After dealing with the mutant plants with brutal efficiency, Ye Junhan didn't spare them a glance. With a backhanded flick, the curved blade, glinting with a cold metallic sheen in the sunlight, slid back into its sheath.
His gaze fell upon Wei Heng.
"Mr. Ye, it's been a while." A pale and weakened Wei Heng helped the equally pale and weakened Gu Xi to her feet, then brushed the dust and grass clippings from her clothes.
Ye Junhan frowned slightly.
Just then,
"Jun Han."
Seeing Ye Nan over there trying to come over despite being held back, Ye Junhan frowned, gave Wei Heng one more deep look, then turned and strode away.
After he was gone, Gu Xi stared at the ashes on the ground and mused, "A Thunder Ability user?"
Wei Heng's head was bowed, lost in thought. He hummed absently in response.
When Gu Xi turned to look at him and her gaze fell on his hand gripping her arm, he suddenly snapped back to his senses.
"Sorry, sorry! I wasn't paying attention. Did I hurt you?" He quickly let go, but then leaned in close to Gu Xi's ear. Watching Ye Junhan's retreating figure, he whispered:
"See him? That's Ye Junhan, the captain of the Superpower Special Team, the strongest person in this post-apocalyptic world. He's an orphan adopted by Mr. Ye, so he's technically Young Miss Ye Nan's older brother, but…"
At this point, Wei Heng winked at Gu Xi and said conspiratorially, "Some people say he was handpicked by Mr. Ye to be his daughter's future husband."
Gu Xi: "..."
"I never would've guessed you were such a gossip." Gu Xi raised her eyes to look at the man's imposing figure retreating in the distance. Her gaze lingered for a second on the sheath at his waist before she looked down at her own fingertips.
A small green sprout emerged on its own. The two tender leaves at its tip drooped listlessly, looking wilted and malnourished.
"I'm not *that* much of a gossip." Wei Heng followed her gaze and also noticed the strange state of the small green sprout, frowning immediately. "What's with your…"
"It's nothing. I'm just a little hungry…" Gu Xi gently stroked the tip of the tiny sprout with her finger.
'There was something wrong with her ability. It was too weak right now, which was why the manifested sprout appeared so… unhealthy.'
'Fortunately, it wasn't a major issue.'
'As long as it could absorb enough energy, her little sprout could instantly grow into a towering tree!'
Wei Heng misunderstood, however. He slapped his forehead in frustration. "It's all my fault. It's already midday, and you haven't eaten anything, have you?"
He pulled a greenish-looking cake from the cloth bag he carried and stuffed it into Gu Xi's hand. "Here, have this to tide you over. This wild vegetable cake doesn't taste like much, but it's filling…"
Gu Xi hadn't had anything to eat or drink since she woke up. She hadn't felt hungry before, but his reminder made her realize she really was.
"Thank you." Gu Xi accepted it without any fuss and took a bite of the wild vegetable cake.
And then… she froze.
It wasn't because the taste of the wild vegetable cake was indescribably awful. Rather, the moment the cake entered her mouth, a faint, almost imperceptible energy shot into her body with lightning speed, attempting to contaminate and corrode her ability.
'This was something Gu Xi had never encountered before. A kind of… living energy?'
Fortunately, this energy was extremely weak, and her own ability was exceptionally ferocious. It instantly suppressed and devoured the intruding energy in one gulp.
Seeing her strange expression, Wei Heng coughed lightly and said, a little embarrassed, "The taste isn't great, huh? But there's nothing to be done. Resources are limited in the camp right now. These wild vegetables are made directly into cakes after being picked, without any special processing…"
"It's fine." 'Back when she was out on missions,' Gu Xi thought, 'the conditions had been far worse than this. What horrible things *hadn't* she eaten?'
'The wild vegetable cake's flavor was indescribably sour and bitter, but it was just about tolerable.'
But… as Gu Xi swallowed the piece of cake, she suddenly thought of the people in the camp—how severely emaciated they were, their complexions faintly sallow and dark, looking as if they were either malnourished or poisoned.
She also thought of the scar-faced Mr. Zhou and his crude, somewhat strange ability.
With a dawning suspicion, Gu Xi stared at the vegetable cake in her hand and thoughtfully took another large bite.
Sure enough, the moment the cake entered her mouth, the energy that had been lying dormant instantly came alive again…
This time, Gu Xi didn't immediately devour it. Instead, she enveloped the foreign energy with her own ability to observe it carefully.
She discovered that this "living energy" was very similar to the energy within the wild mutant plants outside, but not entirely identical.
Both were bizarre and volatile.
But there were subtle differences.
The difference was that when she seized the energy from the mutant plants outside, it didn't actively attack her. Instead, it would docilely allow her to convert it into her own ability.
'Most people would likely never notice this.'
But Gu Xi's ability was unique. Her control over it and her perception of energy were refined to an extreme degree, allowing her to catch this subtle distinction just in time.
'But both types of energy came from mutant plants. So, what was the source of the problem?'
Gu Xi stared at the rest of the vegetable cake in her hand, lost in thought.