Chapter 115 Pei Qique

"You can't leave!" A middle-aged man with a full beard suddenly rushed out from the crowd, spitting as he spoke.

"Mr. Zhou and Mr. Ding are both dead! You're gone, what will we do if those mutated trees come back tonight?!"

These words were like a spark thrown into a pot of boiling oil, and the survivors immediately erupted in chaos:

"This is going to kill us all!"

"Those trees will eat people if they're not sprayed with pesticides!"

"Stop them! Don't let them leave!"

"Yes! Seal the gate shut!"

"We can't let them leave."

"Quickly, stop them!"

......

Amid the commotion, the short-haired girl, whom I had met briefly earlier in front of the mutated tree, struggled to push her way to the front.

"Listen up, everyone! Calm down! The mutated tree was destroyed by those guys during the day! Starting tonight, we won't have to..."

"Xu Lin!" the middle-aged man interrupted sharply, "You're in cahoots with them, aren't you?"

"Squeak—creak—"

A series of ear-piercing screeching brakes suddenly rang out from behind the crowd.

The moment the car door opened, everyone's eyes were involuntarily drawn to it.

The first to get off the bus were a group of men and women dressed in black uniforms. They stood in well-trained, dispersed positions, wearing silver badges on their chests.

In the third car, a tall, slender young man nimbly jumped out, turned around, took a folding wheelchair from the trunk, and skillfully unfolded it.

Immediately afterwards, he carefully helped the next sick woman.

The woman's pale skin was almost transparent in the setting sun, and she had similar eyebrows and eyes to the man.

After settling into her wheelchair, the woman began to speak: "Everyone."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it miraculously silenced the noisy crowd: "I am Pei Qique."

A murmur suddenly broke out among the crowd:

"Pei Qique? Isn't that Mr. Zhou's sickly lover?"

"This is going to be interesting; she's definitely here for revenge..."

"Quickly retreat, don't get involved..."

The crowd instinctively took a few steps back...

Pei Qique's weak but clear voice pierced through the noise: "Listen to me, everyone. Zhou Muyun is indeed my husband, but he is a complete hypocrite. That mutated plant in the center of Jiaxing was cultivated by Zhou Muyun..."

This statement caused a huge uproar:

"That plant was actually grown by Mr. Zhou?"

"No wonder, only our base has a solution to prevent plant invasion..."

Pei Qique: "After the apocalypse, Zhou Muyun cultivated that plant. His fundamental purpose in establishing the Jia City base was not to provide you with a place to live, but to treat you as livestock for sustenance!!!"

["I knew it! Every time patrol teams went missing in large numbers, Zhou Muyun and Ding Feng would say they'd died in the line of duty..."]

["I thought the guy surnamed Zhou was a good person, so I always included him in my prayers and ancestral worship..."]

"That damned Zhou Muyun..."

["brute!"]

"Siyu and I... accidentally stumbled upon his secret." Her sleeve trembled as she lifted it, revealing countless needle marks on her wrist: "Zhou Muyun injected us with neurotoxins... using our lives to control each other..."

She closed her eyes in anguish: "Including the Pei family's superhumans behind us... they've all become his puppets."

When she looked up at Lu Nange and her group again, tears streamed down her gaunt face: "If it weren't for these distinguished guests... I'm afraid that tens of thousands of people in the entire Jia City base would have become fertilizer for that mutated plant sooner or later..."

[That sounds nice! Zhou Muyun was bad, but at least we were alive. Now that Zhou Muyun is dead, who will protect us?]

[Exactly, what do we do?]

[If mutated plants attack at night, we'll become fertilizer just like everyone else!]

Zhou Siyu, who had been standing silently behind the wheelchair, stepped forward.

His young face still held a hint of immaturity, but his eyes were resolute: "Everyone, I am Zhou Siyu. Our Pei family's reconnaissance team has confirmed that the mutated plants in the city center have indeed disappeared. The world has changed, but as long as we all unite..."

"Unity is strength, you make it sound so easy. You're just afraid we'll cause trouble."

[Yes, anyone can say nice things. You just want us to keep working for you!] Several voices echoed.

Lu Nange and the others were all quite tired. He Zhuo, with a stern face, called out, "We won't leave tonight. We'll stay here until we're sure there won't be any more mutated plant attacks, okay?"

The roads remain completely blocked off.

Lu Nange: "I understand that confusion and fear can make people weak. But the world has changed. Only by becoming stronger can you protect yourself and the people you want to protect."

The restless crowd unconsciously quieted down.

Xu Lin pushed her way to the front of the crowd, her sunburned cheeks flushed with emotion: "Have you no conscience? They risked their lives to eliminate the mutated plants and the culprits, and now their wounds are bleeding, and you're just here arguing!"

Zhou Siyu: "Everyone, we can discuss the later plans for the base later. Now, please disperse and let our distinguished guest take care of his injuries, shall we?"