Jiang Le took a look around the mission board but didn’t find any particularly valuable missions worth taking on; he didn’t even see many teams forming.

News of the suspected mutant wolf that had broken in and attacked a superpower user last night had spread like wildfire by this morning. Although most people didn’t believe it could be true, the fear lingered—everyone was worried the mutant beast might still be lurking near the base.

Jiang Le overheard some of the talk at the mission board and discovered that the rumor had turned into Wang Weifeng’s firm claim that the mutated wolf that bit him yesterday was a full Level 5! If it weren’t for his exceptional abilities—even with his injured leg—and his quick reflexes, anyone else would have lost more than just an arm.

Jiang Le：“……”

Why not just make it a Level 50 and show off a little more?

But staying in wasn’t a problem; Jiang Le had been planning to check out the base’s central market anyway.

Most of what’s sold at the Central Market are low-grade nucleus crystals—rice-grain-sized ones that you can grab by the handful. Depending on the type, the cheapest ones are even cheaper than zombie nucleus crystals. Feeding them to the little wolf and the blood vine for a meal might not even make them yawn.

In the past, Jiang Le, like most people, wouldn’t have paid these nucleus crystals any mind. But with the synthesis and star-upgrade features unlocked by the bestiary, these low-grade nucleus crystals suddenly had a purpose.

By this time, most stalls had already been set up, and quite a few people were coming and going in front of them, browsing the goods. Among them were some well-dressed ordinary people. Although the status of ordinary people had greatly diminished in this era, there were always those with powerful backers who could still live a respectable life.

Moreover, given the base’s inherently transient population, unfamiliar faces were the norm, so Jiang Le didn’t stand out in the market.

He walked from one end of the market to the other, getting a general overview of the types of nucleus crystals sold at each stall, forming a rough estimate in his mind.

Here, the most common and abundant nucleus crystals were the strength-type and speed-type varieties—the two most prevalent categories of superpower mutations.

Although the categories of supernatural mutations can be further subdivided into countless branches, the general framework, as outlined in the Biological Atlas, is measured across six primary dimensions: Strength, Speed, Attack Power, Mental Strength, Defense, and Intelligence.

When synthesizing, one needs only consider similarities across these six broad categories.

The hexagons formed by different mutated creatures vary; even high-star mutated creatures do not possess a perfect innate hexagon.

Take Xiao Lanb and the blood vine as examples: Xiao Lang’s first three stats are nearly maxed out for its current level, but the last three have varying degrees of deficiency that need to be addressed. Meanwhile, the blood vine’s Intelligence and Spirit stats are higher than the Little Wolf’s, but it falls short in all other aspects.

To accelerate their leveling, you could use high-level nucleus crystals to force a boost, but this carries risks. If done improperly, not only might you fail to achieve your goal, but it could also backfire and worsen their current state.

The safest and most reliable method is to supplement the corresponding stats with nucleus crystals based on their current weaknesses, aiming to build them into well-rounded fighters at their current level before transitioning steadily to the next tier.

The Mutant Boar’s nucleus crystal contains decent defense stats that could be used to bolster Xiao Lang. However, defense isn’t just about raw protection; when broken down, it also involves the speed of status recovery, which requires a nucleus crystal with healing power to address.

However, nucleus crystals with healing properties are rare on the market. Jiang Le had searched everywhere without finding what he wanted. Just as he was about to shift his focus to other types of nucleus crystals, a voice called out to him in a hushed tone: “Hey, buddy, come check out my stuff over here. I guarantee you’ll find what you’re looking for.”

Jiang Le turned around and saw a Level 2 superpower user about his own age, with round eyes and a friendly, cheerful demeanor. But what really made Jiang Le stop in his tracks was that the next second, the man pulled a small bag of nucleus crystals from his chest—at least fifty or sixty of them—among which were a dozen or so of mediocre quality but definitely possessing healing power.

I wonder what the price is, Jiang Le thought.

The round-eyed man beckoned Jiang Le closer and added, “I’ll give you a great deal. My business principle has always been to treat everyone fairly, young and old alike.” Jiang Le’s expression hardened, and he cut straight to the point: “Your ability is mind reading.”

Feng Yun’s smile froze slightly. He couldn’t understand how this ordinary person could be so perceptive—he’d already figured out his ability. However, his embarrassment lasted only a moment before he quickly covered it up with a laugh: “Hahaha, brother, my ability doesn’t affect our business, does it? You want nucleus crystals, right? Not many people have these these days.”

Only someone like him—who’d unlocked mind-reading through a skill book—could be so generous. Feng Yun silently wiped away a tear in his heart; after all, these nucleus crystals were useless to him. As a superpower user of such a niche, obscure ability, his physical constitution was only slightly stronger than that of ordinary people, and it was nearly impossible for him to level up using the standard methods for superpower users. 

The only real advantage was that he could read the minds of the big shots, allowing him to flatter them comfortably and assess the situation to know when to back off and protect himself.

Jiang Le didn’t even turn around before walking away. Although mind-reading sounds rather sinister, a Level 2 superpower user can actually only pick up on so much; the signal becomes choppy the farther away they are.

“I’ll take this whole bag. How much is it?”

Feng Yun’s eyes lit up. “You want the whole lot? Well then,” he pondered for a moment before listing off the items like a menu, “One of any Level 2 nucleus crystals, or five bags of white sugar, five bags of brown sugar, two bags of milk candy, ten pounds of flour, ten pounds of rice… anything of that sort will do.”

Ever since the world fell into chaos, Feng Yun had been making a living by reselling goods for a markup. He never stayed in one base for long—after all, making too many small profits in one place wasn’t safe—so he mostly moved between several nearby bases. Having interacted with all sorts of people, he’d come to know roughly what kind of person was likely to have something valuable to offer.

Take this ordinary-looking man in front of him, for instance. Aside from being somewhat handsome, he seemed unremarkable, yet that composed demeanor was something ordinary people at the bottom of the hierarchy simply couldn’t possess.

Sure enough, after he listed the items for exchange, the other party showed no sign of backing down.

“Three bags of white sugar,” Jiang Le countered.

Feng Yun had left some wiggle room when he made his opening offer; even at three bags, he’d still make a profit on these low-grade nucleus crystals. He pretended to be reluctant, pausing to consider before saying, “Alright then, let’s just call it making a new friend.”

He pulled Jiang Le aside and asked in a low voice, “So, shall we set a time and place for the handover?”

Jiang Le said nothing. He simply unfastened the black bag on his back, rummaged around inside for a moment, and pulled out several packets of sugar. He tore open one of them to show Feng Yun the edges.

The packaging was pristine and intact—500-gram bags that looked like top-quality goods fresh off the shelf. Feng Yun’s eyes lit up, and he quickly exchanged them with Jiang Le.

Jiang Le took the pack of nucleus crystals back to the house he’d just rented. He locked the door—or rather, propped it shut with a wooden stick—and then entered the system space right there on the spot.

The blood vine remained in a dormant state. Unlike usual, the vines weren’t floating lightly in the air; instead, they hung limply in the field, twitching occasionally.

Jiang Le crouched nearby and observed for a while. After repeatedly checking the backend to confirm that the blood vine’s current stats were all normal, he finally felt slightly reassured and decided to let it continue hibernating on its own for a while.

When he stood up, he didn’t see the little wolf. Jiang Le didn’t go looking for it, but simply walked over to the warehouse to check the inventory inside.

Currently, daily agricultural output has stabilized, and operations are running smoothly. Due to the significant increase in cultivated land, the daily accumulation of experience is several times what it used to be. Even though the experience bar has grown thicker, progress is still much faster than before.

Jiang Le took a bucket of goat’s milk from the warehouse and filled a basin with portions of wild boar pork, including the heart, liver, and other internal organs. Only then did he call out, “Xiao Lang, do you want to come out and eat?”

As if it had been waiting for Jiang Le to call, he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of Xiao Lang’s head poking out of the house, then pausing briefly. Though the man and the wolf couldn’t communicate verbally, after spending so much time together, Jiang Le could discern Xiao Lang’s intentions from its every pause and movement.

“Please come out and eat,” he said, crouching by the basin and gently tapping the rim.

Only then did the little wolf walk over, looking as if to say, “I’m not really that hungry, but since you’re inviting me so warmly, how could I possibly refuse?”

When it reached within arm’s reach, Jiang Le couldn’t help but ruffle its fluffy head. “You little stinker.”

Having brought it home as a pup, Jiang Le was more tolerant of the little wolf’s behavior, allowing it to seek more affection from him due to the mutation it had suffered in its youth. He also had to admit that even though he would go on to tame more than one mutated creature, the first one would always be different.

“I can’t let you go out today,” Jiang Le said. “They might actually send people out to look for you, and there’s really nothing fun around here anyway. You’ll be more at ease once we get back to the farm, where you can run wild.”

The raw meat on the bone crunched like potato chips under the wolf’s teeth, and the plate was soon empty as Jiang Le muttered to himself.

After cleaning up the mess from the feeding, Jiang Le took out the nucleus crystals he’d bought from Feng Yun, sorted them by type, and then fed them into the nucleus crystal synthesizer in batches according to their different properties.

Synthesis failed, synthesis failed… Synthesis successful!

He didn’t know how much time had passed, but after repeated trials, Jiang Le was certain that with the basic synthesizer, there was no safety net. Spending dozens of 1-star nucleus crystals to get one 2-star nucleus crystal was already quite good.

Jiang Le spent the entire day in front of the synthesizer, completely depleting his stock of 1-star nucleus crystals, and ultimately obtained 8 2-star nucleus crystals.

Although he could continue feeding these 8 nucleus crystals into the synthesizer to see if he could get a 3-star nucleus crystal, given the success rate, Jiang Le wasn’t wealthy enough to spare 2-star nucleus crystals for such experiments.

After all, just a few more 2-star nucleus crystals could catalyze Xiao Lang and the blood vine’s next evolution.

As for upgrading to Level 3 or higher, he’d worry about that later—once this basic synthesizer had been upgraded to intermediate or advanced, or once 2-star crystals no longer had a significant catalytic effect on Xiao Lang and the blood vine’s advancement.

However, Jiang Le felt fortunate that among these eight 2-star potential nucleus crystals, one contained healing power—the one with the highest success rate of them all. It was well worth the prayer he’d offered with both hands before inserting them.

With eight nucleus crystals—four for blood vine and four for Xiao Lang—plus the Mutant Wild Boar’s nucleus crystal and the Mutant Leech nucleus crystal he’d already fed to blood vine, Jiang Le felt he’d been a very fair parent.

As for why he had unhesitatingly given the rare nucleus crystal to Xiao Lang first, Jiang Le had a perfectly good reason. Of course, it was because the blood vine was always on his wrist, allowing him to keep an eye on it at all times, whereas Xiao Lang was constantly disappearing—improving its self-preservation skills was essential.

Furthermore, Jiang Le discovered that the experience points granted when synthesizing nucleus crystals with the synthesizer were surprisingly substantial. After working on it for most of the day, the farm’s experience progress bar had visibly advanced by a significant margin.

However, now was not the right time for Xiao Lang and the blood vine to level up. Not only was the environment unsafe—Jiang Le couldn’t afford to lose his right-hand man—but the blood vine was still dazed from the mutated leech’s nucleus crystal.

Thinking of this, Jiang Le glanced back at the blood vine—only to see its tendrils slowly stirring once more. Awake?

Jiang Le got up and walked over.

He didn’t really understand why the blood vine had fainted this time, since the mutant leech’s nucleus crystal hadn’t reached a level sufficient for the blood vine to level up. Jiang Le speculated that the reason could only be that two organisms, nearly identical in every respect, were simply too well-matched, catalyzing some form of evolution unrelated to their levels.

The blood vine had indeed woken up; its tendrils were twisting and writhing in the air, looking quite excited.

Although puzzled, Jiang Le asked, “How do you feel?” As he spoke, he opened the blood vine’s status panel, which displayed a mood of joy.

Putting his worries aside, Jiang Le was about to continue speaking when he saw the blood vine’s tendrils suddenly detach from the root. With a whoosh, they whipped into the air like a whip, and in an instant, the entire vine split into countless small segments. These segments then began hopping around on the ground, just like the offspring of the mutated locusts Jiang Le had witnessed before.

Jiang Le：“……”

Damn, this scene is a bit eerie. Little did he know that something even stranger was yet to come.

The vine segments bouncing on the ground actually slowly formed a circular smile, which actually looked… quite lively and cute.

This actually made Jiang Le laugh. Immediately afterward, under his gaze, the circular smile split apart to form a heart and a human figure.

Judging by the image, Jiang Le figured the human figure could only be himself. After all, blood vine was just like Xiao Lang—unless there was a master-pet bond, the nature of a mutated creature would rarely develop any emotional attachment to anything other than its owner. To them, seeing a person was simply a matter of whether they were edible and how tasty they were.

As for the heart, it must have been an expression of gratitude.

All right, Jiang Le had to admit that this bizarre scene had actually moved him a little, thanks to the blood vine’s filial devotion. It just goes to show that for every disobedient child, there’s a dutiful one.

Only Xiao Lang, whose patience with the blood vine had already reached its limit, couldn’t stand it the moment he saw the heart appear. He practically teleported to the side of the blood vine and, without a moment’s hesitation, brought his paw down mercilessly on the vine knot it had arranged on the ground.

It was a physical way of telling him to get lost.

The pile of vine segments was flattened into a pancake right on the spot.

The air froze for an instant. That pile of vine segments remained flattened as they slowly inched back toward the mother vine, reassembling into a flat vine that retracted into her body.

It was as if a person had been beaten, spat out blood, and then retreated on their own.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Jiang Le grabbed the little wolf, who was still trying to charge, “All right, all right, no fighting—cough—I mean, don’t beat up your teammates.”

Jiang Le didn’t understand how the scene had shifted from heartwarming to chaotic in an instant; he only knew that halfway through stopping them, Zhang Haiyang’s voice came from the real world outside the space, and he had to go out.

Jiang Le decided to simply store the blood vine in a cultivation dish to take with him, leaving Xiao Lang behind in the space to keep them separated. Otherwise, if he were left alone, the little wolf would stop at nothing. By the time he returned, who knew how much life the blood vine would have left?

Zhang Haiyang knocked on the door and called out twice from outside. After waiting a while, just as he was starting to feel anxious, he finally heard a response from inside.

This caused not only Zhang Haiyang but also the six or seven people behind him to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

After all, Zhang Haiyang hadn’t sent them to the usual place where they exchanged food for nucleus crystals today, claiming he had a new exchange channel—and everyone had been hesitant about it.

After all, it was already getting late, and the superpower user at the mission desk was about to leave; if they missed him, they’d lose their chance to exchange. Besides, the base was so large that it was impossible to hide what prices everyone else was paying—how much higher could his price possibly be?

Early winter had set in, and the weather was growing colder by the day. Everyone bundled up as much as possible when going out—not only to stay warm, but also to provide some protection against zombie attacks. However, no matter how many layers they wore, if they didn’t eat enough, they still often felt the cold.

The sunlight was now reduced to a faint ring along the horizon; the little warmth it provided had long since dissipated, and night would fall before long.

At that moment, someone couldn’t help but stamp their feet to ward off the cold and whispered to Zhang Haiyang, “Will this really work?”

Zhang Haiyang had been a bit anxious, worried that Jiang Le might not be there. But upon hearing Jiang Le’s reply, his mind settled. He nodded firmly at his companions: “Don’t worry.”

Jiang Le opened the door and saw the people standing there. Their clothes were either dirty or torn, and when the wind blew, some of them shivered involuntarily, looking utterly bedraggled. Jiang Le first ushered them all into his room, then closed the door again.

Since there was a simple security check when entering and exiting the base, Zhang Haiyang had agreed with Jiang Le before leaving that morning to settle accounts when he returned that evening. This was similar to the daily routine they followed when exchanging supplies with superpower users.

However, Zhang Haiyang had only told his companions that they could exchange for more food; he hadn’t specified how much, since he didn’t have a clear idea himself.

Zhang Haiyang first took out all the zombie nucleus crystals they’d obtained that day—there were several hundred of them. But that was only enough to exchange for a dozen or so buns.

Apart from Zhang Haiyang, the others said little, simply waiting for Jiang Le to call out the price, while secretly telling themselves that even getting one extra cake would be a win.

People who had been so diverse—and even full of vigor—before the apocalypse had now been worn down by the world’s upheaval. Their eyes held a certain numbness, and they’d grown accustomed to lowering their expectations to avoid disappointment.

Jiang Le deftly pulled out his black backpack and took out a pack of ham sausages, a bag of steamed buns, a bag of baozi, and some packets of cookies.

“Three steamed buns and three dumplings each, two packets of cookies each, and two sausages each.”

After Jiang Le finished explaining the distribution, the room remained silent for a moment.

Everyone was stunned by the food before them, almost feeling as if they were dreaming.

The steamed buns and dumplings were as big as their fists and solid all the way through; a single steamed bun was worth several of the cookies they’d been eating outside.

Fortunately, Zhang Haiyang, having mentally prepared himself in advance, remained composed. He quickly distributed the food among everyone. Only then did everyone snap out of their daze. Some clutched their portions tightly to their chests, while others, driven by hunger, couldn’t resist grabbing a bun and biting into it.

They had expected the food to be cold and hard, but to their surprise, it was only slightly cool. When they bit into it, it was still soft, as if it had just been taken out of the pot and left to cool.

As the dough and meat filling were chewed, a fragrant aroma wafted from between their lips and teeth, causing even those who hadn’t planned to eat right away to start swallowing hard. It smelled so good—it was clearly a hearty, meat-filled bun made with real ingredients, far more fragrant than the buns the superpower users at the base usually ate.

In an instant, several others joined in, eating right there on the spot, each swallow filled with pure bliss. Zhang Haiyang had already eaten pastries and steamed buns yesterday, so he wasn’t quite as eager to dig in just yet.

Although he had repeatedly warned his brothers before coming, he still took a serious tone and reiterated to everyone, “This supply route exists because Brother Jiang is kind-hearted. You all know what kind of life we lead in this world—how dangerous it is to carry supplies without protection. I brought you along because I trust you all. If word gets out, not only will we never get to eat another bite of this stuff, but dragging Brother Jiang down with us would be a true sin.”

Earlier, when Zhang Haiyang kept insisting on secrecy, several of them hadn’t taken it seriously. Only now did they understand the reason, and they all agreed.

This absolutely had to be kept secret. Setting aside any lofty justifications, if only to ensure they could get one more bite to eat, they couldn’t risk letting it slip. In these times, isn’t everyone just looking out for themselves?

Fortunately, winter clothes were thick. Zhang Haiyang and his group wrapped the food close to their bodies and kept their mouths tightly shut after eating the meat buns, afraid that even their breath might give them away. Like this, they slipped into the night and returned to their respective lodgings.

Life continued in much the same way over the next few days.

As usual, Zhang Haiyang and the others left the base in the morning to kill zombies, though their steps were noticeably lighter and more energetic than before. Jiang Le, meanwhile, hung around the mission board, but he hadn’t seen any worthwhile missions in days. The only one marked as “Special Grade” was still unactivated, with not even a single set of coordinates provided.

Technically, he could leave now, but with that Special-grade mission dangling before him, Jiang Le felt it would be a waste to go.

Until it became available, Jiang Le simply spent his days browsing the market. Whenever he came across suitable nucleus crystals, he’d ask for prices and stockpile them, returning to synthesize them once he’d gathered enough.

Two out of three times, he traded with Feng Yun, and the two of them grew a little closer as a result.

People with abilities like Feng Yun’s—those who didn’t know about it were fine, but most who did tried to avoid him. He, however, felt he got along well with Jiang Le. For one thing, Jiang Le didn’t look at him with prejudice; for another, Jiang Le rarely had inner monologues, and when he consciously controlled them, Feng Yun couldn’t hear a single thought for long stretches.

Feng Yun found this quite pleasant. He was constantly bombarded by the deafening arguments of those around him, and given that people these days were mostly filled with negative, dark thoughts, it was truly exhausting, wasn’t it?

That morning, Jiang Le headed to the mission registration desk as usual, only to find that today was different from usual—a large crowd had already gathered there.

At the head of the group stood a very conspicuous Level 4 superpower user, on par with Jiang Le in rank. He was likely the high-level superpower user he’d heard was in seclusion—he was currently standing with his back to him.

It seemed the sealed Special-Class mission had been held specifically for him.

Just as Jiang Le was pondering how to tag along with this group, a hand suddenly tugged at his sleeve from the side. It was Feng Yun.

He gave Jiang Le a sly grin, held up five fingers, and said, “Want to tag along, huh? For this much sugar, I’ll take you with me.”