Chen Xiaofei was happily picking loquats, tossing them toward Xu Duoduo as soon as he got his hands on them.

Xu Duoduo had already opened a spatial portal, allowing Chen Xiaofei to throw the loquats directly into it after picking them.

One human and one zombie were perched high up in the tree, completely carefree.

They weren’t worried about Zhou Siqi in the car noticing that the little zombie had spatial abilities. They were solely focused on harvesting as much as they could.

Meanwhile, Qin Luo was busy taking out mutated frogs and other small creatures while using a hook to collect the frogs. Once they returned to the base, he planned to hand them over to headquarters directly.

Bai Shu finished writing his report and clicked "upload," while Wang Weihu turned up the volume of the broadcast.

The desolate city echoed with waves of rescue broadcasts.

But there was no response.

It was disheartening.

From the looks of it, this was likely a small town on the outskirts of N City. The street was a typical residential area.

Aside from this enormous mutated loquat tree, there were also mutated pear and persimmon trees in the distance.

It seemed like a good opportunity for another harvest.

Zhou Siqi, sitting in the car, couldn’t hold back anymore. She saw that everyone else was busy and said, “Let me help out too.”

Bai Shu smiled at her and replied, “No need. Just rest well. Without any offensive abilities, it’s too dangerous for you to go out.”

After all, she was their honored guest from the 3A Special Operations Team, worth five million credits.

As a Withered Butterfly Mutant, Zhou Siqi had no offensive abilities and could only rely on camouflage to evade enemies. Letting her go out was indeed too risky.

If something were to happen...

That would be a disaster.

Zhou Siqi reluctantly stayed put. Her personality wasn’t lively; she was clearly an introvert. Unless it was something important, she usually spoke softly and gently, her voice barely audible.

She was starkly different from Da Qiao.

To ease her discomfort, Wang Weihu joked with a grin, “By the way, what’s Da Qiao’s full name? We actually don’t know.”

They only knew her nickname.

Hearing her friend being mentioned, Zhou Siqi’s lips curved into a faint smile. “Da Qiao’s full name is Qiao Yajun, and Xiao Qiao’s full name is Qiao Weimo. They’re distant cousins.”

But their relationship was quite good.

Their abilities were tied to the same plant-based power, Twin Lotus Flowers, though the skills they activated were vastly different.

Da Qiao’s ability was Healing, while Xiao Qiao’s was Offensive.

Although they didn’t look exactly alike, their expressions occasionally bore some resemblance because of their shared ability. They also bickered frequently.

Zhou Siqi was very close to Da Qiao but not as familiar with Xiao Qiao.

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Wang Weihu and Bai Shu were intrigued by this tidbit. Twin Lotus Flowers as a plant-based ability? That was indeed rare.

“The Rose Team is entirely plant-based. Why didn’t Xiao Qiao join a combat team?” Bai Shu asked curiously.

Zhou Siqi replied softly, “Because she’s also interested in medicine.”

Xiao Qiao sometimes envied Da Qiao’s Healing ability, and the two often argued, though their bond remained strong.

After all, their lifespans were intertwined.

The conversation seemed to relax Zhou Siqi significantly, and she no longer felt so out of place.

Meanwhile, Qin Luo noticed something. The curtain at the eleven o’clock position moved slightly. Without drawing attention to himself, he aimed in that direction. Chen Xiaofei and Xu Duoduo, however, were completely engrossed in their loquat-picking spree, happily plucking away.

The next moment, noise finally came from the window. A young boy, his face flushed, opened the window and shouted at Chen Xiaofei and Xu Duoduo, “Picking, picking, picking! If you take everything, what are we supposed to eat?! You call yourselves rescuers? You’re nothing but monster thieves! This is our loquat tree!”

Chen Xiaofei was startled by the boy’s outburst. “Damn, kid, can’t you talk nicely? You scared me! What if you frightened our little class monitor too?!”

The little zombie, who was dangling from his claws, innocently blinked her eyes while clutching several large bunches of loquats.

The boy, who looked about ten years old, was both frightened and angry. Tears welled up in his eyes as he wiped them with his arm, crying, “Waaahhh!”

Chen Xiaofei panicked. “Hey, hey, hey, don’t cry, kid! We’re not bad people!”

But his words only made the boy cry louder.

Bai Shu couldn’t help but laugh at Chen Xiaofei’s antics. “The way he’s saying it makes him sound even more like a bad guy.”

Wang Weihu, on the other hand, felt a headache coming on. Their team really didn’t have many people who were good at communicating with survivors. It always fell to him. He turned on the loudspeaker and called out, “Hey, kid! Where are your parents? Are there any adults at home? We really are from the H City Survivor Base. We can show you our identification.”

Qin Luo gestured for Chen Xiaofei to bring Xu Duoduo back. The two of them had already stripped the loquat tree bare—a truly impressive feat.

If the circumstances were different...

Xu Duoduo would’ve loved to store the entire loquat tree in her spatial space and bring it back to the base to plant.

Chen Xiaofei flapped his wings and tossed the little class monitor into Qin Luo’s arms before flying toward the boy. “Hey, don’t cry. We really are good people. If we were monsters, we’d have eaten you by now. Would we let you stand there crying?”

That logic was hard to argue with.

But the boy seemed too scared to process it, continuing to cry loudly. Chen Xiaofei had no choice but to keep trying to calm him down.

The little zombie, having been tossed from mid-air, didn’t even blink as she landed steadily in Qin Luo’s arms. She reached out and instinctively grabbed Qin Luo’s ear, giving it a little tug before quickly retracting her tiny hand.

The little zombie was satisfied.

Qin Luo, holding her, couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re addicted to this, aren’t you?”

What could he do? Ever since his mutation, his wolf ears had become large, thick, and irresistibly soft to the touch.

“Tsk, you’re lucky it’s you. If it were anyone else, I’d shoot them for even trying.”

Wolf ears were incredibly sensitive, after all. How could he let just anyone touch them?

The little zombie didn’t know that. She was just happy to have touched them. Plus, she had picked a ton of loquats. The mutated loquat tree was enormous, and the harvested fruit now filled a corner of her spatial inventory.

She felt like they’d have enough to last a long time.

She had even tasted the sweet flavor of the loquats.

Once again, Xu Duoduo confirmed that she could consume mutated plants and animals and even taste their flavors.

For a foodie, this was pure joy.

Qin Luo still smelled sweet and fragrant, and his transformation into a big wolfdog was simply adorable.

Even though she sometimes found herself tempted, the little zombie had never truly thought about eating him. She couldn’t bear to.

Besides, she would never eat humans.

Because she always believed she was human.

On the other side, Chen Xiaofei finally managed to piece together the situation. “So, it’s just you and your little sister at home? Are there any other survivors nearby?”

The boy’s name was Cheng Cheng, and he had just turned ten. His little sister, Cheng Ai, was three years old.

Their parents used to sell vegetables, and the ground floor of their residential building was their shop, with the second and third floors rented out. The family of four lived on the fourth floor.

When the outbreak happened, their parents locked the siblings upstairs. The couple eventually turned into zombies and were likely eaten by mutated fish.

“Waaahhh, that night, it suddenly started raining heavily, but only in our area. Downstairs, people were biting each other. My parents went to help separate them, but they got bitten too. Then the water came, and no one could escape. My parents never came back upstairs.”

“The old lady from a few buildings over, Grandma Liu, used to make noise, but I haven’t heard her these past two days.”

Cheng Cheng had been convinced by Chen Xiaofei’s reasoning. If they were really mutated monsters, they wouldn’t be talking to him so nicely—they’d have eaten him by now.

The boy broke down completely, crying his heart out.