Chapter 27
Qian Hui lowered her eyelashes: "Okay..."
To get to the base, he had to completely trust Nan Tingjin.
Nan Tingjin also said that he would stay by Qian Hui's side at all times, both as a protector and a guide.
The top-grade exotic plant is in the restricted area behind the base. He will take Qian Hui there after entering the base.
So Qianhui continued practicing, replacing the strips of cloth covering her eyes with thinner ones that allowed some light to pass through.
He slowly walked around the house, picking up and touching each plant he came across to identify which one it was.
By nightfall, the "hair dye" made from carrots and peppers was finally ready.
Qianhui sat on the ground with a towel draped over her shoulders and her backpack against her lower back.
Several plants were busy behind him. The chili pepper, feeling that the carrot wasn't attentive enough, called over the money tree and the small cabbage.
The silver hair was covered strand by strand with a sticky dye, and finally wrapped in a towel with a few steaming chili seeds tied to it.
The chili peppers are kept aside, and replaced with new ones once they cool down.
While waiting, Qianhui fed the plants their dinner. Having won the daytime battle, each plant received unlimited jerky.
Potato doesn't like jerky, but wants a whole bag of candy.
Qianhui hesitated for a moment, but still bought it for it, reminding it not to eat too much at once.
Potato grabbed him, nodded perfunctorily, and ran off happily.
After dividing the food, the entire basin of crystal nuggets also needs to be divided.
Chili had been eyeing it for a long time, and when she saw Qianhui bring over the small wooden basin, she stood guard by the side.
Qian Hui roughly counted that there were more than thirty crystal cores in total, most of which were from intermediate-level zombies, and five of them were high-level crystal cores, which were smaller and purer in color.
The carnivorous plant and carrot don't need crystal cores. The other four main damage dealers, plus the money tree, each need one high-level crystal core.
Qianhui also left a piece of the remaining intermediate-level crystal core for each of the little cabbage and the others, so that everyone in the team got one.
Crystal cores have a different effect than skill points in the game. In addition to improving overall strength, they also increase the probability of generating berserk skills.
Each plant has a different berserk skill; some are enhanced versions of advanced skills, while others are completely different from their original skills.
Among all plant levels, the Superior grade exotic plants are born with the Berserk skill, which is an energy-accumulating attack. The probability of having the Berserk skill decreases progressively from high to low grade.
However, the plant team now has a total of twelve members, and among the high, medium, and low-level plants, only the chili pepper has activated the berserk skill according to the encyclopedia information.
No wonder those humans wanted to catch the chili pepper before; it was just too special.
After separating the crystal cores, Qianhui worried that eating too many at once might cause indigestion, so she bought mini backpacks for the five plants.
The crystal cores are all packed in small backpacks, which can be carried with you or stored with Qian Hui, and you can come and pick them up when you want to eat them.
Not just crystal cores, anything can be put in it. Potato picked up a small backpack and stuffed the half-eaten bag of candy inside.
Chili made a small mark on her backpack strap with chili seeds, and then hurriedly went to help Qianhui change the chili seeds off her towel.
Apple, the last to join the team, also had a crystal core. It was brought over by Little Cabbage, chose the smallest one, and then sat down next to Qian Hui, hugging the crystal core and trying to gnaw on it.
Qianhui touched a leaf on its head and casually opened the encyclopedia.
[Variety]: Red Apple
[Level]: Level 1
Huh? Qian Hui thought there was a system error, so she reopened it, but it still showed level 1.
He remembered that when he first brought the apple back, the information in the encyclopedia indicated it was of low-level quality...
The apple was still gnawing on the core; it had the smallest core and finished it off in a few quick "crunch crunches."
It wiped its mouth, the words in the encyclopedia swayed, and the level changed to "Level 2".
Qianhui witnessed it firsthand and was extremely surprised.
Apple's level is not high and its skills are not outstanding. It is a support type and can exhale smoke to cover itself, thereby concealing its true form and disguising or confusing enemies.
Unfortunately, it is too small, has low combat power, slow movement speed, and the smoke is not very useful.
If it's not a game display error, perhaps Apple is also unique?
To confirm her suspicions, Qianhui bought a pill that increased her defense skill points and fed it to Apple.
Apple was flattered and turned its head to look around. It climbed into Qian Hui's arms and quietly nibbled on the plants with its back to them.
But even after it ate the pill, its level didn't change at all.
Qianhui noted this down, thinking that she would feed the apple some crystal kernels again when she had the chance.
After swallowing the pill, Apple rubbed against Qian Hui's hand and wouldn't leave him.
After almost finishing distributing the crystal cores, Yu Mi had already quietly eaten several pieces, and the team's overall combat strength had risen to 11,000, which was a little higher than before the battle with the zombie horde during the day.
Qian Hui had one last crystal core left, which was for the Mimosa.
He took the mimosa plant out of his sleeve, and the tiny plant, about the size of a fingernail, slowly climbed onto the crystal nucleus, which visibly began to shrink.
"Little Grass," Qian Hui asked quietly, "how about I buy you a bottle of Evolution Water?"
He had some ulterior motives; he wanted to increase Mimosa's loyalty as quickly as possible.
During the days that Qianhui kept the mimosa plant with her, she talked to it every day according to the guide, and gave it plenty of snacks.
Despite the seemingly obedient Mimosa and the great help she provided to Qianhui, it still only had a 30% loyalty rating.
Qian Hui didn't quite understand, and felt like she might have missed something.
With ample funds available, he considered buying Evolution Water for the Mimosa and also planned to purchase more skill points for Defense and Speed.
The leaves of the mimosa plant lifted slightly, as if it were quite surprised.
It hesitated for a moment, then its leaf swayed, indicating that it didn't need it.
Qian Hui was taken aback: "Okay, fine... Do you want the skill points? You can become stronger too."
The mimosa plant swayed its leaves, gently touching Qian Hui's fingertips before returning to its sleeve.
Despite saving 3,000 yuan in balance and not buying any skill points, Qian Hui felt somewhat disappointed.
He was troubled inwardly for a while, then secretly went to find sunflowers.
Using light to sense emotions and transmit information is one of the sunflower's advanced skills. Qianhui touched its leaves, hoping it could help.
The sunflower shook its petals, and the soft light gradually spread, enveloping Qian Hui's sleeves.
The mimosa plants inside felt very warm and lay quietly without moving.
After a while, Sunflower told Qianhui that the Mimosa seemed unhappy and might have something on her mind.
Worried? Qian Hui was a little anxious, and she was afraid that she hadn't been good enough to the mimosa.
The sunflower sensed his thought and quickly told him that the mimosa liked him very much.
Qianhui will probably need to find an opportunity to ask him in person what exactly is causing his unhappiness.
Qian Hui nodded and hugged Sunflower: "Thank you, Sunflower."
It was getting late, and the little cabbage emitted a ring of cabbage lamps around itself, illuminating the entire room.
Qianhui's hair should be almost done. Chili boiled a pot of water and called him back.
The dye was difficult to wash off, and Qianhui lay on the towel for a long time, changing the hot water in the basin several times.
He wanted to wash himself, but the plants stopped him, and he slowly fell asleep while staring at the ceiling.
Chili worked even more gently, washing away the dye and then helping to dry the hair.
The plants didn't wake Qian Hui. Nan Tingjin approached, gently picked him up from the ground, and took him to the cabbage shells.
The carnivorous plant opened the cabbage shell, and Qianhui was put inside. The small cabbage and apple helped take off their coats.
He opened his eyes groggily halfway through the night, then turned over and went back to sleep.
The next morning, Qianhui finally saw the results of her hair dyeing.
He picked up a strand of hair, tilted his head, and examined it closely: "What color is this..."
The dye was made from radish paste, with the darkest leaves from the money tree added, turning Qianhui's silver hair a rust color, which would be even darker in the shadows.
The chili peppers and small cabbage were applied well, and the color was fairly even. The top and outer layers were deliberately applied thickly, ensuring that no silver hairs were missed.
Qian Hui looked at herself in the basin of water and felt a little awkward.
He had always had silver hair, but he was too nervous when he used the disguise potion and didn't pay much attention to his appearance.
Qian Hui hesitated, "Won't that be weird..."
The plants around him all shook their heads, so he went to ask Nan Tingjin.
"Does it look bad?" Qian Hui asked nervously, "I..."
Nan Tingjin hasn't regained his memory yet. He dyed his hair, and he looks different from before.
"nice."
Nan Tingjin picked up a strip of cloth and blindfolded Qian Hui.
This hair color, combined with the strip of cloth covering her eyes, gave Qian Hui a more mysterious air.
Nan Tingjin examined him for a moment, then took his hand: "Alright."
The disguise is basically complete. If the color fades in a few days, the carrot can be used as a new dye at any time.
Now there's one last problem: how to bring so many mutated plants into the base.
The last bottle of disguise potion came in handy at this moment. Qianhui could use it on one of the plants, and then the scent of all the surrounding plants would disappear.
Qianhui bought a bigger new backpack and let the plants crawl inside one by one.
After the carnivorous plant shrank, the largest plant turned out to be the sunflower, with the other plants arranged in descending order of size, and the smallest and lightest overlapping on top.
In this way, the weight of the backpack is still manageable.
Once we've successfully entered the base, we can find another place to hide the plants.
With everything prepared, it's time to set off.
Qianhui looked at the map and saw that when the man-eating flower moved away from the forest, it was heading towards the side of Safe Zone 5, which wasn't far from Blackridge Mountain Base.
Nan Tingjin did not have a communication device, so the carnivorous plant still had to carry them on their way, and they would walk when they were about to arrive.
Before leaving, Qianhui hugged the man-eating flower that had grown larger and fed it several pieces of its favorite jerky.
"Thank you, Little Purple," he said, touching the carnivorous plant's nose. "You've worked hard these past few days."
The man-eating flower swallowed the dried meat and obediently lowered its head.
After Qianhui put on her backpack and sat down with Nantingjin, the man-eating flower turned its head to sniff lightly and quickly left the vicinity.
—
The journey was very smooth; the carnivorous plant deliberately chose a secluded and difficult-to-traverse path for humans to cross this low-risk area.
Around 6 p.m. that day, the carnivorous plant arrived at a location some distance outside of Safe Zone 5.
The Blackridge Mountain base has a unique location; the entrance is not inside the safe zone, so you have to go around it from the edge.
Worried that humans might pass by, the man-eating plant shrank a bit, lowered its head, and slowly moved along the route, preparing to put Qianhui down later.
The plants in the backpack peeked out from time to time. They weren't afraid at all about going to the human base, especially the corn and potato plants.
They even defeated the zombie king and the horde of zombies. With Chili's special skills, what are they afraid of?
The carrot couldn't stay still, so it pulled out its thorns and glided away, ready to check out what was happening further away.
As they got closer to the human base, Qianhui became the most nervous, nervously clutching the strip of cloth in her hand.
Nan Tingjin leaned closer and hugged him from behind: "Don't worry, nothing will happen."
His breath as he spoke felt like a comforting kiss.
Qian Hui tried to calm herself down and nodded, saying "Mmm".
At that moment, the carrot flew back quickly from a distance.
It landed on the head of the carnivorous plant, pointing to the side: "Woo-woo!"
Qian Hui immediately became even more nervous: "There are humans?"
Ahead lies a fork in the road, leading in different directions, where humans might pass by.
They should have dropped off the man-eating plant a while earlier, but seeing no one nearby, they walked a little further.
The ruins in this area had already been cleared to facilitate vehicle passage. Confirming that it would collide head-on with other humans, the carnivorous plant immediately stopped, shrunk, and crawled into its backpack.
As soon as it went in, it disrupted the original arrangement, haphazardly crowding the other plants together and shoving them around several times.
Qian Hui patted the backpack with her back hand, signaling them to be quiet, and hurriedly covered it with a strip of cloth.
He could actually just close his eyes, but to prevent himself from unconsciously opening them in any situation, it was safer to cover them up directly.
The backpack quieted down, and Nan Tingjin straightened the strips of cloth for Qian Hui and took his hand.
The strip of cloth was thin, and Qianhui opened her eyes a little bit to see a faint light.
In the distance, the approaching commotion of modified vehicles suggests there's more than one.
Qian Hui silently prayed that they didn't recognize Nan Tingjin, drove away directly, and that there were no detection devices in the car.
Inside his backpack, Carrot was clutching a bottle of disguise potion, ready to open and drink it at any moment.
It doesn't matter if you get caught. The scent will disappear after you drink the potion. You can say it's an instrument malfunction or that a mutated plant passed by. You can go back to the base after drinking it. It's a bit rushed, but you should be able to make it in time.
Qian Hui gripped the edge of her sleeve as Nan Tingjin led her a few steps forward.
Upon discovering two humans on the road, the modified car at the front gradually slowed down. The people in the car seemed to recognize Nan Tingjin and suddenly slammed on the brakes.
Qianhui held her breath, and the carrot in her backpack used its leafy hand to unscrew the cap of the medicine bottle.
"Chief of the South?!" A man got out of the car, his tone full of surprise. "Is it really you?"
Nan Tingjin stopped in his tracks, and Qian Hui quickly felt scrutinizing gazes falling on her.
He was still being led by Nan Tingjin, and the person speaking seemed even more surprised, hesitatingly saying, "We've heard the news, you previously... and this is..."
Nan Tingjin coldly asked, "Who are you?"
"Excuse me," the man quickly said, "I am Qi Yue, the squad leader of Yun Chuan Base. We are on our way back and just happened to be passing by here."
All three modified vehicles have the same logo. Yunchuan Base is one of the three major bases and has the closest relationship with Sky Base.
"Thankfully you're unharmed," Qi Yue said sincerely. "We've instructed all our outposts to be on high alert after this incident, but unfortunately, we've found nothing..."
He had a square face and a gentle, upright demeanor, and seemed genuinely worried about Nan Tingjin's safety.
As the leader of one of the three major bases, if he were to meet with misfortune at the hands of a group of mutated plants, the news would definitely cause a great deal of panic.
Nan Tingjin remained indifferent, showing no intention of speaking with Qi Yue.
Qi Yue already knew his temperament, and even though she was very curious about his experiences, how he came back, and why he had someone with him...
But he refrained from saying much and instead asked, "Are you going back to base? We're not in a hurry, shall we take you there?"
There was still some distance between here and the entrance to the Black Ridge Mountain base. Qi Yue didn't have the communication channels from Black Ridge Mountain, and it seemed that Nan Tingjin didn't have any tools to contact his subordinates either.
Upon hearing this, Nan Tingjin looked at Qian Hui: "Go?"
Qi Yue was even more surprised to find that Nan Tingjin was actually asking for the opinions of those around him.
He glanced at Qian Hui discreetly, then withdrew his gaze without making a sound.
Qian Hui hesitated for a moment, then nodded gently: "Mm."
If they can be sent there, they won't have to walk anymore, and these humans probably don't have any detection equipment with them...
Carrot in the backpack was still clutching the disguise potion, seriously considering what he would look like in a moment.
Upon receiving the answer, Qi Yue quickly opened the back door and let his subordinates out to get into another car.
Two human superhumans got out of the back seat, one of whom was holding a detection device.
The instrument's pointer wobbled and then stopped at a high position.
Qian Hui was blindfolded and couldn't see anything. Nan Tingjin, who was beside her, glanced at her and then his gaze fell on Qi Yue.
They not only carried exploration instruments, but also detected nearby energy.
Noticing Nan Tingjin's gaze, Qi Yue explained, "Oh, we captured a high-level exotic plant this time and are preparing to bring it back to the base."
The alien plant was in the car, and all the subordinates assumed that the energy came from there, never suspecting Nan Tingjin at all.
As if to confirm Qi Yue's words, a muffled "bang" suddenly came from the back seat.
At the same time, Qianhui received a notification that there were unconnected mutated plants nearby.
A subordinate bent down and picked up an iron cage.
The cage was square, not very large, and almost completely enclosed, with only a few small holes at the top for ventilation. The outer shell had several strange, uneven spots, like…
"Bang--"
Another muffled thud was heard as the inside of the iron cage was slammed hard, leaving a small mark.
"Waaah..."
With a low growl, the plants inside seemed very uneasy and slammed the iron cage again.
"This exotic plant has a very volatile temperament,"
Qi Yue smiled apologetically at Nan Tingjin and instructed his subordinates to take the iron cage to another vehicle. "The effects of the anesthetic injection don't last long; it should have just woken up."
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