Heading south from the road ahead, we arrived again at the road by the jungle’s edge. The wolves here seed genuinely scared, no longer coming out to obstruct us.
But thinking about it, maybe it wasn’t the Neo-Humans that frightened these wolves earlier.
On the car roof was a Type D Neo-Human recruit, and these wolves were scared off with just an "aww" from this potential Neo-Human. Now that he’s sitting upright on the car roof, how dare the wolves return?
In the eyes of those wolves, perhaps Chai Xin on the car roof is equivalent to the formidable presence of Yao Wei stepping on a Neo-Human’s head, drawing her bow with Gou in hand, with a drone flying overhead.
The vast prairie made human settlents pitifully scarce. After passing through the jungle and walking for a better part of the day, we finally reached the southern border of ngxin City—Grassland County.
Crossing Grassland County, we could reach the city south of ngxin City—Jianshan City.
Lu Xi’an stopped the car outside Grassland County.
The building styles in this county were similar to those in Tongzhou County and the urban areas of ngxin City, with the vastness and emptiness of ngxin City fully on display.
Just like Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei had seen before entering Tongzhou County and ngxin City, this old city was lifeless, showing no signs of vitality, seemingly deserted.
However, Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei knew not to let appearances deceive them in this world.
Those two cities didn’t show much human presence before they entered, but once inside, they invariably found people. Especially in Tongzhou County, where Fa even tried to give them poisoned water to drink.
So, they had to stay vigilant.
But just as Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei were about to carefully observe, Chai Xin’s voice ca from the car roof: "No need to look, there’s nothing inside."
"Nothing?"
Lu Xi’an raised an eyebrow, feeling skeptical.
"Yes."
Chai Xin said, "I’ve been here before. My dad used to co here too. He said he lived in Jianshan City when he was young, but later couldn’t stay and ca to ngxin City.
"Initially, he planned to settle in Grassland County—which is here. But it was too close to Jianshan City, the weather changes were too extre, and it was uninhabitable.
"Everything here was long carried away, there were no wild beasts to hunt, living here was waiting for death.
"So he had no choice but to leave here and eventually went to Tongzhou County."
That matched what Yao Wei had said before—people in the north are driven there because they couldn’t survive or compete in the south.
But listening to Chai Xin, it seed that her dad had a different story? It wasn’t that he couldn’t outcompete others; rather, Jianshan City’s environnt was too harsh, and he couldn’t endure it there?
So Lu Xi’an asked, "What’s wrong with Jianshan City? Why couldn’t your dad survive there?"
Chai Xin shook her head and said, "I don’t know. He only said it was hard to live there and didn’t say much else."
Lu Xi’an then asked, "And you? Why did you co here before? What did you see?"
Chai Xin shook her head and said, "I didn’t notice anything special. I just left Tongzhou County and had nowhere else to go, so I rembered my dad ntioned this place.
"Back then I thought, however bad the environnt here was, could it be worse than the wild? Finding a place to stay in Grassland County had to be better than living in the open.
"But eventually, I found it wasn’t suitable. For so reason, the wild beasts didn’t co here, and the grass was so bitter and astringent that it couldn’t be digested, making feel terrible."
Lu Xi’an: "..."
It seems the grass here is indeed special. Chai Xin claims she’s good at making grass patties, suggesting she often eats grass, but this grass, she couldn’t digest at all.
Wait a minute...
There’s another issue!
Lu Xi’an suddenly thought of a question he had overlooked and asked, "You said you could make grass patties, aning even if you couldn’t hunt other animals, you had sothing to eat and wouldn’t starve.
"So why did you say before that you ran out of food supplies?"
Chai Xin on the car roof said, "I could starve to death indeed... I was able to eat grass before. Before I could hunt wolves, I even survived a while on grass. My skill in making grass patties was honed during that period.
"But for so reason, later eating grass beca ineffective, no matter how much I ate, I still felt hungry; it just didn’t work.
"Once I ate grass for several days and nearly starved. Luckily, I shot a bird afterward and made it through.
"But I’m not sure if I shot too many, as the birds stopped coming down, and I couldn’t find birds to hunt again."
Lu Xi’an speculated that after Chai Xin acquired the Fungus Stone, she gradually couldn’t digest grass, resulting in this change.
This situation shouldn’t be a characteristic of Type D-1 Neo-Humans.
According to the manual, Type D-1 Fungus was developed to cope with the current harsh environnt, where food is already scarce; how could it make people unable to fill their bellies, turning them into gluttons?
He thought this might be because Chai Xin was evolving from a Type D-1 Neo-Human to a Type D Neo-Human, requiring enormous energy, leading to this state.
So technically speaking, this is another side effect of the Fungus Stone.
Misfortune and fortune are interdependent, as the saying goes; it seems the Fungus Stone is also such for Chai Xin...
Lu Xi’an asked Yao Wei again: "Do you know the situation in Jianshan City?"
"Yes."
Yao Wei nodded and said, "Jianshan City is on the mountain, very high up, so it’s similar to the far north. The environnt is indeed harsh, with few animals capable of surviving there.
"So for us, it would also be safer."
Lu Xi’an understood Yao Wei’s words—
Few animals can survive up there, so there should also be fewer people. With less interaction with more people, it would indeed be safer.
However, there was one thing Lu Xi’an still didn’t quite understand.
"But if that’s all, how could Jianshan City affect Grassland County, making the grass here inedible?"
Yao Wei shook her head: "I don’t know."
Lu Xi’an didn’t expect Yao Wei to know.
Yao Wei had previously ntioned she ca from the south, and what she knew about these conditions was likely learned during her journey from the south.
But since Yao Wei hadn’t stayed here to thoroughly study the local ecosystem, it’s normal she doesn’t know.
Yet Yao Wei abruptly ntioned, "I saw sothing very different at the highest point of Jianshan City. This place might be influenced by that thing."
"What thing?"
Lu Xi’an asked.
Yao Wei shook her head again: "I don’t know how to explain."
Lu Xi’an: "..."
Looks like they’ll have to go up there and take a look for themselves later.
But for now, while crossing Grassland County, Lu Xi’an still felt uneasy, so he deployed a drone, sent it up for aerial vigilance, and comnced another round of ground-air coordination.
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