Chapter 75

A group of small bitter gourds slowly gathered around. The cabbage carefully counted them and found there were eight of them.

Including the little bitter gourd that led the way, there are nine in total.

Nine bitter melons!

Even the well-traveled lettuce was astonished. Mutant plants of the same species usually don't number more than three, and they might not even be born together.

Lettuce has been wandering around for so long, and has only encountered two winter melons and two small pine trees.

The carrot standing to the side stared wide-eyed, remaining silent.

So many bitter melons!

Durian will see this in a moment...

The little bitter gourds are all about the same size, about the height of a palm, and the same color. They have thin leaves and limbs, and a leaf on top.

Their expressions and movements were also very similar, gripping their weapons tightly and staring intently at Qianhui and the plants, including Nantingjin behind them.

Little Bitter Gourd, who hadn't taken any weapons, immediately picked up a stone from the ground, his eyes wary yet also showing a hint of fear and timidity.

So many exceptional exotic plants... Did they come from the base on the wood chips?

But why are there two more...?

It wasn't until the little bitter gourd leading the way made a few "woo-woo" sounds that it explained the whole story.

It took out the half-eaten bag of dried meat and shared it with the other bitter melons.

Upon seeing the dried meat, the little bitter gourds dropped their weapons with a "plop" and rushed over eagerly.

Worried that the cabbages wouldn't have enough to eat, the cabbage quickly took out several more bags of food, including dry rations.

The little bitter gourds didn't stand on ceremony and grabbed them all.

They huddled together, with the little bitter gourd that had led the way earlier also there. One bitter gourd would take a couple of bites of food, then pass it to another for a couple more bites, and so on, passing it around to eat.

These little bitter melons were starving and probably had never eaten anything decent before. They buried their heads and devoured all the cabbage given to them in one go.

After they had filled their bellies, they all burped together, the sounds echoing one after another.

Then, the little bitter gourd that had led the way earlier approached with its eight companions and introduced them to Qianhui and the plants.

It pointed to each one and made several "woof woof" sounds.

This is the big gourd, this is the second gourd... the little bitter gourd calls itself the seventh gourd, they are brothers who grew up together.

Little Bitter Gourd also said that they live here, and each day they go out to find food and return on time.

Yesterday, however, it unexpectedly encountered a pomelo and didn't go back home that night. The other bitter melons waited for it, and luckily everyone was there.

Little Bitter Gourd pointed to Yuzu hiding behind Qianhui's heels and made a loud "woof woof".

Thanks to the pomelo's help, it was able to find more premium exotic plants on the wood chips, and now they can go to the plant base!

The pomelo remained motionless, pretending not to hear.

Qian Hui stepped forward, bent down, and reached out to pat the head of the little bitter gourd who was leading the way.

He could roughly guess what Little Bitter Gourd was talking about, and asked, "Are you all willing to come back to the base with me?"

The nine little bitter gourds nodded in unison, without the slightest hesitation.

Although they don't know what the plant base looks like, they haven't had a proper meal in a long time.

The little bitter gourd, who was in the lead, gently "woo-woo" and took the initiative to pull on Qian Hui's fingertips.

They are not very strong and have no resources, so I hope the base won't look down on them...

As long as they can join the base, they'll do anything, even hard labor!

Qian Hui couldn't understand what the little bitter gourd was saying, but she patted its head and said, "Don't be afraid, it's very safe in the base."

Big Pea took the opportunity to come over and sniff the scent of the little bitter gourds.

Its eyes looked puzzled, so it moved closer and sniffed more carefully.

Even the smell is the same...

Big Pea tried to make a "woof" sound, asking where Second Melon was.

A little bitter gourd quickly raised its hand, and the big pea continued to ask questions.

After asking around, I still couldn't remember.

Cabbage pushed it away, indicating that they would talk about it later.

Not all of the little bitter gourds look exactly alike; you'll be able to remember them once you get used to them.

As a result, the group grew significantly on the return journey.

The little bitter gourds were all very well-behaved, following quietly, occasionally two or three of them would huddle together and whisper to each other.

The cabbage had asked them, and there shouldn't be any other plants around. There might have been some before, but after the Sky Base was bombed, most of them had probably fled elsewhere.

The big pea kept scrutinizing the little bitter gourds, trying to find differences in the leaves above them.

The carrot would occasionally glance at the little bitter gourds, looking somewhat distracted.

Durian has always hoped to find more of its kind, although it hasn't mentioned it since the last time everyone played with it using camouflage potion.

But the carrot knew that it was still thinking about this.

When the durian sees this group of little bitter gourds, it will probably be sad again.

Carrot sighed, thinking about how to comfort him later.

Qian Hui held a pomelo in her arms and walked slowly ahead.

At first, Yuzu walked next to the cabbage, but somehow it gradually fell to the back.

Qianhui simply picked it up, walked a short distance, and then put it down to rest.

He talked to the pomelo, telling it that the little mushrooms and nuts were also at the base, and now only the cattail grass hadn't returned.

Yuzu remained silent, clutching Qianhui's sleeve tightly.

It thought to itself, "So I really am not the last one."

Cat's tail grass... The leaves on top of the pomelo shook and fell down on their own.

Midway through, Qianhui asked Nantingjin to help her hold Youzi.

However, as soon as Nan Tingjin approached, Youzi jumped down quickly and walked briskly to Carrot's side, finally stopping her dawdling.

Qian Hui took Nan Tingjin's hand and explained softly, "It's a little timid."

Nan Tingjin didn't pay any attention and responded indifferently.

The group walked for almost twenty minutes before finally emerging from the ruins and arriving at the intersection where the modified vehicles were parked.

The plants in the car waited anxiously, their eyes filled with anticipation. Peanut even secretly resolved to learn from Chili how to use the communicator after returning to the base.

Seeing the familiar figure in the distance through the car window, Clover was the first to call out.

The plants were overjoyed and immediately opened the car doors or jumped out of the windows to rush over and greet it.

The durian was among them; it waved at the carrot, but then suddenly stopped.

Along the roadside, Qianhui led the plants out of the ruins. Next to the cabbage was another plant, covered with leaves, its appearance unrecognizable. It must be the grapefruit that had escaped earlier.

And on the side, there was a group of lush green... little bitter gourds.

They're all small bitter gourds.

Durian froze, rubbing her eyes hard to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

It counted again: one, two, three, four... nine!

What? !

Durian was utterly shocked and couldn't believe it.

The carrot saw its dazed look from afar and quickly ran over.

It tried to block the durian's view, but it wasn't fat enough, so it simply reached out and covered the durian's eyes.

"Waaah..." Carrot said earnestly, patting the durian's head with his other hand.

It's alright, they're just a bunch of bitter gourds. We'll definitely find more durians in the future, and Qianhui also has a disguise potion...

Durian was silent for a moment, then pulled Carrot's hand down and continued to stare at a group of small bitter gourds that were approaching.

Its gaze was so intense that it was noticed by the two closest small bitter gourds.

The two little bitter gourds, not understanding what was going on, huddled closer to their companion.

The carrot was worried, but the durian seemed much calmer than it had imagined.

Durian watched as a group of little bitter gourds came to the modified car and were led to jump in one by one.

The carrot tried to pull it away to another car, but it ran off first.

Carrot had no choice but to follow, and peas joined them, the three plant bodyguards trailing behind as they squeezed into the back seat of the modified car.

There were no seats left in the back seat. Seeing this, Qianhui told Cabbage to hurry up and take care of the little bitter gourds and keep an eye on Durian's condition.

He then took some pomelos and lettuce and went with Nan Tingjin to another car.

Cabbage nodded, and quietly clenched her fist as she walked.

Many plants at the base are aware of the durian's obsession. If it gets out of control and scares a new plant, wouldn't it be better to knock it unconscious first...?

However, when the cabbage got on the bus, it noticed that the durian looked perfectly normal, sitting quietly to the side.

Having decided to join the base, the little bitter gourds became bolder.

A few birds cautiously touched the seats, a few excitedly peered into the car's interior, and a few leaned forward to examine the four-leaf clover on the driver's seat.

As the modified car was about to start, the cacti turned their heads to let them all sit comfortably.

The little bitter gourds responded in unison, lining up in three neat rows and squeezing onto one seat.

There was a durian right next to it. It turned its head and greeted it in a friendly manner: "Woo."

Seeing this, the carrots and cabbages secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The nine little bitter gourds all looked up at the durian at the same time.

One of them let out a "woof," and the others followed suit.

A moment later, the two modified vehicles left the intersection.

A map was spread out beside the cactus. They had successfully picked up the pomelo. The next location was the nearest forest. They would go and see if they could find more plants.

In another car, Qianhui was using Nantingjin's communicator to send a message to Chili, telling the plants at the base that everything was going well.

"A small courtyard is fine too."

"Sweet is sleeping, sweetie."

“Okay,” Qianhui replied, “we’ll be back soon.”

On the other end of the communicator, Chili and Qianhui finished their conversation and then took out another communicator.

While the bell pepper was taking a nap, the chili pepper, having struggled alone for a long time, cautiously sent a message.

"Good afternoon, want to come over?"

This sentence represents the limit of chili peppers; it uses complete words and expresses the meaning clearly.

After sending the message, it waited a full half hour, almost falling asleep, before the message screen finally lit up.

He quickly picked up the chili pepper and took a look.

"?"

Chili pepper was at a loss, pondering the meaning of the symbol.

A moment later, a second message arrived.

"What's the rush? Where's your boss?"

"Boss... you mean the leader, right?"

Chili hesitated, not wanting to reveal the base leader's whereabouts, and only replied with one word: "Busy."

Qian Hui was indeed busy. Chili originally planned to hand over the communicator to him after he returned.

"snort."

What does this mean...?

The chili pepper sighed, thought for a moment, and then sent another message.

“It’s not safe, we need to find a plant.”

There were some words that Chili Pepper didn't know, so he used symbols instead. The translation was that it was unsafe outside and they needed to find more mutated plants.

The base can provide shelter for all plants, preventing them from being captured by zombies or humans.

Chili said this to explain why the leader was busy, and also to show that the base warmly welcomed their arrival, thus demonstrating its sincerity.

On the other side, Cattail suddenly sat up.

It stared intently at the contents of the message, its dark eyes wide open.

What?! There's danger outside the base?

Cattail leaped off the crib and walked around on the grass.

I haven't even been there myself yet. Can those dull-witted guys in the courtyard be trusted?

Cattail Grass paced back and forth several times before jumping back onto the crib and turning on the communicator.

"Okay, let's chat sometime."

This time, it used the phrase "frequent chat" to try and get the plant on the other side to report information to it at all times.

Chili pepper had no idea what cat's tail grass was thinking; she simply believed that this mysterious plant had finally been moved.

It was happy for a moment, then replied, "Okay."

—

The modified car drove on, leaving the nearby area.

Yuzu sat in the corner, lost in thought, ignoring all the plants around her.

Big Peanut sat down beside him, trying to contain his excitement.

This is the legendary pomelo. Unfortunately, the leaves covering the pomelo are too thick, and it peeked out several times, but we couldn't see what it looked like at all.

...Indeed extraordinary! Mysterious!

Big Peanut then took out a piece of candy from his backpack.

This snack was given to it by Potato on the day it first arrived at the base, to soothe its emotions.

But Big Peanut doesn't like sweets like this, so it's been kept until now, and the packaging is still intact.

It let out a "woof" and handed the snack to the pomelo next to it.

A pile of pomelo leaves was quiet for a moment, then stirred slightly, and a slender hand emerged from within.

The hand took the snack, then quickly withdrew it.

Meanwhile, the other car was also in perfect harmony.

Since setting off, Durian has become quite familiar with the little bitter gourds, not only introducing themselves to each other but also chatting.

Big Pea quietly moved over and overheard Durian saying something about three melons and four melons...

It was so curious that it couldn't help but ask, "Huh?"

Can you tell which one is which?

Durian nodded, looking as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Big Pea didn't believe it, and pointed to one of them, asking how many melons it was.

Durian replied without hesitation, "Ugh."

six.

Little Bitter Gourd raised his hand, indicating that he was Six Gourd.

Pea then pointed to the one next to it, a durian: "Ugh."

Nine.

The other little bitter gourd also raised its hand and nodded.

Pea wasn't giving up and tried more than ten times, but Durian got them all right.

It was shocked and even suspected that the durian had made some kind of mark on the little bitter gourds.

Durian was even more puzzled, her eyes filled with doubt.

How could you not tell them apart? They all look different!