When Chu Yu finally pried information about Xu An from the stunned proprietress.
By the time she wanted to chase after them, there was no trace of the two in the Southern Base.
Chu Yu checked the surveillance and found that Xu An and Zhou Haimei had already slipped out of the city.
She was instantly furious, cursing Xu An for not playing by the rules.
Xu An had promised to leave the matter to Chu Yu, yet she had secretly intercepted it from behind.
But Xu An knew none of this.
She was currently driving Zhou Haimei towards the South Sea.
Meanwhile, Chu Yu, after learning of Sixth Brother's instructions, dealt with Shen Zhi and the others overnight.
She also worked through the night to develop a drug to counter addiction. Fortunately, the price of the barbecue was so high that many were spared.
Shen Zhi and the others also admitted that they intended to control the entire Southern Base through the barbecue stall couple.
...
Xu An watched Zhou Haimei, who was dozing off in the passenger seat, and continued to drive with a light smile.
Inside her inner vision space, Ze Yuan's voice had clearly become much more forceful after absorbing the small mushroom from the mermaid.
Xu An naturally noticed the change in him.
"Your strength has increased again?"
Ze Yuan nodded his head in thought, but then realized he had no physical form, so even if he nodded, Xu An wouldn't see it.
"Yes."
"What's with this mermaid?"
When she had cut off the fish tail, Xu An had a strange feeling.
Due to Ze Yuan's misleading words, Xu An had always believed that mermaids were synthesized creatures like the rabbit-headed monster.
After all, with the failed experimental subjects outside as evidence, this was not difficult to believe.
But the moment her knife fell, she had a strange sensation.
This fish tail did not seem to be spliced together by some technology.
Instead, it seemed to have grown naturally, just like a mermaid's.
But Xu An knew very well that there could not be such creatures as mermaids on Blue Star.
Otherwise, that fish would not have said that it had no companions on this planet.
Upon hearing Xu An's question, Ze Yuan seemed to be playing dead, remaining silent.
Just then, Zhou Haimei woke up and switched places with Xu An, letting her drive.
Now, Xu An, sitting in the passenger seat, was also silent, as if protesting Ze Yuan with her silence.
At this moment, the butterfly that had been living in the space suddenly seemed to understand and ran out, making its presence known in Xu An's mind.
Xu An then remembered the butterfly.
She glanced at it suspiciously and questioned Ze Yuan again, "This butterfly and that fish, if I'm not mistaken, should not be products of this planet, right?"
Ze Yuan remained silent.
A deathly silence.
Xu An knew that she wouldn't get any answers today, but she already had a hunch.
"So, is this something that cannot be spoken of? Or is it something only I cannot know?"
Xu An's way of asking was subtle, as if deliberately avoiding certain taboos.
Upon hearing this, Ze Yuan finally spoke, "It's not time yet."
As they were speaking, Xu An suddenly noticed that the tree in her space had begun to change.
A bright light flashed from the center of the trunk, as if there was a strong attraction.
It seemed to want to draw Xu An's divine sense in as well.
"It's not time for you to know, so don't ask. I won't harm you," Ze Yuan shouted anxiously.
It was unclear whether he was warning himself or comforting Xu An.
Hearing Ze Yuan's words, she finally calmed down and pushed aside her distracting thoughts for the moment.
The strange force seemed to have let go of Xu An and began to absorb Ze Yuan.
Although Ze Yuan was nurtured by the tree and had no physical form.
But Xu An knew that those scattered small mushrooms were Ze Yuan's shattered soul fragments.
Although this statement was abstract, Xu An felt it was the simplest explanation Ze Yuan could think of.
She always felt that Ze Yuan was like a ball of mist, or perhaps a chubby little ghost following her.
But looking at Ze Yuan before her, she felt that his spiritual form had changed again.
"Are you evolving again?" Xu An asked with some curiosity.
"I don't know."
But he indeed felt something was wrong with him. "You can do it. After a few more times, I should be able to condense a physical form."
Now it was Xu An's turn to be surprised. She truly did not expect Ze Yuan to be able to condense a physical form.
Although she had had this thought before, discovering it was actually true still felt somewhat unbelievable.
But in the end, Xu An did not get the information she wanted.
She knew that this world was far more complicated than it appeared on the surface.
Ever since she was reborn, she knew that there were too many things in this world that could not be explained.
Zhou Haimei, driving the car, suddenly spoke and asked Xu An something.
"An'an, have you noticed that the dense fog seems to have thinned a bit?"
It was nearing afternoon, and at this time, the fog should have been at its densest.
Xu An didn't have as strong a feeling as Zhou Haimei, because in her eyes, there was no real difference between dense fog and no fog.
"Really? I can't tell."
"An'an, your eyesight is usually so good, you can't tell?"
Xu An shook her head. "I just feel that everything is normal, and I don't have the feeling you described about the fog thinning."
As if afraid Xu An wouldn't believe her, Zhou Haimei stopped the car and pulled Xu An out with her.
She pointed to a tree ahead, on which a discarded kite was hanging.
As soon as she spoke, Xu An, listening to Zhou Haimei, finally believed that the other party could truly see clearly.
Given the density of the fog before, people's visibility was at most ten meters.
But Xu An saw that the discarded kite was at least ten meters away from their location.
Yet Zhou Haimei described it clearly.
This could only mean that Zhou Haimei was telling the truth.
The fog was indeed thinning.
Before Xu An could say anything, Zhou Haimei herself said, "Maybe it's because the weather is good today, so the fog is thinning. An'an, when do you think we'll see the sun?"
Although Xu An felt that the thinning fog had nothing to do with good weather.
According to her memories from her past life, the dense fog had lasted for nearly three years. But the natural disasters in this life had almost all changed in unison.
Each calamity had been delayed or advanced to some extent.
Xu An herself could not say for sure when it would end.
Mentioning this matter, Zhou Haimei instantly withdrew from the joy of being able to see farther.
She became somewhat indifferent. "An'an, haven't we not seen the sun for over half a year?"