It even felt a pang of regret for so easily trusting others and becoming someone's pet without any resistance. Now, it had to work hard, couldn't freely absorb energy like before, and had gained no benefits at all.
It couldn't understand why it had to do these things. If it hadn't felt the constraint of the dantian and been genuinely afraid of Xu Nuo, who had nearly beaten it to death, it would have rebelled.
But now, it had to console itself. Without this person, it wouldn't have advanced to the third level so quickly. Obeying was its way of repaying him.
Park Su had no idea about the thoughts of the hallucinogenic dandelion. With the dandelion and Green Ivy working together, he only needed to weave the grass nets, which wasn't too taxing.
However, Green Ivy found itself burdened with both killing zombies and collecting crystal nuclei. Fortunately, with the dandelion's help, despite its lack of combat power, it handled most of the crystal nucleus collection.
The dandelion could also deal with some lower-level zombies, giving Green Ivy a break.
This teamwork allowed Park Su to observe the situation. He noticed the number of zombies behind the grass nets was decreasing.
He found it strange, as he shouldn't have been able to eliminate hundreds of zombies so quickly. The only possibility was that some of the zombies had left.
But second and first-level zombies didn't have their own will. How could they just leave on their own? Xu Nuo noticed this too and suspected the third-level zombie in front of them.
However, a glance at the very agitated and weakened third-level zombie made him doubt it. It seemed unlikely the zombie was capable of protecting its subordinates in its current state.
Xu Nuo thought for a moment and said to Park Su, "Ask the dandelion if it has seen another third-level zombie around here, one as strong as this one."
The dandelion, hearing Xu Nuo's question, shook its head in confusion, indicating it hadn't seen one.
Park Su relayed this to Xu Nuo, who frowned and said, "Looks like we can't stay here any longer. Either there's another third-level zombie that isn't aligned with this one, which is unlikely since our actions would have drawn it out already. More likely, a second-level zombie has just advanced to the third level, developed awareness, and now knows about us. It realizes it can't beat us and wants us to deal with this third-level zombie first, which is why it withdrew the other zombies.
This situation presents two possibilities: it's either hiding out of fear, or it's planning to wait until our abilities are depleted to ambush us. Instead of waiting for this to happen, we should leave. Finding a third-level zombie in unfamiliar territory isn't easy. They know the area better, which isn't in our favor. Plus, why would the dandelion develop into a mutant plant in the wild, but we haven't sensed any mutant plants around the villa? We might have overlooked something. To avoid any unexpected situations, we should leave and refine the energy stone you have first."
Park Su agreed with Xu Nuo's analysis and nodded in agreement.
He quickly wove a few more grass nets and then instructed Green Ivy, who was still busy killing zombies, to prepare for retreat. Green Ivy, slightly reluctant, returned to the dantian, while the dandelion was already waiting there.
After Xu Nuo defeated the third-level zombie and retrieved its crystal nucleus, they quickly retreated. Xu Nuo didn't feel responsible for dealing with any other third-level zombies in the resort. If he encountered another one in the future, he'd handle it, but he wasn't willing to risk himself further for it now.
When they returned to their vehicle, they found Ge Qing and Lu Shang anxiously waiting for them. Relief washed over their faces upon seeing Xu Nuo and Park Su, improving the latter's opinion of them significantly. Despite the abundance of supplies in their vehicle, Ge Qing and Lu Shang had waited instead of taking the opportunity to leave.
Approaching them, Ge Qing focused on Park Su, asking worriedly, "Are you alright? We didn't stay to help because we knew we'd only be a burden. Given your relationship with him, we couldn't force you to leave, so we had to go."
Park Su blushed at the implication of their relationship but politely responded, "I'm fine, don't worry. We're not what you think—he's my master."
Ge Qing smiled but didn't comment further. Xu Nuo, listening in, also remained silent.
They all got into their respective vehicles, ready to return. The return journey was quicker and smoother than the trip out, taking less time than expected.
Back at the villa, the "four troublemakers" didn't dare approach. They watched from afar, trying to gather information, presumably to see if anyone was injured. Xu Nuo ignored their spying and called Ge Qing and Lu Shang to join them at the villa.
Though unsure of the reason, they complied. Their trust in Xu Nuo and Park Su had grown significantly after the outing.
They hadn't expected that after sitting down, Park Su would pull out about forty second-level zombie crystal nuclei and eighty first-level zombie crystal nuclei from his bag and push them towards them.
Ge Qing looked at the large number of crystal nuclei in bewilderment. When had they managed to collect all these? They hadn't noticed anything. This quantity would normally take them at least a year of hunting to acquire, yet Park Su and Xu Nuo had gathered so many in just three days. It was astounding.
As he pondered the origin of the nuclei, wondering if they were meant to be shared, and if so, how much, Park Su spoke up, "These are your share. Take them. With these nuclei, you should be able to break through to the third level, and your partner can reach the peak of the third level.
Of course, how you distribute them is up to you. But since we now have so many nuclei, I suggest we take turns cultivating and protecting each other. What do you think?"
Ge Qing barely registered Park Su's latter words, too focused on the initial statement. He asked, somewhat unsure, "You mean these are all for the two of us? What about you two? Are you giving us all the nuclei you collected? While we do want them and you're much stronger, we can't be that selfish!"
They couldn't believe Xu Nuo and Park Su could gather more nuclei amid such danger. They hadn't seen either of them collecting any nuclei. They assumed that even if they had gathered some unnoticed or during their separation, what lay before them must be the limit.
Grateful for any share, they hadn't expected to be given everything. They had been more of a burden than help during the mission.
Despite their desire, principles were principles. Since they were a team, they couldn't take everything for themselves. This question increased Xu Nuo and Park Su's regard for them.
Park Su smiled and said, "Don't worry. We've already taken our share. As you said, since we contributed more, we took the major share, which we already have. So take these without hesitation. Just don't complain it's too little!"
Understanding that the major share probably came from the third-level zombie, Ge Qing no longer refused. He thanked them and carefully stowed the nuclei in his backpack. Then he asked, "I won't ask what your major share was. So, are we focusing on cultivation next?"