Amidst the ruins, Nanyuan stood facing the light.

In that vast space, it felt as though he were the only one who existed.

And there he stood, quietly gazing at the emptiness before him.

Nanyuan couldn’t see her, and he didn’t know when she would appear or when she would disappear.

He just wanted to see her.

He wanted to know that she truly existed.

Tao Shushu pressed his hood down against the wind, pushing away the faint ache in her heart at the same time. “Cub, get in the car. The road’s in bad condition, and I don’t feel comfortable leaving it to the autopilot system.”

Nanyuan hesitantly climbed into the truck.

Tao Shushu aggressively cleared the path, quickly making a way through, and they soon received the reward.

Twenty minutes later, Cub’s truck approached the once mighty spaceport.

Tao Shushu spotted a large patch of color from a distance. As the truck drew closer, she could see clearly—it was a vast wilderness overtaken by Bloodthirsty Grass.

Before them lay a dense expanse of Bloodthirsty Grass.

The once sturdy fences and grand buildings were completely submerged in green.

The green stretched endlessly, making it look like they had arrived at a peaceful prairie. But as the breeze blew, the bones hidden beneath the green and the remains of spaceship shells began to emerge, reminding everyone that this was a deadly field of Bloodthirsty Grass, not a paradise.

Nanyuan wasn’t facing the Bloodthirsty Grass for the first time. He had already anticipated the difficulties it would bring, and when he saw the grass, he didn’t panic.

But the others in the convoy weren’t as composed.

The survivors inside the vehicles began to discuss in hushed voices.

“It’s Bloodthirsty Grass!”

“It’s such a huge patch! Even all of us wouldn’t be enough for it to consume.”

“The whole port is covered by Bloodthirsty Grass! How are we supposed to find the entrance to the underground chamber? The chambers are usually in the center, the most hidden places. Can we even make it there?”

“To deal with Bloodthirsty Grass, fire is the only solution. But by the time we burn it all, the sun will have set, and the beasts will become active.”

Cheng Feimao sighed, “It grows too fast. When Lin… sent people to investigate before, it was just a small patch.”

“Honestly, Lin Wei sent several ability users before, and none of them returned. Now, with so many ordinary people without abilities here, do you really think we’ll be able to find the entrance?”

“Maybe it would have been better if we didn’t come out here and stir things up.”

Tao Shushu frowned, irritated. Why were there still people talking like that?

But soon, someone else spoke up, “Maybe Nanyuan really can. He’s much stronger than Lin Wei.”

“Even if we didn’t come out, the previous base wouldn’t have been able to hold us.”

Hearing others defend her cub made Tao Shushu feel a lot better. Cub really was amazing!

Many people’s gazes shifted to Nanyuan.

There was no clear path ahead, but for some reason, they all believed that Nanyuan could lead them out.

Tao Shushu was surprised to notice that, even though they had reached a dead end, Nanyuan’s influence seemed to have somehow risen a bit.

“Seems like it works like this, too.”

“Cub, do you have any plans?” Tao Shushu asked. She now had some gold coins again and could buy tools to assist him.

“I want to investigate the underground chamber,” Nanyuan said, assessing the Bloodthirsty Grass in front of him. If it only grew on the surface, that would be fine, but if its roots had spread underground as well, then their effort would be in vain.

“I’ll give it a try,” Tao Shushu said optimistically.

She pushed through the Bloodthirsty Grass, venturing toward the central area to explore.

The Bloodthirsty Grass, sensing the disturbance, began to sway its stems and leaves, trying to catch the unlucky intruder.

But Tao Shushu was controlling the screen, so she wasn’t affected at all.

She moved effortlessly, pushing through the grass with ease.

After searching for a while, Tao Shushu paused. On the screen, she saw that the grass in all directions seemed to respond to some kind of signal. In perfect unison, half of the grasses waved their leaves to act as defense, while the other half lowered their stems and leaves to tightly cover the ground.

It was so human-like, Tao Shushu was deeply stunned.

Tao Shushu had only cleared a small section, and yet the Bloodthirsty Grass seemed to have already understood her intentions, quickly adapting with a corresponding strategy.

She knew the Bloodthirsty Grass wasn’t as simple as regular grass, but she hadn’t expected them to be this clever.

The grass’s strategy slightly threw her off, so Tao Shushu stopped blindly pushing forward.

She adjusted the screen size and took a broader view. From a distance, the color in the center of the patch of Bloodthirsty Grass was darker, and the attacks were more frequent.

Thanks to the intelligence of the grass, Tao Shushu quickly pinpointed a potential hidden location.

She moved to that area and began clearing the grass.

To her surprise, the Bloodthirsty Grass in this section was even more resistant. Even on the screen, Tao Shushu had to exert extra effort, using all ten fingers to hold down the persistent grass.

After tearing off a piece of the grass that kept trying to spring up, Tao Shushu discovered that beneath it was an underground passage entrance.

The entrance was sealed shut with an iron plate, and there was no Bloodthirsty Grass growing on top of it.

Tao Shushu tentatively clicked to explore.

After deducting 1 gold coin, the entrance information appeared on the screen.

“A steel plate door. When the spaceship was docked, this door was used to transport classified items.”

Transport classified items? That must be the underground chamber.

Tao Shushu had originally thought that a single chamber couldn’t possibly hold so many people, but now she realized she’d been thinking too small. Just by looking at the door, it was clear that the chamber’s space couldn’t possibly be tiny.

With time running out, Tao Shushu returned to Nanyuan’s side and described what she had discovered to him.

Nanyuan stood in deep thought for a long time. He now knew where the entrance was, but it was located in the very center of the Bloodthirsty Grass, making it incredibly difficult to get to.

The quickest way would be to carve a path through, but the problem with Bloodthirsty Grass was that unless the entire patch was destroyed, large sections of it were very good at regrowing. Its roots extended, nutrients shifted, and it could instantly start growing in a new direction.

Last time, when rescuing the little lion, it had been difficult just to clear a small patch from the edge. Now, the situation was far more complicated.

Nanyuan, with the mindset of trying anything, sprinkled some of the Bloodthirsty Grass sap he had collected on the ground.

Unfortunately, the Bloodthirsty Grass was unaffected by its own kind’s venom.

As he put the sap back into his bag, Nanyuan noticed a piece of paper inside, likely something she had put there. He unfolded it and saw that it was a formula, with many flowers and plants sketched out. One of them was even the Bloodthirsty Grass.

Nanyuan didn’t know the purpose of the formula, so he temporarily put it back into his bag.

He was calculating whether their current firepower could clear a path when he suddenly saw the truck shake twice and get lifted into the air.

Surprised, Nanyuan looked over just in time to hear the girl’s excited voice beside him: “Cub, I found a way!”

Tao Shushu had just been thinking that since she could clear the obstacles on the road, maybe she could also lift the truck, fly over the Bloodthirsty Grass, and directly reach the entrance to the underground chamber.

She gave it a try, and, to her surprise, she was able to lift the truck completely.

The only problem was that the entrance was about 800 meters away in a straight line, which made things a bit tricky.

Moreover, the Bloodthirsty Grass was constantly guarding the entrance, so someone would need to be there to assist.

Tao Shushu shared her plan with Nanyuan.

From the moment she mentioned exploring the underground chamber, Nanyuan had been watching the movements of the Bloodthirsty Grass. He had also observed her actions when clearing the path.

In his mind, she was a human, roughly the same height as any other human.

Nanyuan couldn’t quite imagine it. Even if she had the strength to lift a vehicle, how would she navigate through the Bloodthirsty Grass?

“No,” Nanyuan frowned and said, “If you’re lifting the vehicle, you won’t be able to fight off the Bloodthirsty Grass. They’ll wrap around you, and you won’t be able to break free.”

Tao Shushu gently rubbed Nanyuan’s head. “It’s fine, cub. Actually, these plants can’t hurt me.”

After Tao Shushu repeatedly reassured him that she wouldn’t be harmed, Nanyuan finally agreed.

Once they finished discussing, they were ready to put the plan into action.

Nanyuan turned and said, “The entrance to the underground chamber is in the center.”

“Now, we need a group of people to go in first and check if there’s a safe base inside. If there’s a base large enough to accommodate all of us, the rest can follow. I’ll control the vehicle to fly over the Bloodthirsty Grass and directly land at the entrance, but we’ll need people at the entrance to assist.”

Many people at the scene, especially the speed-type ability user Cheng Feimao, firmly believed that Nanyuan was a space-type ability user.

Indeed, space-type ability users could move heavy objects, but the weight they could move was still limited by their own abilities.

When they heard Nanyuan confidently say he could move the truck, their admiration for his strength grew even more. They had thought clearing the roadblocks was his limit, but now they realized he was even stronger than they had imagined.

Tao Shushu temporarily took on the role of Nanyuan’s “space ability,” because she felt that revealing the existence of an invisible helper beside Nanyuan was too dangerous. It would be better not to explain and let everyone guess for themselves.

The plan was set.

However, sending a few people ahead as scouts became a significant issue. After all, they were about to venture into the heart of the Bloodthirsty Grass, and even those accustomed to death were afraid.

While they were determining who would be the scouts, Tao Shushu held onto Nanyuan and made her way to the entrance.

The entrance’s security system had already been damaged, so Tao Shushu used her brute strength to lift the door.

Nanyuan, on the other hand, took out explosive weapons and temporarily cleared the surrounding Bloodthirsty Grass.

Thinking about the recipe for the Bloodthirsty Grass mixture, Nanyuan picked up a few stems with severed roots—harmless—and placed them in his bag. “This will do. When we get closer, the people in the vehicle will use small explosive devices to blast out a safe zone, and then we’ll quickly move in.”

Tao Shushu agreed, feeling a deep sense of satisfaction. She realized how much fun this game was, mostly because of the sense of achievement it brought her.

In her past life, during the apocalypse, the only word that came to mind was “misery.” But now, playing the game felt like she had unlocked a massive cheat code, and it was all so much easier and more enjoyable.

Nanyuan didn’t send anyone inside to explore.

They returned to the parking area.

When the others saw Nanyuan return unscathed, their faith in his decisions grew even stronger.

After all, waiting aimlessly didn’t lead anywhere, so why not take a gamble?

Ignoring the two who had been making pessimistic remarks, several of the ability users were eager to go and explore.

Nanyuan chose Cheng Feimao and a few others with good physical abilities, and they sat in the lightest vehicle. The vehicle wobbled as it made its way to the entrance.

Nanyuan kept his eyes fixed on the bloodthirsty grass below.

As the vehicle passed over, the grass raised its stems and leaves, launching attacks.

But none of them managed to touch the vehicle. It truly seemed as though the vehicle was flying over.

It seemed that the grass couldn’t harm her after all. Only then did Nanyuan relax a little.

Soon, the four of them entered the entrance.

In front of them was a dark tunnel.

Nanyuan could hear it clearly—it was quiet inside, without any trace of life.

Just as he was about to report this to the remaining three, he turned his head and saw Cheng Feimao’s pant leg being gently lifted.

Cheng Feimao, who was fully focused and about to use his ability to sprint, didn’t notice the movement on his leg, but Nanyuan saw it clearly.

Tao Shushu frowned when she saw Cheng Feimao as one of the first people to get on the bus. Although he had taken the medicine, she doubted whether Cheng Feimao could run well.

So Tao Shushu explored Cheng Feimao’s legs.

However, she wasted another gold coin, and a nonsense sentence popped up on the screen: “The legs of a speed-type ability user.”

Tao Shushu had no choice but to ask Nan Yuan, “Cub, is Cheng Feimao’s leg healed? Is he okay?”

Nan Yuan stroked the particle gun with his fingertips, his eyes dark.