Chapter 526: Chapter 521: The Commander and Your Daughter Are Classmates
"And then what happened?" Ye Xingyan asked.
Ji Ning glanced at him, "Nothing more."
Ye Xingyan pondered for a moment and asked, "Commander, have you ever gone back to that place to take a look?"
Ji Ning slightly nodded her head, "When I was 16, I went back once, but shortly after we entered, all our electronic devices malfunctioned, and we lost our way. Moreover, the environment inside was vastly different from what I saw as a child. For safety, we quickly withdrew but were still attacked by Mutated Plants and Mutant Beasts, and many people were sacrificed. Later, I sent a missile there, but it disappeared."
She also, at that time, suffered very serious injuries while saving people and almost lost her life.
Ye Xingyan was surprised, "Disappeared? Disappeared from the locator? Or what?"
"It vanished into thin air; that place is like an independent space with a special magnetic field, causing everything entering it to lose contact."
Ji Ning recalled the chaotic times when a few high-powered superpower user squads ventured into the mountains to investigate missing team members, but after they went in, they never came out, and even the signals from the communicators they carried vanished into thin air.
To avoid unnecessary sacrifice, she ordered that area to be completely sealed off, forbidding anyone from going there again.
Later, for an unknown reason, the black mist in that area grew thicker and even gradually expanded its scope, slowly eroding human living spaces, and the number of mutated corpses and Mutant Beasts under the black mist began to increase.
The human safety zone’s defense line kept retreating, and at one point, the black mist covered the area north of Nanling City up to three city ranges.
All major powers had to abandon territorial disputes and initiate safety zone defense battles, fighting to the death with mutated corpses and Mutant Beasts, forcibly pushing the defense line back to the south of Nanling City.
What worried Ji Ning most, the man-eating Mutated Plants, never appeared in the human’s view.
She speculated that the roots of the mutated tree couldn’t cover such a wide range, and no other creatures could survive leaving their territory, so the Mutated Plants never exposed themselves.
Thinking about this made Ji Ning’s mood even heavier.
"That mutated tree had an extremely high Spiritual Control Ability back then, and it’s only gotten stronger, so I advise you not to have any reckless ideas."
But her words did not deter Ye Xingyan; instead, his eyes showed a light of interest, "Commander, those Mutated Plants didn’t attack you back then, definitely because you have something that made them see you as one of their kind. If you could take us in..."
"Going in would be suicidal!" Ji Ning’s gaze was extremely sharp.
"But Commander, as you can see from this data, if there are positioning devices sent by alien civilizations on this planet, I think it’s very likely to be there. And you saw as a child that the seeds and spores spread by those plants could bring corpses back to life. Are such magical Mutated Plants really native to our planet? Why weren’t they documented before? If it weren’t for the exploration team accidentally entering that area, we wouldn’t even know such bizarre phenomena existed there until now."
Ye Xingyan tried to persuade Ji Ning, but she said, "Ye Xingyan, I’ve always had a suspicion."
"What suspicion?"
"I suspect my childhood memories might have been altered."
"Altered?"
Ji Ning picked up the documents on the table with a serious face, "These documents say that the last remaining members of the exploration team returned by plane, but any electronic device in that area would be interfered with by a special magnetic field and lose signal. How could a plane possibly bring them out? And the latter part of the document was deliberately burned. Could it be that the person writing the document burned it themselves?"
Before Ye Xingyan could respond, an unfamiliar female voice suddenly rang out from behind them, "Indeed, it was self-burned."
They turned to see a capable-looking woman holding a Smart Brain tablet, standing at the doorway.
Her originally gentle features now exuded coldness and distance, unlike the gentle woman in the photos.
Ye Xingyan saw her and smiled, introducing her to Ji Ning, "Commander, let me introduce you, she is Le Wuyou, a researcher specializing in Mutated Plants here."
"I’ve heard so much about you." Ji Ning displayed a shallow smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
Ye Xingyan suddenly remembered the girl called You Le that Ji Ning brought last time at Nanling and felt a bit embarrassed and kept silent.
Le Wuyou didn’t yet know about Ji Ning’s relationship with her daughter, and a hint of surprise appeared in her eyes. She couldn’t understand why Ji Ning knew her, but Ji Ning’s next question made her face change instantly.
"Where is your husband You Tianming?"
Le Wuyou frowned, her voice emotionless, "Why are you asking about him?"
"I need to know if someone who’s been dead for many years really turned to bones."
Le Wuyou noticed that Ji Ning’s gaze towards her lacked warmth, even showing some hostility.
Fearing Le Wuyou might say something unpleasant and cause Ji Ning to misunderstand, Ye Xingyan quickly interjected, "Xiao Le, she’s the one I mentioned last time who saved your daughter."
Le Wuyou paused, questioning, "Isn’t she the Commander?"
"The Commander is also your daughter’s classmate."
Le Wuyou was visibly taken aback, then boldly examined Ji Ning several times before asking, "So, Commander, did you stop Xiang Wan from bringing my daughter to see her father one last time?"
"Ha, one last time."
Ye Xingyan could already see the displeasure in Ji Ning’s eyes and quickly interrupted Le Wuyou.
"Xiao Le, let’s not talk about personal matters first, tell us about your findings."
His student had great research talent yet very low emotional intelligence, struggling with conversations.
Le Wuyou glanced at her teacher’s expression, slightly lowered her head, and responded.
She walked to the large screen, connecting the tablet in her hand to the display system.
The meteorological display quickly switched to her Smart Brain screen.
It showed experimental data presented in various colors and graphics.
"Based on the research of mutated corpses and plant spores in the Pollution Zone..."
Ji Ning turned to Ye Xingyan, "Did you enter that area?"
Ye Xingyan hurriedly waved his hand, "No, it’s data from the Josen Family, which I sent early to let Xiao Le analyze."
One often knows oneself best through adversaries or enemies.
For decades, the Josen Family has been very persistent about the treasures left behind by Commander Ji Ning, not only gathering her relics in large quantities but also inquiring about every event that happened to her.
Upon learning that Commander Ji Ning had reached the depths of the Pollution Zone, specifically Region 318217, they consistently sent people trying to visit that area to investigate.
Yet no one could return alive, and even electronic communicators disappeared without a trace, retaining no information.
Therefore, they took an alternate approach, smuggling large quantities of Mutated Poison Grass and Mutant Beast corpses from the Huazhou Contaminated Area, acquiring environmental specimens there for research. Just last month, they indeed made some findings.
The drug for degrading Mutant Beast abilities was developed in this manner.
They obtained various plant spores from Mutated Plants close to that area, which contained a large amount of foreign viral-specific nucleic acid sequences.
These sequences are homologous to the nucleic acid sequences extracted from mutated corpses a century ago, but the structure has significant differences.
The Josen Family’s researchers, after years of study, found that this virus has been constantly evolving, with some evolution succeeding while others fail, leading to various conditions manifesting on the corpses.
The most common scenario is that corpses, controlled by the virus, can stand up and walk again, not actively attacking others, like a puppet being manipulated.
The second scenario is that the corpses gradually recover some kind of consciousness, having emotions like fear and excitement, and even developing a strong craving for blood.
The third scenario is that the corpses develop some form of intelligence, reaching at most the intellect of a three-year-old child.
Remembering the siege incident by mutated corpses at the Huazhou Safety Zone in the past, Ji Ning suddenly asked Ye Xingyan, "What was the situation with the mutated corpse siege incident back then?"
Ye Xingyan replied, "I’m not sure about the details, but my father said it had something to do with my great-grandfather."
Ji Ning remembered the notebook left for her by Ye Jianxiu, who once sent people there but they were completely wiped out, so he sealed the place again and burned all investigation records.
"Although my father spoke very little, I found some useful information. Back then, my grandfather sent someone there. Although everyone was lost, it wasn’t without gains, as a local guide reportedly escaped."
