Enemies Are All Nourishment for My Fungi

After running two or three kilometers, Ye Nai was just about to save herself some time by using Space Teleportation when she collected two infrared surveillance flares into her Space, which frightened her so much that she hurriedly threw them out and dutifully continued driving.

The mountainous terrain from the Military Fortress toward the enemy's rear was a normal natural environment, not a wasteland turned into grassland from being bombarded by artillery fire.

But navigating through these primitive forests lush with vegetation and without roads, driving wasn't exactly an easy task; fortunately, coniferous plants were dominant, without big tree branches hitting the car's front windshield.

While driving, Ye Nai kept an eye out for infrared surveillance flares in the grass, thinking that the forces and weapons deployed just yesterday couldn't possibly match the density of those in the buffer zone so quickly, even with surveillance flares.

Based on her guess, after struggling to drive twenty kilometers, the spores didn't find any more infrared surveillance flares, and Ye Nai didn't hesitate to locate the position of a few Enemy Soldiers who had escaped yesterday morning, used Space Teleportation, and took off.

When her feet hit solid ground again, Ye Nai felt the jump must have been at least a hundred kilometers.

It was surprising to see the Enemy Soldiers had strong physical endurance; in just over a day, they had managed to travel such a distance through this mountain forest environment on foot.

The position she chose was clever as well; she didn't appear directly in front of them but emerged about fifty or sixty meters away. After landing, she saw a large tree nearby and instant teleported to the top of it to observe from a vantage point.

The Enemy Soldiers were gathered together, sharing a pile of freshly bleeding rabbits and mice, skinning them, removing the guts, and eating them raw, blood and all, crudely like wild beasts feasting.

Ye Nai didn't judge their eating manner; regardless of whether they were full or hungry, as long as they could lead the way, that was fine.

She counted the numbers, and there were nineteen of them. Apart from the one she had killed, they indeed formed a complete team.

An entire team serving as a covert surveillance, escaping together, Ye Nai didn't understand what the Enemy Soldiers were thinking, but she now had plenty of time to follow them slowly and see where they'd end up.

Having made up her mind, Ye Nai tossed some more spores onto them and then went back to the Secret Realm of East Ridge to get busy. She came out every other day and night, used Space Teleportation to catch up with the running Enemy Soldiers, and then returned to the Secret Realm.

She followed them for eight days, constantly moving through the mountains on wild animal trails until suddenly, she entered an artificial forest and heard the sounds of people talking and saws operating.

Ye Nai immediately heightened her alertness, ignoring the retreating Enemy Soldiers and instead sending out spores in the direction of the noise, carefully using instant teleportation based on the spores' location, slowly getting closer.

A few minutes later, she hid behind a taller tree and, looking through binoculars from above, saw a logging scene with a division of labor within a group.

The logging was happening in this artificial forest, and the tools were chainsaws, but the craftsmanship was crude, and they emitted thick black smoke as they ran.

The workers had no protective gear, not even breathing masks; they breathed in the black smoke directly.

More importantly, the workers were both male and female, and judging by their height and appearance, they were all Blue Star people, but with yellow, malnourished complexions, sparse hair, and suffering from severe undernutrition.

It was clear there were women among them because they were all working bare-armed; the male workers were gaunt, the female workers had stretch marks on their bellies, and their breasts were shriveled and sagging.

Ye Nai shifted her view, searching around the workers, and indeed found the overseers.

The overseers were dressed somewhat more decently and also exhibited the features of Blue Star people: light-colored hair, deep eye sockets, high nose bridges, wheatish skin, and faces dotted with freckles, looking healthier than the workers.

Just as she was about to continue observing a little longer, a spore sent back feedback, revealing another group of people.

Ye Nai left spore markers here and went to take a look at a new place.

Just now, that area was being logged, and here, they were planting trees.

No wonder, after fifty years of invasion, there's still this man-made forest. So it turns out they are on the sustainable development track, cutting and planting simultaneously, pretty environmentally conscious.

Ye Nai muttered a few words of ridicule in her heart and silently observed how they were planting the trees.

Physical tasks like digging holes, fertilizing, planting seedlings, and watering were all being done by those skinny men and women. There were plenty of people, and efficiency was decent. Not far from the workers on a flat ground, there was a large tent with people resting inside.

Unfortunately, Ye Nai's position was too high to see what was inside the tent; she could only watch the workers laboriously planting one sapling after another.

She couldn't discern much at the moment, so Ye Nai hid her figure on high ground, quietly munching on rice balls and patiently waiting.

Two hours later, the tree planting in the first acre of land was completed, and there was movement from the direction of the tent.

More than ten men and women emerged from the tent, each dressed neatly and presentably, all with the appearance of Blue Star people. However, compared to the laborers, these individuals were clearly well-nourished, with a proud look on their faces.

They spread out, each person taking charge of several rows of saplings, roughly one or two hundred trees in total.

Then, it was showtime for each person. Some moved quickly, some slowly, but the unified result was that all the saplings grew rapidly.

Ye Nai's eyes widened – it was the Wood Element Superpower's Growth Technique at work on the plants.

No wonder they wore pride on their faces. Awakeners who had grown up under the enemy's control held a higher status compared to their compatriots who could only be lowly laborers. They certainly had reason to be proud.

After she got the picture, Ye Nai didn't bother to keep watching. She scattered a handful of spores, which landed on those people but didn't enter their bodies. They merely clung to their hair, hitching a ride back to the city.

Ye Nai watched as a part of the spores landed on them and the rest flew away with the wind. She then quietly returned to the East Ridge Secret Realm.

When it was daytime inside the East Ridge Secret Realm, Ye Nai left stealthily. Given the 12-hour time difference, the artificial forest outside was pitch-dark; the daytime workers had all withdrawn.

Following the directional guidance of the spore markers, she performed several short-distance instant teleports until she reached the edge of the artificial forest, standing on the plains formed by permafrost and saw a city shadow encompassed by massive walls in the distance.

Ye Nai took out night-vision binoculars and observed from afar. The more she looked at the city walls, the more they resembled an oversized Military Fortress.

There was a main road built at the city gate with people on guard, and the torches on the wall tops burned brightly— it didn't seem possible to approach quietly. Her only option was to directly use Space Teleportation to enter the city.

Fortunately, she was well-prepared. The spores she had scattered during the day had already taken root in the city and provided her with numerous safe footholds.

Ye Nai briefly closed her eyes and carefully sensed the various spore marker positions within the city. She found a location that was both spacious and showed energy reactions and promptly decided to go have a look.

Lacking intel, jumping in blindly was yet another reckless adventure, not caring for her own life. Yet, Ye Nai felt the thrill and excitement.