Chapter 603, Contaminated Zone 6 (Twenty-Seven)

Xia Mingang stepped into the house after smelling the aroma of food. "I'm starving! What is Xie Tu cooking? It smells so good."

Jiang Mu had a good sleep and looked quite energetic. He spoke up leisurely, "If I remember correctly, it's your turn to wash the dishes this time."

Xia Mingang paused, turned around, and asked, "Washing dishes in a contaminated area?"

"This is Yun Zhao's house. Do you want to take a bath?" Fu Heng came in two steps behind and greeted He Guanghai, who was sitting in the main room, with a normal expression.

Everyone already knows the relationship between the shadowy figure and Yun Zhao.

No one looked at He Guanghai with any scrutiny; instead, they treated him like a normal person and went about their business.

"You're all Zhaozhao's friends, right? Please sit wherever you like."

Compared to Xie Tu, He Guanghai treated the three of them much better, greeting them with a smile.

Yun Zhao kept in mind that she should comfort Fu Heng, so she waved to her and said, "The food isn't ready yet. I'll take you to my room."

Fu Heng understood, picked up the Gatling gun, and went into the next room.

When the two came out, breakfast was already on the table: simple porridge with pickled vegetables.

The aroma Xia Mingang smelled was from canned meat he had prepared for He Guanghai.

Xie Tu made meatballs from the canned meat paste and fried them in oil until they were golden brown and crispy.

Because it was food for He Guanghai, and because he was a mutant, he could only eat these things.

Based on his appetite from the previous night, and considering that Yun Zhao would also like to eat, Xie Tu opened four cans of food.

But Xia Mingang wasn't one to compromise his principles, so he asked directly, "Uncle, can we eat this?"

His natural way of calling him "uncle" surprised He Guanghai for a moment.

After all, these people are all S-class, each one a top-tier existence. In the past, he wouldn't even have been qualified to meet them.

"Eat up, and if you're not full, open a few more cans."

He Guanghai first put a meatball on Yun Zhao's plate and said to her, "Uncle has stocked up on a lot. I was so happy to see you last night that I forgot to ask if you wanted to eat meat."

He just said that, how could he forget?

Since it's canned food, it has a preservative smell after opening.

He remembered that Zhao Zhao didn't like eating meat when she was little.

She was very spoiled and disliked the strange taste of mutated animal meat. Each time, several of them had to take turns coaxing her or telling her stories to distract her before she would deign to eat a little.

"I love eating meat now, and Xie Tu's meat is especially delicious."

Yun Zhao also put two pieces into He Guanghai's bowl, "Uncle, you should try them."

He Guanghai grunted in agreement and put the meatball in his mouth.

They didn't say whether it was good or bad after they finished eating.

Yun Zhao stared at it for a while, then dared not ask any more questions.

Each mutant mutates in a different direction, and she didn't know if her uncle's taste buds couldn't taste anything or if he was deliberately ignoring Xie Tu.

But breakfast was painstakingly prepared by Xie Tu.

Feeling caught in the middle, she couldn't show favoritism, so she put another meatball on Xie Tu's plate.

Xie Tu gently squeezed her hand under the table to indicate that she was alright.

He remained calm throughout, not touching the two plates of meat with his chopsticks, and simply drank his white rice porridge while waiting for Yun Zhao to serve him food.

The small dining table couldn't seat six people, so Jiang Mu and Fu Mo pretended not to see anything and went outside to eat with their food.

Anyway, it's the elders' test of their son-in-law; it has nothing to do with them.

This breakfast was quite subtle.

"Let's start the meeting."

Yun Zhao put down his chopsticks first and said, "First of all, I apologize for what happened yesterday. When I saw Qingshan Town, I couldn't control myself and made everyone worry."

Jiang Mu came back in when he heard the noise, put his rice bowl on the table, and said lazily, "Just a verbal apology? How about ten free counseling sessions after the team disbands?"

Yun Zhao: "..."

The 5S team was only a temporary team formed for the mission, and they will naturally return to their respective bases in the future.

Yun Zhao's expression was serious. "Ten times is 50,000 points. You're taking advantage of someone's misfortune."

Jiang Mu said leisurely, "Then your apology wasn't sincere."

Xie Tu calmly replied, "Ten free sessions or a price increase to 20,000 points later, it's your choice."

Jiang Mu scoffed, "Twenty thousand? Why don't you just rob someone? When we get back, I'll have the base draft an anti-monopoly law."

Xie Tu: "Whatever."

"Let's get down to business in the meeting. Everyone here has enough points, why are we talking about this?"

Fu Mo said impatiently, "Let's talk about the situation here first. What clues have you found?"

Xia Mingang slumped on the stool. "Uncle said there are six goalkeepers at number six, but we don't know yet whether number four is included."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone looked at He Guanghai.

He Guanghai nodded, "Including."

Xia Mingang sighed, "Then there are still five gatekeepers left."

"Yun Zhao had guessed two of them before."

It was Jiang Mu who spoke. When the conversation turned to business, his expression became serious again. "Red Eyes and Shen Ying."

Fu Heng reacted strongly upon hearing the name "Chen Ying".

She suddenly looked up at Xie Tu, "Chen Ying? The Chen Ying I know?"

Xie Tu nodded under her gaze: "It's her. Her presence here means the source might be right here."

Now that things have come to this, we must make things clear.

He briefly explained the situation regarding the red-crowned crane team.

Fu Heng had participated in missions 111 and 320, and after a moment's thought, she understood: "So the ancestors of Dawn Base sacrificed themselves in search of the source?"

That makes sense.

No wonder number 111 opened the door to let them leave.

The gatekeeper of number 320 then helped them take down the machine gatekeeper.

If Shen Ying can retain her rationality, she might become an asset to them.

As for the location of the source...

Fu Heng looked at He Guanghai, "Uncle Qing doesn't know this?"

Hearing Xia Mingang address her that way, she blurted it out almost without thinking.

There is no concept of time in the contaminated area.

He Guanghai's appearance hasn't changed much from many years ago, except for his stubble; if you really look at him, he seems to be of the same generation as them.

I only realized how awkward it felt after I shouted it out.

He Guanghai shook his head, "I don't know what you mean by 'source'."

He further explained, "It's very big here, and there are some places I can't get through."

“Once I step into a domain, I will be immediately detected by the gatekeepers, but they look at mutants like ants and don’t pay much attention to my movements most of the time.”

"However, if my actions deviate from their settings and I behave in ways that are not in accordance with the domain, I will be expelled at best, and killed at worst."

The mutants, possessing rationality, are absolute outcasts within the contaminated zone.

Yun Zhao's heart tightened.

I only found out now that my uncle was risking his life to save people.

"So you usually only move around in certain fixed areas?" Xia Mingang asked.

He Guanghai: "Not really. Sometimes I go to places that are a bit further away. Each gatekeeper has very distinct features, so it's easy to tell whose territory it is."

As He Guanghai spoke, he explained to them, "There's a gatekeeper who loves excitement; his domain consists of large cities and is inhabited by many mutants. There's also a gatekeeper with unique quirks; his domain has all sorts of bizarre and wonderful landscapes. Hmm, that's the one who trapped Xie Tu..."

"There is another place where the scenery is very strange and changes every short period of time."

He pointed to Xia Mingang, "That's where I met him."

"There is another place where vines grow. Its territory is the largest and it keeps expanding, often swallowing up other gatekeepers. So it is normal to see vines in other domains. Its domain climate is temperate, which is very suitable for vine growth and is also easy to distinguish."

He Guanghai did not know that the vine was called the arborvitae.

He paused for a moment, then said, "The last gatekeeper... is very mysterious, and I can't enter its territory."