferred some of the supplies stored in his spatial ability to Bai Mingxi to help with the construction of the base. He also asked Xiao Ziran and Ouyang Jing to take good care of the two of them.
After that, regardless of everyone’s attempts to persuade him otherwise, he set out on the road to find Chu Tian.
When he left, he took Xie Mingxuan with him as well.
Although with Xie Mingxuan around, no zombies dared approach the base, Xie Mingxuan only listened to Quan Xiaoyu. No one else could control him. If Quan Xiaoyu were absent, leaving Xie Mingxuan behind would actually be dangerous.
Therefore, Quan Xiaoyu had no choice but to take him along.
In fact, if Quan Xiaoyu hadn’t taken Xie Mingxuan with him, Bai Mingxi and Li Nan absolutely would not have agreed to stay behind and let Quan Xiaoyu search for Chu Tian alone. They would definitely have insisted on going with him.
It was only because Quan Xiaoyu had a super bodyguard like Xie Mingxuan that the two were finally willing to remain behind and let him leave alone.
Afterward, with everyone working together and Xiao Ziran’s meticulous planning, the base developed rapidly.
T Province, somewhere.
As the neighbor of J Province, which consisted mostly of plains, T Province was surprisingly dominated by mountains. Before the apocalypse, its economy had also been far behind that of its neighbor, J Province.
However, its subtropical rainforest climate made the land extremely lush, and it had once been rich in many rare plants.
After the apocalypse, the vegetation became even more abundant. Many abandoned towns were rapidly swallowed up by plants, and human civilization was quickly devoured by green vegetation.
Standing here now, it was almost as though one had entered a primeval forest.
At this moment, Quan Xiaoyu was sitting on a vine, swallowing water from a bottle one mouthful at a time.
Three months!
He had been searching for Chu Tian for an entire three months!
After leaving everyone behind, he returned to J City and searched once again. Then he traveled northward. Two months later, he once again discovered traces of the black giant bird’s movements.
In the end, he followed those traces deep into the mountains.
He had already been in the mountains for a month.
There was no need to mention all the hardships he had endured along the way. Fortunately, he had his spatial ability, so he had no shortage of food or clothing and could even rest inside his space at night.
He also had Xie Mingxuan by his side, so he wasn’t completely lonely.
But whenever he thought of Chu Tian, his heart hurt as though it were being pierced by needles.
At this moment, Quan Xiaoyu was sitting on a thick vine, slowly drinking water. He wore a black hoodie with the hood pulled up, and his entire person looked weather-beaten.
His face, which had originally looked young and delicate thanks to the nourishment provided by his spatial ability, was now covered in an unkempt beard. He didn’t even know how long it had been since he last shaved.
If this had been before, he would have found it almost unbearable to see himself in such a disheveled state.
But now, his mind was entirely occupied by other things.
Quan Xiaoyu drank his water while examining his surroundings.
Under the dense vegetation, he could vaguely see traces of human civilization. He realized that he might already have entered a town where humans had lived before the apocalypse.
In places like this, if one searched carefully, one could find many traces of human activity.
Maybe Chu Tian is here.
Quan Xiaoyu stubbornly thought so.
Xie Mingxuan had gone hunting for food at this moment.
Quan Xiaoyu had discovered that Xie Mingxuan was much more interested in the flesh of mutated beasts than in humans, which made him very relieved.
So throughout the journey, he had simply let Xie Mingxuan hunt and forage on his own. He could always kill many strange mutated beasts to fill his stomach.
For example, there were rabbits as tall as a person. They had evolved sharp teeth but had somehow retained their vegetarian habits, and they could even fight against the mutated vines that had evolved afterward.
There were also mutated squirrels. Their size had barely changed; they were still small and adorably dumb-looking. But when they opened their mouths, they could shoot out a tongue as sharp as a sword, just like a lizard, using it to catch prey.
The mountains and forests after the apocalypse were like a prehistoric zoo of plants and animals, filled with unknown dangers and all kinds of strange new things.
Xie Mingxuan often managed to kill these unusual creatures and bring them back for Quan Xiaoyu to see.
When they encountered something that looked edible, Quan Xiaoyu would cut off a piece, add a little seasoning at random, and then use his fire-type ability, which had already reached the late stage of Level 4, to roast the meat.
Ever since discovering that Xie Mingxuan could occasionally eat cooked food as well, Quan Xiaoyu would feed him some cooked food from time to time.
However, Xie Mingxuan was much more interested in fresh blood and flesh.
With Xie Mingxuan, this terrifying killing machine, by his side throughout the journey, Quan Xiaoyu hadn’t encountered any particularly dangerous situations.
The worst was one time when they fought a mutated vine-type plant. The two of them were both entangled by it, and in the end, they only managed to escape death by making use of the spatial ability.
Since then, Quan Xiaoyu had developed a deep psychological trauma toward vines.
Therefore, Quan Xiaoyu once again patted the vine beneath him. Only after confirming that it wasn’t going to move did he feel slightly more at ease.
He took a map and compass out of his backpack. Ouyang Jing had given them to him before he left.
He began trying to determine his current location.
By the time he roughly concluded that he was already in T Province, twenty minutes had passed.
Quan Xiaoyu glanced at the watch on his left wrist.
Xie Mingxuan had been gone for almost an hour and still hadn’t returned.
Normally, Xie Mingxuan would only leave after discovering prey, and he could usually finish a fight within half an hour.
Something was unusual today.
Quan Xiaoyu thought for a moment, then went in the direction Xie Mingxuan had left.
As long as both of them were safe, Quan Xiaoyu wasn’t worried about getting separated.
He didn’t know why, but it was as though Xie Mingxuan had a radar installed specifically for him. He could always find Quan Xiaoyu.
After walking for half an hour, a small hill blocked his path.
Quan Xiaoyu didn’t use his speed ability because he needed to collect traces along the way. He had found signs that Xie Mingxuan had passed through here, yet even now, he still hadn’t seen him.
Quan Xiaoyu had no choice but to continue forward, intending to climb over the small hill.
When he reached the top and looked down at the mountain on the opposite side, he saw two figures fighting.
No.
Perhaps there were three!
Two people were entangled in combat, occasionally separating to deal with the branches of a plant that repeatedly took advantage of the opportunity to shoot out and wrap around them.
Judging from the color of the clothing on one of the figures, it should be Xie Mingxuan.
Quan Xiaoyu wasn’t particularly worried.
Xie Mingxuan wasn’t at a disadvantage. Instead, the person fighting him repeatedly seemed to be trying to escape the battle, only to be continually entangled by the plant branches and forced to fight head-on.
Quan Xiaoyu found it strange.
Why was Xie Mingxuan fighting a human?
He had always been more interested in mutated beasts than humans. Besides, Quan Xiaoyu reminded him every day that he was absolutely not allowed to eat humans.
Yet now, Xie Mingxuan was relentlessly pursuing that person.
It was rather strange.
But curious as he was, Quan Xiaoyu didn’t simply stand there and watch.
He activated his speed ability and quickly rushed toward the direction of the battle.
I’ll go over and figure out what’s happening first.
If the other person wasn’t a bad guy, the only person who could probably stop Xie Mingxuan from attacking was Quan Xiaoyu himself.
And if the other person really was a bad guy, he could lend a hand.
After all, the only reason Xie Mingxuan hadn’t defeated him yet was because there was an even more troublesome mutated plant involved.
Quan Xiaoyu had a deep psychological shadow regarding mutated plants, but there was nothing he could do.
When a battle needed to be fought, he still had to fight.
He gripped the handle of his katana and encouraged himself.
This katana had originally been lost when he fought the monsters in the laboratory.
Later, when he returned to J City to search for Chu Tian, he failed to find Chu Tian but did manage to recover the katana.
He had no idea how Li Shunwei had originally forged this weapon.
But when Quan Xiaoyu found it, it was still as sharp as new.
In the blink of an eye, Quan Xiaoyu had already reached the middle of the battlefield.
Two people and one tree were now clearly visible.