Chapter 31: Interested in Joining Our Guard Team?
With this A-rank mutated root, her assessment was considered passed.
Ke Lai operated her Star Brain, opened a certain internal interface, and carefully scanned the mutated root in front of her. A virtual projection was then generated on the Star Brain.
Now she just had to wait for a signal to upload the generated image and the mutated root information to the M412 Academy’s supervision system.
Ke Lai temporarily stored the root in her nano-ring, and while she was at it, she cut off a section of the lightning-struck wood she had been longing for and stored it as well.
“How did you discover the existence of the other tree?” Ke Lai asked curiously.
“Remember the two caves where we fell?” Jiang Ning’s expression was calm. “I followed those roots into the other cave, and there I found another underground oasis similar to this one.”
“Another oasis?!” A look of shock appeared on Li Xiang’s face.
It was already rare for a contaminated zone to have one oasis, and now there were actually two!
“That oasis is in a dark place. It would be more accurate to say it’s a cold and damp swamp,” Jiang Ning thought for a moment and corrected her previous statement.
The two oases were one yin and one yang, one light and one dark, forming a contrast.
In addition, her perception had also detected signs of some living creature under the swamp mud. Jiang Ning had originally thought it was a mutated beast, but that thing had not shown any hostility towards her. To make a quick decision, she simply ignored it. After dealing with the other mutated tree, she quickly returned here.
“How magical!” Ke Lai exclaimed. “It seems that humanity’s understanding of the contaminated zones is still not enough.”
Contaminated zones had suddenly appeared in large areas in various regions a hundred years ago. No one knew the reason for their formation. It was just that all the plants and animals that came into contact with the source of pollution and were infected had mutated to varying degrees, showing a very strong and aggressive side.
It was also at that time that humans awakened the thing called abilities.
Now, the contaminated zones were still expanding with time, and human living space was being compressed. In recent years, there had even been many planets that were completely contaminated.
The military and the research institute had been trying to find a way to evolve the contaminated zones. The example of the Yuan Xia Group spending a fortune to transform Planet Aurora was one of them.
However, the cost of doing so was too high. With the Federation’s financial resources, it was simply impossible to support the large-scale promotion of this method.
The three of them decided to talk about it after they got out.
Li Xiang was the only boy among the three, so the task of carrying Ji Fan naturally fell on him.
The few of them followed the remaining part of the tree trunk and climbed up with difficulty.
After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Ning’s hand finally touched the rock at the top.
Jiang Ning and Ke Lai worked together to pull up the remaining Li Xiang and Ji Fan. After Li Xiang came up, he was so tired that he lay on the ground and didn’t want to get up. He panted and asked, “Ke Lai, didn’t your school teach you how to fly?”
The flying method was theoretically not any kind of ability. Any ability user with a certain amount of psychic energy could use it.
“Do you think everyone is as gifted as you?” Ke Lai pouted. “With the teaching level of the ability academies on Planet M412, there aren’t many who can do it, okay?”
Li Xiang could indeed be called gifted in the use of his ability. Just by his own exploration these past few days, he could skillfully master the flying method and healing arts.
“That’s right,” Li Xiang was very proud.
If his psychic energy level were a bit higher, he would definitely be a genius among geniuses.
After the signal was restored, Ke Lai uploaded the assessment data stored in the backend.
The few of them rested on the spot for a while. Jiang Ning suddenly said to Li Xiang, “Call the rescue team and report our location.”
Li Xiang glanced at the Star Brain on her hand and advised, “You should go and get a Star Brain with a satellite signal. This one of yours is so outdated.”
Jiang Ning said with a straight face, “I’m more nostalgic.”
Hearing this, Li Xiang’s face twisted as he looked her up and down. “Nostalgic? I think you’re just stingy.”
Jiang Ning: “…”
After so many years, Li Xiang’s mouth was still so sharp!
In the end, Li Xiang still dialed the rescue hotline.
“This is the M412 star western suburban uninhabited zone rescue hotline. How may I help you?”
It was the same low male voice from before on the phone.
Li Xiang briefly explained their encounter and situation to the other side through the rescue hotline. Then, when it came to their location, he suddenly paused.
“We are at… um… where is this?” Li Xiang looked at the two around him in a daze.
Ke Lai opened the satellite map of her Star Brain and carefully compared it with the map of the uninhabited zone she had taken before.
“Insect Star is always up, up, up…” Ke Lai’s gaze moved up. Suddenly, she saw something, and her pupils widened. “Death Swamp!?”
They had actually reached the inside of the Death Swamp along the underground cave!
They had actually stayed here for so long without any precautions. Wasn’t it very dangerous?!
“Excuse me, what is your current location?” the boy on the other end of the rescue hotline patiently asked again.
“Hello, we are currently in the Death Swamp, near the upper right of Insect Star,” Ke Lai leaned over and reported their location to the operator in as much detail as possible.
“Death Swamp? Isn’t it explicitly forbidden to go there? How did you get there!” The operator on the phone frowned, his voice filled with confusion.
To add to the security, there were patrol guards stationed within a one-week radius of the outer circle of the Death Swamp. How did someone get in?
“It might be a bit complicated to explain. We have an injured person here. In short, please send someone to rescue us as soon as possible,” Ke Lai said.
“Alright, wait a moment. I’ll contact the nearby guards,” the operator hung up the phone.
The three of them, plus Ji Fan lying on the ground, looked at each other in silence.
People are so strange. Before, when they didn’t know this was the Death Swamp, they could still talk and laugh. Now that they knew, they always felt that the surrounding atmosphere had become very gloomy, as if something could pop out and attack them at any time.
About fifteen minutes later, the solemn atmosphere was finally broken. In the distance, five tall figures in military uniforms were walking towards them. The few of them had finally waited for the rescue, and their suspended hearts could finally land.
The accompanying single soldier placed the unconscious Ji Fan into a capsule, and then two single soldiers lifted the capsule.
Jiang Ning took the initiative to explain what had happened underground to the leading single soldier.
“You said there’s an underground oasis below?”
The captain of the single soldier team fell into deep thought after hearing Jiang Ning’s words. Obviously, Jiang Ning’s wording was ‘underground oasis’ and not ‘contaminated zone’.
“Yes, sir. Not only is there an oasis underground, but there are also very disgusting mutated trees. We estimate its rank is at least A-rank or above,” Li Xiang said. He felt his stomach churn just thinking about the bumps on the back of the mutated tree frog.
The hateful thing was, he had even touched it with his hand.
“This is the first time a mutated plant has appeared on Planet M412,” the single soldier captain lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then asked, “How are those trees?”
Since they were still alive and standing in front of him in one piece, they must have dealt with those mutated plants.
Li Xiang: “They’re dead.”
This answer was about what he had expected. The single soldier captain raised an eyebrow, a little surprised that the three of them could actually deal with an A-rank mutated plant. That thing was very difficult to deal with. Even they, as single soldiers, would have to put in a lot of effort to deal with it.
The single soldier captain asked with some interest, “You did it?”
Li Xiang stiffened and honestly shook his head. “It wasn’t me. It was Jiang Ning who used her ability to burn down the main body of those mutated trees, and that’s how we were able to escape.”
He pointed to Jiang Ning at the side.
The single soldier captain looked at Jiang Ning in surprise. “Little sister, are you a fire-type ability user?”
To be able to deal with an A-rank mutated plant, one’s rank must be at least A-rank.
The single soldier captain immediately had the intention of recruiting her. “Are you interested in joining our guard team?”
If their guard team had an A-rank fire-type ability user, their strength would definitely be greatly improved.
Jiang Ning corrected him, “I’m not a fire-type ability user. My ability is plant-based. And that mutated tree is not completely dead. I only burned the trunk part. Most of the root system is still alive.”
Jiang Ning paused for a moment and looked up to ask, “If I may ask, how much salary can I get a month if I join your guard team?”
The single soldier captain was petrified for a moment. What did he just hear?
A plant-based ability?
The single soldier captain’s gaze swept over the faces of the three of them, as if to confirm whether the three of them were colluding to deceive him.
Perhaps it was just a coincidence.
The single soldier captain comforted himself in his heart.
He gave an awkward laugh and changed the subject, “The appearance of an underground oasis in the contaminated zone is indeed a major event. I need to report it to my superiors and wait for their instructions before I can take action.”
“Ma’am, please leave a contact method. We may continue to consult you about the details of the underground oasis in the future,” the single soldier captain’s address to Jiang Ning also changed from ‘little sister’ to the more formal ‘ma’am’.
Jiang Ning readily left her Star Brain phone number.
The single soldier team safely escorted them to the city and then left.
The few of them sent Ji Fan to the nearest hospital, and Li Xiang also contacted his parents.
Ji Fan’s parents rushed to the hospital at the fastest speed. When they saw Ji Fan lying in the treatment cabin with a pale face, they burst into tears.
The two of them were relatively calm and did not unreasonably blame Jiang Ning’s group, but were secretly sad.
Ji Fan’s mother leaned against Ji Fan’s father’s arms. “Should I not have forced the child to go to some uninhabited zone by himself? Now look, he’s in this state.”
Not long after Ji Fan lay down in the treatment cabin, he regained consciousness. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was his parents hugging each other and crying sadly.
Ji Fan: “…”
The way his parents were crying, it was as if he had died.
The doctor at the side was very embarrassed. “Parents, the patient inside just fainted due to anemia. A blood transfusion will be fine.”
Li Xiang had already treated Ji Fan to a large extent, so the hospital’s equipment could only detect any wounds on his body. In the end, it could only be determined that Ji Fan was anemic.
“…” Ji Fan’s parents’ faces stiffened, and their crying came to an abrupt end.
Li Xiang had called and told them that Ji Fan was seriously injured in the uninhabited zone. They had thought…
After all that, it turned out to be just anemia.