Wei Heng was a little curious. He had no idea who had written the letter that was affecting Gu Xi so deeply.

In Wei Heng’s experience, Gu Xi had always been a very placid, one might even say composed, young woman. Moments of emotional upheaval were rare for her.

But no matter how curious he was, he didn’t sneak a peek.

It wasn’t until Gu Xi held the letter out to him that Wei Heng looked up at her, surprised. After meeting her gaze and seeing she was serious, his eyes fell to the signature at the end... Ye Xin.

’A letter from Mr. Ye to Gu Xi?’

Wei Heng was a little surprised.

As the former deputy leader of the Special Service Team and one of Ye Nan’s direct superiors, Wei Heng had naturally crossed paths with Mr. Ye on several occasions.

In his memory, despite her high position, Ye Xin had always been a very gentle person. But now... As Wei Heng’s eyes scanned the letter’s contents, his expression grew complicated.

Just then, Qi Xiang and the others, having heard the news, came over, dragging Shen Yue with them.

Shen Yue had been busy for most of the night and had only managed a short nap after eating barbecue at dawn. Now, he was being pushed along by the girls, yawning nonstop, his characteristically lax and roguish air more pronounced than ever.

Qi Xiang couldn’t stand seeing him like this. She irritably tossed her handkerchief at him. "Wipe the sleep from your eyes." ’He can’t be ruining the Farming Team’s image in front of strangers.’

Shen Yue lazily took it, wiped his face, and let out another languid yawn. ’Only Miss Qi would be this fussy,’ he thought. ’Back when we were on the front lines wiping out mutated animals...’

Suddenly, his peripheral vision caught two heads huddled close together. Shen Yue’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he strode over.

"What are you looking at?" he asked, squatting down beside Gu Xi and Wei Heng with a lazy yawn.

Qi Xiang squeezed in for a look as well, raising an eyebrow. "A letter from Mr. Ye to Gu Xi?"

She quickly scanned the letter’s contents and said thoughtfully, "Mr. Ye is certainly one of a kind. No wonder my adoptive father always said Ye Nan couldn’t compare to his mother. But Wei Heng, how were you carrying this? Why is it smudged?"

Qi Xiang stared at a few small dots in the blank corner at the bottom of the page, her brow furrowed slightly.

Wei Heng followed her gaze. There were indeed a few faint, irregularly shaped marks there, looking like smudges left after the paper had gotten wet.

Most people wouldn’t have paid them any mind even if they’d noticed. It took someone as sharp-eyed as Qi Xiang to point it out right away.

Shen Yue suddenly chimed in lazily, "It’s been raining a lot these past few days, hasn’t it? It probably got soaked on the road and got dirty."

Qi Xiang grumbled, "That’s way too careless." ’Luckily, the smudges are on a blank part of the page. If the writing had been smeared, it would have caused a real problem.’

Wei Heng offered no defense, only glancing at Shen Yue without a change in expression.

He actually recognized the shape of those smudges in the corner, the ones that looked like they’d been made by rainwater. He had seen them more than once.

First, in that little grocery store in South City, then on the old dictionary Gu Xi had bought, and also on the plaque Mr. Xv had left for her...

Back in South City, Gu Xi had rarely made a point of hiding things from him, including her habits of listening to the radio and consulting the dictionary. Wei Heng had vaguely guessed something back then, but he never said a word.

’He had to be worthy of the trust she placed in him.’

But Shen Yue...

Wei Heng didn’t know if Shen Yue had guessed something, but since Gu Xi said nothing, he also kept quiet.

He just couldn’t help but glance at Shen Yue again.

It wasn’t that Wei Heng didn’t trust his teammate. But Shen Yue... he was from the Shen Family, after all. His background meant that he was different from the rest of them.

Moreover, Wei Heng harbored another, deeper worry.

Recently, Wei Heng had been secretly investigating the old Doomsday Squad and had learned a fair bit about the so-called "heroes of the apocalypse" who were still powerful figures today.

For example, the current third-in-command at the Central Base—Commander Qee Ran.

Also from a powerful military and political family, also one of Gu Xi’s former teammates...

Wei Heng didn’t know if Commander Qee had actually betrayed Gu Xi back then, but it was a fact that he had ultimately returned to the Qee Family, taken control of its power, and ended up on the opposite side from her.

Family versus friends, power versus affection... These were inherently the most difficult choices in the world.

Wei Heng didn’t want history to repeat itself for Gu Xi.

Noticing Wei Heng’s gaze, Shen Yue languidly raised an eyebrow before letting his eyes drift to the seeds in the package.

Shen Yue didn’t really care what others thought of him; he had always been a man with a mind of his own.

His attention, however, was on the seeds. What did Mr. Ye mean by sending these?

After all, it wasn’t as if Gu Xi was lacking for plant seeds.

Meanwhile, the others, having finished reading the letter, also gathered around the package of seeds.

Qin Yi, being a Wood Element ability user herself, had a much more sensitive perception of plants.

"These seeds..." Qin Yi frowned in surprise, saying uncertainly, "It seems like they haven’t been processed by the Healing System?"

For years now, all crop seeds released from the Abnormal Ability Research Institute had to be processed by the Healing System.

’So why are these seeds, coming from Mr. Ye—the very head of the Healing System—in their most primitive state?’

Qin Yi couldn’t figure it out.

"What kind of seeds are all these?" Shen Yue knew nothing about plants. He rummaged through them with his hand but couldn’t recognize a single one.

"You don’t recognize them, so why are you rummaging around?" Qi Xiang swatted his hand away with a disgusted look and began picking them up one by one to identify them.

But even with her background in agricultural studies, she could only identify a little less than half of them.

"This one is Maomao Grass, this should be mutated yellow chives, and this one looks like... a Qiouqiou Melon?..."

Qi Xiang frowned slightly at the large pile that remained. She couldn’t identify any of the others by their seeds alone; they would probably have to be planted to find out what they were.

Shen Yue wasn’t angry about being pushed aside. He rubbed his chin and said, "Why don’t we plant them and see?"

"That works." Qin Shi exchanged a look with her sister, then stood up. "I’ll go till the soil."

It was perfect timing. Ouyang had come looking for them that morning to say that while the convoy wasn’t short on other supplies, they were running low on fresh vegetables. The large batch Gu Xi had planted before was nearly gone, and everyone had been too busy to plant more...

"Then I’ll pick out the seeds?" Qi Xiang began to go by instinct, taking a few seeds from each packet and handing the rest back to Gu Xi.

The more Shen Yue watched, the more something seemed off to him. "You’re only planting that many? Are you feeding rabbits?" ’That’s not nearly enough to eat.’

Qi Xiang shot him a disdainful glare. "Is eating all you think about?" ’Was he the reincarnation of a sentient rice bucket or something?’

Qin Yi couldn’t help but snicker off to the side.

’Even though Qi Xiang only took a few seeds of each kind, there are so many different types!’ she thought. ’It adds up to over a hundred varieties. Since we’re planting so many different kinds of vegetables, shouldn’t we have hot pot for lunch?’

’Failing that, some malatang skewers would be great too. Didn’t the Lin Family brothers say their ancestors used to sell skewers? Maybe they still have the family recipe for the soup base?’

Perhaps her craving was too strong, because Qin Yi accidentally said the thought out loud.

Qi Xiang thought it was a great idea. She turned her head to Gu Xi. "Let’s do hot pot?"

Shen Yue was the first to raise both hands in approval. "I’m in! And let’s get lots of meat."

Qi Xiang shot him a look of disgust, then turned back to Gu Xi. "Are we doing it or not?"

Gu Xi glanced at Qin Yi, who was staring at her with wide, hopeful eyes, and then at Shen Yue beside them, already discussing with Wei Heng that they should prepare a little more meat. "Okay."