Part 4
The number of low-level Zerg dwindled.
About half an hour later, the area on the ground with honey was piled high with Zerg corpses, like a small mountain. It was a somewhat shocking sight.
Xia Yi had expended too much energy.
His face was pale.
The sound of footsteps, heavy and hurried, came from not far away. Before Xia Yi could turn around to see who it was, he felt dizzy and fell into someone’s arms.
“You’ve worked hard.”
It was Ouyang’s voice.
Xia Yi didn’t remember what happened after that. When he woke up, the underground city had returned to peace. He was lying in his small room, sleeping.
In this Zerg invasion, Dongcheng had suffered the fewest casualties. The other three cities, upon hearing of Dongcheng’s victory, all imitated their method of attracting the Zerg.
They didn’t have mental power, so they first attracted the low-level Zerg and then burned them with fire. The crackling sound filled the air, along with a burnt smell.
Countless Zerg were burned to death.
The Zerg were quickly eliminated.
In previous Zerg invasions, the underground city often had to spend half a month defending, and suffered heavy casualties. White bones, gnawed clean by red ants, could occasionally be seen on the streets.
This time, it only took five days.
Most of the residents of the underground city hadn’t even reacted. They were bewildered. It was over already? So honey had such an effect.
Although the underground city had serious soil problems and couldn’t grow many plants or crops, it could still grow a few, so it was normal to have honey. They knew very little about honey, only that it was edible. They were now too far removed from ancient Earth. They had forgotten much of the knowledge, and didn’t know that things like ants liked sweets, and by extension, the ant-like Zerg also liked sweets.
They had no such concept.
The things their ancestors had left them had all been lost with the demise of ancient Earth.
Ouyang Xiaoli stood by the bed, looking at the little mermaid’s sleeping face. He was silent for a long time. He had never known that Zerg liked sweets and would lose their minds when they encountered them.
If he had known earlier, the underground city wouldn’t have suffered so tragically during the previous Zerg attacks.
The little mermaid’s pale face gradually regained its color, and his furrowed brow relaxed. It seemed his mental power was slowly recovering.
Ouyang Xiaoli watched the little mermaid.
His fingers gently brushed past the little mermaid’s ear, where a fish-like feature had appeared—webbing. The tips of his fingers also had transparent, beautiful webbing.
The little mermaid flinched in his sleep, as if the webbing was a very sensitive spot.
Ouyang Xiaoli let out a low chuckle.
At this time, on the surface in the Silver Sea Empire, although the situation was not great, with Song Chengbing leading the charge, the Zerg’s offensive was gradually weakening.
The Silver Sea Empire had quantum cannons, and not just one or two. They had tens of millions of them in their warehouses, so rich that the underground city would probably want to jump up and beat them.
Although a few cunning high-level Zerg had managed to sneak in, they were quickly discovered by the guards and taken out with a single quantum cannon!
This lasted for about three days.
Song Chengbing returned in triumph. On the way, he received a communication from a guard officer, saying they hadn’t found the vice-general’s brother. They were rushing back from the seaside.
He frowned. He remembered that when he had accompanied Xia Ni back to the sea a few times, the little mermaid had whined to Xia Ni, saying he missed his brother so much that he would surface every day just to see if his brother had returned.
That was why he had sent the guard officer this time, because there was an eighty percent chance of seeing Xia Yi.
“General, we waited for ten days at the location you specified by the sea, but we didn’t meet the vice-general’s brother. However, according to the boatmen here, someone from the underground city went out to sea some time ago and rented a boat.”
The guard officer relayed the information he had gathered, gesturing for the people following him to stop.
There were only two possibilities, one good and one bad. It would be best if the little mermaid was obediently staying at the bottom of the sea, where it was safest. If he had been captured by people from the underground city, he might have met with misfortune. The underground city was a mixed bag of people; it was hard to predict what might happen.
Song Chengbing rubbed his temples.
“Did you encounter any Zerg?”
He slowly stepped out of the hovercar.
Upon his triumphant return this time, the citizens of the Silver Sea Empire were jubilant and had spontaneously come to congratulate him, but Song Chengbing had ordered them to take a private route.
Therefore, the hovercar stopped directly on the flat ground of the palace where he lived. There was only one person there.
Seeing Xia Ni.
The man’s eyes softened.
On the other end of the terminal, the guard officer hesitated for a moment before speaking. “General, we haven’t encountered any Zerg on our way. In the past, those Zerg would have probably attacked the underground city long ago…”
Song Chengbing stopped in his tracks.
The guard officer happened to be passing by the entrance to the underground city and smelled a burnt odor in the air, which seemed to be mixed with a hint of roasted meat.
“…”
This was the smell that Zerg made when they were hit by a quantum cannon and burned to a crisp.
In addition, there was a sweet smell in the air, like honey. Honey was not uncommon; it was very cheap.
Probably no one would have thought that after the destruction of ancient Earth and the extinction of so many species, only bees had survived and still existed to this day.
The guard officer’s expression was strange. He heard his general on the other end give a casual reply and then hang up. The dismissive tone was too blatant.
“…”
He had probably seen the vice-general.
As Xia Ni approached, Song Chengbing told him that the guard officer hadn’t seen his brother, and that someone from the underground city had been out at sea during that time.
“Don’t worry too much. Your brother’s abilities should be considerable. He should be able to protect himself.” Song Chengbing thought that Xia Ni’s brother was as powerful as his older brother. He had personally witnessed how powerful Xia Ni was.
Who knew that Xia Ni would frown. “Protect himself? He can only cry and slap at sharks with his tail… I hope he doesn’t get bullied.”
“I told him not to swim to the surface so often. It’s dangerous outside. He must not have listened again. Now look.”
Xia Ni was faintly anxious.
Others didn’t know, but he knew very well that his own brother was kind and simple. His mental power hadn’t even been awakened yet, so his attack power was zero.
His healing ability was useless.
He would only be taken advantage of by others.
And at this moment, the person his brother was worried about was leisurely sitting on the sofa eating grapes. He took a bite; they were juicy and sweet.
Xia Yi was very satisfied.
“By the way, Xia Yi, how did you know that Zerg like sweets?” Ke Da looked at the little mermaid, and despite the boss’s warning glare, he couldn’t help but ask. He was really too curious.
Xia Yi tilted his head. “Ants like sweets. I saw that those Zerg looked a lot like ants, so I gave it a try. I didn’t expect it to actually work.”
Ke Da quickly explained, “No, that’s not what I’m asking. I mean, how did you know that ants like sweets? That’s very strange.”
Xia Yi was incredulous. “Ants liking sweets, that’s common knowledge.”
Ke Da: “…”
Just then, Ouyang Xiaoli came in from the balcony. He glanced at the two on the sofa, having clearly overheard their conversation.
“It’s probably inheritance.”
He said faintly.
Ke Da was confused. “What?”
“He is the legendary golden natural mermaid. Perhaps he has inherited many things from ancient Earth. To him, these things are common knowledge.”
Ke Da nodded, half-understanding.
Xia Yi blinked. He felt a little guilty. He hadn’t inherited anything.
He had read a book about ancient Earth, so he was naturally familiar with that era. It was normal for him to know these things.
“I’m a little hungry.”
The little mermaid said softly.
And so the matter was dropped. No one mentioned it again. Because of the Zerg invasion, Ouyang Xiaoli hadn’t gone to the surface for the past few days.
Although the Silver Sea Empire had been slightly weakened this time, it was a great opportunity to infiltrate the research laboratory.
After a while, the potatoes in the pot that Ke Da had been guarding day and night finally grew. It was time to transplant them, as the pot was not very spacious.
But this small flowerpot was the only soil without impurities. Ke Da was afraid that the potato seedlings, which he had worked so hard to grow, would die if he moved them to other soil. Seeing this, Xia Yi offered to remove the impurities from more soil so they could grow vegetables and fruits.
Ke Da slapped his forehead in sudden realization. Right, he could remove the impurities from more soil.
But he was also a little worried. “You used a lot of mental power during the Zerg invasion. If you remove impurities now, won’t you get mentally fatigued…”
Xia Yi patted his chest. “Don’t worry!”
And so the plan to plant vegetables and fruits began. As for the vegetable seeds, Ouyang Xiaoli went to the Silver Sea Empire to buy them.
Compared to the underground city, the Silver Sea Empire was a higher civilization. They had fruits and vegetables, but they didn’t grow them in soil. Instead, they used nutrient solutions. Therefore, the taste of those fruits was not as good as those grown in soil.
They had the seeds.
All that was left was the soil.
The underground city was so big, and there was so much soil. Even if Xia Yi’s mental power was endless, he couldn’t purify it all. The first priority was to find the reason for the soil’s deterioration. Only by solving the root cause could they proceed.
This was probably not something that could be accomplished in a day or two. They could only take it slow.
Ouyang Xiaoli knew that mermaids were free. He didn’t let Xia Yi out because it was dangerous outside, but keeping him cooped up all the time would make him go stir-crazy.
It was time for the little mermaid to get to know the underground city, as long as he was a little careful.
One morning, Ouyang Xiaoli heated up the milk he had brought back from the Silver Sea Empire and handed it to Xia Yi. “Come over when you’re done drinking. I have something for you.” It wasn’t difficult to get a terminal in the underground city. To put it bluntly, their terminals were also based on technology stolen from the Silver Sea Empire. The underground city was too backward back then; they had to learn everything from the very basics. Everything was difficult.
Xia Yi was a little curious, so after a couple of sips, he climbed onto the sofa and stared at the terminal.
“For me?”
Ouyang Xiaoli lifted his eyelids, glanced at him, and hummed nonchalantly. Then he registered the little mermaid and fastened the terminal to his wrist.
“Ke Da taught you how to search before. Try it yourself.”
“I know how to do this!”
Xia Yi was immediately interested.
He took two sips of his milk and put it aside, planning to study the terminal for a while. The man beside him picked up the milk and held it to his lips.
His tone was unquestionable.
“Finish it.”
The little mermaid glared at him, but obediently finished the carton of milk, not leaving a single drop. “I can’t grow anymore.”
His tone was very serious.
Ouyang Xiaoli: “…”
“The starship’s energy supply is full, enough for us to jump to other planets. I might not be in the underground city for the next two days… If you want to find that friend, the one named Xiao Ya, you must take Ke Da with you. If anything happens, use the terminal to call for help.”
“As for how to use the terminal, if you don’t know, have Ke Da teach you. He’s the least busy all day.”
“Oh, I almost forgot, you have mental power. Ordinary people shouldn’t be able to hurt you.” Ouyang Xiaoli only remembered this after giving his instructions. “But don’t think you’re invincible just because you have mental power. There are many dangers around.”
Xia Yi was a little unhappy, and consequently, lost interest in his new terminal.
“Aren’t you supposed to protect me?”
“When did I ever say that?” The corner of Ouyang Xiaoli’s eye twitched up. “…Xiudi from Xicheng came by last time. What did he say to you?”
Xia Yi said sulkily, “I don’t know.”
“Tsk.”
It seemed he would have to have Ke Da keep a close eye on things. He had known from the beginning that Xiudi’s intentions weren’t pure. After he left, the guy would probably come back again.
Ouyang Xiaoli snorted.
A perfectly good boss of Xicheng, spending all his time running to someone else’s territory.
He clearly had too much time on his hands.
“Xiudi likes my brother. I confirmed it with him last time. So Ouyang, don’t misunderstand, I don’t like him.”
Although Xia Yi could be slow at times, he was also very observant on occasion.
“Who misunderstood?”
The man raised an eyebrow.
Xia Yi pouted. Ouyang was clearly concerned about Xiudi, he had specifically asked about him. He wouldn’t laugh at him if he just admitted it.
“You’re so childish.”
Xia Yi said softly.
Ouyang Xiaoli’s face darkened.
He left the apartment without another word to meet up with Tang Si and Xiao Mo at their prearranged time.
As for their teammate, Zuo Yinwan, Ouyang Xiaoli had naturally forgotten about her. Lately, Zuo Yinwan seemed to have her own business to attend to and hadn’t been in contact with them.
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