Shen Yue ignored Qi Xiang completely and looked to Gu Xi to get down to business. "What’s going on?" Why had these mutant animals, which had paid them no mind before, suddenly attacked?

Gu Xi’s gaze fell upon the strange fish—or more precisely, on the plant roots dangling from its belly.

The other end of these roots was still buried in the swamp’s mire. And besides the native swamp creatures, the only other thing in that mire was...

Gu Xi looked up at Qi Xiang. "What did you do after I left?"

Qi Xiang thought for a moment. "I didn’t do much. After taking the samples, I just..." She seemed to recall something, her voice filled with disbelief. "...picked some vegetables?"

Shen Yue’s and Wei Heng’s eyes followed hers to the patch of Water Vine Vegetable.

"So these mutant animals, which were perfectly quiet before, suddenly went berserk because Qi Xiang touched these vegetables?" Shen Yue mused, stroking his chin.

Life in the apocalypse was hard; no one had it easy. ’If someone took the food right out of my mouth, I’d fight to the death, too.’

"But these vegetables," Qi Xiang understood what he meant but found it hard to accept, "we grew them ourselves originally..." What was wrong with her harvesting a few vegetables she had planted?

"Mutant animals don’t care about reason," Shen Yue said, getting to his feet. His gaze followed the roots under the strange fish’s belly, finally settling on the surrounding swamp.

He guessed the reason these mutant animals cared so much about these "rations" was because the Water Vine Vegetable was different from the other plants in the swamp. It was grown entirely by Gu Xi using her powers.

In other words, compared to this swamp teeming with mottled and bizarre energy, the Water Vine Vegetable was truly a lotus emerging from the muck, yet remaining untainted. Its botanical aura was the purest!

And for these contaminated mutant animals, or the mutant plants growing in the swamp, this was the pure energy they desperately craved!

Because evolution is a biological instinct.

And evolution requires energy...

So, the moment Gu Xi planted the Water Vine Vegetable, the nearby mutant animals, and the mutant plants connected to them, had already set their sights on it.

To these swamp creatures, it was food delivered right to their mouths!

They hadn’t tried to snatch it before simply due to a biological instinct for danger... After all, Gu Xi had still been there.

But as soon as Gu Xi left, Qi Xiang, with the worst possible timing, went and picked the vegetables. Wasn’t an act like that, akin to snatching food from a tiger’s mouth, bound to infuriate the swamp creatures?

Proving this theory would be simple.

Shen Yue looked up at Gu Xi. "When you left before..."

Gu Xi explained, "Earlier, Feng Xiao spotted a mutant animal that looked like a tadpole through a camera lens, but I couldn’t sense it."

Hearing this, the color drained from the faces of Shen Yue and the other two. They knew firsthand how powerful Gu Xi’s abilities were. If even she couldn’t sense it...

Gu Xi continued, "But just a moment ago, I suddenly detected its presence..."

Very few living things could block her Spiritual Perception.

So, when Gu Xi discovered the creature suddenly appearing in her perception, she chased after it without a second thought.

Looking back now, it seemed like... she had fallen for their "lure the tiger from the mountain" ploy?

The group was stunned by her account.

Qi Xiang gasped. First the Mutated Rat King, now this mutant tadpole, and not to mention Da Hong back home... ’Have these mutant creatures all become masterminds? They’re even using classic military stratagems now!’

If this continued, humanity’s living space would likely be compressed even further.

After all, compared to humans, these mutant creatures had a distinct advantage—their reproductive speed was something humans couldn’t even dream of matching.

"Actually, Dr. Qi once told me in private,"

Qi Xiang bit her lip, hesitating. "The second Great Mutation thirty years ago mainly affected mutant plants. But in his projections, the third Great Mutation that follows will likely target the animals..."

Before, Qi Xiang had never dared—or rather, had been unwilling—to believe that the world would face a third natural Great Mutation.

Because for humanity, that would be simply too cruel.

The first zombie virus outbreak had wiped out over eighty percent of the global population in an instant.

The second Great Mutation of plants had made the food crisis a sword hanging over humanity’s head.

They had just barely survived these two cataclysms. If a third Great Mutation were to occur... would humanity even have a future?

The mood turned somber as they all contemplated the question.

Gu Xi, however, didn’t dwell on it. Compared to Qi Xiang and the others, she had lived through the worst and most chaotic era of the apocalypse. And some things you only learn through experience—no matter what desperate situation humanity might face, all she needed to do was tighten her grip on her blade.

As long as you persevered, you could always carve out a path to survival.

The atmosphere suddenly grew tense.

Shen Yue glanced at Gu Xi with veiled concern and subtly began to change the subject.

His gaze fell again on the strange fish in the Mutated Rat King’s mouth. "So, what do we do with this thing?" They couldn’t just let the mutant rat hold it forever. Even he felt it looked like a difficult situation.

The Mutated Rat King: "SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK..." ’So you fools finally realized I was in a tough spot? Damn it! After watching you all babble on for so long, I was starting to think...’

The Mutated Rat King, still holding the fish, started muttering a muffled stream of curses, but a single, cool glance from Gu Xi made it swallow its words.

Mutated Rat King: ’Ah, forget it. At least I got a fish out of it, right? I’ll do you fools the favor of forgiving you.’

Qi Xiang, likely guessing what Shen Yue was worried about, played along. She circled the strange fish, pondering, "I have a feeling this thing... isn’t a vegetarian, right?"

Shen Yue: "..." ’Qi Xiang’s head really is full of some bizarre ideas.’

His eyes landed on the roots under the strange fish’s belly. "The fish isn’t a vegetarian, but look at the roots under its stomach..."

Mutant plants often evolved by devouring and strangling one another.

Qi Xiang said thoughtfully, "So, the ones that really need this Water Vine Vegetable are the mutant plants in the swamp." And this strange fish, to put it bluntly, was just a tool! ’A tool-fish!’

No wonder the thing had only struggled symbolically a few times after being caught by the mutant rat before giving up completely.

Now, it wasn’t even wagging its tail. It just stared blankly with dead fish eyes, the very picture of a fish that had lost all will to live, as if it already knew its fate.

It was a pitiful sight.

Qi Xiang clearly hadn’t forgotten the purpose of their trip.

"So what do we do now?" she asked, turning back to Gu Xi.

Gu Xi glanced at the Mutated Rat King, then her gaze fell upon the patch of Water Vine Vegetable, a small half of which Qi Xiang had picked. "Since something likes to eat it, let them eat their fill."

With that, she casually tossed out a handful of Water Vine Vegetable seeds...

Soon, as far as the eye could see, the area was covered in a dense carpet of Water Vine Vegetable. Under Gu Xi’s intentional control, it even spread into the vast white expanse in the distance.

The Water Vine Vegetable continued to expand outward, rapidly claiming territory in the swamp like an overlord.

Meanwhile, Gu Xi’s spiritual power clung to the root systems of the Water Vine Vegetable. She waited as more and more mutant creatures in the swamp, unable to resist the lure of that pure, clean energy, began to draw closer, bit by bit...