Looking at Jiang Le, who was unscathed except for the wound on his arm, Wang Weifeng wasn’t without his doubts. But that doubt was fleeting; before he could give it much thought, it was already suppressed by the arrogance deep within him.

Perhaps the locusts were simply closer to him and had breached his flesh and blood defenses first, and the energy contained in a superpower user’s blood was simply more attractive to mutated creatures than that of ordinary people.

“Stop standing there like an idiot. Help me up!” Wang Weifeng shouted at his subordinate, his face dark with anger.

The self-petrification effect on his leg and the land locust’s numbing effect on the wound hadn’t worn off yet, so Wang Weifeng wasn’t feeling too much pain at the moment. It was just that the wound looked so horrific that it made his legs go weak.

“Oh, and don’t forget to find the nucleus crystal,” Wang Weifeng ordered, gasping for breath.

The charred corpses of the land locusts on the ground had piled up into several small mounds, but after the group had searched these mounds back and forth for quite a while, they still hadn’t found a trace of the nucleus crystal.

“What’s going on? Could it be that it’s too small to have a nucleus crystal?”

Jiang Le stood motionless and silent to the side, his presence almost nonexistent. Yet his ears continued to pick up every faint sound within the dilapidated factory, including the faint writhing of the flesh mass that had been lurking in the shadows from the very beginning.

To say there was no nucleus crystal in this pile of ashes because these land locusts were too small—well, that was both true and not true.

In fact, land locusts and blood vines share not only the trait of feeding on flesh and blood, but their methods of attack are also strikingly similar. Everything is controlled by a central brain; the vines or other small land locusts are merely expendable replacements that won’t harm the core. After absorbing some energy, they can replicate and regenerate at any time.

Right now, that nucleus crystal remains subdued deep within the mother insect’s system, no longer daring to launch an attack for fear of endangering itself.

Jiang Le’s fingertips gently gripped the lid of the cultivation dish in his other hand, soothing the blood vine, which had grown even more restless upon sensing the power of its origin. His expression remained impassive as he played the part of an ignorant ordinary person.

Wang Weifeng stared at them and continued searching for another ten or so minutes. Seeing that he still couldn’t find the nucleus crystal, a wave of irritation washed over him.

But during the wait, sensation had gradually returned to the wound on his leg. The deepening pain caused cold sweat to break out on Wang Weifeng’s forehead. The sharp, electric-like twinges pierced straight to his heart, making his teeth chatter as he spoke: “Forget it. Just clear this place out. Carry me back so I can get this treated.”

On the way back, Wang Weifeng couldn’t stop crying out in pain, which attracted a few zombies along the way—he vented his frustration by turning them to stone.

By the time they reached the base, the pain had drained Wang Weifeng of the strength to shout; he could only manage a few groans, drawing the curious glances of many. Word quickly spread that the usually loud and boisterous Wang Weifeng had been carried all the way from the base entrance—and that he’d lost the use of one leg—reaching the ears of quite a few people, including Zhang Haiyang and his group, who had just finished their zombie-killing mission for the day.

Zhang Haiyang felt this was Wang Weifeng getting his just deserts—a form of payback for yesterday’s incident—but he also worried about Jiang Le, whose situation remained unknown.

If even Wang Weifeng had been injured, given his habit of making others take the hit first whenever danger arose, wouldn’t Jiang Le be in even greater danger? But Zhang Haiyang soon had no time to dwell on that.

Standing at the mission claim station, their squad handed in the same number of zombie nucleus crystals as usual, but the food they received was less than before. If they used to get enough food to fill them up to 70% after a day of hard work, now they were left with only 50%.

“What gives? This is totally unfair!”

“We won’t even be able to fill our stomachs with this.”

“Then we’re not trading!”

Zhang Haiyang and his team’s complaints were shared by the other ordinary people returning from zombie-killing missions today, yet their words fell flat, as light as cotton fluff, bringing no change whatsoever.

The superpower user who was buying up nucleus crystals at the mission board just sneered at this: “It’s because more and more people are killing zombies these days—nucleus crystals aren’t worth much anymore, you know? If you don’t trade them in today, the price might not be the same tomorrow. Take it or leave it—there are plenty of others who’ll take them.”

Those words silenced the crowd’s complaints. After another moment of hesitation, a few people stepped forward and traded the nucleus crystals they’d earned that day for two palm-sized cakes. Others, out of spite, turned and headed home—Zhang Haiyang was one of them.

Jiang Le arrived home before Zhang Haiyang.

Li Jiajia was standing by the doorway, repeatedly scrubbing her little girl’s clothes in a small basin of water. Hearing footsteps approach, she looked up and smiled at Jiang Le when she saw him.

She had soaked the cookies Jiang Le had given her yesterday in hot water for her daughter to eat today; at least the little one had eaten a lot more than usual.

Jiang Le raised his hand toward Li Jiajia; in his palm was a package wrapped in newspaper, its contents unrecognizable. After placing it on the concrete block in front of the house, he said, “Sis, I got this from my mission today. Let’s have this for dinner tonight.”

Hearing this, Li Jiajia gently peeled back a corner of the newspaper and discovered five stuffed buns and three thick, plump white steamed buns.

The pastries looked glossy and moist, with soft, sweet shredded carrots and marbled beef blended together seamlessly. Wrapped in dough and flattened, the fat seeped out and, under the heat of the oil, created a crispy crust.

As for the three large white steamed buns, their pristine whiteness made it immediately clear they were made from the finest flour.

Li Jiajia’s gaze was drawn to the pile of food; she could hardly tear her eyes away. By the time she realized it, she had already unconsciously swallowed twice.

Leaving all this food out made her uneasy, so Li Jiajia quickly wiped the water from her hands on her waist, carried the newspaper inside, and asked, somewhat puzzled, “Why is there so much food?” She glanced behind Jiang Le but didn’t see Zhang Haiyang.

Why hadn’t the two people who’d gone out together that morning returned together?

Li Jiajia’s heart skipped a beat. Seeing all the food, she grabbed Jiang Le’s wrist: “Could something have happened to Old Zhang?”

To prevent her from dwelling on the worst-case scenario, Jiang Le interrupted her: “Sis, I wasn’t with Brother Zhang. These are the supplies we brought back from a mission with the Supernatural Squad.”

Li Jiajia’s heart finally settled, but she waved her hand at the food: “Well, these are yours. Keep them for yourself. It’s getting cold now, so they’ll keep.”

She already felt she’d taken advantage of Jiang Le with yesterday’s milk candies and cookies, and she knew just how hard it was to come by food these days.

Jiang Le said, “Sis, I can’t just stay here for free. Just think of this as my rent. Besides, these days, we take it one meal at a time—who has time to worry about the next one?”

Li Jiajia rubbed her hands, unsure how to respond. Jiang Le had already bent down to play with Tangyuan, so she had no choice but to go back outside to continue doing laundry while she waited for Zhang Haiyang.

Tangyuan was sitting on the corner of the bed, where a plastic sheet had been laid down, playing with a few building blocks. She’d been looking up at Jiang Le since a moment ago. The little girl still remembered the milk candy from last night, so she looked up and smiled at Jiang Le.

But her frail little face was so thin it looked pitiful.

Jiang Le raised her hand to feel the little girl’s forehead—she had a fever, which explained why she’d looked so listless these past two days. Jiang Le retrieved a bottle of appropriate medicine from her storage space and poured out a capful for Tangyuan according to the dosage.

Although the little girl didn’t know what it was, she obediently drank the medicine after tasting its sweet flavor.

Zhang Haiyang returned home in a huff, but the closer he got to the door, the slower his steps became. When he saw Li Jiajia washing clothes at the entrance, he realized he had no grounds to be sulking. He let out a deep sigh, turned around, and ran back the way he came, intending to return to the mission claim center to exchange those two pastries for something else.

But when Zhang Haiyang returned to the claim center, the person collecting the nucleus crystals looked at the crystals he handed over and said, “We can only exchange them for one bun now. Do you want to do it?”

“But we agreed on two,” Zhang Haiyang exclaimed in shock.

“That was the price earlier. Why didn’t you exchange them then? Now you can only get one bun. Take it or leave it—but don’t block the line for the people behind you.”

Someone behind him hurriedly asked, “Can we still get two?”

The superpower user nodded, and the others fell silent, all eyes fixed on Zhang Haiyang.

The people behind him were still getting two—clearly, Zhang Haiyang’s earlier petulant departure had been deliberately targeted. But Zhang Haiyang’s clenched fists eventually relaxed. Without a word, he set down the nucleus crystal, took the bun, and left.

Back home, he’d expected the usual gloom and gloom, but to his surprise, Tangyuan’s giggles drifted out from inside.

Zhang Haiyang bent down to enter the room and saw Jiang Le playing with building blocks alongside Tangyuan.

Learning that Jiang Le had not only escaped unscathed today but had even brought back this food, Zhang Haiyang was taken aback and found himself at a loss for words.

Li Jiajia didn’t know what it was really like to go on a mission with a superpower user, so she believed Jiang Le’s excuse, but Zhang Haiyang knew better—he knew full well that Wang Weifeng would never have been willing to share so much food with ordinary people.

But Zhang Haiyang kept all of this to himself for the time being.

The group shared the pastries and steamed buns; the feeling of their bellies filling with fat and carbohydrates was simply wonderful. Even Tangyuan, who had been lacking an appetite for the past few days, ate until her little belly was round as a ball; she fell asleep that night without much fuss. Li Jiajia held her close, and mother and daughter breathed steadily and deeply.

Night fell completely, and the sounds around them faded into silence. Just like the night before, Jiang Le slipped out of the tin shack, scaled the wall, and leaped out of the compound, heading toward the abandoned factory based on his memory from earlier that day. He was determined to get his hands on the dry locust’s nucleus crystal.

Xiao Lang appeared partway along the route, silently trailing behind Jiang Le. When they reached the abandoned factory, he didn’t go inside but waited at the entrance. He had always detested those bloodsucking creatures.

Moonlight streamed in through the high windows surrounding the abandoned factory, refracted by the slightly luminous moss on the damp walls, casting a shimmering green glow throughout the interior. The surroundings were utterly silent, broken only by the faint sound of water droplets occasionally condensing in the metal pipes and plopping into small puddles on the ground—drip, drip.

Back here again, the blood vine was excited and restless.

When Jiang Le complied and lifted the lid of the cultivation dish, countless vines were instantly released from the dish—no larger than a watch face—and surged out. Starting from Jiang Le’s wrist, they twisted gently through the air like the hair of a sea nymph, gliding through the shimmering light, their tips sensing every wisp of scent floating in the air.

Although it could sate itself with zombie nucleus crystals, the blood vine still preferred purer forms of power; deprivation and slaughter were etched into the very nature of all mutated creatures.

Jiang Le also unleashed his five senses to carefully detect and pinpoint the location of the mother mutated leech.

Almost in the same instant, Jiang Le took a step forward, and the blood vine’s tendrils simultaneously extended and probed in a certain direction.

Jiang Le took a long stride forward, then broke into a sprint after two or three steps, following that barely perceptible sound all the way to the end of the pipe’s bend. The mutated leech queen inside the pipe also sensed danger and tried to escape through the pipe leading to the outside. Jiang Le kicked off the wall to leap high into the air, then swung his machete down with all his might, cleaving a bowl-sized gash in that section of the pipe and blocking the mother’s escape route.

The moment the pipe ruptured, a chunk of flesh slipped past Jiang Le’s eyes and into the depths of the pipe. He simply stepped onto the pipe and pursued it step by step, delivering four or five slashing blows—one after another—forcing the mother organism back into a corner where it could only cower.

Inside the pipe, the mutated locust mother emitted a shrill squeak like a mouse’s squeak. As the blood vine vines probed her, she writhed frantically, causing the pipe to tremble violently.

Meanwhile, from the gashes Jiang Le had hacked open, countless land locusts surged out like a geyser of blood. The moment they came into contact with the outside air, these creatures began leaping frantically toward Jiang Le, as if determined to take someone down with them even if they were to die there that very day.

A single leap could carry a mutated land locust over ten meters. Once it made contact with flesh, the suction cups on its head would instantly latch on, clamping down with a firm grip. Even if violently torn off, the contact area would still be corroded into a bleeding hole. As long as the suction cups remained attached, the locust would regrow a new body in under a minute as it fed.

Jiang Le hopped along the pipe, carefully angling his movements to evade the creatures. After just a few jumps, he felt the fragile pipe beneath his feet tremble as if on the verge of snapping. Meanwhile, the mutated locusts had already surrounded him from all sides, greedily targeting every part of his body.

Seeing the danger approaching, the blood vine instantly retracted the tendrils that had been chasing the mother mutated leech. Just before the offspring could touch Jiang Le, it wove a dense net of vines in midair, blocking the danger like a wall.

The mutated locusts crashed into the blood vine, emitting a rapid succession of sharp, cracking sounds.

The tiny suction cups on the vines suddenly opened, clamping down tightly on the flesh that had come crashing into them. The locust, as thick as Jiang Le’s finger, was drained dry in the blink of an eye by the blood vine’s suction cups.

But he had barely a second to relax before the pipe beneath his feet finally gave way under the strain. With a creak, it snapped and crashed to the ground, dragging Jiang Le—who was standing on it—down with it. He immediately adjusted his position during the brief moment he was suspended in midair, ensuring that even if he fell, he wouldn’t be too vulnerable and could get back up and rejoin the fight right away.

Unexpectedly, a dark shadow darted from outside and flashed beneath him in an instant. Its body swelled to several times its normal size, ensuring there was enough surface area for its soft back fur to catch Jiang Le as he fell from above.

The remaining mutated locusts from the broken pipe rained down, gradually growing larger in Jiang Le’s field of vision as he lay flat.

The next second, the young wolf sprinted at full speed, leaping to the other side of the building. After dodging the offspring, it suddenly spewed a burst of flame.

The speed was so great that many of the mutated locusts still in midair were instantly reduced to charcoal.

It was a rough ride for the blood vine. Not only did it get teleported along with them, but it had neither the protective fur on its back to cushion the fall nor any mental preparation. The vine was practically dragged along by inertia; the motion sickness-like sensation made the blood vine vomit up the mutant locusts it hadn’t finished eating, and countless half-eaten corpses clattered to the ground.

And the little wolf hadn’t spared it a thought when it breathed fire just now—the heat wave had even scorched its vines! The wolf and the vine were simply polar opposites in every way; no wonder they clashed the moment they met. Jiang Le jumped down from the little wolf’s back and patted its side in gratitude.

Now that the entire metal pipe had fallen to the ground, aside from the mutated locusts still pouring out, the blood-red mother organism had nowhere left to hide.

Although its movement speed wasn’t slow, it was still far too predictable.

Jiang Le’s Mountain-Splitting Blade flew out with ferocious force, its immense power piercing through the rotting outer wall of the pipe to impale the mutated leech’s mother body, pinning it to the spot so it couldn’t move, emitting a piercing, shrill squeal.

The offspring, sensing their mother’s agony, began to writhe and twist even more frantically. But because the mother, wracked with pain, was unable to issue commands, they no longer attacked Jiang Le with the same unwavering focus as before, instead standing there in a daze.

The blood vine channeled all the hatred it had felt from the motion sickness and the scorching fire onto the mutated locust’s mother. It shot out its vines once more, aiming for the location of the Mountain-Splitting Blade, completely enveloping the mother and striking straight at her nucleus crystal.

The piercing screams finally subsided, ending in silence that signaled the mother’s death.

A pearl-colored nucleus crystal was held aloft by the vines, which triumphantly retracted it back into Jiang Le’s sight.

Jiang Le held the mutant locust’s nucleus crystal in his hand, feeling the blood vine’s countless vines writhing eagerly at his fingertips. Yet despite its intense craving for this source of power—which would greatly benefit it—it still handed the nucleus crystal to Jiang Le first.

Jiang Le did not disappoint the blood vine’s expectations; moments later, he fed the nucleus crystal to it. The vine, coiled around its beloved nucleus crystal, retreated contentedly back into the cultivation dish.

Having successfully achieved his goal, Jiang Le looked relaxed and prepared to leave. Suddenly, however, Xiao Lang nudged his arm with its snout. Jiang Le looked down and saw that Xiao Lang had noticed the wound he had cut with Wang Weifeng’s dagger earlier.

So much time had passed that the bleeding had long since stopped, yet the scar still stood out starkly against his fair skin.

Since the shape of the scar could have been caused by a vine lash, and the wound had been licked by the blood vine, it still carried its scent.

The little wolf shot a dangerous glance at the cultivation dish. It looked as though, had the blood vine not already retracted into the dish—and had the dish not been on Jiang Le’s wrist—it would have unhesitatingly breathed a jet of fire to incinerate the blood vine.

Jiang Le’s gaze met the little wolf’s; he understood the meaning in its eyes and explained, “I got this when I was out with those superpower users earlier.”

The implication was clear: it had nothing to do with the blood vine.

Seeing that he didn’t seem to be lying, Xiao Lang turned and walked ahead, strolling slowly away.

Crossing the wall and easily evading the patrol’s gaze, Jiang Le slipped silently into the darkness. Sensing Xiao Lang’s footsteps behind him, Jiang Le turned and motioned for Xiao Lang to enter the spatial pocket.

But Xiao Lang ignored him and ran off toward some spot in the center of the base.

Jiang Le didn’t know where it was going. He was about to give chase when he saw a figure rise from the darkness at the entrance to Zhang Haiyang’s house. His footsteps halted, and after a moment, he chose to walk toward the person in the shadows.

“Brother Zhang, why aren’t you asleep yet?”

It was indeed Zhang Haiyang standing in the darkness by the door; Jiang Le wasn’t particularly surprised.

“You… you’re no ordinary person.” Zhang Haiyang lowered his voice to a whisper, speaking haltingly yet with certainty. When Jiang Le had scaled the wall to enter earlier, Zhang Haiyang had also seen that dark shadow trailing behind him—a figure that vaguely overlapped with the massive black beast he’d glimpsed during that life-or-death encounter with the mutated wild boar.

And even if he hadn’t seen the little wolf, piecing together all the clues was enough to realize that Jiang Le was no ordinary person.

“Tangyuan told Jiajia that you gave her some sweet water,” Zhang Haiyang said.

A few hours after drinking it, his daughter’s fever began to subside, and her appetite returned. Zhang Haiyang surmised that what Jiang Le had given Tangyuan to drink was medicine—something more precious than food at that moment.

How could ordinary people have produced those provisions? And how could ordinary people have joined Wang Weifeng’s squad, not only escaping unscathed but also leaving Wang Weifeng with a crippled leg?

“I am indeed an ordinary person, just not exactly like you guys,” Jiang Le said.

Zhang Haiyang wasn’t trying to force Jiang Le to reveal his identity; he simply wanted to understand why he had survived the brink of death. He raised his hand to wipe the warm tears from the corners of his eyes and said to Jiang Le, “Xiao Jiang, I just want to say thank you.”

Without any sentimental words, Jiang Le got straight to the point: “Brother Zhang, I don’t know how long I’ll be staying here, but while I’m here, could I ask you for a favor?”

Zhang Haiyang quickly asked, “What kind of favor? Just tell me.”

“While I’m staying here, I hope you won’t reveal any information about me to anyone else.” 

“Of course not. I won’t tell a soul,” Zhang Haiyang assured him in a low voice.

Jiang Le nodded, then casually added, “Also, I’m buying zombie nucleus crystals. What’s the base’s current purchase price?” Zhang Haiyang told Jiang Le the base’s current price for nucleus crystals.

Jiang Le pondered for a moment before nodding. “Here’s the deal: with this many zombies, after you extract the zombie nucleus crystals, pile the bodies together. When you’re on your way back, send me the coordinates. I’ll handle them when I get back, and I’ll provide three meals a day. How does that sound?”

The blood vine’s demand for zombie nucleus crystals was growing by the day; now it required over a hundred nucleus crystals daily just to clear its hunger bar. Although Jiang Le still had a substantial stockpile of nucleus crystals in his warehouse, it never hurt to have a little extra. Buying zombie nucleus crystals from Zhang Haiyang was a win-win for both of them.

Zhang Haiyang froze. The idea of three meals a day was a far cry from two palm-sized cakes. His heart pounded as he asked Jiang Le, “Breakfast, lunch, and dinner?”

Seeing Jiang Le nod, Zhang Haiyang’s heart raced even faster. He pressed, “Then… then can my friends trade zombie nucleus crystals with you too?”

He couldn’t take the chance to trade with Jiang Le for a full stomach while letting his comrades-in-arms settle for those two dry, tasteless cakes.

“Yes, but you have to guarantee they’re all people you can trust.”

Zhang Haiyang was overjoyed and promised repeatedly, “I will, I will. They’re all friends I’d die for—I vouch for them.”

In truth, whether Zhang Haiyang could truly guarantee he wouldn’t reveal Jiang Le’s identity wasn’t that important. Jiang Le simply didn’t want to draw too much attention to himself at the base; he planned to gather enough coordinates for the base’s supernatural creatures, get the nucleus crystals, and leave.

While they exchanged these earnest words, on the other side, a dark figure silently tracked Wang Weifeng’s aura in the air. After locking onto a specific room in a two-story building, through the lit window, a pair of aqua-blue wolf eyes fixed intently on the human silhouette reflected inside.

Wang Weifeng lay on the bed, his injured leg suspended high. Although he’d been treated by a healing-type superpower user, a full recovery wasn’t possible in the short term, and it was said he’d regain at most 80% of his full function.

He ran a hand over his thigh, silently lamenting his own bad luck. His thoughts turned to Jiang Le. While annoyed that the fool had such good fortune, he couldn’t help muttering to himself, “That dumb kid actually looks pretty hot. If it weren’t for this leg injury keeping me from paying him any mind…”

The younger guy sitting next to him knew his kinks and casually chimed in with something about “there being plenty of time ahead.” Suddenly feeling the urge to pee, he stood up and said: “Brother Wang, I’m going to take a leak.”

“Why the hell do you need to report to me when you’re taking a piss? Do you need me to hold the pail for you?”

The underling chuckled and said as he walked out, “Now it’s my turn to hand you the chamber pot, Brother Wang.”

After he left, the door wasn’t fully closed. A dozen seconds later, with a creak, the door was pushed open from the outside.

“You finished that fast, kid?” Wang Weifeng didn’t even turn his head. “Short guy, short pee, huh?”

But no one answered him. Only a warm breath blew against the side of Wang Weifeng’s head—yet it carried a bone-chilling cold.

“What the hell are you breathing on my head for?” Wang Weifeng snapped, turning around in anger, only to see not his own man, but a massive wolf’s head.

For a moment, his breath caught in his throat. Overwhelming fear left him speechless, terrified that the slightest movement would mean instant death in the wolf’s jaws.

Wang Weifeng saw clear murderous intent in the giant wolf’s eyes, yet for some reason, its gaze finally settled, with remarkable restraint, on his left arm.

In the blink of an eye, the giant wolf lunged forward. Before Wang Weifeng could even scream, it snapped its jaws shut with a crunch, shattering his forearm. Then, it turned and leaped out the window, vanishing into the darkness in a single fluid motion.

All that remained was Wang Weifeng, clutching the shattered bones of his arm, letting out a scream like a pig being slaughtered.