When Wei Li heard the voice, her whole body tensed up, and her hair stood on end. She quickly stood and turned around, only to see the handsome young man standing behind her, illuminated from behind by the light.
“Cousin,” Wei Li called out, lowering her head obediently.
Ye Changming took two steps closer, his long eyelashes casting shadows over his eyes as he glanced at her. “Weren’t you unfamiliar with Yan Jingshui?” he asked.
He distinctly remembered her saying so at the banquet two days ago, yet now she seemed to be talking to her.
Wei Li was taken aback, confused by her cousin’s words. “I wasn’t talking to Yan Jingshui,” she protested, “I was communicating with my junior sister.”
Yan Jingshui and her junior sister looked nothing alike. Wei Li started to wonder if her cousin, despite his youth, might need his eyesight checked.
Ye Changming remained silent. He was sure he had recognized Yan Jingshui’s voice—he wouldn’t have misheard it. But, after Wei Li’s explanation, doubts crept in. Perhaps it wasn’t her after all?
While pondering, Ye Changming discreetly sent a message from his optical computer.
Just then, a soft and composed voice entered the room, followed by a man with an elegant air and several researchers in tow. It was Yan Shengbian1
.
“Changming, you’ll have to work hard again this time,” Yan Shengbian said with a warm smile.
Ye Changming turned, calmly withdrawing his fingers from the optical computer. “It’s my duty,” he replied with composure.
August marked the peak season for high-frequency outbreaks of mutant plants. During this time, advanced mutant plants experienced rapid growth, and every year, the military was sent to Feeding City to harvest them as future livestock feed. This year, however, Yan Shengbian would accompany them to extract mutant plant genes, requiring additional security.
Leading that security detail was Ye Changming.
The Central Base’s special teams—particularly the Alien Killing Team, tasked with scouting for new base locations or collecting data in mutant-plant-occupied cities—were known for their excellence. Among them, Alien Killing Team Zero, led by Ye Changming, was the strongest.
As the Central Agricultural Research Institute’s top researcher, Yan Shengbian frequently traveled under the protection of the Alien Killing Team.
Yan Shengbian sat down, his expression thoughtful. “A-level mutant plants have been unusually active over the past two years. The base needs to develop stronger counter-agents.”
Being at the forefront of mutant plant research, Yan Shengbian was well aware of the plants’ behavior. This time, he aimed to investigate whether high-level mutant plants shared this restlessness, despite some being non-aggressive.
Shifting his gaze to the corner, Yan Shengbian smiled kindly at Wei Li. “Your mother mentioned you were interested in seeing Feeding City.”
Wei Li’s heart sank. “Yeah,” she responded reluctantly. In truth, her mother had pushed her into going. Ten years ago, she’d made an offhand comment about visiting the city, and her mother had held her to it, forcing her to tag along with her cousin this time.
Her mother had even said, “Instead of wasting your time looking after that broken chicken coop, why not see where your chickens’ feed comes from?”
While Wei Li did see some value in padding her résumé, she was far more interested in expanding her chicken farm.
Yan Shengbian smiled knowingly but then asked, “Have you met Jingshui? She’s been at the Ninth Agricultural Base recently.”
Wei Li hesitated, remembering that she had blocked Jingshui’s name in her contact list. “We’ve met a few times,” she said vaguely.
“Jingshui is difficult to get along with,” Yan Shengbian said, sighing with a fatherly exasperation. “But she did mention that you have a friend who’s good with crops.”
Wei Li’s thoughts instantly turned to her junior sister. “That must be my junior sister. She grows incredibly sweet watermelons.”
Across from her, Ye Changming raised an eyebrow. This was the second time today he had heard Wei Li mention her junior sister.
Yan Shengbian smiled. “When the school term starts, would you mind taking Jingshui out more often? She’s always too tense.”
Wei Li, flustered by Yan Shengbian’s sincere request, quickly agreed, entirely forgetting that she had blocked his daughter.
Meanwhile, Ye Changming received a notification on his optical computer. His privacy settings ensured that no one else could see the content. He opened the message and saw information about Zhao Linong.
Her picture matched, but her name wasn’t Yan Jingshui.
The file wasn’t long, but one section caught Ye Changming’s attention. It detailed Zhao Linong’s work at the Ninth Agricultural Base.
As his fingers drummed lightly against his thigh, his eyes lingered on her surname: Zhao?
—
“Changming.” Yan Shengbian interrupted Ye Changming’s thoughts. He turned the light screen to reveal a real-time satellite map. He pointed to a sparse area and asked with a frown, “I remember there was an A-level mutant dragon claw locust tree here three years ago.”
There are many A-level mutant plants in Shicheng, and the A-level dragon claw locust tree 2
was extremely lush and tall, covering the sky and blocking the sun. You can see some of them on the satellite map. Yan Shengbian had a very good memory. He has always remembered it since he passed by that time.
The helicopter has arrived above Shicheng. Ye Changming stood up, with a cold expression: “Everyone stay alert.” Shicheng has an airport, but it has long been overgrown with weeds, and there are mutant plants around, so ordinary planes cannot dock. They could only enter by helicopter.
The distance between Shicheng and the central base is long and fraught with danger. The base post road was still under construction, so the army dispatched a large number of helicopters every year to lift troops and transport vehicles into the Shicheng airport. One by one, the helicopters landed on the runway. The people on the ground quickly got out of the vehicles and stood on guard. The helicopters went back and forth to transport everyone. Only Yan Shengbian’s transport helicopter did not leave but chose to land.
There were twelve people in the Alien Killer Zero Team, including the captain Ye Changming. There were also two heavy armored off-road vehicles and a military transport pickup truck parked in the cabin of this helicopter. Five people sat in the first off-road vehicle and drove out of the cabin first. Yan Shengbian and Wei Li got in the second car, and Ye Changming sat in the co-pilot seat.
Of the remaining five people, two sat in the driving seat of the military pickup truck, and the other three stood in the back box with guns. The person in the middle held the drone and the remote control in his hand. The moment the car drove out of the cabin, he controlled the drone to take off.
“I’m going to take a look at the place where the A-level mutant dragon claw locust trees are.” Yan Shengbian in the back seat turned solemn. Anything unusual here deserves attention.
Wei Li, who was sitting next to him in the back seat, clasped her hands together and silently chanted in her heart: Don’t be unlucky! Don’t be unlucky!
…
The Alien Killing Team Zero has never been to Feeding City. All the locations in the feeding city were deemed not so risky. Although there are many high-level mutant plants, due to the low risk, ordinary troops came in to harvest and transport feed. The army and the Alien Killing Team split into two groups. The former drove a long convoy to harvest mutant plants as feed, while the latter rushed to the location of the A-level mutant dragon claw locust trees.
Wei Li lay on the car window, looking at the dense weeds with white fluff floating in the air, and whispered, “The wind is blowing.”
