Chapter 165: Chapter 166: Superpower User and Mutant
A greenhouse!
No wonder they could still enjoy such delicious food in this frozen wasteland.
Bo Xi’s eyes filled with deep envy, but not greed. Of course, it was also possible he was just good at hiding it.
He replied frankly, "This is the best meal I’ve had in days. Thank you."
Shen Baoying quickly chimed in, "Then you have to eat more."
"Okay, thank you."
Everyone was desperate to get out of English class today, so they seized every opportunity to talk to Bo Xi, making him feel exceptionally welcome.
It gave him the false impression that they might actually like him.
After the meal, they sat in the living room and chatted for a bit.
Jiang Si asked, "Mr. Bo Xi, what have you been eating to survive on your journey? Besides fish from the sea, are there any other edible plants or animals?"
A flicker of nervousness crossed Bo Xi’s face, which Jiang Si and Qin Shen caught instantly.
After a moment, he replied, "I did eat a type of wild vegetable that grows in the snow. It’s red, like blood. I gathered a lot of it at first, but I ate it all on the way here. It’s not poisonous."
Then, to prove he was telling the truth, Bo Xi asked Jiang Si for a piece of paper and a pencil.
Jiang Si gave them to him. He held the pencil elegantly and, in just a short while, rendered a lifelike sketch of the wild vegetable on the paper.
Everyone gathered around to look. Zhang Qingfang blurted out, "Snow-in-red."
Jiang Si was taken aback. "Grandma, you’ve seen this plant before?"
Zhang Qingfang nodded. "I saw it on a TV food show about the north a while ago. One episode was all about this vegetable. They said it’s a leafy green, a variety of potherb mustard, and it’s extremely cold-resistant. It can grow well even in low temperatures, so some northerners call it ’snow vegetable.’ When it’s covered by snow, it might undergo some kind of chemical reaction? The leaves gradually turn red, which is why it’s also called ’snow-in-red’."
"I even watched how to prepare it in many different ways. You can pickle it with chili sauce, Sichuan peppercorns, and ginger, then put it in a clean glass jar. It can be preserved for a long time. I was even going to ask you to buy some seeds for me online, to see if we could plant them in the fall."
Jiang Si praised her, "Grandma, you’re so knowledgeable. You know so much."
Zhang Qingfang added cheerfully, "If we could find and grow this vegetable, we’d have another one to eat."
Jiang Si smiled. "There are bugs everywhere outside. Even if we brought it back, we’d just plant it in the greenhouse. There’s no need to go looking for it."
Zhang Qingfang sighed. "That’s true. These damn bugs."
Although he couldn’t understand what Jiang Si and the others were saying, Bo Xi had a gut feeling he’d passed this test and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
After sitting for a while, it was time for their daily training session.
Jiang Si invited Bo Xi to join them, and he accepted.
Inside the training room, everyone seemed to transform. They were like sharp blades suddenly drawn from their sheaths, radiating danger.
Just watching Niu Niu and Lu Zhifeng’s sparring match was enough to send a shiver down his spine.
’Such professional combat techniques.’
Jiang Si looked at him, her dark gaze like that of a beast poised to strike. "Mr. Bo Xi, do you know any martial arts? How about we have a little match?"
Bo Xi shook his head. "Sorry, I only know a little Taekwondo, nothing else."
He was afraid Jiang Si would beat him to a pulp.
But Jiang Si just smiled. "Perfect. My dad only knows a little Taekwondo too. You two can give it a try."
Jiang Si’s repeated invitations made it obvious she was trying to test him, to see if he was some kind of dangerous individual like a spy or a special forces soldier.
Bo Xi was in a bind but couldn’t say no, so he could only brace himself and nod.
He and Jiang Linhai stood in the center of the training floor. The others stepped back to watch, while Jiang Si and Qin Shen carefully observed Bo Xi’s moves.
Whether he was lying or not, his body’s reactions wouldn’t deceive them.
Having survived ten years of the apocalypse, Jiang Si, in particular, knew exactly what to look for in a person’s subconscious micro-expressions and reactions.
Jiang Linhai said in broken English, "Starting now, Mr. Bo Xi."
He raised his fists and charged at Bo Xi.
Bo Xi dodged left and right; his reflexes were still nimble.
Before his body mutated, he wouldn’t have survived this long if he hadn’t possessed some real skill.
After watching a few of his moves, Jiang Si could tell his skills were average, but that only made her more suspicious.
’He came from the largest city in the Northern Country. Are skills this ordinary really enough for him to have survived all the way here on his own?’
Jiang Linhai, after training for so long and receiving guidance from Jiang Si and Qin Shen, plus having a bit of a natural talent for martial arts, was far superior to Bo Xi, even when only using Taekwondo moves.
In just a short while, Jiang Linhai defeated Bo Xi with a single kick.
Bo Xi clutched his stomach in pain. Jiang Linhai went forward to help him up, and Jiang Si didn’t notice anything else out of the ordinary.
Jiang Linhai even said to Bo Xi, "To survive in the apocalypse, you really have to train harder."
Bo Xi nodded. "Yes, thank you for the advice, Mr. Jiang."
Unbeknownst to them, Qin Shen had been secretly staring at Bo Xi’s palm. The moment Bo Xi winced in pain, his gaze shifted to his back.
With the rest of the day free from English lessons, they could relax, watch movies, tend to the flowers, read, and so on.
Bo Xi wanted to see their greenhouse, so Zhang Qingfang and Lu Zhifeng took him there.
Meanwhile, Jiang Si and Qin Shen went to the monitoring room, pulled up the recording from just now, and zoomed in to observe it carefully.
Suddenly, Qin Shen slowed down the playback, then paused it at the moment Bo Xi stepped onto the floor, where a frame revealed a bulge in his palm.
He pointed at Bo Xi’s palm and said, "Look closely."
Jiang Si nodded, her eyes glued to the screen.
On the screen, as Bo Xi stepped forward, the thing in his palm that resembled a birthmark suddenly slithered like an insect. It moved along the veins in his body to his back, where it was just a tiny speck. Concealed by his wrinkled clothes, it was impossible for a normal person to spot without zooming in and watching carefully.
At that moment, a chill ran down Jiang Si’s spine. She was reminded of the vicious and malevolent Mutants from her past life.
Mutants were different from superpower users. Mutants didn’t have energy stones in their bodies. Sometimes they were rational, but other times they were like man-eating beasts.
Superpower users were different. The energy stones in their bodies provided powerful support corresponding to their individual attributes.
With skillful use of their powers, they could become powerful figures who controlled entire regions, feared by all other survivors.
If Bo Xi had an energy stone, he probably wouldn’t be acting so timidly. Or perhaps he hadn’t yet accepted the fact that his body had mutated and was afraid of being discovered.
It was also possible he hadn’t mastered his ability yet.
What worried Jiang Si the most was the possibility that he was a Mutant.
If he was a Mutant, Jiang Si would kill him without a moment’s hesitation.
Even if he seemed harmless right now.
She could not tolerate any risk.
