Enemies Are All Nourishment for My Fungi-Chapter 162 Beginner First Aider Shows Off (3)

Ye Nai grabbed a bottle of drink and sat next to Captain Cao.

Captain Cao gave her a disdainful glance.

"I’m here getting an IV, and you sit down with a soda."

"Hehe, you can’t drink soda, how about some fruits? Choose between cherry tomatoes and cucumbers."

"What kind of cherry tomatoes and cucumbers?"

Ye Nai put away the drink she had just sipped and took out the small tomatoes and fruit cucumbers stored in a lunchbox.

"This kind."

"Oh, you brought these?"

Ye Nai placed the lunchbox on Captain Cao’s lap and then pulled out a bag of grilled sausage skewers, short enough to use as a fork for eating pancakes and grilled noodles besides threading sausages.

Captain Cao slightly adjusted his sitting posture, pulled out a skewer, and forked two cherry tomatoes into his mouth.

"Mmm, delicious." The juicy, moderately sweet and tangy small tomatoes brightened Captain Cao’s eyes, "Where did you buy them? Are they local? The ripeness is just right, not those that are picked unripe and transported long distances."

"I bought them from a vendor’s shoulder pole when I was passing through Town No. 1."

Ye Nai fabricated a story with her eyes wide open; she certainly couldn’t say they were grown in the Secret Realm, buying them from a vendor meant there would be nowhere to trace them back to.

"Mmm, tasty, tasty."

With that comment from Captain Cao, it stirred cravings in the others.

Ye Nai stood up again, took out a large pot of fresh cherry tomatoes, distributed a disposable bowl to each injured person, and left the rest on the table for anyone who wanted to grab a handful.

The tangy, juicy small fruits suddenly made everyone feel like their mouths had regained taste.

Whether it was people who had been in a fierce battle or those who had come to support upon receiving the news, under high tension, drinking water felt as if it had not been drunk at all; a few small fruits helped them recover their composure.

"Nice, how much did you buy, and you still have so many left uneaten?"

"I couldn’t bear to eat them on the road, but now on the way back, of course, I can indulge."

Ye Nai pulled out her drink that she had only sipped twice, glanced around at the plants, and nodded toward Captain Cao.

"What does it mean that this place is worth twenty million? Besides the Camel-hump Deer, do these trees also have value?"

"These trees and the vines on them are mutant plants with medicinal properties; they have a symbiotic relationship. The vine has nine white ridges, so it’s called Nine-ribbed Wood Vine, and the tree with it is called Ridge Tree. The petals of the vine flowers also have nine ridges, so they are called Nine-ribbed Flowers. The fruits they bear are nearly the size of small cherries, with smooth skin and nine seeds inside, hence called Nine-seed Fruits. The frontline camp discovered this and called us to take a trip to collect specimens that could be cultivated."

"These mutant plants grow interestingly, everything related to the number nine."

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"Yeah, this characteristic has attracted many people to study these plants; they are rare and difficult to grow. They die when transplanted to almost similar environmental conditions in other Secret Realms, can only try to artificially cultivate a few in the found Secret Realm. Even if they survive, the annual maintenance cost is sky-high."

"So are the specimens collected to be grown here in this Secret Realm or sent to another Secret Realm?"

"I don’t know, they might also be frozen for a few years until the land in Hazard Zone No.1 is available for use, maybe there will be new plans later."

"Ay, everything is limited by the small land area of East Ridge City."

"Exactly, without land, no new projects can be undertaken."

"Opportunity isn’t put to use."

"Haha~"

"What will happen to this place after we leave later?"

"The frontline camp will patrol regularly, and for now, that’s all we can do. It’s not that I’m heartless, but we have already collected the specimens. I’d rather they immediately die of disease than be discovered by someone who recognizes what these plants are, chops the trees down, and sells them for money."

Ye Nai looked up at the trees around; there were only seven in total, mixed with other tree species in a sparse little woods, visible all the way to the end.

"Cut down the tree for money? That’s harsh, isn’t it?"

"No one can control anything in the Secret Realm."

"Hmm, do you think those guys would cut it down if they succeeded?"

"Yes, they only attacked us because they saw us collecting samples and realized the value of the plants."

"Pfft, I thought there was a leak in our information."

"No, they’re just desperadoes, a gang that specializes in killing and looting in the Secret Realm. They have sharp eyes, quick minds, and are outrageously bold. Whenever they see a strong combat team or military force, they like to follow and wait for an opportunity to strike."

"They’re that bold?"

"The Secret Realm is lawless, and many such gangs have developed over the years, becoming entrenched. They know they’d be hit hard outside, so they simply hide in the Secret Realm all year round, grooming clean minions to handle their transactions outside."

"Heh, they know where it’s safe to hide."

"If you run into them, don’t be soft-hearted, just consider it doing justice for the people."

Captain Cao lowered his voice for a moment, with no intention of leading the youngsters astray; after all, being in the Secret Realm was about survival, and naivety just wouldn’t do.

"Okay."

Ye Nai agreed without hesitation, not that she would tell him that these enemies had already become food for her Space Fungus, not leaving behind even a scrap of bone.

"I really did come at the right moment."

"You did, a day earlier or later and you wouldn’t have met us. So, how long have you been in the Secret Realm?"

"A month or two?" Ye Nai scratched her head, "What’s today’s date?"

Captain Cao paused, his small tomatoes forgotten at his lips, "I forgot."

"Then we’ll talk about it when we get out, but it’s at most two months."

"Two months is a long time already, you came in spring and it’ll be summer when you get out; you can really stay that long."

"I can manage on my own as long as I have enough supplies. A team, of course, couldn’t do it."

"That’s true, a team would go wild living in the wilderness for a month." Captain Cao shook his head, "That’s why so many mutant beasts are only ever seen once. Hey, did you go deep into the Secret Realm?"

"I don’t know, I’ve had no map, no positioning, I don’t even know where I’ve been."

"The places you’ve been to, did you see that wetland?"

"No."

"Great, you’ve opened up a new map."

"Damn, right! The Secret Realm is so huge!"

Ye Nai was incredibly surprised, she always knew the Secret Realm was vast, but just how vast hadn’t been explored yet; it was boundlessly large.

But now she had walked it herself, deliberately taking untracked paths where no fungus had been laid, and yet she hadn’t even seen the edge of the wetland.

"This piece of the Secret Realm must be at least several hundred thousand square kilometers, right?"

"Think bigger, if more clues are discovered later, it could expand to over a million square kilometers."

"Wow, that’s huge, how large is our country’s land area, and a Secret Realm could be this big?"

"When the enemy from Otherworld crosses the Space Channel and attacks our Blue Star, what’s impossible? A Secret Realm being a fraction the size of our country’s landmass seems normal to me."

"Considering all the Secret Realms around the globe, if each one has such vast areas, that planet in Otherworld must be huge."

"Yeah, it’s very likely, at least as big as Blue Star..."