After hearing this, Park Su felt a bit strange. If the area only had mutated plants, that would be one thing, but the presence of level two mutated zombies made him curious.
It's important to note that the apocalypse had only just begun a month ago. Even if level two zombies appeared, they shouldn't be too formidable, and there certainly shouldn't be many of them. But from what they were saying, it seemed like those zombies were particularly strong, nearly at the level of level three zombies, and their numbers didn't seem small!
What was even more concerning was that there were mutated plants nearby, and these plants were said to be quite lethal. This made Park Su start to wonder if there might be energy stones in the area as well.
The presence of energy stones would explain why the surrounding zombies and plants had gained so much power, leading to fundamental changes in their nature.
This thought made his heart race with excitement. However, since Xu Nuo was present, he hesitated to bring it up, so he simply glanced at Xu Nuo without saying anything further.
As for Xu Nuo, when he heard about the mutated plants, he nodded and didn't say much. He instructed them to go back, pack up their things, and move into the next room as soon as possible.
It was only after the two of them left that Xu Nuo turned to Park Su and asked, "What's wrong? Did you think of something? I noticed that your expression didn't seem quite right when you heard about that."
Park Su didn't expect that Xu Nuo had been paying attention to him. When he thought about how he had stolen a glance at him earlier, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. However, he still obediently and quietly explained the reasoning he had just formed.
Fearing that Xu Nuo might not know what an energy stone was, he specifically went over the characteristics of the energy stone he had absorbed during his previous breakthrough.
Xu Nuo noticed how serious he looked and didn't interrupt him. In fact, he had already talked about energy stones with Park Su before, though he hadn't explained it in detail. Xu Nuo understood what it was about.
He didn't want to interrupt Park Su because, for some reason, whenever Park Su focused so intently on explaining something to him, his expression was always so endearing. It was as if his eyes only held the image of Xu Nuo himself.
Regardless of whether or not there were any energy stones in that place, Xu Nuo felt they had to go. However, if there really were energy stones, he hoped they could help Park Su break through again.
Xu Nuo wanted to spare him from constantly feeling insecure about his abilities due to the lack of offensive power in his powers.
And even if there weren't any energy stones, there would still be mutated plants and second-tier zombies. These things were very important for Park Su's ascension.
So, Xu Nuo definitely had to go himself. Besides, he was also quite curious about what energy stones actually looked like.
However, as he thought about it, Xu Nuo didn't realize that, in his contemplation, he wasn't considering himself at all—he was only thinking about Park Su.
Park Su noticed that Xu Nuo didn't speak after listening to his explanation and felt a little anxious. He tentatively asked, "I've agreed to have them join our team. Are you unhappy about it? If you are, we can still back out."
Xu Nuo's thoughts were interrupted, and he turned to look at Park Su. "I'm not unhappy. I told you before, our team is under your leadership. Since I left the decision to you, I won't be upset. I'm just thinking about the energy stone situation."
"Energy stone?" Park Su assumed Xu Nuo was also interested in energy stones. After all, Xu Nuo's powers were still weaker than his own, and as his disciple, it was only natural for Park Su to feel that Xu Nuo might not be happy about him surpassing his teacher in power.
Although Park Su had this thought, he couldn't guarantee that there would be an energy stone. But if there was one, it would certainly be a huge boost to his abilities. Moreover, as he had mentioned before, there was even a chance it could change the nature of his abilities. Although Park Su was very much looking forward to the energy stone, he didn't want to fall out with Xu Nuo over it.
After all, Park Su knew very well that without Xu Nuo, he might not even have a chance to get the energy stone. Based on his own abilities, and judging from what he had heard from Lu Shou and Lu Shang, it seemed like he didn't have the strength to venture into that place alone.
But at the same time, he was afraid of being wrong and disappointing Xu Nuo, causing him to have high expectations only to end up with nothing.
Feeling a bit embarrassed, Park Su said, "Well, this is just my guess. It's not certain. If there's nothing there, please don't get mad at me!"
Xu Nuo glanced at him and saw the worried expression on his face, and couldn't help but smile. "That won't do. I've always had high hopes for energy stones, and I'm very curious about them. Since you said there's a good chance of finding one, how could I not go check it out? Your conclusions are always so accurate."
"Ah!" Park Su didn't expect Xu Nuo to respond so directly. Rather than comforting him, Xu Nuo admitted that he'd been eager to see an energy stone all along.
This made Park Su feel a bit embarrassed, so he scratched his head and said, "But this time, I really can't be sure. If you really want to see one, I do know of a place where there are energy stones. But that place is very dangerous. I'm afraid the two of us won't be able to handle it. How about we find some more people to help us go?"
Xu Nuo saw how hard Park Su was trying to make this work for him and suddenly understood why Park Su was becoming more and more important to him.
Perhaps it was because, in his 28 years of life, no one had ever considered him so fully, as Park Su did. For him, Park Su would go to great lengths just to make a small wish come true, and Xu Nuo thought he didn't want to lose that feeling.
He raised his hand and patted Park Su's head. "Don't overthink it. Whether there's an energy stone or not doesn't matter. First, let's find the right mutated plants for you, and I'm also very interested in the second-tier zombies they mentioned. So, even if there's no energy stone, I'm still willing to go on this trip."
Park Su watched his back as Xu Nuo left, feeling a little stunned. It wasn't until Xu Nuo had gone upstairs that he reacted, shouting loudly towards the already closed door, "Are you messing with me?"
Unfortunately, the door didn't respond, and as for whether anyone in the team was secretly laughing, he would never know.
The next day, Ge Qing and Lu Shang packed up all their things and moved to the house next door. Though their supplies weren't too much, they still had a fair amount. More importantly, the house had been vacant for over a month, so it needed a thorough cleaning. As a result, their work wasn't light.
As for the three people trapped in the yard, today they finally had the chance to redeem themselves with food.
Fortunately, their team members were fairly loyal and didn't abandon them. They took the food they had stored and rescued the heavily injured tall, chubby man first, spending fifty kilograms of food.
Once the tall, chubby man was out, he immediately decided to use another fifty kilograms of food to rescue the short, chubby man. The reason the tall, thin man wasn't rescued immediately was twofold: firstly, their food supplies were running low, and secondly, the tall, thin man's powers were depleted, and his physical strength was also lacking. It seemed unlikely he'd pose much danger inside anymore.
Moreover, the tall, thin man was quite timid and wouldn't cause any trouble, whereas the short, chubby man had recovered his strength and had a temper. He had been keeping the peace in the yard before, and now that he was out, who knew if he'd cause trouble again?
The team had enough food to go out and recover some more, possibly swapping more food for the tall, thin man's release.
As for arguing with the people inside, after being trapped in the yard for almost three days, the tall, chubby man had completely lost interest in that idea.
Though the short, chubby man also wanted to confront them, the tall, chubby man, with his more level-headed mind, reasoned that since the tall, thin man was still in their hands, it wasn't wise to start a conflict. After all, they had all been brothers for years. There was no need to risk the tall, thin man's life just to settle a momentary grudge. With this reasoning, the short, chubby man reluctantly agreed.
However, as they hadn't left yet, they saw Ge Qing and Lu Shang carrying big bags and moving to the villa next door. This made the short, chubby man grit his teeth in frustration.
Sure enough, those two had teamed up, and it was because of them that they were being targeted. The short, chubby man immediately transferred all his resentment to Ge Qing and Lu Shang, deciding that, when the opportunity arose, he would take revenge on them.
What they didn't expect was that the bad news didn't end there. That night, Xu Nuo sent word through their team that they would need to go out for a few days on business. The return time was uncertain, but it would be at least three to five days.
So, if they couldn't gather fifty kilograms of food to redeem the tall, thin man before the night of the day after tomorrow, then the people trapped inside the formation would either have to figure out a way to get out themselves, or they would have to wait until the mysterious energy in the yard dissipated before they could leave.
They also told him that it would take at least five more days for the mysterious force in the yard to dissipate. Not to mention what five days without food or water inside would be like, the hallucinations produced inside alone would mentally torture anyone to the brink of collapse. If the tall, thin man stayed in there for another five days, he would probably come out as a lunatic.
If they only rescued the tall, thin man, the food at home would just barely be enough. However, there were still some team members trapped in the yard, and they were stuck there trying to save them.
Now, each person required ten kilograms of food to be redeemed, plus the food they consumed daily. If they went ahead with the rescue, they wouldn't be able to gather enough food.
With no other choice, they decided to send someone to request that their departure be delayed by a day, giving them another day to find food. To their surprise, Xu Nuo easily agreed to this.
After the people who had come to request the delay left, Park Su, looking puzzled, asked Xu Nuo, "Weren't we supposed to wait until Lu Shang's breakthrough before we leave? Why did you tell them we're leaving the day after tomorrow?"