A huge thank you to Shy_Monk314, Kiljam, Valeriani, DLK, Craft_Witch_888, Darklight_live, Don_RaDjinn, Marco_Tiebosch, Phiak_Yu, and m6393764 for the Golden Tickets!

Your support truly means a lot and keeps me motivated to continue writing and improving the story. Every ticket and every bit of encouragement helps this journey grow stronger. Thank you all for being part of this adventure!

Vikram, safely staying in his home, was unaware of everything happening in Green Wind.

Even if he knew, his heart would not be stirred.

Snape had repeatedly sent people to sabotage his territory; the two sides were already in a state of irreconcilable hostility.

Besides, when he had his terrifying Druids army, Vikram no longer cared who was sent.

Currently, other than feeling uncertain about dealing with the Super Zombie in the Hospital, nothing else mattered to him.

Three days had passed since the Heavenly Disaster’s black fog changed.

The impact of the last black fog change on the trading market had been identified.

It was very straightforward, and it gave him a headache.

That was, the trading of items, which was previously unlimited in times and quantity, was changed to only one trade per day.

And the trading quantity was also changed from unlimited to ten kg.

The market function was not completely Waste, but it was not far from it.

Fortunately, he had foresight and used most of his food for market transactions before.

Before the market became ineffective, he still acquired a lot of supplies.

And during these past days, besides observing the four Survivors tied to the tree every day.

And after several days of accumulation, Vikram finally gathered 30,000 Plant Essence points.

He opened the system shop and looked through the available plants. This was something he had been waiting for a long time.

His eyes quickly locked onto the plant, for which he has waited for many days.

[Void Purge Vine]

Grade: Purple

Type: Environmental Purification Plant

Description: A high-tier plant capable of absorbing corrupted particles, toxins, and abnormal energy such as black mist. It stores the absorbed matter temporarily and expels it outside the territory through directional discharge.

Capabilities: Rapid absorption of black mist within a designated radius. Continuous purification of territory air. Can compress and eject corrupted substances outside the boundary. Effective against unknown environmental hazards.

Price: 30,000 Plant Essence.

Looking at the price, Vikram hesitated for a moment. 30,000 points was a huge amount, almost everything he had saved recently. But after thinking about the endless black fog and the constant threat it posed to his territory, he made up his mind.

Without further hesitation, he selected the plant and confirmed the purchase.

[Ding! Purchase successful.]

[Void Purge Vine has been planted at the designated location.]

[Remaining Plant Essence: 0]

A powerful surge of green energy erupted near the outer edge of Territory 2. From the ground, thick, dark-purple vines rapidly sprouted and spread outward. The vines were covered in faint, glowing runes that pulsed with purifying energy. As they grew, they began actively drawing in the surrounding black mist like a vacuum, visibly thinning the oppressive fog around the territory.

Vikram watched the process with satisfaction. Although his Plant Essence balance had dropped to zero again, he felt it was worth it. With the Void Purge Vine now active, the black fog’s influence on his territory would be greatly reduced.

He then looked at the details in the system.

[Void Purge Vine (Purple)]

Type: Environmental Purification Plant

Status: Healthy

Level: 1

Daily Plant Essence Generation: +200

Description: A rare high-tier purification plant born from heavily mutated environmental roots. The Void Purge Vine specializes in absorbing corrupted substances, toxins, abnormal energy, and unknown environmental contaminants.

Unlike ordinary purification plants, it possesses an internal compression network capable of temporarily storing dangerous substances before forcefully ejecting them beyond the territory boundaries. Its dark-purple vines naturally spread throughout the perimeter, forming a living purification barrier around the Host’s territory.

Current Functions:

• Absorbs black mist, toxins, and corrupted particles within territory range

• Continuously purifies and stabilizes surrounding air quality

• Compresses absorbed corruption and expels it outside the territory

• Reduces environmental contamination effects on living organisms

• Effective against unknown airborne hazards and mutation residue

• Purification efficiency increases significantly inside Host-controlled territory

Special Trait: The Void Purge Vine gradually strengthens itself through continuous absorption of corrupted energy and environmental pollution. Long-term purification may trigger rare mutation adaptation effects.

Role: Primary environmental purification plant and anti-corruption defense structure. Essential for maintaining safe living conditions within contaminated or disaster-affected territories.

After seeing the description, Vikram’s face lit up with joy, he nodded with satisfaction.

Now he didn’t have to worry about the Black Mist. He exhaled slowly and murmured to himself, "Finally... I can go to the hospital ruin, without caring about Black Mist."

He was also deciding on creating an entertainment room. Things like the kitchen, toilet, bedrooms, and living room were all clearly divided by Vikram earlier.

Only entertainment was missing, and his three wives were getting bored, especially after seeing the LCD on the resource points.

If any of the group members will hear his thoughts, they will curse him. Many people do not even have extra room for toilets or kitchens, and he was planning to create an entertainment facility.

It all begins when he explains his plan for creating territory 2.

"Then... then is there still a way to achieve the entertainment room I mentioned before?" Anjali, after hearing the plans Vikram had given earlier, poked Vikram with her hand.

Seemingly knowing that this might be a bit difficult to ask, she lowered her head, speaking with some embarrassment.

After all, everyone was still surviving in the Wasteland, and she was living comfortably with Vikram, yet now she wanted entertainment facilities, which indeed sounded like making unreasonable demands.

However, Vikram did not blame her; instead, he understood quite well.

Even though he lived a comfortable life every day in the Wasteland World, in reality, there was no internet, no video games here.

As a young man in his early twenties, he would naturally feel bored.

Basically, the ways to vent and entertain himself were limited to chatting in the group or going out for some fresh air.

This was also why Anjali always blamed Vikram for secretly going out without her.

Thinking this, Vikram has decided that he will create an entertainment room for his little naughty wife.

When he promised her, at beginning she didn’t believe it.

"Really?"

Anjali hadn’t heard Vikram speak just now and thought it was too difficult, so she was ready to give up.

Hearing Vikram say that, she immediately beamed with joy.

Then she looked at Vikram suspiciously, "You’re not tricking me, are you?"

In the Shelter, Vikram had often teased Anjali because of her naive and silly personality.

"Don’t worry my love, I’ll build you a whole movie theater, a card room, whatever, alright?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Anjali’s eyes immediately narrowed into two beautiful crescents.

She hugged Vikram’s arm, "Hehe, Vikram always keeps his word."

—

Brown Wood Shelter.

"How is it? After all these days, have you still not found the rat lurking in our Shelter?"

Lawrence took a deep breath and looked at the tall Survivor in front of him.

Since the last Hospital incident, Brown Wood Shelter had been severely weakened.

Due to Vikram and the zombies in the Hospital, the number of members in Brown Wood Shelter plummeted.

Even several high-ranking officials had fallen in the Hospital.

From the mouths of the members who survived the Hospital and returned to the Shelter, they naturally learned about all sorts of things that happened in the Hospital.

They couldn’t pursue the matter of the zombies, after all, they were unreasonable monsters.

But the appearance of a mole in the Shelter was something Lawrence could not tolerate.

"Soon, Boss. These past few days, the Shelter has been thoroughly investigating its members, and we’ve already ruled out most of the ordinary laborers as potential moles."

Lawrence nodded, "That’s good."

These past two days, the atmosphere in Brown Wood Shelter, already known for its discipline,

became even more serious after a thorough interrogation of all members by the high-ranking officials, one by one, in the interrogation room.

It was as if an anxious atmosphere permeated the air.

In a high-ranking official’s residence belonging to Brown Wood Shelter.

A Survivor sat on a large double bed, exclusively for high-ranking members.

As a high-ranking official of the Shelter, his life was quite good, yet his expression was unnatural at this moment.

"Abhishek, what’s wrong with you? Your face looks terrible. Are you sick?"

"I’m telling you, if you get sick these days, the shelter has no medicine to cure you, so I advise you to be very careful."

A roommate in the room saw Abhishek’s pale face and kindly reminded him. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

But Abhishek on the bed seemed to not hear him.

Only because a subordinate he had secretly developed in Brown Wood Shelter had just sent him some bad news.

The content of the message was simple: the thorough investigation of the Shelter’s internal traitors would also extend to them, the high-ranking officials.

Last time, he had returned to the Shelter from the Hospital without incident, and although he was nervous when he heard Vikram’s analysis of the mole, he wasn’t too worried.

After all, the Survivors responsible for the interrogation were all high-ranking personnel like them.

His current strength was still considered good among the high-ranking officials, so he thought it wouldn’t be his turn.

He never expected that only a few days later, he would be proven wrong.

Thinking of this, Abhishek immediately pushed the door open and left...

"What exactly was the interrogation like? Tell me all the questions you were asked before and how the interrogation was conducted."

Behind the utility dorms of Brown Wood Shelter, Abhishek tightened his cotton clothes.

He asked the seemingly honest Survivor in front of him.

"Brother Abhishek, how could you not know this?"

The other party seemed to disbelieve that Abhishek, a Survivor of much higher status than himself, wouldn’t know about this, and retorted.

"Stop with the nonsense. Just say what I told you to say. You won’t be short on food."

"If your answer satisfies me, I’ll have the cook prepare a special meal for you later."

Abhishek’s expression was serious, and from his tightly furrowed brows, it was clear how anxious he was at the moment.

He didn’t need to think twice to know what his fate would be if he were caught by the people of Brown Wood Shelter.

Death would probably be the lightest punishment; he’d likely be tortured terribly before he died.

Seeing that Abhishek’s demeanor wasn’t feigned, and he had even promised a special meal that night, the Survivor’s face immediately lit up with joy.

He immediately began to speak, recounting in detail, "Actually, to call it an interrogation is a bit of an exaggeration."

"There’s just a high-ranking official asking questions in the interrogation room."

"As for the questions, they basically ask if we’ve betrayed the Shelter, or if we’ve secretly served other factions, things like that."

The honest-looking Survivor stopped there, looking at Abhishek expectantly.

He seemed to be asking with his eyes when his promise would be fulfilled.

"That’s it? Nothing else?"

"Yeah, it’s that simple. And then they just check your chat history or something."

Abhishek had a look that said, ’Are you kidding me?

’

This was about whether he could continue to live in Brown Wood Shelter, or even whether he could live at all.

Now, hearing this survivor say it was so simple, Abhishek’s first reaction was that something was fishy.

After all, if it were really that simple, anyone with a problem could easily fool their way through, making the thorough investigation meaningless.

However, after he repeatedly confirmed with this survivor, the answer remained the same.

Abhishek could only grudgingly let him return to the dorm.

Without rushing back to his own rest area, he instead sent a message to Vikram...