However, Chi Wan's request to Li Xingye also made Chi Yuanshan and Song Yinghe feel an undeniable glimmer of hope.
Li Xingye remained silent for two seconds before speaking slowly. "I'm not sure. After all, there's a space between us. While I can control those two pots of Fragrant Vine, I can't sense any other plants on your side.
"I don't know if it's because the conditions aren't right or if my power has been weakened too much. So, as for the fruit trees, I can only try. I can't guarantee it will work... I'm sorry."
Listening to Li Xingye's gentle voice, Chi Wan couldn't help but rub her ears, feeling them grow hot.
For some reason, ever since Li Xingye had taken control of those two pots of Fragrant Vine, his voice no longer echoed from within the space but instead sounded as if it were right beside her ear.
A voice that was far too pleasant, right beside her ear.
'And... kind of intimate.'
After Li Xingye finished his guilty explanation, Chi Wan remained silent. He grew anxious, worried she might think he was unwilling to help.
Just as he was about to add something more, he heard Chi Wan's bright voice again. "What's there to apologize for? I'm the one asking you for a favor. It's getting late, so how about we give it a try tomorrow? It's a long shot, but we might as well try!"
Li Xingye finally breathed a sigh of relief, a faint smile gracing his lips. "Alright. Just call for me whenever you're ready."
Chi Wan nodded, then, realizing Li Xingye couldn't see her, she answered sweetly, "Alrighty!"
After finishing her conversation with Li Xingye, she turned to her parents, who were staring at her intently, and said with a smile, "The big shot says he's not sure yet, but we can give it a try tomorrow."
Chi Yuanshan exhaled. "Alright, just having hope is a good thing. Oh, and Wanwan, tell that young man not to feel any pressure. It'd be great if it works, but it's no problem if it doesn't, okay?"
"That's right, that's right. Sweetie, don't you worry too much, either. You were busy all night yesterday, and now this today... You haven't even had dinner. I'll go make you something to eat."
With that, Song Yinghe headed for the kitchen, but Chi Wan saw her discreetly wipe a tear from her eye.
'She must be remembering the danger from tonight and feeling the fear in hindsight.'
Chi Yuanshan had seen it too, of course. He sighed and patted Chi Wan's back gently. "Your mother always feels like we've failed you with our current situation. She's cried about it in secret several times. But Wanwan, what happened today made me realize that you've truly grown up. You're much stronger than we thought.
"Your mother and I are both so proud of you."
A pang of emotion hit Chi Wan, but she forced a lighthearted smile. "You two just wait. From now on, you'll be living the good life with me!"
Chi Yuanshan stroked her head with a resigned but proud smile, then went to the kitchen to help Song Yinghe.
*
In stark contrast to the heartwarming scene at the Chi Family's home, Li Xingye and his three companions returned to their base full of hope and laden with food. But the smiles on their faces froze the instant they saw the main gate.
"Brother Ye, something's wrong," Cheng Peng said. "I smell unfamiliar scents inside the base."
Cheng Peng's superpower was scent identification, an incredibly useful ability for both tracking and reconnaissance.
The base's gate was closed, and everything appeared peaceful. But usually, before they even got within two hundred meters, Lin Qi, who was in charge of the gate, would have already rushed out with a smile to ask them what they'd found.
Today, however, it was unnervingly quiet.
"Let's go check it out," Li Xingye said, quickening his pace toward the base.
He'd never been afraid of a fight. His only concern was for the ordinary people inside the base.
Qiangzi, thinking of his sister still inside, grew anxious. "Our base is so remote, and with Brother Ye and his Ninth Rank Superpower protecting us... Plus, we're right next to that Sixth-tier Zombie's territory. Who would be suicidal enough to pick a fight with us?!"
Li Xingye didn't answer, but a terrifying possibility suddenly occurred to him: 'What if... what if they assumed we died out there and weren't coming back?'
On this trip to find food, they had been fully prepared to die.
Everyone knew there was no more food to be found.
All that was left for the base were the last of the compressed biscuits, which had only been preserved thanks to a Space Ability, and water that remained toxic even after multiple layers of filtration.
With no chance of resupply, once they exhausted their stores, starvation was everyone's inevitable fate.
But Li Xingye refused to accept it. He wanted to go out and fight for one last chance at survival. If he failed, then so be it—he would accept his fate. At least he wouldn't have to stand by and watch everyone meet a miserable end.
Fortunately, his salvation had arrived.
'But for another group of people... had they already assumed that, without food, we would just die out there?'
'To be fair, that assumption wasn't entirely wrong. After all, without Chi Wan, they would have already died of dehydration and starvation by now.'
After his outburst, Qiangzi seemed to realize the same thing. His face fell, and he said no more, simply charging into the base alongside Li Xingye.
The moment they passed through the gate, they saw him: Lin Qi's body, pinned high on a wall by a scimitar, his eyes wide open in death.
There was barely any blood to be seen. Lin Qi's face, emaciated to the point of being unrecognizable, was frozen in an expression of disbelief and indignation, as if he couldn't believe this was how he would die.
"Lao Qi!" Haozi cried out, his voice cracking. But no one was there to answer.
"Damn it, what kind of animal did this!" Qiangzi roared, his eyes bloodshot as he scanned the main road of the once-bustling base, now completely deserted.
Li Xingye summoned a vine to gently lower Lin Qi's body, then closed his friend's eyes with his hand.
He picked up the rust-free scimitar and, his expression eerily calm, began walking in the direction Cheng Peng indicated.
Everyone knew that Li Xingye was the most even-tempered person in the entire base.
But they also knew that the most terrifying sight was an expressionless, furious Li Xingye.
Because as he took slow, deliberate steps forward, the entire base began to tremble.
The smooth ground cracked and shattered, as if something were writhing just beneath the surface, churning up the dark, gray soil.
Li Xingye strode over the churning earth as if it were solid ground, heading for the largest warehouse in the base.
Such a terrifying commotion, of course, did not go unnoticed by those still in the base.
Before he even reached the warehouse, a man with a shock of blond hair stumbled out and collapsed to his knees.
"B-Brother Li! I was wrong! I didn't know you... We never should have come to your base! I'll leave right now, I'll leave!"
From the look on his face, he truly hadn't expected Li Xingye to return.
'But how had he been so sure?'
Li Xingye refused to dwell on the implications of that question. With a simple wave of his hand, a dark, gray vine erupted from the ground like a giant serpent.
Perhaps realizing that Li Xingye had no intention of listening to his explanation or giving him a chance to live, a vicious glint flashed in Blondie's eyes.
The hand hidden behind his back clenched into a fist!
In an instant, dozens of swords and blades of all shapes and sizes materialized in the air, all pointed directly at Li Xingye!
But Li Xingye seemed not to see them at all, his gaze fixed on Blondie's chest.
A small, red flower was blooming there.