Fortunately, after that, the vegetables in the basket didn’t show any abnormalities. The residents in front of the breakfast shop lined up again.

Qi Kai’s expression remained unchanged as he continued to pack vegetables into bags for the customers, but inside, he couldn’t shake off the unease, afraid that the vegetables might suddenly start moving again at any moment.

What worried him the most was that the vegetables were fine when packed into the bags, but once taken home, they might show strange behavior.

Lin You also didn’t dare to train the vegetables in the kitchen anymore and could only follow the usual routine of taking the vegetables from the freezer.

This couldn’t go on forever. There were still many injured people in other cities waiting for the ingredients here.

But right now, the vegetables couldn’t be trained, and as for their effectiveness, they could work for minor injuries, but according to Fu Qingze’s words, they still seemed slow for more serious injuries.

On one hand, the healing factor in each vegetable needed to be increased. On the other hand, the speed of vegetable transportation also needed to be improved.

Otherwise, even if she used an industrial vacuum to move the vegetables for a whole day, there would still be too few vegetables, only enough for the customers coming to the shop, with no way to take care of more people.

So, from any angle, training the ingredients was very necessary.

It was always inconvenient in the shop, so should she continue to train the vegetables at home?

Lin You planned to find more vegetables in the evening and take them home to try.

Just as she was thinking this, her phone suddenly vibrated.

She held the vacuum cleaner in her left hand and took the phone out of her pocket with her right hand.

She glanced at it; it was a compressed file sent by the female reporter.

The message read, “Here’s the edited news video and all the footage from your shop. Also, the news video should be broadcast soon. You have a TV in the shop, right? You can turn it on and have a look.”

After reading the message, Lin You looked up at the TV above the kitchen.

This TV was originally meant to play edited breakfast-making videos, but now, food-related videos were not playing, and during the available time, almost all of it was news.

Lin You bit her lower lip and couldn’t help but feel nervous.

This was her first time seeing herself on TV, and she was worried she might embarrass the staff who had cooperated with her that day.

Especially for Shang Zhisheng, who had strongly promoted this interview, would he think she didn’t do well after watching this video?

The originally formal news interview had been turned into a documentary-like feature due to her constant stuttering.

When Lin You turned on the TV, she covered her eyes.

However, within two minutes, Tong Lan patted her on the shoulder and said, “Youyou, I’ve already seen you.”

Lin You slowly lifted her head, blocking her eyes with her fingers, and peeked through the gaps.

Indeed, the news channel of the largest TV station in Ancheng was broadcasting footage of her interview.

Thankfully, after editing, the conversation in the video seemed very smooth, and it was impossible to tell how awkward she had been during the interview.

She knew that now not only all the radio channels in Ancheng were playing the same news, but the news was also being broadcast and published by newspapers, etc.

Countless Ancheng citizens were probably watching this news, and the feeling of being in the spotlight made her both excited and nervous.

As expected, this news went viral.

While Lin You was busy in the kitchen, the news segment of her interview was spreading across major short video platforms and social websites.

The first trending news on social media was about the breakfast shop.

In no time, the citizens who had heard the news were all excited, spreading the word to their friends and family.

However, the excitement didn’t last long at the breakfast shop. A short video quietly spread online.

This video showed the round eggplant that had jumped out of Qi Kai’s vegetable basket a few hours ago.

Because this video was closely tied to the current biggest hot topic in Ancheng and was particularly strange, it spread faster and faster.

After careful analysis by netizens, it was confirmed that the video showed no signs of being edited.

So, the question remained: why did the vegetables jump in the original video?

Especially the slightly panicked expression of Qi Kai in the video, and the nervous questions from the citizens at the front, made people feel uneasy.

The comments below the video ranged from questioning the authenticity of the video source to various wild speculations.

“The jumping of the round eggplant is clearly not human-made—it wasn’t pulled by a string, but instead jumped on its own. It even hovered in midair for two seconds. Moreover, if you look closely, it didn’t fall back into the basket; it kept jumping upward without any support.”

“That movement is indeed very strange, and other than mutated plants, I can’t think of any other possibilities.”

“Could these vegetables have been brought back on the same route from Ancheng to another city? Maybe some mutated creatures were accidentally carried along the way, causing the vegetables to be infected by a virus and turn into what they are now?”

“It’s not impossible. I advise those who want to buy vegetables from the ‘Hope Breakfast Shop’ to be cautious. If you live nearby, it’s best not to go out for now to avoid getting infected.”

The online discussions were fervent, and along with it, the hope the citizens had previously felt was suddenly extinguished.

The citizens who had originally brought many bags, vegetable baskets, and shopping carts to the shop all put their items back and gave up on the idea of shopping.

“What should we do? Ancheng is about to be overrun. Once mutated creatures appear, more and more will follow.”

“Half of Lancheng has already fallen. Zombies are attacking the remaining citizens everywhere, and Ancheng is likely to follow the same fate.”

“From the looks of it in the news video, the breakfast shop owner seems to have sold quite a lot of vegetables, and the shop is still in business. Does that mean many people have already been infected? With the speed at which this virus spreads, it will soon appear in multiple places in Ancheng.”

The people in the shop had only seen the news interview video and didn’t have time to pay attention to social media or short video platforms.

Therefore, they hadn’t noticed the spreading negative video in time.

They sped up the movement of the vegetables, and Tong Lan even wrapped a few hundred wontons in one go.

She thought about how many customers would arrive soon, and if she made too few, the supply speed wouldn’t keep up. So, she prepared in advance.

But strangely, while Lin You’s feet were piled with more and more vegetables, Qi Kai hadn’t come to collect any.

This didn’t make sense. Normally, at least once every half hour, he would come to collect the new vegetables.

Why was there no movement now? What was happening outside?

Lin You stood up, stretched her sore arms, and stepped out of the kitchen.

She was surprised to find that both Qi Kai and Qu Fei still had large baskets of vegetables, and the long line outside had disappeared. Only a few citizens were passing by to buy some.

Lin You couldn’t help but feel confused. She stepped forward and asked Qi Kai, “What’s going on?”

Qi Kai shook his head and said, “I’m not sure. There was a problem earlier this morning, but it’s over now. There were quite a few people who came in the meantime. After the news broadcast, things turned out like this. I don’t know what happened.”

Lin You had no choice but to ask the elderly man who was picking vegetables from the baskets. The old man obviously didn’t know anything, only saying that he was passing by and happened to buy some vegetables when he saw them.

Could it be that during the interview, I said something inappropriate?

Lin You felt a bit flustered and quickly opened her phone to check. Before she could even find the spreading video, Gu Hong had already returned.

He parked the car on the street, jumped out of the driver’s seat in a hurry, and said, “Something’s happened! On the way here, I overheard people talking about the breakfast shop, but no one wanted to come buy vegetables. Instead, they were advising those who came to be careful because this place might have mutated plants.”

Mutated plants?!

Both Qi Kai and Lin You froze.

Qi Kai immediately understood.

He realized he had made a mistake this morning…

Qi Kai was extremely frustrated and slapped his forehead. “It’s probably my fault. I saw that the vegetables were a bit strange, but I didn’t deal with it right away. Someone must’ve filmed it and posted it online.”

When this was mentioned, Lin You also realized what had happened.

Mutated plants, so those vegetables I trained this morning still didn’t settle down?

She regretted that. She shouldn’t have done the training in the kitchen. She should have taken them home.

She had thought the kitchen, being a closed space, was safer. But who would have thought that after leaving this space, the vegetables would still react?

All the staff in the shop knew that these plants hadn’t been infected by any virus.

But how should they explain this?

Shang Zhisheng had specifically emphasized that the ingredient situation needed to be kept secret here.

But now, to clear things up, it seemed the only way was to expose the real situation.

Lin You felt a little troubled. She exchanged looks with Qi Kai and Gu Hong, but none of them could come up with a good solution.

At this moment, Lin You’s phone suddenly rang.

She picked it up and saw that it was a call from Fu Qingze. She quickly answered it.

Lin You had originally thought Fu Qingze had seen the trending post on social media and was calling to criticize her carelessness.

But unexpectedly, although Fu Qingze tried to control his voice, a hint of excitement still came through in his words.

“I saw the news, oh… and the video. I didn’t expect that after you trained the vegetables, even after moving them out of the breakfast shop, they could still move on their own.”

“Lin You, these things can have even greater potential. They won’t take up too much of your time, and you can even control many ingredients at the same time! Wait a moment, let me finish this document, and I’ll come find you.”

Half an hour later, Fu Qingze drove up to the breakfast shop.

There were no customers buying vegetables in front of the shop now, so Qi Kai and Qu Fei put the vegetable baskets inside.

The few of them sat at the table, talking idly, feeling somewhat down.

Fu Qingze walked up, patted Qi Kai’s shoulder, and said, “What are you worried about? These aren’t mutated plants. In a couple of days, when the TV station still doesn’t report any zombie news, people will naturally stop being cautious. Don’t worry.”

Qu Fei still seemed worried. “Is it really that simple?”

Fu Qingze replied casually, “Of course, it’s simple. If these were mutated plants, how could they not spread in just a few days? Based on the current speed of the zombie virus’s transmission, if it were uncontrolled, there would be at least a thousand infected by now.”

Qi Kai had a bowl of wontons in front of him—

These were made by Tong Lan because there were too many, and they had to cook them for themselves when no customers came.

He was playing with the small spoon at the edge of the bowl and looked at Qu Fei. “That’s true.”

Fu Qingze entered the kitchen, where Lin You and Tong Lan were making wontons. He asked, “Is dinner this early?”

Lin You said, “No one came, so we decided to eat early. Just happened to cook an extra portion, so we’re waiting for you.”

She placed the wontons on the outside table. “Just made them, they’re a bit hot, so let them cool for a while.”

Fu Qingze glanced at the food in the freezer and nodded. “These ingredients are like your treasure. You have to make good use of them.”

Lin You understood what he meant by ‘treasure’. 

“Alright.”

But Fu Qingze answered, “It’s not what you think. Don’t just treat them as ingredients. You need to keep training them. The potential they can unleash may be far beyond your imagination.”

He looked steadily at Lin You and explained:

“The reason these ingredients caused the event today is because they have a kind of spirituality. They can listen to you, but they haven’t been tamed yet.”

“It’s like a dog raised at home. Even though it’s your pet, it still has moments when it doesn’t listen. For example, it might tear your clothes, scratch your sofa, or steal your food. If you accidentally provoke it, it might even bite its owner.”

“This is just raising it, not taming it. Some dogs trained for special tasks can be made to follow commands after professional training. They must carry out the orders given by their owner, and they won’t do anything their owner forbids.”

“Even after leaving their owner, they can still have independent judgment. For example, military dogs, when they detect a specific scent, don’t need their owner to give the command. They can complete the task on their own, picking out the items with that special scent and presenting them to their owner.”