Chapter 8

Qian Hui nodded gently: "Yes."

The two were now close together again. He gently twitched his nose and sniffed Nan Tingjin's scent once more, his face full of certainty.

They may look and sound similar, like plants or zombies that look alike, but their aura is truly unique.

However, perhaps because Nan Tingjin had just killed a lot of zombies, his aura was tainted with some impurities.

Nan Tingjin's face remained expressionless. He straightened up and looked down at him.

Seeing his expression, Qian Hui became even more distressed: "You really don't remember..."

He couldn't understand it; he didn't know what had happened.

And if Nan Tingjin doesn't remember him, will the man-eating flower also forget him?

Qian Hui lowered her head, the shadow cast by her eyelashes trembling slightly.

Nan Tingjin did not answer the question. The suspended bricks fell to the ground with a "thud," and he turned and left.

Qian Hui subconsciously wanted to follow them again, but hesitated.

Nan Tingjin doesn't remember him, so... is he still her boyfriend?

He just said that no one was allowed to follow him.

As I hesitated, I heard a noise coming from the distant ruins, unsure if it was a zombie.

After entering this area, Qianhui encountered a significant increase in the number of intermediate-level zombies, indicating that this area was likely very dangerous.

He was a little scared, and looked again at Nan Tingjin's back.

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but the pace of the audience seemed to have slowed down a bit compared to before.

He's strong enough to take down so many zombies on his own. Although he doesn't remember himself and looks fierce, staying close to him is the safest option for now.

The noise started again, this time from another direction. Qian Hui looked around nervously and quickly followed.

He didn't follow too closely, maintaining a distance from the figure ahead, so as not to lose sight of them or disturb them.

On the way, Qianhui took out the crystal cores again and distributed them to the three plants.

There were five crystal cores in total. After thinking for a moment, he fed the wounded chili peppers two pieces, and the soft vines and small cabbages one and a half pieces.

The little cabbage ate the crystal core, burped, and kept rubbing its head against Qian Hui's palm.

[Mini Cabbage's loyalty has reached 80%!]

[You've passed the beginner phase! Come challenge yourself with more missions and contribute to your faction!]

[Taskbar updated!]

Qianhui opened the game and completed the second task, which gave her a balance of 500.

The new taskbar interface has a different look, and now includes numbers for faction and prestige.

[Main Quest]: Lead the plant squad to kill intermediate zombies (0/3)

[Quest Reward]: Prestige Points +50

[Side Quest]: Sneaky approach the human camp and see what they're doing (70%)

[Quest Reward]: Prestige Points +10

[Alliance Value]: 5 (Based on a comprehensive rating of the host and plant encyclopedia)

[Prestige Value]: 0

Qian Hui was a little confused. It also said that faction points could be exchanged for balance and prestige points could be used to buy plant guides. She remembered that part.

And most likely because he had encountered several human teams before, his side quest progress was already 70%.

But... with his current strength, can he kill three mid-level zombies?

Qian Hui glanced at the illustration and discovered that her overall combat power had actually increased from 20 to 100.

"Huh?"

Qian Hui slightly widened her eyes, but the grades of the three plants remained unchanged, especially the chili pepper, which was exactly the same as before.

Another branch has been added to the soft vine, and the little cabbage's advanced skill, which originally had one more (unknown), has now become (under development).

Qianhui lowered her head and looked at the three plants.

Nan Tingjin slowed down, and the soft vines only needed to help Qian Hui cross obstacles occasionally, while the rest of the time they wrapped around his arm, the branches still thin.

The little cabbage lay in the pocket, its leaves curled up, fast asleep.

The chili pepper was also resting with its eyes closed, its body curled up, its legs made of leaves and branches hidden underneath, seemingly unable to walk normally yet.

Qian Hui wondered which one had changed and gained so much combat power.

Regardless, the increase in combat power proves that the plant team has become stronger, which is a good thing.

He briefly lost focus, his pace slowed involuntarily, and the distance between him and Nan Tingjin increased.

At that moment, a low-level zombie came straight at Nan Tingjin and fell to the ground silently before it even got close.

Nan Tingjin stopped and glanced sideways.

Qian Hui looked up and quickened her pace to get closer to him.

Then, Nan Tingjin walked away again.

Qian Hui didn't think much of it, assuming that he had finally realized he was following behind and was unhappy again.

He clenched his fingers, pursed his lips, and followed again, silently increasing the distance between them.

Qian Hui was also not very happy. He never thought that seeing Nan Tingjin again would be like this.

He comforted himself, telling himself that if he didn't remember, so be it. If it weren't for the fact that there were too many zombies here, he wouldn't want to follow Nan Tingjin at all.

Moreover, Qian Hui hadn't had a chance to ask whether Nan Tingjin and his companions were also looking for the man-eating flower.

There's another... another mission: to secretly approach humans.

He would leave once that task was completed.

However, they had been together for so long, and although they couldn't see each other every day before, Nan Tingjin had been very good to him, so he was a little reluctant to part with him.

Qian Hui wondered if Nan Tingjin was sick, which was why he was acting this way.

Will talking to him about things from the past help him remember them?

Qian Hui raised her head, looking at the familiar figure in front of her, and decided to make plans again when the time was right.

Before they knew it, it was almost noon, and the two had already left the area they had been in.

When the sun was at its strongest, Nan Tingjin stopped to rest.

Qianhui hid behind the ruins, munching on a biscuit while secretly peeking over.

Nan Tingjin seemed to have no intention of eating or drinking anything, and just sat there quietly.

He had companions, but they did not travel together; perhaps they had run out of food and water.

But I don't have much food left...

Qianhui lowered her head, with three plants in her arms waiting to be fed.

He hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly set aside a portion.

The little cabbage can turn invisible and is entrusted with an important task.

It mustered its courage, its eyes gradually becoming serious, and accepted the item that Qian Hui handed it.

The ruins were quiet. Nan Tingjin leaned against the stone wall, his eyes slightly closed.

Suddenly, a faint "patter" of footsteps approached from afar and came to his side.

With a "crash," a bag of biscuits and a bottle of water fell to the ground.

The cookies were unwrapped, leaving only two and a half pieces. The water bottle wasn't big, and there was about a third of it left.

Nan Tingjin paused for a moment, then picked up the biscuits and water.

The items from each base had their own unique markings; he had never seen packaging like this before.

Little Cabbage dropped her things and ran off, not daring to linger for a moment, quickly returning to Qian Hui's side.

Qian Hui saw from afar that Nan Tingjin had accepted the food and water, and was finally relieved.

Even if it's not for any other reason, the things sent over can be seen as a form of compensation for his indirect protection of himself.

Qianhui picked up the little cabbage and patted its head.

Halfway through their rest, a zombie smelled the scent and staggered toward Qianhui.

Qian Hui instinctively wanted to escape, but then she remembered the increasing combat power on the panel.

The zombie in front of him looked to be of the lowest level; he should be able to kill it.

Qian Hui raised his left hand, and soft vines climbed up his wrist.

As the zombies approached, a chili seed hurled at me, and my arm was entangled by vines.

It struggled fiercely, its movements inexplicably pausing for a second or two.

In that brief moment, Qianhui forcefully plunged the dagger into the zombie's forehead.

With the 1000 yuan balance credited to his account, he wiped his dagger clean, kicked aside the zombie's corpse, and fled in another direction.

The chili pepper in the pocket peeked out halfway and glanced in Nan Tingjin's direction.

Was it mistaken...?

However, its attack strength is much higher than before, and the soft vines are also a good helper, making it easy to deal with a low-level zombie.

—

In the afternoon, the squad sent a message to Nam Tinh Khan.

"Traces of a suspected carnivorous plant have been discovered. Should we take immediate action?"

The message ended with coordinates, awaiting instructions from Nan Tingjin.

The team, carrying the zombie heads given to them by Nan Tingjin yesterday, indeed made progress.

They retraced the steps of the area where the man-eating flower had appeared and, sure enough, detected new signs of life.

The four members of the team hid in the shadows. The man-eating plant seemed to have become more cautious, and since there was no trace of zombies, it did not show itself rashly.

So the team first reported to Nan Tingjin, and also asked him if he wanted to come over.

A top-tier mutated plant at its peak, powerful enough to contend with the Zombie King. Although this man-eating plant is injured, Nan Tingjin should still be interested, even if not for the mission.

Moreover, the team found the man-eating flower much later than expected, and they were unsure how much its injuries had healed.

A few minutes later, Nan Tingjin replied: "Wait."

Qian Hui continued to follow Nan Tingjin throughout the afternoon, and the progress of the side quest slowly increased to 72%.

At noon, Nan Tingjin accepted the food and water. He must have known that Qian Hui was still there, but he left her alone.

This lessened Qian Hui's unhappiness somewhat, at least Nan Tingjin didn't say she couldn't follow him anymore.

There were a few scattered zombies along the way, all of them low-level, which were all killed by Qianhui with the help of the plants.

Practice makes perfect, and with Nan Tingjin not far away, Qian Hui became much bolder.

One of them was about to reach the intermediate level; it moved even faster, and its sharp fingertips were longer than fingers.

It took two scalding hot chili seeds, along with the soft vines, to subdue the zombie.

Qian Hui didn't forget to dig open the zombie's forehead, but she didn't find the crystal core.

This time, the plant team was injured; the soft vines' branches were cut in several places by the zombies' fingernails.

Since it has been able to sprout new branches, its senses and touch have become more sensitive, and it feels more pain when it is injured, so it hangs on Qianhui's fingertips for comfort.

Qianhui felt sorry for Ruanteng and bought it a pill that would increase its defense by 5 points, then fed it to Ruanteng.

Before they knew it, night had fallen, and Nan Tingjin stopped again, preparing to rest for the night.

Qianhui found a suitable place to hide nearby and started the game.

I killed several zombies during the day, and my balance suddenly increased to over 5,000.

He bought new food and some dried meat.

At this point, Xiao Baocai was so sleepy that she could barely keep her eyes open, even though she hadn't eaten dinner yet.

It refused Qianhui's offer to feed it and burrowed into the pocket to sleep.

A notification suddenly popped up in the game.

[Mini Cabbage is about to develop a new advanced skill, so keep an eye on it!]

Qianhui was both curious and nervous. She watched over the little cabbage for a while and found that it was just asleep. She couldn't tell what was wrong with it, so she was relieved.

But... how should we deliver the food tonight?

Chili peppers are unable to move easily, their vines are injured, and they cannot hide, so they are all quite afraid of Nantingjin.

Remembering how Nan Tingjin had ignored her all afternoon, Qian Hui hesitated for a moment, then took the food and water and went by herself.

Just like the little cabbage at noon, he quickly ran over and put the things on the ground.

Nan Tingjin sat on a rock, his outer robe hanging down to his feet, and looked up at him.

Qian Hui was very nervous and took a step back, afraid that he would hold the stone to her throat again.

“It’s for you,” Qianhui said softly. “It’s not bad.”

There was one more biscuit than at noon, plus a piece of jerky and half a bottle of water.

Nan Tingjin didn't speak, lowered his eyes, and stared at the food on the ground, lost in thought.

Qian Hui waited there for a while, then turned and ran away.

After a while, the things on the ground were picked up.

The physique of superhumans is already different from that of ordinary people. Even if they don't eat or drink any food for several days in a row, nothing will happen to them.

Nan Tingjin stared at the biscuit packaging for a long time before taking one out.

As night fell, Qianhui found a place nearby where she could barely sleep, and hugged the three plants in her arms tightly.

After an unknown amount of time, Little Cabbage groggily opened her eyes.

It was half asleep and half awake, seemingly uncomfortable, twisting and turning its body, and finally accidentally rolled out of Qian Hui's arms.

Under the cover of night, the little cabbage lay on its back with its eyes closed, its body flashing continuously. At the same time, it suddenly grew dozens of times larger, and then turned back to its original size in the blink of an eye.

When it opened its eyes again, it seemed unaware of what had just happened, and got up to return to the ruins.

Chili opened her eyes, looked around, then turned over and went back to sleep.

Meanwhile, in the distance, a small team of six people slowly moved through the ruins.

The leader was Liang Jie, who was holding an iron chain with a calf-high mimosa plant imprisoned at the end of the chain.

The mimosa plant kept exploring its surroundings with its leaves until it was too tired to continue, so it stopped to rest for a while.

A few minutes later, when they set off again, Liang Jie took out a small piece of chili pepper leaf and placed it in front of the mimosa.

The mimosa plant dared not delay, quickly sniffing the scent before continuing its search.

Half an hour later, the mimosa entered the woods and stopped in front of a zombie corpse.

Liang Jie handed the iron chain to his subordinate and bent down to inspect it.

This is a mid-level zombie that has been dead for some time. The fatal wound is on the back of its head, caused by a knife such as a dagger. There are ligature marks on its neck.

There were obvious burn marks on the zombie's face.

Liang Jie could tell at a glance that this was from that mutated dried chili pepper.

Furthermore, the mutated plant does not use human weapons; it is surrounded by other people.

Someone, using some unknown means, took that chili pepper away.

Besides them and the Blackridge Mountain team, who else is in this area?

Liang Jie stood up with a solemn expression.

The mimosa plant's condition was getting worse, so he gave the order: "Rest for two hours before continuing, and give it some medicine."

The subordinate acknowledged and took the mimosa plant away.

—

The next day, Qianhui woke up early.

Little Cabbage was still fast asleep. He was about to deliver some breakfast to Nan Tingjin when he saw that the other party had already set off.

Seeing that the figure was about to disappear into the ruins, Qian Hui hurriedly tried to chase after it.

He stuffed the half-eaten biscuit into the chili pepper's mouth and, with the help of the soft vines, moved forward quickly.

However, it seemed that Nan Tingjin didn't want him to come along today, and left very quickly.

Even with the help of the soft vine, Qian Hui couldn't close the distance between them.

Fortunately, the journey was smooth, and Qian Hui could always see Nan Tingjin in the distance and knew which direction he was in.

More than half an hour later, Qian Hui leaned against the low wall to catch her breath and touched the leaves of the soft vines: "You've worked hard."

Nan Tingjin finally stopped, with several people standing beside him.

Qian Hui glanced at them discreetly and realized that they were the human team she had seen the day before yesterday, Nan Tingjin's companions.

He hesitated for a moment, then slowly approached that direction, carefully concealing himself.

Everything around Nan Tingjin is unfamiliar to Qian Hui. He doesn't dare to reveal himself rashly, for fear of being discovered by strangers.

He planned to just go over and eavesdrop, and do nothing else.

The chili peppers were hidden in my pocket, and the baby cabbages were still asleep.

The soft vines wrapped around Qianhui's neck and arms, ready to act at any moment.

Halfway forward, an unexpected event suddenly occurred.

In the group, the shorter man checked the instrument in his hand and found that the pointer moved slightly, indicating low-level energy.

He looked up and just then saw a figure flash past the broken wall opposite him.

The short man shouted sternly, "Who?"

He couldn't see it clearly, but vaguely felt it was white hair. However, low-level energy would only result in low-level zombies that don't know how to hide themselves.

The short man's body reacted faster than his brain. He climbed up the tallest rubble in a few steps, easily lifted a large piece of wall, and smashed it towards the rubble.

But for some reason, he threw it in a much more off-target direction than he expected.

The broken wall crashed to the right with a loud "bang".

Dust and stones flew everywhere. The short man squinted and looked closely. Sure enough, he saw a figure fleeing into the ruins behind him.

He could barely make out what it was this time; it was probably a zombie, perhaps about to break through to the intermediate level, and it moved quite quickly.

The short man wanted to continue chasing, so he decided to just finish off the zombie.

His leg muscles swelled instantly, but the next moment he found himself unable to move.

Immediately afterwards, a sharp, broken piece of brick grazed past, heading in the direction the "zombie" was fleeing.

The short man paused for a moment, then his body returned to normal.

Since the leader has already taken action, there's no need for him at all.

Nan Tingjin's ability to manipulate matter is almost terrifying; everyone in the base knows it.

That intensity, seemingly transcending all rules and constraints, has never failed.

The zombies aren't far away; it's impossible for them to survive.

The short man jumped down from the ruins, and when he turned around, he met Nan Tingjin's eyes, which were slightly gloomy and fierce.

He said coldly, "Go back."

Nan Tingjin was capricious and acted on a whim, entirely based on his whims and thoughts, making him often unpredictable.

The short man bowed his head and replied, "Yes."

Meanwhile, Qianhui hid behind a pillar.

His breathing trembled slightly; he had not yet recovered from the lingering fear.

The flying brick struck him squarely to the side, embedding itself deeply into the pillar.

Soon after, the team divided the area into several smaller zones to predict where the carnivorous plant would appear.

At this moment, one of them looked up and realized that Nan Tingjin was not there.

He asked his companion, "Why did the leader leave?"

None of them noticed the direction Nan Tingjin had left in. His companion looked around and shook his head: "I don't know, let's wait and see."

On the other side, Nan Tingjin arrived at the stone pillar.

The bricks were still there, but Qian Hui had not appeared, leaving only a very faint trace of her presence.

Nan Tingjin waited in the same spot for a while, but still no one appeared.

He might have been frightened or accidentally injured.

Nan Tingjin stared at the stone pillar for a while, then turned and searched in the direction where the aura lingered.