Care Guide to Raising a Max Level Leaf in Apocalypse - 18
They successfully came out of this crack in the dream, not only the crack they were in, but all the other cracks began to disappear as well.
They continuously spat out the mutants and people that had been swallowed.
Among them, the mutants were particularly numerous. Almost all the mutants in this area had been harvested by the “Dream Garden,” and what was spit out were only mutants whose consciousness had already died.
This could be considered a small blessing.
Apart from them, the only people who were spit out by the other cracks and still alive were Og and An guo, as well as Yu Feichen.
An Guoguo was in a precarious situation. Her eyes were tightly shut, and she had fallen into a coma. Her once slightly chubby face had become gaunt, losing the baby fat, and at fourteen years old, she felt as light as an eight-year-old when carried.
Her physical condition was not as good as her brother Og’s. Feng Chuyao had given her emergency nutrient solution, but most of it had been vomited out.
The tall man with western bloodlines was currently at a loss, hunching his back. Like a fool, he could only follow Feng Chuyao’s commands, fearing that he had done something wrong that worsened his sister’s condition.
Yu Feichen had not completely emerged from the dream. He was full of horror. “Why am I back here? Didn’t we already return to the base?”
Gradually regaining his rationality, the details that didn’t match the dream resurfaced in his mind. Yu Feichen realized something and his expression became extremely unsightly.
He looked at Ji Jiu, and his expression became even more odd. “I must still be in the dream, otherwise, how could you be here?”
Si Yin Yuan gave him an annoyed kick, and the familiar pain instantly brought him back to his senses. “This really isn’t a dream?!”
He actually slept through the entire ordeal.
Yu Feichen couldn’t muster a smile. It meant that his dream of advancing to S rank had been shattered.
Finding his dejected appearance quite amusing, Ji Jiu curiously asked, “What did you dream about?”
From beginning to end, Ji Jiu didn’t see Yu Feichen’s shadow in the “Dream Garden.” He had almost forgotten about him.
Yu Feichen remained unusually silent for a moment, then casually rubbed the back of his head. “I dreamt that I got lost in the mist and ended up back where I started. After the ‘Dream Garden’ was resolved by chief Si, we returned to the base, and I had a relatively peaceful period of time. It’s just that the version of chief Si in the dream was even gentler than the real one.”
What he didn’t say was that in that base, several friends who had fought side by side with him had not died at the hands of the mutants. Seeing him return, they raised their glasses and cheered, just like a year ago. Perhaps that was why he didn’t want to wake up.
Ji Jiu suddenly realized, “So in your dream, you didn’t contribute.”
Yu Feichen instantly withdrew all his sadness about the past and sadly discovered that he couldn’t refute that statement.
Why was even dreaming so humiliating!
Confirming that the flower field had returned to its normal state, Si Yin Yuan led the way, using his knife to poke the dark mass. “Let’s go find Rumeng and regroup.”
Ji Jiu’s attention was immediately drawn. He remembered that mutant that dared to provoke him was still alive.
He snuggled up to Si Yin Yuan and tugged at his clothes, all while keeping a close eye on the dark mass.
Hmm, it had an unfamiliar smell.
Sensing the danger, the dark mass trembled even more violently.
Si Yin Yuan reached out and patted Ji Jiu. “Don’t worry, it won’t bite you.”
Not wanting his master to see his violent side, Ji Jiu obediently nodded. “Okay.”
Dark mass: …Bastards!!!
With the absence of the mutant that could create dreams, the “Dream Garden” lost its danger. They easily passed through the eerie fog that had made it difficult to see their own hands and proceeded.
Yue Chengren, a forty-year-old man, had tears welling up in his eyes when he saw them safely come out. “Chief Si! Mr. Og!”
Feng Chuyao shouted, “Quick, open the nutrient chamber!”
Yue Chengren quickly opened another empty nutrient chamber and helped Og put An Guoguo inside.
The external display of the nutrient chamber immediately showed an electrocardiogram and several sets of numbers, indicating how they had snatched An Guoguo from the hands of the king of hell.
Feng Chuyao reassured, “With the nutrient chamber, she will definitely hold on until we get back to the base for treatment.”
Og wiped his face. “Thank you all.”
He had never been so terrified before.
After listening to their words, Yue Chengren’s hand holding the sphere was trembling. He had almost used “Substitution” to swap them out, and because of a momentary lapse, the original body might not have been captured. If the rescue of An Guoguo had been further delayed, something would have definitely gone wrong.
Things always fell into place, one step at a time.
Ji Jiu curiously tapped on another nutrient chamber. “What’s wrong with her?”
Inside the other nutrient chamber was Rumeng.
Yue Chengren explained, “She was severely impacted in the dream and fell into a coma. It’s nothing serious… Huh? How come you are here?”
Everyone was surprised by Ji Jiu’s sudden appearance. Si Yin Yuan had to explain it to them again.
Feng Chuyao couldn’t help but give a thumbs-up. “No wonder our boss has taken a liking to you.”
Only when they weren’t nervous, these people who had been trained by Si Yin Yuan liked to half-jokingly call him “boss.”
Si Yin Yuan calmly said, “When we get back, you and Yu Feichen will train together.”
Yu Feichen wailed, “Seriously? This was an S-level mission. Just making it back safely…”
His voice gradually lowered, and he finally showed a resigned expression.
After half an hour of rest and not wanting to delay the treatment for An Guoguo and Rumeng, they set off for the base. As for the dark mass, it was thrown into a cube and placed under Og’s supervision. Despite feeling unwell, Og was still an S-level hunter, one of the selected human elites, so it was more than enough for him to watch over a captured mutant.
Si Yin Yuan had a premonition that when they returned to the base, the mutants they brought back would create quite a buzz. After all, this was the first time a mutant judged to be an S-level risk had been captured.
As mutants of the same level, their power was actually higher than that of S-level hunters. If humans were not united or lacked their cherished wisdom, they would never be able to defeat mutants of the same level.
Si Yin Yuan recalled the golden cage with the inexplicable hole in the dream. Apart from Ji Jiu, the only other presence was that mutant. The hole that could accommodate one person must have been chewed out by that mutant. However, despite looking around, he couldn’t find any teeth from that mutant.
He made a mental note of this and decided to have Hu Yan pay attention to it and thoroughly investigate after they returned to the base.
He remembered another matter and turned his head to look at Ji Jiu, who was happily drinking strawberry-flavored nutrient solution. “So, what exactly did you see that made you so angry?”
If Ji Jiu hadn’t suddenly gotten angry, pulled him onto a mini electric car, and pointed in a direction, they wouldn’t have found Feng Chuyao so quickly.
His motion of licking the nutrient solution paused, and Ji Jiu felt a bit guilty. The more guilty he felt, the more sincere his expression became. “Oh, I saw an ice cream truck, and I waved at it, but it didn’t stop.”
Indeed, there were many snack trucks parked near the entrance of the concert, and quite a few food trucks rushed over to make money. Si Yin Yuan didn’t pay much attention to whether there was an ice cream truck among them, but this answer was so typical of Ji Jiu that he thought about it for just three seconds and accepted it.
He rubbed Ji Jiu’s head and said seriously, “Don’t run around randomly in the future.”
Ji Jiu continued happily drinking the strawberry-flavored nutrient solution and sincerely responded, “Okay.”
Si Yin Yuan was still worried. He always felt that anyone could easily deceive Ji Jiu with a piece of candy.
“And don’t eat things given by strangers.”
Ji Jiu thought for a moment. If he couldn’t eat things from others, then he should just snatch them, right? So he obediently nodded, “Okay.”
Si Yin Yuan was satisfied and rubbed his head again.
…
There was now an additional S-rank hunter in the car, so they returned to the base in an even shorter time.
The female voice at the base gate announced as usual, “Welcome home. The base is always here waiting for you.”
Yu Feichen was momentarily dazed. “In the dream, the announcement at the base said, ‘Welcome back to the base.'”
It was the first time he found the mechanical female voice so endearing.
Si Yin Yuan frowned. “Something feels off.”
It was too noisy.
As his words turned into a prophecy, they were completely shocked by the scene before their eyes after they entered the base.
The sides of the road were filled with people, and a loud cheer erupted when they entered.
“Our heroes are back!”
“Another S-rank mutant has been eliminated!”
Everyone in the car showed varying degrees of surprise.
Yu Feichen murmured, “I remember that only hunters used to have this kind of status.”
In the early days of the Hunter Association’s establishment, they were the leaders of the seven major forces in the base. The Hunter Association represented the hope of all surviving humans in the base.
They not only defended against external enemies but also continuously brought back supplies. Each completed mission meant a slightly higher chance of human survival.
Survivors held high respect for every hunter who safely completed a mission and returned, especially for S-rank missions. Each S-rank mission was considered a significant potential or direct threat to the base. Once completed, the hunters would receive a spontaneous welcome from the survivors. It could be said that they saved the lives of all survivors in the base.
However, the glory of the hunters ended with the appearance of the gama defense barrier.
Several great predecessors sacrificed their lives to construct the defense barrier, which became the base’s true lifesaver. The status of the hunters quickly declined. If Si Yin Yuan hadn’t become the Chief, the Hunter Association, a group of men who only knew how to fight, could have been expelled from the seven major forces. Si Yin Yuan, the strongest human, made even the other forces that were usually at odds with the Hunter Association hesitate to attack. That’s how a delicate balance was maintained.
In the past half year, people started to view hunters as a high-risk, high-paying profession. Some people with an ostrich mentality believed that hunters didn’t need to go out every day to eliminate mutants that posed potential risks to the base. After all, as long as the defense barrier existed, the base wouldn’t be in danger, and the mutants could be left to grow wild.
Under the instigation of interested parties, some even believed that the Hunter Association was consuming too many resources from the base. The best medical care and food resources were almost entirely allocated to the members of the management team of the Hunter Association. They forgot who risked their lives to bring back most of the base’s resources and who were the ones who built the gama defense barrier in the first place—a group of hunters who were eager to protect the base.
Of course, there were still many survivors who believed that the hunters had always been the heroes of the base, and the Hunter Association never failed to live up to people’s expectations.
However, this kind of grand welcome hadn’t happened since the appearance of the gama defense barrier.
Si Yin Yuan’s eyes darkened as he saw many members of the Church among the crowd.
Whether this welcome was spontaneous or someone had instigated it was obvious at a glance.
Ji Jiu opened the car window and curiously stuck out half of his head. “Wow, there are so many people.”
Soon, he was pulled back and sat down by Si Yin Yuan, who was like a strict father. “Don’t stick your head out of the car.”
If he could remove his hand from Ji Jiu’s slender waist, it would be even more serious.
Ji Jiu obediently sat down. “Okay.”
His face was only visible for a moment, but someone with ulterior motives noticed.
A man in a branded suit, with a haughty gaze, was mixed in the cheering crowd and stared at the car window that had given him a glimpse. He gestured to his lackey beside him. “Who was the person that just appeared?”
The lackey revealed an understanding and lewd expression. “I will investigate for you immediately.”