The journey towards the nearby rainforest only took 3 hours. It was just near the boundary of District Z and District X.
Reaching the entrance of the forest, they were welcomed by the towering trees. It's height could almost rival a 3 floor building. The plants and bushes were abundant and large. Even the grasses could almost reach their waists.
It is as if the whole forest and including everything in it had mutated during the apocalypse. For soldiers who were sensitive to danger, they could vaguely feel uneasiness just at the sight of the forest.
Everyone was surprised to see such weird and magical scenery. Except for Ximen Xueya and Cao Junye who remained calm most of the time, the rest were stunned by such huge changes in the forest.
Xu Lin spoke, "Isn't this forest too strange? Why did all the trees grow that much tall?"
"During the first phase of the apocalypse, lots of changes had been made. Like how humans were given trials to be able to awaken special abilities, trees were given an ability to grow beyond norms and animals mutated.
Moreover, after the blood rain not only zombies benefited, a sudden surge in growth of plants and trees had taken place even animals had either turned into a zombie or furtherly mutated.
Isn't Oreo the clear proof of it?" said Ximen Xueya.
Cao Junye responded, "That seems true. Oreo used to be just an overgrown puppy and it can even spit fire."
Oreo also upgraded during the blood rain, after Baby Chino had accidentally fed it with a level 3 fire crystal, it gained the ability to control fire. At first they thought that Oreo would die after eating a crystal from the zombies.
"Chi-chan come over here for a bit!" calls Xueya to his son.
Ximen Chino being carried on the back of Oreo had come over after hearing his daddy calling for him. Oreo calmly walks over towards his master's daddy. It's careful steps were obvious to anyone's eyes.
The mutated dog called Oreo is clearly intelligent after being forcibly brushed his teeth from biting a dirty human before, it already knew that his master's daddy hates dirty things. It walks carefully avoiding the dust to fly around.
Chino cheerfully speaks, "Daddy~ Chi-chan is here~"
Ximen Xueya carried his son to his arms and touching his earring a pile of full body clothing, boots and gloves appeared in thin air surprising everyone in the crowd. There are also a few boxes with bug repellant spray.
"Wang Lei, Shi Moye distribute the protective clothing set to everyone. Those clothes were made with special materials which prevent things from creating outside contact with anything. It has defensive features to some extent. The forest had many unknown dangers. There would be numerous poisonous plants. Wear those and spray the repellant all over you." said Xueya who then pulled his husband with him creating a wall of ice.
This blocks everyone's sight. They knew that the family of three were going to change their clothes as well. Seeing this Wang Lei and Shi Moye start issuing orders.
Wang Lei yells out, "Line up. Take a full set each!"
"Yes, sir!"
Shi Moye and Yun Suisen went to the box and checked on the instructions inside. It seems that the repellant spray is harmless against humans. They could freely use it without being afraid.
Yun Suisen, Baize and Xu Lin help with the distribution of the repellant.
"Spray all over your body including the head, neck and face. Just be careful of your eyes and mouth. Just in case don't directly breathe it in!" said Shi Moye.
"Yes, sir!"
The soldiers had moved in according to the commands of their vice leaders. While everyone else was still in the middle of changing clothes, the family of three had already finished wearing theirs. Ximen Xueya and Cao Junye were wearing the same type of clothes like those which were getting distributed.
Meanwhile, Ximen Chino's clothes are really customized. Instead of pants the boy is wearing shorts but within those shorts are tight black stockings which cover his legs but unlike the thick clothing material of the shorts is made from soft ones. It wouldn't hinder the child's movement at all. He is also wearing small boots and a hat on his head. He looks so adorable.
Cao Junye said, "Give me a few bottles of bug repellent."
Baize threw five spray bottles of bug repellant towards the general. After receiving it the general sprayed some all over his wife and his son carefully.
"Son, hold your breath for a bit," said Cao Junye.
Ximen Chino nodded his head cutely and took a deep breath and shut his mouth tightly so that his cheeks bulged due to accumulated air inside.
Seeing this Xueya couldn't help but chuckle. "Baby~ close your eyes for 5 seconds."
Ximen Chino did what his parents told him. The father and daddy of the child worked in spraying repellent to their son and his dog. After a few more minutes everyone is ready to go.
"Inside the forest. I want you not to touch things randomly. Avoid anything that may cut through your skins. Don't just put anything you've picked in your mouth. If you've eaten something weird, you wouldn't even know how you die.
Lastly, since this is a forest there wouldn't be many zombies roaming around but instead there would most likely be mutated animals. Wild ones and domesticated ones. Put your guards up. If there are beasts getting closer Oreo would notify us anyway. Get ready!" said Cao Junye.
"Yes, General!"
Then they've finally entered the forest.
---
The group had finally ventured inside the forest. At the center Ximen Chino riding on Oreo beside him is Xu Lin and Baize. In front General Cao is leading the group, at right and left sides, Wang Lei and Shi Moye had got it covered. At the rear is Ximen Xueya who was getting too lazy to walk and taking his sweet time at every step while drinking some iced milk tea from his system.
Of course he shared some to his son and Xu Lin while the soldiers shook their heads as they couldn't drink such a thing in the middle of the mission. Only someone like Ximen Xueya who had heavenly defying strength could nonchalantly walk around such a dangerous forest with an unconcerned attitude. While the rest were all in their high guards and were quiet the whole time.
Within that silence only the father and son who were drinking created the sounds of slurping. It's the sound of someone drinking something using straws. This is especially true for the little foodie Chino who is drinking with relish not caring for others.
Slurps~~
Munch. munch~
There's even a huge cookie on his other hand while his personal tumbler had a lace that could be hung on his neck. What's funny is that the boy is even wearing a small apron on his chest to avoid his clothes from getting dirty. Within that tense atmosphere only this toddler is still as carefree as before. No one could even scold him as both the child's parents are their superiors.
Xu Lin, who was watching his little nephew finish his snack, asked, "Xiao Chi finished eating?"
Chino nodded his head with a smile. The corner of his mouth face was full of cookie crumbs which Xu Lin gently wiped with the clean wet towel he got from the baby's dad.
"Okay~ give uncle your hands. Let's wipe it clean. You can't just wipe it on Oreo's fur." said Xu Lin.
The mutated dog Oreo slightly stiffened when it heard that his master had wiped crumbs on his carefully cared fur and let out small whimpers.
Growls~ whimpers~
"No worries. Chi-chan didn't wipe it on Oreo's fur!" said the little bun.
The intelligent Oreo lightly barks happily when it hears his master's words. But only Xu Lin saw those countless cookie crumbs on the white part of Oreo's fur, there were some smudges of spilled milk tea turning the white fur a bit brown as Ximen Chino was drinking chocolate milk tea just now.
Seeing this Xu Lin just turned a blind eye on it and didn't comment but his thoughts were full.
'Ah~ Poor Oreo, he will have another full scrubbing when bathing tonight.'
The forest area is quite big. There old trees which mutated causing its size to not just double but even tripled. Because of this the shades from this tree had almost completely blocked the sunlight. The temperature in the forest is quite cool with the clean air circulating.
At the rear of the group, Ximen Xueya is lazily staring around the forest. He was quiet the whole time as he was conversing with his system in his mind.
[Host. I have checked on the Zombie King and Zombie Queen from before. They had started attacking districts cleaning up all human survivors. They didn't even spare mutated animals. They are now about to leave District B and are about to reach District C. I've cut off the connection of the other systems in this world except for my and Baize using your name. They would be given false information regarding anything connected to the host.]
"Good work, Yue. Have you checked on Yun Suisen and Yun Ren? Are there any weird things about these characters?" asked Ximen Xueya.
[As of now I haven't found anything strange yet but... Yun Suisen seems to have changed as the host had said. But unlike Yun Ren, Yun Suisen's change is too substantial. As if he is another person altogether.]
"You've noticed it as well. Since you couldn't find anything then I'll just ask him myself."
Ximen Xueya is observing Yun Suisen who is walking a few steps ahead of him. As if noticing his gaze the latter looked back and stared at Xueya calmly before giving him a short bow and once again looked at the front walking as if nothing happened. It was at this moment that a voice was heard coming from behind Ximen Xueya. The voice had hints of warning and vigilance towards him.
"Why are you staring at Sui-chan like that, Leader Ximen?" asked by a man's voice in a cold manner. Ximen Xueya doesn't even need to turn around to see who it was. There is only one person behind him. It was Su Liye. The close friend of Yun Suisen and Shi Moye.
In the original plot, Su Liye is supposed to be the second male lead but he was killed by Cao Junye after the former had taken countless lives in the Hope Base. In the end he ended up as a cannon fodder instead. He killed more than half of the members that are under the Elite Faction. He even killed those innocent ones who had no connection to the Elite Faction himself.
Su Liye is infamous for his strength and loyalty to his friends. Which is why in this timeline after becoming friends with Shi Moye and Yun Suisen who did almost everything to help him find his family, had longed to treat the two as his own family. He must have noticed that Ximen Xueya's gaze towards his friend's lover, Yun Suisen, is weird. This is the reason he speaks out just now.
[Host, be careful this man had a character setting of being an overprotective madman towards his family and those people he treated as one as well. As Shi Moye's lover, Yun Suisen is like his sister-in-law. He is quite vigilant towards you all this time.]
Hearing his system's words Ximen Xueya couldn't help but smile amusedly. He couldn't believe there is someone in this world who is crazier than he is. Xueya ignored the man who just spoke to him and instead called upon the man in front of him.
Ximen Xueya spoke, "Current Yun Suisen. Are you an enemy?"
This sudden question had startled everyone in the team as they heard Ximen Xueya suddenly talking. Moreover they even heard the question he asked Yun Suisen.
With this sudden question, silence and tension had descended in the forest. No one dared to breathe out aloud. The one questioning is a Godly like figure which is rumored to be even stronger than their Great General. Now all eyes have fallen on both Yun Suisen and Ximen Xueya who are now staring at each other.