Chapter 43
Qian Hui stared in disbelief at the numbers on the game screen.
The surprise came too suddenly. I thought that after rescuing the plants, I would have to wait a while to save up enough resurrection beans.
Qian Hui immediately converted all 8,000 faction points into a balance, opened the shop, and was about to press the purchase button when two prompts popped up in front of her.
[It takes some time for the resurrection beans to take effect. Would you like to purchase them now?]
[Resurrection Beans have been added to your cart. Your current balance is low. We recommend you make the purchase when you have sufficient funds!]
Qianhui hesitated again after seeing the prompt.
I have exactly 300,000 coins. I bought some revival beans. If the little mushroom can't be revived immediately to complete the encyclopedia, I'll only have a few hundred coins left.
The surrounding area was full of ruins, with few zombies to be found. The rescued plants were all in poor condition, and the plant squad that participated in the battle was in dire need of replenishment.
Even with sunflowers, Qianhui still needs to buy food and water; a few hundred yuan is simply not enough.
So we can't rush things yet, at least... we need to save another ten or twenty thousand.
Qian Hui struggled to look away from the "Resurrection Beans" in the shop, and did not buy them immediately.
Little Pink, just wait a little longer, it'll be soon.
He was thinking silently when his palm was suddenly clenched.
Nan Tingjin asked, "What's wrong?"
Several plants noticed that Qianhui was distracted and gathered around her with concern.
Chili thought Qianhui was scared, so she jumped onto his shoulder and touched his hair to comfort him. Cabbage looked worried and looked up, grabbing his clothes.
Qian Hui shook her head: "It's nothing..."
He had enough money, but it wasn't enough to revive the little mushroom. He didn't tell the plants about it yet, planning to save up some more and buy it directly.
And Cabbage probably doesn't know yet... The most important thing now is to leave here and find a safe place to rest.
Qianhui squatted down and patted the cabbage's head: "Let's go."
The number of plants suddenly increased, totaling twenty-nine.
Fortunately, most plants are small enough to squeeze into the mouth of the carnivorous plant and sit down.
Qian Hui didn't go inside. Instead, she chose to sit outside with Nan Tingjin. He left his backpack behind, which contained enough food and pills.
All the plants went in one by one. Qianhui carried the last big starfruit in and whispered, "Okay, don't be afraid."
The sunflower stands in the very center, providing healing and nourishment to the plants, and soothing their emotions.
The dozen or so plants that were just rescued also need extra care, so this task was assigned to the money tree and the small cabbage.
Carrots and cabbages guard the edge of the fangs, as do nuts and corn.
Corn quietly squeezed a ball of corn, sizing up the newcomers. If any of them misbehaved, he'd beat them up first.
However, the plants, having been confined at the base for so long, still seemed somewhat lost and uneasy. In addition, with four exceptional exotic plants by their side, they were all very well-behaved.
Even the big cherry, which had been running around everywhere, now behaved itself, following behind the potato and jumping into the carnivorous plant's mouth.
After confirming that nothing was missing, the man-eating flower closed its mouth and lowered its head to let Qian Hui and Nan Tingjin sit on the back of its neck.
Then, it emerged from the low building and quickly left in the opposite direction of the base.
The night wind was strong, and Qian Hui nestled in Nan Tingjin's arms, continuing to check the game interface.
The prestige value has reached 3000, and a new prestige value shop has appeared above, which has only two categories: "base weapons" and "items".
Qian Hui examined them closely and noticed that the base weapons were different from those in the regular store. The base weapons were almost all large and were all made of plants.
What kinds of vehicles are available, such as dual-plant modified vehicles, triple-barreled mortars, high-efficiency energy shields, and multi-functional spikes?
There are even two types of aircraft, one for single-plant control and the other for dual-plant control.
Qian Hui was dazzled, feeling that these were all very powerful items, and they didn't seem to be expensive either; a dual-plant modified car cost 500 prestige points.
However, base weapons can only be equipped and used after a base has been established; otherwise, they can only be stored in the game inventory and cannot be taken out.
Once a base is established, there are no restrictions on the use of weapons such as vehicles and aircraft.
A new line, "Base Details," appeared in the main taskbar, which Qianhui clicked on.
[Base Details]: None available
(Base establishment requirements: 1. Overall combat strength 25,000; 2. Stored prestige value 5,000; 3. Number of residents in this faction reaches 30; 4. Stored balance 100,000; 5. Site selection passes game evaluation.)
Qian Hui looked at it carefully, and it didn't seem too difficult.
I currently have 29 plants around me. If they all stay, plus myself, I'll have 30.
With further training, their combat strength will definitely be sufficient.
As for the location... Qianhui doesn't know much about that.
The habitat of plants is certainly different from that of humans; plants are better suited to living in densely vegetated forests.
Qian Hui thought for a while, then opened the regular shop and glanced at the resurrection beans.
There are more and more plants around us now, and we can't keep letting carnivorous plants stuff their food into our mouths and take it with us every time.
He needs to establish a base, and he hopes to establish one, even if it's not large, like a small plant garden.
Therefore, we not only need to work hard to save up our balance, but also earn prestige points. We need 5,000 prestige points to meet the requirements for establishing the base.
The acquisition of prestige points almost entirely comes from winning each faction conflict.
Killing ten low-level zombies will give you a balance of ten thousand.
Qian Hui suddenly remembered something and opened the taskbar.
I almost forgot, he still has a side quest to complete.
—Increase the loyalty of three high-level alien plants to 40%, and the loyalty of six mid-level alien plants to 50%.
The three high-level exotic plants are complete, and there are two mid-level exotic plants left. These can be selected from the newly brought-back plants.
Once this side quest is completed, the reward of 2000 faction points can be exchanged for a balance of 40,000.
Then, he can buy resurrection beans first, and then accumulate a balance of 100,000 to complete all the conditions for establishing a base.
Cultivate new plants, buy resurrection beans, accumulate prestige points, establish a base...
Of these four steps, accumulating prestige points is probably the most difficult, as it requires actively seeking out opposing factions and provoking conflict.
To maximize your remaining balance, the first choice is naturally the zombie faction.
The main questline has now been refreshed. The new quest is to unlock 100 plant illustrations, and there is no need to form a bond with the plant.
Upon completion, you will be rewarded with a balance of 10,000.
Qian Hui thought for a moment, then bent down and stroked the head of the man-eating flower: "Little Purple, can we find any trees around here?"
The carnivorous plant blinked, slowed its pace, sniffed the air, and then darted to the side.
It was already three or four in the morning. A faint moonlight covered the sky, and the wind gradually subsided.
Nan Tingjin hugged Qian Hui again and straightened his collar: "Sleep for a while?"
Qian Hui yawned, but shook her head: "I'm not sleepy."
His body was starting to feel tired, but his spirits were high. His mind was filled with thoughts of resurrection beans, Little Pink, and when he could establish a base.
Qian Hui took the panacea and some food, then opened the Prestige Shop again to see what was in her inventory.
To his surprise, there were only two items inside.
One is a disguise potion, and the other is a blind box.
The disguise potion was the same one he had used before; both the host and the plant team could use it, and the duration remained two hours.
Blind boxes are randomly drawn, and you might get two items available in the store, or you might get hidden items.
The items available in both stores... Qian Hui was very tempted when she saw the descriptions.
A blind box only costs 10 reputation points, but what if you can get a resurrection bean?
He immediately bought one and clicked to open it in the game interface.
It's a low-grade panacea.
Qianhui put it in her backpack and bought five more in one go, only to find five cement bricks in the building materials.
He stared at the cement bricks in his backpack, somewhat displeased, and casually fed the panacea to Nan Tingjin.
Nan Tingjin didn't know what Qian Hui was doing, he could only tell that he was daydreaming.
He obediently swallowed the panacea and lowered his head to kiss Qianhui's cheek.
With Nan Tingjin's help, the plants have now been successfully rescued, and the little tiff between the two earlier seems to have never happened.
And everything was going smoothly. She had enough balance to buy resurrection beans, and just needed to save a little more for later use. Qianhui was in a good mood at the moment.
He reached out and hugged Nan Tingjin tightly, then buried his head and closed his eyes.
Inside the mouth of the carnivorous plant, the plants are also resting.
The little cabbage and the soft vines helped distribute food and pills to the plants. After they had filled their bellies, the new batch of plants curled up on one side. They were more familiar with each other and slept close together.
The mimosa plant also went there, shrinking to the size of a palm, and stuck to the top of the pumpkin.
Cherry was the only exception; it seemed very interested in potatoes, following them around as soon as it entered, refusing to eat any food, only swallowing a few pills.
Unable to change its size, it was considered large among them. It forced its way past the small bamboo shoots and almost crushed the potato's foot.
Potato pursed its lips and moved to the other side, while Cherry moved over as well, even leaning closer to smell it, its beady black eyes filled with curiosity.
"Woof!" Potato was unhappy and punched it, then hugged its little backpack and ran off to Nut.
Cherry got hit, but didn't care at all. She reached out to touch it and followed after him.
Upon seeing a large, unfamiliar cherry approaching, Nut opened its eyes and scanned it.
It knew the potato was hiding behind it, and when the big cherry got close, it suddenly grew larger.
The nut stood in front, just a head taller than the cherry, looking down at it from above.
Cherry looked left and right, but realized she couldn't get through.
Just then, Carrot came over and grabbed the cherry stem on its head.
The carrot was only slightly taller than the cherry, but it was very strong; it lifted the cherry with a single hand.
Carrot, with a stern face, said, "Huh?"
It had been eyeing the cherry tree for a long time, and of all the new plants it brought back, it was the one that liked to fidget the most.
It had done so before, and it even got hit by a nuclear bomb...
If it weren't for the fact that the cherry seemed perfectly fine, I wouldn't have even let the carrot in.
The large cherry swayed in mid-air for a moment, then looked at the carrot.
It looked docile, as if it knew it had done something wrong, and patted its belly: "Ooh..."
Is it hungry?
Carrot took it to the backpack and took two pieces of jerky.
Cherry leaned closer to smell it, but didn't eat it.
"Woo..." It looked at the potatoes again, looking aggrieved, but this time it didn't dare to go over, turned its head and jumped to the corner to stay quietly.
—
On the other side, several modified vehicles quietly drove into the base where the wall had been damaged.
They were the two teams assigned to provide support. They had been following the man-eating flower and Nan Tingjin when they saw a warm light shining from a low building.
The captain mustered his courage and approached, observing carefully through binoculars.
The warm light emanating from somewhere was unlike ordinary light, and through the broken window, he saw another person beside Nan Tingjin.
He was too far away to see Qian Hui's face clearly, but he could see the man-eating flower obediently bowing its head and opening its mouth in front of Qian Hui.
More plants emerged from the carnivorous plant's mouth, and they didn't attack the two of them at all.
He was then discovered by the strange plants inside, and a radish thorn accurately struck the door of the modified car.
The captain didn't dare linger and immediately drove away.
On the way, a team member remembered that Qian Hui was the one who was with the alien plant in the last assignment issued by Sky Base.
So all the actions of the alien plant were manipulated by him?
But why are those exotic plants so obedient?
The team member asked, "Should we report Nam Tinh's actions?"
Whatever the reason, it is a fact that he prevented the team from going to provide support.
The captain frowned, and after a long while, he said, "Let's go check out the base first."
Upon arriving at the branch of the Sky Base, even though they had been mentally prepared, everyone was still shocked by what they saw inside the base.
The wall had been smashed open, revealing a huge breach, the ground inside covered in blood, corpses, and signs of battle.
A group of people carefully went inside, trying not to disturb the scene, and searched for usable information.
The attackers must have been those alien plants assigned to the base. They caused a disturbance at the Black Ridge Mountain base and then quickly traveled to such a distant place.
The captain felt that something was amiss, especially since both deaths were among people from the Sky Base.
Both teams were from nearby bases and had dealings with Sky Base. They knew that Sky Base was capturing alien plants alive, saying they wanted to find a way to solve the problem of aliens getting lost.
No one knows exactly how it was done.
After passing a large number of corpses, the two teams searched the area and found a door with its side edge damaged.
The door was in a rather hidden location, and although it was damaged, the captain still wanted to go in and take a look, hoping to find survivors.
However, when he arrived at the basement, he was shocked once again.
The narrow, dark room was filled with open iron cages, clearly used to confine exotic plants.
This scene immediately reminded the captain of what the carnivorous plant had hidden in its mouth.
Did they break into the base to take away the plants that were being kept there?
The captain and the team members beside him fell silent for a moment, their expressions somewhat subtle.
Judging from the current environment, the confined plants must be having a terrible time, and are likely to be abused.
The captain remembered that when Sky Base first started capturing alien plants, some people objected, saying that alien plants were also intelligent life forms and could be studied, but there had to be limits.
In particular, they mainly catch mid-to-high-grade plants, with occasional low-grade ones. These plants are vastly different from top-grade exotic plants and can be considered as two completely different categories.
At that time, Sky Base responded that they were acting with discretion and that all the alien plants captured alive would eventually be released safely under normal circumstances.
Now it seems...
At that moment, a team member discovered a pile of paper documents in the corner of another small window next door.
The team member casually flipped through a few pages, gasped, and shouted, "Captain!"
—
The carnivorous plant headed south and arrived at the nearest dense forest before dawn.
A sign outside the woods read "High-risk zone," which suited Qianhui's wishes perfectly.
After entering the forest, the carnivorous plant found a water source and stopped beside a large lake.
The plants emerged one after another. Qianhui first fed the shrunken carnivorous plant some food and pills, then told it to go and rest.
Afterwards, Qianhui sat under the tree and checked the condition of the plants one by one.
After taking the medicine and receiving treatment from the sunflowers along the way, all the plants' wounds have healed and they are in good condition.
Almost all the plant teams involved in the battle had used their charged attacks and were now slowly recovering.
The carrot was still full of energy. It took the durian with it and used its radish thorns to fly out to patrol the perimeter and check the safety of the surrounding area.
The remaining thirteen newly added plants were all a little timid, huddled together and dared not move.
Qian Hui hugged each of them, fed them some snacks, and also bought a guide to take a look.
Among the thirteen plants are cherry, pumpkin, cactus, eggplant, peach, morning glory, star fruit, dragon fruit, four-leaf clover, pomegranate, watermelon, pothos, yellow tulip...
There are four high-level and nine mid-level ones in total, including both attack and support types.
Qianhui doesn't have time to look at the skills carefully right now, and wants to try to keep them all by her side.
He held the smallest tulip, stroked its leaves, and whispered, "Don't be afraid, it's safe now... Come with me, okay? I can protect you."
The tulips timidly curled up into a circle, their leaves cautiously touching Qianhui's palm.
Not far away, Nan Tingjin looked up and gazed at him.
His eyes were dim, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
—
With Qianhui's gentle comfort, the plants' condition improved considerably.
They had all been imprisoned for a long time, and escape was a pipe dream; they dared not imagine that anyone would come to rescue them.
Moreover, although Qianhui is very similar to a human and has a pair of red eyes, her scent is very pleasant.
After a while, a starfruit boldly stepped forward and took the initiative to hug Qianhui's wrist.
Qian Hui smiled and reached out to touch it.
He picked up Yang Tao and turned to look around.
It seems there's a cherry that's gone somewhere...
Suddenly, Potato yelled.
In the woods not far away, Big Cherry skipped along, carrying a small backpack, with Potato following closely behind.
Cherry ran away while unzipping her small backpack.
Potato, anxious and furious, quickly pinched a bomb and threw it: "Whoosh!"
Sugar thief!
Smelling the bomb, Cherry twisted her body, opened her mouth, caught it, and swallowed it.
Potato paused for a moment, then saw it pull out... two large landmines from its backpack.
Cherry was so excited she almost cried, and she chewed and ate the landmine.
Potato ran over quickly, snatched the small backpack, and found that the candy inside was still there.
Cherry buried her head in it and sniffed it, her eyes sparkling.
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