“Miss Nan, even though this is only our second meeting, I need to say something that you might find hard to believe—but I have no other choice.

These days, the military’s search and rescue teams that have left the base have encountered repeated, proactive attacks by mutated animals, plants, and even zombies, and the losses have been severe.

So, along with relevant experts, we’ve speculated that all of these new threats in the apocalypse will become lethal to human survival.

Humanity can only fight for a future for its descendants by constantly evolving and growing stronger.”

Nan Muran looked at Chen Jianguo and blurted out, “So, what you’re saying is, we need genetic labs and so-called elite researchers to alter human genes at all costs, just to grow stronger?”

“What?” Chen Jianguo didn’t quite follow.

Seeing Chen Jianguo clearly confused, Nan Muran curled her lips slightly.

Her tone also softened a bit. “What if the only path to human strength is constant sacrifice?”

“Then let us soldiers stand on the front line of that sacrifice,” Chen Jianguo said, his eyes filled with a firm resolve that was deeply moving.

When Nan Muran said nothing, Chen Jianguo chuckled, “Miss Nan, do I sound like I’m making empty promises?”

“Not at all.” Nan Muran shook her head.

There have always been people, in every era, who devoted their passion to the progress of humanity and their nation—some people are just born to save others. People like that deserve respect.

Chen Jianguo smiled and said nothing. He knew this young woman didn’t fully trust him, but that was fine.

“So, how do you propose we work together?” Nan Muran suddenly asked.

Hearing that, Chen Jianguo’s eyes lit up. “We join forces to obtain the fruit, and we’ll provide compensation. You can name your terms—we’ll do our best to meet them.”

“What, you’ll just tell me where the tree is, and I’ll pick the fruit and hand it over to you?” Nan Muran was interested in the mutated fruit, but she wasn’t going to be taken advantage of.

Chen Jianguo quickly shook his head. “Of course not. We’ll send a military ability-user team to go with you.”

“Is that the only mutated fruit tree you’ve found?” Nan Muran fixed her eyes on Chen Jianguo.

The flicker of hesitation on his face told her everything—clearly, the military knew more than just that one location.

Chen Jianguo sighed and admitted, “We’ve found five in total.”

“Give me the locations of all of them. You don’t need to send anyone. And I don’t need any other compensation. Once I bring back the fruits, we split them 80-20—I take 80%, you take 20%,” Nan Muran said flatly.

Her price stunned Chen Jianguo.

A moment ago, he had worried she wouldn’t cooperate. Now that she was willing, the ratio she proposed was outrageous.

Nearby, Guo Fei couldn’t hide his grin.

This deal was probably driving Chen Jianguo nuts.

“Of course, we won’t let you go alone. We’ll send our own ability-user team too. So that 80-20 split won’t work,” Chen Jianguo protested. If he agreed to those terms, he’d be out of a job when he got back—the top brass would curse him out.

Nan Muran nodded and thoughtfully considered his point. “Since you’re sending people, and we’ll still be the lead team, then let’s go with 70-30.”

Chen Jianguo was momentarily speechless. “Wait—don’t you think that’s still a bit unfair?”

“We’ve got four people. Plus a level-4 mutated plant. Among us, there’s one late-stage level-3, two mid-stage level-3s, and one late-stage level-2. What’s your team like?” Nan Muran didn’t lay out all her cards, but what she revealed was enough.

“Level 4… late-stage level 3?” Chen Jianguo looked shaken. What kind of squad was this?

Wait a second—wasn’t it just two people before? When did it become four?

“Yeah, so what does your team look like?” Nan Muran asked sincerely.

She wasn’t going to underestimate the military’s ability-users. After all, they had massive logistical support and access to abundant resources.

If their team was truly strong, she’d be willing to adjust the split.

“One late-stage level-2, three early-stage level-2s, and nine late-stage level-1s,” Chen Jianguo said, clearly losing confidence.

Nan Muran looked at him and felt even more certain: “Then a 70-30 split is more than fair.”

Chen Jianguo was completely shut down. Years of military grit evaporated in an instant, leaving only helplessness—how could he argue?

Around the corner of the stairwell, Lao Ying nearly burst out laughing. In all these years, it was the first time he’d seen Colonel Chen suffer a setback like this.

Si Ye, standing behind, curved his lips into a smile. He could just imagine how frustrated the colonel must be.

This was the man hailed as the number one colonel in the army—always making others suffer. Who would’ve thought the tables would turn so thoroughly today?

“I agree, 70-30 seems very reasonable,” Guo Fei chimed in, clearing his throat to suppress a grin.

Chen Jianguo gave him a hard look, practically steaming.

Nan Muran nodded sweetly. “Fei-ge is right.”

Chen Jianguo said, “The military’s ability-user team has 15 people.”

“Ability level scales exponentially. Out of your 15, only four are actually useful.

And their main function is to act as guides. A 70-30 split is already generous, Colonel Chen,” Nan Muran said seriously.

“Fine, but what about the five trees? They could level up along the way.”

“You mean letting the military team consume the fruit directly to upgrade?

But our team will get more fruit, meaning we’ll level up faster. The gap in strength will only widen—it won’t even out,” Nan Muran bluntly shut down his hopes.

Chen Jianguo’s brow twitched.

Seeing how troubled he looked, Nan Muran thought for a moment and generously offered a compromise: “Five trees—three of them we split 70-30, the other two we split 50-50. But I get to choose which trees.

Don’t worry—we’re after different things when it comes to the fruit.”

The military prioritized awakening abilities. Nan Muran was after power upgrades.

“Deal,” Chen Jianguo said without hesitation. He could tell that if he tried to haggle any more, this girl would walk away from the table.

But as he walked out of the villa, something kept nagging at him—he’d missed something important.

Then it hit him: she came with one person, and now suddenly there were four.

There was only one explanation—Si Ye and Lao Ying.

But they’d only been level-1 late-stage before… so how had they become level-3 early-stage and level-2 late-stage?

Could it be the mutated fruit?

If that was true, Chen Jianguo couldn’t help feeling excited.

Could this mean the military could also build a powerful team of ability-users through the fruit?