Chapter 28: Chapter 26: The Scent of the Mortal World
"Mr. Shen?" Qin Shi looked over, confused, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
Shen Yue had already looked away. He didn’t explain, instead asking, "Nightingale, you were the first person to inspect the scene. Those battle marks... what do you make of them?"
Qin Shi’s callsign on the team was Nightingale because she was their most outstanding scout, with extremely sharp observational skills and exceptionally keen senses.
"Judging from the energy fluctuations and battle marks left at the scene, there was definitely a malignant mutant plant here," Qin Shi said with absolute certainty.
"Then where did the malignant mutant plant go?" Shen Yue cut straight to the heart of the matter.
Everyone knew that after a mutant plant turned malignant, it would not only become incredibly powerful but also grow to an enormous size.
For such a large malignant mutant plant, even if someone had dealt with it, where was the body? It couldn’t have just vanished into thin air, could it?
"That part is indeed very strange." Qin Shi also looked grave. "I checked carefully last time. There are no drag marks anywhere nearby. That malignant mutant plant... it’s as if it just disappeared into thin air."
Shen Yue narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze—seemingly casual but actually sharp—sweeping over the surrounding patches of grass, not missing a single inch.
Everyone knew that nature was a cyclical process. Withered plants decomposed into fertilizer, nourishing new life.
For the mutant plants that had withered just a few days ago, there were already very few traces of them left on the ground.
Shen Yue had a strange feeling. ’The rate at which those withered mutant plants are decomposing... it seems a little too fast, doesn’t it?’
After a moment, he nonchalantly asked Qin Shi, "Do those battle marks look familiar to you?"
She quickly caught on to what Shen Yue was implying and raised an eyebrow slightly. "Mr. Shen, you suspect Wei Heng did it?" Wei Heng had an Earth Ability, which naturally gave him the means to get rid of a body.
Shen Yue neither confirmed nor denied it.
Since their current mission target was with Wei Heng, Qin Shi had reviewed many of his past combat videos on the internal system before arriving, familiarizing herself with his fighting style.
But judging from the battle marks from that day...
"It’s hard to say." Qin Shi shook her head slightly, recalling, "From the battle marks at the scene that day, the malignant mutant plant was at least Level 8..."
But they both knew that while Wei Heng had once been a Level 9 powerhouse, his ability had been compromised ever since that incident half a year ago...
Rumor had it, Wei Heng could only use his ability one last time.
After that, if he was lucky, he might retain his human dignity and end his life peacefully. If he was unlucky, he would completely lose his mind and devolve into a monster.
"Besides, I checked..." For some reason, Qin Shi’s voice suddenly dropped. "For the past six months, he’s been taking superpower inhibitors... It probably wasn’t him."
Shen Yue gave a noncommittal hum. After a moment, he suddenly asked, "What about Gu Xi?"
Qin Shi was taken aback. "...Gu Xi’s ability is only around Level 4." ’Plus, she looks so frail, like a gust of wind could blow her over. There’s no way it could have been her, right?’
But Shen Yue said, "The Military Department had experts examine those sweet potatoes you sent back last time. Although their mutation coefficient is very low, when they’re used as seeds and stimulated by a Wood Element user, they mutate extremely quickly..."
"In just one day, the resulting sweet potato vines had a mutation coefficient of over 6." Shen Yue’s gaze fell on a nearby weed, his thoughts unreadable.
Qin Shi instinctively glanced at him, surprised at first, then with a flicker of understanding.
She had noticed it the day they were planting watermelons—the girl’s ability was indeed special.
But then she thought of those mutant upland rice plants and wasn’t so sure anymore.
"So, what are the higher-ups thinking...?" she asked Shen Yue, looking up with mixed feelings.
"Let’s keep watching," Shen Yue said, turning to walk toward the other side of the slope.
What he didn’t tell Nightingale was that although the sweet potatoes couldn’t be cultivated as a superior strain, several experts had discovered another possibility in them...
Furthermore, while looking into Gu Xi’s background, he’d accidentally discovered that Ye Junhan and another faction also seemed to be secretly investigating her.
And then there was Mr. Xv... After leaving here in such a hurry, the very first thing he did upon his return was to pull up Gu Xi’s files.
Although Mr. Xv’s subsequent actions were quite clever and covert, Shen Yue still discovered something very interesting.
He was intentionally hiding Gu Xi’s existence.
And his method was quite brilliant. He hadn’t destroyed Gu Xi’s files; instead, he had completely buried them within the vast population of pioneers.
It was like a drop of water that could only be hidden by letting it dissolve into the sea.
Things were getting more and more interesting.
It was unclear what came to his mind, but the corners of Shen Yue’s eyes curved up slightly, and he let out a soft, nonchalant "tsk."
...
It was already very late when Gu Xi and Wei Heng returned from the camp.
The Qin Family sisters on the opposite bank seemed to be asleep, but a light was still on at the earthen house not far away.
After Wei Heng unloaded their things from the vehicle, he went to wash a basket of sweet potatoes and started a fire.
With nothing else to do, Gu Xi took out the old radio and began to fiddle with it.
Wei Heng glanced up from where he was. "Want me to take a look in a bit?" ’That thing cost tens of thousands. She’d better not break it by messing around.’
But the words had barely left his mouth when the radio emitted a crackle of static.
Forgetting all about the sweet potatoes, Wei Heng carelessly shoved a few more dry branches into the stove and squatted down beside her. "I can’t believe this thing actually works..." he said, looking amazed.
He looked eager to try it himself.
Gu Xi shot him a smiling glance. "Not complaining about the price anymore?"
Wei Heng: "..."
’Of course it was still expensive. Thirty-eight thousand could buy a whole truckload of sweet potatoes. But they’d already bought it, so...’
But seeing Gu Xi so engrossed, looking like she’d just gotten a new toy, he, a grown man, couldn’t bring himself to fight a young girl for it. He could only turn back in silence and add another handful of firewood to the earthen stove.
But inside, he was itching with curiosity, as if a cat were scratching at his heart.
In the end, he couldn’t resist. He turned around again and squatted next to Gu Xi, watching her tinker with it and occasionally offering a terrible idea or two.
Gu Xi: "..." ’His mouth says no, but his body says yes?’
Seeing her tune the radio for a long time without finding a channel, Wei Heng, who was beside her, couldn’t help but frown. "Gu Xi, don’t tell me we can’t get a signal out here?"
Who would’ve thought that as soon as he finished speaking, a female announcer’s perfectly articulate voice would sound from the radio, "...listeners. Next up, we have..."
Wei Heng: "..."
Gu Xi dusted off her hands and shot him a look with one eyebrow raised, as if to say, ’Mission accomplished. Totally worth the thirty-eight thousand, right?’
Wei Heng: "..." ’I’ll just listen to the radio.’
It seemed to be an agricultural science and education channel, currently broadcasting key points on cultivating mutant corn...
The two of them squatted and listened for a while before Wei Heng went inside and brought out two lounge chairs—ones he had made himself a few days ago when he was bored.
Gu Xi got up, brushed the dust from her clothes, and lay down in the chair on the left. Wei Heng turned and added more firewood to the stove.
With a sky full of stars above, an earthen stove nearby, the program on corn cultivation in her ears, and the fragrant aroma of sweet potatoes in the air... Gu Xi narrowed her eyes slightly. ’This must be what they call the simple warmth of a lived-in life.’
After listening to the radio for a while, Gu Xi took out the old dictionary and began to slowly flip through its pages.
Wei Heng glanced at her, then turned to lift the pot lid. Unafraid of the heat, he poked a sweet potato with his fingertip. ’Not soft enough. Needs to cook a bit longer.’
He didn’t notice, however, that Gu Xi’s hand paused as she flipped through the dictionary.
Her gaze fell on the very end of a line on page 28.
There was a small, inconspicuous ink dot there, perhaps left by accident by a previous owner.
But upon closer inspection, one would find that the shape of this little ink dot was strange, and remarkably similar to a special symbol on the token Xv Yiyisan had left her.
So similar, in fact, that they were practically identical.
Her fingertip slowly traced the small ink dot. Gu Xi lowered her gaze, and just an instant before Wei Heng looked over, she nonchalantly flipped to the next page...