Chapter 307 | Chapter 308 | Chapter 309
Chapter 307: The Goslings at Work
Huai Yu suddenly thought of something else.
“We’re not heading toward C9 right now, right?”
“We’re not.” Zhou Qian couldn’t help laughing. “Didn’t your ‘nice big brother’ at the checkpoint already remind you? But the horizontal exploration progress across zones is about the same. Even if we cross two zones sideways, we can still enter C9 eventually.”
“Then don’t cross! Don’t cross!”
Huai Yu shook her head vigorously. “Any zone is fine, just not C9.”
“Got it.” Zhou Qian didn’t need reminding. With Huai Yu’s completely unguarded emotions, if she ran into Wu Yue, her dislike would show instantly.
And if that drew his attention… if he started digging into her identity as the former “Huai Yu”… that would be trouble.
Zhou Qian knew his limits. Avoiding him was the safest choice.
They had plenty of supplies, even an extra large drum of gasoline. Since they were avoiding C zones, they weren’t in a rush.
After lunch, Da Zai and Er Zai led the chicks wandering around, while Ke Taro came back carrying a pile of strange flower petals. With nothing to do, Huai Yu wandered into the forest again, then called out:
“Da Zai, Er Zai—come here, let’s do some work.”
They had used leftover firewood from this campsite. The cut ends were smooth—it was clearly prepared by others.
Since that was the case, they should leave something behind when they left.
She didn’t have much to offer, nor much experience. Leaving firewood was the most practical option.
Exploration trips were long. No one carried coal—firewood was essential for cooking.
Da Zai and Er Zai loved having a purpose. The two “sea-urchin geese” trotted over quickly on their long legs, stretching their even longer necks.
Huai Yu hugged one and pointed at a small tree branch ahead.
“Come on, a tree needs trimming to grow straight. Poke here.”
The flat goose beak barely needed force. With a quick thrust, it pierced through the branch, leaving a huge split. The heavy limb swayed, and with another angled peck—
Crack! It fell to the ground.
Huai Yu beamed.
“Yes! So good!”
The only problem was her height. Even lifting the goose, she could only reach so high.
But that was fine—do what you can.
Holding the goslings one by one, she moved through the forest, cutting branches.
When Zhou Qian finished reorganizing the truck and stepped down, he saw Huai Yu dragging branches out of the woods, panting.
Meanwhile, Da Zai and Er Zai kept pecking at the branches beside her—like playing whack-a-mole. Each peck cut clean through.
The tangled branches were quickly trimmed into neat, single sticks, then further cut into perfect firewood lengths.
Zhou Qian walked over to inspect.
The cuts were smooth—like they’d been sliced by the sharpest industrial blade.
He pulled out his eggshell knife from his boot and compared.
In the end, he had to admit—
His favorite weapon wasn’t even close to a goose’s beak.
What a pity. Their abilities couldn’t be exposed. And after leaving the Defense Army, he had no sparring partners.
Otherwise, training with Da Zai and Er Zai would give him much more confidence in the wasteland.
He checked the time and called out:
“Little Yu, that’s enough.”
When Huai Yu returned, dusting her hands, he said:
“It’ll take about four hours to reach the next rest area. It’s already past two. We didn’t rest much at noon—we need to arrive before dark.”
Huai Yu nodded and called the little ones back to the truck.
Then she suddenly asked, “Where’s Da Pang? Didn’t it come out for a walk?”
Zhou Qian laughed helplessly.
“It seems… it’s a bit carsick. It’s sleeping now.”
Huai Yu froze in horror.
“It didn’t throw up, right? It won’t throw up, right? If it throws up… will you feel weird drinking its root tea later?”
Zhou Qian went silent.
But he was seasoned now. He just said calmly:
“What’s there to feel weird about? How many Ke-lang balls have I swallowed already?”
Even now, he vaguely remembered soaking in a barrel, a wet towel on his face… basically covered head to toe in Ke Taro’s saliva.
Huai Yu relaxed, then started worrying again.
“I forgot to test it beforehand… didn’t know Da Pang gets carsick. What do we do? We still have a long way to go!”
She definitely couldn’t leave Da Pang behind.
First, its abilities were weak—it couldn’t fight Zhou Qian, and it couldn’t even hide properly.
Second, the wasteland wasn’t just dangerous because of humans—mutated creatures competed with each other too.
Zhou Qian thought for a moment.
“Let it adjust for half a day. See if it’s better by tonight. If not, we’ll move the tree cocoon to the truck bed and put Da Pang in the back seat instead.”
That tree cocoon had been hard-won—Huai Yu had begged the Rose Corridor endlessly, promising not to lose even a single root hair before it agreed to give it to them.
And with its special properties, Zhou Qian was worried it might get damaged from the bumpy ride.
Huai Yu, however, was carefree.
“Guess that’s the only way.”
The car started again, leaving the peaceful camp behind.
Up ahead, the winter atmosphere gradually faded. Strange trees lined both sides of the road, still lush and green—as if time had stopped in summer.
Huai Yu stared out the window.
“Why aren’t they losing leaves? These don’t look like evergreen trees.”
Zhou Qian explained:
“The deeper we go, the stronger the mutations. Sometimes, that allows plants to resist their natural cycles.”
“But this area has already been cleared, so they’re not that strong. In about a week, they’ll start entering autumn.”
“Also, don’t forget—this wasteland spans dozens of former cities. As we go deeper, the climate changes too. That’s why exploration only starts in November.”
“From November onward, the plants gradually enter dormancy along the way.”
Huai Yu listened, feeling like she was traveling between different cities.
“So what’s at the very center? Will it be like… snow blocking the mountains when we get there?”
Chapter 308: Ice Lantern Jade Dew
“Snow blocking the mountains?”
Zhou Qian laughed. “The deepest part is the central region of the country. The climate changes gradually as you go inward—there won’t be any sudden cliff-like shifts.”
“As for what you said about snow sealing the mountains, that’s on the side closer to the capital. The outermost areas there are covered in ice and snow, and the deeper you go into the wasteland, the closer it gets to spring.”
He roughly estimated the terrain and added, “The deepest area of the wasteland should be around the old Nanhe region. In winter, temperatures there drop below zero. After the catastrophe, it might even reach minus ten or twenty degrees… If we go, we might really see snow-covered mountains.”
Huai Yu wasn’t afraid at all. She patted her coat. “We have lots of clothes!”
Zhou Qian chuckled.
Without specially made combat gear, ordinary clothing was actually quite poor at resisting severe cold. But because the wasteland was full of plants—and many of them resisted their natural cycles and refused to shed leaves—the temperature they felt along the way was noticeably warmer than outside.
Who knew—maybe the very center of the wasteland would feel like spring.
He smiled at his own thought, then, seeing Huai Yu full of anticipation for the unknown, focused back on driving.
The road in the wasteland was far from smooth.
Originally, there had been highways and national roads, but in the early days of the catastrophe, rampant plant growth had torn them apart.
At first, the Defense Army and Garrison Army had cleared the land inch by inch, gradually forming a path.
In the beginning, it was only a narrow strip—too tight for vehicles or troop movement. But over time, as control over the outer wasteland increased, the road widened.
Now it was three to five meters across—still nothing compared to city roads. Tree roots and plants constantly broke through the ground, and despite yearly repairs, the ride was still bumpy.
After hours on the road, the novelty faded.
Surrounded by endless greens mixed with yellow-brown tones, Huai Yu began to feel sleepy, leaning back in her seat.
Zhou Qian reminded her, “Cover yourself with the blanket.”
Half-asleep, Huai Yu muttered regretfully, “If I had known, I would’ve hired someone to teach me driving properly… then you wouldn’t have to do everything alone.”
Was this tiring?
To Zhou Qian, this was actually rare relaxation. But Huai Yu, who had never been to the wasteland, wouldn’t understand.
“Sleep if you want,” he said gently. “The early stretch is peaceful. Rest and get used to it.”
“When we reach D9, once we start exploring unknown areas, the car might not be able to go any further. If we want to keep advancing, we may have to walk for a long time.”
He glanced at her, clearly remembering how she had slacked off on their trip to Sanqing Mountain.
Huai Yu instantly snapped awake.
With the cold weather, they were dressed like stuffed buns. Even lifting a leg felt heavy—how could they still walk?!
She had prepared everything meticulously… except for the possibility of traveling on foot.
“And if we have to walk, what about the car? All our stuff is on it…”
She couldn’t believe it.
Zhou Qian replied calmly, “Early exploration in D9 has been done, but it’s still dangerous, so there are no checkpoints stationed there. We’ll drive as far as possible. If there’s no road left, we’ll have no choice but to abandon the car halfway.”
“The good news is, deep in the wasteland, whether it’s explorers or the garrison, no one comes here without a mission. So the car won’t get stolen.”
“The bad news is, if we want to bring everyone along, the journey will indeed be much harder.”
Huai Yu felt numb.
You couldn’t blame her—people can’t imagine things outside their experience. Before entering the wasteland, she had no idea it would be this wild and primitive.
Sleepiness vanished completely. She stared at the rough road ahead, felt the excellent suspension of the car, and then looked at Zhou Qian resentfully.
“Zhou Qian ge, did you do this on purpose?”
He hadn’t mentioned any of this before! She had even carefully planned at home—bringing potatoes and radishes in case food ran out, so she could sprout more along the way.
And Ke Taro—if they had to walk long distances, wouldn’t it be too much for it?
And the chickens—what about the chickens?!
Zhou Qian shook his head. “The wasteland is dangerous. But if we left them at home, you’d worry even more. Since there’s no perfect solution, it’s better to accept it slowly.”
“If it gets too cold when we have to get out, we’ll leave them in the car. There won’t be outsiders here easily. You can grow vines to cover the vehicle—with your plant affinity, it should be safe for a while.”
“If we don’t come back…”
If they didn’t come back, nothing would matter anyway.
Huai Yu thought about it and could only accept.
After all, Zhou Qian had said the routes were still based on old roads. Unless absolutely impossible, they could still drive forward slowly.
Otherwise, each zone was like an entire city—walking all the way to the center would take forever.
Then she suddenly realized something.
“Zhou Qian ge, you were just scaring me!”
He naturally didn’t admit it. “You’re overthinking. I’m driving—how would I have time for that? There’s about two more hours to the next rest area. Want to sleep a bit?”
A moment ago she was still worrying about him driving alone. Now she flattened the seat, pulled the blanket over her head, and said, “I’m sleeping!”
But not even five minutes later—
“Little Yu, want to see a mutated succulent?”
She immediately yanked the blanket down.
Up ahead on the right side of the road stood a massive plant—translucent and plump, like peeled grape flesh. Each leaf was round and swollen, as if filled with jelly.
“What is that…?”
Huai Yu’s eyes widened in amazement.
“That’s a mutated succulent called Ice Lantern Jade Dew. Before the catastrophe, this place was a succulent cultivation base in Yun City—very popular. But after mutation, the densely packed potted succulents rapidly overgrew and merged.”
“What the Defense Army faced back then was a strange collective organism made of succulents.”
“Every time it was injured, it would spray large amounts of corrosive liquid—very troublesome.”
“In the end, General Lin personally led the team and froze the entire mutated mass in one go…”
Chapter 309: How to Take Care of It
When Zhou Qian said this, his expression was full of admiration.
“Little Yu, you really should’ve seen that scene back then—those mutated succulents covered more than two mu of land. All kinds of strange varieties fused together, each leaf carrying different genetic traits.”
“But the colors were unexpectedly fresh, blending light and dark shades together—no worse than this Ice Lantern Jade Dew in front of us.”
Such a massive collective organism, under the joint effort of General Lin and other ability users, was quickly turned into a vast expanse of lifeless frozen matter.
Compared to that, this mutated Ice Lantern Jade Dew in front of them only covered a little over forty square meters—nothing in comparison.
But even those forty square meters were already enough to leave Huai Yu stunned.
Following Zhou Qian’s description, she imagined the past and felt a deep regret she hadn’t been there.
“Zhou Qian ge, you’ve seen General Lin before?”
“No.” Zhou Qian shook his head. “Back then, he led the Garrison Army in frontline combat. We in the Defense Army, without abilities, were responsible for early firepower coverage and later cleanup.”
By the time he saw the massive ice sculpture, the Garrison Army had already moved on to the next exploration zone.
As they spoke, they got closer and closer to the enormous Ice Lantern Jade Dew.
It looked like an enlarged version of the normal plant—no grotesque mutations. Its surface still had streaks of deep green, while the inside looked like it held a pool of translucent, jade-like flesh.
Huai Yu stared at it in curiosity.
Faced with this massive succulent, as big as a small building, she couldn’t help asking:
“Does it have a good temper?”
Zhou Qian paused briefly, then answered simply:
“It’s pretty good.”
Half an hour later, standing beneath towering trees and some leftover scaffolding, Huai Yu looked at Zhou Qian in despair.
“Zhou Qian ge… you call this a good temper?”
Zhou Qian had already taken off his coat and was stretching.
“It doesn’t hit people. Isn’t that a good temper?”
It really didn’t hit people.
It didn’t need to.
From a distance, the plant looked like it grew beside the road. But up close, its massive leaves completely blocked the path.
To drive through, the car had to go right over two thick, fleshy bottom leaves.
They weren’t indestructible either—old tire marks crisscrossed their surface.
Huai Yu originally thought it was just a mindless mutated organism. As long as they didn’t damage the roots, it wouldn’t care.
But before driving over it, Zhou Qian stopped—and even pulled her out of the car.
“This road is basically its territory now. If we want to pass, we have to pay a little price.”
The “price” was simple: manual labor.
If you could climb, you’d go up along its body or nearby scaffolding, and cover its top with branches and leaves.
Succulents couldn’t handle direct sunlight. Whether winter or summer, too much sun was too harsh for them.
And honestly, it was partly its own fault.
Back then, it tried to follow its “leader,” but that one was too aggressive and got completely wiped out—after being frozen, it melted under sunlight and nourished the surrounding plants.
This Ice Lantern Jade Dew had secretly absorbed that energy and grown rapidly.
The problem was—it grew too much.
Now it had no shade above, no protection below, exposed to wind and rain… life was quite hard.
So it had to rely on humans to pile up branches and leaves at its base, helping it survive the winter.
Huai Yu: “……”
She didn’t even know what to say anymore.
But seeing Zhou Qian already climbing up along the thick leaves, she silently grabbed a rake left behind and began piling dry leaves at its base.
This could serve as fertilizer and also provide a bit of insulation in winter.
She looked up at its enormous body, doubting whether this small pile of leaves would help at all.
But judging from Zhou Qian’s attitude, the key was simply to keep it happy.
She hesitated.
She originally wanted to sense what this rare succulent was thinking—but now it was obvious.
Its brain… wasn’t very sharp.
Better not risk making things worse.
But even if she didn’t want to talk, the Ice Lantern Jade Dew clearly did.
It couldn’t really speak, and its intelligence was low. Still, one plump, cool, heavy leaf suddenly extended in front of her.
Inside, it looked like it held a pool of green liquid—soft and jelly-like to the touch.
Huai Yu couldn’t help touching it a few times. She roughly understood—it wanted to communicate.
“Will piling leaves like this actually help?”
She carefully connected to its faint emotions.
In her mind, it made a soft “ying” sound, and fragments of awareness came through.
After sensing for a while, her expression turned strange.
Because this mutated succulent really had no real thinking. It grew purely on instinct. Its odd requests came from faint residual memories—
For example:
Back when this place was a succulent farm, it had always been losing money. The owner took poor care of it—often forgetting to close the greenhouse, unwilling to even use cheap fertilizer.
To save costs, he even borrowed a second-hand feed grinder to crush dead branches and mix them into the soil.
That only made things worse.
When spring came, bacteria and insect eggs in the soil exploded. In the wild, this wouldn’t matter much—but in a greenhouse, with small pots and dense cultivation…
The losses became even greater.
After the catastrophe, the succulents scattered everywhere. Some merged into that giant organism and died, others grew normally in the wild.
And this Ice Lantern Jade Dew—somehow growing this big—still wanted the same things:
Shade, shelter, and good soil.
Honestly, it was easy to care for.
But…
Huai Yu looked up at Zhou Qian, who was standing high above, inspecting the surroundings.
This thing was already the size of a building—how exactly were they supposed to give it shade and shelter?
Then Zhou Qian’s voice came from above:
“Little Yu, bring the plastic sheet from the car!”
Huai Yu: …???
No way.
Was Zhou Qian actually going to seriously take care of it?!
