The killing intent in Yu Cheng’s heart faded, but the doubts that had lingered there all along grew even stronger.
This Big Boss could be called the most contradictory villain he had ever encountered during his career as a mission operative.
Still, it was not entirely incomprehensible. The apocalypse had only just begun, and perhaps she had yet to uncover the ambition buried deep within her heart.
Besides, Yu Cheng had seen villains who were too idealistic to compromise with reality and ultimately ended up trapping themselves.
At least for now, the light in the Big Boss’s eyes was dazzling.
So when she gave the order, Yu Cheng did not hesitate. He began working without making a fuss.
Clearing away so many cars was no easy task, but Pei Liang had planned the way their abilities would work together very well.
Bai Rou’s ability to accelerate plant growth, Mohawk’s strength, and the older man’s earth-based ability—each of the three had revealed only one ability, and they had agreed beforehand on how much power to display.
They could not arouse suspicion, nor could they seem useless. Their abilities had to be practical, but not so conspicuous that they became glaringly obvious.
After testing them just now, Pei Liang already had a plan in mind.
With the three abilities, their cooperation, and a few scientific methods, their efficiency was astonishing. The stretch of highway they had thought would take the entire afternoon to clear was already open after barely half an hour.
For the time being, it was inconvenient to salvage the vehicles, so they could only push them off both sides of the highway.
The terrain here was fairly convenient. Rather than mountains, there were vast stretches of barren farmland on either side of the road. The guardrails were no longer necessary, so they simply knocked them down.
The earth-based ability created small mounds on the inner sides of the wheels, throwing the cars off balance. The plant-growth ability produced countless tough, flexible vines that linked the vehicles together, while the one with the strength ability pushed them in the direction Pei Liang indicated.
Then, with a gentle push to the first car, the vehicles reacted like a row of dominoes. A whole string of them was cleared at once, making the process naturally much more efficient.
Glasses’s ability was to locate people, while Yu Cheng’s instantaneous teleportation was not convenient to use under these circumstances. However, according to the rules governing evolution after the apocalypse, anyone who awakened an ability would also experience a significant improvement in physical constitution.
Doing a bit of heavy labor was no problem for them.
In order to win the Big Boss’s trust and display their obedience, the group worked diligently.
They had no idea that a glint of amusement had already passed through Pei Liang’s eyes as she watched them.
According to what they had said, they had not obtained their abilities particularly late. Almost all of them had awakened two or three days after the radiation hit, which naturally fit the identities they had fabricated.
Anyone capable of leading several thousand people would naturally have something special about them.
Pei Liang did not believe that only the main characters—Chu Yebai, Gong Ran, and the others—were special in this world. During the apocalypse, there were undoubtedly many people who would display extraordinary talent during the second stage of evolution.
A person could hide their abilities and disguise their strength, but it was difficult to change their habits of using those abilities.
After all, no matter under what circumstances a person acquired an ability, it was highly likely to have come with a crisis of survival.
Yet based on the identities they had just claimed, Yu Cheng had been a police officer before the apocalypse, while the others had been ordinary students and office workers.
She had also had them change into the base’s standard combat uniforms so she could observe their muscle structure more closely.
The results were even more contradictory.
Yu Cheng’s physique was flawless, clearly that of a warrior tempered through countless trials.
Bai Rou, whose name sounded somewhat feminine, was short and—if Pei Liang was being frank—looked almost like a student who had not yet finished developing. Her build did not match the strength and agility she had displayed.
As for the remaining three, their physiques were even harder to describe.
Mohawk was relatively normal, but he still had the build of an ordinary man who rarely exercised: somewhat thin, with little muscle mass.
Glasses and the older man, meanwhile, had soft, sagging bodies made of loose fat. They looked like the sort who were either in the middle of, or had already endured, the brutal beating known as a midlife crisis.
The evolution brought about by radiation was comprehensive. No one could suddenly gain tremendous strength without any corresponding physical changes.
Take Pei Ning, for example. Before the apocalypse, she had already possessed a soft, curvaceous figure.
But after awakening her ability, she had inevitably developed muscle. Its strength and density were far beyond anything ordinary people could imagine; even that thin layer contained astonishing power.
To put it more bluntly, when men and women awakened abilities, their genes would automatically correct certain flaws. Their appearances benefited as well. The transformation might not happen all at once, but by now it was still quite obvious.
Women who were naturally well-endowed at birth now looked almost comparable to Victoria’s Secret supermodels, while men had likewise become fit and powerful.
So for people like them—whose bodies showed little muscle, yet whose physical abilities had somehow kept pace—the discrepancy was extremely strange.
Then there were their habits in using their abilities. Pei Liang had given them nothing but simple instructions, scarcely requiring them to think.
But the simpler the task, the more their habits were exposed.
Pei Liang would bet that the way these people habitually used their abilities had absolutely not been developed through leading others, fighting zombies, and defending against enemies along the way.
There was also what had happened in the car earlier. Pei Liang had invited the five of them to choose some music to listen to.
They had all declined with little interest. But when Pei Ning and Zhong An sang countless popular songs well known in this world during the journey, the others had shown no reaction whatsoever.
They had not even displayed the instinctive recognition of knowing what melody would come next. One or two people acting that way might have been possible, but the odds of five people from different professions all doing so were practically zero.
At this point, Pei Liang was eighty percent certain that these people were not from this world at all.
They were not even like herself or Guan Qian, whose bodies at least belonged to this world and who had received the original owners’ memories.
They were outsiders through and through.
The group operated as a team, so they must have a common base somewhere.
A sudden brightness appeared in Pei Liang’s eyes—
This world was truly wonderful.
She had to thank those fools for deliberately targeting her.
Yu Cheng seemed to sense something. He abruptly turned around and saw Pei Liang watching him with an intensely interested gaze.
The others were startled by their captain’s sudden movement. They all turned around, and at once saw the Big Boss sizing up their captain with the unmistakable look of someone very taken with his beauty.
Thinking of what had happened at the research facility they had escaped from not long ago, they felt an intense crisis regarding their captain’s chastity. Bai Rou nearly burst into tears.
What were they supposed to do if the Big Boss forced herself on him?
Yu Cheng had never cared much about women’s gazes. But Pei Liang was different. Perhaps it was because her repeated atrocities had shattered his understanding of her again and again.
Under her scrutiny, he unexpectedly found himself unable to withstand it. He was the first to look away awkwardly, a faint flush spreading across his face.
Pei Liang was taken aback. She had not expected Captain Yu, who looked so strong and composed, to be such an innocent man.
He was not the type to flaunt his charm. On the contrary, he was extremely low-key and reserved—the complete opposite of Chu Yebai and Gong Ran.
As a result, his appearance was not what people noticed first. But once they came to their senses and took a closer look, they would realize that he was astonishingly handsome.
His features were cool and sharp, his nose high and straight, his jawline distinct. His eyes held an unyielding radiance that made people inexplicably want to bully him.
On the surface, the group appeared to be cooperating smoothly, enjoying a warm and harmonious atmosphere. In reality, however, each of them had their own agenda.
The Reincarnation team was also trying to sound out Pei Liang’s trump cards, and Pei Liang wasn’t stingy about revealing a few of them at suitable moments.
A pleasant exchange was always a matter of give and take. In the long run, Pei Liang was quite optimistic about the others.
After setting coordinates at one location and clearing the road, they returned to the vehicle and moved on to another site.
The second location was somewhat special. It was not only an important road, but was also surrounded by a sprawling vegetable greenhouse base that seemed to stretch beyond the horizon.
The area was rather remote, so there were not many zombies. However, if the city were to expand outward, this would be one of the first places they would need to take.
The group entered one of the greenhouses. A zombie was wandering inside. Judging from its clothes, it had probably been one of the farmers who worked there.
Yu Cheng fired once, blowing the zombie’s head apart.
He glanced at the crops growing well inside the greenhouse. “I heard that production in the city has already resumed. Although imported materials from the docks can sustain the supply of production resources for a while, it clearly isn’t a long-term solution.”
He pointed toward the vegetables in the greenhouse. “But these can’t be transported for now. The time isn’t right to expand our activity range yet. Are you planning to send people here to harvest and transport them?”
Pei Liang shook her head. “The manpower needed for harvesting would be too high. The base can’t spare that many people at the moment. Besides, this place is dangerous. Ordinary laborers would be lost far too easily.”
What kind of place was this? There were tens of thousands of crops of all kinds. Given the rate of evolution, the number of mutated plants here should be enormous.
Even the greenhouse in front of them looked safe and peaceful on the surface, but—
Pei Liang suddenly reached out and grabbed a string bean vine. The vine had been coming straight for her because she was closest to Pei Ning.
The moment her hand closed around it, Pei Liang felt as though she had grabbed a steel bar. The vine was cunning. After being caught, it immediately wound itself around her arm.
It bound her entire upper body, and then dozens of long beans shot toward her like arrows.
No one would underestimate what had once been crisp, refreshing beans that could be snapped with a pinch. Judging by the thickness and toughness of the vine, those beans were undoubtedly as hard as steel bars. The slightest mistake could result in being skewered by a thousand arrows.
Even more cunningly, the mutated bean’s roots were hidden somewhere out of sight. There were at least a thousand plants in the greenhouse, and after more than a month without anyone tending them, their vines had become hopelessly tangled. The lush leaves concealed everything beneath them, making it impossible to locate the roots.
Just as it seemed that the Big Boss of the apocalypse was about to die to a mere bean plant, Yu Cheng sprang into action.
He teleported in front of Pei Liang, placed a hand on her shoulder, and the two of them vanished in an instant. The next second, they reappeared four or five meters away.
The bean’s ambush had failed, and it seemed to fly into a rage. The entire vegetable greenhouse then appeared to come alive.
Countless bean vines writhed like living snakes. Only then did they realize that it wasn’t merely one bean plant that had mutated. The entire greenhouse now consisted of a single mutated bean plant.
Every vegetable in the greenhouse had been disguised by it. The other bean plants had long since become its nourishment.
“Not good! Run!” shouted Zhong An, who was closest to the greenhouse entrance.
“What are you running for? Get back here!” Pei Liang shouted at him.
If Zhong An hadn’t been confident in his ability—he could control the flexibility and shape of metal—he would probably have gone weak in the knees at the sight of those vines.
They couldn’t break through his defenses, couldn’t drain him of his nutrients, and couldn’t stab or strangle him to death. Under normal circumstances, he would have been perfectly safe.
But when he heard that Pei Liang expected him to get to work, Zhong An could only sob inwardly. His body, however, moved without the slightest hesitation.
He raced toward Pei Liang, leapt into the air, and transformed mid-flight. By the time he landed in her hands, he had already become a forty-meter-long blade.
Pei Liang gripped the enormous blade and swung it horizontally through the entire greenhouse.
The five members of the Reincarnation team were startled. They knew how tough the beans and vines were. While fighting and retreating, they had discovered that even with their strength, they could not cut through the things using the knives issued by the base.
One vine was already that tough. Yet Pei Liang’s single horizontal slash had cut through hundreds, even thousands, of bean plants, as well as more than a dozen concrete pillars as thick as a person’s thigh.
Just how terrifying was her strength? Could their captain do the same?
But plants had their own unique properties. Simply cutting off the vines clearly wasn’t enough to kill it, and the regenerative speed granted by evolution was astonishing.
The mutated bean’s vines soon began to extend again, but Pei Liang was even faster.
Silver light flashed in a dazzling blur as Pei Liang hacked and sliced her way toward one direction.
By the time she reached her destination, the entire greenhouse had practically been reduced to wasteland. Only a single root stalk, as thick as a wrist, remained exposed without the surrounding cover.
Pei Liang grabbed the stalk.
Since the bean had mutated into a plant, the parts capable of extending naturally weren’t limited to its vines and fruit.
For an instant, it seemed as though Pei Liang had fallen into its trap. Countless roots that should have been burrowing deep into the soil suddenly burst out around it.
The moment they emerged from the earth, the roots rapidly converged. Their needle-thin tips stabbed toward Pei Liang’s skin.
If they managed to pierce her, they would likely drain her flesh and blood in an instant.
For a brief moment, the members of the Reincarnation team even hoped that the mutated bean would succeed. If it did, their mission would be completed immediately.
But Yu Cheng suddenly remembered that earlier smile. At this critical moment between life and death, he realized that he couldn’t simply stand by and watch someone who sincerely wished to help those trapped in suffering die like this.
Even if the system identified her as the main villain, the sense of incongruity in his heart made it impossible for him to sit back and take advantage of the situation.
So Yu Cheng activated his ability again and appeared beside Pei Liang. He was just about to place a hand on her and take her away when—
The roots suddenly writhed in agony.
The Zhong An in Pei Liang’s hand had already shrunk back to the size of an ordinary sword. With a casual swing, he severed the roots that had emerged around them.
Then Pei Liang revealed a vicious grin, as though she had confirmed something. “It’s here, is it? Then there’s no need to keep the others.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she tore the mutated bean’s root straight out with her bare hands. Yet no one knew how she had done it—the roots extending more than a palm’s length beneath the soil had all snapped cleanly.
What she pulled out was only the core and the exposed portion of the stem, less than half the length of a forearm in total.
The mutated bean’s root writhed in her hand as though it were alive, but it could no longer rapidly multiply and grow.
The members of the Reincarnation team guessed that this must be the Big Boss’s ability. Perhaps her power was to counter mutated plants and animals.
But that was far too unfair. The two sisters—one who attracted them and one who countered them—were practically bugs in the apocalypse.
And setting their abilities aside, Pei Liang’s bizarre combat strength alone was astonishing enough.
By then, Zhong An had returned to his normal form. He was now wearing a specially designed uniform, so unlike at the beginning, he no longer ended every battle naked, leaving everyone on the battlefield free to appraise his manhood.
Pei Liang pulled out a dagger and pointed it at the bean’s root. “Cry again, and I’ll cut open your body and dig out whatever’s inside.”
The mutated plant seemed to have evolved a certain degree of intelligence. Under the threat, it let out a pitiful, whimpering cry, then finally shut down completely and stopped struggling.
Pei Liang picked up a green bean from the ground and casually snapped it in half. Once it was no longer controlled by the stem, the bean returned to its usual crisp, tender state.
Only then did Pei Liang nod in satisfaction. “This trip wasn’t wasted.”
Yu Cheng had a bad feeling. “You’re planning to—”
“Find the base a source of food, obviously,” Pei Liang said matter-of-factly.
“Organizing people to leave the city and gather this many vegetables would be inefficient and dangerous. But if the mutated plants are still edible, then the problem is solved.”
“This agricultural base has basically every common grain and vegetable species. You’ve all seen how well the mutated plants reproduce, and the fruit at least looks edible once it falls off. Still, we’ll have to take them back and let Gong Ran test them.”
“With these mutated plants, we’ll have a steady, practically endless supply of food.” After saying this, she glanced at Bai Rou and teased, “Then Bai won’t have to work himself to death every day using his ability.”
Bai Rou’s back went rigid. Had he just narrowly escaped disaster?
“What if they can’t be eaten?” Yu Cheng asked.
At that, Pei Liang looked at the bean’s stem, and her expression changed at once. “What other value could inedible crops possibly have?”
“This is the apocalypse. We’re not so extravagant that we can grow mutated plants just for decoration.”
The bean began to tremble. It looked like a tiny kitten drenched by the rain.
Pei Liang patted it, and the smile on her face once again became exceedingly kind. “Don’t worry. If you prove useful, I guarantee that every one of you—little veggies—well, every single plant, anyway—will get your own private glass greenhouse mansion. We’ll prepare the most delicious nutrient solution for you, and you can even grow a whole bunch of underlings to worship you every day.”
“Plants don’t have legs, after all. It doesn’t matter where you live. Wouldn’t it be better to be waited on hand and foot?”
After saying this, Pei Liang’s smile grew even brighter. “If you feel lonely, you can certainly bring along some brothers and sisters you’re close to. We’ll find a way to arrange regular visits.”
As she spoke, she shook the bean. “Come on, tell me. Where are the potatoes, soybeans, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants…?”
“It wouldn’t be fair if you were the only one to have bad luck, right?”
She was clearly doing something that would benefit all of humanity, so why did she sound like some twisted sadist who enjoyed tormenting children?
It was true that if the mutated plants could be raised in captivity, they would not only greatly ease the pressure on humanity’s resources in the future, but also allow scientists to discover a way to domesticate them through research. In the end, humanity might once again return to the top of the planet’s food chain.
Of course, there was no way a little bean could fully understand what Pei Liang was saying. It was actually Pei Ning who conveyed the meaning to it.
In this lifetime, Pei Ning no longer had to hide her abilities and could develop them freely. She had discovered that, aside from emitting pheromones that attracted zombies and mutated plants and animals, she could even communicate with them.
Her communication still wasn’t deep enough to convey complicated ideas, but simple intimidation was no problem.
Although the mutated plants were cunning in combat, their minds were more or less on the level of children.
The bean was afraid that this woman would cut out its crystal core, but it was also rather tempted by the glass mansion she had described.
Only the most expensive varieties at the base were qualified to live in places like that, and the bean had always been envious.
Besides, it didn’t want to be the only one suffering. In the end, it reluctantly grew a tender little shoot, whose leaves pointed in a certain direction.
“That should be the eggplant greenhouse.”
Pei Liang nodded. “Got it. Eggplant stir-fried with green beans—the two of you must be close.”
As she spoke, she patted the bean. “We’ll deal with the eggplants first. Once we’re done, we’ll dig up the rest of the Three Treasures while we’re at it.”
All the mutated plants in the vegetable base felt as though they had suffered eight lifetimes’ worth of bad luck.
Of course, not every mutated plant was aggressive. Eggplants, potatoes, green peppers, and tomatoes, for example, didn’t actively attack humans. They focused entirely on reproducing and raising offspring.
Tomatoes in particular had filled the greenhouse with clusters of fruit the size of soccer balls. It looked as though they were about to burst through the walls.
Pei Liang tested one with her knife. The skin was somewhat thick, but the flesh was still tender and juicy. Judging by its quality, it shouldn’t affect its edibility.
Next came the potatoes. The tubers had spilled out from beneath the soil. With one sweep of her knife, Pei Liang shaved away a section of ground, revealing a dense mass of potatoes, each one sliced cleanly through.
The potatoes themselves hadn’t grown to an absurd size, but it was clear that the ground beneath the neighboring greenhouses had been crammed full of them. The surrounding vegetables had lost their nutrients and were almost withered to death.
With reproduction abilities like these, even if they didn’t find many mutated vegetables here, as long as they had a few samples, Gong Ran would be able to replicate their genes. They might not even need to go to such lengths—crossbreeding them with ordinary potatoes alone would surely lead to an astonishing harvest.
The most aggressive plants, however, were the peppers and strawberries.
The peppers could rapidly soften their outer skins before exploding, making each one resemble a miniature biochemical bomb.
The entire space was filled with an acrid, choking haze. Even standing inside and breathing the air made their eyes sting, while the pepper seeds shot out like tiny steel balls.
Glasses had been hit squarely in the face. If he hadn’t been wearing spectacles, his eyes would probably have been ruined on the spot.
Pei Liang hesitated. “Can something this spicy really be eaten?”
So she cut the pepper down to a single seedling, and, deciding that its temper was too troublesome, was just about to cut out its crystal core. Taking the seedling back for research would have been just as good.
In the end, the green pepper pleaded on its behalf, and Pei Liang spared the chili.
By the time they emerged from the base, it was already dark.
They had brought out a huge bundle of roots, seedlings, and fruit, looking as though they had raided an entire village and kidnapped all its children.
As soon as they came out, they ran into Chu Yebai and Gong Ran.
The two of them seemed to have just arrived as well. When they saw the enormous bundle Pei Liang was carrying, Chu Yebai whistled.
“What a haul. You should’ve told me earlier—I would’ve come too.”
Gong Ran immediately took the things from Pei Liang’s hands, his face lighting up with delight. “I’ll start researching them. I’ll give you an answer tomorrow morning as to whether they’re edible.”
Pei Liang trusted him completely. She smiled and said, “Don’t stay up too late.”
The other members of the Reincarnation Team had assumed that this Big Boss possessed at least a little conscience—that after putting people through hell during the day, she was now reminding Gong Ran to take care of his health.
But the unease in Yu Cheng’s heart had already begun to overflow. He realized that he had fallen into a misunderstanding.
The system had told them that Pei Liang was the Big Boss, so they had believed it without question. But judging from their interactions that day, as well as the understanding and rapport between her and Dr. Gong, things were clearly not as they had imagined.
Dr. Gong was not being imprisoned at the base at all. He could obviously come and go freely. He had merely been brought here by Chu Yebai because they needed his help.
Yu Cheng had witnessed some of Pei Liang’s strength. She had no need to put on an act in front of them.
Yet after spending time with her, he found that although the way she spoke and acted was unusual, everything she did was fundamentally for the sake of the base and the refugees of the apocalypse.
How could someone like that be a villain?
Even if she would become a villain in the future, at least for now, her heart was pure and kind.
Just as Yu Cheng was thinking this, the system issued a warning—
【Warning! Warning! The main mission must be carried out, or you will be erased. The system has not provided any error information. Players, do not—】
Yu Cheng merely sneered inwardly. He answered the system in his mind, “There’s something strange about this mission from beginning to end. Even when a player misunderstood a mission, you’ve never issued such an urgent warning before.”
He continued, “The system hasn’t provided any error information? Perhaps. To certain people, she may indeed be the true villain.”
Yu Cheng’s words carried an unmistakable implication. The others who heard the system’s warning were equally shaken, and they could all guess why this was happening.
The others grew anxious. They were merely pawns trapped in the reincarnation game, tasked with completing whatever missions the main god assigned them. Since when had they been qualified to dig into the truth?
Glasses and the older man, in particular, were deeply displeased by Yu Cheng’s inappropriate bluntness.
But Yu Cheng let out a sigh of relief, turned around, and gave Pei Liang a smile.
He was just about to say something when Pei Liang suddenly attacked. The distance was too short, and the strike came too quickly for him to defend himself.
The blow landed squarely. His vision went black, and he lost consciousness.
“…”
Even the expression on Yu Cheng’s face as he blacked out was one of utter disbelief.
The other four members of the reincarnation team looked up blankly, only to see, beneath the night sky—
Big Boss, Chu Yebai, and Dr. Gong, all three of them wearing sinister smiles.
