Jiang Chen’an looked helplessly at Gu Xiaomai, who was laughing so hard her stomach hurt. This girl!
Behind them, the red-bellied pheasant followed along. Its tiny eyes were filled with huge confusion.
【This woman… is she crazy?】
Gu Xiaomai stiffened immediately. She kept shooting sharp “knife-like” glances backward, but couldn’t even see a single feather.
While they were paused, Yumi arrived in front of them.
“How is it? Are you okay?” Yumi looked them over. Seeing no signs of injury, he finally relaxed.
“We’re fine.” Jiang Chen’an shook his head.
Gu Xiaomai wasn’t sure whether to say they were fine or not.
If she said fine, there was a strange chicken following them whose combat ability was unknown but definitely not weak.
If she said not fine, the chicken wasn’t a cruel, violent mutated beast—and after being angered by her earlier, it had only been complaining in its mind, not actually attacking her.
The three continued searching for purified plants, while the red-bellied pheasant followed at a distance—neither too close nor too far.
Gu Xiaomai didn’t know what it wanted, so she stayed on high alert.
As she walked, she recalled every detail from when she picked the astragalus plant to when she began hearing the chicken’s thoughts.
Suddenly, she thought of something.
That chicken had said “tasty,” “water,” and even told her to “give more.”
Back then she had been too shocked to think clearly. Now that she thought about it—did it mean that when she threw her bone-splitting blade, she also accidentally released some kind of “water”? And it was only after drinking that water that she could hear its thoughts?
But she hadn’t noticed anything unusual about her hand at the time.
She stared at her right hand—palm, back of hand, nails… she checked everywhere but found nothing.
Then she thought about her strange body again.
Could it be that her body could produce some kind of magical water, released through her hand?
But why only today? Why not other times?
No—something was off.
Last time she went up the mountain to find purified plants, she had heard a voice crying out in pain.
At the time she thought she had misheard it. Now it seemed very likely that the purified astragalus had also absorbed this special water, and that was why it “cried out” when she pulled it out.
And judging from the chicken’s reaction, this special water must be extremely attractive to it.
Then the giant purified catfish she had encountered before was very likely also attracted when she washed the astragalus roots.
After sorting everything out, Gu Xiaomai was no longer afraid of the chicken that called itself a “phoenix.”
Lost in thought, she followed Jiang Chen’an and Yumi and soon arrived at the place where she had first encountered the mutated rabbit.
The sweet potato seedlings had grown a lot—spreading across what looked like about two mu of land.
Gu Xiaomai expected there to be at least five or six purified sweet potatoes.
But after checking, she only found one.
She felt a little disappointed, then quickly cheered herself up—one was better than none, and even one could be propagated into many more seedlings.
She dug it up together with the seed sweet potato.
“When we settle accounts later, can we take this one?” she asked.
“What’s special about it? Aren’t they all purified plants?” Yumi asked in confusion.
Jiang Chen’an also looked at the purified sweet potato in her hand but couldn’t see anything unusual.
“This is a sweet potato seedling. Its vines can be cut and replanted, producing more sweet potatoes and more purified plants,” Gu Xiaomai explained.
“During the early days of the base, someone had the same idea and transplanted purified plants back. But while being cultivated, they turned into polluted plants and killed an entire family.”
“Because it wasn’t discovered in time, that incident caused heavy casualties in District 11. My parents also died in that disaster.”
As he spoke, Yumi’s eyes slowly turned red. He blinked quickly to hold back tears.
“Chen-ge… I never told you why I want to see what corn looks like or tastes like, right?”
Jiang Chen’an nodded.
When the disaster involving purified plants turning into polluted killers happened, Yumi was only six years old.
At that time, his family had just settled in the base after wandering. His father often went out on missions with combat teams, and his mother worked odd jobs inside the base. Life was slowly improving.
That day, his mother told him she would buy purified corn with her earned points. She said she had always wanted to eat tender corn before the disaster, and now she finally had the chance—she wanted her “little corn” to taste corn.
He had just seen her off at the door when he watched her being killed by a mutated plant.
His scream brought back his father and the team members who had just returned to the base.
After he was rescued, he didn’t know what happened afterward.
When he saw his parents again, it was Granny Gu who took him to see them. They were lying silently on the ground, surrounded by many others who had also died.
After that, Granny Gu brought him to an orphanage, where he grew up.
Jiang Chen’an and Gu Xiaomai had always thought it was just because his name was “Yumi” that he cared so much about corn. They never expected this reason.
“Brother Yumi…” Gu Xiaomai said softly, her voice full of concern.
Seeing their worried expressions, Yumi forced a smile.
“I’m fine… I just miss them.”
Jiang Chen’an patted his shoulder. “Uncle and aunt would want you to live well and carry on with their share.”
“In a few months, the corn we planted will be ready. You can eat the corn your mother didn’t get to eat. I’ll even make all kinds of corn dishes for you.”
Gu Xiaomai then began listing corn foods.
Boiled tender corn—sweet and fragrant. Corn water that also tastes sweet. Fried corn kernels until golden, sprinkled with chili and cumin. Cornmeal buns… and more.
The two listened, unconsciously salivating. Even though they had never eaten them, everything sounded delicious.
The heavy sadness quickly faded away.
“How do you know so many recipes?” Jiang Chen’an asked curiously.
Yumi also looked at her.
Gu Xiaomai immediately thought: Oh no.
In her previous life, her father had been a chef and she had learned cooking too—but in this life, she didn’t know the original owner’s background at all.
She quickly said she had just seen them somewhere and changed the topic.
“Did the base leadership never investigate why transplanting purified plants fails?” she asked.
Jiang Chen’an replied: “The research institute has studied it. The best outcome is that purified plants turn into ordinary plants, or they simply die. Most of the time, they become polluted plants. The results were never made public, and after the District 11 incident, the base discouraged residents from planting them themselves.”
“Not even one success?” she asked.
Yumi said: “I heard the only successful cases were from wood-type ability users. They now work in the base planting department, responsible for accelerating plant growth.”
“So there’s no other way?”
“Not for now,” Jiang Chen’an shook his head.
“Then why are we still doing reclamation work? Even if we grow normal plants or polluted ones, they’re not edible.”
Jiang Chen’an explained that normal plants could be sold to nutrition companies to produce nutrient solutions. Even a small yield of purified plants per acre was enough to make the base extremely satisfied. Most people joined to earn points.
Yumi added that the job also came with daily supplies and higher pay compared to most base jobs.
At that moment, a voice appeared in Gu Xiaomai’s mind again.
【Why are these humans just standing there? My legs are tired… but if I move, the leaves will make noise… should I move?】
Gu Xiaomai immediately turned her head and spotted the red-bellied pheasant peeking out again.
It was still following them.
She signaled to the others that nothing was wrong and ignored it.
They continued searching.
The pheasant stretched its stiff legs and kept following.
Eventually, they went down the mountain.
At the base, soldiers from E4 camp and the reclamation team were already waiting in line for inspection.
“Xiaomai, over here!” Wei Xiaoqin called.
Jiang Chen’an and Yumi went to queue, while Gu Xiaomai joined her group.
They showed her their bag.
It was heavy.
“Ginseng? Codonopsis?” she guessed.
“Codonopsis!” they whispered excitedly.
After inspection, it was their turn.
Inspector Jiao Yang only found one ordinary glowing plant in their bag and looked disappointed.
He clutched his chest in pain.
“Heart disease?” Yumi asked seriously. “I’ve heard it’s hard to treat. You should rest and take care of yourself.”
The surrounding soldiers struggled not to laugh.
The inspector was speechless.
Gu Xiaomai finally burst out laughing.
After inspection finished, night fell, and everyone returned to rest.
The red-bellied pheasant followed them all the way down, hesitating at the silver metal bridge—its deep blue eyes flickering with uncertainty.