Since there is still a considerable distance between G City and Hope Base, the pioneering team's daily food supplies are basically collected from the wild by dispatching small teams. Fortunately, the area around G City is rich in wild resources, so supplying food expenses for a hundred-person pioneering team is not a problem.

When they set off the next day, Xu Milu understood how Xiao Ding could be so capable, so easily arranging for her to join the collection team.

The leader of the team was an old acquaintance, dressed in a smart black military uniform, with a neat buzz cut, strong arms with well-defined muscles, and a bronze complexion from years of traveling—it was Ding Xiang, the squad leader who had led the team with Emil to investigate the unusual bird movements on the first day.

The name is beautiful and poetic, but unfortunately the person is male. He is Xiao Ding's older brother, and you can still see some resemblance between siblings in his eyes and brows.

"So you're the kid my sister was talking about? My name is Dingxiang. Just call me Brother Ding, like the others."

He pulled half a cigarette from his pocket and scrutinized Xu Milu as if interrogating a criminal:

"I'll only say this once: come with us. If you encounter danger, don't scream. Don't leave the group on your own, or no one will collect your body if you die. Report any food you find immediately, and also..."

He skillfully lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and waited for the pungent tobacco to circulate in his lungs before slowly exhaling two puffs of white smoke from his nose.

"You're not allowed to date my sister, not even in your wildest dreams."

Being warned by someone's older brother not to make advances towards his younger sister was a first for Xu Milu, regardless of the world she lived in. She immediately explained to "prove her innocence":

“It’s not what you think about Xiao Ding. I’m just very interested in wild mutant plants, so I asked Xiao Ding to bring me here to broaden my horizons.”

Xu Milu spoke sincerely, but Dingxiang exhaled a smoke ring and muttered, "Coward."

He clearly didn't believe Xu Milu's explanation. In his view, who would be interested in wild mutated plants? At most, it was just an excuse to get close to his sister.

Xiao Ding, slightly annoyed, immediately kicked Ding Xiang: "Brother! What are you thinking? I just think Yu Lu is a great cook, and I want to..."

She lowered her voice and added, "I heard the base is hiring chefs, fifty crystal cores a day! It's never a bad thing if I learn more from them, I can't rely on you to support me forever!"

Dingxiang couldn't help but want to retort: ​​"Don't you think I can't support you? Look at this kid, he's got shifty eyes, he used to be a 'wild man,' who knows what kind of bad things he's up to..."

"Wild man" is the term used by people in the refugee base to refer to free people outside the base. Although the refugee base has well-developed infrastructure, abundant resources, and better personal safety, the strict hierarchical regulations within the base mean that some people who do not want to be controlled still choose to settle in the wild.

Such "wild men" are either wanted criminals who escaped from the base, or extremists who dislike being bound by the law. In Dingxiang's view, no matter which type the tall, thin young man in front of her is, he is very dangerous to her.

"..."

Xu Milu looked up at the sky and down at the ground, pretending not to hear what she said.

This was the first time she had ever been disliked.

Xiao Ding glanced quickly at Xu Milu, then turned and retorted confidently:

"Even Captain Nalan can't find any criminal record for him, so why are you still holding this up?! Just tell me if you're going to help or not! If you don't, I'm going to tell my mom!"

Dingxiang had a bit of a headache. Compared to her younger sister, the 1.9-meter-tall Dingxiang looked exceptionally small.

"Help! Didn't I already promise him he'd come with us? I'm just giving him a heads-up and explaining our rules."

As he spoke, he put his arm around Xu Milu's neck like a "good buddy": "Right, buddy?"

"Don't get too close to me, I'm allergic to people."

Xu Milu pushed away Dingxiang's overly familiar hand with a blank expression—heaven knows how many days it had been since the other person had showered, and the smell of sweat on her body was probably quite strong.

She hasn't dared to teleport back to the food shop to take a shower these past few days, only daring to sneak out in the middle of the night to wipe her whole body with wet wipes. Even so, her clothes still have a slight smell.

This period of her life is absolutely her darkest chapter, without exception.

...

...

After the apocalypse, many plants and animals on the planet Earth underwent mutations.

There were black rats with rabbit ears and the size of wild dogs, and cockroaches with translucent wings that mimicked snake heads;

There were female mosquitoes with bodies the size of a human head when stretched out, sucking plant sap; and wild dandelions with leaves as small as hair.

There are also gray-blue lilies with flowers so large they could swallow an entire beetle, and nettles with iron-like spikes along their leaf edges...

It seems that not only animals, but also plants have eagerly joined the ranks of carnivores. The fruits and leaves of most plants have evolved to be more vibrant, and can even mimic the appearance of flesh and blood to lure prey.

These familiar creatures with drastically changed appearances made Xu Milu wonder if she was in some sci-fi alien world rather than the blue planet.

Xu Milu also looked at a loquat tree that had grown out of the building ruins. Its branches were full of honey-colored golden loquats, but everyone seemed to just glance at it indifferently, as if they intended to ignore the tempting fruit.

"Forget about it. That tree has a higher infection rate than the mutated cockroaches, a full 56%. If you eat even one bite, you'll need at least three or four injections of anti-infection drugs to lower your infection rate. Otherwise, do you think the fruit on that tree will still be there for us to pick?"

Dingxiang tossed over a small, exquisite black instrument; the value on the screen hovered between 16% and 30%.

When the instrument was pointed at the loquat tree, the value soared to 56%.

The standard for judging whether food is edible is the viral infection value; the higher the infection value, the lower the edibility.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!