Chapter 136: Leaving at a Moment’s Notice

Chapter 136: Leaving at a Moment's Notice

On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the sound of firecrackers echoed everywhere, even within Yunding Mountain Villa.

The sheer curtains were still open, and the sky outside was already bright, the snow having stopped.

Zhou Yun sprawled on the bed, lazily reaching to silence the bedside alarm.

Guan Yuanfeng gently touched his hair, tucked the blanket around him, and got up to freshen up.

After his morning ablutions, Guan Yuanfeng returned to find Zhou Yun still lying motionless. He bent down and whispered with a smile in his ear, "No experiments today?" Since acquiring good equipment, Zhou Yun's passion for experiments had surged, and he had been buried in the lab every day, as if there were countless experiments to catch up on.

Zhou Yun's eyelids were heavy, and he mumbled, "No experiments, the Spring Festival break is entirely for you."

Guan Yuanfeng felt a warm glow in his heart, "Then get up and go for a run, get some exercise?"

Zhou Yun rolled over, turning his back to him.

Guan Yuanfeng chuckled, finding him utterly endearing. He knew Zhou Yun couldn't get up, as they had been rather indulgent last night. When they used to live together, Zhou Yun had always maintained a good habit of early to bed and early to rise.

He reached out and tousled Zhou Yun's hair, "I need to accompany Zhu Zhuan and others to visit those who remained on duty last night and today. When I return, I'll take you to the shooting range outside the city? Tan Lang and his team have opened a shooting range near the military camp, and business is quite good. Shen Lan and others often go there to shoot for fun."

Zhou Yun declined, eyes still closed, "No, it's a holiday, I just want to be with you." He didn't want to see anyone; socializing drained his energy.

Guan Yuanfeng kissed him, then changed into his military uniform and left.

Outside, the snow had stopped, and a faint sun was shining. Children were setting off firecrackers on the streets. The small city of Abyss had been thoroughly patrolled last night, and there were no fire or public safety issues.

He and Zhu Zhuan first made rounds in the city, then headed to the military camp outside. After about two hours, they returned to find Zhou Yun still curled up with the blanket, sound asleep. He simply lay down, drawing Zhou Yun into his arms, and for the first time in his life, took a nap.

They slept until noon, when Guan Yuanfeng was roused by his phone vibrating. He picked it up and looked at it, answering, "Qin Mu?"

Qin Mu said, "Ye Yuqing's light abilities have awakened. I came by this morning and thought to consult Dr. Zhou, but his phone was off." It hadn't been turned on until noon.

Guan Yuanfeng looked down and saw Zhou Yun also opening his eyes, looking at him sleepily, and naturally taking his phone, "The surgery was successful; the awakening should proceed naturally. Did something strange happen?"

Qin Mu paused subtly for a moment before continuing, "He seems unable to control it; light orbs are dispersing everywhere, and he remains in a deep sleep. I'm afraid he might overuse his abilities."

Zhou Yun: "..." The lazy one had to struggle to rise, the blanket slipping away to reveal skin marked with traces. His mind finally clearing a bit, he said, "Alright, I'll go take a look."

Guan Yuanfeng got up to accompany him, and they drove to the Nanshan Herb Garden.

Indeed, tiny light points floated in the air above the Nanshan Herb Garden. Though it was daytime, the high-level psychics among them could sense the potent light energies.

Zhou Yun, wearing a trench coat and a scarf, reached out to touch it, "It seems Ye Yuqing has made a splash. I wonder why he didn't awaken when the red fog descended." Psychics are really random, no pattern can be discerned.

The two entered the hospital, where Qin Mu, Qin Sheng, and a group from Nirvana Villa were present. He was a bit surprised, "Isn't the first day of the Lunar New Year the busiest for incense? Why are the Taoist master and the master both here?"

Master Xinhai: "Amitabha, the first incense has been burned, just finished. Heard there's some excitement... no, an accident here, so came to see if there's anything we can help with."

Since Abyss City had been recruiting extensively, he had also recruited many monks and believers, especially as these monks were pleasantly surprised to find that Master Xinhai was a psychic, and Abyss City was very suitable for cultivation. Calling for teachers and disciples, more and more monks gradually came to join. Now, the Juefei Temple has nearly a hundred monks, who cultivate their own food and grow herbs on the mountain, paying a considerable incense tax to Abyss City.

On the same mountain, the Yunfu Taoist Temple had fewer people. Taoist Master Yunyin mainly had a bad temper and didn't recruit much. Recruits had to take an exam, and it was said that the written exam alone had a hundred questions, and they had to submit drawn talismans. Those who drew incorrectly were rejected.

As a result, Taoist Master Yunyin currently only had a few disciples in the temple, but he was quite content with this.

Others like Zhang Guangming, Hua Rou, Qin Sheng, and a few others were also present. Shen Lan explained with a smile, "Last night we gathered together to stay up and play cards. This morning, after hearing from Qin Mu, we all came to see the excitement."

Zhou Yun: "..." He glanced at Ling Dingxiu, who was still bustling around in the ward, "Can't wake him up?"

Qin Mu said, "He doesn't seem to be waking up, and I'm a bit worried that this might be his body's natural healing process. Interrupting it might not be good."

Zhou Yun walked in, looked at Ye Yuqing's condition, and seeing that he was indeed in a deep sleep, he checked his pulse on the side of his neck, finding it steady and calm.

Ling Dingxiu said from the side, "He's been asleep since you left yesterday. I thought about waking him for the New Year's Eve dinner but remembered you said to let him sleep, so I didn't."

"This started in the early morning."

Zhou Yun asked, "Around what time in the early morning?"

Ling Dingxiu was a bit embarrassed, "I fell asleep later and had a very comfortable dream, as if all my old wounds had healed. I woke up and realized something was wrong."

Qin Mu suggested, "What if we dress him in shadow hemp clothes?"

Zhou Yun pondered, "Let's move him closer to that mutated shadow hemp. The light and dark energies might balance each other out, and with the royal shadow hemp suppressing it, those clusters of light psychic energy might not scatter."

Qin Mu said, "But... that royal shadow hemp seems to have evolved. I saw dark clusters around it yesterday." He had absorbed quite a bit, feeling his shadow psychic abilities enhanced.

Zhou Yun said, "Isn't that good? Psychic plants grow faster when they have natural enemies. Let's try moving him there. Maybe Ye Yuqing will subconsciously sense the enemy and grow stronger."

Qin Mu: "..." Suddenly felt a bit sorry for Ye, the fox.

The Taoist priest said, "That shadow hemp is indeed useful. We've always experienced some side effects with our psychic abilities, but when we went to that shadow hemp cave for energy exercises, the feeling of losing control of our psychics was less intense."

Zhou Yun was surprised, "That's because shadow hemp suppresses and cancels out other psychic attributes. Let's give it a try."

Ye Yuqing was then moved into the mutated shadow hemp's cave to rest, where countless small light points and the black shadows of the shadow hemp floated in the air, entangling and canceling each other out.

Half an hour later, Ye Yuqing woke up.

All this commotion for a psychic awakening, he felt a bit embarrassed. But this time he truly sensed the presence of light psychic energy. The mutated shadow hemp beside him, like a black hole, seemed to continuously devour him, making him feel extremely uneasy. After waking up, he clearly felt physically exhausted from overusing his psychic abilities.

Zhou Yun checked his body again and found obvious signs of growth in his limbs.

After giving Ye Yuqing acupuncture, he asked Zhang Guangming to teach Ye Yuqing how to use light psychics when he had time, and then left the South Mountain Herb Garden with Guan Yuanfeng.

Guan Yuanfeng drove out with him and asked, "Shall we go back to rest? Or go somewhere else?" He added, "Just the two of us."

But Zhou Yun was deep in thought, remembering something. Around next spring, someone had discovered the remains of two giant mutated beasts near a volcanic crater in the northwest, likely killed in mutual combat, with vigorous mutated volcanic algae growing on their bodies.

These mutated volcanic algae, like today's mutated shadow hemp, were constantly emitting fire psychic energy.

The high-level fire crystal cores within the two mutated beasts had sparked fierce competition among psychics.

He was still at the Sanchu base at that time, only vaguely hearing about the intense and deadly competition among psychics, with many casualties.

He knew about this only because he had received some mutated volcanic algae for research, but the sample was too small, and he was too poor to buy more, so he only did some analysis before running out of samples.

But the fire psychic energy contained in that little bit of volcanic algae was astonishing. He had thought that if this could be utilized, no survivors in the base would freeze to death.

Seeing the scattered shadow energy from the shadow hemp today, he suddenly thought of the volcanic algae and the mysterious volcanic beasts.

He turned to Guan Yuanfeng with high spirits, "Let's go on a trip!" Managing the Abyss city had been too busy lately, and now with a rare break, it was time to go see.

Guan Yuanfeng: "..."

Zhou Yun turned to look at him, his eyes sparkling, "Just the two of us."

Seeing his expectant look, the tedious military affairs suddenly seemed less important to Guan Yuanfeng, "Alright."

They talked about leaving right away, but some preparations were still necessary.

Zhou Yun was brimming with excitement for the upcoming trip and began packing up and down with Comet.

They needed to pack two camping generators: one solar-powered hand-crank generator and one box-type gasoline generator.

Weapons, bows and arrows, strong flashlights, camping lights, fishing rods, and various other tools and weapons, portable stoves and other kitchen utensils, tents, sleeping bags, waterproof bags, and various outdoor supplies and first aid medicines. They also had to bring collection boxes, various storage boxes, mobile refrigerators, foam boxes, nylon bags, and shadow hemp bags for storage.

They also had to quickly prepare Comet's dog food by steaming it and prepare dry rations for themselves.

There was so much to prepare, but as soon as Zhou Yun decided, he had already listed a long inventory in his mind.

Guan Yuanfeng made a call to arrange all the necessary tasks and came upstairs to see Zhou Yun standing in front of the wardrobe, opening a huge suitcase to pack their clothes.

He offered, "Let me handle the packing; just tell me what you need."

Zhou Yun replied, "No need, you pack, and I'll have to repack later anyway."

Guan Yuanfeng, feeling a bit rejected, said nothing.

He had no choice but to say, "I just called Xiao Jiang to bring someone to install a drone on the car roof and have the car rechecked. The solar panels on the roof, wheels, fuel tank, navigation system, all need to be readjusted, and we need to add some weapons and armor equipment."

Zhou Yun was thrilled: "That would be a big help from Captain Jiang."

Guan Yuanfeng asked, "Xiao Jiang asked about the destination so he can download the maps and set up the navigation system accordingly."

Zhou Yun said, "The Xuanwu Volcano Group. I've been there alone on a self-driving trip before, the scenery is beautiful, and there's a very pretty saltwater lake." He was really excited.

Guan Yuanfeng was surprised: "It’s beautiful." However, he thought it would be a short trip.

Driving from Danlin, it would be about five thousand kilometers, a one-way trip taking six to seven days. If they encountered bad road conditions, weather issues, mutant creatures, or zombie waves, it would take even more time, possibly half a month to a month round trip. And it's winter, in a high-altitude icy region, isn’t that a bit too far?

But he didn’t raise any objections to spoil the mood. Zhou Yun wasn’t the type to act on a whim; his sudden decision to go on a trip must have its own reasons. As for the difficulties they might encounter on the road, he was full of confidence in himself and Zhou Yun and wasn’t worried.

Zhou Yun was surprised: "You've been there too?"

Guan Yuanfeng nodded: "I was stationed briefly on the Ice Ridge Plateau for a mission, and the Xuanwu Volcano Group is near the Longhu Basin in the northwest of the plateau, I've been there."

Zhou Yun smiled: "That's great, I was worried I wouldn't remember the way alone, but with you here, I'm at ease."

Guan Yuanfeng felt a surge of protectiveness: "Don’t worry."