The fruit tree wasn’t stupid. Ever since the apocalypse began, it had been merged with Huai Feng for so long—Huai Feng was someone extremely cautious and calculating.

Thus, the fruit tree had picked up a bit of worldly wisdom as well and could naturally sense that Nan Muran was the type of person who meant what she said.

Quickly softening its stance, it hurried to reply in a flattering manner:
“Alright, alright, I’ll behave.”

Xiao Liu said:
“Fruit Tree, you’re a bad plant. Just now you even tried to steal Ranran’s vitality.”

Xiaobai added:
“Yeah, a bad plant. Not worth Ranran’s help.”

Hearing these two little ones accuse it, the fruit tree was left speechless.

These two were quite powerful—were their brains just not working? Couldn’t they tell what it had been planning? If its wish had been granted, wouldn’t staying with them later on make it just as dumb?

Honestly, it was starting to worry a little.

Zhou Ling and his group of a dozen people had initially been very frightened seeing a tree person over two meters tall.

But now, looking at the same two-meter-tall tree person standing beside Nan Muran, drooping like a scolded schoolchild, they weren’t scared anymore. Instead, they were filled with admiration.

As expected of the powerhouse they had set their sights on. She could even tame such a terrifying creature—truly impressive.

As they stared at the situation ahead, before long, the vehicle loaded with the fruit tree’s main trunk started up.

Since they had run all the way here, naturally, they couldn’t keep up with the speed of the vehicle once it started moving.

Nan Muran gestured for the tree person to return to its branches, and before the vehicle stopped, she had it pick all the green fruits off the tree.

The tree person protested, somewhat unwilling:
“Are you not going to help me anymore?”

Nan Muran glanced at it—this tree really had no dignity at all.

“I’m not planning to let go of your fruits.”

She explained patiently, a rare occurrence:
“Back at the Yongye Hotel, I implanted a part of Xiao Liu’s power into you. As long as you’re alive and within fifteen miles, we can find you accurately.”

Feeling the gentleness in Nan Muran’s tone, the tree person immediately relaxed. So, he wasn’t being abandoned.

Then, despite having been over two meters tall just moments ago, it suddenly transformed into a brown branch. It curled once around Nan Muran’s left wrist before returning to its main body.

With the fruit tree’s power returning, the entire tree’s decline visibly halted.

Si Ye watched and commented:
“It’s already moving with your intentions.”

“I know,” Nan Muran nodded and sighed lightly, looking a bit troubled. “But if it’s too useless, I really can’t keep it.”

Si Ye nodded:
“You decide. Don’t feel burdened.”

The group behind them listened enviously to their conversation. That was a level-seven mutated plant! And more importantly, it was obviously intelligent.

Meanwhile, Chen Shuhan’s group was busily handling the main trunk of the large tree, seemingly unaware that anything unusual was happening over here.

“This is the last one?” Ouyang Yunyun asked, clearly relieved.

Chen Shuhan, his long eyes behind golden-rimmed glasses glinting coldly, answered:
“Yeah. The other team has already reached the base safely.
The other trees have been moved to the designated places at the lab.”

“Why didn’t we just send helicopters to pick them up? Now we still have to walk all the way back!” Ouyang Yunyun grumbled.

Listening to her complaint, Chen Shuhan only felt she was brainless.

This place was too close to Guxian County, where plenty of survivors remained. A helicopter would draw attention from dozens of miles around—no telling what kind of trouble that would bring.

It could even attract that girl’s team—and dealing with them would be a real pain.

Without absolute certainty, he couldn’t afford to act rashly again, or he’d end up like Zhou Jing, hurting himself.

A man from the Chen family’s ability-user team came over and interrupted his thoughts:
“Young Master Chen, shall we go together?”

Chen Shuhan shook his head:
“Let the cars return first. We’ll drive from Guxian, then head directly to the Mutated Tree Base.”

Afterward, Nan Muran had Xiao Liu continue sensing the fruit tree’s energy. She also released several waves of her own power to extend the sensing range to at least sixty miles.

Only then did she lead everyone down the mountain to get their vehicles.

“You just follow along. Have the others wait at the Yongye Hotel,” Nan Muran instructed Zhou Ling.

Zhou Ling hesitated:
“Miss Nan, with more people, we could be more helpful. Maybe—”

“At most two people. Otherwise, don’t come at all,” Nan Muran said bluntly.

In the end, Zhou Ling brought only Ling Yuan and another male ability-user. The others, as instructed, stayed to rest at the Yongye Hotel.

Liu Mei noticed Nan Muran’s group but didn’t see the tree person. She wanted to ask but eventually kept quiet and returned inside.

Nan Muran, naturally, didn’t bother with such trivial matters.

Once Ouyang Yunyun and Chen Shuhan moved, Nan Muran’s group immediately followed.

The distance between the two groups was about three kilometers—not close enough for the front group to notice the pursuit.

At first, Zhou Ling wanted to ask if they could even keep up from so far away.

But seeing Nan Muran resting her head against Si Ye’s shoulder in the back seat, clearly not intending to say a word, he silently shut his mouth.

After driving for more than two hours, they turned into a strange tunnel.

“It’s just past this tunnel. We can’t follow them any further,” Nan Muran said, sensing the situation ahead.
The tunnel was about five hundred meters long. On the other side, there were lots of people and even several helicopters.

Most importantly, she could see two fruit trees—one slightly withered, the other still intact, possibly because it was closer.

Beyond the fruit trees, hidden in a corner, there seemed to be more plants—and quite a few people too.

“Xiao Liu, go revive that tree,” Nan Muran instructed, stretching out her wrist. Xiao Liu rolled along with a few crystal cores and the vitality she had given it, slowly entering the tunnel.

Si Ye glanced at the mountain terrain around them:
“Looks like we’ll have to climb over.”

Everyone packed up their things. Zhou Ling pointed at the male ability-user aside from Ling Yuan and said:
“Miss Nan, he’s a phasing-type ability-user.”

“How far can he phase?” Nan Muran asked coolly.

“Fifty meters!” Zhou Ling answered confidently.

Nan Muran sighed, feeling that he wasn’t thinking straight today:
“This tunnel is over five hundred meters. Can he phase ten times in a row without suffocating inside the mountain?”

Zhou Ling laughed awkwardly and didn’t reply. Ten times in a row would definitely cripple him.

“Then hurry up and get ready. We have to cross the mountain to reach their Mutated Fruit Tree Base,” Nan Muran said calmly.

The group, already excited at the thought of mutated fruit trees, could barely stay calm after hearing the word base.

This was going to be a massive windfall.